PATRIOT GAMES How changes to the
U.S. Patriot Act could affect the privacy of

SPACE RACE The CBC ta lks about
howit”susingthe Apollo13m issionasa
training tool. PAGE 29

40 YEAR-OLD

THE

CODER

An instructional

look inside Big

Blue’s homegrown

software lab

There aren’t too many people left at IBM’s Toronto Software lab on a late summer Friday afternoon, but Roger Pett is there, still trying to improve the way we use applications.

Pett, 60, started with the lab in 1968 when he was 21 years old and never looked back. Well, sometimes he looks back. “For the first 10 years, we’d always wonder if there would still be a lab next year,” he says, recalling the facilty’s early days atop the old Celestica building on Don Mills Rd. “We used to be right next to corporate. That was kind of weird...I was probably the last guy to wear a tie around here.”

Pett is also the last original staffer at the lab, which turns 40 this year. Computer World Canada was given exclusive access to see how IT managers could create a better development area of their own. The tour begins on page 20.

$2.50/COPY

DON’T BE AFRAID
OF OPEN SOURCE
TOOLS
Experts dispel some of the
security concerns that may
hamper adoption. Plus:
Canadian banks that refuse
to trust non-proprietary
applications. PAGE 24

WHOA! LET’S
BACK UP ON THE
POINTLESS BACKING
UP OF DATA
Yes, users will want to hold
on to just about anything.
That doesn’t mean IT
depts should indulge
them. PAGE 22

THE BIG, BLACK BOX
THAT NO ONE KNOWS
ABOUT ANYMORE
A Ryerson instructor
explains the rationale
for a course in
mainframe support and
maintenance. PAGE 28

PALM READING PAGE 17

BEYOND SOA PAGE 26

CSI A-GO-GO PAGE 36

SHARK TALES PAGE 38

Lawful access returns

By Mari-Len De Guzman

 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

has rekindled debates around lawful access with the launch of a consultation process that discusses the possibility of granting law enforcement agencies greater access to Internet and telecom service providers’ subscriber data.

Public Safety Canada has issued the Customer Name and

Address (CNA) Information Consultation Document in a bid to institute legislation to help law enforcement get “timely access” to CNA information.

“The purpose of this consultation is to provide a range of stakeholders…with an opportunity to identify their current views on possible approaches to updating Canada’s lawful access provisions as they relate to

law enforcement and national security officials’ need to gain access to CNA information in the course of their duties,” the Public Safety Canada document read.