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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2002 Consortium to Use Consumer Data to Fight Terrorism Support Wanes for Government Surveillance Portions of Federal Government Remain Offline AND New Program Keeps File Sharing Local Privacy Tools from IBM and AT&T Cookies Popping up in E-Mail Library Filters Trial Winding Down; Appeal Expected CONSORTIUM TO USE CONSUMER DATA TO FIGHT TERRORISM The Center for Information Policy Leadership, a group of financial companies and others, held its first meeting Wednesday to develop a method to use consumer data to fight terrorism. The group, which was started to address identity theft but which now sees potential to improve domestic security, hopes to use credit reports, databases of marketing companies, and other public and private consumer information to profile terrorists. Critics worried about the loss of privacy questioned the effectiveness of attempting to identify potential criminals by profiling. A spokesman for the group said they will work to make their approach effective and mindful of privacy concerns. San Jose Mercury News, 3 April 2002 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/2989812.htm SUPPORT WANES FOR GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE New research from Harris Interactive shows decreasing support for government surveillance of electronic media. According to the report, polls showed that immediately after the September 11 attacks, 54 percent of Americans supported surveillance of e-mail and cell phone conversations, and 63 percent favored government watching chat rooms and other online forums. Today, those numbers are 44 and 55 percent, respectively. Experts said the higher numbers may have been inflated because of the attacks, but they also said confidence that the government will not abuse its surveillance power has dropped. Public support for technologies including face-recognition software and national ID cards has also declined over the past six months. NewsFactor Network, 4 April 2002 http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17111.html PORTIONS OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REMAIN OFFLINE In December, a federal judge ordered the Interior Department to take its computers offline after concerns were raised about the security of the system, which manages $500 million annually in royalties from Indian lands. Four months later, portions of the department, including the office of Interior Secretary Gale Norton, remain without Internet access or the ability to send and receive e-mail. In February Norton estimated the cost to address the department's computer security at $65 million. According to the department, 15 percent of the department is still not online, including the accounting systems that track Indian money. Associated Press, 4 April 2002 http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/343247p-2832210c.html ALSO ***************************************************** NEW PROGRAM KEEPS FILE SHARING LOCAL The University of Connecticut, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Rochester Institute of Technology each have a new file-sharing program operating on their networks, but they don't communicate with each other. The program, called Phynd, is a file-swapping service, like Napster or Kazaa, but it functions only across the local network on which it is installed. The obvious benefit of this arrangement is that the universities' Internet connections are not nearly as overloaded by students trading MP3 files around the world. Supporters of the program also contend that sharing files locally does not raise the same legal issues associated with copyright violations as does sharing files on the Internet. Critics, including the Recording Industry Association of America, say that restricting the activity to local networks doesn't make it any less illegal. Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 April 2002 http://chronicle.com/free/2002/04/2002040402t.htm PRIVACY TOOLS FROM IBM AND AT&T Separate privacy tools from IBM and AT&T have recently been announced. IBM's Tivoli Privacy Wizard establishes a set of electronic guidelines conforming to privacy policies. If a user tried to use sensitive customer information, such as an address or credit card number, for a purpose that violated the organization's policy, the tool would prevent that. The Privacy Bird from AT&T lets users specify their preferred privacy settings. When users visit Web sites, the Privacy Bird indicates whether that site meets the privacy requirements the user set up. Detractors contended that tools like these, though they may help educate users and minimize accidental breaches of privacy, can do nothing to eliminate intentional violations of privacy. InfoWorld, 4 April 2002 http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/04/04/020404hnprivacy.xml COOKIES POPPING UP IN E-MAIL Cookies have long been a part of many commercial Web sites. Now that HTML e-mail has become increasingly common, cookies are showing up in HTML e-mail messages, many of which are sent by spammers, who have little or no obligation to disclose how they use consumer data they collect. Whereas cookies on Web sites generally collect data "anonymously," e-mail cookies have the potential to connect individuals' surfing habits with particular e-mail addresses. The technology is also used by some legitimate marketers, though the types of information collected, as well as when and how it is collected, vary among companies that use the technology, depending on how aggressive they choose to be. CNET, 4 April 2002 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-875992.html LIBRARY FILTERS TRIAL WINDING DOWN; APPEAL EXPECTED A three-judge panel hearing a case against the Children's Internet Protection Act were openly skeptical of the law at the end of the two-week trial. The plaintiffs, including libraries, library patrons, and operators of Web sites, want to overturn the law because it mandates Internet filters that the group says restrict free speech. The judges seem to agree, with Judge John Fullam saying "What right does the government have to require this kind of filtering system?" Another judge in the trial, Harvey Bartle, said, "Every witness has testified that the statute can't be applied according to its own terms." A decision is expected in early May. Whatever the ruling, the case will be taken to the Supreme Court. Wired News, 4 April 2002 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51591,00.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html 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] For past issues of Edupage or information about translations of Edupage into other languages, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE PUBLICATIONS EDUCAUSE publishes periodicals, including "EDUCAUSE Quarterly" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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