When student-government elections roll around, student unions and residence halls are typically buried in posters and advertising bric-a-brac. But the Internet is helping keep some campuses (relatively) clean. At the University of Texas at Arlington, for example, candidates are selling themselves through Web sites, e-mail messages, and advertisements on Thefacebook, the popular social network.

The Web hasn’t necessarily altered the tone of the college campaign: A minor controversy erupted at Arlington when one party’s Web site charged that voting for its adversaries would be "un-American."

Internet bugs and real-life ones travel in similar patterns, according to a pair of professors at the University of Windsor, in Ontario.

The professors have used "network theory"—a science that studies the dissemination of computer viruses and other information on the Internet—to predict how the spiny water flea will spread through Canada’s lakes. Their forecast: Like most viruses, which attack widely-used e-mail programs and computer networks, the fleas will disperse through the lakes most traveled by fishing boats.

Edward W. Felten, a computer-science professor at Princeton University known for his strong stances on intellectual-property issues, has designed what may be the world’s smallest peer-to-peer file-sharing program.

The software—a 15-line piece of codec called, appropriately enough, tinyP2P—isn’t a serious tool, it’s a statement. Mr. Felten says he wanted to point out that some lawmakers’ attempts to ban peer-to-peer programs are doomed to failure—because the programs are so easy to create.

Computer servers containing enrollment and tuition records aren’t the only ones colleges need to guard. Officials at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise have learned that a hacker broke into the campus bookstore’s database, exposing the credit-card information for nearly 1,500 customers. Notifying those customers could be a lengthy process: The database doesn’t list contact information for any of the book buyers.

A new program at Wayne State University will offer scholarships to 20 minority students seeking to become "digital librarians." Students who receive the grants will learn the ins and outs of library technology—how to create online catalogs, and how to digitally archive museum materials.

As recording studios continue to sue people suspected of music piracy, campus network users remain in the industry’s cross hairs. The industry’s latest batch of monthly lawsuits, filed on Monday, identified defendants at 11 colleges—including Ohio University at Athens, where officials have offered students subscriptions to Cdigix, a legal music and movie download service.

For more on the record industry’s lawsuit strategy, see an article by Brock Read.