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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2003 Student Ends Legal Challenge to RIAA DHS Proposes $100 Fee for SEVIS Students Virginia Tech's Budget Supercomputer Faster than Most Senate Passes Anti-Spam Bill Congress Takes the Piracy Issue Global STUDENT ENDS LEGAL CHALLENGE TO RIAA A Boston College student has given up her legal challenge to the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) subpoena to learn her identity in connection with alleged copyright violations. The student, whose identity has not been made public, had called the subpoena powers of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) unconstitutional and was fighting to keep her identity from the RIAA. In the face of growing legal costs and concerns that the RIAA would learn her identity through some other channel, the student withdrew her motion to quash the subpoena and has reached a monetary settlement with the RIAA, according to David E. Plotkin, the student's attorney. In addition, the U.S. Justice Department recently voiced support of the subpoena provision, possibly adding to the student's unease. Under the settlement, the student admits no wrongdoing but will pay the RIAA "in the range" of $2,500, said Plotkin. An attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union said the settlement does not change the group's position that subpoena provisions of the DMCA are unconstitutional. Chronicle of Higher Education, 23 October 2003 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2003/10/2003102302n.htm DHS PROPOSES $100 FEE FOR SEVIS STUDENTS Officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have proposed charging international students a one-time fee of $100 to fund ongoing support and maintenance of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Beginning this year, individuals entering the United States on student visas must be entered into SEVIS, which was developed to keep tabs on visiting students. Asa Hutchinson, DHS undersecretary for border and transportation security, said SEVIS has not received funding from Congress since fiscal 2002, when $36 million was used to develop the system. Since that time, SEVIS has been criticized for technology problems and for being behind schedule, and Hutchinson said the new fee could be used to upgrade the system and address concerns raised. Colleges and universities have expressed reluctance to be responsible for collecting the fees, a position the U.S. State Department shares. DHS will therefore have to develop a system to collect the fees. Federal Computer Week, 22 October 2003 http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/1020/web-sevis-10-22-03.asp VIRGINIA TECH'S BUDGET SUPERCOMPUTER FASTER THAN MOST A supercomputer assembled from 1,100 dual-processor Macintosh G5 PCs by researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has achieved performance numbers that put it fourth on the list of the fastest 500 computers worldwide. The computer's speed of 8.1 teraflops, demonstrated in early testing, is remarkable because the computer was built in about a month for just over $5 million. Most supercomputers of similar performance take years to build and typically cost between $100 million and $250 million. Virginia Tech's supercomputer also marks the first Macintosh-based machine on the top 500 list in a long time. Researchers noted that the computer's early speed of 8.1 teraflops only uses 48 percent of the machine's theoretical capacity and said the number may go higher as the computer is fine-tuned. CNET, 23 October 2003 http://news.com.com/2100-7337_3-5095026.html SENATE PASSES ANTI-SPAM BILL The U.S. Senate this week voted 97-0 to pass the nation's first federal anti-spam legislation. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), targets the most egregious offenders, including body-enhancement and pornographic spammers, and has the support of many legitimate e-mail marketers. The bill, which would supercede all state anti-spam legislation, does not allow individuals to file lawsuits against spammers, reserving lawsuits for e-mail providers. The bill also directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate developing a federal do-not-spam list, similar to the recently established do-not-call list, though separate Congressional action would be required to force the FTC to implement such a list. Many agree that a do-not-spam list would need to clear a significant number of technical and policy hurdles to be secure and effective. Washington Post, 23 October 2003 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3243-2003Oct22.html CONGRESS TAKES THE PIRACY ISSUE GLOBAL The U.S. Congress this week announced the creation of the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus, a bipartisan group that will work to address copyright and piracy issues internationally. Made up of members of both houses of Congress, the caucus "will help us find new ways to reduce the scourge of piracy abroad," said Joe Biden (D-Del.), one of the co-chairs of the caucus. Brazil, China, Pakistan, Russia, and Taiwan were identified by the caucus as countries where piracy is a significant problem. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), another co-chair of the caucus, described the United States as the world's leading producer of "creative works that entertain, inform, and educate the world" and said the country thus has the most to lose to the growing problem of digital piracy. Caucus efforts will include Congressional briefings on international intellectual property issues, demonstrations of technologies designed to help guard against piracy, and advocacy on related legislative efforts in the House and the Senate. Internet News, 22 October 2003 http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/3097031 ***************************************************** 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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