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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, AUGUST 02, 2002 H-P Withdraws Warning Utah Man Sues Under State's New Spam Law Survey Shows New Willingness to Pay for Digital Content AND Pressplay Modifies Its Service Wireless Restrictions at Pentagon IBM Debuts New Processor Facility H-P WITHDRAWS WARNING Hewlett-Packard has backed down after a strong and vocal reaction against the company's threat to use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against programmers who disclose flaws in H-P's software. The company had sent a letter to SnoSoft, invoking the copyright legislation as grounds for potential legal action against the researchers for disclosing security flaws in its Unix software. Many took the letter as an attempt to stifle independent research into system security. According to an official at H-P, the reaction was "significant." H-P would not comment on whether it would pursue action against SnoSoft outside the DMCA, but the company said it would not rely on the DMCA and that researchers who follow "industry standard security practice" have no reason to fear legal warnings from H-P. CNET, 1 August 2002 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-947745.html UTAH MAN SUES UNDER STATE'S NEW SPAM LAW A Utah man has filed a class-action lawsuit against Sprint under the state's recently enacted legislation concerning unsolicited e-mail. Utah's law requires that companies sending unsolicited e-mail must provide their legal name and address, put "ADV:" in the subject, and allow consumers to opt out of receiving more messages. The law allows for damages of up to $10 for each unwanted e-mail that is sent, up to $25,000 per day. Terry Gillman sued Sprint, saying the company did not abide by the restrictions the new law places on senders of e-mail solicitations. In an odd twist, Sprint requested that Mr. Gillman turn over his hard drive so that the company could "better investigate and prevent such alleged violations." An attorney for Gillman said the request is an intimidation tactic and that it would be "ridiculous" for all of the 1.4 million potential plaintiffs to submit hard drives. Wired News, 1 August 2002 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54250,00.html SURVEY SHOWS NEW WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR DIGITAL CONTENT Results of a survey by the Online Publishers Association show consumers are increasingly willing to pay for online content, though advertising remains the primary source of revenue for commercial Web sites. The survey examined data for online spending habits of more than one million consumers, showing that many more users paid for digital content than in previous years. Business and financial news sites saw large increases in paying customers. Sports-oriented Web sites also had increases in subscription. Many general news sites such as ABC.com and CNN have already or will soon charge for portions of their content, especially features such as streaming video. However, of the 1,700 sites included in the survey, the subscription revenues for the top 50 sites represent 85 percent of the total revenue for all sites, showing that for most sites subscriptions still only generate small amounts of income. New York Times, 1 August 2002 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/01/technology/01ONLI.html AND ***************************************************** PRESSPLAY MODIFIES ITS SERVICE The battles continue between "legitimate" online music services--those owned or operated by music labels--and peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, which many regard as violating copyright protections. Pressplay, the music service of Sony and Vivendi, is expanding options for its subscribers, including the ability to download some music permanently. The change will give Pressplay an advantage over other music-industry services, but they are expected to follow suit in the coming months. Pressplay will offer several subscription levels, with the higher priced ones allowing some portion of downloads to be transferred to other devices, copied onto CDs, and kept even after the subscription ends. Wall Street Journal, 1 August 2002 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1028152738687870280,00.html WIRELESS RESTRICTIONS AT PENTAGON Citing security concerns, the Pentagon's CIO, John Stenbit, said he will release new rules soon disallowing most if not all wireless devices in military facilities. Personal wireless devices including cell phones and two-way pagers represent significant opportunities to eavesdrop or otherwise compromise security in a classified environment, according to officials at the Pentagon. In addition, wireless local area networks (WLANs) present other possible network vulnerabilities. In May, a security expert was able to gain access to the WLAN at the Defense Information Systems Agency simply by sitting in his car across the street with a laptop and scanning software. Richard Clarke, cybersecurity advisor to President Bush, said, "We should all shut [WLANs] off until the technology gets better." ComputerWorld, 1 August 2002 http://www.idg.net/ic_912223_1794_9-10000.html IBM DEBUTS NEW PROCESSOR FACILITY IBM opened a $2.5 billion microprocessor facility this week in East Fishkill, New York, saying that the new plant is the "most advanced of its kind." It is the first large-scale facility to produce chips on 300 millimeter wafers rather than typical 200 millimeter ones, allowing the company to save more than 30 percent of production costs. The plant will mass-produce chips thinner than 0.1 micron and will also allow for circuits smaller than 100 nanometers. The opening of the plant comes amid tough times for IBM and for the semiconductor industry at large. An official with IBM said the facility is an investment in the future, pointing out that the industry is cyclical. NewsFactor Network, 1 August 2002 http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/18844.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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