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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2006 British Library Says Copyright Law Needs Updating MySpace Works to Educate Parents Online Risks Increase BRITISH LIBRARY SAYS COPYRIGHT LAW NEEDS UPDATING The British Library has called for a wide-scale revision of existing copyright law, which, it said, inadequately addresses digital content, putting too much control into the hands of content producers and owners. Lynne Brindley, chief executive of the British Library, took aim at digital rights management (DRM) technology in particular, saying that it allows content producers to prevent legitimate uses of content, such as for academic purposes, for archival efforts, or for making content available to people with disabilities. Calling the problem a global issue, Brindley said that without "a serious updating of copyright law to recognize the changing technological environment, the law becomes an ass." The Open Rights Group supported the library's call for revising copyright law, saying that the current situation "allows publishers to write whatever license they like, which is what is happening now." The British Library also said the question of orphaned works should be addressed--works whose proper copyright owners cannot be located easily or at all. CNET, 25 September 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-6119043.html MYSPACE WORKS TO EDUCATE PARENTS Operators of the social networking site MySpace are partnering with several organizations to help educate users of the site--many of whom are minors--and their parents about appropriate ways to protect kids online. MySpace has become wildly popular with the teen crowd and, as a result, with some online predators. Working with Seventeen magazine, the National School Boards Association, and the National Association of Independent Schools, MySpace will write and publish a guide to safe usage of online networking tools. The guide will be available on the MySpace home page and will be distributed to students in grades 7 through 12 at about 55,000 schools. Atoosa Rubenstein, Seventeen's editor in chief, commented that parents bear responsibility for teaching their kids safe habits. "My mom was the person who told me not to walk down the dark alley by myself," she said, "not the person who created the dark alley." ZDNet, 25 September 2006 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6118975.html ONLINE RISKS INCREASE According to new data from security firm Symantec, online criminals are increasingly turning to Web applications--rather than e-mail--and are motivated more by money than by bragging rights. In the early days of the Internet, many hackers engaged in such activities purely for the challenge or for the notoriety of successfully bypassing security measures. Today's hackers, according to Symantec, are after credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and other information they can use to steal money from victims. Targeted attacks--as compared to viruses and other randomly circulated malicious code--are increasingly directed at financial institutions, jumping from just 4 percent in the last six months of 2005 to 14 percent in the first six months of 2006. The result is a potential loss of confidence in online commerce and banking. Hackers are also spending more efforts targeting Web applications, given the growing numbers of vulnerabilities discovered in browsers, including Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox, and Apple's Safari. Wall Street Journal, 25 September 2006 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115914808566272756.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. 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
