Web Shorts

Study: Congressional web sites are crummy
Even though the internet has become a mainstream medium, most members of Congress still boast web sites that are under-informative, according to a recent study from the Congress Online Project. Researchers evaluated the web sites of the 605 members of Congress that have them. Just 10 percent of the sites scored an A or B, with the other 90 percent getting a C or worse. People who visit congressional web sites seek information such as the status of current legislation and statements of representatives’ positions, so the thoroughness of the sites was a significant factor in the web site ratings. The report gave high marks to the pages of Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.). Seventy-nine percent of the best House members’ sites belong to G.O.P. legislators, and 73 percent of the best Senate sites belong to Democrats. In all, 35 sites were cited for excellence, up from 12 in 1999.

SEC posts fake site to advise against fraud
In an effort to let novice investors know just how easy it is to get suckered by an online scam, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a realistic-looking news release on PR Newswire about an upcoming initial public stock offering. The release directed the gullible to a slick-looking hoax web site for a fake biological defense systems maker, McWhortle Enterprises. The exuberant press release touted McWhortle’s sophisticated technology for detecting biohazards from a distance, an idea that may seem especially compelling amid fears of bioterrorism. But surfing the McWhorter’s web site ultimately calls up a message that says, "If you responded to an investment idea like this you could get scammed!" Callow investors have, in fact, been deceived this way quite often in the past. The North American Securities Administrators Association, the Federal Trade Commission and NASD Regulation also sponsored the cautionary hoax.

Vocal armchair sports fans find an outlet
Usually, Coach So-and-So can’t hear you through your television set when you castigate him for those dimwit plays. But during the National Football Conference championship game on Saturday, couch-bound football fans could congratulate or dress down the coaches by using a cell phone or a web site, courtesy of “Virtual Coach” technology and FoxSports.com. People with Motorola web-enabled phones could vote “yes” or “no” on questions displayed during the broadcast of the St. Louis Rams-Philadelphia Eagles match on Fox. They also had the option of logging on to FoxSports.com to vote. Viewer opinions were tallied and displayed in the on-screen ticker. The technology, which was tested during the World Series, will also be available during the Super Bowl.

Worm by Russian teen deceives with party message
The new wave of viruses posing as web links has notched another contributor, this time a Russian "My Party" worm. Instead of relying on users to open up suspicious-looking attachments, the email beckons users to open up a web address. This latest incarnation ends with a ".com" extension, which is the designation for commercial web sites, but can also apply to executable files. The virus itself is not considered destructive and is programmed to stop running after today. Virus experts have traced the worm back to Russia, as it does not infect machines equipped with Cyrillic or Russian characters and because it sends a note to a Russian email address for every new infected user. They also believe it is the handiwork of a teenager. The email appears with the subject line "new photos from my party!" along with a file attachment called www.myparty.yahoo.com. The message in the body of the e-mail reads: "Hello! My party... It was absolutely amazing! I have attached my web page with new photos! If you can please make color prints of my photos. Thanks!"

Prof battles La Guardia Community College online
A math professor has taken his beef with his employer to the internet. Martin Millman, who is Jewish, has slapped up a web site critical of La Guardia Community College, CUNY, on which he complains that the school is rife with anti-Semitism, general corruption and “political cronyism” on top of inferior academics. Several La Guardia students have joined in the fun as well, griping on the site’s message boards about how the university’s training did not prepare them adequately for four-year institutions. Other students have taken advantage of the chance to criticize the professor on his own web site. Millman’s motivation might be, reports say, that he hasn’t ever been promoted, despite having been at La Guardia for 13 years. According to the New York Post, the school brushes off Millman’s web site as the handiwork of a disgruntled oddball. So far, the web site has not cost him his job or brought about any changes at the college.

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