From: "E. Allen Smith" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 14:50:50 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Edited Edupage, 8 Sept 1996
Message-ID: <01I9AJIWWX1O9ULM12@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


From:	IN%"educom@educom.unc.edu"  9-SEP-1996 11:29:04.71

>************************************************************
>Edupage, 8 September 1996.  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.
>************************************************************

[...]

>SCIENTOLOGISTS FIGHT FOR COPYRIGHT PROTECTION ON NET
>Police investigators in Helsinki say the Internet "anonymous remailer" site
>anon.penet.fi was shut down partially because of a copyright dispute with
>the Church of Scientology (and not because the site was a primary conduit
>for child pornography, as was previously reported).  The Church of
>Scientology, which has been successful in convincing the courts that its
>teachings are validly copyrighted material, was pursuing an individual who
>used the anonymous remailer site to post Scientology texts without the
>Church's permission.  The operator of the site decided to close it down
>rather than reveal the individual's name to Helsinki police.  The Church
>says it was not opposing the existence of the server:  "We have no
>opposition to there being anonymity for private, consensual communications.
>What we oppose is using anonymous servers for the purpose of permitting
>criminal or other unlawful acts."  (New York Times 6 Sep 96 C2)

	Why don't I believe the first portion of that statement?

[...]

>COPYRIGHT LAW ARCHIVED ON THE NET
>The Stanford University library is working with the Council on Library
>Resources to compile an electronic archive of information on copyright law
>in an effort to keep educators and others aware of the ongoing debate over
>the "fair use" doctrine.  The Stanford site < http://fairuse.stanford.edu >
>contains the full text of court decisions, legislation and international
>copyright agreements, as well as related articles on the topic.  (Chronicle
>of Higher Education 6 Sep 96 A42)

>NEW ANGLE ON WEB SURFING
>BroadVision's new Web site, called The Angle, features the company's
>One-To-One intelligent agent and WebPoint content management technologies.
>"What intranets are looking for are ways to help users of their site get
>information they need, and are entitled to, quickly and efficiently without
>too much surfing," says the company's CEO, who touts his service as an
>efficiency-booster for corporate technology managers.  Unlike its rival,
>Firefly, which is used to direct music seekers to selections they might like
>based on similar buyers' tastes, the One-To-One agent software is built on
>rule-based reasoning.  BroadVision is considering licensing Firefly's
>technology, which uses a personalization algorithm to identify trends among
>users and personal tastes, to expand its offerings.  (Interactive Age
>Digital 4 Sep 96)

[...]

>CONGRESS, NOT THE COURTS, TO RESOLVE COPYRIGHT ISSUES
>The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is shifting gears in its drive to
>resolve electronic copyright issues, and is now working with members of
>Congress to develop a legislative solution to the issue of online service
>provider liability, which has been a sticking point in efforts to pass new
>copyright legislation.  "We are looking for a way to define the nature of
>the provision of mere telecommunications services, for which
>telecommunications providers should bear no liability for copyright
>infringement.  We are trying to define where the dividing line is between
>someone who actively engages in the provision of information versus someone
>who is a mere conduit," says a senior legal counselor for the PTO.  The PTO
>originally believed these issues could be resolved through the court system,
>but now says it will work with Congress and industry to develop legislative
>solutions.  (BNA Daily Report for Executives 4 Sep 96 A4)

	Eeep... I trust the courts more than people selected by a popularity
contest. Remember that various of the worse CDA-replacement bills had in
them provisions for CDA-like filtering being protected from liability? To
me, that's a pretty clear government sponsorship of such filtering, which
makes it censorship.

[...]

>WHERE WIZARDS STAY UP LATE
>The NY Times Sunday Book Review says the Hafner/Lyon book on the origins of
>the Internet ("Where Wizards Stay Up Late") compiles a great deal of
>much-needed information and "shows just how striking an innovation and
>collaboration the Arpanet really was.  One central focus of the book
>(excerpted in the Sep/Oct Educom Review) is the contribution of the
>brilliant psychologist and computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider, who
>predicted an era when "human brains and computing machines will be coupled
>.... tightly, and ... the resulting partnership will think as no human brain
>has ever thought and process data in a way not approached by the
>information-handling machines we know today."  (New York Times Book Review 8
>Sep 96 p19)

>Edupage is written by John Gehl <gehl@educom.edu> & Suzanne Douglas
><douglas@educom.edu>.  Voice:  404-371-1853, Fax: 404-371-8057.

>Technical support is provided by Information Technology Services at the
>University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

>************************************************************
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