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Still, he's correct that it's only *open* to US institutions. It's just that anyone who managed to get a domain before 2001 were grandfathered in.

.edu is open to institutions worldwide – solvay.edu and kit.edu are from 2003 and 2006 respectively.

From educause's policy page:

• Institutions that do not already hold a name in the .edu domain are eligible to receive one if they are post-secondary institutions that are institutionally accredited, i.e., the entire institution and not just particular programs, by agencies on the U.S. Department of Education's list of Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies.

Being accredited by some US agency is necessary, being a US institution isn't however.

Why don't they just setup a number of VLANS, one for Faculty Staff, one for Students primary machines, one for research projects and one for open devices. I'm sure they already have a couple in place. Was their I.T. group consulted? Student Government and Faculty? I hope this wasn't an excuse to submit to CALEA http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/communications-assistance-law-enforcement-act . Higher Ed does not have to abide by it but some Universities do it anyways. [quote]"After thorough review, the final court decision appears to allow for most, if not all, campus networks to be exempt from compliance". [/quote] http://www.educause.edu/library/calea

From: EDUCAUSE <educause@educause.edu>
Subject: Important security message about your EDUCAUSE website profile

[EDUCAUSE logo]

Dear [First Name],

We are writing to inform you of a security breach involving an EDUCAUSE server that may have compromised your EDUCAUSE website profile password. Based on our investigation to date, we do not believe that the breach included access to credit card data, financial accounts, or other sensitive information.

EDUCAUSE took immediate steps to contain this breach and we are working with Federal law enforcement, investigators, and security experts to make sure this incident is properly addressed. Additional security measures have been implemented to help prevent any future occurrences.

As a precaution, we have deactivated all EDUCAUSE website profile passwords. We request that you create a new password.

Please do not use your old password. You should create a new password that is 8 or more characters and is made up of a combination of:

        at least one uppercase letter,
        at least one lowercase letter,
        at least one digit, and
        at least one special character.

Please note that the password reset page may be slow to respond as many individuals try to access this page at once. Your old password has already been deactivated; therefore, it does not need to be changed immediately. We expect traffic to the page to decrease later today and tomorrow.

It is not necessary for InCommon account holders to update their institutional credentials because EDUCAUSE does not have access to, or store on any server, InCommon account information.

Please check the address in your browser before entering your password to be sure that you are on the EDUCAUSE website (http://www.educause.edu).

For more information about this incident, please visit the web page about this breach or contact EDUCAUSE Member Services at info@educause.edu or +1-303-449-4430.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to minimize the effects of the breach.

Sincerely,

EDUCAUSE

You are receiving this message because you have an EDUCAUSE website profile.

Copyright 2013 EDUCAUSE | 282 Century Place, Suite 5000, Louisville, CO 80027

Privacy Policy | educause.edu

From: EDUCAUSE <educause@educause.edu>
Subject: Important security message about your EDUCAUSE website profile

[EDUCAUSE logo]

Dear [First Name],

We are writing to inform you of a security breach involving an EDUCAUSE server that may have compromised your EDUCAUSE website profile password. Based on our investigation to date, we do not believe that the breach included access to credit card data, financial accounts, or other sensitive information.

EDUCAUSE took immediate steps to contain this breach and we are working with Federal law enforcement, investigators, and security experts to make sure this incident is properly addressed. Additional security measures have been implemented to help prevent any future occurrences.

As a precaution, we have deactivated all EDUCAUSE website profile passwords. We request that you create a new password.

Please do not use your old password. You should create a new password that is 8 or more characters and is made up of a combination of:

        at least one uppercase letter,
        at least one lowercase letter,
        at least one digit, and
        at least one special character.

Please note that the password reset page may be slow to respond as many individuals try to access this page at once. Your old password has already been deactivated; therefore, it does not need to be changed immediately. We expect traffic to the page to decrease later today and tomorrow.

It is not necessary for InCommon account holders to update their institutional credentials because EDUCAUSE does not have access to, or store on any server, InCommon account information.

Please check the address in your browser before entering your password to be sure that you are on the EDUCAUSE website (http://www.educause.edu).

For more information about this incident, please visit the web page about this breach or contact EDUCAUSE Member Services at info@educause.edu or +1-303-449-4430.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to minimize the effects of the breach.

Sincerely,

EDUCAUSE

You are receiving this message because you have an EDUCAUSE website profile.

Copyright 2013 EDUCAUSE | 282 Century Place, Suite 5000, Louisville, CO 80027

Privacy Policy | educause.edu

From: EDUCAUSE <educause@educause.edu>
Subject: Important security message about your EDUCAUSE website profile

[EDUCAUSE logo]

Dear [First Name],

We are writing to inform you of a security breach involving an EDUCAUSE server that may have compromised your EDUCAUSE website profile password. Based on our investigation to date, we do not believe that the breach included access to credit card data, financial accounts, or other sensitive information.

EDUCAUSE took immediate steps to contain this breach and we are working with Federal law enforcement, investigators, and security experts to make sure this incident is properly addressed. Additional security measures have been implemented to help prevent any future occurrences.

As a precaution, we have deactivated all EDUCAUSE website profile passwords. We request that you create a new password.

Please do not use your old password. You should create a new password that is 8 or more characters and is made up of a combination of:

        at least one uppercase letter,
        at least one lowercase letter,
        at least one digit, and
        at least one special character.

Please note that the password reset page may be slow to respond as many individuals try to access this page at once. Your old password has already been deactivated; therefore, it does not need to be changed immediately. We expect traffic to the page to decrease later today and tomorrow.

It is not necessary for InCommon account holders to update their institutional credentials because EDUCAUSE does not have access to, or store on any server, InCommon account information.

Please check the address in your browser before entering your password to be sure that you are on the EDUCAUSE website (http://www.educause.edu).

For more information about this incident, please visit the web page about this breach or contact EDUCAUSE Member Services at info@educause.edu or +1-303-449-4430.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to minimize the effects of the breach.

Sincerely,

EDUCAUSE

You are receiving this message because you have an EDUCAUSE website profile.

Copyright 2013 EDUCAUSE | 282 Century Place, Suite 5000, Louisville, CO 80027

Privacy Policy | educause.edu

From: EDUCAUSE <educause@educause.edu>
Subject: Important security message about your EDUCAUSE website profile

[EDUCAUSE logo]

Dear [First Name],

We are writing to inform you of a security breach involving an EDUCAUSE server that may have compromised your EDUCAUSE website profile password. Based on our investigation to date, we do not believe that the breach included access to credit card data, financial accounts, or other sensitive information.

EDUCAUSE took immediate steps to contain this breach and we are working with Federal law enforcement, investigators, and security experts to make sure this incident is properly addressed. Additional security measures have been implemented to help prevent any future occurrences.

As a precaution, we have deactivated all EDUCAUSE website profile passwords. We request that you create a new password.

Please do not use your old password. You should create a new password that is 8 or more characters and is made up of a combination of:

        at least one uppercase letter,
        at least one lowercase letter,
        at least one digit, and
        at least one special character.

Please note that the password reset page may be slow to respond as many individuals try to access this page at once. Your old password has already been deactivated; therefore, it does not need to be changed immediately. We expect traffic to the page to decrease later today and tomorrow.

It is not necessary for InCommon account holders to update their institutional credentials because EDUCAUSE does not have access to, or store on any server, InCommon account information.

Please check the address in your browser before entering your password to be sure that you are on the EDUCAUSE website (http://www.educause.edu).

For more information about this incident, please visit the web page about this breach or contact EDUCAUSE Member Services at info@educause.edu or +1-303-449-4430.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to minimize the effects of the breach.

Sincerely,

EDUCAUSE

You are receiving this message because you have an EDUCAUSE website profile.

Copyright 2013 EDUCAUSE | 282 Century Place, Suite 5000, Louisville, CO 80027

Privacy Policy | educause.edu

From: EDUCAUSE <educause@educause.edu>
Subject: Important security message about your EDUCAUSE website profile

[EDUCAUSE logo]

Dear [First Name],

We are writing to inform you of a security breach involving an EDUCAUSE server that may have compromised your EDUCAUSE website profile password. Based on our investigation to date, we do not believe that the breach included access to credit card data, financial accounts, or other sensitive information.

EDUCAUSE took immediate steps to contain this breach and we are working with Federal law enforcement, investigators, and security experts to make sure this incident is properly addressed. Additional security measures have been implemented to help prevent any future occurrences.

As a precaution, we have deactivated all EDUCAUSE website profile passwords. We request that you create a new password.

Please do not use your old password. You should create a new password that is 8 or more characters and is made up of a combination of:

        at least one uppercase letter,
        at least one lowercase letter,
        at least one digit, and
        at least one special character.

Please note that the password reset page may be slow to respond as many individuals try to access this page at once. Your old password has already been deactivated; therefore, it does not need to be changed immediately. We expect traffic to the page to decrease later today and tomorrow.

It is not necessary for InCommon account holders to update their institutional credentials because EDUCAUSE does not have access to, or store on any server, InCommon account information.

Please check the address in your browser before entering your password to be sure that you are on the EDUCAUSE website (http://www.educause.edu).

For more information about this incident, please visit the web page about this breach or contact EDUCAUSE Member Services at info@educause.edu or +1-303-449-4430.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to minimize the effects of the breach.

Sincerely,

EDUCAUSE

You are receiving this message because you have an EDUCAUSE website profile.

Copyright 2013 EDUCAUSE | 282 Century Place, Suite 5000, Louisville, CO 80027

Privacy Policy | educause.edu

From: EDUCAUSE <educause@educause.edu>
Subject: Important security message about your EDUCAUSE website profile

[EDUCAUSE logo]

Dear [First Name],

We are writing to inform you of a security breach involving an EDUCAUSE server that may have compromised your EDUCAUSE website profile password. Based on our investigation to date, we do not believe that the breach included access to credit card data, financial accounts, or other sensitive information.

EDUCAUSE took immediate steps to contain this breach and we are working with Federal law enforcement, investigators, and security experts to make sure this incident is properly addressed. Additional security measures have been implemented to help prevent any future occurrences.

As a precaution, we have deactivated all EDUCAUSE website profile passwords. We request that you create a new password.

Please do not use your old password. You should create a new password that is 8 or more characters and is made up of a combination of:

        at least one uppercase letter,
        at least one lowercase letter,
        at least one digit, and
        at least one special character.

Please note that the password reset page may be slow to respond as many individuals try to access this page at once. Your old password has already been deactivated; therefore, it does not need to be changed immediately. We expect traffic to the page to decrease later today and tomorrow.

It is not necessary for InCommon account holders to update their institutional credentials because EDUCAUSE does not have access to, or store on any server, InCommon account information.

Please check the address in your browser before entering your password to be sure that you are on the EDUCAUSE website (http://www.educause.edu).

For more information about this incident, please visit the web page about this breach or contact EDUCAUSE Member Services at info@educause.edu or +1-303-449-4430.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to minimize the effects of the breach.

Sincerely,

EDUCAUSE

You are receiving this message because you have an EDUCAUSE website profile.

Copyright 2013 EDUCAUSE | 282 Century Place, Suite 5000, Louisville, CO 80027

Privacy Policy | educause.edu

From: EDUCAUSE <educause@educause.edu>
Subject: Important security message about your EDUCAUSE website profile

[EDUCAUSE logo]

Dear [First Name],

We are writing to inform you of a security breach involving an EDUCAUSE server that may have compromised your EDUCAUSE website profile password. Based on our investigation to date, we do not believe that the breach included access to credit card data, financial accounts, or other sensitive information.

EDUCAUSE took immediate steps to contain this breach and we are working with Federal law enforcement, investigators, and security experts to make sure this incident is properly addressed. Additional security measures have been implemented to help prevent any future occurrences.

As a precaution, we have deactivated all EDUCAUSE website profile passwords. We request that you create a new password.

Please do not use your old password. You should create a new password that is 8 or more characters and is made up of a combination of:

        at least one uppercase letter,
        at least one lowercase letter,
        at least one digit, and
        at least one special character.

Please note that the password reset page may be slow to respond as many individuals try to access this page at once. Your old password has already been deactivated; therefore, it does not need to be changed immediately. We expect traffic to the page to decrease later today and tomorrow.

It is not necessary for InCommon account holders to update their institutional credentials because EDUCAUSE does not have access to, or store on any server, InCommon account information.

Please check the address in your browser before entering your password to be sure that you are on the EDUCAUSE website (http://www.educause.edu).

For more information about this incident, please visit the web page about this breach or contact EDUCAUSE Member Services at info@educause.edu or +1-303-449-4430.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to minimize the effects of the breach.

Sincerely,

EDUCAUSE

You are receiving this message because you have an EDUCAUSE website profile.

Copyright 2013 EDUCAUSE | 282 Century Place, Suite 5000, Louisville, CO 80027

Privacy Policy | educause.edu

From: EDUCAUSE <educause@educause.edu>
Subject: Important security message about your EDUCAUSE website profile

[EDUCAUSE logo]

Dear [First Name],

We are writing to inform you of a security breach involving an EDUCAUSE server that may have compromised your EDUCAUSE website profile password. Based on our investigation to date, we do not believe that the breach included access to credit card data, financial accounts, or other sensitive information.

EDUCAUSE took immediate steps to contain this breach and we are working with Federal law enforcement, investigators, and security experts to make sure this incident is properly addressed. Additional security measures have been implemented to help prevent any future occurrences.

As a precaution, we have deactivated all EDUCAUSE website profile passwords. We request that you create a new password.

Please do not use your old password. You should create a new password that is 8 or more characters and is made up of a combination of:

        at least one uppercase letter,
        at least one lowercase letter,
        at least one digit, and
        at least one special character.

Please note that the password reset page may be slow to respond as many individuals try to access this page at once. Your old password has already been deactivated; therefore, it does not need to be changed immediately. We expect traffic to the page to decrease later today and tomorrow.

It is not necessary for InCommon account holders to update their institutional credentials because EDUCAUSE does not have access to, or store on any server, InCommon account information.

Please check the address in your browser before entering your password to be sure that you are on the EDUCAUSE website (http://www.educause.edu).

For more information about this incident, please visit the web page about this breach or contact EDUCAUSE Member Services at info@educause.edu or +1-303-449-4430.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to minimize the effects of the breach.

Sincerely,

EDUCAUSE

You are receiving this message because you have an EDUCAUSE website profile.

Copyright 2013 EDUCAUSE | 282 Century Place, Suite 5000, Louisville, CO 80027

Privacy Policy | educause.edu

Anyone who goes to one of the big schools in the U.S. is already subject to CALEA if you use either an authenticated connection or a lab computer. There was a court decision saying higher ed did have to comply ( see 2nd paragraph: http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Browse/CALEA/30781 ). What happened? IT for schools comply anyways. It grows their department budget and the get less flak from 3 letter entities that can apply pressure in other ways.

It is a bit more complex than that: Tuition Rising: Why College Costs So Much

Summary:

Cost Pressures on Tuition
1. In order to get quality students, hopefully better endowments, and better faculty, schools spend a lot to make themselves look good. Upgrade buildings, landscaping, new science equipment, etc...
2. Shared governance between faculty, administrators, trustees means that institutions are slow to react to changing costs/regulations.
3. The Feds broke up several collective agreements (which allowed them to share resources) between elite colleges in order to better target financial aid to students that had the greatest need. Also, Federal education grants have not kept pace with inflation. In 1975 the maximum BEOG was 4,000, in 1997 it was 2,700.
4. Local government pressures: permits to develop properties involve a lot of complex planning between the town and college. Environmentalists and historical preservationists also add cost.
5. As a school gains rank in "US News and World Reports", applicants increase, test scores increase, and the amount of financial aid required goes down (richer kids attend). Since the rankings are largely based on how well educated the graduating classes are, pressure to spend more and more to try to improve their education mounts.
6. Since Deans are typically hired, and later supported in place by faculty, it is difficult for administrators/the President, to remove bad Deans that aren't cooperating with cost savings initiatives.

I'm not sure how good this analysis is, and it does not attempt to weigh the 6 items. I'd tend to put most of the blame on the rise in demand (everyone must go to college) combined with the lack of proportionate federal/state funding. And the increased competition between schools causing them to try to outspend each other.

(I posted in another place above also. Posted it twice because I'm curious what other people think of the other factors.)

What I really want to know is why universities think they need to be involved in a discussion about copyright protection anyway.

Probably because due to intense lobbying by the MPAA et al., in the Higher Education Opportunity Act the federal government included stipulations that schools receiving federal money adopt certain procedures regarding copyright infringement and file-sharing. See, e.g., http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Browse/HEOA/34600.

just like any other top level domain can be used for any purpose.

Might want to check your facts there. Good luck buying .gov and .mil domains for your own personal use.

While its true that most .edu tld's are educational institutions, not all are, and there is no rule saying one way or the other.

Except for the rules about it: http://net.educause.edu/edudomain/show_faq.asp?code=EDUELIGIBILITY

Why are you amused it's a .com if it has shareholders?

On a side note, an .edu requires it to be an accredited school. I do not think a bible qualifies as a college.

he also got me a grant from the national science foundation to develop network expert systems... my linear algebra professor wasn't ignorant or lazy. here is his bio... would you mind admitting which school you are paying to make you as intelligent as you currently are?

Educause thinks we all should have 100mbps connections and that the average house hold would consume 150mbps between multiple TV sessions, web browsing and other activities. See page 21

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EPO0801.pdf

In summary they think a household can take 150mbps with TV, Gaming, and browsing. They also think everyone should have 100mbps min.

Is there a reason why professors haven't led the way in switching to textbooks published as free cultural works?

Because only profs who already have tenure can afford the luxury of non-traditional publishing mechanisms.

The others have to go with the traditional publishers because that way they get at least a little bit of "research output" credit. Not much, but at least the dean of the faculty won't be immediately firing them for wasting valuable research time.

This isn't likely to change much within the next decade or two, because the people who get to decide which kinds of publication "count" as research output and which ones don't are never academics themselves. Textbooks as free cultural works can't become the norm unless both academics, and the bureaucrats who conduct research output evaluations, are persuaded simultaneously.

Typically, the publisher will stop selling the old edition

In other words, the old "Disney vault" trick. Is there a reason why professors haven't led the way in switching to textbooks published as free cultural works?

From John McCain's website: "John McCain does not believe in prescriptive regulation like 'net-neutrality,' but rather he believes that an open marketplace with a variety of consumer choices is the best deterrent against unfair practices. John McCain has always believed the government's role must be rooted in protecting consumers."

From Barack Obama's senate website: "So here's my view. We can't have a situation in which the corporate duopoly dictates the future of the internet and thatâ(TM)s why I'm supporting what is called net neutrality."

John McCain has put forward an excellent bill in the Senate called the Community Broadband Act of 2005, which Barack Obama has not yet signed on to. Interestingly, this bill is supported by EDUCAUSE and more than 40 education and trade associations, public interest groups, etc. This bill would protect the ability of local governments to provide Internet services to their communities.

(See another great Educause article entitled A Big Blueprint for Big Broadband

Though Obama hasn't signed on to the McCain community broadband act, he has stated that "Every American should have the highest speed broadband accessâ"no matter where you live, or how much money you have. We'll connect schools, libraries, and hospitals. And weâ(TM)ll take on special interests to unleash the power of wireless spectrum for our safety and connectivity."

From John McCain's website: "John McCain does not believe in prescriptive regulation like 'net-neutrality,' but rather he believes that an open marketplace with a variety of consumer choices is the best deterrent against unfair practices. John McCain has always believed the government's role must be rooted in protecting consumers."

From Barack Obama's senate website: "So here's my view. We can't have a situation in which the corporate duopoly dictates the future of the internet and thatâ(TM)s why I'm supporting what is called net neutrality."

John McCain has put forward an excellent bill in the Senate called the Community Broadband Act of 2005, which Barack Obama has not yet signed on to. Interestingly, this bill is supported by EDUCAUSE and more than 40 education and trade associations, public interest groups, etc. This bill would protect the ability of local governments to provide Internet services to their communities.

(See another great Educause article entitled A Big Blueprint for Big Broadband

Though Obama hasn't signed on to the McCain community broadband act, he has stated that "Every American should have the highest speed broadband accessâ"no matter where you live, or how much money you have. We'll connect schools, libraries, and hospitals. And weâ(TM)ll take on special interests to unleash the power of wireless spectrum for our safety and connectivity."

All of this is now relatively irrelevant.

The RIAA and MPAA bought themselves some of our representatives and they have added some Peer to Peer technology restrictions to the requirements that publicly funded colleges will have to abide by in order to get their money. This memo discusses it, but basically they will have to:

Disclose annually to students that file sharing is bad and illegal
Certify to the Secretary of Education the school will "effectively combat" copyrighted file sharing
Offer alternatives to "illegal filesharing"

Once again our representatives have sold out.

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/epo0815.pdf

CHEA does not accredit individual schools - CHEA works at the next level to ensure the quality of accreditors who in turn perform the accreditation of individual schools.
http://www.chea.org/pdf/chea_glance_2006.pdf

There are many, many .edu domains that do not represent accredited institutions. The problem is that you could get a .edu domain without consideration of your accreditation status before 2001 - in 2001 everyone with a .edu domain was "grandfathered" and allowed to keep that domain even if they were not accredited. I'm not sure what the rules are on transferring a .edu domain, but that might be another possible way to obtain a .edu domain without being accredited.
http://www.educause.edu/edudomain/eligibility.asp

Some tips on determining whether or not a .edu domain represents an accredited school are described in this site:
http://www.chea.org/degreemills/default.htm

It has nothing to do with population density.
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EPO0801.pdf

http://listserv.educause.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0711&L=icpl&T=0&F=&S=&P=546

This tool they are talking about includes numerous network based tools they want Universities to install on their network. These tools CAN NOT detect ILLEGAL file sharing. They can only detect that file sharing is taking place. So what are Universities supposed to do? Watch the logs and when someone shares a file launch a raid on their room to check and see if that file was illegal or not? This is ridiculous.

Now the scary part. The Universitytoolkit is setup by default to allow unauthenticated access to the tools on the box via a web application. Someone from the network can anonymously view ALL traffic this system can see which includes web traffic, etc. If anyone has installed this toolkit you might want to do some more research.

Gah! Here are the relevant documents omitted above:

Committee Members phone numbers: http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/phone.pdf

Legislative language and template responses: http://www.educause.edu/p2pfs

Gah! Here are the relevant documents omitted above:

Committee Members phone numbers: http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/phone.pdf

Legislative language and template responses: http://www.educause.edu/p2pfs

Carnegie Mellon seemed to have gotten their domain name the same day (24 Apr 1985). Was that the activation date of .edu or something?

      Domain Name: CMU.EDU
      Whois Server: whois.educause.net
      Referral URL: http://www.educause.edu/edudomain
      Name Server: T-NS1.NET.CMU.EDU
      Name Server: AC-TNS-1.NET.CMU.EDU
      Name Server: AC-TNS-2.NET.CMU.EDU
      Name Server: NY-SERVER-1.NET.CMU.EDU
      Status: ok
      Updated Date: 12-sep-2007
      Creation Date: 24-apr-1985
      Expiration Date: 24-apr-2008

Here's a notice to the education sector and what the Storm Worm can mean to universities: http://listserv.educause.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind 0708&L=cio&T=0&F=&S=&P=4540

Without getting into if CALEA is applicable in the RIAA versus the world scenario; there has actually been a good bit of debate concerning how/if it applies to networks provided by universities.

It would appear that Uncle Sam has more or less said, "it depends". For more details see the following:

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/050106-calea .html

http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=HENA &Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=17276

http://connect.educause.edu/blog/lgesner/calea_upd ate_higher_ed_reporting_due_dates_announced/16659

Blackboard to try to keep some face. The Blackboard product heavily utilizes "building blocks" (assuming you have the enterprise version), many of which are open source. If Blackboard is benefiting from open source, attacking open source products may kill or slow down the inovation that comes from the building blocks...

Additionally, I think this is an attempt to try to placate those who are shouting prior art and want to go after the patent and invalidate it... The reasoning might go like, "If they aren't going after sakai or moodle, i don't really care if they have the patent." That is how I see the real purpose of this move... It seems fairly shrewd. Hopefuly higher ed will continue to go after them and educause will keep the pressure up. BTW, there is a joint statement from educause and sakai (PDF) on educause's website. (Here is the statement on sakai's page.)

Blackboard to try to keep some face. The Blackboard product heavily utilizes "building blocks" (assuming you have the enterprise version), many of which are open source. If Blackboard is benefiting from open source, attacking open source products may kill or slow down the inovation that comes from the building blocks...

Additionally, I think this is an attempt to try to placate those who are shouting prior art and want to go after the patent and invalidate it... The reasoning might go like, "If they aren't going after sakai or moodle, i don't really care if they have the patent." That is how I see the real purpose of this move... It seems fairly shrewd. Hopefuly higher ed will continue to go after them and educause will keep the pressure up. BTW, there is a joint statement from educause and sakai (PDF) on educause's website. (Here is the statement on sakai's page.)

http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?PAGE_ID=7103&b hcp=1

I serve in the IT management team at a small private university, and we don NOT filter or censor ANY traffic based on content. This is commonly discussed at various meetings regarding technology and higher ed (just google around on the http://educause.edu/ website). Packet shaping based on protocol our IP address are one thing, but blacklisting and content blocking is blatant censorship. Our faculty would have us hanged if we implemented such a policy.

I still don't quite understand it, though. (And maybe the judge doesn't, either, hence the problem...) How could ICANN "kill" a domain?

ICANN controls the root nameservers, so they could conceivably "kill" any TLD of their choice (not that this wouldn't be insanity, but it's technically possible), but they don't manage any of the domains within the TLDs themselves, at least to my understanding. .com and .net are managed by Verisign, .org is run by the Public Interest Registry, .edu is EduCause, etc. So if you wanted to order someone to shut down spamhaus.org, it would be PIR or their "technical partner," Afilias Ltd.

The best response ICANN could make to the request to put a hold on the name is "we can't do it." At the very least, it would deflect the request to the actual maintainance organization for the TLD (in this case PIR), who would be in a better position to accede to or refuse the request. The updating, maintanance, suspension, or takedown of individual domains just isn't within ICANN's jurisdiction; one would hope a Federal judge would understand that, conceptually.

If you haven't had a chance to hear it, this is porbably worth it. (About an hour long)

http://www.educause.edu/elements/pol06feldgs.mp3

More can be read at: http://www.wetmachine.com/totsf/

Some good points there. Maybe I was asleep at the switch, but didn't CALEA get amended to include wiretaping of educational and research networks, both data communications and VoIP phone calls. http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?page_id=645&PA RENT_ID=698&bhcp=1 This is expected to cost universities approximately 4.7B dollars to comply to, if only there was actaully some standard to be able to comply to... Still the clock is ticking and the coming months will be interesting to see if/how/when education networks are required to 'comply'. Its interesting how the defination of Internet access services and VoIP services seem to have suddenly greyed.

My understanding is the most recent rulemaking by the FCC states that colleges and universities would only need to provide the "wiretap" capability for traffic going to and from the campus and the Internet. As such, a wholesale replacement of all routers and switches on campus would not be necessary; most likely some edge equipment and possibly some VLAN switching.

Of course, the cost complaint ignores the ongoing privacy versus security debate.

In any event, there is an excellent resource for higher education's position on this issue at EDUCAUSE. See http://www.educause.edu/calea

I'm sure there's plagiarism going on, but there's never been a more dangerous time to do it. It's much easier to cross-check articles on the Internet for plagiarism than for any previous medium. Educators have already access to a variety of tools to catch cheaters.

Separately, The American Council on Education filed a court challenge arguing that compliance with the rules would require colleges and universities to spend $7 billion in upgrading switches and routers.

Actually, some easily readable stuff by Alan Kay:
http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/learn/12
http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewArticl es/31422.html

David Noble on the automation of education. (Realaudio lecture.)

Talk by John Taylor Gatto on why today's education is so bad.

Try here. Kind of an interesting list of "what works and what doesn't" in an educational setting. Not a lot of details, but a lot of leads...

What!? Free PCs!?

Yeah, I go to the University of Rochester also, and the only reason they, and Penn State even struck these deals is because UR's Provost, Charles Phelps, and PSU's president, both serve on the Technology Task Force of the Joint Committee along with members of the MPAA and RIAA. Oddly enough, Dave Lambert, Vice President & CIO of Georgetown University, is also on this committee (see link).

The Napster offering is lame, the students cannot use it from home, nor can they play the teathered tracks without being connected to the network and logged into Napster. The streaming quality of 96kbps is pathetic, and most new albums and additions are buy-only, making the service almost completely useless. I'd rather listen to internet radio at a higher bitrate. As far as limmited network traffic, it probably does work, because those people who would use Kazaa anyway would maybe like it, and since each school then buys a RAID array Napster Server to host the service on-site, less people will be wasting my bandwidth :-)

"Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and make deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat...apart from inquiry...individuals cannot be truly human. Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention."
-- Paulo Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1993)

Professor Alfred Bork has, for the last 30 years, stated that the educational system that we use around the world is out of date. That the way we use technology today is a waste of money. He supplies a solution, but not in the old framework that teachers and politicians think. Not in the teacher orientated system which was thought out in the 12 century Italy and is still practiced today. Just think about that. We use a system that's almost a thousand years old in a world with 6,5 billion people!

A drastic overhaul of the global educational system is needed. Professor Bork has some very decent thoughts about this on his site: http://www.ics.uci.edu/~bork/papers.html but first read the interview with Alfred Bork: The Future of Learning

(...No no no, he isn't part of the collective.)

You should contact some of the people doing the Internet2 project.

They've got to have a bunch of high-bandwidth tests.

If you have trouble contacting them, I have a friend that works with them through Educause.

T

I submitted this earlier today, but was rejected. So here's what I had to say. It contains a bit more information.

After the University of Rochester announced last week in its school newspaper that students there would be offered legal music downloads starting the spring semester, Penn State President Graham B. Spanier announced today that his University has signed an agreement with Napster to launch a program in which Penn State will make Napster's Premium Service available at no cost to its students. This comes from the annual EDUCAUSE meeting of thousands of information technology administrators from universities around the country. Most notably are the panelists who are part of a P2P file sharing disscussion. They include, Cary Sherman of the RIAA, Jack Valenti of the MPAA, the Provost of the University of Rochester, and the President of Penn State. Too bad it's Napster and not iTunes.

I submitted this earlier today, but was rejected. So here's what I had to say. It contains a bit more information.

After the University of Rochester announced last week in its school newspaper that students there would be offered legal music downloads starting the spring semester, Penn State President Graham B. Spanier announced today that his University has signed an agreement with Napster to launch a program in which Penn State will make Napster's Premium Service available at no cost to its students. This comes from the annual EDUCAUSE meeting of thousands of information technology administrators from universities around the country. Most notably are the panelists who are part of a P2P file sharing disscussion. They include, Cary Sherman of the RIAA, Jack Valenti of the MPAA, the Provost of the University of Rochester, and the President of Penn State. Too bad it's Napster and not iTunes.

I submitted this earlier today, but was rejected. So here's what I had to say. It contains a bit more information.

After the University of Rochester announced last week in its school newspaper that students there would be offered legal music downloads starting the spring semester, Penn State President Graham B. Spanier announced today that his University has signed an agreement with Napster to launch a program in which Penn State will make Napster's Premium Service available at no cost to its students. This comes from the annual EDUCAUSE meeting of thousands of information technology administrators from universities around the country. Most notably are the panelists who are part of a P2P file sharing disscussion. They include, Cary Sherman of the RIAA, Jack Valenti of the MPAA, the Provost of the University of Rochester, and the President of Penn State. Too bad it's Napster and not iTunes.

I submitted this earlier today, but was rejected. So here's what I had to say. It contains a bit more information.

After the University of Rochester announced last week in its school newspaper that students there would be offered legal music downloads starting the spring semester, Penn State President Graham B. Spanier announced today that his University has signed an agreement with Napster to launch a program in which Penn State will make Napster's Premium Service available at no cost to its students. This comes from the annual EDUCAUSE meeting of thousands of information technology administrators from universities around the country. Most notably are the panelists who are part of a P2P file sharing disscussion. They include, Cary Sherman of the RIAA, Jack Valenti of the MPAA, the Provost of the University of Rochester, and the President of Penn State. Too bad it's Napster and not iTunes.