Thursday, May 13, 2004

Vietnam adopts new policies for net users [Salon.com] 9:43:24 PM    comment []

In Memoriam: Alan Gewirth. Alan Gewirth (1913-2004) Links to memorial notices will be added when they are available.... [The Leiter Reports: Editorials, News, Updates] 9:41:45 PM    comment []

I didn't know that Google removed sites in response to DMCA requests. This came up in Jon Zittrain's talk this afternoon. I was surprised. Here's an example search. Scroll to the bottom of the page. "In response to a complaint we received under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint for these removed results." [Scripting News] (DMCA complaint markup fixed. I think.) 9:40:19 PM    comment []

An 'A,' for Outstanding. An `A,' for Outstanding. Every year, I make a simple proposal: An A should be defined as "truly outstanding," and truly outstanding should mean that we pin up the work and invite our colleagues to come and see it. If our colleagues say "You asked me to come all the way out to Brooklyn to see this?," that means the work should not have gotten an A. (The process would most obviously apply to graphic projects, but written papers could also be pinned up.) [New York Times: Opinion] 6:52:44 AM    comment []

Congress mulls revisions to DMCA. The U.S. Congress takes a step toward revising the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which has attracted extensive criticism during the past six years. [CNET News.com] 6:49:36 AM    comment []

Search engines take the stand. Judges are turning to Google and other search engines to check facts and look up information in cases--a trend that has some legal experts worried. [CNET News.com] 6:49:21 AM    comment []

U.S. Officials Sport Fake Degrees. More than 400 government employees, including many high-ranking officials, received fake degrees from diploma mills, according to congressional investigators. The findings spur calls for better means to vet academic credentials. By Ryan Singel. [Wired News] First follow-up I've seen on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee research following the Laura Callahan disclosures. The report is available in PDF. 6:48:40 AM    comment []

Frank Gehry Gives M.I.T. Its Newest Experiment. Frank Gehry, the architect, says his new computer science and artificial intelligence building at M.I.T. "looks like a party of drunken robots got together to celebrate." By Sara Rimer. [New York Times: Education] 6:44:28 AM    comment []

Designer Virus Stalks HIV. Researchers have developed a potential novel treatment for AIDS -- a synthetic parasite virus. It's scary but awesome, they say. Kristen Philipkoski reports from Berkeley, California. [Wired News] 6:42:22 AM    comment []