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Educause Educause | 3 Apr 2006 23:57

Edupage, April 03, 2006

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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 MONDAY, APRIL 03, 2006
  New Wiki Focuses on Technical Problems
  U.K. to Develop Europe's Fastest Supercomputer
  Dutch Citizens to Get Personal Web Spaces
  Report Estimates Extent of Identity Theft
  IT Spending Expected to Rise

NEW WIKI FOCUSES ON TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
A new wiki aims to be an up-to-date resource for technical staff to
learn about and report computer problems. Like other wikis, the Splunk
Base wiki is open to the public; individuals can enter information
about problems they have encountered with computer equipment including
routers, servers, and databases. Entries can be edited and updated by
users of the site, theoretically providing a resource that is
constantly evolving to reflect new information. Michael Baum, chief
executive of Splunk, which offers the new wiki, said one of the main
problems that systems administrators face is the fact that vendors of
computer equipment have varying formats for their error logs. He
suggested that efforts to establish a standard format for such error
logs is "ludicrous," arguing that a wiki format where users report
errors and classify them is a better approach to sharing needed
information.
CNET, 2 April 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-7346_3-6056530.html
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Educause Educause | 6 Apr 2006 00:00

Edupage, April 05, 2006

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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, APRIL 05, 2006
  Probing Why Phishing Remains Successful
  Online Photo Site Targets College Students
  Apple Runs Windows
  File Sharing Costs British Music Industry Nearly $2 Billion
  Negroponte Sticks to His Guns

PROBING WHY PHISHING REMAINS SUCCESSFUL
A new paper published by three academics tries to explain why, after
all the press about phishing scams, so many computer users continue to
fall for them. "Why Phishing Works," written by Rachna Dhamija of
Harvard University and Marti Hearst and J. D. Tygar of the University
of California at Berkeley, points out that despite a general awareness
of phishing rackets, most users are unable to discern the difference
between a legitimate Web site and one spoofed to look like the site of
a bank or other financial institution. In one exercise, the researchers
created a fake bank site that fooled 91 percent of subjects
participating in the experiment. Similarly, 77 percent misidentified a
legitimate E*Trade e-mail as fraudulent. Experts attribute some of the
problem to ignorance and some to users' not taking simple precautions,
such as looking closely at the address bar of Web pages. Bernhard
Otupal, a crime intelligence officer for high-tech crime at Interpol,
noted that in one recent phishing scam, a number of users went to a
site pretending to be that of a prominent bank and entered personal
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Educause Educause | 7 Apr 2006 23:23

Edupage, April 07, 2006

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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.
*****************************************************

TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 07, 2006
  EFF Calls for Patent to Be Invalidated
  Google, EarthLink to Take San Francisco Wireless
  MIT Researchers Build Micro Batteries

EFF CALLS FOR PATENT TO BE INVALIDATED
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has called on the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO) to invalidate a patent that broadly covers
technologies that allow tests to be posted and taken online. In 2003,
the USPTO granted the patent to Test.com, which has since contacted a
number of colleges and universities, as well as businesses, that
conduct online testing, saying those services violate the patent. Many
of those approached by Test.com believe that the idea of putting tests
on the Web is too obvious to warrant a patent. Now, the EFF says it has
evidence that, even if the idea justifies a patent, Test.com was not
the first to develop the technology to make it happen. According to the
EFF, the IntraLearn Software Corporation began selling products with
online testing capabilities in 1997, two years before Test.com applied
for its patent. Jason Schultz, staff lawyer for the EFF, said that the
USPTO would address the validity of the patent, which could take as
long as a year or more. If the office determines that a patent is
appropriate, said Schultz, it will "a tiny insignificant patent" rather
than the very broad patent granted to Test.com.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 April 2006 (sub. req'd)
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Educause Educause | 11 Apr 2006 00:18

Edupage, April 10, 2006

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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.
*****************************************************

TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2006
  Google, Graduate Student Devise New Search
  Service Feeds Blog Content to Mainstream Media
  IBM Adds Security to Hardware
  Cable Companies Round Out Offerings

GOOGLE, GRADUATE STUDENT DEVISE NEW SEARCH
Google is working to develop a new approach to Web searching that
displays not just the topic searched but resources for related topics.
The approach is the brainchild of Ori Allon, a doctoral student at the
University of New South Wales. In describing his idea, known as the
Orion search engine, Allon said a search for the term "American
Revolution," for example, would return Web pages with that phrase as
well as Web resources on terms such as "American history," "George
Washington," and "Declaration of Independence." "The results to the
query are displayed immediately in the form of expanded text extracts,"
Allon said, "giving you the relevant information without having to go
to the Web site." A spokesperson from the University of New South Wales
noted that Google has hired Allon, making him an employee of the
company, but that the search technology he is working on "is still a
university project."
CNET, 10 April 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-6059395.html
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Educause Educause | 13 Apr 2006 00:01

Edupage, April 12, 2006

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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, APRIL 12, 2006
  Microsoft Debuts Academic Search Service
  Stanford Announces Online High School for Gifted Youth
  Google Rebuffs Critics, Expands Chinese Research Center
  China Adopts New Rule to Address Software Piracy

MICROSOFT DEBUTS ACADEMIC SEARCH SERVICE
Microsoft has introduced a new service called Windows Live Academic
Search to compete directly with Google's similar service, Google
Scholar. Danielle Tiedt, general manager of content acquisition for
Microsoft, noted that the academic search market exceeds the market for
nonacademic users by a factor of six, and some analysts have predicted
that the academic search market will grow to $10 billion by 2010.
Microsoft's new service was launched with limited content--only
resources from computer science, electrical engineering, and physics
are included because these fields provide "the most highly structured
metadata," according to Tiedt. Microsoft has partnered with a number of
leading academic organizations and publishers and plans to add to the
content included in the service. Tiedt also said the new service fits
with Microsoft's efforts to cultivate relationships with academics
generally.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 12 April 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/04/2006041201t.htm
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Educause Educause | 14 Apr 2006 18:46

Edupage, April 14, 2006

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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 FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2006
  Library Group Wins Dispute with FBI
  Programming Contest Crowns Russian Students
  EFF Lists Consequences of DMCA
  Legislators Get Behind ISP Tracking
  Parents Find Kids through Cell Phones

LIBRARY GROUP WINS DISPUTE WITH FBI
Following a recent change in terms of the Patriot Act, federal
authorities said they will end their efforts to prevent a library
organization from identifying itself as a part of an antiterrorism
investigation. Last year, the FBI sent a so-called national security
letter to the Library Connection, an organization of 26 libraries in
Connecticut, seeking patron records and e-mail messages. As it was
originally enacted, the Patriot Act authorized the letters and forbade
recipients from disclosing that they had been sent the letter. The
group protested, saying the gag order violated their First Amendment
rights, and last September a federal judge agreed. Ironically, it was
during those proceedings that the government inadvertently identified
the group in question as the Library Connection when attorneys for the
government filed court documents with the group's name not redacted.
Congress has since revised the Patriot Act, which now grants the
government discretion to allow some recipients of national security
letters to identify themselves. Kevin O'Connor, the United States
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Educause Educause | 18 Apr 2006 00:30

Edupage, April 17, 2006

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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.
*****************************************************

TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2006
  Chinese Turn to Net for College Prep
  Practicing Medicine on Robots
  Library of Congress Archives Recordings

CHINESE TURN TO NET FOR COLLEGE PREP
Chinese students are increasingly turning to the Internet for
information and advice about negotiating the process of applying to
colleges abroad and obtaining approval from the Chinese government to
study abroad. Because a large portion of Chinese students pursue
degrees from U.S. institutions, much of the online chatter is on topics
specific to the United Sates, including tests such as the SAT and the
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Admissions sites offer
advice on topics including writing essays and preparing for interviews,
and some sites keep a tally of the numbers of students who apply to and
are accepted by a list of U.S. colleges and universities. Chinese
students must apply for and be given a visa to travel abroad to study,
and many Web sites provide extremely specific tips about how to handle
the visa interview with Chinese officials.
CNET, 17 April 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-6061774.html

PRACTICING MEDICINE ON ROBOTS
Computerized mannequins are finding a home in medical training programs
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Educause Educause | 20 Apr 2006 00:31

Edupage, April 19, 2006

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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.
*****************************************************

TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2006
  National Archives Goes Transparent
  FTC Wins Two More Spam Settlements
  Australia Convicts Spammer Under New Law
  Settlement Reached in Antispyware Case
  Adding Netiquette to the Syllabus

NATIONAL ARCHIVES GOES TRANSPARENT
The National Archives and Records Administration has made public the
details of a secret agreement made in 2001 with the CIA and said it
will adjust its procedures to function in a much more transparent
manner. The secret deal gave the CIA the authority to insist that
certain materials in the archives be removed, with no record of the
documents' having been in the archives or why they were removed. Allen
Weinstein, who currently heads the archives but did not when the deal
was made, said he just learned of it and has acted quickly to
invalidate it. "Classified agreements are the antithesis of our reason
for being," he said. A spokesperson from the archives noted that it
routinely archives classified materials and keeps them secret. Adding
another layer of secrecy is unnecessary and inappropriate, she said.
Steven Aftergood, director of a project at the Federation of American
Scientists that tracks government secrecy, applauded the announcement,
particularly Weinstein's role in it. "He did not attempt to deny the
existence of the problem," said Aftergood, "and he did not attempt to
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Educause Educause | 21 Apr 2006 23:34

Edupage, April 21, 2006

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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.
*****************************************************

TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2006
  Cisco Launches Digital Incubator
  Charges Filed in USC Hack
  Publishers Settle Copyright Lawsuits, More Pending
  Company to Pay $4.5 Million in E-Rate Fraud Case
  Technology Director Charged with E-Rate Fraud

CISCO LAUNCHES DIGITAL INCUBATOR
Cisco Systems has partnered with the recently launched mtvU on a
program to elicit ideas about the evolution of online content from
college students. The Digital Incubator program solicits ideas through
mtvU and then selects 10 per year to receive $25,000 to fund the
projects. Dan Scheinman, senior vice president of corporate development
at Cisco, said the company does not expect a return on its investment
per se but believes that the best ideas for where to take the
burgeoning world of digital content for broadband users will come not
from company executives but from young people--specifically, university
students. In recent years, Cisco and other technology powerhouses have
spent considerable sums of money to position themselves as leaders in a
world of always-connected users looking for compelling content online.
What form that content takes is the question at the heart of the
Digital Incubator program. "Some of the ideas that students have come
up with," said Scheinman, "are better than things we've venture-funded
to the tune of $2 million."
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Educause Educause | 24 Apr 2006 23:54

Edupage, April 24, 2006

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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.
*****************************************************

TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2006
  Colorado Institute of Technology Folds
  UT Suffers Another Computer Breach
  Maryland to Host Technology Summit
  UCLA Launches Online Journal on Ancient Egypt
  Copyright Law Update Favors Copyright Holders

COLORADO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY FOLDS
Six years after it was launched in an effort to bolster the numbers of
high-tech graduates, the Colorado Institute of Technology (CIT) has
announced it will close its doors due to insufficient funding. CIT,
which was once billed as the next Caltech or MIT, relied on private
support, much of which dried up in the dot-com bust of 2000. The
institute has provided courses and programs for more than 10,000
students, and J. Bruce Donaldson, the institute's interim president
and chief executive officer, said he hopes some of CIT's programs will
be adopted by other organizations. CIT provided support for an
animal-tracking system at Colorado State University and for the Center
for Computational Biology, a multicampus biosciences center at the
University of Colorado.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 24 April 2006 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/04/2006042406n.htm

UT SUFFERS ANOTHER COMPUTER BREACH
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