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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, AUGUST 08, 2005 FCC Drops Telecom Rules on Network Access GSA Calls for Comments on Identity Management Plan FBI Issues RFP for Sentinel ALSO**************************** Kansas Supreme Court to Rule on Ownership of Faculty Work Survey Shows Mixed Impact of Internet on Students Chinese Search Engine IPO Takes Off FCC DROPS TELECOM RULES ON NETWORK ACCESS The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has dropped regulations that forced telephone companies to lease network access at FCC-determined rates to rival providers of broadband services. Internet service providers will have a year to transition from the current system. Whether the change will affect prices and availability of DSL is not known, since phone companies can profit by leasing their lines to rivals and benefit from all increased DSL purchases by U.S. customers. DSL service providers are more concerned by competition for broadband customers from cable companies, which claim 56 percent of broadband customers versus 36.5 percent for DSL, according to data from the FCC. San Jose Mercury News, 8 August 2005 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/technology/12331081.htm GSA CALLS FOR COMMENTS ON IDENTITY MANAGEMENT PLAN The General Services Administration (GSA) has called for comments on its plan for decentralized identity management. The system would permit secure single sign-on for users of online government services. A common network would link government or commercial entities that provide identity management services with the agency applications using those services. The program, called the E-Authentication Service Component, would employ this federated approach to avoid having government agencies develop their own e-authentication frameworks. Agencies could purchase and integrate a product from a government-approved provider list. The plan also calls for an E-Authentication Portal. Comments may be submitted through September 6, 2005. Federal Computer Week, 5 August 2005 http://www.fcw.com/article89823-08-05-05-Web FBI ISSUES RFP FOR SENTINEL Following cancellation in March of the Trilogy program at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which was meant to modernize the agency's computer systems, the bureau has issued a request for proposals for Sentinel, its next-generation information management system. Submissions are due by fall, with a contract expected by the end of the year. The FBI announced last week that it had deployed its public key infrastructure, which is a prerequisite for Sentinel. Federal Computer Week, 8 August 2005 http://www.fcw.com/article89836-08-08-05-Web Also***************************** KANSAS SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON OWNERSHIP OF FACULTY WORK The Kansas Supreme Court will evaluate an appellate court decision giving public institutions in Kansas the right to claim ownership of any faculty work, including books, with no negotiation on terms required. The lower court treated faculty work as "work for hire" under federal copyright law, classifying scholarly work as within the scope of employment of a faculty member. The current policy, designed in 1998, allows faculty to keep their book rights and has a revenue-sharing model for technology copyrights. Should the higher court decide in favor of the board, the policy could be changed at will. The case pits the Kansas Board of Regents against the Kansas National Education Association. Inside Higher Ed, 7 August 2005 http://insidehighered.com/news/2005/08/08/kansas SURVEY SHOWS MIXED IMPACT OF INTERNET ON STUDENTS A survey conducted in May 2004 by Steve Jones, professor of communciation at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Camille Johnson-Yale, a graduate student in communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, determined that 42 percent of the professors surveyed saw a decline in the quality of student work with the advent of the Internet, while 22 percent noted an improvement. However, a majority of respondents, 67 percent, indicated that the Internet had improved their communication with students. The nationwide survey of 2,316 faculty elicited a concern with student plagiarism, and 74 percent of respondents said they use the Internet or other tools to detect plagiarism. The researchers have presented some of their findings at academic conferences and have submitted their work to a peer-reviewed academic journal. Chronicle of Higher Education, 7 August 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i49/49a03201.htm CHINESE SEARCH ENGINE IPO TAKES OFF Chinese search engine company Baidu.com launched its initial public offering (IPO) of shares Friday on the Nasdaq stock market. The stocks were priced at $27, opened at $66, and rose to $122.54 by market close. Investors in Baidu include Google and several Silicon Valley venture capital firms. Baidu is the top search engine in China, followed by Google, and there is speculation that Google might attempt to acquire the company in the future. New York Times, 7 August 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/08/technology/08baidu.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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