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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2006 Another Patent Threatens Campus Technology Initiative Aims to Help Find Trustworthy Information Online MIT Conference Addresses E-Mail Problems BT Charging for High Bandwidth Usage ANOTHER PATENT THREATENS CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY Another company has contacted a number of colleges and universities about a technology patent they might be infringing, this time for systems that transfer money across the Internet to campus cards. in 1998, JSA Technologies applied for a patent, which was granted in 2005, that covers such transfers. Many institutions use campus cards for student expenses such as books, food in snack bars, or campus fees. Jon Gear, vice president of JSA, said the company has no intention of forcing institutions to discontinue their funds-transfer systems. The company, he said, is simply enforcing a patent that protects its intellectual property. Gear said JSA contacted a number of schools, though he declined to say how many or to name them, and will negotiate licensing fees, which he said would be "negligible." Lowell Adkins, executive director of the National Association of Campus Card Users, said his organization is working to clarify the issue. "It's still really unclear what the scope of the patent is," he said. "We need to understand how they're going to exercise their rights." Chronicle of Higher Education, 28 March 2006 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006032802n.htm INITIATIVE AIMS TO HELP FIND TRUSTWORTHY INFORMATION ONLINE A new Web site being developed by researchers at Syracuse University and the University of Washington (UW) will provide users with tools and tips for separating good online information from the vast amounts of unreliable material. R. David Lankes, associate professor of information studies at Syracuse, and Michael Eisenberg, professor in the Information School at UW, are codirectors of the Credibility Commons, which is funded by a $250,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Lankes said that many users assess the credibility of online information based on what a site looks like or whether it tells users what they want to hear. The Credibility Commons will gather computer programs--written by others and by the organizers of the new site--that can help users find credible information on the Web. The site will also solicit feedback from users for how best to locate reliable, accurate information. The tools developed by the Credibility Commons will be available as open source applications, which users may download and modify provided they share those changes with the site. Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 March 2006 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006032901t.htm MIT CONFERENCE ADDRESSES E-MAIL PROBLEMS Attendees at the 2006 Spam Conference at MIT agreed that filters and other technologies designed to prevent spam from reaching its intended targets merely address the symptoms without doing anything about the underlying problem. Many were similarly dismissive of proposals to charge a fee to senders of e-mail, saying that such an approach runs counter to the fundamental tenets of the Internet. Phil Raymond of Vanquish Labs compared a fee system to having first class and cattle cars on a train, suggesting that "some of [the cattle] cars will be left behind completely." Presenters at the conference instead urged adoption of economic incentives that would encourage users to be good e-mail citizens. Raymond, for example, proposed a system under which bulk e-mailers would be required to post a bond, against which recipients of those e-mails could make claims if they deemed messages to be spam. Opinions were mixed, however, about the CAN-SPAM Act. Jon Praed of the Internet Law Group said the legislation has done little to discourage spammers while placing new burdens on legitimate e-mail marketers. In contrast, Aaron Kornblum, a member of Microsoft's antispam legal team, said the law was the basis for 70 civil lawsuits that Microsoft has filed against spammers since January 1, 2004. CNET, 28 March 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-6055171.html BT CHARGING FOR HIGH BANDWIDTH USAGE U.K. Internet service provider BT has sent letters to 3,200 subscribers letting them know that their usage exceeds the 40GB per month download limit to which they agreed in the terms of their service. The letters inform customers that they must either pay a surcharge for the extra usage or their service will be disconnected. The ISP does not have an automatic shutoff for users who exceed the limit, and officials from BT said they are willing to tolerate occasional violations. The users contacted, however, are regularly downloading far more than the limit, with some routinely downloading 200GB every month. Such a volume of downloads corresponds to approximately 50,000 songs. A spokesperson from BT said it would be fair to call these users "broadband hogs" and noted, "You would have to be downloading pretty much all day, every day, to manage that level of downloading." BT sent similar letters to 1,800 individuals in October, and while some users did agree to pay for their usage, most were cut off from BT. ZDNet, 27 March 2006 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6054223.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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