Smell a phish? Take this quiz

Security company McAfee has launched a Web quiz to test your ability at spotting phishing sites.

The 10-question quiz is at www.siteadvisor.com/ quizzes/phishing_0707.

Phishing sites attempt to steal personal information by impersonating a real Web site.

The quiz poses 10 Web challenges, asking you to pick which of two sites is fake.

According to the Gartner Group, the number of U.S. adults who received a phishing e-mail nearly doubled in just two years (from 57 million in 2004 to 109 million in 2006).

McAfee’s SiteAdvisor.com also lists clues to detecting various forms of phishing.

Senator pushing harsh anti-piracy bill

College officials have been wary of growing Congressional interest in student file sharing of music and videos – a practice many students consider normal and that the entertainment industry views as theft.

Colleges, feeling caught in the middle, have worried that Congress might try to impose an unworkable solution.

That might happen soon – as Senate majority leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) announced a plan to prevent “campus based digital theft” through a series of requirements that he is expected to attach to the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

The Reid plan would require colleges to report annually to the U.S. Education Department on policies related to illegal downloading.

It would also require schools to provide evidence that they have “developed a plan for implementing a technology-based deterrent to prevent the illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property.”

The measure would also require the education secretary to identify the 25 colleges and universities that received the most notices of copyright violations using institutional technology networks over the preceding year.