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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2003 Volume of Spam Expected to Surpass That of Regular Mail Microsoft Reaches Settlement in California New Product from Sun Meets Liberty Alliance Specifications AND Super-Fast Browser Wins Science Prize Update Anticipated for Morpheus Campus Ride Boards Go Online VOLUME OF SPAM EXPECTED TO SURPASS THAT OF REGULAR MAIL Studies show that the volume of spam has increased dramatically in recent years and will continue to rise, possibly surpassing regular e-mail as early as July. Spam is cheap, costing around $25 per million e-mail addresses. It is a growing problem that Internet service providers (ISPs), the government, and others are attempting to curtail through filtering software, lawsuits, and legislation. Major ISPs already screen e-mail before it hits subscribers� inboxes, filtering out some spam before users even see it. America Online, which successfully sued a spammer of pornographic material, will offer a one-click service to report spam with its next release. Blacklisting spammers is another tactic employed by ISPs, but one that is fallible. A Harris poll indicates that 74 percent favor making spam illegal, and 26 states have passed anti-spam legislation. Some of the proposed federal laws, however, could exacerbate the problem, according to David Sorkin, a law professor with the Center for Information Technology and Privacy Law at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Laws that identify certain types of spam as illegal, he said, might seem to condone or endorse other types of spam. NewsFactor Network, 13 January 2003 http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20447.html MICROSOFT REACHES SETTLEMENT IN CALIFORNIA Microsoft announced a settlement in a California class-action antitrust lawsuit, brought after federal courts ruled in 2000 and 2001 that the company had abused its monopoly position. In the California settlement, which must be approved by a state judge, consumers can file claims against Microsoft for having charged too much for its products. In return, Microsoft will give consumers vouchers, worth as much as $1.1 billion, that can be used for purchases of computer hardware or software from any company. Similar lawsuits are pending in 17 states and in the District of Columbia, and a representative from Microsoft said the company has settled suits in 17 states. The California settlement is important to Microsoft because it represents the largest of the state class-action suits. Vouchers are potentially available to 13 million consumers and businesses that bought Microsoft products between February 1995 and December 2001. If the settlement if approved, consumers in the state will have four months to file claims and four years to use the vouchers. Washington Post, 11 January 2003 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41459-2003Jan11.html NEW PRODUCT FROM SUN MEETS LIBERTY ALLIANCE SPECIFICATIONS The Liberty Alliance Project is developing a standard for single-sign-on procedures across multiple Web sites. The new Identity Server 6.0 from Sun Microsystems is based on the Liberty Alliance standard. Single sign-on allows users to authenticate themselves once and be granted appropriate access to affiliated Web sites without reentering a name and password each time. The Liberty Alliance was created by Sun to compete with Microsoft's Passport services, and Identity Server is Sun's first foray into a new market for such software. Sun expects Identity Server to be implemented initially to address disparate services within single companies and later to support single sign-on among various companies. Identity Server is available for Solaris and Windows; a Linux version is expected in mid-2003. CNET, 12 January 2003 http://news.com.com/2100-1001-980266.html AND ***************************************************** SUPER-FAST BROWSER WINS SCIENCE PRIZE A student at Saint Finian's College in central Ireland won top prize in a contest for young scientists in that country for a Web browser that he developed. Adnan Osmani, who is 16 years old, spent 18 months writing the code for the browser, which researchers at University College, Dublin found to be as much as five times faster than other browsers over a dial-up connection. The browser features built-in media players that allow users to watch video or listen to audio while surfing the Web. Access to 120 Internet search engines is also included, as is a talking, animated figure called Phoebe that makes the application easier to use. The browser can read Web pages aloud, which Osmani said might be useful for the young or people with disabilities, who otherwise have difficulty experiencing the Web. Osmani would like to attend Harvard University to study computer engineering and thinks that winning the contest will be "a nice boost to my university application." Nando Times, 11 January 2003 (registration req'd) http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/712974p-5244591c.html UPDATE ANTICIPATED FOR MORPHEUS The head of StreamCast Networks, maker of the Morpheus peer-to-peer file-sharing application, said an upgrade to the software will allow users to search further across networks for desired files and even download them while they are away from their computers. Many file-sharing services, including Morpheus, search groups, or clusters, of about 15,000 computers at a time looking for a requested file. Popular files are commonly found in such searches, but obscure files often don't turn up. The new version of Morpheus will be able to move to other clusters of machines if a particular file is not available on the first cluster. Users can give a list of files to the new Morpheus client, which will look for them and retrieve them autonomously. The Morpheus enhancements are due in the middle of the year, unless StreamCast and other peer-to-peer network providers succumb to the many legal challenges to file-sharing from the music and movie industries. PCWorld, 13 January 2003 http://www.idg.net/ic_1019539_9677_1-5042.html CAMPUS RIDE BOARDS GO ONLINE A number of colleges and universities around the country now offer online "ride boards" for their students. The days of handwritten notes tacked to a corkboard have been replaced with Web postings by students looking to split gas or snack costs in exchange for a ride home or maybe to visit friends elsewhere. Such a ride board is one of the features of a service called Daily Jolt (dailyjolt.com). A new system offered by the Daily Jolt's ride board matches students who need rides with those offering rides. When a student posts a request for a ride to Boston, for example, an e-mail goes out to all who have offered rides to that city. New York Times, 12 January 2003 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/edlife/MB111847.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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