************************************************************** K12NewsLetters - From Educational CyberPlayGround http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ ************************************************************** Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 15:22:30 -0700 From: Educause Educause <EDUCAUSE@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Edupage, March 12, 2004 To: EDUPAGE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ***************************************************** 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 FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2004 Judge Sets Oracle Trial Date Database Tracks Academic References Online Major ISPs Sue Spammers E-Voting Hits Snag in California New Domain Proposed for Mobile Devices Japanese Authors Claim Copyright Infringement JUDGE SETS ORACLE TRIAL DATE A federal judge has set June 7 as the trial date for the Justice Department's lawsuit against Oracle's takeover of PeopleSoft. In a setback for Oracle, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the company must turn over documents that the Justice Department says will show the types and levels of discounts that Oracle offered customers. The discounts, according to the Justice Department, reflect significantly better pricing when Oracle is in competition with PeopleSoft and SAP, hinting at the potential reduction in competition if the takeover is allowed. In a separate action, however, Judge Walker rejected the Justice Department's request for a two-tiered system in which Oracle's in-house attorneys would be denied access to third-party documents that would be available to Oracle's outside attorneys. Instead, third parties who have provided confidential material to the government will have an opportunity to block content they do not want shown to Oracle's in-house attorneys. CNET, 10 March 2004 http://news.com.com/2100-1014-5172216.html DATABASE TRACKS ACADEMIC REFERENCES ONLINE Thomson ISI, which collects data on the use of academic work, said it will begin compiling data for online scholarship in addition to that in print. The new Web Citation Index will track online-only citations of scholarly writing as well as references in printed material to online-only sources. Statistics in Thomson ISI databases are generally regarded as highly influential, especially in the sciences, for promotion and tenure decisions. Though the Web Citation Index will be maintained separately from the company's other databases, some observers said the new index is likely to encourage scholars to publish online or to use preprint servers, which are databases containing work that has not yet passed peer review. Others commented that peer-reviewed journals will remain the primary vehicle for scholarship and that the new index will not have a significant impact on scholarly publishing. Chronicle of Higher Education, 12 March 2004 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2004/03/2004031204n.htm MAJOR ISPS SUE SPAMMERS Four of the largest ISPs have filed separate lawsuits under the recently enacted Can-Spam Act. Microsoft, Yahoo, Earthlink, and America Online filed suits in their home states against individuals and companies alleged to be some of the largest senders of junk e-mail. The four companies also filed 220 other "John Doe" suits against defendants who have yet to be identified because their spam is routed through others' computers. Randall Boe, an attorney with America Online, said that the companies hope that their coordinated efforts will help uncover "the biggest, the baddest, and the most notorious" spammers. Nancy Anderson, the deputy general counsel of Microsoft, said, "We will follow the money" to identify and prosecute spammers. David Kramer, an attorney in California who works in antispam law, said the Can-Spam Act and these lawsuits are not likely to do much to slow the spread of spam. He noted that state antispam laws have been in effect for eight years and that Microsoft filed 60 such suits last year, before the Can-Spam Act went into effect. New York Times, 11 March 2004 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/11/technology/11SPAM.html E-VOTING HITS SNAG IN CALIFORNIA Some California legislators have called on the secretary of state to decertify paperless touch-screen voting machines before November's general election, citing the poor performance of the machines during the state's primary. State Sens. Don Perata and Ross Johnson sent a letter to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, saying that the primary-election "test flight" of the machines "crashed and burned." According to the "Los Angeles Times," 7,000 voters in Orange County were given the wrong ballots, and 21 precincts reported more votes cast than there were registered voters. In San Diego, problems with the voting machines kept more than half of the precincts from opening on time, and results from the voting machines were generally no faster than with traditional paper ballots. Shelley has issued a mandate that all voting machines create a paper trail for ballots cast, but not until July 2006, well past this fall's election. Shelley's office is reportedly "looking at all of the options" for how to handle complaints about the voting machines. Wired News, 11 March 2004 http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,62627,00.html NEW DOMAIN PROPOSED FOR MOBILE DEVICES Nine technology and telecommunications companies this week proposed a new Internet domain specifically for mobile devices. Companies participating in the proposal include Nokia, Vodafone, Microsoft, HP, and Samsung. Though the domain name has not been determined yet, it would reportedly be something like .mobile or .phone, reflecting the wireless aspect of the domain. With their much smaller screens, mobile devices require significantly different content and layout from traditional Web sites, and organizers of the proposed domain said it would point specifically to sites geared toward that type of content. An application for the new domain has been submitted to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and calls for establishing a new, for-profit organization to manage the domain. New York Times, 11 March 2004 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/11/technology/11wire.html JAPANESE AUTHORS CLAIM COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT A group of 33 Japanese authors and poets filed an injunction with the Tokyo District Court, alleging that several schools and testing-assistance companies violated copyright by including content in educational materials without proper consent. The complaint said that copyrighted content was included in practice questions and that in some cases that content was sold by the companies named in the complaint. A number of legal rulings in Japan have favored copyright holders in disputes with companies that produce exams or other educational materials, but many continue to use copyrighted work improperly, arguing that obtaining proper permission requires excessive time and expense. Daily Yomiuri, 12 March 2004 http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040312wo22.htm ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/ Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 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 EDUPAGE-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx For past issues of Edupage or information about translations of Edupage into other languages, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/ ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE PUBLICATIONS EDUCAUSE publishes periodicals, including "EQ" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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