Monday, October 27, 2003

Bricklin (Again) on DRM. Dan Bricklin's posting today, VisiCalc, Longhorn, DRM, and Larry Magid's weblog, reminds us again why the trend toward locking down... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal] 10:04:17 PM    comment []

A Case of Piracy Overkill?. Proposed FCC rules will make redistributing copied digital TV shows harder. Hollywood says it needs to protect a $4 billion foreign syndication industry. Opponents call the rules useless, a violation of the spirit of fair use. By Kim Zetter. [Wired News] 10:01:54 PM    comment []

Temple getting tough. We're going to make anti-virus software free but mandatory for anyone who gets an IP address from us, whether employee, faculty or student, said [Ariel] Silverstone[Temple University's chief information security officer]. You have to get an IP address to get connected to the campus. Now, the main goal is to protect the servers and computers. He reckons the university has about 14,000 IP-based devices attached to its network. 2:21:41 PM    comment []

Intellectual Freedom in the Information Society, Libraries and the Internet Alex Byrne, Chair of the IFLA/FAIFE Committee, said: The World Report 2003 makes very interesting reading. The countries included are very different and display a diversity of approaches to library and information service and access to the Internet. But the peoples of all the countries share a thirst for knowledge and it is our responsibility to assist them by providing and promoting unrestricted access to information. The World Report 2003 focuses on libraries and the Internet. It discusses the digital divide, filtering and blocking of information, user privacy, financial barriers, intellectual freedom, and codes of ethics. It also considers the adoption and implementation of the IFLA Internet Manifesto and the Glasgow Declaration on Libraries, Information Services and Intellectual Freedom, which express vital principles for a free Internet supported by strong library and information services. The results of the IFLA/FAIFE survey discussed in the World Report 2003 have once again disclosed the huge gaps and differences between the regions of the world – between the information have and the information haves not. There is a long way to go before countries, their libraries and their staff are suitably equipped and properly trained to meet the challenge of safeguarding their clients’ full participation in the information and knowledge society. With regards to Internet access, the most significant problems as defined by the contributing countries are a lack of computers with Internet access, financial barriers, and training of users and staff. And with regards to freedom of access to information and freedom of expression, censorship and the blocking of information are still issues of great concern that need to be addressed. 1:21:41 PM    comment []

With Cable TV at M.I.T., Who Needs Napster?. Two students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a system for sharing music on campus that they say can avoid copyright battles. By John Schwartz. [New York Times: Business] 7:20:26 AM    comment []

How Much for That Professor?. While acquiring top-rung professors may benefit a university's academic standing, it isn't necessarily good for its students' education. By David L. Kirp. [New York Times: Business] 7:19:41 AM    comment []

Hollywood to the computer industry: We don't need no stinking Napsters!. Fearful of piracy, the studios want the federal government to legislate how computers are made. Critics say such interference signals the end of the line for digital innovation. [Salon Headlines] 7:18:22 AM    comment []

EU Tries to Force MS to Compete. Hoping to do more than the U.S. against Microsoft, the European Commission is flexing some muscle to get the company to remove software from Windows to give competitors a chance. Microsoft wants the European Union off its back. [Wired News] 7:16:35 AM    comment []

PhilG on College Admissions and the Space Shuttle. The November 2003 Atlantic carries some interesting articles, many of which are available on the Web, on college admissions.  Of interest to aviation enthusiasts will be the article by William Langewiesche on the Columbia space shuttle investigation.  At the very least it will make you feel fortunate that you're not working for a large bureaucracy. Speaking of bureaucracies, the college admissions articles are collectively very revealing. First, due to the dumbing down and rescaling of the SAT test it is very tough to predict who will get into top colleges.  . . . . Paradoxically the dumbing down of the SATs seems to have had a pernicious effect on black high schoolers.  White kids go to SAT cram courses and get 100% of the easy questions right.   Black kids don't necessarily do well on those questions that are easy to prep for but often do much better on questions that can only be answered by those who've hit the books.  . . . . "Selective" colleges and those ranked high in reputation by U.S. News and World Report (which immediately causes a rush of applications and therefore a "selective" statistic) are swamped by applicants.  At the same time a National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) found that the actual quality of undergraduate experience was uncorrelated with the U.S. News top schools ranking (the results of this survey are kept secret from the public and the Ivy League schools have refused to participate but a handful of state schools make their results available).  Those pesky economists, who tend to reduce everything to dollars, make the case in a National Bureau of Economic Research report (link) that selective colleges are of no value.  Kids from rich families who go to Harvard end up being richer adults than immigrants who go to state schools, of course.  However, students who get into really selective colleges but decide to go to less selective ones end up having the same lifetime income than those who accepted their spot at the really selective school. . . . 7:06:09 AM    comment []