MISC> Microsoft Security Fixes May Be Worse for Colleges Than Microsoft Security Holes

From: Gleason Sackmann <gleason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: NetHappenings <nethappenings@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 08:45:06 -0600
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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 19:39:57 -0500 (EST)

The Microsoft plan to fix security holes and intellectual property
violations with a new software identified as Palladium has created concern
in a number of circles including this article from the Chronicle of Higher 
Education.

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Chronicle of Higher Education.
>From the issue dated February 21, 2003
Control Issues
Microsoft's plan to improve computer security could set off fight over use
of online materials
By FLORENCE OLSEN
<http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i24/24a02701.htm>

Computing experts in academe often blame Microsoft for producing software
that is vulnerable to viruses and hackers. But, of late, the experts have
been criticizing the company's sweeping plan to correct those very
deficiencies.

Under the plan, announced seven months ago under the name Palladium, new
computers would be equipped with security hardware and a new version of
the Windows operating system.

The goal, Microsoft officials say, is to make servers and desktop PC's
that people can trust. But critics say the technology, which Microsoft
recently renamed "the next-generation secure computing base," could stifle
the free flow of information that has come to characterize the Internet,
and could give Microsoft too much control over colleges' own computerized
information.

With the new technology, information-systems officials could use
cryptographic hardware "keys" rather than software controls, like user
names and passwords, to lock up student records and prevent illegal
copying of materials. Registrars would have tamper-proof controls over who
could see, copy, or alter the records. The advances could be used to
prevent identity thieves from invading campus computer networks to steal
Social Security numbers, grades, and other personal data.

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Money and Access

Palladium would require colleges to make expenditures on new computers and
software. Existing computers could not be retrofitted.

Colleges would decide whether to buy Palladium-capable software and
hardware, and then whether to activate Palladium's security functions. But
practically speaking, they would face enormous pressures to do so,
especially if publishers of books, journals, software, and other
electronic "content" were to adopt Microsoft's standard to deliver their
materials online. The publishers could dictate that colleges had to use
Palladium or else be denied access to the material. That worries many in
academe, who believe that publishers would use Palladium to bar some uses
of digital materials to which scholars argue that they are entitled under
copyright law. That loss may outweigh the advantages of tighter security
over student records, the critics say.

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Full Text of This Article May be Read at the URL Above.


Sincerely,
David Dillard Research Librarian
david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ECP RingLeader
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




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MISC> Microsoft Security Fixes May Be Worse for Colleges Than Microsoft Security Holes

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