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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JULY 29, 2002 Bill Could Allow Copyright Holders Access to Individual Computers House Bill Would Shield Many Small Webcasters Consortium Releases New Spec for Web Services AND Veritas Announces Expanded Support for Linux University of Texas to Create Public Digital Archive Verizon Ignores Genuity Option BILL COULD ALLOW COPYRIGHT HOLDERS ACCESS TO INDIVIDUAL COMPUTERS A new bill introduced by California Congressman Howard Berman could give extensive authority to copyright holders to employ technological means to protect their intellectual property. Observers worry that the Peer-to-Peer Piracy Prevention Act would allow media companies to release viruses and other malicious code, though Berman denied that such measures would be included. Berman said the bill is narrowly drawn to allow actions such as flooding networks with bogus files or overwhelming networks with fake requests for particular files. Security experts said the language of the bill is vague and would open the door to media companies hacking into individuals' computers and networks. Wired News, 27 July 2002 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,54153,00.html HOUSE BILL WOULD SHIELD MANY SMALL WEBCASTERS A new bill introduced by Representatives Jay Inslee, Rick Boucher, and George Nethercutt would exempt businesses with annual revenues of less than $6 million from the recently approved music royalty of $.07 per song, per listener. Webcasters, including many radio stations affiliated with colleges and universities, had protested the royalties, saying they would put the stations out of business. The Internet Radio Fairness Act would shield most stations without connections to larger companies from those royalties. Since the royalties were approved, many small stations have stopped streaming music or have significantly changed their programming to minimize their liability for the royalties, which begin in October. Supporters of the royalties said the bill is unfair to recording companies, which they said should be compensated by all broadcasters, not just large ones. CNET, 26 July 2002 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-946642.html CONSORTIUM RELEASES NEW SPEC FOR WEB SERVICES A consortium that includes Microsoft, IBM, and Ariba is expected to announce an updated specification for Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI), a standard designed to identify and catalog Web services. The group will also submit the standard to the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS). UDDI was introduced two years ago to provide businesses with a tool to find Web-based services that could then be incorporated into their own operations. Web-services directories based on UDDI have not been as popular as some had predicted, and developers hope that submitting the standard to OASIS will encourage its adoption. ZDNet, 29 July 2002 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-946902.html AND ***************************************************** VERITAS ANNOUNCES EXPANDED SUPPORT FOR LINUX The Linux operating system received notable confirmation when Veritas, maker of storage software, announced a series of partnerships and programs to develop products for the operating system. The company will develop products for Red Hat's Linux operating system, including applications for Oracle clusters and IBM's zSeries mainframes. Mark Bregman, an executive vice president at Veritas, said, "Linux is clearly a tier-one operating system," equivalent to the other platforms the company works with. According to Veritas CEO Gary Bloom, consumer demand is the force behind development of Linux products. One industry analyst said the new applications will give Veritas the most complete suite of storage software prducts on the market. InfoWorld, 29 July 2002 http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/07/29/020729hnveritas.xml UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS TO CREATE PUBLIC DIGITAL ARCHIVE The University of Texas at Austin has begun a project to make digital copies of its resources publicly available on the Internet. The Digital Knowledge Gateway will include digital images of dinosaur bones, the university's Gutenberg Bible, and other artifacts. A prototype of the system is expected next year and will be finalized about a year after that. The first content to be digitized will be UT's research data, followed by books, manuscripts, photographs, and other art. The project will give people easy access to a wide variety of resources, as well as to items, such as the Gutenberg Bible, that are too valuable to allow extensive access otherwise. Chronicle of Higher Education, 25 July 2002 http://chronicle.com/free/2002/07/2002072501t.htm VERIZON IGNORES GENUITY OPTION Verizon Communications, which was formed in 2000 from the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp., has opted not to reacquire Genuity, Inc. As part of the merger, Verizon was required to spin-off Genuity, a high-speed communications services company. Verizon said it will not loan Genuity more money, resulting in Genuity's default on outstanding debts to Verizon and to a consortium of banks. Genuity said the decision was surprising and disappointing. Verizon said it will continue purchasing services from Genuity. IDG, 25 July 2002 http://www.idg.net/ic_897746_1773_1-3921.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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