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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2005 Upping the Ante for Videoconferencing California Judge Rules Against Disclosure EU Data-Retention Plans Draw Criticism New Tools Rate Safety of Web Sites UPPING THE ANTE FOR VIDEOCONFERENCING Researchers are set to test a videoconferencing system that will significantly raise the bar for such technology. A demonstration of the new system will link speakers between the University of California, San Diego, and Keio University in Tokyo--a distance of roughly 9,000 miles--with video images at 4K resolution, or about 4,000 pixels wide. Attendees at the iGrid 2005 conference will be able to witness the demonstration on special displays made by Sony. Movie studios see 4K technology as the next step toward digital projection. They are about to introduce 2K digital video in some theaters in the United States and Japan. Many observers, however, argue that the higher-resolution standard will be necessary to replace the existing 35-millimeter film format and to legitimately compete with HDTV. Scientific research also stands to benefit from the new standard. Many fields now depend on complex imaging, and an optical infrastructure that can support extremely high-resolution images promises to expand the bounds of scientific research. New York Times, 26 September 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/26/business/26video.html CALIFORNIA JUDGE RULES AGAINST DISCLOSURE A California judge has ruled against plaintiffs who had accused CardSystems Solutions, Visa, and MasterCard of failing to notify them as required by state law following a computer breach that exposed the personal information of 40 million individuals. The breach happened in June, and, according to CardSystems Solutions, records on approximately 200,000 individuals were taken from the network. California law requires notification in most such cases, and a law firm in the state had brought a class action suit against the companies, which had refused to pursue notifications. The suit sought to compel the companies to notify all affected consumers and to cover any fees or other expenses incurred as a result of ID theft stemming from the incident. Judge Richard Kramer found for the defendants, however, saying he failed to see the emergency. "I don't think there is an immediate threat of irreparable injury" to consumers, he said. The Register, 24 September 2005 http://www.theregister.com/2005/09/24/data_id_theft_secret/ EU DATA-RETENTION PLANS DRAW CRITICISM Peter Hustinx, data protection supervisor for the European Union (EU), has voiced his criticism of two antiterrorism proposals for their stance on data retention. Neither the proposal by the European Commission nor one drafted by EU governments makes a compelling case for holding on to sensitive data as part of antiterrorism efforts, said Hustinx. The EU proposal, he noted, would allow for the retention of information such as times of phone calls for up to three years. Hustinx said that any measures put forth should comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. Those that do not are "not just unacceptable but illegal." The chair of the EU negotiations, British Home Secretary Charles Clarke, is urging European governments to forgo some measure of civil liberties in return for broader authority for law enforcement to investigate suspected terrorists. San Jose Mercury News, 26 September 2005 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/12746814.htm NEW TOOLS RATE SAFETY OF WEB SITES Two new tools from GeoTrust offer Internet users another layer of protection against a range of online scams. The TrustWatch Search site and TrustWatch Toolbar both provide indications about the probable reliability of sites users are visiting, in an effort to help consumers avoid being victimized by phishing scams or by other forms of fraudulent Web sites. The tools evaluate sites for security practices such as certain forms of authentication or use of a Secure Sockets Layer certificate. Sites are also screened against a black list of known fraud sites and checked for patterns that would indicate potentially malicious intent. Users are shown a green signal to indicate a verified site, a yellow signal for suspect sites, and a red signal for sites that cannot be verified. The toolbar provides users with a real-time screen for sites they visit; the search site returns search results--powered by Ask Jeeves--with one of the three indicators for each site returned. CNET, 25 September 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-5879068.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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