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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, MAY 24, 2004 RIAA Announces More Lawsuits Europeans Continue Trading Copyrighted Files Phishing Scams Grow in Number and Sophistication Lawsuit Challenges CAPPS II RIAA ANNOUNCES MORE LAWSUITS The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) this week announced another 493 lawsuits against individuals for trading copyrighted files, bringing the total number of such suits to nearly 3,000. The RIAA continues to file so-called "John Doe" lawsuits against individuals whose identities it can then obtain from Internet service providers. The RIAA has settled more than 400 lawsuits with individuals, but the group also announced that it has filed 24 suits against people whose identities it has discovered through John Doe suits. According to the RIAA, the 24 who were sued by name declined to settle out of court. Reuters, 24 May 2004 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=5238247 EUROPEANS CONTINUE TRADING COPYRIGHTED FILES According to research by British Internet-filtering firm Sandvine, threats of legal action against file traders have had no effect on the level of music and movie piracy among British users. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) announced recently it would follow the lead of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and begin suing file traders in the United Kingdom for copyright violations. Despite a drop of about 5 percent in illegal file trading in the United States following the start of RIAA legal actions against individuals, the threat of similar action in the United Kingdom has left file sharing "as robust as ever," according to Sandvine. Jay Berman of the IFPI expressed optimism that the burgeoning legal online music business, from providers such as iTunes and Napster, combined with the risk of prosecution for illegal downloading will drive growing numbers of users away from digital piracy. Berman noted, "The aim of the legal actions is to raise awareness and support the legal services in their development." BBC, 24 May 2004 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3743065.stm PHISHING SCAMS GROW IN NUMBER AND SOPHISTICATION According to a report from the Anti-Phishing Working Group, the number of phishing scams jumped 180 percent from March to April of this year, with scams against Citibank customers accounting for the largest portion. In March, the group reported 402 separate phishing scams. That number rose to 1,125 in April, of which 475 were directed at customers of Citibank. Formerly, customers of eBay and PayPal topped the list of those most frequently targeted. When the working group began tracking such scams in November 2003, it reported just 28. According to a recent report from Gartner Inc., phishing scams, which try to trick users into disclosing personal information by masquerading as e-mail from or Web sites of legitimate companies, have affected close to one million people and cost $1.2 billion. In addition to a growing number of such scams, the level of sophistication has risen. In one recent scam, a Web site used a floating address bar with a U.S. Bancorp URL placed in front of the URL line of the Web browser so that users believed they were at a U.S. Bancorp site. Wall Street Journal, 24 May 2004 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108517647174918282,00.html LAWSUIT CHALLENGES CAPPS II Four residents of Alaska have filed a lawsuit challenging the government's Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) program, which would screen airline passengers and assign them a color code for risk of being terrorists. A similar suit filed by Jon Gilmore was thrown out by the court, which said Gilmore, who lives in California, did not have a constitutional right to fly. The Alaskans in the new suit argue that because of the geography of where they live, traveling by plane is a necessity. John Davis, one of the plaintiffs and the superintendent of the Bering Strait School District, spends about half the year traveling, all of it by plane. "I don't have access to an automobile," said Davis, "and even if I did, I couldn't take it anywhere outside of my community because there are no roads." At stake, said Davis, is whether he is able to "fly in absolute secrecy, outside the purview of my legislators." Another of the plaintiffs, travel agent Sally Huntley, said she objects to the provision of CAPPS II that would require her to disclose information about her clients to the government. "This isn't about security," Huntley said of CAPPS II, "this is about a violation of our rights." Wired News, 24 May 2004 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,63563,00.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/ 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/ ***************************************************** 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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