WelcomeReturning Students The Weather· Today: Sunny, 75°F (24°C) Tonight: loudy, 63°F (17°C) Tomorrow: Cloudy, 80°F (27°C) Detail , Page 2 Cambridge, Massachusett 02139 Thursday, Augu t 30, 2001 By Jeffrey Greenbaum STAFF REPORTER Institute Sues Over Digital TVLicensing In yesterday's freshman housing By Jennifer Krishnan the lawsuit. lottery, over 80 percent of the 679 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th NEWS EDITOR "We believe that a rather large lottery entrants received one of their er 85 1 MIT has announced that they are number of companies that are mak- top two choices. suing Sony Electronics, Inc. for man- ing digital television or components "We tried to maximize the Bexley 16 1 ufacturing and selling digital televi- of digital television will be or are amount of people who got their first BurtoD-Connor 42 49 2 sions that use components and tech- operating under the claims of our or second choice," said Denise Val- East Campus 41 32 13 nologies patented by the Institute. patents," Nelsen said. lay, manager of Undergraduate Resi- iCG~or 99 In the lawsuit, MIT alleges that Mack Araki, a representative of dential Services. In order to accom- ewHouse 39 13 5 "Sony has directly infringed ... on Sony, said the corporation would plish this, the Office of Residential [the patents in question] by manu- not discuss the pending litigation. Life and Student Life Programs Next House 56 32 facturing, .,. selling, and/or offering (RLSLP) ran the lottery three time , Random 14 4 to sell ... the said digital systems Sony less cooperative than others and selected the results in which the SeDior House '1 11 4 and components." "We have offered license for greatest number of freshmen received Unassigned "MIT has a large part of patents these patents to the companies ... one of their first two choices. related to digital television," said about five companies have already Vallay believes that there was a Technology Licensing Office Direc- signed up for licenses," Nelsen said, good amount of variance in the tor Lita Nelsen. "and we are contacting others." preferences for the lottery, which lottery, many freshmen toured the temporary dormitory's location According to the MIT Technolo- Donald N. Kaiser, Associate helped freshmen to receive one of different dormitories, both with the and facilities. gy Licensing Office's website, MIT Technology Licensing Officer, said their top two choices. help of tour guides and indepen- "1 got a completely different dif- owns 18 U.S. Patents relating to MIT has license agreements with dently. "Touring had a huge impact ferent impression of Senior House digital television. Four of these, Freshmen tour dorms on my decision. I tried to talk to as by living there," said Mandeep which expire in 2006, are named in Sony, Page 10 Prior to entering the dormitory many people as 1 could," Rachel L. Singh '05. He felt that Senior Finck '05 said. House's descriptions did not accu- VaUay feels that "people really rately portray the dormitory, Despite Controversy, RLAs Move In spent some time looking at their dif- Some freshmen who attended ferent options." She noted the Campus Preview Weekend used the By Nancy L. Keuss and administration in MIT dorm cul- positions August 14, are now entries came in slowly at first, but experiences to help elect their tem- Shankar Mukherji ture, the four Residence Life Asso- housed in ext House, McCormick really began to pick up Tuesday porary housing. ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS ciates have begun to settle into their Hall, the Eastgate Apartments, and morning. "1 have been here for CPW and Despite months of heated dis- respective residential zones. Building NW30, the Albany Street liked EC the most so 1picked it for cussion surrounding the role of the The RLAs, who assumed their warehouse recently converted into a Temporary housing useful my temporary housing," Timur graduate dormitory. Freshmen generally appreciated Tokmoulinne '05 said. Although he Offices for both RLA and non- their temporary housing experi- visited other dormitories during dor- RLA personnel were recently ence because it allowed them to mitory rush, he selected East Cam- installed in Burton-Conner House, a check out the dormitories first- pus as his top pick. move that eliminates some residen- hand. Although they would have Martijn Stevenson '05 said that "it tial space. liked to have met more of the dor- is hard to tell what a place is like until Critics have deemed the move mitory's residents, freshmen were part of a disturbing trend that able to developed a feel for their Housing lottery, Page 12 involves administrators quietly encroaching on student life. Others question the need to house more administrators at a time when many dorms are feeling the acute effects Michael L. Dertouzos of a campus housing crunch. Professor Michael L. Dertouzo PhD '64, director of the Labora- "In a nutshell, I think this was a tory for Computer Science (LCS), died Monday night at Massachu- good idea implemented at a bad setts General Hospital. He was 64 years old. time and in a sloppy way," said Dertouzo had served as director of LCS since 1974, ten year Burton-Conner resident James L. after be joined MIT's faculty. Under his leader hip, LCS expanded to Hardison '02. become one of the largest research labs on campus, with 400 faculty Burton-Conner residents have members, graduate students, and re earch taff complained of being given insuffi- 'Few individuals have so personally and profoundly shaped their cient notice that non-RLA person- institutions and professional fields. Yet he did so in a manner that nel would also be afforded accom- respected and involved all of his colleague . I will miss his per onal modations in dormitories. friendship and counsel very much:' President Charles . Vest aid to "What burns me about this situ- Tech Talk. ation is that no one thought to clue Colleagues of Dertouzo remember him as a visionary who cham- in the residents," said Hardison. pioned the development of technology with an eye towards human "By that I mean notifying affected utility. "He et an incredible percentage of the agenda for computer resident of what is going on in a cience [in the past several years]," Professor of Electrical Engineer- timely enough manner so that those ing and Computer cience Harold Abelson PhD '73 said. "He was residents can give their input." the first guy who said we hould use computers for education, back Hardison said that it might make when we had about ten computers on campus." more sense to fix what is already in ,In 197 he went around with this crazy idea that someday there place, such as instituting better will be computers in the home," belson said. checks on Graduate Resident Tutors "[Michael] thought of things years before anyone else did. While and housemasters. often suffering ridicule prematurely, he was invariably vindicated Still, the RLA have undergone eventually. For e ample, in 1980, he wrote and spoke about the Infor- extensive orientation activities to mation Marketplace, in which hundreds of million of computer acclimate themselves to MIT resi- would be interconnected via a worldwide network to enable billions ROSHAN BAUGA-THE TECH dential life. of people to create, access and freely exchange information, It took Janet Jackson took the FleetCenter by storm last Saturday in "The RLAs are attempting to get a sold out show of epic proportions. Dertouzos, Page 12 RLA, Page 10 Kevin Smith takes a shot at the Comics OPINIO World & ation 2 movie industry in his new film, Philip Burrowes discusses the Opinion 4 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. u e and misuse of computer Arts 6 graphics in animation. On the Screen 7 On the Town 8 Page 7 Page 9 Page 5 Comics 9 Page2 THE CD August 30 200 I WORLD & NATION P ace Plan Still Face Dissention Diplomacy Fails to Remove THE WASHINGTO POST Phase one of TO' effort to di arm ethnic lbanian rebel ended ednesday at an army base in a mall acedonian town. But Israeli 'Iroops from Beit Jala in the capital, opponent of the country' peace plan signaled they will try to vote it down when it is put before parliament in coming By Lee Hockstader operation condemned in Wa hing- quagmire even as I raeli officials days. THE WASHINGTO POST ton and other world capitals. But the in isted they want to leave the po i- Western and moderate acedonian official , fearful this effort JERU ALE cea e-fire never took effect. By late tions they eized a oon as the might succeed are examining the pos ibility of talling the parlia- High-level diploma y failed Wedne day night there wa no sign attacks on Gilo stop. mentary consideration and taking the agreement directly to the people edne day to dislodge I raeli forces that Israeli force were preparing to Some official, including in a referendum. from positions in a Pale tinian-con- leave the hillside town of ocher Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, said That could force ATO to prolong it operation, which is up- trolled town that they seized Tues- tone hou es that had been turned the army operation 0 far has been posed to be limited to the collection of arms over a trict 30-day peri- day to top attacks on a nearby Jew- over to Pale tinian control a part of insufficient. Olmert hinted that od. A referendum could take at least 60 day to organize after a par- i h housing development. Instead, the 19930 10 peace accords. Israel might have to resort to liamentary vote approving one or the collection of 150,000 signatures the I raeli government eemed to be Israeli offi ial aid their army is tougher tactics or seize additional from among the population.