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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, APRIL 04, 2005 DARPA Funds Diverted from Universities Feds Set to Choose Method for Tracking Exiting Students Colleges Opting for Legal Download Services Higher Ed Fares Below Average for Computer Security DARPA FUNDS DIVERTED FROM UNIVERSITIES Confirming rumors among academics at a number of colleges and universities, the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has acknowledged a shift away from university projects. DARPA has long been a supporter of broad-ranging, long-term research initiatives at institutions of higher education, and many credit such programs with many of the innovations that underpin today's household technologies. In seeking shorter-term projects with more concrete deliverables, however, DARPA has significantly cut back funds for university projects. Since 2001, the portion of DARPA's relatively stable budget allocated to university projects has dropped by nearly 50 percent. Many in the research community fear that the shift away from basic, open-ended research will result in slower technological progress. Ed Lazowska, a computer scientist at the University of Washington and co-chairman of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, said, "Virtually every aspect of information technology upon which we rely today bears the stamp of federally sponsored university research." He characterized DARPA's change in focus as "killing the goose that laid the golden egg." New York Times, 2 April 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/02/technology/02darpa.html FEDS SET TO CHOOSE METHOD FOR TRACKING EXITING STUDENTS Officials at the Department of Homeland Security are expected to issue a decision soon about the required procedure for foreign students who are leaving the United States. The US-VISIT program, which tracks visiting scholars and is designed to prevent terrorists from entering the country on student visas, lacks a consistent process for keeping tabs on individuals who leave the country. One proposal would require individuals to visit a kiosk at the airport, where they would be fingerprinted and photographed. Under another proposal, screening officers would take fingerprints and photos at airport gates and check them against the US-VISIT database. The third proposal would combine elements of the other two. The department is conducting a study of the three options, and a report is expected in a few weeks identifying which method will provide the greatest level of security without excessively interfering with convenience or impinging on privacy. Federal Computer Week, 1 April 2005 http://www.fcw.com/article88459-04-01-05-Web COLLEGES OPTING FOR LEGAL DOWNLOAD SERVICES Legal download services are popping up at colleges and universities around the country in an effort to break students from the cycle of copyright violations spawned by P2P services and fast campus networks. Companies including Ruckus Networks, RealNetworks, Cdigix, and Napster have arrangements to provide free, legal downloads of music, movies, and television programs to campus users. Although the terms of most deals are not made public, in some cases Sony BMG Music Entertainment has funded the full cost of trial programs. At the University of North Carolina system, for example, Sony BMG provided $150,000 in one semester to provide downloading service to five campuses, according to Thomas C. Warner, director of coordinated technology management at the university. Technical and policy hurdles remain, such as what happens to subscriber songs and movies after students graduate, but supporters of campus download services argue that they can develop into viable, long-term alternatives to illegal file sharing. Wired News, 3 April 2005 http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,67114,00.html HIGHER ED FARES BELOW AVERAGE FOR COMPUTER SECURITY A recent spate of computer-security incidents at colleges and universities has drawn attention to the apparent tension between concerns over academic freedom and the need to protect sensitive information. Stanton S. Gatewood, chief information security officer at the University of Georgia, which suffered a security breach last year, noted that higher education is "built on the free flow of information and ideas," saying that college and university networks are designed based on that ideal. The result, however, is a tempting target for information thieves. According to the Office of Privacy Protection in California, colleges and universities in that state have accounted for more data incidents since 2003--close to 30 percent--than any other group. Although some states now prohibit using Social Security numbers as identifiers in many databases, their continued prevalence makes changing structures difficult. The University of Michigan, for example, spent seven years weaning itself off Social Security numbers. Because testing agencies and other organizations continue to use them, however, the university finds it still has to track them. New York Times, 4 April 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/04/technology/04data.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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