Students Returning To Computer Science

A couple of recent reports/surveys of American and Canadian Colleges and Universities have indicated that students are starting to get interested in computer science again after an 8 year slump in enrollment.

“We’re seeing amazing increases in enrollment,” Eric Roberts, a computer scientist at Stanford University is quoted in the New York Times as saying. “It’s not that people have forgotten about the offshoring of jobs, but our competition isn’t what it was. There are fewer places to go, and we don’t have Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and Citibank to compete with.”

While Peter Harsha, director of government affairs at the Computing Research Association says “The most compelling story for our community is that interest in computer science appears to have turned the corner,”

For some reason those banking jobs just don't seem all that appealing any more...

Student Faces Charges After Revealing Security Hole

A 20-year-old Carleton University student, Mansour Moufid, has been charged under the Criminal Code with mischief to data and unauthorized use of a computer after a letter was sent to the university with a list of the students' accounts and their passwords. The letters author claimed he easily broke into student accounts using a keystroke logging program. According to the Ottawacitizen.com "The breach allowed access to the Campus Cards that students use as debit cards for campus purchases, including photocopiers, food kiosks and the bookstore." It seems the student was trying to make a point about the IT departments security procedures, looks like they didn't take kindly to his constructive criticism!

MPAA Says Sorry, My Bad!

In a 2005 study commissioned by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) college and university students were blamed for 44 percent of all illegal downloading of movies. The MPAA has now admitted to "human error" in calculating those figures saying that students only account for about 15 percent of revenue loss to association members but claims the number is still significant. Mark Luker, vice president of campus IT group Educause, says "The 44 percent figure was used to show that if college campuses could somehow solve this problem on this campus, then it would make a tremendous difference in the business of the motion picture industry," and that "any solution on campus will have only a small impact on the industry itself." Perhaps the authors of the study should have spent more time studying and less time downloading when they were in school!

AP article here.