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eweekhickins writes "A full year after the institution of new federal e-discovery court rules, only a minority of companies are paying attention. Keeping track of every IM, email, and document for a court order that may never come must seem like a tall order. Researcher Michael Osterman said that only 47 percent of companies have some kind of e-mail retention policy in place. 'I don't think it's difficult to understand the rules,' Osterman told eWEEK. 'I just think that it sometimes takes headline shock to make people move on some things.'"

An anonymous reader noted that "The Arecibo Observatory funding was slashed. Cut to $8 million from $10.5 million, which will decrease the amount of time that the telescope is operational. "A quarter of its staff was laid off last year," and Arecibo, which is located in Puerto Rico, could possibly be completely closed in four years, according to the "National Science Foundation (NSF), which pays for the operation of the telescope." This comes after "a review panel for the foundation's astronomy division two years ago" suggested cutting Arecibo's financing by 25 percent as a way to pay for new facilities. There has been "[a]n outcry" in response to the "decision, particularly from planetary scientists" who argued that the panel "overlooked Arecibo's role in cataloging potential dangers from asteroids." The Times notes that in Arecibo's favor is the fact that it "may be much cheaper to keep...open" than dismantle, which "could cost hundreds of millions of dollars."" I've been considering a vacation to PR for a few years, and seeing this thing is on my list of awesome things to try to see. Guess I should hurry ;)

An anonymous reader writes "A news.com article is covering an amendment to the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (pdf) that should make folks in Hollywood, the RIAA, and the MPAA well pleased. The tiny section seeks to hinge government approval of an institution of higher learning on whether or not they adequately dissuade Peer-to-Peer filesharing of copyrighted materials. The Act came out of the House Education and Labor Committee, which agreed on the terms unanimously. There is still some question, though, as to what penalties should be handed down for institutions that don't do enough to protect intellectual property. 'Some university representatives and fair-use advocates worry that schools run the risk of losing aid for their students if they fail to come up with the required plans. "The language in the bill appears to be clear that failure to carry out the mandates would make an institution ineligible for participation in at least some part of Title IV (which deals with federal financial aid programs)," Steven Worona, director of policy and networking programs for the group Educause, said in a telephone interview Thursday.'" Update: 11/16 16:36 GMT by Z : PDF link corrected.

Wiggy jurist wants a more inclusive society

One of the UK's top judges has thrown a grenade into the smouldering debate around the national DNA database, saying that everyone in the UK - including visitors from overseas - should be on file.

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/05/beak_sez_all_ur_dna_r_belong_to_us/

JennyT writes "The Internet has been around since 1994, and Stephen now believes that he couldn't live without the Internet. In this highly intellectual interview, Stephen Fry compares the Internet to a city (London) in a rather impressive choice of words. He comments "the Internet is everywhere, as I say, it's no longer just something you have to log into on the computer, the internet's all around us and it connects us all, and therefore is as good and as bad as humanity is". The video outtake of Stephen Fry is fully available at the following URL http://www.videojug.com/interview/stephen-fry-the- internet He also talks about how the Internet has changed society, whether it is a good place to learn, and how important the web's free knowledge will be in the future. Overall, it is a great interview with one of the UK's most renowned intellectuals- a must see interview for everyone interested in the Internet. Stephen also talks about the web 2.0 on the same website at the following http://www.videojug.com/interview/stephen-fry-web- 20"
http://www.videojug.com/interview/stephen-fry-the-internet