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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2002 Contempt Motion Filed against Madster Swapping Music Online Can't Be Stopped, Say Researchers IBM Announces Hosted Applications Microsoft SQL Server Targets Business Intelligence AND Government Shuts Down PubScience SUNY Nanosciences Center Gains New Partner Power Reduced on WLAN Link Judge Warns of Expansion of Intellectual Property Law CONTEMPT MOTION FILED AGAINST MADSTER Record companies and music publishers have asked U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen in Chicago to hold the Madster online file-sharing service in contempt of court for failing to comply with a pretrial injunction to stop copyright infringement. The motion was filed a week after Madster told Judge Aspen that it was "impractical" to comply with the injunction issued last month. The plaintiffs asked the judge to appoint someone to shut down Madster until it complies with the order and to cut off the estimated $45,000 a month that Madster collects from its users. The suit demands that Madster filter copyrighted works from its file-sharing system, as a federal judge in San Francisco required Napster to do in 2001. Los Angeles Times, 22 November 2002 (registration req'd) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-aimster22nov22,0,6160420.story SWAPPING MUSIC ONLINE CAN'T BE STOPPED, SAY RESEARCHERS A paper prepared for an Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) workshop on Digital Rights Management dismissed record industry attempts to stop swapping of music files over online networks as unworkable. The authors wrote that the continuing proliferation of file-swapping systems and improvements in their organization will eventually make them impossible to shut down. The spread of CD and DVD burners and the growth of consumer broadband, inexpensive data storage, and instant messaging further erode attempts to control consumer use of music files. The authors advised music companies to compete on the same terms, by making music easy and inexpensive to buy. BBC, 22 November 2002 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2502399.stm IBM ANNOUNCES HOSTED APPLICATIONS IBM's adoption of "on-demand" computing advanced another step today with the company's announcement of new hosted services targeting the mid-size market (companies with up to 1,000 employees). For a one-time set-up charge and monthly fees, customers can access Onyx Software's customer relationship management software, Intaact's accounting system, and HRSmart's human resources management applications. Enployease plans to offer its human resources and benefits administration software through the IBM program early in 2003. The applications will be hosted at IBM data centers and accessible through Web browsers. IDG, 22 November 2002 http://www.idg.net/ic_966080_1793_1-1681.html MICROSOFT SQL SERVER TARGETS BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE During a keynote presentation at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) Community Summit, Microsoft executive Bill Baker said the company plans to bring business intelligence to users throughout an enterprise with its Yukon version of the Microsoft SQL Server database. Baker is the general manager for SQL Server Business Intelligence. He said the company also wants to extend business intelligence to include customers and partners. Yukon is scheduled for beta release in the first half of 2003. It will include online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining engines, a development workbench, and data extraction, transformation, and loading, according to Baker, along with security features. InfoWorld, 21 November 2002 http://www.idg.net/ic_965986_1794_9-10000.html AND ****************************** GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN PUBSCIENCE The United States Department of Energy shut down PubScience, an Internet site that catalogued government and academic science research, in response to corporate complaints that it competed with commercial services. Searching on PubScience was free, with the service linking either to free full texts or to payment systems for information that was for sale. Two commercial equivalents also offer free searching, with academic literature available for a fee. Researchers worry that commercial companies will control access to and charge fees for information and research that was created with public money. Closing PubScience will save the government $200,000 a year. Washington Post, 21 November 2002 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17568-2002Nov20.html SUNY NANOSCIENCES CENTER GAINS NEW PARTNER Tokyo Electron Ltd. has joined the State University of New York at Albany as a partner in a nanosciences center, announcing that it would move a research and development facility to the univerity's campus. Tokyo Electron is a Japanese firm that builds tools used to make microchips. The company said it will spend $200 million over the next seven years on the research center, while the State of New York will contribute $100 million for construction and equipment. The new center, which will perform prototyping of computer chips, is scheduled to open in the spring of 2003. Chronicle of Higher Education, 22 November 2002 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2002/11/2002112202n.htm POWER REDUCED ON WLAN LINK A story in Computerworld prompted complaints that the High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN) was operating an illegal configuration on its 72-mile WLAN link between the San Diego Supercomputer Center and San Clemente Island. In response, HPWREN reduced a power amplifier it uses from 1 watt to 250 milliwatts to stay within Federal Communications Commission regulations for power levels on the 2.4-GHz band. HPWREN principal investigator Hans Werner-Braun said any violation of the power limits was unintentional. Data throughput has dropped to about 300 kilobits per second, but the link has been maintained at the reduced power level. ComputerWorld, 21 November 2002 http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,76118,00.ht ml JUDGE WARNS OF EXPANSION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW Speaking at a lecture organized by the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner warned of an "enormous expansion" of intellectual-property law. Posner criticized a 1998 law extending the duration of U.S. copyrights and attacked the Patent and Trademark Office for granting what he called "very questionable" business method patents. Posner is known for applying economic analysis to the law and for mediating settlement talks in the Microsoft antitrust case. CNET, 20 November 2002 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966595.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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