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RIAA chases online music pirates

BOSTON - Boston College and MIT hope to quash subpoenas for the names of students suspected of online music piracy, saying the Recording Industry Association of America didn't allow adequate time to notify the students, as mandated by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.

The subpoenas request the names and numbers of one MIT student and three BC students who allegedly obtained music under screen names.

The RIAA filed 871 subpoenas in US District Court in Washington so far this month for information about users of file-sharing network KaZaA.

BIRMINGHAM, MICH. - Teachers at Brother Rice High School in Birmingham, Mich., want to join a union to help preserve their jobs.

Thirty teachers have called for a vote on whether to join the Michigan Education Association, citing concern for their jobs after a year of budget cuts. Board members of the all-boys Catholic school say forcing negotiation with a union violates their constitutionally protected religious expression. A ruling is expected by the end of the year.

Teachers unions exist in parochial schools in New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania.

MOSCOW - The Kremlin is using a letter from a Latvian student who wants to be taught in his native Russian to criticize Latvia's plans to scrap state-funded high school education in Russian.

In his letter, Latvian student Yaroslav Karpelyak asks President Vladimir Putin to "help him receive an education in Russian." It is the latest salvo in a dispute over Latvia's plans to switch the language of instruction to Latvian next year.

The phasing out of Russian is an effort to strengthen Latvian, which was supplanted during 50 years of Soviet rule. Some 15,000 people, most of them Russian, rallied against the plan last week in Latvia's capital, Riga, in one of the largest demonstrations since the country regained independence. About 35 percent of Latvia's 2.4 million residents speak Russian.