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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2002 Report Says Digital Technology Remains Very Insecure New Tools to Find Pirated Files Microsoft Lifts DVD Restriction from Upcoming Software AND Carnegie Mellon Receives Grant to Fight Cyberterrorism Organizers Plan Online Medical School University Withdraws Disciplinary Action for Web Site Link REPORT SAYS DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY REMAINS VERY INSECURE A new report by the Aberdeen Group says that digital technologies remain extremely insecure, despite the amount of time and money spent to improve them recently. Jim Hurley, vice president and managing director of information security at Aberdeen, wrote the report, in which he says most computers, networks, and ISPs are riddled with malicious and potentially damaging code. Hurley said his research shows these threats "are largely unchecked, unseen, and unknown," able to roam undetected among various systems. Some observers, while admitting that security problems continue to exist, said the report overstates the problems and is excessive in its warnings about compromises in security. Wired News, 9 October 2002 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,55581,00.html NEW TOOLS TO FIND PIRATED FILES Macrovision Inc., which makes digital copyright protection technology, and Websense Inc., developer of employee Internet management software, said this week they will work together to develop tools to locate pirated files on computer networks. Officials from the companies said they were motivated in part by a recent settlement between the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Integrated Information Systems (IIS) of Tempe, Arizona. IIS agreed to pay $1 million in damages when it was shown that employees had used company resources to store and share pirated music files. In light of the potential for such legal liability, said an official from Websense, businesses are going to want a tool they can use to police their own networks. Jonathan Zittrain, assistant professor of law at Harvard University Law School, said he sees such monitoring tools as a win for copyright holders. IDG, 8 October 2002 http://www.idg.net/ic_954506_1794_9-10000.html MICROSOFT LIFTS DVD RESTRICTION FROM UPCOMING SOFTWARE Microsoft had previously said that Windows XP Media Center Edition would play user-recorded DVDs only on the machine that made the recording. Media Center is a version of the XP operating system with added functions to control television sets and stereos, allowing digital recording similar to that offered by TiVo and ReplayTV. The restriction was intended to address concerns of copyright owners, but yesterday Microsoft announced that there would be no such restriction in the upcoming release of the software. An official from the company said the decision resulted largely from feedback from consumers and analysts, many of whom thought the policy too conservative. Washington Post, 9 October 2002 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62741-2002Oct8.html AND ***************************************************** CARNEGIE MELLON RECEIVES GRANT TO FIGHT CYBERTERRORISM Carnegie Mellon University will receive $35.5 million over five years from the Department of Defense to conduct research into fighting cybercrime. The university's Center for Computer and Communications Security is already doing research in areas such as using biometric tools to identify users and adding artificial intelligence to hardware so that, for example, a disk drive could detect an attack from hackers and take measures to protect itself. Pradeep Khosla, director of the center, said computer vulnerabilities have always existed but that the threat from terrorists increases the visibility of those problems. Associated Press, 8 October 2002 (registration req'd) http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/566941p-4455925c.html ORGANIZERS PLAN ONLINE MEDICAL SCHOOL A group of more than 50 schools in 16 countries are working to create an online medical school, in part to combat the "brain drain" that occurs when medical students go abroad for their education but do not return later. The International Virtual Medical School is led by the University of Dundee in Scotland, and includes Scotland's other four medical schools at the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and St. Andrews. Organizers said that because degrees would be granted by individual participating schools, all of which are accredited, students should not have to worry about accreditation problems. Students would spend about 30 percent of their time in clinical settings during the first two years of the program and about 70 percent after that. American schools participating in the project include Brown, Wake Forest, and West Virginia Universities, and the University of Miami. Chronicle of Higher Education, 9 October 2002 http://chronicle.com/free/2002/10/2002100901t.htm UNIVERSITY WITHDRAWS DISCIPLINARY ACTION FOR WEB SITE LINK Last month The University of California at San Diego requested that a student group remove links on its Web site to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) site, saying that the FARC was listed by the federal government as a terrorist organization and that linking to the FARC site was illegal. Responding to a letter from the American Association of University Professors and several other organizations, the university on Tuesday said it had made a mistake and would withdraw its request that the student group remove the link. Joseph Watson, an official from the school, said it agreed with the letter that "links are a First Amendment right." The university will, however, require the group to remove from university computers files that include political statements by the Kurdistan Workers Party, also labeled a terrorist group. Watson said that such files should not be accessible on the Web "in a manner that includes the UCSD domain name in that address." CNET, 8 October 2002 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-961297.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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