Technology Talks; 105; Crime on the Internet

Crime on the Internet. Use of technology for economic development and education next on Technology Talks. The growth of technology businesses in New Mexico is a way for our state to have a big future. The increase in connectivity in New Mexico is expanding the use of technology for economic development and education and also increasing the amount of crime on the Internet. Today I will discuss the problems and potential solutions to Internet crime and more legitimate uses with my panel of guests.

But first we'll sit in on an interview with Scott Hall at the Institute for Electronic Government. Thank you very much for the invitation. I really appreciate IBM participating here at the NCSL in Chicago. It's been one of those revolutionary things that I've seen with regards to technology and where we are today. From 10 years ago when I came to NCSL events people hardly talked about it and now almost every program from economic development to the environment to education, there's some aspect of technology that's being involved. I think the advice that I'd pass on to my colleagues throughout the country is that I've learned three things over the past 10 years about technology and what it does and doesn't do. First of all I would share with you that technology is non-partisan. It doesn't recognize Democrats, it doesn't recognize Republicans or Independents. Our technology is there to help build the citizens of our country to really allow them to be more self-sufficient.

I have citizens come to me all the time and they say, Scott, our business has changed. The way we interact with our customers, the way we do things is different than it was 5-10 years ago. But we haven't seen government change. What are you going to do to make government change to be more friendly and be more online? I tell them all the time. The first lesson that we have to learn in government with regards to technology is that the citizens are demanding that we do more with less. The only way to do more with less is through technology. The things that we've done in the great state of Utah, our examples of the things that we've done in the great state of Utah, are one, putting services online, for example, renewal of a driver's license, the purchasing of a fishing and hunting license, the very simple equation of getting a business license are examples of things that we do all online now. The second area that I've noticed where technology has had significant impact is in the edification or the education of our children and the lifelong learning skills for adults.

Education and technology go hand in hand in order to deliver services, to teachers, to pupils, to those who are involved in education. And I really believe that education in the future is just at the very tip of changing the way we learn and changing the way we are preparing ourselves to compete in a global economy. The last thing that I think is so important about technology is to remember that it's borderless. There are no borders on technology. Right now, someone somewhere in Chicago can set up a website and begin to sell their goods and services to people in Italy, Africa, throughout the world. So when we look at regulating the internet, when we look at privacy and when we look at taxation, I think it's a great time to begin into this new millennium to go back and redo everything that we've ever thought with regards to technology and how it will affect us in the future. With me in this studio, our captain, Bob Vanderhy, who's the Director of Special Investigations for Public Safety for the State of New Mexico.

Thanks for coming, Bob. Roberto Salazar, State Director for the Department of Agriculture and former Director of the Office of Science and Technology at the State Economic Development Department. Roberto, it's always a pleasure to see you. And David Bowman, Coordinator of the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund. David, welcome. Welcome all of you. We're pleased that you're here. And I want to get right to our discussions because our time seems to flee. Bob, Captain Bob, would you tell me, what kind of crimes are we finding on the internet? I'm familiar with hate crimes and pornography. And what are you seeing? Well, as you said, hate crimes, pornography, but it doesn't stop there. It runs the gamut. You have fraud. We've had adults making contact with children so that they could have a sexual liason with an underage person in a different state. You have theft. You almost anything but a homicide can be committed by the net. And you can contact someone that would commit that homicide for you.

So, what are we able to do about it? Well, law enforcement takes a very active role in investigating the crime and in looking at the net and trying to determine the level of activity. However, many times you're dealing with constitutional issues such as the First Amendment, you're dealing with crime that originated not only in a different state, but in a different country, where a different set of rules and laws are in effect. And that determines quite often what your law enforcement in this state or any other state can do, which sometimes is very little. So, I think then perhaps you're saying we need some national or federal legislation to deal with this, maybe even international, because each of our laws in the states are different and we're dealing with a trans boundary kind of an issue. There are no boundaries. That's right.

There's no boundary and there's also a great anonymity on the net. And isn't that part of the reason the hate crimes are in the discussion groups? Of course, of course. Many of the groups that would be classified as hate groups have their own websites. They have their own chat rooms. And even if they don't, you will find their followers that will get onto a chat line or a chat room and they'll talk back and forth. You can espouse the hate or their ideology and keep it going and never know who you're talking to or with. They can put out an idea that may be so foreign to the American way of thought and have somebody out there that's slightly unbalanced or may just think that way. And they pick it up and they may commit the criminal act that never know who stirred them towards it. So technology isn't either good nor bad. It's neutral and it's how it's used. Absolutely. And it's up to us as a society and a state to determine how it's used.

And a nation. And a nation and a world. Yes. Robert Hector, you've worked and we worked together at the state level in science and technology. And I know you're very familiar with ways in which we can use the new economy for economic development in New Mexico. It's a little bit about why aren't we in better competition with Austin and Denver and Phoenix and San Diego and how can we do that? Pauling the operative word is the economy and making that choice as a state to make that our priority and building our economy. We talk about being the next Austin, the next Silicon Valley. New Mexico perhaps too often spends too much time and effort and resource in trying to catch up with the past. And maybe our goal ought not to be to become the next Austin, the next Boston, the next resource triangle. But as Wayne Gretzky would say, where is the puck going to be? And maybe that's where New Mexico ought to focus its time and attention and resource. And consequently capitalize on its assets for innovation.

We all recognize the tremendous value that our national labs bring to the table in terms of our research and development capacity. We've seen a tremendous growth in our venture capital pool here in New Mexico. We have a wonderful pool of educational talent in terms of our number of PhDs in this state. Yes we do. And those are all key ingredients to those economies of technology based arenas such as Silicon Valley and Austin. The key ingredient that New Mexico has still challenged at lacking, if you will, is that of entrepreneurial know-how. And what do we do as a state to inspire entrepreneurs, to grow them, to nurture them, and ultimately see that our economy grows in the direction of where we ought to be? Roberto, do you think we have a consensus in New Mexico or in Albuquerque that this is a prime objective for the future? That the people in the state, the opinion leaders, are all moving in the same direction. Is that happening yet? The consensus is probably a strong word to describe it at this point. I think there is a movement without a doubt.

We have some wonderful organizations that you and I know of, organizations like the New Mexico Information Technology and Software Association, and you midst as it's otherwise referred to, and several other entities growing and pushing in this direction. But by and large, I would suggest that our leaders, our community leaders, our public leaders, have not yet set the economy as the number one agenda item for the state and consequently developed to that strategic direction. And the new economy with the technology and with the jobs that pay very good salaries, that's what we're aiming at. Well, it's a logical choice for New Mexico. We missed the industrial age. We know that. Smoke stacks do not abound in New Mexico. And we're grateful for that. Those of us who come from particularly rural parts of our state really appreciate the quality of life that we've come to enjoy. So there's a blessing, a mixed blessing in disguise in that reality. The question is, are we going to seize the opportunity now to capitalize again on our assets for innovation, to capitalize on our research and development, to capitalize on our know-how and actually do something with it. And when I say do something with it, I'm talking about taking the steps from a public policy standpoint in terms of adopting those types of policies that nurture the growth of business, but also taking the steps in terms of having the private sector in our state really take a leadership role in growing this economy.

I get the feeling that we're moving in that direction. And as I said before the show started, I feel like there's a buzz. There's an underlying excitement. Now, and I haven't felt it previously. So maybe we're coming to the point where we're going to press our leaders. And maybe this will become an issue in future campaigns. It should be. And we ought not to wait for those who seek political office to raise the issue. We as interested constituents as interested residents in New Mexico ought to make it the issue. The economy ultimately ought to be the number one issue in this state. Well, which brings us quite clearly to education, a new technology in education, David. There are new technologies being used in education. You can use the internet, you can use text, you can use video pictures, sound for teaching. I want to quote somebody from Harvard, a Harvard educator.

This change is as dramatic as the invention of the printing press. And maybe as important as the invention of the written language, which happened in 5th century BC in Greece. Do you agree with that? I truly agree with that. What the printing press and what the written language did was to address what we would call an equity issue, which is how do we bring information and opportunities and services to all folks? New Mexico has made a tremendous commitment over the last number of years in educational technology funding through the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, through the Universal Service Fund, known as the E-Rate, through the States Technology Funding, through specialized programs like the Advanced Placement Program brought to us through the efforts of Senator Bingham and New Mexico is significantly beginning to address what are the resources that our students need in the way of technology. Now, very, very importantly, also, how are we going to use those resources so that we can have maximum gain, so we can have optimal learning environments, so that we can have high quality teaching and resources for our students.

The question falls back really for all of us, and that is, what is the technology being used for? Because as you said, it's neither good nor bad. It all depends on the way it's being used, exactly. And one of the problems I know as a state senator was always clear to me, I could find 50,000 or 100,000 to put computers in schools, so all the schools in my district had computers, or I could go to the Mexico Technic, but I couldn't easily get additional money for teacher training in the General Fund. The General Fund is always the hard one to put additional money in, but if we don't have additional teacher training, and not just for training in the use of the technology, but how to use it for curriculum, let me give you an example, which I found most interesting. A history teacher gave an assignment, and she said, okay, I want each of you to pick a soldier, the article I read said, from the Connecticut Battalion 109, you pick a soldier, and you do the history research on the Internet, on that soldier, when did he live, when did he die, did he have his brother by-offs, his service in the Civil War, or, and it was a unique way of utilizing the technology. That has to be something that teachers are doing themselves are taught, are the schools of education changing?

The schools of education are changing, and in many ways are response to growing demands and needs by our public schools. The real power that the technology is bringing to education is the fact that students are able to learn in ways never before possible, and they're able to learn about things that were once either impossible, or prohibitively difficult. There's an understanding that teachers need to be very well prepared to use the technology, and not just the technology skills itself, but to look at the pedagogy, look at the curriculum, and say, now, how are we going to make best use of these tools? But what we know very clearly is that teacher training and technology skills has little impact in itself on student learning. But we also know, in conjunction with that, is that teacher training and technology integration in pedagogy, in curriculum, and in assessment, to have very profound impacts on student learning. So it's really the bringing together of all of these pieces that are producing the kinds of gains that we want for our students.

We've spent the money on the technology, there has to be an equal or greater commitment to the professional development, so that our commitment to technological resources can bring us what it is we're looking for, and that's greater student learning. So we're all looking at technology and how we can use it to better perform, to bring more jobs here, to help with the business development, to, well, we didn't decide how we're going to prevent the internet crime, did we? Well, that would be the problem. You're dealing with too many countries, you're dealing with too many states, you're dealing with too many municipalities. Maybe the best, one of the best things we can do is educate our people to it, maybe the chip that would prevent children from looking at pornographic sites. Are these some avenues we can look at? Some avenues, but then in the law enforcement field, we also see the good side of it, like in our departmental website. You have your sex offender registration, which is over the web, which allows everybody in our state access to that. If you get the right names and addresses.

Well, that we can't control. Okay. That's up to the county sheriff. Right, right. But what I'm saying is there are some good uses, even in the criminal justice sign of the net. Educational opportunities have expanded because of that, especially for our office or station and rural areas. Yes, you were saying you were taking it on the law course. As an aside, there was a friend of mine who is in Mexico who finished his doctorate at a Zurich entirely on the net. That's funny. So what I mean is there are very, very many good aspects to this. Now, are you working in a more interrelated way with other law enforcement groups in other states, countries, because of the availability of this technology? Of course, obviously our systems are encrypted. However, those that can translate them and those that were set up with, we constantly interact with our counterparts in different states and different countries using the internet. It's easier many times than the telephone.

We can leave a message for an individual when it's two o'clock in the morning at their home. And then they'll get back and it really does facilitate the interaction between law enforcement agencies. And as we grow, Robert, though, I think our state will move in new directions. You're going to be needing and depending on the University of New Mexico in a large way, but also the K-12. If our young people don't stay in school, if they drop out, it's going to be very hard for them to catch up later. They'll be able to maybe with a lot of motivation, but what are the ingredients? We have to look at the education to develop a knowledge worker for the new economy. And we have to provide incentives at the public policy level so that our state can move in this direction. These aren't secrets. And everybody who's been successful wants to share what they've done. What are our first ingredients here? Those who have been successful were driven by specific applications. We don't and ought not to deploy technology for the sake of technology.

It benefits us very little in that regard. It ought to be application-driven. Whether it be for the purpose of distance learning as discussed. Whether it be for the purpose of providing quality health care to the most remote sites of our state. To telemedicine applications. Whether it be for business applications. It ought to be driven by the application. And therein lies then the opportunity to come up with a solution. Whether it be broadband telecommunications, deployment statewide or certain regions of our state. Whatever that may be. Must be driven in large measure by the application. And herein lies I think the responsibility and the challenge for the private sector in New Mexico to really step up to the plate and provide a real leadership role. Because it's ultimately the private sector, hopefully, who are going to be creating those innovations. Who are going to be creating those job opportunities for our young people. Well, they have been. There must be an absolute strong lock-in-step relationship between the private sector and our educational institutions. Such that those curriculums being deployed by our education systems are, in fact, serving as feeders to those new innovations, to those new business opportunities that are coming about in the state of New Mexico.

The goal ought to be to enroll students but to graduate private sector innovation. We ought to be graduating companies from our educational institutions. That export products and services. And that ultimately import new dollars into New Mexico. So that we're actually creating and growing wealth into the state. And not simply just going through the process of redistributing poverty around the state. And also, many of our students who get degrees. I mean, we've all had the experience of speaking to classes at universities. And, you know, I will ask graduating seniors, how many of you want to stay in the state? They all raise their hand. How many of you think you have to leave to get a good job? Three-quarters of them raise their hand. And that's, so we're having a brain drain at the same time. And the growth of good jobs will keep some of our people here who will then do some of these creative things. What do you think we need to have from education to help create some of these jobs, David? There are a couple of central things that we are told over and over again that the private sector is looking for. That employers are looking for.

We're looking for content knowledge, of course, in a particular area. They're looking for the ability to think critically, to analyze situations, ask difficult questions, find solutions. And third, they're looking for the ability to communicate well and to work well with their co-workers. What technology can do in education is help students to acquire high content knowledge. It can help them to pose difficult questions, find and explore answers. And then third, to communicate. Not only to communicate about the content, communicate knowledge, but also to be able to share ideas. This is, this is, in many ways, a new communications opportunity. Much like through email or through telemedicine or through voice and video communications or the other kinds of collaborative tools that we have through the use of the internet and other technologies. The technology in schools can help students to learn all of these three critical areas. It means that the role of the teacher becomes a bit more complicated.

But what we know is that New Mexico has many fine teachers. Absolutely. New Mexico teachers are fine teachers and are committed to this. Now the trick is, how do we, how do we help the teachers help the students to acquire these three areas? And one of the, that's one of the roles the State Department has and the State legislature and our partners in the, both the public and the private sector. How do we help our schools, how do we work with our schools to help our students? Is it happening now a little bit? Are we having a service training every summer or many of the teachers going back? Not only, not only during summer times or scheduled in service days, but what we're seeing is the development of long term, broad scale, professional development. The sort of the one shot technology workshop isn't, isn't done much for the State. So we're seeing the development of this, of the sustained professional development model. I'm one of my, on the first show on the new economy, the global economy. We had a visitor from Washington from America Online Time Warner and they have just been awarding teachers in Virginia technology certificates, which came with money awards.

And I asked, I invited him to do that here. He said, we could look at it. I can follow that up. I mean, if we can have technology trained teachers and then give them some kind of awards certificates and a little money to go along with it, that might be very helpful. And very interestingly, a number of our, number of our, our professional development, development initiatives in the State are coming out of the schools and out of clusters of school and out of consortia districts themselves because they recognize this need. And then through the use of these federal and state dollars and bond monies and other types of financial assistance, they're developing these initiatives, which are hitting very specific needs for the teachers and able to sustain them. And we're seeing, we're seeing really very high impact from, from these different types of initiatives. So yes, there is a strong focus taking place. Now what we want is the expansion of this. And for more teachers to be able to be involved.

Thank you, David. I want to ask all of you a quick question. We just have a few minutes left. What do you see happening in your area through technology in the future, in the near future, the distant future? A continued expansion of the use. In many ways, we find that the use of this technology does save a taxpayer dollar. It helps us in our job. It helps us in our interaction, both with the public and with our colleagues. And in the future, I see a greatly expanded use. Terrific. Well, we're glad that you're vigilant. Roberto? Some folks would suggest that we are now coming towards the end of the information age. I would suggest we're barely scratching the surface. I agree. As the folks have said, you ain't seen nothing yet. There is a tremendous amount of research and development taking place. Don't let the NASDAQ roller coaster ride scare you or mislead you. I think we're going to continue to see that NASDAQ roller coaster as the years come and go. The reality is the research and development will continue. People will continue to innovate. And consequently, it's not enough for New Mexico to just try and keep pace. We must be aggressive at setting that pace and seizing the opportunity. Again, making our economy our state's number one priority.

And making the investment as a state in the necessary infrastructure and the necessary business policies that nurture growth in the state. I've served in the legislature for 12 years. This is the first real opportunity through technology and through software companies and information technology growth that I think we can pull ourselves up off the bottom of all the bad lists. So I'm really, really enthusiastic about it. Final word, David. Final word for education. There may be no final word for education. It's continuously evolving, ongoing. But one of the areas that we're seeing the greatest amount of development and some very strong vision is in the area of distance education. Through the New Mexico virtual school, through other opportunities, not just from K-12, but the entire educational system. The New Mexico virtual school and other distance learning is fitting a very specific need and a very clear need among our students and our educators and our community at large. Thank you, David. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you for visiting with us and join me next week when technology talks looks at electronic governor.

Thanks for being here. Bob Roberto and David. Funding for technology talks has been provided by America Online Time Warner, Intel Corporation, Quest Communications, and Electrasonics. This technology talks program is available on run video cassette for 1495 plus shipping and handling. Order all 1,800-25663.