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EDUCAUSE | 6 Jan 2004 00:21

Edupage, January 05, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 05, 2004
  FCC Fines Fax Company $5.4 Million for Abuses
  Linux Kernel Upgrade Fixes Security Flaws
  Consumer Group Sues Over Copy-Protected CDs
  File Trading Continues Its Decline
  Technology Companies Aim to Slow Illegal File Sharing
  Group Proposes Data Transfer for Coaxial Cable

FCC FINES FAX COMPANY $5.4 MILLION FOR ABUSES
Fax.com has been slapped with a $5.4 million fine for violating federal
do-not-fax rules that went into effect in 1992. According to the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the company was cited for 489
separate violations of the law and fined $11,000 per violation. The FCC
said, "Fax.com's primary business activity itself constitutes a
massive ongoing violation." The do-not-fax rules were approved by
Congress and implemented to prevent faxes from annoying consumers and
using their own resources--paper and toner--for unwanted solicitations.
Fax.com has said that restrictions on its business are unconstitutional
and the fines excessive, but the FCC rejected these arguments. Fax.com
has been ordered to report to the FCC on its compliance; depending on
that response, further penalties against the company or its clients
could be imposed.
San Jose Mercury News, 5 January 2004
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7638258.htm
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EDUCAUSE | 8 Jan 2004 00:23

Edupage, January 07, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 07, 2004
  Tribes in Oregon Plan Virtual College
  AOL Customers to Receive Anti-Spyware Tool
  Microsoft Releases Worm Detection and Removal Tool
  Intel Puts Money into Digital Home Technologies

TRIBES IN OREGON PLAN VIRTUAL COLLEGE
Native American tribes in Oregon are working on plans to establish an
entirely online college to serve the state's nine reservations, none
of which currently has a college. The Oregon Virtual Tribal College
would develop an infrastructure to allow students on all nine
reservations to interact with each other and instructors. All of the
instruction planned would take place online, unlike some other tribal
colleges that provide online programs as well as in-class instruction.
Responsibility for the various parts of the curriculum would be spread
across Oregon's Native American tribes, and other higher education
institutions in the state would provide course content and instructors.
Organizers of the project believe it will cost less than a physical
institution and hope to fund the virtual college with state and federal
grants. Wendell Jim, who is heading the project, said he expects the
program to begin with about 100 students and to become an accredited,
degree-granting institution.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 9 January 2004 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v50/i18/18a03701.htm
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EDUCAUSE | 10 Jan 2004 00:00

Edupage, January 09, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 09, 2004
  HP and Apple Team Up on Music
  Powell Calls for Guidance on Broadband Phone Service
  Feds Look for Wiretap Authority on VoIP
  Peer-to-Peer Virus Sharing

HP AND APPLE TEAM UP ON MUSIC
Hewlett-Packard and Apple Computer have announced a deal that marks
important departures for both companies. Starting this summer, Apple
will begin making a version of its popular iPod music player that will
be sold by Hewlett-Packard. The new iPod, which will be
Hewlett-Packard's corporate blue color, is the first time since the
1997 return of Steve Jobs to Apple that the company has gone outside
the Apple-only approach. At the same time, Hewlett-Packard will begin
including an icon on its computers directing users to Apple's software
and music store. Hewlett-Packard has had a very close relationship with
Microsoft for several years, and the deal with Apple apparently came as
a surprise to Microsoft. An official from Microsoft suggested that the
HP-Apple deal will confuse customers who find that other products
supported by Hewlett-Packard computers are not compatible with the
iPod.
New York Times, 9 January 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/09/business/09music.html
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EDUCAUSE | 13 Jan 2004 00:53

Edupage, January 12, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2004
  NYU Student Data Posted on the Web
  Latest Patch Is a Trojan Horse
  Arizona Looks at Facial Recognition
  Online Newspaper Service

NYU STUDENT DATA POSTED ON THE WEB
A Massachusetts man last week posted names, Social Security numbers,
and in some cases phone numbers of around 1,800 students of New York
University on his Web site. The incident highlights a growing concern
over the use of Social Security numbers as student identifiers, a
longstanding practice at many U.S. colleges and universities. Brian
Ristuccia obtained the information from an NYU Web site and said he
only posted it after sending anonymous letters to the university about
the problem. Ristuccia said his letters were anonymous because
organizations with security problems often "blame the person that
discovers the problem." John Beckman, a spokesperson from NYU,
apologized for the exposure of personal information, saying it was a
result of someone in the athletic department who failed to use
appropriate security tools to protect the student information. Beckman
questioned the veracity of Ristuccia's story, however, and said the
university had not received any notice of the security breach until the
information was on Ristuccia's site.
New York Times, 10 January 2004 (registration req'd)
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EDUCAUSE | 15 Jan 2004 00:23

Edupage, January 14, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2004
  Penn State Students Flock to New Napster Service
  British Recording Industry Threatens Lawsuits
  PeopleSoft Extends Customer Assurance Program
  New Antispam Working Group

PENN STATE STUDENTS FLOCK TO NEW NAPSTER SERVICE
Within 24 hours of the launch of the new Napster service at
Pennsylvania State University, more than 3,000 students signed up and
downloaded around 100,000 songs. Last fall the university signed a deal
to provide Napster 2.0--a legal reincarnation of the original
file-trading service--to its students. Penn State students can download
songs to their computers for free and keep them until they leave the
university. For 99 cents per song, students can copy songs to portable
music players or CDs. University officials called the rollout a
success, saying network traffic did not cause problems and that most
students had no trouble registering. The goal of the program, according
to Russell S. Vaught, assistant vice provost for information
technology, is to help students understand the legal implications of
file trading and break the cycle of trading copyrighted files. The
service is initially available to students on the university's
University Park campus, but eventually will be extended to all of Penn
State's 83,000 students.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 14 January 2004 (sub. req'd)
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EDUCAUSE | 17 Jan 2004 00:23

Edupage, January 16, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2004
  P2P Music Downloads Increase
  RIAA Requests Action from ISPs
  Microsoft Agrees to Change Windows

P2P MUSIC DOWNLOADS INCREASE
According to data released by research firm The NPD Group, the number
of people trading files online rose in October and November, after
having fallen during the previous six months. Russ Crupnick of The NPD
Group said the increase could have been a result of a seasonal upswing
in demand or of users' wanting to compare peer-to-peer music sharing
with legal online music services, several of which were launched last
year. Crupnick also noted that the number of file traders is still
lower than it was prior to lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA). A spokesperson from the RIAA said his
group was not concerned by the new data from The NPD Group. Jonathan
Lamy said the RIAA's measure of success is "creating an environment
where legal online music services can flourish" and that indicators of
that are encouraging.
New York Times, 15 January 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Music-Downloading.html

RIAA REQUESTS ACTION FROM ISPS
In December, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sent
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EDUCAUSE | 21 Jan 2004 21:47

Edupage, January 21, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2004
  RIAA Files 532 New Lawsuits
  New Software Hides Cell Phone Users' Locations
  Mining Data to Increase Participation in a Social Program
  Iraqi Academics Stay Connected with Technology
  Wireless High-Speed Access for Detroit's Poor Residents

RIAA FILES 532 NEW LAWSUITS
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed 532 new
lawsuits against computer users it accused of illegally distributing
songs over the Internet. The suits are the first since a federal
appeals court blocked the use of copyright subpoenas to identify the
accused, who are labeled only by their Internet protocol addresses.
According to the RIAA, each of the "John Doe" defendants has
distributed an average of more than 800 songs online. The suits will
work through the courts to obtain traditional subpoenas to identify the
users' names and addresses. The RIAA expects to contact each defendant
identified to negotiate a financial settlement before amending the
lawsuit to formally name the defendant and transferring the case to the
proper jurisdiction.
San Jose Mercury News, 21 January 2004
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7762395.htm

NEW SOFTWARE HIDES CELL PHONE USERS' LOCATIONS
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EDUCAUSE | 23 Jan 2004 21:53

Edupage, January 23, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
  Report Concludes Internet Voting Unacceptably Risky
  FTC Reports Identity Theft, Fraud Still Rising
  DVD Group Drops DeCSS Program Posting Charges
  FBI Makes First Arrest in Internet Film Piracy
AND
  Open Source Courseware Project
  Romania Indicts Student for Blaster Variation
  Music Industry Sees Progress in Fight Against Music Piracy

REPORT CONCLUDES INTERNET VOTING UNACCEPTABLY RISKY
According to a report issued by four members of the Security Peer
Review Group, any Internet-based voting system poses a "serious and
unacceptable risk" of election fraud. The advisory group was formed by
the U.S. Department of Defense to evaluate the federally funded Secure
Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE) system, currently
slated by the Pentagon for use in the 2004 primary and general
elections. The report authors are David Wagner of the University of
California, Berkeley; Avi Rubin of Johns Hopkins University; David
Jefferson of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; and Barbara
Simons, a computer scientist and technology policy consultant.
The Register, 23 January 2004
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35078.html
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EDUCAUSE | 28 Jan 2004 21:40

Edupage, January 28, 2004

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Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association
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the intelligent use of information technology.
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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2004
  E-Mail Worm Predicted to Become Biggest Yet
  National Cyber Alert System Offers Cyber Alerts, Advice
  Wireless Supports Emergency Response
  Justice Department to Combine Information-Sharing Programs
AND
  Planned Wireless Directory Rouses Privacy Concerns
  Universities Test File-Sharing Pilot
  Microsoft Toolbar Challenges Other Searchers

E-MAIL WORM PREDICTED TO BECOME BIGGEST YET
The Mydoom e-mail worm that appeared early this week has the potential
to be the largest ever, according to some security experts. The worm,
which is also knows as Norvag, is causing problems more from the volume
of e-mail it creates than from the number of machines infected with the
virus. The purpose of the virus seems to be an attack on SCO Group, the
Utah company involved in a legal dispute over alleged copyright
infringement by the Linux operating system. Machines that are infected
with the Mydoom virus are instructed to launch a denial-of-service
attack on SCO Group beginning February 1. Darl McBride, president and
CEO of SCO Group, said Mydoom is the fourth such attempted attack on
his company in the past 10 months.
New York Times, 27 January 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/27/technology/27CND-VIRU.html
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EDUCAUSE | 30 Jan 2004 23:54

Edupage, January 30, 2004

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the intelligent use of information technology.
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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004
  FTC Orders Clear Labels for Pornographic Spam
  FTC and Others Warn Users to Secure Servers
  P2P Companies Claim They Can't Filter Content
  Maryland Report Warns of Electronic Voting Risks
  U.S. VISIT Program Catches Criminals
  Chinese Firm Joins Open Source Group

FTC ORDERS CLEAR LABELS FOR PORNOGRAPHIC SPAM
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a new regulation that
applies to pornographic e-mail. Beginning in June, unsolicited e-mail
regarding online pornography must include the words
"SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT-CONTENT" in the subject line. Pornographers, like
other e-mail marketers, must also include postal addresses and valid
tools to opt out of future mailings. The FTC crafted the new rule,
which will override some state regulations that require "ADV:ADULT" in
the subject line, because such labeling could pertain to
non-pornographic adult content such as that concerning gambling or
tobacco. The FTC regulation also forbids pornographers from including
graphic sexual images within the body of e-mail messages. There will be
a three-week public comment period on the new rule.
USA Today, 29 January 2004
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-01-29-spam-label_x.htm
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