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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2005 Developing Software to Scan Arabic Texts Round Two of MPAA Suits Court Orders Man to Reimburse Music Industry DEVELOPING SOFTWARE TO SCAN ARABIC TEXTS Computer researchers at the University at Buffalo are working on software that will allow computer scanners to read Arabic writing, including handwritten texts. Arabic is a visually complicated language, with some words, for example, having multiple representations. In addition, Arabic characters can be represented differently depending on where they appear in a word, and vowels are often not written at all. Intelligence-gathering efforts after September 11 were hampered by the lack of Arabic-language scanning software, but organizers of the project note other potential benefits, including expanded access to Arabic writings and the ability to digitize vast amounts of Arabic literature and put it on the Web. Venu Govindaraju, director of the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors at the University at Buffalo, noted that "The whole Internet is skewed toward people who speak English." Govindaraju said the software will help prevent classic texts in Arabic from "disappear[ing] into oblivion." New York Times, 27 January 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Arabic-Software.html ROUND TWO OF MPAA SUITS The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has filed a second round of lawsuits against an undisclosed number of U.S. users suspected of illegally trading copyrighted movie files. The group first filed lawsuits against individuals in November, followed by legal action against Web sites that function as file-trading hubs, including BitTorrent, eDonkey, and DirectConnect networks. MPAA Chief Executive Officer Dan Glickman said, "We cannot allow people to steal our motion pictures and other products online, and we will use all the options we have available to encourage people to obey the law." The MPAA also released a software tool called Parent File Scan that identifies file-sharing software on a computer, as well as movie and music files that might be protected by copyright. The software does not differentiate between legal and illegal files, and it does not monitor or block any downloads. Rather, it identifies files of a wide range of formats and leaves decisions about which are legitimate up to users, most of whom presumably will be parents. CNET, 26 January 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-5551903.html COURT ORDERS MAN TO REIMBURSE MUSIC INDUSTRY The Supreme Court of Norway has ordered Frank Allan Bruvik to pay 100,000 kroner (about $16,000 U.S.) to the country's music industry for copyright violations stemming from a Web site he operated. The Web site that Bruvik set up when he was a student, napster.no, was not associated with Napster but offered links for users to locate MP3 files on the Web. Bruvik's site was only online for about four months in 2001, and it did not host any music files. Nevertheless, a court ruled in 2003 that Bruvik was liable for copyright violations that his site facilitated. An appeals court overturned that ruling, but the Supreme Court has decided against Bruvik. In its ruling, the court said that Bruvik's actions did violate copyright law in that he abetted an illegal act and that his actions were premeditated. The music industry in Norway said it was pleased with the ruling, saying it demonstrates the court will not tolerate copyright violations. BBC, 28 January 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4216551.stm ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 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] ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE RESOURCES The EDUCAUSE Resource Center is a repository for information concerning use and management of IT in higher education. To access resources including articles, books, conference sessions, contracts, effective practices, plans, policies, position descriptions, and blog content, go to http://www.educause.edu/resources ***************************************************** CONFERENCES For information on all EDUCAUSE learning and networking opportunities, see http://www.educause.edu/31 ***************************************************** COPYRIGHT Edupage copyright (c) 2005, EDUCAUSE
