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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2005 Lost UC Berkeley Laptop Recovered Blogs Enlisted for Recruitment RIAA Targets More P2P Services Dutch To Track All Citizens, Forever Congress Circulates Drafts of Telecom Rewrite LOST UC BERKELEY LAPTOP RECOVERED A laptop stolen in March from the University of California at Berkeley has been recovered, after being bought and sold several times, ultimately landing in South Carolina. When stolen, the computer contained sensitive data on more than 98,000 UC Berkeley graduate students, but by the time it was recovered, all of its files and operating system had been cleared, making it impossible to determine if the personal information was accessed after the theft. Following the theft, the university worked to contact those whose data was contained on the computer, as required by California law, and also hired an outside consultant to audit the institution's practices of handling such data, according to spokesperson Janet Gilmore. The university is currently assessing the recommendations of that audit and how to implement them. PCWorld, 16 September 2005 http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122576,00.asp BLOGS ENLISTED FOR RECRUITMENT A number of colleges and universities have begun including student blogs in the list of resources used in effort to attract new students. According to David Hawkins, director of public policy at the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, high school counselors and students want highly personal information as part of their recommendations and decisions about what college to attend. The personal, free-form nature of blog writing offers institutions just the kind of insight into the daily lives of students that prospective students are looking for. Lewis and Clark College, which highlights nine student blogs, advises bloggers to use discretion in what they enter in their blogs, which are not censored. "We tell bloggers your mother is going to read this, and your grandmother is going to be reading this," said Mike Sexton, dean of admissions at Lewis and Clark. Wall Street Journal, 15 September 2005 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112675037631641431,00-search.html RIAA TARGETS MORE P2P SERVICES Following its Supreme Court victory against Grokster in June, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has sent cease-and-desist letters to seven unnamed providers of P2P services. In the Grokster case, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that operators of P2P services are in part liable for the copyright infringements of their users and bear some responsibility for trying to prevent illegal file trading on their networks. The new cease-and-desist letters mention the Grokster case, saying the newly targeted companies are subject to similar legal standards, and invites those companies to contact the RIAA if they are interested in "pre-litigation resolution of these claims against you." Although the RIAA did not name the P2P providers who received the letters, likely candidates include eDonkey, LimeWire, Kazaa, BearShare, WinMX, and Free Peers. According to an RIAA spokesperson, "Companies situated similarly to Grokster have been given ample opportunity to do the right thing." CNET, 15 September 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-5867085.html DUTCH TO TRACK ALL CITIZENS, FOREVER Beginning in 2007, the Dutch Ministry of Health will begin tracking all citizens of the country in a single database from their births to their deaths. Each person will be added to the database at birth, with health and family information included. As people in the database age, information from schools, doctors, and the police will be added. In an effort to protect privacy, no individual will be permitted to see any person's complete file. Various governmental agencies, however, will be able to add "red flags" to a file if they notice something that might be cause for concern, according to Jan Brouwer, spokesperson for the Health Ministry. Brouwer suggested that someone at child protection services might find that for an individual, red flags had been added by the police, the school, and a doctor, which would likely indicate a problem that should be addressed. Truancy is often correlated with criminality, for example, and the new database will allow tracking such patterns. Wired News, 15 September 2005 http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,68866,00.html CONGRESS CIRCULATES DRAFTS OF TELECOM REWRITE The House Energy and Commerce Committee has circulated a draft of legislation that would revise the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which is widely considered obsolete, given the technology developments that have happened since it was enacted. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), chair of the committee, has said that revising the law is a "top priority" and that he hopes to see a bill introduced this year. In general, the draft aims to create parity among different types of providers of digital services, including voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone service. The draft also takes a position on neutrality, requiring providers to allow subscribers equal access to available content, using any hardware they choose. Municipal networks would also be protected under the terms of this draft. Gigi Sohn, president of the digital-rights advocacy nonprofit Public Knowledge, said she was "pleased to see many of the pro-competitive features of the draft." Peter B. Davidson, senior vice president for federal government relations at Verizon, noted the importance of the rewrite of the Telecom Act, saying whatever legislation eventually passes "will have a tremendous impact on broadband deployment, video competition and consumer choice, economic development, job growth, and America's international competitiveness." ZDNet, 15 September 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5867642.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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