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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2005 Congress Examines Controversial Portions of PATRIOT Act Feds Push for Stricter Copyright Protections Online Posting Gets One Expelled, Three Suspended New Service Cracks Passwords New Group Addresses Open Source Patent Issue CONGRESS EXAMINES CONTROVERSIAL PORTIONS OF PATRIOT ACT Members of a Congressional committee this week took up discussions of the USA PATRIOT Act, including two highly controversial sections of the law. Several provisions of the law are scheduled to expire this year, and the committee is charged with reconciling House and Senate proposals to extend those provisions. Expected to be the focus of the discussions are Sections 215 and 505, which greatly expand federal authority to obtain information such as phone and library records on individuals and which prevent those under investigation from revealing, even to their attorneys, that they are under investigation. Advocates for civil liberties have been pressing federal officials for details on how these key sections of the law have been applied, including a letter recently sent by five U.S. Senators to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, demanding data on how many so-called national security letters have been issued since the PATRIOT Act was enacted. Although federal officials have revealed few specifics, supporters of the legislation argue that "vigorous oversight by congressional committees has uncovered no instances of abuse," according to Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kans.). Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) noted, "The very act of surveilling citizens who aren't even suspected of wrongdoing is an abuse in itself." Chronicle of Higher Education, 11 November 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/11/2005111101t.htm FEDS PUSH FOR STRICTER COPYRIGHT PROTECTIONS According to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the Justice Department recently submitted a package of legislative proposals to Congress that would broaden the scope of laws to protect copyright and would strengthen law enforcement powers to investigate such crimes. Among the proposals are recommendations to allow enforcement of copyrights, regardless of whether they are registered; to hold those found guilty of infringement liable for compensation to the victims; and to allow the seizure and destruction of counterfeit goods, equipment used to make such goods, and property acquired with the profits from such goods. The proposals would also make it a crime to "attempt to infringe copyright." Groups such as the Business Software Alliance and the Recording Industry Association of America welcomed the proposed changes to copyright law, while those concerned about fair use rights expressed reservations. An organization called Public Knowledge said in a statement that it is "concerned that the Justice Department's proposal attempts to enforce copyright law in ways it has never before been enforced." CNET, 10 November 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5944612.html ONLINE POSTING GETS ONE EXPELLED, THREE SUSPENDED Four students at the Bryn Elian School in Wales have been disciplined for online postings they made about a teacher at the school. One boy, 15, was expelled, while the other three were suspended for between 5 and 15 days for obscene comments they entered on an Arizona Wild West reenactment Web site. Stephen Matthews, head teacher at the school, said the statements, which were not entered from school computers, were not simply "childish comments." He said, "This was a distressing incident, and clearly no one would want to be maligned in this way." Related to the incident, local police are looking into charges of misuse of computers. The National Union of Teachers said that the incident raises the specter of a new form of possible abuse, adding to threats of physical or verbal injury. BBC, 10 November 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_west/4425036.stm NEW SERVICE CRACKS PASSWORDS Three computer hackers have set up a Web site that offers access--for a fee--to so-called rainbow tables, which are said to allow cracking of most passwords. Computers use codes, or hashes, to conceal user passwords. The creators of the RainbowCrack Online Web site spent two years generating hashes for virtually all possible passwords and storing them in vast tables. With the tables, breaking a password becomes as simple as looking up the hashes and working backwards to the password. Developers of RainbowCrack said the service is not intended for malicious uses but as a tool for network administrators to improve the security of their systems. Security expert Bruce Schneier disagreed, saying he doesn't see any "legitimate business demand" for the service. Philippe Oechslin of Swiss firm Objectif Securite said that system designers can easily incorporate elements into password schemes that add sufficient complexity as to make rainbow tables ineffective in cracking passwords. Schneier said that although such changes are not difficult, very few systems are designed to use them. "A lot of systems are weak," he said. The Register, 10 November 2005 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/10/password_hashes/ NEW GROUP ADDRESSES OPEN SOURCE PATENT ISSUE A new organization hopes to eliminate one of the major obstacles to adoption of open source technology: concern over patent and royalty disputes over shared code. The Open Invention Network (OIN), which includes IBM, Sony, Royal Philips Electronics, and Linux distributors Red Hat and Novell, will acquire and freely share patents that organizers hope will encourage broader adoption of open source tools, particularly Linux. Any organization that agrees not to assert its patents over those who have licenses with OIN will be permitted to use OIN patents for free. The business model for OIN represents a new arrangement in which patents are shared to promote the underlying Linux technology. Industry analyst Richard Doherty said, "A lot of lawyers are going to throw their hands up and ask, 'How do we make money from this?'" The answer, he said, is that they might not. ZDNet, 10 November 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5943781.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE RESOURCES The EDUCAUSE Resource Center is a repository for information concerning use and management of IT in higher education. 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