Edupage, January 10, 2005

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From:         Educause Educause <EDUCAUSE@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Edupage, January 10, 2005

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Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association
whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting
the intelligent use of information technology.
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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2005
   Hackers Hit George Mason
   New Questions Arise over Scholarly Republishing
   Comcast to Offer Internet Phone Service
   Software Pirate Gets 18 Months


HACKERS HIT GEORGE MASON
George Mason University has become the latest institution of higher
education to be the victim of hackers' accessing personal information
of faculty and students. University officials said that hackers gained
access to information including names, photos, Social Security numbers,
and campus ID numbers for "all members of the Mason community who have
identification cards." An e-mail sent by the university's vice
president for information technology indicated that the intruders
appeared to be seeking "access to other campus systems rather than
specific data," but the message warned that the information the hackers
obtained could be used for identity theft. George Mason had ended its
practice of putting Social Security numbers on ID cards, replacing them
with university-generated numbers, in response to a Virginia state law
that required such a change. The university maintains a database,
however, that includes Social Security numbers. University officials
discovered the intrusion on January 3 and said the hackers gained
access to records of more than 30,000 faculty, staff, and students.
CNET, 10 January 2005
http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-5519592.html

NEW QUESTIONS ARISE OVER SCHOLARLY REPUBLISHING
A librarian at Cornell University has uncovered evidence that academic
publisher Emerald has for many years republished articles in its
journals without acknowledging previous publication. Philip M. Davis
first noticed republished articles dating back to 1989 in online
archives maintained by Emerald. Davis then broadened his search to
include paper copies of Emerald journals going back to 1979 and said he
found many more examples of such republished articles. Davis said some
articles were published more than once in the same journal, several
years apart, and noted that as a result libraries may have spent money
on material they already owned. A spokesperson from Emerald said the
company does not have a practice of republishing, though in some cases
Emerald officials who thought a particular article especially valuable
would republish it "to make it available to another audience." Davis
said, "It's clearly unethical to republish materials without
attribution."
Chronicle of Higher Education, 14 January 2005 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i19/19a03102.htm

COMCAST TO OFFER INTERNET PHONE SERVICE
Comcast is expected to announce plans to begin offering Internet phone
service, thereby presenting the latest in a series of challenges to
traditional phone companies from other media companies. According to
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, "There is going to be a profound change in
what a phone is in a home, and we're going to be part of that
process." The cable TV giant hopes to make the service available to 15
million homes by the end of the year and to virtually all of the 40
million homes that have access to its cable services within 18 months.
The company is aiming for eight million phone customers within five
years. With this move, Comcast will join Time Warner and Cox
Communications in the ongoing assault on phone companies. Traditional
phone companies including Verizon Communications and SBC Communications
have been working to develop infrastructure to provide television and
Internet service, though those efforts are only beginning.
Wall Street Journal, 10 January 2005 (sub. req'd)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110531356429521132,00.html

SOFTWARE PIRATE GETS 18 MONTHS
A federal court in Virginia has sentenced a Maryland man to 18 months
in prison for selling pirated software on the Internet. The Justice
Department alleged that Kishan Singh operated a Web site where users
could pay for access to downloads of copyrighted applications from
companies including Adobe, Autodesk, Macromedia, and Microsoft. Singh
removed copy protections from the files he made available on his Web
site. Singh pleaded guilty to one count of copyright infringement and
was also ordered to forfeit the computer equipment he used to commit
his crime. According to the Justice Department, during the time
Singh's Web site was operating, users from around the world downloaded
thousands of copies of various applications, worth a total value
estimated to be between $70,000 and $120,000.
Washington Times, 7 January 2005
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050107-054741-2893r.htm

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