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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, MAY 31, 2002 Bush Administration Pledges to Protect Civil Liberties Fewer Restrictions for FBI Surveillance Report Says Digital Divide Still Exists AND Court Throws out CIPA Electronic Transcripts in British Columbia Liberty Alliance Adds Members BUSH ADMINISTRATION PLEDGES TO PROTECT CIVIL LIBERTIES John Marburger, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said Wednesday that the Bush administration is committed to guarding privacy and civil liberties. The announcement came roughly a month before the National Academies is expected to issue a report regarding which technologies can be used to help safeguard national security, an effort that many see as a threat to civil liberties. Marburger said that in the balancing of national security with individual rights, President Bush hopes to find "solutions that are not intrusive on our way of life, although some sacrifices are inevitable." Newsbytes, 31 May 2002 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176809.html FEWER RESTRICTIONS FOR FBI SURVEILLANCE New rules from the Justice Department will allow the FBI to conduct surveillance without demonstrating a clear potential for criminal activity, something they had to do under the old rules. Officials at the Justice Department and the FBI said the new guidelines will make it easier to prevent terrorism. They noted that terrorists including Zacarias Moussaoui and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman spent much of their time in religious instititions, and under the old rules it was "very difficult to find out what they're up to." Civil liberties groups objected to the new rules, saying they go too far in allowing to FBI to investigate anyone, with or without a good reason. Laura Murphy of the American Civil Liberties Union said that even if you are doing something entirely legal, "they can spy on you anyway." Washington Post, 30 May 2002 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30427-2002May29.html REPORT SAYS DIGITAL DIVIDE STILL EXISTS A new report from the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy, the Consumer Federation of America, and the Consumers Union argues that the Bush administration has ended its efforts to address the digital divide before the gap is nearly closed. The report says that low-income groups continue to lag significantly behind higher income people in terms of Internet access and access to broadband services. According to the report, U.S. households with annual incomes of $50,000 or more are three times as likely to have Internet access as households with incomes of less than $25,000. The groups that authored the report also criticized the administration for eliminating the Technology Opportunities Program and the Community Technology Centers program, both of which have lost their funding in the 2003 budget. Washington Post, 30 May 2002 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35195-2002May30.html AND ***************************************************** COURT THROWS OUT CIPA A U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania found the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) to be unconstitutional, violating the First Amendment. The law would have required libraries to install Internet filters to block pornographic or other age-sensitive content. Those that did not install filters risked losing federal funding. But the court declared that filters block some content that is not objectionable and is protected speech. The judges also noted that filters cannot likely block all material that they try to restrict. The ruling was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Library Association, both of which have fought the law since it was passed in 2000. A spokesman from N2H2, a maker of software filters, said he thought the court would issue a more moderate ruling. "[I]t seems like the court expects us to be 100 percent," he said. CNET, 31 May 2002 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-929577.html ELECTRONIC TRANSCRIPTS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA A new service in British Columbia allows electronic transfer of student transcripts. An arrangement in the province allows students to take courses at different institutions. Because of that, the 27 postsecondary institutions in the province process approximately 250,000 transcript requests per year. The new system, which cost only about $91,000 to develop, will pay for itself in postage alone. The service also will speed up the processing of applications to higher education programs in British Columbia. Initially, seven instititions will participate, with most of the rest expected to join later this year. Chronicle of Higher Education, 30 May 2002 http://chronicle.com/free/2002/05/2002053001t.htm LIBERTY ALLIANCE ADDS MEMBERS The Liberty Alliance, which was created to compete directly with Microsoft's Passport program, has added five new members: Cingular Wireless, i2 Technologies, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, SAP, and Wave Systems. The Alliance contends that Passport presents a danger to individuals' privacy because it aims to collect users' personal information and store it in a single location. One goal of the Alliance is to create standards for an open, authentication-sharing model, which will allow applications from different vendors to interoperate. The Alliance is attempting to garner support from private industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. Its first specification is due to be released this summer. InfoWorld, 30 May 2002 http://www.idg.net/ic_868825_1794_9-10000.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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