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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JULY 28, 2003 House Committee Looks to Minimize E-Gov Budget Open Group Moves Toward Open Source Napster Revisited Questions Raised about Electronic Voting Systems eCollege Turns First Profit HOUSE COMMITTEE LOOKS TO MINIMIZE E-GOV BUDGET The Electronic Government (E-Gov) Act has received a chilly reception from the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, which recommended only $1 million in funding for 2004 to implement the legislation. The White House had asked for $45 million for next year and hoped that amount would rise to $150 million per year by 2006. The goal of the legislation is to encourage and facilitate a wide range of services to allow businesses and citizens to use technology to interact efficiently and easily with the government. The law establishes the Office of Electronic Government and includes regulations covering privacy and sharing of information among federal agencies. A spokesperson for the committee said the Bush administration had not justified the funding request. The Senate has not released an E-Gov funding bill. Internet News, 28 July 2003 http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/2240881 OPEN GROUP MOVES TOWARD OPEN SOURCE Responding to pressure from its members and other supporters of open-source technologies, the Open Group has announced its intention to pursue a program of more open standards. The group has been criticized for keeping some of its initiatives proprietary for too long--for not, in effect, living up to its name. A draft policy released by the group said, "We must now fully integrate open source into our operation. If not, it's time to change the name of our organization." The Open Group currently has more than 200 organizational members and offers certifications in Unix, Linux Standards Base, Wireless Access Protocol, and others. The draft policy will be open for comment for several weeks, after which time the group will implement the plan. ZDNet, 28 July 2003 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5056121.html NAPSTER REVISITED The Napster brand will reportedly reappear in the online music fray sometime near the holiday season this year. Chris Gorog, CEO of Roxio, which last year bought the remaining assets of the original Napster at a bankruptcy auction, said the new Napster would offer online music through a subscription model and as an "a la carte" service, though he declined to reveal pricing. Gorog said the new service will launch with a catalog of around 500,000 legal files to download and will embody the "independence, innovation, and freedom of choice" that were the hallmarks of the original service. Many record labels are opening up to the notion of online distribution and are working with Roxio on the upcoming Napster release, according to Gorog. "Certainly there are some artist holdouts," he said, "but we are finding the holdout artists to be very receptive to the new Napster." CNET, 28 July 2003 http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5055891.html QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS David Dill, a computer science professor at Stanford University, has voiced concerns over direct recording electronic machines, already used in some spots in the United States for elections. The machines, argues Dill, offer no verifiable paper trail to validate results. Computer bugs or malicious intervention could result in inaccurate election results, he said, with no way of going back and finding out what the actual counts were. Defenders of the machines said they are thoroughly tested, do not allow voters to accidentally vote for multiple candidates in the same race, and can be installed with printers so that voters can see exactly how their ballots were cast. Dill dismissed those arguments, however, saying oversight is lax and that information necessary to have confidence in an election is kept away from the public. Federal Computer Week, 25 July 2003 http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2003/0721/web-dre-07-25-03.asp ECOLLEGE TURNS FIRST PROFIT Denver-based eCollege has announced a profit in the second quarter of the year, the first time the company has earned a profit in its seven-year history. The company provides services to colleges and universities offering distance-education courses over the Internet, such as course-management software, data centers, and help-desk support for students and faculty. eCollege formerly earned most of its revenue from selling academic services, such as designing online courses, but the company has modified its business model such that now 95 percent of its revenue is linked directly to enrollment in online courses. Chronicle of Higher Education, 28 July 2003 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/07/2003072802t.htm ***************************************************** 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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