Volume 127, Number 29
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The Weather MIT’s Today: Showers, chance of thunderstorms, 82°F (28°C) Oldest and Largest Tonight: Thunderstorms, 63°F (17°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Sunny, 84°F (29°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 127, Number 29 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, July 6, 2007 RIAA Files Lawsuit, Eight Targeted For Infringing Copyright By Nick Semenkovich of alleged infringement, according to NEWS EDITOR filings in the Federal District Court The Recording Industry Associa- of Massachusetts. The accused MIT tion of America has filed a copyright network users are being sued over infringement lawsuit against eight allegedly sharing a total of 61 files defendants at MIT, according to from a variety of large recording Massachusetts District Court filings. studios including Sony BMG Music The lawsuit, filed on June 14 on and Capitol Records. (See table of IP behalf of 11 recording companies, addresses and shared songs on page comes on the heels of 23 pre-litiga- 10.) tion letters that were sent to MIT in Six of the eight defendants are May. The pre-litigation letters warned located in dormitories, including recipients that the RIAA could file a Baker House, Burton-Conner, East lawsuit if they did not settle accusa- Campus, MacGregor House, and tions of copyright infringement out- McCormick Hall. There were two side of court. According to a press non-residential IP addresses identi- release from the RIAA, the defen- fied: one in E40 and one in NE49 dants named in the case were “those (600 Technology Square). On June DAVID M. TEMPLETOn—THE TECH individuals who did not settle during 20, the plaintiffs voluntarily dis- Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, wearing a policeman’s raincoat due to the inclement the pre-litigation period.” missed the charges against the user weather, directs the 1812 Overture during Boston’s 2007 Independence Day celebrations at the The eight defendants were identi- Hatch Shell. See more photos on pages 6 and 7. fied by their IP addresses and times RIAA, Page 10 Pritchett Dining Closes, Preferred Prof. Sherley Locked Out Dining Fee Is Rolled Back to $300 Of BE Laboratory After By Yuri Hanada Dining to $300 for the coming fall. Berlin said Dining was losing Pritchett Dining will not reopen “Closing Pritchett allowed the amounts in the six figure range by June 30 Deadline Passes this coming fall, according to Richard price of Preferred Dining to be de- operating Pritchett, though he could By Joyce Kwan strains of mouse and human stem D. Berlin III, director of Campus Din- creased,” Berlin said. Earlier in May, not immediately provide the exact NEWS EDITOR cells and live mice in his laboratory. ing. The discontinuation of Pritchett in response to a Baker House report dollar amount. James L. Sherley, the African Provost L. Rafael Reif said in an e- Dining, a response to a student-led on Preferred Dining, Campus Dining Reasons to close Pritchett were American associate professor who mail to The Tech that MIT offered ser- plan for improvement of east cam- decided to freeze the price at $325 outlined in a June 18 letter sent to Din- went on a 12-day hunger strike in vices to assist Sherley with the transi- pus dining options, was announced in for the next three years. At the time, ing by members of the Undergraduate February to protest his tenure de- tion of leaving, but “he chose not to conjunction with the decision to roll- Dining said that a fee rollback would Association and the presidents of East nial, met the end of his appointment avail himself of the assistance.” back the semester fee for Preferred not be possible. Campus and Senior House. last Saturday, June 30. Sherley, who Sherley told The Tech in May that “After two years of operation worked for the Biological Engineer- the “June 30 date has no legitimacy,” Pritchett is only serving 55 meals a ing Department, faced locked doors because it was set before what he night and operating at a significant when he attempted to work in his claimed were agreements made with loss,” the June 18 letter stated. “… laboratory after June 30 in an effort MIT for an external review of his We feel that the benefits gained by to resist the deadline. tenure case. These agreements were the few students using Pritchett do The Tech could not reach Sher- what caused him to end his hunger not warrant its continued operation, ley for comment, but according to strike, Sherley said. MIT officials so we suggest that students would the Chronicle of Higher Education, have said that the Institute made no be better served by extending food Sherley sent an e-mail soon after the agreements of this nature. deadline to President Susan Hockfield Dining, Page 10 expressing concern over refrigerated Sherley, Page 10 In Short ¶ The new dean of engineering is E. Cary Brown Subra Suresh, professor of mechan- MIT NEWS OFFICE ical engineering. His appointment E. Cary Brown, a leading expert on fiscal policy and the economics is effective July 23. of taxation and a member of the MIT economics faculty for more than 60 years, passed away on June 8. He was 91. ¶ The interim dean for the Sloan As a professor of economics at MIT, Brown taught a wide range of School of Management is Steven graduate and undergraduate courses on tax policy design, statistical D. Eppinger, professor of manage- methods for economics and the economics of fiscal policy. ment. His appointment was effec- A memorial service will be held later this year, and details will be tive July 1. posted on the MIT economics department Web site at econ-www.mit. edu/. ¶ Computerworld magazine ranks Brown was born on April 14, 1916, in Bakersfield, Calif. He received MIT 93rd in a survey of the top a BA degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1937 and 100 places to work in IT. pursued graduate work in economics at Berkeley and Harvard. His graduate studies were interrupted by World War II. Brown served as an ¶ David W. Miliband SM ’90 was economist at the War Production Board in 1940-41 and as an economist appointed British Foreign Secre- tary. He received his master’s de- Brown, Page 10 gree at MIT in political science as a Kennedy Scholar. Miliband is OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH Britain’s youngest foreign secre- Hackers added extra fish to those hanging above the first-floor tary in 30 years. Student Street in the Stata Center in late June. All of the fish Joseph F. O’Connor were removed shortly thereafter. Send news information and tips to MIT NEWS OFFICE [email protected]. Joseph F. O’Connor, Draper Laboratory’s retired vice president of hu- man resources and administration (1981-1994) and secretary of the Cor- poration (1994-2005), died June 11 of cancer at the age of 77. For more than a dozen years, O’Connor was the face of Draper Labo- NEWS World & Nation ����������� 2 The Tech publishes ratory in the Cambridge community. O’Connor presented Draper’s view- Residence for MIT Opinion ������������� 4 monthly during the sum- point on topics of public interest, such as the Nuclear-free Cambridge affiliates to be built ��� 11 Arts ���������������� 5 Referendum of 1983, and he provided leadership for many civic orga- mer. The next issue will nizations. Security, emergency Comics / Fun Pages ����� 8 be published on Friday, O’Connor was a past president of the Cambridge Chamber of Com- office formed ������������� 11 Police Log ���������� 11 merce and of the Rotary Club of Cambridge, a director of Cambridgeport Aug. 3. Faculty promotions ��� 11 Sports ������������������������� 12 O’Connor, Page 10 Page THE TECH July 6, 007 WORLD & NATION Microsoft to Spend $1.15 Billion Four Muslims Convicted After For Xbox 360 Repairs By Eric A. Taub THE NEW YORK TIMES LOS ANGELES Failed U.K. Terrorist Attempt In what may be one of the costliest consumer warranty repairs in history, Microsoft announced Thursday that it would spend up to $1.15 By Sarah Lyall dia coverage in the last week, all but the headquarters of the International billion to fix failing Xbox 360 game machine consoles. THE NEW YORK TIMES drowning out the news of the latest Monetary Fund and the World Bank. While the company would not say how many units were failing, LONDON verdicts. In part that is because terror- And in April, five men were found Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices divi- Even as investigators tried to un- ism trials have become almost com- guilty of planning fertilizer-bomb at- sion, said there have been an “unacceptable high number of repairs.” tangle the complicated web of con- monplace; Britain is awash in them. tacks on targets around London, in- The “majority” of Xbox 360 owners, he said, have not experienced nections among the suspects in last More than 100 people have recently cluding a major suburban shopping hardware failure. Company officials said that Microsoft had sold a to- week’s failed car bombings, four Mus- been convicted, or are currently on center and a London nightclub. tal of 11.6 million Xbox 360 units as of the end of the last quarter, lim men were convicted of terrorist of- trial, awaiting trial or facing verdicts The sheer number of cases shows slightly shy of the 1 million units the company had predicted. The fenses in two separate trials in Britain in more than two dozen terrorism-re- how difficult it is for the authorities to XBox 360, which first went of sale in November 005, is currently the on Thursday. lated cases here.