Stop surfing, make friends, Indian students told

One of India's top engineering schools has restricted Internet access in its hostels, saying addiction to surfing, gaming and blogging was affecting students' performance, making them reclusive and even suicidal.Authorities at the elite Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai said students had stopped socializing and many were late for morning classes or slept through them."Now, a student doesn't even know who lives two doors away from him because he is so busy on the Internet," said Prakash Gopalan, dean of student affairs."The old hostel culture of camaraderie and socializing among students is gone. This is not healthy in our opinion."IIT-Mumbai, with about 5,000 students, is one of seven IITs across India which are considered to be among the finest engineering schools in the world. They are also a talent pool for global technology giants.But their exacting curriculum, tough competition and reclusive campus lifestyle have taken a toll on students.Depression and dysfunctional lifestyles are known to be common among IIT students, and at least nine have committed suicide in the past five years. IIT-Mumbai has seen two suicides in two years and several attempts.Students have unlimited free Internet access in their hostel rooms to help them in their studies, but many also use it to surf, chat, download movies and music, blog and for gaming.Starting Monday, Internet access will be barred between 11 p.m. and 12.30 p.m. at IIT-Mumbai's 13 hostels to encourage students to sleep early and to try and force them out of their "shells", Gopalan said."There has been a decline in academic performance and also participation in sporting, cultural and social activities has gone down," he said.But the move has not gone down well with students who say they hate their lives being regulated."Now they will say we need to listen to a lullaby to go to sleep," said Rajiv, an electronics student who gave only one name.Student anger has also spilled on to several blogs run by IIT alumni where bloggers say "the birth of the virtual world had led to the death of the real selves", but add that they resent regulation of students' activities.Gopalan said authorities at the other IITs were considering a similar curb in their hostels.

Techs, Telcos Team Up to Set Internet TV Standard

Companies which provide television over Internet technology (IPTV) joined forces on Monday to set a single global standard, so that all systems would work together.

The Open IPTV Forum is backed by companies including Ericsson, Matsushita's Panasonic, Philips, Samsung Electronics, Siemens AG Sony Corp, AT&T, Telecom Italia and France Telecom.

Not on the starting list are Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft Corp., the market leaders and alliance partners in IPTV networks and software.

Film makers and TV production companies were not on the list either, but the forum said everyone could join.

"The forum will be open for participation to any companies which share the goals of the forum and are willing to actively contribute to specification development," the Open IPTV Forum said in a statement.

The nine founding companies said they want results fast and will hammer out technology requirements by September and a first set of technology specifications by year-end.

If all IPTV systems work together flawlessly it should be easier and cheaper for consumers to buy and use IPTV systems and services, such set-top boxes and TV and video programs.

For technology companies and operators it will be cheaper to build systems, because they can be made for a global market.

The forum will embrace existing standards that address part of the interoperability challenge.

It said it supported the work of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) for unified Internet service delivery and the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) which aims to make it easy for consumers to use their digital music, films and other content across their home or private network.

Most of the nine companies are already active in one or more of these other standards-setting bodies.

Detroit man convicted in Internet child pornography case featured in Congressional hearing

A man accused at a congressional hearing of molesting a teenage boy has been convicted of charges including enticing a child to engage in sexually abusive activity.

Ken Gourlay was convicted Friday following a weeklong trial and more than three hours of jury deliberations. He faces up to 20 years in state prison when sentenced May 2 by Circuit Court Judge Archie Brown.

Gourlay, 29, was accused of sexually assaulting Justin Berry and using him to produce and distribute child pornography over the Internet.

Berry said he began performing sexual acts on the Internet in 1999, when he was 13. Prosecutors say Berry, who now is an adult, was lured to Ann Arbor from California in 2002 to attend a computer camp and was molested by Gourlay.

Berry's claims drew wide attention when he testified before Congress in April about online child pornography.

Gourlay was one of several men arrested on charges involving child pornography after Berry began working with the Justice Department. One of them, Gregory Mitchel, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 150 years in prison.

Gourlay was convicted of a total of nine felony charges and one misdemeanor, the state attorney general's office said. Other charges included using a computer to engage in child sexually abusive activity, distributing child pornography over the Internet and third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Defense lawyer James Howarth asserted that many of the prosecution witnesses lied.

Berry's testimony before Congress came after his case was highlighted by The New York Times. The Times acknowledged Tuesday that the reporter who wrote the acclaimed 2005 article about Berry and Web sex sites run by teenagers had helped gain the boy's trust by sending him a $2,000 check.

Gourlay also is charged in a separate case with 20 counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a 14-year-old boy from the Detroit area.