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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 08, 2005 UC Electronic Reserves Rankle Publishers Coding Contest Shows U.S. Students Falling Behind E-Rate Indictments Handed Down Philadelphia Announces Citywide Wi-Fi U.K. Initiative Backs Open Source UC ELECTRONIC RESERVES RANKLE PUBLISHERS A system that handles electronic reserves at the University of California (UC) in San Diego has prompted complaints from publishers that the university has far exceeded the bounds of fair use. With the system, materials that faculty put on reserve are made available electronically, allowing students to access and even print them from outside the university library. The Association of American Publishers objected, saying that electronic access substantially changes the traditional terms of reserve materials and deprives publishers of sales. Publishers have previously won legal challenges to the production of coursepacks, which the courts said do not fall under the terms of fair use. The publishing group insisted the same applies to electronic resources. Representatives of UC disputed the claims, saying the reserve system does not infringe on sales of texts. Jonathan Franklin, associate law librarian at the University of Washington, noted that the fair use law is not clear and commented that if the disagreement is ultimately settled by the courts, such a resolution might provide needed clarification for all concerned. Chronicle of Higher Education, 7 April 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2005/04/2005040701t.htm CODING CONTEST SHOWS U.S. STUDENTS FALLING BEHIND At this year's Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest, the University of Illinois's tie for 17th place was the best result for any U.S. team, representing the worst performance for U.S. institutions in the 29 years of the competition. Many observers believe the result is indicative of a variety of factors that have resulted in a striking shift in technological preeminence away from U.S. schools and companies. As recently as 1997, the United States came out on top, when a team from Harvey Mudd College won the competition. David Patterson, president of the Association for Computing Machinery and a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, noted, "The U.S. used to dominate these kinds of programming Olympics." Others pointed out that applications from outside the United States to computer science and other technology programs at U.S. graduate schools have dropped lately. ZDNet, 7 April 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-5659116.html E-RATE INDICTMENTS HANDED DOWN Six companies and five individuals have been indicted on charges of fraud in the federal E-Rate program, which was instituted to provide funds to connect public schools and libraries to the Internet. A year ago, a subsidiary of NEC admitted defrauding the program and settled with prosecutors for $20.7 million. Those indicted this week were charged with fraud, collusion, and rigging bids. According to the Justice Department, the accused misrepresented financial terms of E-Rate projects to school administrators and colluded on pricing and terms of government contracts. The violations are said to have taken place in seven states, though all but one defendant are based in California. The individuals charged face up to five years in prison, and the indicted companies could be fined as much as $10 million. Wall Street Journal, 8 April 2005 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111292755907301701,00.html PHILADELPHIA ANNOUNCES CITYWIDE WI-FI City officials in Philadelphia have announced plans to build a $15 million Wi-Fi network that will cover its entire 135-square-mile area. Using wireless access points installed on light poles across the city, the network, which is scheduled to be up in the late summer of 2006, will provide access to all of the city's residents for between $16 and $20 per month, or about half of what commercial providers charge. Mayor John Street said the city has an obligation to provide such services, and city officials hope the network will create about 3,000 jobs and increase household connectivity from 58 percent today to 80 percent in five years. Opponents of the plan faulted the city for allocating funds for the network when other city services and jobs are being cut. City Councilman Frank Rizzo said a citywide wireless network will be beneficial but that "it's not the government's job to do it." Supporters contended the network will provide access to low- and middle-income residents often not served by commercial providers. Reuters, 7 April 2005 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=8119194 U.K. INITIATIVE BACKS OPEN SOURCE The government in the United Kingdom is sponsoring an initiative designed to encourage use of open source applications among public agencies. The Open Source Academy will offer a number of resources to public-sector offices, including a code repository and an open source platform with which agencies can collaborate on software projects. The Open Source Academy will also share news and information about the adoption and use of open source technology in a variety of sectors. Mark Taylor, executive director of the Open Source Consortium, which is involved in the new initiative, said the public sector in the United Kingdom trails that in other European countries and that the new program should help close that gap. Taylor also commented that the notion that open source is only beneficial to poorer countries is a myth he hopes to dispel. CNET, 7 April 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-5658354.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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