Released in June, 1998 by Microsoft Corp., Windows 98 arrived after Windows 95. Code named Memphis, it was a hybrid 16 bit/32 bit operating system like it’s predecessor. It included support for emerging DVD and USB technology, AGP, and offered easier search capabilities. It also included Internet Explorer 4.0. (which continued to be deeply integrated into the OS itself) and improved Plug N Play support. In the beginning it sold well but suffered from incompatibility issues that weren’t addressed until Windows 98 SE was released the following year.
Category Archives: 1998
Children’s Online Privacy & Protection Act (COPPA)
In the early days of the internet, websites were becoming increasingly more interactive with visitors, allowing users to download games, join discussion groups, exchange email and more. In the course of these developments, websites began collecting information about these users either through voluntary means such as filling out a form or through the use of technologies like cookies. As the internet became more and more accessible, children began using it in greater numbers. Concerned by this trend, the FTC released a report to the U.S. Congress expressing these issues. It noted that there were a rapidly growing number of websites with children as their target audience, and that many were gathering personally identifiable information from them without the parent or guardian’s knowledge. Not only did the FTC have a problem with this, but so did many children’s advocacy groups. In response, Senator Richard Bryan introduced the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act on July 17th, 1998.
After hearings, the bill was quickly passed through Congress and enacted as law in late 1998. Responsibility for enforcement was given to the FTC, which began a rulemaking process during which it invited many corporations involved in information collecting. The American Library Association and the ACLU also submitted input. On November 3, 1999 the FTC issued it’s final rule on COPPA.
You can view a copy of the law here: <a href=”http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/coppa1.htm”>http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/coppa1.htm</a>
ICANN
Short for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a nonprofit organization that has assumed the responsibility for IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management and root server system management functions previously performed under U.S. Government contract.
ICANN was created by the late Jon Postel in the fall of 1998 in response to a policy statement issued by the US Department of Commerce. This statement called for the formation of a private sector not-for-profit Internet stakeholder to administer policy for the Internet name and address system.
Thus far ICANN has taken various measures to oversee the domain-name registration system’s transition from government hands to private hands and to coordinate its decentralization and the integration into a global community.
ICANN’s diverse board consists of nineteen Directors, nine At-Large Directors, who serve one-year terms and will be succeeded by At-Large Directors elected by an at-large membership organization. None of the present interim directors may sit on the board once the permanent members are selected.
From Googles’ “What’s a Google?”
Googol is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. It’s a very large number.
Google is a company with a very large number of users, and a laser-like focus on finding the right answer for each and every one of them more than 200 million times a day.
A Google user might be a woman in Atlanta trying to decide what car to buy. Or a doctor in Osaka looking for the latest study on an unusual illness. Or maybe a business executive in London researching a competitor.
A Google user could be a webmaster looking for ways to increase the usefulness of her website or a marketing director in search of better ROI for his ad budget.
The tool they have all chosen to help them is the Google search engine, an easy-to-use online service that scours more than a billion web pages for pertinent information.
In every case Google provides an answer that is unique to the user and uniquely useful. An answer that is delivered quickly and guaranteed to be relevant and clear. And because Google does this better than any other online service, Google users have made it the fastest growing, most used search engine in the world.