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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JULY 01, 2005 Testing the Computer Smarts of Today's Students U.S. Will Keep Control of Internet Root U.S. Leads International Piracy Raids HP Claims Progress on Quantum Computing TESTING THE COMPUTER SMARTS OF TODAY'S STUDENTS A group of colleges and universities is working with the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to create a test that will measure the Internet intelligence of college students. Although today's students are extremely comfortable with technology, many do not have the skills to distinguish trustworthy information online from the vast amounts of information available through search engines, according to Lorie Roth, assistant vice chancellor of Academic Programs at California State University, one of the institutions involved in the project. The test is being designed to assess students' abilities to locate information, choose appropriate sources from search results, and properly cite the sources of information they would use for a project. Teresa Egan, project manager for the Information and Communication Technology Literacy Assessment at ETS, said some schools plan to use the exam to test incoming students to identify those who need to fill in gaps in their basic understanding of the Internet, while other institutions might use the test to assess whether educational programs about Internet research have been effective. San Jose Mercury News, 1 July 2005 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/12035418.htm U.S. WILL KEEP CONTROL OF INTERNET ROOT Despite previous statements from U.S. officials that the country would cede its control over the Internet to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a set of principles outlined this week by the Bush administration states that no such transfer of control will take place. The United States maintains control of the "root" system that determines which domains will function, including not just generic domains such as .com and .org but also country-specific domains. The principles, which were announced unexpectedly at a conference in Washington, D.C., are seen by many as a snub of the world community in general and of certain of its critics in particular. Pakistan and Brazil, for example, have long complained that the United States has too much control over the Internet and should give the world's poorer countries the opportunity to be equal participants. ZDNet, 30 June 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5770937.html U.S. LEADS INTERNATIONAL PIRACY RAIDS Authorities in 11 countries, led by the FBI, conducted raids on the operators of Internet operations suspected of pirating movies, software, and computer games. The raids, which were conducted in the United States, Canada, Israel, France, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, and Australia, led to the arrests of seven individuals, the seizure of $50 million worth of pirated material, and the shutting down of eight servers used to distribute the copyrighted works. According to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the raids also identified more than 120 other individuals allegedly involved in Internet piracy. Targeted in the raids were 14 so-called "warez" groups, which are the source for possibly as much as 95 percent of copyrighted material that is available online. Because operators of warez groups traditionally employ extensive measures to mask their identities and hide what they are doing, the groups have proven especially difficult for authorities to penetrate. Those arrested could face fines and jail terms, including up to 10 years in prison for distributing content prior to its commercial release. BBC, 1 July 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4640439.stm HP CLAIMS PROGRESS ON QUANTUM COMPUTING Researchers at HP said they have taken a significant step in the development of a functioning quantum computer, and the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is contributing as much as $10 million to support the project. As opposed to the transistors--which can register either 1 or 0--that underlie today's computer processors, quantum computing is based on the physics of subatomic particles, allowing so-called "qubits" to represent both 1 and 0 simultaneously. The result could be vastly expanded processing power of quantum computers compared to those based on transistors. Tthe DARPA funding will be used by the researchers to construct a functioning prototype. One researcher commented that to perform a single demonstration will not be difficult; the challenge lies in doing it reliably and "in a way that will allow us to do quantum information processing." Other quantum physics researchers question the basis of the HP team's approach, saying that fundamentally different approaches to quantum computing hold more promise. New York Times, 1 July 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/technology/01hewlett.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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