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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 06, 2003 Wi-Fi as Urban Renewal FCC Rule Change Would Affect Phone Company Competition Circuits Get Smaller AND Publishers Expunge Articles, Upset Researchers VeriSign Creates New Network Solutions New Update for PGP WI-FI AS URBAN RENEWAL Some U.S. cities are setting up Wi-Fi networks as part of urban renewal programs designed to attract businesses and visitors. Long Beach, California, will announce this week that it plans to deploy a wireless network in its downtown area. The network will eventually include the city's airport and marina. The city will pay the $2,500 annual cost for the Internet connection, and the network is funded in part by equipment donations from several local companies. Similar networks are being considered by cities including San Francisco, Seattle, and Jacksonville, Florida. Proponents of such wireless networks argue that Wi-Fi availability in a business district sends a clear and attractive message to potential businesses. C. Brian Grimm of the Wi-Fi Alliance said, "It's high visibility and high value, and it permits a municipality to easily serve its residents." New York Times, 5 January 2003 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/06/technology/06WIFI.html FCC RULE CHANGE WOULD AFFECT PHONE COMPANY COMPETITION The Telecommunications Act of 1996 forced the regional Bells, which had monopolies on local phone service, to open their networks to other companies, fostering competition in the otherwise closed markets. A proposal to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would change that rule, forcing every phone service provider to have its own network or to negotiate deals with the Bells. Supporters of the change, including FCC Chairman Michael Powell, argue that competition should be predicated on separate companies' owning separate networks and that competition will increase as new networks are built and as cable companies increase their share of the market. Long-distance carriers that depend on access to the networks of the regional Bells contend that the proposed rule change would reward the regional Bells without encouraging competition. Wall Street Journal, 6 January 2003 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB10418076588657184,00.html CIRCUITS GET SMALLER Researchers at the University of Toronto have created what could be the smallest circuit ever built, capable, they say, of being closed by a single electron. Al-Amin Dhirani, lead researcher for the project, said, "Such a circuit could make possible a biosensor that is activated by the reaction of just one molecule." The device works by sending electrons from a metal tip to an extremely small cantilever coated with gold. An electron on the lever then pulls the lever to the tip, closing the circuit. Some nanotechnology experts were skeptical of the new device, saying the methods used to observe the nanoparticle circuits are suspect. Others, however, defended the research as an important step in opening doors for new applications in a potentially wide range of fields of study. NewsFactor Network, 6 January 2003 http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20377.html AND ***************************************************** PUBLISHERS EXPUNGE ARTICLES, UPSET RESEARCHERS Elsevier Science, the largest publisher of scientific journals, has begun removing certain articles from its database. In place of the articles, an online search now offers a note that simply says the article has been removed "for legal reasons." Other publishers have taken steps to expunge particular articles, for reasons ranging from an article's having been published previously elsewhere to inclusion of political statements that the publishers deemed "inappropriate" for publication in a particular journal. Many researchers object to the practice, however, saying that altering the historical record of a journal distorts efforts at scholarship and, in certain cases, can lead to faulty research or even poor medical decisions. Mark S. Frankel of the American Association for the Advancement of Science said, "There should be a digital trail which allows these things to be seen, observed, and studied." Chronicle of Higher Education, 10 January 2003 http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i18/18a02701.htm VERISIGN CREATES NEW NETWORK SOLUTIONS Three years after it acquired Network Solutions, VeriSign has recreated the company as a separate but wholly owned subsidiary. Network Solutions, which controls more than nine million Internet domain names, will include the registrar operations and Web and e-mail services. VeriSign will continue to operate the registry, which sells domain names to other registrars. Some observers had speculated that VeriSign would sell Network Solutions, but, although a sale remains a possibility, the company will work to make necessary adjustments to succeed, according to Champion Mitchell, the president of Network Solutions. Mitchell said that certain problems had been caused at VeriSign by a lack of understanding among some employees about how to function after the end of the monopoly the company had held. "Those people," he said, "are no longer with us." CNET, 6 January 2003 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-979205.html NEW UPDATE FOR PGP After Network Associates purchased PGP, or Pretty Good Privacy, in 1997, the encryption program was not strongly maintained and has received relatively little upgrading since mid-2001. A new version of PGP, however, is now available from PGP Corp., which purchased the application from Network Associates last year. PGP 8 uses public key cryptography and runs on Windows 98 and newer Microsoft platforms as well as Apple OS X 10.2. A free version of PGP 8 offers simple encryption tools for protecting local files and e-mail if the content is cut and pasted out of the e-mail application. PGP Personal edition, which costs $39, ties directly into Microsoft and Apple mail programs, allowing for easy encryption and decryption of all e-mail. Users who prefer open source might choose a program called Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG), which is PGP-compatible. Using GPG, however, requires text-only, command-line operation to access the program. Washington Post, 5 January 2003 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8488-2003Jan3.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 "EQ" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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