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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, AUGUST 09, 2002 FCC Requires Digital TV by 2007 Spam on the Rise Microsoft Agrees to Government Oversight for Passport AND NACAC Shutters Online College Fairs Portals Becoming a Top Priority for Many Institutions RIAA to Appeal Web Radio Royalty Temple University Receives Grant to Study CRM FCC REQUIRES DIGITAL TV BY 2007 Regulators at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-1 Thursday to require digital tuners in all but the smallest new televisions by 2007. The tuners will be necessary to receive local television signals after broadcasters switch from analog to digital transmissions sometime in the next few years. The regulators said consumers should be able to receive television signals after the end of analog transmissions, without having to spend several hundred dollars on a separate set-top box to accommodate the digital broadcasts or having to subscribe to cable or satellite service. Television manufacturers said they would try to block the ruling, saying that the tuners would add $250 to the price of an average television and that cable and satellite subscribers wouldn't need the tuner. The FCC argued that the cost of the tuner would drop with increased production. Associated Press, 8 August 2002 http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/492596p-3929664c.html SPAM ON THE RISE Analysts offer varying explanations, but e-mail spam is definitely on the increase. According to Brightmail Inc., which monitors junk e-mail, June of 2001 saw 879,000 spam attacks; June of this year saw 4.8 million. The company also reports that the percentage all e-mail that is spam has risen from 7 percent a year ago to between 12 and 15 percent today. Some speculate that the weak economy encourages spam as a marketing vehicle because it is relatively inexpensive. Others cite the ongoing battle between those who want to get unsolicited e-mails delivered to users and those who want to filter it out. All acknowledge that the increase of spam means it is not simply a nuisance but a daily problem. Much time is wasted dealing with spam, and many legitimate messages, for example, are deleted when users suspect them of being spam. NewsFactor Network, 8 August 2002 http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/18939.html MICROSOFT AGREES TO GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT FOR PASSPORT Microsoft has agreed to submit to 20 years of U.S. government oversight of its Passport technology after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complained that the company misled consumers and did not adequately protect their privacy. As part of the deal, Microsoft will establish new security protections for consumer data, and this security system must pass review every two years. Microsoft will not pay any fines for its actions thus far, but if the new security program is not maintained properly, the company faces fines of $11,000 per violation of the agreement. Many security experts were pleased with the deal, saying that the FTC went further than expected in its investigation and actions. An attorney for Microsoft said the company had learned valuable lessons and would work to meet the terms of the deal. Reuters, 8 August 2002 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-microsoft.html AND ***************************************************** NACAC SHUTTERS ONLINE COLLEGE FAIRS The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) has announced that its Online College Fair program will end this month, citing insufficient participation by colleges and universities. The program used Internet chat rooms to bring admissions counselors and prospective students together. Schools that participated paid a fee; the service was free for students. But technical glitches hampered the system when it was launched in 2000, and despite increasing interest from students, many college and university officials could not justify the cost. According to Daniel Creasy of American University, the service costs $450 per session and would only bring about 20 students to the online fair. By contrast, he said, a national college fair costs about the same but brings 1,000 or more students to the university's table. Chronicle of Higher Education, 9 August 2002 http://chronicle.com/free/2002/08/2002080901t.htm PORTALS BECOMING A TOP PRIORITY FOR MANY INSTITUTIONS Many institutions report moving portal development near or at the top of their list of IT priorities. An EDUCAUSE survey conducted earlier this year showed that portals rank fourth among the top 10 information-technology-related issues that college technology administrators expect to become much more significant in the coming year. Officials at the University at Buffalo credit their portal with student retention, in part because the system automatically notifies students about tuition and other bills, avoiding problems later. Other institutions reported that their portal projects exposed inaccuracies and other problems with online information that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. Most of the dot-com portal companies that offered free portal projects--hoping to generate revenue through banner ads--have disappeared. Current portal projects run the spectrum from entirely home-grown applications to off-the-shelf products, with all points in between. Chronicle of Higher Education, 9 August 2002 http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i48/48a03201.htm RIAA TO APPEAL WEB RADIO ROYALTY The decision by Librarian of Congress James Billington to charge Web radio stations .07 cents per song/per listener has apparently pleased no one. Immediately after the ruling, small Webcasters, including many college-owned radio stations and other nonprofit stations, said the rate was too high and would put them out of business. Now the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has said it will appeal the rate, saying it is too low and does not adequately compensate artists or record labels. The RIAA charges that Billington's decision rested on a misinterpretation of testimony from Yahoo and on ignoring certain licensing deals. If these factors had been considered appropriately, said the RIAA, the rate would have been "significantly higher." Washington Post, 7 August 2002 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56215-2002Aug7.html TEMPLE UNIVERSITY RECEIVES GRANT TO STUDY CRM SAP has awarded two professors at Temple University an undisclosed amount of money to develop an assessment tool for companies to evaluate their readiness for customer relationship management (CRM) applications. The research will initially focus on chemical companies because they have not been early adopters of CRM. The professors will begin by conducting a study of chemical companies, collecting data about the processes, structure, and culture of those firms. These data will be used to establish benchmarks for order capture rates, order fulfillment, shipping errors, and other measures that companies can use to compare themselves to peers. ComputerWorld, 8 August 2002 http://www.idg.net/ic_933084_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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