U

United Press International [ abbreviated as UPI] international news agency founded in 1907, providing news in English, Spanish, and Arabic. Web site: www.upi.com

Universal Copyright Convention agreement among the member states of UNESCO, first adopted in 1952, revised in 1971, “to provide for the adequate and effective protection of the rights of authors and other copyright proprietors in literary, scientific and artistic works, including writings, musical, dramatic and cinematographic works, and paintings, engravings and sculpture.” Web site: www.unesco.org/culture/laws/ copyright

Universal Pictures major Hollywood film studio, founded in 1912, producing blockbuster movies such as Spartacus (1960) and E.T. (1982)

unmetered Internet service that is available at a flat rate, rather than by connection time

UPI [see United Press International]

uploading [opposite of downloading] copying files from a computer to another on the Internet

urban legend story often thought to be factual by those who circulate it, generally through the Internet, but which turns out to be not exactly as recounted. It may be entirely untrue or, in some cases, partly true. Often, the events it describes may be explained in different ways. A story may be started by someone in a chatroom, through e-mails, based on events that the originator had actually witnessed. When it starts to circulate and is retold by different people, the story gathers momentum and a logic of its own, becoming an urban legend.