***************************************************** Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. *****************************************************
TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2005 College Bookstores Test Access to Digital Textbooks Univ. Receives Federal Support for VoIP Tracking Technology U.K. Schools Test Value of Games Hackers Hit Another University Students Face Punishment for Computer Tampering Spammer Settles with Microsoft COLLEGE BOOKSTORES TEST ACCESS TO DIGITAL TEXTBOOKS Ten colleges and universities are participating in a pilot project of selling electronic texts through the campuses' bookstores. Previously, electronic textbooks typically have only been available from individual publishers or online. Organizers of the project hope that by making the texts available from the campus bookstores, they will be able to accurately gauge student demand for the technology. Each participating institution will offer 25 to 30 texts electronically, though the books will also be available in paper form. Electronic texts will be priced at one-third less than hard-copy textbooks. Students who choose the electronic option will download a copy of the text to a computer, where they can read it, print it, search it for keywords, or listen to an audio version of it. The electronic text will have restrictions, however. The text cannot be transferred to any other computer, it cannot be printed in its entirety at one time, and it will only be available for five months, after which point it cannot be sold back to the bookstore. Chronicle of Higher Education, 9 August 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2005/08/2005080901t.htm UNIV. RECEIVES FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR VOIP TRACKING TECHNOLOGY The National Science Foundation has given researchers at George Mason University a grant of more than $300,000 to develop a technology that would allow limited eavesdropping on voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone calls. Xinyuan Wang, assistant professor of software engineering at the university and principal investigator, has shown that his method can successfully trace VoIP users without their knowledge. As VoIP service has become more common, law enforcement officials have pointed out that they have no way of tapping such phone calls, potentially resulting in a "haven for criminals, terrorists, and spies," according to the Federal Communications Commission. The technology that Wang and his colleagues are working on does not decrypt conversations. It tracks packets as they move from one user to another, allowing authorities to see who is talking to whom, but not to see what they are saying. Wang conceded that "from a privacy advocate's point of view, this is an attack on privacy," but he also noted that "from a police point of view, this is a way to trace things." CNET, 9 August 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-5825932.html U.K. SCHOOLS TEST VALUE OF GAMES Four secondary schools in the United Kingdom will be part of a research project designed to determine what educational value lies in computer gaming and what changes could be made to computer games to create or increase that value. The project, which is funded by game maker Electronic Arts and led by educational organization Futurelab, will primarily study mainstream games rather than so-called edutainment programs, which are created specifically for educational purposes. Researchers will work with teachers to develop lessons that incorporate commercial games, looking for benefits students gain from playing those games. Initial results from the project are expected in about a year. BBC, 10 August 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4134530.stm HACKERS HIT ANOTHER UNIVERSITY Sonoma State University, an hour north of San Francisco, has become the latest in a growing list of universities to suffer a hacker attack that put personal information of students and staff at risk. At Sonoma State, hackers in July gained access to several computer workstations, which allowed them to access a number of other computers before university staff detected and put an end to the intrusion. In all, the hackers had access to names and Social Security numbers of nearly 62,000 students, applicants, or employees of the university between 1995 and 2002. A spokesperson for the university said the hackers did not have access to financial information and noted that there is currently no evidence that any of the information has been misused. Nevertheless, the university is required by state law to contact individuals whose personal information has been compromised, and the university is working to do just that. The university has set up a Web site with information and is advising affected individuals to contact credit-reporting agencies to be on the lookout for possible identity fraud. San Francisco Chronicle, 9 August 2005 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/09/BAGLJE50C81.DTL STUDENTS FACE PUNISHMENT FOR COMPUTER TAMPERING Thirteen high school students in the Kutztown Area School District in Pennsylvania face felony charges of tampering with computers after defeating security measures on laptops issued to them by the school district. The laptops included Internet filters and an application that allowed district administrators to see what students did with the computers. The 13 used administrator passwords--which, for unknown reasons, were taped to the backs of the computers--to override the filters and download software such as iChat that the district policy forbids. The students also modified the monitoring program so that they could see what the administrators did with their computers. The students and their parents argued that the felony charges are unwarranted, but, according to the district, students and parents signed acceptable use policies that clearly state what activities are not allowed and that warn of legal consequences if the policy is violated. The students continued to violate district policies for use of the computers even after detentions, suspensions, and other punishments, according to the district. Only then did school officials contact the police. Wired News, 9 August 2005 http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68480,00.html SPAMMER SETTLES WITH MICROSOFT Microsoft has reached a settlement with Scott Richter, a man once described as one of the top three spammers in the world. Efforts by Microsoft and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in 2003 resulted in the collection of 8,000 e-mail messages containing 40,000 fraudulent statements sent by Richter's company, OptInRealBig. Richter earlier agreed to pay New York State $50,000; under the new settlement, Richter will pay Microsoft $7 million. According to Bradford L. Smith, chief counsel for the software giant, $5 million would be used to "increase our Internet enforcement efforts and expand technical and investigative support to help law enforcement address computer-related crimes," while another $1 million will be spent on improving computer access for the poor in New York State. The settlement also requires Richter to comply with state and federal laws governing e-mail and to submit to oversight of his company's operations for three years. New York Times, 10 August 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/technology/10spam.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. To access resources including articles, books, conference sessions, contracts, effective practices, plans, policies, position descriptions, and blog content, go to http://www.educause.edu/resources ***************************************************** CONFERENCES For information on all EDUCAUSE learning and networking opportunities, see http://www.educause.edu/31 ***************************************************** COPYRIGHT Edupage copyright (c) 2005, EDUCAUSE
