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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2005 Defense Department to Create Vast Student Database Michigan Shares Google Contract ALA Says Nearly All Public Libraries Offer Free Internet Access Turn Your Computer into a TV Station ChoicePoint Changes Practices to Avoid Repeat Disclosure DEFENSE DEPARTMENT TO CREATE VAST STUDENT DATABASE Officials at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) have proposed the creation of a database containing information on virtually every college student in the country, as well as many high school students. Intended as a tool to aid recruitment efforts, the database would include names, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, ethnicities, grade point averages, and other data. The DoD's database bears similarities to another database proposed by the Department of Education. That database would track individual students through their college careers, providing a clearer picture of graduation rates than current records, which track only aggregate rates from institutions. The Education Department's proposed database has drawn criticism from privacy advocates, who see it as a potential risk to privacy. The DoD proposal has similarly elicited complaints from groups such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). According to EPIC, the database would be a "bad idea," putting tools of direct marketers in the hands of government officials but without affording consumers the same protections from government that they enjoy from marketers. Inside Higher Ed, 23 June 2005 http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/06/23/database MICHIGAN SHARES GOOGLE CONTRACT In an effort to address concerns that have arisen over Google's project to digitize vast numbers of books from several libraries, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has made its contract with Google available online. Google has entered into agreements with libraries at Michigan, as well as Stanford University, Harvard University, the University of Oxford, and the New York Public Library, to scan most or all of their books, including those still protected by copyright. Books in the public domain will be made available on the Web; for those under copyright, only short excerpts will be online. Critics have contended that simply making digital copies of copyrighted books is a violation of copyright protections. The contract states that if either party becomes aware of copyright infringement, it will be quickly addressed. The contract also indicates that, aside from compensation for costs of transporting books, the university will receive no money for its participation in the project. John P. Wilkin, associate university librarian at Michigan, said he hopes that by making the university's contract publicly available, critics will see that there is nothing sneaky going on between Google and the library. Chronicle of Higher Education, 20 June 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2005/06/2005062001t.htm ALA SAYS NEARLY ALL PUBLIC LIBRARIES OFFER FREE INTERNET ACCESS A study released this week by the American Library Association (ALA) indicates that 98.9 percent of libraries in the United States offer free Internet access, up from 95 percent in 2002 and just 21 percent in 1994. In addition, the study found that 18 percent of libraries offer wireless access, with another 21 percent expecting to offer it within a year. Rates of access, as well as bandwidth and the likelihood of wireless access, were higher in urban than in rural parts of the country. Nearly 40 percent of libraries use Web filters to prevent minors from accessing adult content on library computers. Carol Brey-Casiano, president of the ALA, commented that the availability of Internet-connected computers at libraries could be one reason the number of annual library visits has risen from about 500 million in the early 1990s to 1.2 billion today. New York Times, 24 June 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/national/24library.html TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A TV STATION A project led by two graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin is putting the final touches on a computer application that will allow users to turn computers into mini TV stations. The Alluvium project focuses on a technology known as "swarmcasting," which separates video files into many small pieces. Computers using Alluvium can transfer video files over relatively modest Internet connections and use video streaming technology to simulate a TV broadcast. Joseph T. Lopez, one of the students who cofounded the project, said Alluvium won't be the latest tool for pirating movies. The software is inconvenient for file traders, said Lopez, because its focus is on streaming rather than on downloading. Lopez described Alluvium as the "podcasting" of video files, allowing technical novices to widely distribute multimedia content. Alluvium will soon be available online as an open source application. Chronicle of Higher Education, 24 June 2005 http://chronicle.com/free/2005/06/2005062401t.htm CHOICEPOINT CHANGES PRACTICES TO AVOID REPEAT DISCLOSURE Following the high-profile loss of personal information on nearly 145,000 individuals, data broker ChoicePoint said it will make significant changes to its business procedures to prevent future security breaches. In its reports, the company will begin masking Social Security numbers, and it will limit the amount of business it conducts with certain customers, including private investigators, collection agencies, and small financial companies. ChoicePoint has also begun offering access to individuals--at no charge--to the information that the company keeps on them. Though not widely advertised, the new service provides one annual report of "personal public records" searches. ChoicePoint currently maintains a vast database of information culled from public and business records on nearly every adult in the United States. After the security breach that exposed so many individuals to identity theft, Congress held hearings on ChoicePoint and other data brokers and is considering tightening regulation of the data industry. Wall Street Journal, 24 June 2005 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111957007176668246,00.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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