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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 07, 2005 VoIP Providers Tackle Security Threats Up Front Does Google Face Copyright Troubles? Media Lab Founder Proposes Inexpensive Laptop for Education Using iPods for Medical Imaging at UCLA VOIP PROVIDERS TACKLE SECURITY THREATS UP FRONT More than 20 companies involved in voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) tools and technology have formed the VoIP Security Alliance (VOIPSA) to try to stay ahead of security threats to the emerging VoIP market. "The same threats on a data network are also inherent in a VoIP deployment," said Laura Craddick, a spokesperson for TippingPoint, one of the founding members of VOIPSA. "Then there are additional risks in VoIP protocols," she added. With VoIP taking hold in some corporate sectors, and with household adoption of VoIP technology expected to rise from 400,000 to 12 million over the next five years, analysts warn of the need to anticipate threats to VoIP networks and prepare for them. VOIPSA will operate discussion lists, publish white papers, and sponsor research. Aside from TippingPoint, VOIPSA members currently include Alcatel, Avaya, Columbia University, and Symantec. Notably absent are Cisco and Nortel, which the group is actively trying to recruit. Internet News, 7 February 2005 http://www.internetnews.com/security/article.php/3469251 DOES GOOGLE FACE COPYRIGHT TROUBLES? Google's recently announced plans to scan millions of volumes in several libraries has some wondering if the project is at risk of running into copyright limitations. Google will scan books that are in the public domain and make those texts available online; the company will also scan copyrighted books and offer short excerpts of a few lines each. Some publishing groups argued that putting even small pieces online will violate copyright and that the company should seek explicit permission from copyright owners. Critics also expressed reservations about copyright determinations for books that might, for example, be in the public domain in one country but not in another. Sally C.L. Morris, chief executive of the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, said that although the sheer number of academic publishers represents a powerful disincentive to obtaining permissions from all of them, "that doesn't mean there's not a legal requirement to do it." For its part, Google insists that its actions are acceptable. Google spokesperson Steve Langdon said, "In every case, Google's presentation of the works to the public will keep authors and publishers in mind and be well within the bounds of copyright law." Chronicle of Higher Education, 7 February 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2005/02/2005020703n.htm MEDIA LAB FOUNDER PROPOSES INEXPENSIVE LAPTOP FOR EDUCATION Nicholas Negroponte is developing a sub-$100 laptop computer that he said could be a vital educational tool for children in developing countries. Negroponte, the chairman and founder of MIT's Media Lab, said the idea comes from pilot programs in Maine, in which schoolchildren were given laptops, and in Cambodia, where he and his wife have set up two schools and given the students laptops. Children can use the devices as text books, according to Negroponte, who said such computers could become "very important to the development of not just that child but now the whole family, village, and neighborhood." Negroponte noted that in Cambodia, the students use them not just as text books but also as "a TV, a telephone, and a games machine." Building a laptop for less than $100, he said, will require deleting extraneous applications and running a Linux-based operating system. "[I]f you can skinny it down," he said, "you can gain speed and the ability to use smaller processors and slower memory." Negroponte hopes to start distributing the machines by the end of 2006. BBC, 7 February 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4243733.stm USING IPODS FOR MEDICAL IMAGING AT UCLA Physicians at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), are using iPods in conjunction with an open source application developed in-house to avoid some of the steep costs of medical imaging. Physicians Osman Ratib and Antoine Rosset created Osirix, an open source tool that allows radiologists to participate in teleconferences and see high-resolution medical images on desktop Macintosh computers, rather than the $100,000 workstations that were previously required. Files for the 3D images are too large for many media, so Ratib and his team turned to the iPod, which offers a portable storage medium of 60GB. Although some cautioned that using iPods for storage presents a security risk, Ratib said the risk is no greater than with any other medium. "It's not the device, it's how you use it," he said. "When [users] are outside the institution, they can be compliant or not." CNET, 7 February 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5566145.html ***************************************************** 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. 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