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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2006 Details Surface about UC Deal with Google Software Pirate Sentenced Dell Prioritizes Battery Replacements DETAILS SURFACE ABOUT UC DEAL WITH GOOGLE Details of the recent deal in which the University of California will join Google's book-scanning project have been released through an open-records request. Under the deal, the university will provide as many as 3,000 books per day to the search engine for digitization, eventually totaling at least 2.5 million books. The university and Google will keep copies of the digitized works, but the university is bound by a number of restrictions on how it can use its copies. For example, the university must prevent other search engines from scanning the books. Critics of the project, including Brewster Kahle, cofounder of the Internet Archive, said Google is getting more than it should from the arrangement. He faulted the university for "spend[ing] millions of taxpayers' dollars to benefit a single corporation's interest in building a private library." Daniel Greenstein, director of the California Digital Library and one of the brokers of the deal, said that Google's business model and its interests align well with the university's goal of providing free "public access for the public domain." Chronicle of Higher Education, 25 August 2006 http://chronicle.com/free/2006/08/2006082501t.htm SOFTWARE PIRATE SENTENCED A federal judge in Virginia sentenced a Florida man to six years in prison for selling millions of dollars worth of pirated software. Danny Ferrer admitted that he sold bogus copies of software on his Web site, BuysUSA.com, using fake serial numbers that he obtained online. The FBI is continuing an investigation into those responsible for the fake serial numbers. Prosecutors said Ferrer's activities cost the software industry as much as $20 million between 2002 and 2005. Ferrer told the judge that he initially sold the counterfeit software to pay for a feeding tube for his wife but that "there was probably a certain amount of greed." Ferrer bought a number of airplanes, exotic cars, and other goods with the proceeds of his activities. The judge in the case ordered that Ferrer's assets be sold and the proceeds used to pay $4.1 million in restitution to Adobe Systems Inc., Autodesk, and Macromedia Inc. "If severe penalties were not attached," said the judge, "people would line up from here to Los Angeles to do what you've done." San Jose Mercury News, 25 August 2006 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/15361600.htm DELL PRIORITIZES BATTERY REPLACEMENTS Dell has announced certain prioritizations for its recall of 4.1 million laptop batteries. After reports of some batteries overheating and possibly catching fire, Dell reached a voluntary agreement with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to replace the batteries. Troy West, vice president and general manager of Dell's federal segment, said that priority will be given to customers in national security, health care, public safety, and emergency management services for replacement batteries, though he refused to say when the recall would be complete. Early bulk shipments of replacement batteries were sent to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and Fort Hood, Texas. West also said that several thousand replacements have been sent to a parts hub in Kuwait that is distributing them to defense contractors. Federal Computer Week, 25 August 2006 http://www.fcw.com/article95806-08-25-06-Web ***************************************************** 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
