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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2004 PeopleSoft Modifies Customer Assurance Program Justice Department Supports New Antipiracy Authority Supreme Court Turns Down RIAA Laptops Prepare Students for College, Bridge Income Gaps PEOPLESOFT MODIFIES CUSTOMER ASSURANCE PROGRAM Officials at PeopleSoft have made changes to the company's Customer Assurance Program to address the concerns of Oracle and of the judge presiding over Oracle's lawsuit challenging the program. Oracle has sued PeopleSoft over the program, which guarantees PeopleSoft customers significant payments if PeopleSoft is acquired and the acquiring company does not continue support of PeopleSoft products. Oracle has complained that they cannot accurately estimate the amount of liability they would face if they took over PeopleSoft, and the judge in the case has expressed concerns that the payments to customers could be triggered unreasonably. On the witness stand this week, PeopleSoft Copresident Kevin Parker said that the program has been modified to include new customer definitions and to avoid triggering the payments as long as Oracle supports PeopleSoft customers at the same level as its own. Wall Street Journal, 13 October 2004 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109768469963644247,00.html JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUPPORTS NEW ANTIPIRACY AUTHORITY A report released Tuesday by the U.S. Justice Department calls for significant changes to the nation's antipiracy laws and expresses the department's support of pending copyright legislation. In the report, the Justice Department endorses the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act as well as the Induce Act, both of which are strongly supported by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America. Opponents of the bills include P2P companies as well as many leading technology firms, such as EarthLink, Google, Sun Microsystems, and Red Hat. The report also calls on Congress to introduce legislation that would allow wiretaps for investigations into intellectual property crimes and would create a new crime of "importation" of pirated material. The report recommends posting FBI agents in places such as Hong Kong, Budapest, and Hungary to aid efforts to limit intellectual property crimes. Comparing the report's recommendations to Prohibition, Phil Corwin, a lobbyist for Sharman Networks, which distributes the Kazaa file-sharing software, cautioned that lawmakers should "think long and hard" before establishing laws that put individual file traders on the same footing as organized crime. CNET, 12 October 2004 http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5406654.html SUPREME COURT TURNS DOWN RIAA In a move expected by some observers, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case brought by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) concerning fast-track subpoenas. The RIAA formerly used fast-track subpoenas, which do not require judicial review, to learn the identities of users it suspected of illegal file trading. In December, a federal appeals court ruled that the RIAA's tactic was illegal and that the organization must file individual lawsuits against those it alleges have violated copyright. Filing such "John Doe" lawsuits to learn the identities of computer users is much more costly and time-consuming than the batch process, and the RIAA had hoped that the Supreme Court would reinstate its ability to use fast-track subpoenas. Jonathan L. Zittrain, law professor and codirector of Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said he had expected that the Supreme Court would not hear the case given the amount of legislative activity surrounding copyright issues in the digital age. Chronicle of Higher Education, 13 October 2004 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2004/10/2004101302n.htm LAPTOPS PREPARE STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE, BRIDGE INCOME GAPS Laptop programs are showing up at a number of high schools around the United States, including T.C. Williams High School in Washington, D.C., which this week issued 2,100 laptops to its students. Technology literacy is one of the primary goals of such programs, as is ensuring that students from varying socioeconomic backgrounds have equal access to such technology. John Crites, head of technical support for the Alexandria school district, said of the $1.4 million program to supply all students with laptops, "It gives us the ability to level the playing field." In an effort to control how the computers are used, administrators of the program at T.C. Williams configured the school's laptops to allow Internet access only on school grounds, installed several Web filters, and elected not to allow instant messaging or e-mail, though a limited e-mail system may be added later. Washington Post, 13 October 2004 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28050-2004Oct12.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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