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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2005 ICANN to Consider Single-Letter Web Addresses Dutch Company Dumps Common Top-Level Domain Names U.S. Supreme Court to Hear E-Bay Patent Case Dutch Supreme Court Orders Lycos Client Revealed Australian Court Orders Kazaa to Install Keyword Filter CDC Proposes Tracking Passengers to Prevent Pandemics BBC2 to Broadcast via Broadband ICANN TO CONSIDER SINGLE-LETTER WEB ADDRESSES The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has agreed to consider single-letter addresses such as a.com in response to company requests. (Six companies with single-letter names were allowed to keep their names when the existing system was established.) In deciding whether to accept single-letter names, ICANN will also have to determine how to sell the names and whether companies will have to seek individual entries across all suffixes. Domain name brokers and others expect intense demand for the names because of their rarity. There are no plans to consider two-letter names because of possible confusion with two-letter country code suffixes. Yahoo, 28 November 2005 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051128/ap_on_hi_te/single_letter_domains DUTCH COMPANY DUMPS COMMON TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN NAMES Amsterdam-based UnifiedRoot S&M BV has created an Internet addressing system that eliminates top-level domains such as .com and .edu, allowing organizations and individuals to register Internet addresses ending with the name of their businesses or other words. The new system can combine top-level domains with second-level domains for what the company calls more intuitive addresses for different categories of products and services, such as vegetables.supermarket. UnifiedRoot has established 13 master root servers worldwide to run its domain name system. To avoid conflicts, the company said, it will not register top-level domain names already registered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Existing Internet service providers will have to update their server directories to accommodate the new system names. ComputerWorld, 28 November 2005 http://www.computerworld.com/news/2005/story/0,11280,106559,00.html U.S. SUPREME COURT TO HEAR E-BAY PATENT CASE The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a patent-infringement lawsuit involving eBay and a patent holding company that eBay lost in 2003. MercExchange holds a patent over sales and purchasing methods used in online auctions. The appeal deals with whether the U.S. District Court that handled the case should have issued a permanent injunction against eBay. The Federal U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles patent lawsuits on appeal, ruled that the federal trial judge should have issued a permanent injunction against eBay, which said they believe the legal reasoning used will force district courts to issue more injunctions in patent lawsuits. Meanwhile, Congress is considering legislation that would change how patent injunctions are issued by federal courts. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is also exploring the issue. Wall Street Journal, 28 November 2005 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113319064690608067.html DUTCH SUPREME COURT ORDERS LYCOS CLIENT REVEALED The Dutch Supreme Court has ordered Lycos to reveal the name of a client who anonymously posted slanderous allegations against an Internet postage stamp dealer on a member site. The dealer took Lycos to court in 2003 to determine the client's identity in order to pursue financial damages. The court found the claim of damages sufficient to order Lycos to release the client's name and address, even though a criminal offense had not been committed. The court rejected the company's argument that client details should be released only to the police in cases where a crime is suspected. Copyright groups believe the ruling will facilitate prosecution of those who illegally exchange music and movies online, a view supported when the Brain Institute, which represents entertainment companies in the Netherlands, issued a statement that the ruling will enable it to pursue damages against illegal file swappers. InformationWeek, 25 November 2005 http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=174401810 AUSTRALIAN COURT ORDERS KAZAA TO INSTALL KEYWORD FILTER The Federal Court of Australia in Sydney has ordered the operators of the Kazaa file-sharing service to install a keyword filter to screen out copyrighted material by December 5. The filter will keep users from trading files containing keywords from a list of 3,000 chosen by record companies. The order follows a September ruling that found Kazaa had been used extensively to infringe copyrights. Sharman Networks, the owner of Kazaa, won an extension until February 2006 to comply fully with the court's injunction to block file trading of copyrighted materials. The filtering system is seen as an interim measure, with Sharman expected to appeal in early 2006. InfoWorld, 28 November 2005 http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/11/28/HNjudgeorderskazaa_1.html CDC PROPOSES TRACKING PASSENGERS TO PREVENT PANDEMICS The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) proposed federal regulations to electronically track more than 600 million U.S. airline passengers a year traveling on more than 7 million flights through 67 hub airports. The proposed regulations are posted on the CDC's Web site and will be available for a 60-day comment period in the Federal Register starting November 30. They would require airlines, travel agents, and global reservation systems to collect personal information beyond that now collected by the Transportation Security Administration or the Homeland Security Department. The same rules would apply to passengers on international cruise lines and ferries that dock at U.S. ports. The CDC said that frustrations with attempts to track the SARS outbreak prompted the proposal, which is intended to allow the CDC to respond quickly to signs of a new pandemic. Federal Computer Week, 23 November 2005 http://govhealthit.com/article91532-11-23-05-Web BBC2 TO BROADCAST VIA BROADBAND Controller Roly Keating intends to make BBC2 the first mainstream TV station to broadcast via broadband. A broadband service pilot is scheduled for 2006 to run concurrently with further trials of MyBBCPlayer technology, which enables viewers to download and watch BBC content on demand. The broadband version of BBC2 reportedly will combine streamed media and downloads. Silicon.com, 25 November 2005 http://networks.silicon.com/broadband/0,39024661,39154583,00.htm ***************************************************** 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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