June Entman, a law professor at the University of Memphis, has banned laptops from her classes for first-year law students, telling them they must take notes with pen and paper. “The computers interfere with making eye contact,” said Entman. “You’ve got this picket fence between you and the students.” She said she wants her students […]

A Dutch court has ruled that a publisher who used photographs protected by a Creative Commons license is subject to the terms of that license, marking what is likely the first case law pertaining to the Creative Commons. Former MTV VJ Adam Curry had posted photographs of his daughter on Flickr and assigned one of […]

Although iPods have been incorporated into the curriculum at a number of colleges and universities, Georgia College and State University (GCSU) boasts one of the strongest efforts at putting the devices to educational use. Of the institution’s roughly 300 faculty, more than 100 use iPods for teaching or research. In 2002, the administration began loaning […]

Supercomputer maker Cray has outlined its plans to streamline its operations and compete with growing challenges from mainstream computer makers including IBM, HP, Sun, and Dell. Jan Silverman, senior vice president of corporate strategy, said the company’s goal is to offer a range of processor technologies in a single system–necessary because various processor architectures can […]

Microsoft has announced its intention to use trademark laws to confront the operators of phishing scams. Phishers set up bogus Web sites designed to look like legitimate sites and trick users into entering confidential information. At a press conference in Brussels, Microsoft said it would level trademark-violation charges against outfits that pose as Microsoft sites […]

A recent survey conducted by IBM of CIOs in manufacturing, financial, health-care, and retail industries shows the growing threat of cybercrime on organizational resources. Of the 600 U.S. CIOs in the survey, 57 percent said cybercrime costs their companies more than conventional crime. About 75 percent said the threat from cybercrime comes in part from […]

An initiative begun in September 2000 by the University of Oxford, Stanford University, and Yale University to offer noncredit courses online has announced it will end operations due to ongoing financial pressures. Originally marketed to alumni of the three founding institutions, the Alliance for Lifelong Learning, or AllLearn, was later expanded to be available to […]

Legislators in France have passed a law that criminalizes copyright violations stemming from bypassing copy protections. Some in the government had argued that making such copies should be allowed and that a tax added to the cost of CDs and DVDs could be used to compensate artists. Currently, an estimated 8 to 10 million computer […]

The House Government Reform Committee has once again issued a failing report card on computer security at federal agencies. Despite the fact that five federal agencies were graded A+, overall, agencies earned a D+, the same grade as last year. The grades are based on performance metrics from the Office of Management and Budget. Agencies […]

The judge hearing the case between the U.S. Department of Justice and Google has indicated he will require the search company to supply the government with a portion of the data it was seeking. Government officials had subpoenaed one million Web addresses and a week’s worth of search queries, alarming Google as well as privacy […]