IP: SCREENING FREE SPEECH? and UNIVERSITIES MANDATE MOBILE USE : Edupage, November 19, 2001

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> The war in Afghanistan is having a subtle but important effect on
> the Internet, namely making censorship "cool." Yahoo! has adopted
> an aggressive policy against anti-U.S. language in relation to the
> conflict on its message boards. The policy ranges from deleting
> insultingly worded posts to deleting sometimes rationally worded
> opposing points-of-view. One Muslim U.S. student, Usman Sheikh,
> claims to have repeatedly tried to post messages foregrounding
> civilian casualties in the U.S.-led war only to see them deleted,
> while anti-Arab and anti-Muslim posts have remained up despite
> complaints by himself and others. In addition, eBay has banned
> the selling of Sept. 11-related memorabilia unless items are
> "described in a positive and commemorative way."
> (Washington Post, 18 November 2001)



  and


UNIVERSITIES MANDATE MOBILE USE
Colleges and universities in the United States as well as
overseas are flirting with or deploying handheld devices
throughout the student population. Dartmouth College has
implemented a Handspring Visor program into its department of
psychology and brain sciences; iPaq handhelds are required for
all freshmen in the University of Duluth's engineering,
computer science, and IT departments; and the University of
South Dakota has mandated that the incoming class of 2005 and
others carry Palms. Handheld programs can be particularly
beneficial for colleges from a marketing standpoint, furthering
their tech reputation. USD, for example, touts its Palms as a
cheaper way for students to access the Internet than buying
more costly PCs, noted VP of academic affairs Don Dahlin. USD
faculty members are optimistic that the devices will be used
for a wide variety of academic applications, especially in
the sciences.
(M-Business, November 2001)


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