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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2003 RIAA Encounters Roadblock ISPs Contest RIAA Subpoenas Trojan Horse Clears Child Porn Suspect Stanford Team Promises Personalized Web Search RIAA ENCOUNTERS ROADBLOCK In what the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has deemed a "minor procedural issue," a federal judge ruled that some of the RIAA's subpoenas are invalid because they were issued from the wrong jurisdiction. Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently received subpoenas requesting the identities of students suspected of illegally trading copyrighted material, but the schools noted that the subpoenas were issued from Washington, D.C., and should not be valid in Massachusetts. Judge Joseph L. Tauro agreed and threw out those subpoenas. The RIAA said the ruling does not change the "undeniable fact" that Internet service providers, in this case the universities in question, are legally required to reveal the identities of suspected copyright violators. BBC, 11 August 2003 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3140933.stm ISPS CONTEST RIAA SUBPOENAS An organization representing Internet service providers (ISPs) will send a letter this week to the recording industry, expressing the group's concern over the ongoing subpoenas from the recording industry. The letter from NetCoalition, which represents more than 100 ISPs, requests a meeting with representatives of the recording industry to discuss how the group determines which individuals to pursue as violators and how it maintains accurate information in the subpoenas. According to the letter, NetCoalition fears that the goal of the subpoenas is to make ISPs legally accountable for the actions of their users, something the recording industry "has not yet been able to accomplish in Congress" but that it is trying to accomplish in the courts. An attorney from the recording industry association said the purpose of the subpoenas is simply to force ISPs to comply with the law. New York Times, 11 August 2003 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/11/technology/11LETT.html TROJAN HORSE CLEARS CHILD PORN SUSPECT A British man has successfully used a "Trojan horse" defense in a child pornography case. Julian Green was arrested last fall for having images of child pornography on his computer's hard drive. Green argued that he was not responsible because the images were downloaded to his computer by a malicious program, a Trojan horse, that he or another member of his family unwittingly installed on the machine. The program then routed Green's browser to pornographic sites and even connected the computer to the Internet when no one was home, according to Green. After more than 10 Trojan-horse applications were found on Green's computer, prosecutors "reluctantly offer[ed] no evidence in this case." Experts said the case offers two disturbing possibilities: that such Trojan-horse applications could offer actual child pornographers a strong defense, or that innocent persons could be convicted for having illegal images on their computers without their knowledge. New York Times, 11 August 2003 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/11/technology/11PORN.html STANFORD TEAM PROMISES PERSONALIZED WEB SEARCH Three members of Stanford University's PageRank team have founded a company on the sly they hope will revolutionize Web searches. The PageRank team's goal is to improve the algorithm developed by Larry Page, Stanford alumnus and co-founder of Google. Founders of the new company, called Kaltix, hope to use "research done at Stanford University as well as several new technologies developed at Kaltix" to introduce effective personalization to Web searches. Experts say personalization is one of the "holy grails" for search engines, and most of the major players, including Google, MSN, and Yahoo, are working to develop personalized searches. With a personalized search, the search engine gathers information about the user to limit search results to those presumably most appropriate for the user. Data collected could include information submitted by the user or details of past search history. For example, personalization would use location information to return soccer-related results for a British surfer looking for "football." CNET, 11 August 2003 http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-5061873.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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