***************************************************** Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. *****************************************************
TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JULY 31, 2006 U.S. Legislators Move to Ban Social Networking Sites IT Companies Propose XML Standard French Court Throws Out iTunes Law U.S. LEGISLATORS MOVE TO BAN SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES A bill introduced by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) that aims to restrict social networking Web sites in schools and libraries passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 410-15. The Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) would require organizations that receive funds under the federal E-Rate program to install Internet filters that would block access to sites such as Facebook and MySpace. The FCC would be responsible for defining what sites would be covered by the law. According to the American Library Association (ALA), about two-thirds of U.S. libraries would be subject to the law. Supporters of the legislation said that children who use such Web sites become targets of sexual predators. Opponents of the law said it is overly broad and would prevent computer users from accessing a number of unrelated sites, such as Amazon, blogs, wikis, and even news sites. Leslie Burger, president of the ALA, said, "DOPA is redundant and unnecessary legislation," noting that the Children's Internet Protection Act already requires institutions to block Web content considered harmful to children. The bill now goes to the Senate. BBC, 31 July 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5230506.stm IT COMPANIES PROPOSE XML STANDARD A group of leading high-tech companies have proposed a new standard that will allow disparate computing applications to communicate with one another. BEA Systems, BMC Software, Cisco Systems, Dell, EMC, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems announced the Service Modeling Language (SML) and said they would support the standard going forward. Based on an XML standard developed by Microsoft called Systems Definition Model, SML promises to lower the cost of maintaining data centers by offering a common language for servers, networking equipment, and other computing devices to share information. Kirill Tatarinov, vice president at Microsoft, said the SML effort is notable because of the broad participation and support it has. Ric Telford, vice president of autonomic computing at IBM, said that building SML on existing Microsoft technology is a more efficient approach to standards development than merely submitting a concept to a standards body. CNET, 31 July 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-1013_3-6100384.html FRENCH COURT THROWS OUT ITUNES LAW The French Constitutional Council has rejected parts of a law recently passed that would have required Apple Computer to open access to its iTunes music and to its iPod portable music players. Under the legislation, companies would be forced to allow their music formats to be played on other companies' devices, as well as to allow other music formats to be played on all devices. Apple Computer, with its extremely popular iPods and iTunes, stood to lose the most under the law. But the Constitutional Council, which reviews all laws passed in the country, ruled that the law violated Apple's right to be compensated for technology it developed. The council did not reject the notion of forced interoperability, however, saying only that Apple should be paid by competitors for the technology. The law may now need to be completely rewritten and resubmitted to parliament for a new vote. The Register, 31 July 2006 http://www.theregister.com/2006/07/31/itunes_law_rejected/ ***************************************************** 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. To access resources including articles, books, conference sessions, contracts, effective practices, plans, policies, position descriptions, and blog content, go to http://www.educause.edu/resources ***************************************************** CONFERENCES For information on all EDUCAUSE learning and networking opportunities, see http://www.educause.edu/31 ***************************************************** COPYRIGHT Edupage copyright (c) 2006, EDUCAUSE
