Questionable Doctors Listed Again
Public Citizen has again issued its report "Questionable Doctors." A free by-state listing of doctors sanctioned is available online, but the full online report is viewable only by paid subscribers. Visit http://www.questionabledoctors.org/ There are currently twelve states in the database: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont.

Protecting Social Security numbers From Fraud
A new report from the US General Accounting Office, Social Security Numbers: Government Benefits From SSN use but Could Provide Better Safeguards (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02352.pdf ), notes that state and other agencies using social security numbers may even go so far as to make these numbers publicly available on their Web sites. The report makes recommendations on how to balance "the need for transparency in government activities and the need to protect individuals' privacy.

New York -Speaking out on Accountants:
"The dramatic expansion of services provided to the public requires an amendment to Education Law to clarify the scope of practice definition and give the State jurisdiction over all services provided to the public by CPAs" from Testimony of New York State Education Department (NYSED) and The State Board for Public Accountancy before the Higher Education Committee, New York State Senate concerning The Purpose and Mission of 21st Century Accounting Firms and the Independence of Certified Public Accountants in the Post-ENRON Era (http://www.op.nysed.gov/cpasenatetestimony0202.htm) Office of the Professions, http://www.op.nysed.gov/home.html New York State Education Department.

Internet Pharmacy Challenged
The Ontario College of Pharmacists has filed a total of 15 charges against The Canadian Drug Store Inc., one of its Directors, an Ontario pharmacist, an Ontario pharmacy, an Ontario physician and a Canadian drug wholesaler. The charges filed under the Regulated Health Professions Act, the Pharmacy Act and the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act allege that the defendants: have been unlawfully operating an unaccredited pharmacy without registered pharmacists and filling prescriptions written by U.S. doctors for U.S. residents; unlawfully supplying prescription and non-prescription drugs to U.S. residents; unlawfully facilitating delivery of prescription and non-prescription drugs to U.S. residents; and, supplying medications that can only be sold to a licensed pharmacy.

For further information contact Layne Verbeek, Communications Manager, Ontario College of Pharmacists at (416) 962-4861 x 294, 1-800-220-1921, lverbee@ocpharma.com Their web site is www.ocpinfo.com

.ORG on the Market
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a not-for-profit corporation created by the U.S. Department of Commerce to oversee and manage registries and other specifics for web operations is offering the .org domain for sale. The current contract for the .org registry expires on December 31, 2002 and ICANN is soliciting proposals from other organizations to take over the operation of the registry. ICANN reports over 2,700,000 ''second level domains" and this solicitation process is seeking to find an organization that can provide a stable registry while serving the users. Information about the bid process may be accessed at www.icann.org.

Prairienet's links to full-text state statutes and legislation on the Internet
http://www.prairienet.org/~scruffy/f.htm

Professional Ethics - A comprehensive listing of links to codes of Professional Ethics (http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/resources/professional/codes) from the University of British Columbia's Centre for Applied Ethics (http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/)

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