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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2003 Report Suggests RIAA Gaining Advantage MIT Developing Search Engine for Global Poor Blackboard Settlement Reveals No Real Threat House Bill Supports Rural Telemedicine EU Pushes for Opt-In E-Mail REPORT SUGGESTS RIAA GAINING ADVANTAGE Preliminary data from Nielsen/Netratings indicate a sharp drop in activity on file-sharing networks in the weeks following an announcement from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) that it would prosecute individual file traders for copyright violations. According to Nielson/Netratings, the numbers of visitors to Morpheus and Kazaa each dropped 15 percent. [This finding conflicts with reports from Morpheus and Grokster, reported in the July 7 issue of Edupage, that file-trading activity increased after the announcement. -Editor] Although some of the drop is likely a result of decreased traffic during the summer months, officials at Nielson/Netratings believe that the timing and the magnitude of the decline indicate that the RIAA's warning is having the desired effect of discouraging illegal file trading. Although companies that distribute file-trading software dispute this conclusion, most are developing features to try to hide the identities of individual users. CNET, 14 July 2003 http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-1025684.html MIT DEVELOPING SEARCH ENGINE FOR GLOBAL POOR Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) argue that existing Web technologies cater to "Western" users, who are "cash-rich but time-poor." Users in poor countries, they say, where phone lines can be hard to come by and many Internet connections are extremely slow, are in a very different boat: little money but lots of time. To address this gap, researchers are developing a search engine that sends requests by e-mail to MIT, where computers perform searches and return e-mail lists of filtered results the next day. The premise of the system, according to MIT's Saman Amarasinghe, is that "developing countries are willing to pay in time for knowledge." Because those who could benefit from the search engine have only very slow Internet connections, the software is being distributed on CDs to users in developing countries. BBC, 15 July 2003 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3065063.stm BLACKBOARD SETTLEMENT REVEALS NO REAL THREAT Blackboard Inc. has settled a lawsuit against two students who had said they were able to hack a Blackboard card reader, used on many campuses for transactions including buying food or tickets to sporting events, doing laundry, and gaining access to campus buildings. The students had been scheduled to give a presentation at a hacker conference this spring, but Blackboard won an injunction preventing them from presenting at the event. The lawsuit followed, and under the settlement reached this week the lawsuit will be dropped in exchange for an apology from the students to Blackboard and its customers, as well as 40 hours of community service. According to a spokesman from Blackboard, despite the students' claim, they never actually built a tool that would have allowed someone to cheat the card readers. Washington Post, 15 July 2003 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56080-2003Jul14.html HOUSE BILL SUPPORTS RURAL TELEMEDICINE An appropriations bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would allocate $678 million to the Department of Agriculture to fund technologies that would benefit rural medical patients. Many residents of rural parts of the country use telemedicine to "meet" with doctors and specialists, and the money in the House bill would support broadband Internet connections at institutions that support this type of medical treatment, including many colleges and universities. The allocation would represent a significant increase over current and requested funding. The Department of Agriculture received $436 million for the telemedicine program this year and requested $413 million for next year. The House's appropriations bill must be reconciled with the Senate's, and the final will go to President Bush for his signature before any of the funds become available. Chronicle of Higher Education, 16 July 2003 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/07/2003071601t.htm EU PUSHES FOR OPT-IN E-MAIL Describing spam as a global problem that will require global cooperation to address, the European Commission is calling on the United States to support strict measures to combat the growing tide of unsolicited e-mail. A tough anti-spam law goes into effect this fall in the European Union (EU), and the Commission this week introduced what it called the "second step" in the battle against spam. The EU estimates that one-third of all spam originates in the United States, meaning that cooperation with officials in the United States will be a necessary component to an EU anti-spam strategy. Unlike the opt-out approach apparently favored by the United States, however, European Commissioners are pushing for an opt-in strategy. Philippe Gerard, an official in the office of one European Commissioner, said the EU's pursuit of an opt-in approach would be hampered by an opt-out system in the United States. Gerard said U.S. officials tend to see only malicious or deceptive spam as damaging, whereas EU officials consider any unsolicited message a drain on resources. IDG, 15 July 2003 http://www.idg.net/ic_1326438_9677_1-5041.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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