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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, JUNE 07, 2006 Free Books, Electronically China Limits Users to Censored Google IBM Boosts India Investment for Technology Services Study Reports on Employers Monitoring Employee E-Mail FREE BOOKS, ELECTRONICALLY Project Gutenberg is organizing a book fair featuring online texts from its own digital library as well as that of the World eBook Library Consortia. During the World eBook Fair, which will take place from July 4 to August 4, users can download free copies of books from Project Gutenberg's collection of 18,000 texts, which are always free, or from the World eBook Library Consortia, which otherwise cost $8.95 each. Organizers hope the event will encourage more people to start reading books electronically, not only on desktop or laptop computers but also on portable devices. Michael S. Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, said, "We get a lot of people reading Project Gutenberg e-books on PDAs, iPods, pocket PCs, cell phones, etc." Hart said electronic books benefit those who cannot get physical books from traditional libraries, noting that the goal of Project Gutenberg is to "break down the bars of ignorance and illiteracy." Daniel Greenstein, executive director of the California Digital Library, said that e-books are typically being used to find facts, not to facilitate "the reading experience that we all know and love." Chronicle of Higher Education, 7 June 2006 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/06/2006060701t.htm CHINA LIMITS USERS TO CENSORED GOOGLE According to a report from Reporters Without Borders, Chinese authorities have blocked access to the Google.com Web page following the introduction in January of the Google.cn domain that meets the country's strict filtering requirements. Google was criticized by some for conceding to demands that it offer a version of its search service that excludes material the Chinese government finds offensive or inflammatory, including any reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre. Microsoft, Yahoo, and Cisco Systems have also been faulted for similar actions. "It was only to be expected that Google.com would be gradually sidelined," according to Reporters Without Borders, "after the censored version was launched." Google News and Google Mail have also been blocked to Chinese users. Sergey Brin, cofounder of Google, said, "We felt that perhaps we could compromise our principles but provide ultimately more information for the Chinese and be a more effective service." He continued, "Perhaps now the principled approach makes more sense." BBC, 7 June 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5055170.stm IBM BOOSTS INDIA INVESTMENT FOR TECHNOLOGY SERVICES Sam Palmisano, chairman and chief executive of IBM, announced this week that the company would invest $6 billion over the next three years in its operations in India. IBM has invested $2 billion over the past three years in the country, increasing its workforce there from 9,000 to 43,000, to compete with other companies taking advantage of considerably lower labor costs. IBM's announcement follows similar decisions by companies including Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco Systems, all of which will invest heavily in the country in the next few years. Calling it an opportunity "that IBM is not going to miss," Palmisano said IBM's investments will "combine the skills and the expertise here [in India] with skills and expertise around the world in ways that can help our clients be successful." Analyst Bob Djurdjevic from Annex Research noted that the announcement is interesting because Palmisano did not offer any apologies for offshoring so much work to India. "IBM...is breaking new ground in that sense," he said, "by heralding its operations in India boldly and loudly." USA Today, 6 June 2006 http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-06-06-ibm-india_x.htm STUDY REPORTS ON EMPLOYERS MONITORING EMPLOYEE E-MAIL A new study conducted by Forrester Research for e-mail security firm Proofpoint indicates that more than one-third of U.S. and British companies read employees' outgoing e-mail. A similar proportion of U.S. companies also said that inappropriate disclosure of information had damaged their businesses within the past 12 months. Exposure of financial or other personal data for clients was the most common concern of businesses worried about the content of outgoing e-mail. Other concerns included compliance issues and the need to keep business information confidential. The survey also indicated that at nearly one-third of the companies surveyed, an employee had been terminated within the past 12 months for violating e-mail policies. ZDNet, 7 June 2006 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39273076,00.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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