Iowa State U. professor to testify on file-sharing

AMES, Iowa – An assistant Iowa State University professor testified in front of the full Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., last tuesday at a hearing concerning peer-to-peer networks and how they are used to transfer pornography.

Doug Jacobson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and president and chief technology officer of Palisade Systems, Inc., a company he founded in Ames, Iowa, in 1996, was asked to testify at the Senate hearing because of his company’s research on searches on a file-sharing network.

He will present the results and statistics to the judiciary committee.

For the study, the company acted as a user on a file-sharing network from February 6-23, 2003, collecting 22 million search results, according to the peer-to-peer executive summary on the Palisade Systems, Inc. Web site, www.screendoor.com.

Lowered blood-alcohol level hasn’t added to arrests

AMES, Iowa – Although the legal blood alcohol concentration level limit for driving was lowered in July in the state of Iowa, local law enforcement officials said they’ve seen minimal changes in the number of operating while intoxicated charges issued.

Gov. Tom Vilsack signed into law House File 65 on July 1. The law lowered the allowable blood alcohol concentration limit for operating a motor vehicle from .10 to .08.

In order to reach .08 blood alcohol content, a 170-pound male would have to consume four to five drinks in one hour on an empty stomach and a 130-pound female would have to consume three to four drinks.

Passage of the new .08 law means Iowa is now eligible to receive $45.6 million in federal road money between 2004 and 2007. Iowa could receive up to $2.4 million in federal incentive grants for passing the legislation.

Music at Simpson

Sept. 13 Music Education Workshop 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Amy Robertson Music Center.

Sept. 14 Jin Park-Faculty Piano Recital 3 p.m. Great Hall.