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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JULY 21, 2003 Microsoft Settlement Approved FTC Warns of Identity Theft Through Spoofing Amazon to Add Text-Searching Feature AND Report Shows Steep Rise in Distance Education Recording Industry Ratchets Up Subpoenas MICROSOFT SETTLEMENT APPROVED A California judge has accepted the terms of a settlement with Microsoft under which the software maker will offer vouchers to individuals and businesses who bought certain Microsoft products between early 1995 and the end of 2001. Microsoft had been accused of overcharging for its products. The vouchers range in value from $5 to $29 and will be good for hardware or software purchases from most vendors. The maximum value of the settlement is $1.1 billion, though it could be less depending on how many vouchers are claimed. Two-thirds of unclaimed money will go to California schools; if all the vouchers are claimed, however, the schools will get nothing. The claim period, which will begin in two months, will last 60 days and will feature advertisements and various other measures to notify potentially eligible consumers. CNET, 21 July 2003 http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-1027598.html FTC WARNS OF IDENTITY THEFT THROUGH SPOOFING The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning consumers about bogus e-mails that request users to update personal information. The "spoofing" scam involves sending an e-mail claiming a billing problem or something similar. The e-mail directs users to a Web site where they are told to enter account information including names and addresses, Social Security and credit card numbers, and other data that can be used for identity theft. The FTC recently prosecuted a 17-year-old boy in California for such a scheme. The boy used the information he collected to run up an $8,000 tab of online purchases. FTC Commissioner Mozelle Thompson warned consumers to verify any e-mail they receive with the company or organization that supposedly sent the message. Washington Post, 21 July 2003 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23606-2003Jul21.html AMAZON TO ADD TEXT-SEARCHING FEATURE Amazon.com is working on a new program to offer users the ability to search thousands of nonfiction books. In the Look Inside the Book II program, users would not be able to view the entirety of any text but could search for words or phrases across many thousands of texts. The results would show the sentence where the term appears, and users could expand that sentence to see several pages before and after the term. Amazon is currently negotiating with many large publishing houses to make content available in the program, which Amazon argues will be an incentive for customers to buy more books. Most of the publishers Amazon has talked to have reportedly been interested in the program, though they are concerned about exposing too much of their material. Users who were able to see just a few pages of reference books and cookbooks, for example, might see all they need to see and not buy the book. New York Times, 21 July 2003 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/21/technology/21AMAZ.html AND ***************************************************** REPORT SHOWS STEEP RISE IN DISTANCE EDUCATION According to a new report from the Department of Education, enrollment in for-credit, distance-education courses at U.S. institutions more than doubled from the 1997-1998 academic year to the 2000-2001 academic year. The report, based on a survey of about 1,500 institutions, showed a similar rise in the number of distance-education courses offered and indicated that the percentage of institutions offering such courses rose from 44 percent to 56 percent. The survey highlighted the prevalence of Internet technologies for distance education, as well as videoconferencing and one- and two-way audio. John Bailey of the Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology said that distance education is not replacing traditional education but has become an important alternative for many students "who otherwise would not be able to participate." Chronicle of Higher Education, 21 July 2003 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/07/2003072102t.htm RECORDING INDUSTRY RATCHETS UP SUBPOENAS According to court officials, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been granted nearly 900 subpoenas for Internet users suspected of copyright violations, and new subpoenas are being issued at the rate of around 75 per day. The subpoenas demand the identities of Internet users and have been submitted to ISPs Verizon, Comcast, AOL, and EarthLink, as well as some universities, including Depaul University in Chicago. The RIAA can, under current law, ask the courts for as much as $150,000 in damages per song offered illegally. The RIAA declined to comment on the number of subpoenas it is sending out, but the organization's actions are consistent with comments made at the end of June about a concerted effort to prosecute individual file traders. Alan Davidson of the Center for Democracy and Technology believes that the number of subpoenas indicates that the RIAA is going after more than just the few, most egregious offenders. Wall Street Journal, 18 July 2003 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB105856125469179600,00.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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