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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2002 New Restrictions for Chinese Internet Cafes Peer-to-Peer Efforts Aim to Defeat Censorship Low-End Servers: A Bright Spot in the Tech Market Macs To Get Boost from New IBM Chips AND Forum Addresses Illegal File Sharing on U.S. Campuses Oxford and U.K. Choose IBM for Cancer Grid .org Goes to Internet Society NEW RESTRICTIONS FOR CHINESE INTERNET CAFES The Chinese government has announced a new set of Internet cafe restrictions, which will go into effect November 15. China already has a host of restrictions on Internet cafes and on content available online, but the government has added new rules after a fire in August killed 25 in an Internet cafe. Under the new rules, smoking is banned, cafes cannot operate within 124 feet of a school, and cafes must close by midnight. Operators of cafes also must register users and track what content they access. These rules are added to already strict regulations concerning content that the government deems politically subversive, such as information about Tibet and Taiwan, as well as online gambling and pornography. Associated Press, 11 October 2002 (registration req'd) http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/572979p-4486391c.html PEER-TO-PEER EFFORTS AIM TO DEFEAT CENSORSHIP Several peer-to-peer efforts aim to allow users in countries that block certain Internet content to access that content with the help of users in uncensored countries. One such effort, called Peekabooty, responds when a user in a country with censorship tries to access a site that is blocked. The user sends a request to the Peekabooty community, and a computer in a country without restrictions will send that content, encrypted to sidestep filters, to that user. It's just a theory so far, because the current version lacks the encryption tool and is reportedly very buggy. Still, so-called "hacktivists" involved in the initiative, as well as others working in projects including Hacktivismo and SafeWeb, argue that breaking down censorship in countries like China and Iran is an important and noble cause. Washington Post, 13 October 2002 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15124-2002Oct11.html LOW-END SERVERS: A BRIGHT SPOT IN THE TECH MARKET A report from research firm IDC indicates that sales of low-end servers, specifically the Standard Intel Architecture Server (SIAS), are up 8.6 percent sequentially from the second to the third quarter of the year. According to IDC, consumers remain cautious, shying away from mid- and high-end servers, opting instead for small, incremental advances in infrastructure. Other analysts agreed. Vernon Turner of Global Enterprise Server Solutions said customers today tend to buy the minimum capacity required to meet their needs. Rob Enderle of Giga Information Group attributed at least a part of the recent increase to "use it or lose it" budgets, in which funds left at the end of the budget year are subtracted from budgets the following year. NewsFactor Network, 14 October 2002 http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19670.html MACS TO GET BOOST FROM NEW IBM CHIPS A new 64-bit processor from IBM promises faster speeds for upcoming Apple Computer systems. The new PowerPC 970 is expected to reach clock speeds of 1.8 GHz and will be able to issue eight instructions per cycle, compared to the current G4 chip's three. The increased clock speed will still trail Intel's Pentium products by a wide margin, but, according to Tom Halfhill, senior analyst at In-Stat/MDR, that difference won't mean Pentiums are twice as fast. The added instructions per cycle, he said, will make up some of that difference. The new chips will also be able to access up to 4 terabytes of memory; the current G4 is limited to 4 gigabytes. A new line of Macintosh products, powered by the PowerPC 970, is possible by the end of next year, but IBM and Apple have both been reluctant to share many specifics about how they plan to use the 64-bit processors. Wired News, 14 October 2002 http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,55722,00.html AND ***************************************************** FORUM ADDRESSES ILLEGAL FILE SHARING ON U.S. CAMPUSES Representative Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) sponsored a forum, held last week at the University of Texas at Austin, to highlight the legal and regulatory threats facing college campuses that fail to limit student sharing of pirated files on campus networks. Colleges build extensive, high-speed networks to foster research and to attract the brightest students. Problems arise, said participants at the forum, when those computer-savvy students arrive on campus and use the network for illegal activities. Smith is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, which is currently considering several bills that address the growing problem of piracy, both of copyrighted entertainment and of software. Smith said that many students who "would never shoplift a CD ... think nothing of accessing the same CD for free online." Chronicle of Higher Education, 14 October 2002 http://chronicle.com/free/2002/10/2002101401t.htm OXFORD AND U.K. CHOOSE IBM FOR CANCER GRID Oxford University and the United Kingdom have chosen IBM to provide computers that will build eDiamond, a grid to be used for research into treatments for breast cancer. Researchers will create a large database of digital mammograms, pooled from five hospitals in the United Kingdom, and share those images with researchers and doctors. The grid will be expanded eventually to include 92 screening centers in the United Kingdom. Researchers will also use the grid to search the large database of images and conduct more advanced research. CNET, 14 October 2002 http://news.com.com/2100-1001-961902.html ORG GOES TO INTERNET SOCIETY A group of 11,000 engineers and other networking experts has won approval from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to control the .org domain, the domain of many nonprofit groups and community organizations. The Internet Society, also known as ISOC, beat out 11 other groups in the bidding to become the new registrar for the domain, taking over for VeriSign, which last year agreed to give up control of several second-level domains in exchange for retaining control of .com. The Internet Society is expected to take over the domain in January. The group said it has established an oversight board and is working on the technical specifications necessary for the transfer. San Jose Mercury News, 14 October 2002 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4282701.htm ***************************************************** 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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