Message-Id: <55206A473154D011924D0020AFF7ACB553CA10@mail1.oulan.ou.edu>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 09:22:05 -0600
From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@ou.edu'" <it-fyi@ou.edu>
Subject: Edupage, 18 January 1998
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Edupage, 18 January 1998. Edupage, a summary of news about information
technology, is provided three times a week as a service by Educom, a
Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities
seeking to transform education through the use of information
technology.
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TOP STORIES
Embattled Sailor Charges Navy & AOL Of Invading His Privacy
Intel Takes "Intel Inside" Program To Web, Angering Publishers
Microsoft Appeals Judge's Ruling In Antitrust Suit
Privacy And Speech Issues In Canada
ALSO
Asia's Economic Woes Will Lead To Lower PC Prices
Criticism Of Gore Fund-Raising Web Site
IBM Wants To Turn Out The Lights (And Back On Again)
Amelio, Seduced And Abandoned, Takes Jabs At Jobs
EMBATTLED SAILOR CHARGES NAVY & AOL OF INVADING HIS PRIVACY
Fighting an attempt to discharge him from the service, U.S. Navy senior
chief petty officer Timothy R. McVeigh (no relation to the McVeigh
convicted of the Oklahoma City bombing) is charging that the Navy
invaded his privacy when it obtained confidential information from
America Online about his AOL account. McVeigh's profile, which
identified him a U.S. sailor in Hawaii, was labeled simply "Tim" and
listed his marital status as "gay." To find out who "Tim" was, a Navy
investigator contacted a technician at America Online and was given
McVeigh's last name -- even though the investigator did not acknowledge
his connection to the Navy and did not have a subpoena. AOL says: "We
have clear policies in place that our member service representatives
don't give out member information. What is disturbing to us is that the
Navy may have circumvented established channels that we have for working
with law enforcement in an attempt to get information about one of our
members." Privacy advocates are saying that
both the Navy and AOL may have violated the Electronic Communications
Privacy Act of 1986, which bars the release of customer information by
computer service companies without a subpoena, a court order, or the
consent of the customer. (New York Times 17 Jan 98)
INTEL TAKES "INTEL INSIDE" PROGRAM TO WEB, ANGERING PUBLISHERS
Some big Web publishers are outraged by the new Intel marketing program
"Optimized Content," which offers them a 25% subsidy if they will add
features that will enhance the performance of systems based on Intel's
newest and most expensive chips -- but slow down all users who have less
powerful machines. Intel says it's trying to encourage the adoption of
features will allow users to enjoy 3D virtual reality scenes, but
publishers are accusing the company of encroaching on their editorial
independence by forcing them to make their sites less friendly to the
great majority of visitors. The marketing program requires publishers
to "prominently" promote the fact that they are offering "Optimized
Content." With consumers now increasingly tempted to buy low-cost PCs
with less powerful chips, the "Optimized Content" program is a way to
promote Intel chips that deliver more power -- and more profit to Intel.
(Wall Street Journal 16 Jan 98)
MICROSOFT APPEALS JUDGE'S RULING IN ANTITRUST SUIT
Unhappy with Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson rejection of its request to
remove Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig as a "special master" in
the Justice Department's antitrust suit against Microsoft, the company
has appealed the Judge's ruling. Microsoft, which believes that Lessig
is biased, says that it has a constitutional right to have its case
heard by a federal judge, and that the Judge's decision "effectively
delegates that responsibility to a private citizen, and is therefore
incompatible with basic principles of American jurisprudence."
(Washington Post 16 Jan 98)
PRIVACY AND SPEECH ISSUES IN CANADA
Ontario's privacy watchdog wants businesses to offer their customers a
bigger say in how information about them is "mined" from computer data
bases. Provincial privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian says the companies
who practice data mining cannot predict what uses the resulting
information will have: "Informational privacy hinges on companies
telling their customers how their personal information will or may be
used, but data mining offers few certainties in this area." (Toronto
Star 14 Jan 98) ? The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
is sounding alarm bells over an agreement between Ottawa and British
Columbia to share information on people receiving Employment Insurance
benefits and welfare. The agreement will allow the province to find out
which recipients of welfare benefits are also receiving EI. The
association says the laudable goal of cutting fraud is not sufficient to
move toward universal databases on Canadian citizens, which it described
as the infrastructure needed for a police state. (Toronto Globe & Mail
13 Jan 98) ? The Simon Wiesenthal Center has released some of the
racist images presented by 22 Web sites serviced by Fairview Technology
of British Columbia, and wants the BC government to use the federal
anti-hate law to curtail hate messages on the Web. (Ottawa Citizen 16
Jan 98)
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ASIA'S ECONOMIC WOES WILL LEAD TO LOWER PC PRICES
Because Asian countries provide the world with vast quantities of
personal computer components (including memory chips, motherboards,
disk drives, CD-ROM drives, and floppy drives), already-cheap PC prices
are dropping even further because the plunging Asian currencies are
allowing American manufacturers to get more value for their U.S.
dollars. (USA Today)
CRITICISM OF GORE FUND-RAISING WEB SITE
Critics are suggesting that Vice President Al Gore may have violated
campaign finance rules because a Gore fund-raising Web site called
"gore2000.org" was registered using a White House phone number and
e-mail address as contact information, along with a phone number that
reaches the Vice President's office and an e-mail address with a ".gov"
domain name. Federal regulations make it illegal to carry out any
fund-raising activity carried out on government property or using
government resources. A Gore spokesperson said the site was developed
by Michael Gill, a former employee of the vice president, "entirely on
his own initiative without using any official resources. We asked Gill
in 1997 to remove the White House phone number, and again two months
ago." (News.Com 16 Jan 98)
IBM WANTS TO TURN OUT THE LIGHTS (AND BACK ON AGAIN)
IBM is ready to offer a home automation and control system with
networking capability allowing it to link security, lighting, heating,
ventilating, air conditioning, and other systems. Called Home Director
Professional, the system will cost under $5,000. (Atlanta
Journal-Constitution 17 Jan 98)
AMELIO, SEDUCED AND ABANDONED, TAKES JABS AT JOBS
Due in bookstores this Spring, the new book by Gil Amelio - deposed as
CEO of Apple Computer and replaced by Steve Jobs -- says that Jobs
claimed that he (Amelio) was the only person who could save Apple, but
then began manipulating the board of directors to fire him. What was
Amelio's problem turning Apple around? He thinks it was a culture clash
between him and the Apple organization: "Brioni suits and oxfords
meeting Levi's and Birkenstocks." (USA Today 16 Jan 98)
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) and Suzanne Douglas
(douglas@educom.edu). Telephone: 770-590-1017
Technical support for distributing Edupage is provided by Information
Technology Services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Today's Honorary Subscriber is William of Ockham (c.1300-1349), the
English philosopher, theologian, logician, political writer and
Franciscan monk whose name in honored in the principle called "Ockham's
razor" (also called the principle of parsimony), which says that
"Entities shall not be multiplied beyond necessity" and means that in
scientific proofs you should always search for the simplest hypothesis
and never make more assumptions than you absolutely need. Get out your
Ockham's razor and cut, cut, cut.
Is the principle always valid? The philosopher A.R. Lacey says:
"Adoption of this principle, though seemingly obvious, leads to problems
about the role of simplicity in science, especially when we are choosing
between hypotheses that are not (or are not known to be) equivalent.
There are often different and clashing criteria for what is the simplest
hypothesis, and it is not clear whether a simpler hypothesis is pro
tanto more likely to be true; and if not, what justification other than
laziness there is for adopting it."
Because of his controversial views, Ockham (the name is sometimes
spelled Occam) never completed his undergraduate degree at Oxford. Pope
John XXII summoned him to Avignon to answer charges of heresy and to
defend the Franciscan preference for living in poverty. Ockham fled to
Bavaria, was excommunicated, and wrote political documents disputing
papal claims to have civil authority.
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