“A collaboration between Cambridge and MIT, given £65.1m by the government, has so far underwhelmed academia with its achievements. Where is the money going?” So says a sceptical piece in today’s Guardian. But since the article claims that Dr. Gillian Evans is a member of the University’s Council (elementary schoolboy mistake), one wonders how well-informed it actually is.

Saying the federal government isn’t doing enough to ensure consumer privacy, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has sent an open letter to the attorneys general in all 50 states to stop what it claims are Microsoft’s unfair and deceptive business practices surrounding the company’s Passport service. Computerworld story here.

This is an experimental posting made from my Psion via a mobile phone! Just pushing the envelope!

“Distance education threatens the privacy of students and professors because online class discussions can be monitored in ways that are impossible in traditional classrooms, argues David Noble, a history professor at York University, in Toronto, and a well known critic of technology. ” From a useful review by Jeffrey R. Young of David Noble’s new book, The Digital Diploma Mill. In the light of the security-panic which has been triggered by September 11 in the US, this is something for anyone interested in academic freedom to worry about.