Communications-related Headlines for 8/2/01
NONPROFITS
New B-to-B Marketplace Aims To Link Corporations, Non-Profits (WSJ)
Nonprofit Firm Could Guide '.us' (WP)
See Our Film, Join Our Cause (WIRED)
INTERNATIONAL
World Bank, Australia launch Internet aid plan (ITWeb)
How French Pols Say Pork: Net (Wired)
NONPROFITS
NEW B-TO-B MARKETPLACE AIMS TO LINK CORPORATIONS, NON-PROFITS
Issue: Nonprofits
The World Resources Institute will announced on Thursday a new online
business-to-business marketplace for international economic development
projects, joining efforts to provide traditional foreign aid by non-profit
organizations with private investment by international firms in developing
nations. The project, which is on the Web at www.digitaldividend.org, lists
over 350 projects -- nearly 1/3 of which are for low-income neighborhood and
rural computing centers. "It is giving us a chance to empower ourselves so
that we can bring about the social transformation needed by the world's
poor," said Mercy Grace del Rosario, director of technology at the Merge
Foundation in the Philippines, which has used the clearinghouse to find
funders of computing centers in 100 communities.
[SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: David Bank]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB996700341704466907.htm)
NONPROFIT FIRM COULD GUIDE '.US'
Issue: Nonprofits
Three companies bidding for the right to manage ".us" have agreed to let a
coalition of nonprofit and quasi-governmental groups help set policy for the
domain-name suffix. The Commerce Department has been considering how the
little-used domain-name suffix should be administered, specifically
considering how to make .us a "hot" commercial suffix like ".com." Nonprofit
groups have been opposed to such a reorganization, calling upon the
Department of Commerce to consider .us a public asset. After failing to get
the Commerce Department to change its approach, a coalition of the American
Library Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National League of
Cities, led by the Washington-based Center for Democracy & Technology
approached some of the companies bidding on the management rights and asked
them to agree to the formation of a nonprofit corporation which would be
formed to help guide policy for the domain. Register.com, Tucows.com and
eNIC, agreed and incorporated the arrangement into their bids, which were
due last Friday.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E02), AUTHOR: Jonathan Krim]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/netarch/11607-1.html)
SEE OUR FILM, JOIN OUR CAUSE
Issue: Nonprofits
Politically motivated nonprofits are embracing Web filmmaking as a way to
instantly and cheaply organize and inform people around the globe.
Organizations including Amnesty International, Save Our Environment, People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Adbusters all host short
films on their websites. For many, the Web is the cheap and powerful way to
air their messages. Adbusters-founder Kalle Lasn said that while the impact
of a Web ad hardly compares to that of a TV spot, e-movies can more be
easily shared. "The viral effect of e-mail is huge. That's how Amnesty
International got the e-mails of 10,000 new members."
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Jenn Shreve]
(http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,45628,00.html)
INTERNATIONAL
WORLD BANK, AUSTRALIA LAUNCH INTERNET AID PLAN
Issue: Digital Divide
The World Bank and Australia are extending the 50-year old "Colombo Plan"
another 5 years by funding a $750 million project to provide online distance
education and training in 12 nations in Asia, the Pacific and Africa.
Australia will commit $100 million to help fund the already established
Internet education links between its institutions and South Pacific nations,
will offer 200 Internet training scholarships to teachers, and will build 8
training centers for teachers in Papua New Guinea. "I do not expect a
computer in every poor household that does not have enough food to eat,"
said World Bank President James Wolfensohn at the programme's launch in
Sydney. "It is not a panacea to everything. It will be another component in
the fight against poverty.... The remotest village has the possibility of
tapping a global store of knowledge beyond the dreams of anyone living a
century ago. This plan compresses distance, shares information, empowers the
individual. It will make the difference in our capacity to affect the
development process in the world," he said.
[SOURCE: ITWeb, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2001/0108021011.asp)
HOW FRENCH POLS SAY PORK: NET
Issue: International
The two main contenders for French presidency Prime Minister Lionel Jospin
on the left and incumbent President Jacques Chirac on the right are
competing to score the most points for progressive Internet policies. Jospin
is spearheading a $1.5 billion project to promote high-speed Internet access
in France, in addition to $180 million the French government is pooling to
bring mobile-phone service to the 8 percent of the population outside of
mobile network reach. Chirac, not willing to be outdone by Jospin, has
proclaimed in recent remarks that more can be done to close the "digital
divide" and promote Internet use for minorities and other underserved
groups, and is urging cooperation in network security from other European
nations in the fight against cybercrime. Despite critics who say Jospin's
initiative isn't a massive investment compared to rollout funding in the
United States, researcher of French and German politics Colette Mazzucelli
of the EastWest Institute says Jospin's project is needed to demonstrate to
French citizens that France needs to develop its infrastructure more
although the French may remain indifferent to the Internet. "It is not clear
to me if the majority of the population grasps the possibilities that
communications technology offers or wants to participate in a phenomenon too
closely associated with globalization," she said.
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Dermot McGrath]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,45280,00.html)
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