- Duane Maynard is the first to be cited in the federal investigation into the eRate
program. Maynard pled guilty to charges that he conspired with officials from the
West Fresno Elementary School District to eliminate competitive bidding and to
lying to a grand jury. Howe Electric, the company Maynard worked for, received more
than $6 million from the government through the eRate program. Maynard faces up to
three years in prison and a fine of $350,000, which may be lowered because of his
cooperation with federal investigators - http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/3069181
(Internet News, 27 Aug 03)

- Myths about the Internet abound. The Cooperative Association for Internet Data
Analysis (CAIDA), one of the most overlooked organizations on the Internet will
help dispel some of those myths. On August 8, one of the principals, KC Claffy, gave
an insightful presentation the Telluride Tech Festival. She talked about "the facts."
Claffy is convinced that you can track the .com problem back to misleading myths and
that much of the problem could have been prevented if people had been paying attention
to "real" measurements of Internet growth. These are "real" measurements, not survey
results. Visit the CAIDA site to explore these myths and look at the facts -
http://www.caida.org (PC Magazine, 11 Aug 03)

- Supporters of open-source technology are planning a new trade group to act as a
lobbying organization for open-source tools and encourage broader adoption of them.
The organizers claim that they are not designed to be anti-Microsoft. Although
committed groups have not been disclosed, rumors suggest companies that include
Novell and Oracle are contemplating supporting the OSAIA -
http://news.com.com/2100-7252_3-5060512.html (CNET, 6 Aug 03)

- Interest in 'open source' software for online courses is gaining, reported Stephen
Downes, senior researcher for eLearning at the National Research Council of Canada.
With open source software, institutions can have greater control and ownership over
their own software and they can modify the software to meet their own needs.
Downes named a leading open source online classroom platform challenging
Blackboard and WebCT, called Moodle - http://www.moodle.org/