Eye implants seek to follow on success of bionic ear

Robert Rosene, right, who lost his eye sight through a degenerative disease, is the first human to receive an artificial silicon retina chip implant, which allows him to see some shapes and light in his right eye. Dr. Alan Chow, left, looks at Rosene’s retina through a digital fundus camera in Glen Ellyn, Ill.

So far, six patients have received experimental eye implants. All have shown slight vision improvements. Many hope the bionic eye will go the way of bionic ears, which have ungraded hearing in some 70,000 recipients.

Internet improves recovery of missing kids

Elizabeth Norton, above, LaGrangeville, N.Y., immediately suspected an abduction when her ex-husband failed to return on time with their two children.

Ultimately, it was the Internet that reunited mother with Andrew and Jonathan nine months later. A woman who got suspicious about her new neighbors searched a Web site on missing children, where she found Jonathan’s photo.

Organizations that help locate missing children are praising the Internet and other new technologies for speeding and increasing recoveries. Without the Internet, the neighbor would have had to call a hotline and try to make a match using verbal descriptions. Or she would have had to spot a flyer at a Wal-Mart or on a telephone pole.

Government Internet snooping on the rise

Months after the passage of a law that granted sweeping power to combat terrorism, Web sites and Internet service providers report an upsurge in law enforcement efforts to obtain information.

At this point, no one can say whether the new law is helping stop terrorists or simply curtailing everyone’s privacy.

“The trend up to Sept. 11 was for more privacy protection, greater procedural safeguards, more sunshine on the process and more notice,” said Al Gidari, a lawyer who represents Internet companies.