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Educause Educause | 2 Jul 2004 23:43

Edupage, July 02, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JULY 02, 2004
  Final Rules Released for SEVIS Fee
  Appeals Court Says ISPs Can Read E-Mail
  Canadian Court Rejects Plan to Charge ISPs Royalties
  Microsoft Settles Lawsuits in Minnesota and Vermont

FINAL RULES RELEASED FOR SEVIS FEE
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has finalized its rules
for fees that foreign students must pay to enroll in the mandatory
Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). The final
regulations, which closely mirror the draft released in October 2003,
require most visiting students and other academics to pay a $100 fee,
paid by mail or by credit card online. Some students, including those
working as au pairs or camp counselors, will only pay $35. Students
must pay the SEVIS fee before applying for their visas. Some colleges
and universities had objected to the amount of the fees, which are
intended to offset administration and enforcement of the system, saying
the fee would discourage some students from applying. Other objections
focused on the available methods of payment, which some said would
constitute still more barriers to foreign students. In the end, DHS
left the fee amounts at proposed levels and said that implementing a
new means of collection is not possible before the September 1
deadline. Still, DHS said it would consider other collection options
for future implementation.
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Educause Educause | 8 Jul 2004 00:07

Edupage, July 07, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, JULY 07, 2004
  Academics Get Behind Revisions to DMCA
  Wireless Access Coming to British Universities
  United Nations to Address Spam Problem
  Three Countries to Coordinate Antispam Efforts
  Report Shows Steep Rise in Software Piracy

ACADEMICS GET BEHIND REVISIONS TO DMCA
Five academic library organizations, as well as the Association of
American Universities, have joined the Personal Technology Freedom
Coalition, which is working to gain passage of legislation that would
revise portions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The
Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act would allow exemptions for fair
use from the provision of the DMCA that bans circumvention of
antipiracy measures, and it would broaden a current exemption from the
anticircumvention provision for certain types of research. Joining the
coalition to revise the law are the American Association of Law
Libraries, the American Library Association, the Association of
Research Libraries, the Medical Library Association, and the Special
Libraries Association. The bill may come up for a vote during the
current Congressional session, though it is opposed by the chair of the
House Judiciary Committee, which claims jurisdiction over the bill.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 9 July 2004 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v50/i44/44a03102.htm
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Educause Educause | 9 Jul 2004 23:22

Edupage, July 09, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JULY 09, 2004
  Supercomputing Bills Clear House
  Federal Program Pushes Science Education
  House Stands by Patriot Act, Barely
  FCC Reshuffles Spectrum

SUPERCOMPUTING BILLS CLEAR HOUSE
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed two bills aimed at
improving supercomputing facilities and programs in the United States.
The High-Performance Computing Revitalization Act of 2004 would
coordinate all federal supercomputing projects under the authority of
the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy and would
require the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy's
Office of Science to make supercomputing facilities available to
researchers. Under the other bill, called the Department of Energy
High-End Computing Revitalization Act of 2004, the secretary of energy
would develop top-level supercomputing facilities, which would be
accessible to researchers from industry, academe, and federal agencies.
The bill authorizes $165 million for the project, but the funds would
still need to be appropriated through other legislation. The Computing
Research Association, a group that represents academic and commercial
researchers, praised the House's approval of the bills but noted that
federal funding for information technology projects has frequently
fallen short of targets.
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Educause Educause | 12 Jul 2004 23:55

Edupage, July 12, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JULY 12, 2004
  Admissions Software Aims to Preserve Diversity
  African School Computer Project Faces Challenges
  FCC Proposal Criticized by DHS, Wireless Carriers
  Lawsuit Against Diebold Unsealed

ADMISSIONS SOFTWARE AIMS TO PRESERVE DIVERSITY
In response to two Supreme Court rulings concerning the use of race in
admissions decisions, an assistant professor of computer science and
software engineering at Auburn University has designed software that
allows admissions officers to comply with the rulings while maintaining
diversity among student bodies. The Supreme Court ruled that colleges
and universities can use race on a limited basis but cannot impose
quotas or award extra points to certain ethnic groups. The application
developed by Auburn's Juan E. Gilbert groups applicants with similar
qualifications and backgrounds, allowing admissions officials to select
students from the various groups. Gilbert said the approach allows
colleges and universities to select heterogeneous groups of students.
Gilbert acknowledged that the system could result in fewer minorities
chosen than if the application were not used, but he said that is
preferable to deciding not to consider race at all in the admissions
process.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 16 July 2004 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v50/i45/45a02702.htm
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Educause Educause | 14 Jul 2004 23:55

Edupage, July 14, 2004

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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2004
  CAPPS II Delayed by Privacy Concerns
  Alliance Between Movie Studios and Tech
  ICANN Report Highly Critical of Site Finder
  Contention over Cell Phone 411 Database
  Dell, HP Up the Ante for Recycling Programs

CAPPS II DELAYED BY PRIVACY CONCERNS
David Stone, acting administrator for the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA), told a Congressional committee this week that
concerns over protection of personal privacy have delayed the Computer
Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) and that the system
would not begin screening airline passengers this summer as scheduled.
CAPPS II, which screens passenger information to try to assess the risk
they pose, is intended to replace an existing passenger-screening
system and to increase the security of airline travel. Critics of the
system, however, have long argued that it will not be effective at
identifying terrorists and that it is unnecessarily intrusive. Stone
told the committee that the TSA sees protection of personal freedoms as
"first and foremost" and that CAPPS II would be delayed until such
protection can be assured. Stone offered no specifics on how or when
the system would be modified, though he said he expects "a decision on
the shape of the new program" in the coming weeks.
Wired News, 14 July 2004
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Educause Educause | 16 Jul 2004 21:40

Edupage, July 16, 2004

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Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association
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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2004
  Sakai Project Releases Version 1.0 and Source Code
  Aggravated Identity Theft Legislation Becomes Law
  Judge Issues Summary Judgment Against Spammer
  Student Hackers in Hot Water at Oxford

SAKAI PROJECT RELEASES VERSION 1.0 AND SOURCE CODE
The Sakai Project, an effort spearheaded by four higher education
institutions to offer an alternative to commercial course management
software, this week will release Version 1.0 of its open-source
application, as well as the source code. The Sakai Project was launched
less than a year ago with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,
the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the four institutions
leading the project--University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Indiana
University at Bloomington, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and
Stanford University. Commercial products, from companies such as
Blackboard and WebCT, have drawn fire for their rising costs and the
difficulty of customizing the applications for specific campuses. As an
open-source application, the Sakai Project aims to address both issues,
though all involved concede that open-source projects are far from
free, requiring substantial time to install and maintain. Three of the
founding institutions have pledged to begin using the application by
fall of 2005, and one will begin this fall. Leaders of the project have
launched the Sakai Educational Partners Program, which currently
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Educause Educause | 19 Jul 2004 23:25

Edupage, July 19, 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 MONDAY, JULY 19, 2004
  Six More Schools to Offer Napster on Campus
  Piracy Report Stirs Controversy
  House Committee Encourages Open-Access Publishing
  Pocket PC Virus Makes Polite Debut

SIX MORE SCHOOLS TO OFFER NAPSTER ON CAMPUS
Six institutions--Cornell University, George Washington University,
Middlebury College, the University of Miami, the University of Southern
California, and Wright State University--will begin providing Napster
online music services to student this fall, joining Pennsylvania State
University and the University of Rochester. Terms were not released,
and conditions of the service vary by campus. At some schools, for
example, all students can access the service, while at others, it is
restricted to on-campus students. Student demand for the service was
cited by several institutions as a driving factor, and many also
expressed a desire to offer a legal alternative to P2P file-sharing and
to discourage copyright violations. Other companies including CFlix,
which provides movies as well as music, and Ruckus Network are also
working to sign up colleges and universities for their services.
Meanwhile, Virginia Tech has signed a site license with Apple Computer
so its students can purchase songs from the company's iTunes service
without being part of a subscription service.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 19 July 2004
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Educause Educause | 21 Jul 2004 20:13

Edupage, July 21, 2004

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Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association
whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting
the intelligent use of information technology.
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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2004
  Duke Freshmen to Receive iPods
  IBM Looks to Compete with Microsoft for College Students
  British Government Pushes Open Access
  School Project Leads to Cheap Mobile-Phone Detector

DUKE FRESHMEN TO RECEIVE IPODS
Duke University has announced a plan to give each of its 1,650 incoming
freshman this fall an Apple iPod as an experiment to see how the
devices affect teaching and learning. Each iPod will come with
orientation information and an academic calendar installed. Duke will
set up a Web site from which students can download course materials,
lectures, audio books, and other academic content to their iPods.
Although the project is not designed to discourage copyright
infringement, according to Tracy Futhey, vice president of information
technology at Duke, having "an easy-to-use legal alternative" could
provide students with an incentive to limit illegal file trading. The
project is estimated to cost Duke $500,000, and students will keep the
iPods. After the school year is over, school officials will evaluate
the educational benefits of the program.
Wired News, 20 July 2004
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64282,00.html

IBM LOOKS TO COMPETE WITH MICROSOFT FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS
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Educause Educause | 23 Jul 2004 21:31

Edupage, July 23, 2004

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Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association
whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting
the intelligent use of information technology.
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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2004
  Commission Report Offers Advice
  Senate Bill Would Let States Tax VoIP
  Studios and NFL Oppose TiVo Plan
  P2P Permits Regular Phone Calls from a Computer
  Sharp to Manufacture Danger Device

COMMISSION REPORT OFFERS ADVICE
The report issued by the commission investigating the September 11,
2001, terrorist attacks recommended better information sharing among
government agencies, adoption of biometric technologies, completion of
a visitor tracking system, and more attention to enterprise systems.
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
released its 550-plus-page final report July 22. The commission
recommended a decentralized network model with databases searchable
across agency lines to improve horizontal information sharing.
Washington Post, 22 July 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/911report/911reportbychapter.html

SENATE BILL WOULD LET STATES TAX VOIP
The Senate Commerce Committee has revised parts of a bill that
originally aimed to give the federal government sole regulatory power
over Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. The amendments to
the original bill would allow states to regulate VoIP services, with
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Educause Educause | 27 Jul 2004 00:04

Edupage, July 26, 2004

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the intelligent use of information technology.
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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JULY 26, 2004
  Worm Variant Clogs E-Mail, Search Engines
  RealNetworks Music to Play on Apple iPods
  Bloggers Get Press Credentials
  Microsoft Considers Selling Slate
  Technology Accessibility for Disabled Web Users

WORM VARIANT CLOGS E-MAIL, SEARCH ENGINES
A variant of the MyDoom worm hit early Monday, clogging e-mail accounts
worldwide and slowing search engines Google, Yahoo, AltaVista, and
Lycos because it automatically performs Web searches on those search
engines after it infects a PC. Tens of thousands of PCs have reportedly
been infected. Looking for e-mail addresses on search sites is a twist
on earlier variants of MyDoom, which looked for addresses only on the
host hard drive.
ZDNet, 26 July 2004
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5283940.html

REALNETWORKS MUSIC TO PLAY ON APPLE IPODS
RealNetworks has announced software that will make music downloads from
its online music store compatible with any portable media player,
including Apple Computer's iPod. Until now, RealNetworks music played
only on the Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra MP3 player, and the iPod
has supported only digitally protected songs that carry restrictions on
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