November 2001

INTERNET=20
Online People Give Less Time to TV (WP)=20
In the Bronx, an Ounce of Connection (NYT)=20
ICANN Completes Dot-Coop Deal (WP)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY=20
2 Copyright Cases Decided in Favor of Entertainment Industry (NYT)

CABLE=20
Ted Turner Laments Cable Mergers (WIRED)
=20
SECURITY=20
"Security or Surveillance?" Briefing at the National Press Club
(EPIC)=20

INTERNET=20

ONLINE PEOPLE GIVE LESS TIME TO TV
Issue: Internet=20
The Web is gaining on television in the battle for attention from the
Internet generation, according to the UCLA Internet Report 2001, an =
annual
survey of the Internet's impact on American life funded by the National
Science Foundation. The study, to be released today, found that =
Internet
users watch 4=BD hours a week less television than do non-Internet =
users. And
the longer people have been online, the less they watch TV. But =
broadcasters
dispute the notion that Internet use is cutting into their business. =
"You
can't view the Internet and TV as some sort of zero-sum game," said =
Dennis
Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. =
"Because
you use one new medium, don't automatic assume that it draws away from
another. [The study] seems to suggest that you can't walk and chew gum =
at
the same time, and you can." The study also found that the number of =
people
with Internet access continues to rise. More than 72 percent of =
Americans
have Internet access, up from 67 percent last year, according to the =
study.
Among those without access, 44.4 percent expect to get online in the =
next
year.=20
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Alec Klein]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/media/13901-1.html)

IN THE BRONX, AN OUNCE OF CONNECTION
Issue: Internet/Health=20
The new Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx =
isn't
like many other hospitals. Montefiore, which has one of the highest
incidences of asthma, malnutrition and anemia - all illnesses =
associated
with poverty - in the United States, was built with a vision exposing =
its
patients to science and technology beyond the their medical care. From =
their
bedside computers, patients will have links to 2,000 Web sites, =
including
that of the American Museum of Natural History, the National =
Aeronautics and
Space Administration, and Ask Dr. Universe, a science education site =
created
by Washington State University. Hospital administrators have cobbled
together an intranet, that only allows patients to view preselected =
sites.
The intranet also contains a mini- library of medical resources that =
can
answer children's questions about their conditions. Because the =
patients
here range from infants to 21- year-olds, a "smart card" helps deliver
age-appropriate information when they conduct searches. "We are not =
only
here to heal the children," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, president of the
Children's Hospital, which opened a month ago. "We want to help create =
a
life- changing experience. Living in some of the neighborhoods in the =
Bronx
can give children a limited sense of their future. We want them to =
think
anything is possible."
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Yilu Zhao]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/29/technology/circuits/29HOSP.html)
(requires registration)

ICANN COMPLETES DOT-COOP DEAL
Issue: Internet=20
Internet addressing authorities this week signed off on a contract that
clears the way for a ".coop" Internet domain to be included alongside =
.com,
.net and .org in the Web's worldwide addressing system. Internet =
Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) officials completed the deal =
with the
National Cooperative Business Association, which was selected last year =
to
operate .coop - an Internet domain that will be reserved for co-op
companies, which are a specific type of employee-owned business.=20
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: David McGuire (Newsbytes.com)]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/netarch/13898-1.html)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

2 COPYRIGHT CASES DECIDED IN FAVOR OF ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
Issue: Intellectual Property=20
The entertainment industry won two closely watched cases yesterday that =
pit
owners of copyrighted works against the people who develop technologies =
that
can be used to copy those works. Both cases involve challenges to a =
1998
federal copyright law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which =
critics
say gives too much power to the industries at the expense of consumers =
and
limits the First Amendment rights of researchers. In one case, the =
United
States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan ruled in =
favor
of the Motion Picture Association of America in its lawsuit against =
Eric
Corley and his hacking-oriented publication, 2600, over Mr. Corley's
decision to publish a program that could be used to unlock the =
copyright
protection system for DVD's. In the other case, a Federal District =
Court
judge in Trenton dismissed a lawsuit brought by an associate professor =
at
Princeton, Edward W. Felten; the professor had argued that the =
Recording
Industry Association of America threatened him with lawsuits in order =
to
keep him from presenting his research into ways that a digital =
copyright
protection system can be broken.=20
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Schwartz]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/29/technology/29DVD.html)
(requires registration)

CABLE=20

TED TURNER LAMENTS CABLE MERGERS
Issue: Cable=20
After 30 years in the cable television business, and in many ways =
defining
it, Ted Turner said his only regret was selling his business to Time =
Warner
in 1996 only to be unceremoniously tossed out a few years later. During =
an
hour-long chat at the cable television industry's annual trade show, =
Turner
lamented the loss of competition in the cable market as the industry =
has
consolidated greatly over the years. "I think it's sad we're losing so =
much
diversity of thought and opinion," he said during the luncheon special, =
"A
Video History of Ted Turner." "We're getting to the point where there's
going to be two cable companies left. I doubt the government will let =
the
last two merge, but you never know."=20
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Andy Patrizio]
(http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,48706,00.html)

SECURITY=20

"SECURITY OR SURVEILLANCE?" BRIEFING AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB=20
Issue: Security/Privacy=20
On Friday November 30, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) =
will
host the second in its series of "Security or Surveillance?" policy
briefings at the National Press Club. Issues to be discussed include =
the
technical reliability and privacy implications of new security systems =
and
legal measures being considered both domestically and internationally =
since
September 11.
[SOURCE: Electronic Privacy Information Center]
(http://www.epic.org/)

--------------------------------------------------------------=20

DIGITAL DIVIDE
Native Americans Stake a High-Tech Claim (BW)
Report Urges Legislative Branch to Comply with Section 508 (WP)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Why Copyright Laws Hurt Culture (WIRED)

OWNERSHIP
Group Launches Letter-Campaign Opposing Media Deregulation (CDD)

BROADBAND
Small Telecom Firms Step Up Fight Against Bill (WP)

DIGITAL DIVIDE

NATIVE AMERICANS STAKE A HIGH-TECH CLAIM
Issue: Digital Divide
The Northern Ute tribe, seeking to enhance economic opportunities, paid
cable companies to install hundreds of miles of high-speed optical cable
through the mountainous terrain of the 4.5 million-acre Uintah and Ouray
Reservation located 150 miles east of Salt Lake City in Utah. High tech
could strongly influence the future of this tribe, which suffers
unemployment rates of 65% or more. Now Uinta River Technology (URT) is one
of a handful of Native American IT outsourcing companies that have sprung up
in recent years. Native Americans have been traditional underserved by
information technology. The 1995 Census found that 53% of American Indians'
homes did not even have a phone. But tribes like the Northern Ute and the
Cheyenne River Sioux are hoping that new technologies will help bridge
economic and information divides. "With information-management work, there
are no boundaries," says Carey Wold, the URT's general manage. "The walls
[around the reservations] have come down. With technology, [Native
Americans] have more choices. They are empowered." [SOURCE: Business Week,
AUTHOR: Olga Kharif]
(http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/nov2001/nf20011126_0470.htm)

REPORT URGES CONGRESS TO MAKE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMPLIANT WITH SECTION 508
Issue: Digital Divide
The Board of Directors of the Compliance Office has recommended that
Congress order all legislative branch entities to become Section 508
compliant. Currently, Congress mandates only that the executive and judicial
branches provide electronic information accessible to the disabled. The
Compliance Office, which was created to monitor federal law relating to
employment of and access to public services and accommodations by disabled
persons, reports Congress every two years, but decided to go forward with
this report early because of the importance of the issue. "I don't know why
Congress did not include themselves in the bill," said Bill Thompson,
Compliance Office executive director. Starting last June, the executive and
legislative branches had to make sure all new information technology
products and services complied with the requirements. Only 54 percent of all
federal agencies offer some kind of disability access, according to the
State and Federal E-Government in the United States 2001 report by Brown
University's Taubman Center.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jason Miller]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/regulation/13864-1.html)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

WHY COPYRIGHT LAWS HURT CULTURE
Issue: Intellectual Property
American copyright laws have gotten so out of hand that they are causing the
death of culture and the loss of the world's intellectual history, according
to Stanford technology law professor Lawrence Lessig, who was in Dublin to
speak at the Darklight Digital Film Festival. Copyright laws in the United
States are placing the control of material into an increasingly "fixed and
concentrated" group of corporate hands, he said. Five record companies now
control 85 percent of music distribution, for example. "The period of
copyright primacy is going to end up as a huge hole in the cultural record,"
said Electronic Frontier Foundation founder John Perry Barlow, who also
attended the conference. Barlow and Lessig both said that new technologies
such as peer-to-peer-based communication and file-exchange programs could
force a new look at copyright laws and profoundly change the methods of
distribution.
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Karlin Lillington]
(http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48625,00.html)

OWNERSHIP

GROUP LAUNCHES LETTER-CAMPAIGN OPPOSING MEDIA DEREGULATION
Issue: Ownership
In response to the Federal Communications Commission's review of policies
that threaten to weaken or end key public interest safeguards on media
ownership, the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) launched a campaign today
asking the president and congressional leaders to oppose any new media
deregulation. CDD also urged the public--whose perspectives are routinely
ignored by the FCC--to file formal comments in the two current proceedings
[SOURCE: Center for Digital Democracy]
(http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/marketwatch/journalism.html)

BROADBAND

SMALL TELECOM FIRMS STEP UP FIGHT AGAINST BILL
Issue: Broadband
Local telecommunications firms in Washington are helping wage a last-minute
public-relations campaign against proposed legislation that they say will
put most of the smaller telecom firms out of business. Known as
Tauzin-Dingell bill because of its co-sponsors-Reps. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin
(R-La.) and John D. Dingell (D-Mich.)- the legislation would roll back some
key regulatory requirements on the Bell companies, which, as a condition of
the Telecommunications Act of 1996, must lease parts of their local networks
to their upstart competitors at wholesale rates. Proponents of the bill
argue that the Bells are regulated more than the cable companies, and the
proposed legislation would level the playing field. Already, the companies
on both sides of the issue have spent millions-an estimated $3 million or
more on each side-on a media blitz that peaked early this year.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Yuki Noguchi]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/telecom/13857-1.html)

--------------------------------------------------------------

EDTECH
Arizona Pupils Escape The Tech Desert (USA)

PRIVACY
CIA-Backed Web Privacy Firm Closes Service (WP)

ANTITRUST
Microsoft's Next Battle (SJM)

SATELLITE
War Boosts Popularity Of Satellite Telephones (WP)

EDTECH

ARIZONA PUPILS ESCAPE THE TECH DESERT
Issue: EdTech
In the small desert community of Morristown, AZ the 140 pre-K through
eighth-graders have a whole new high-tech school -- they're among 200
Arizona schools wired with an ultra-fast T1 connection, the first wave in an
expansive statewide tech plan that may be the nation's most ambitious. By
next fall, all 1,200 Arizona public schools will be outfitted with broadband
connections, providing high-speed access to a new network allowing students
to share software and other tools. The $100 million networking contract with
Qwest, paid for by taxpayers, covers equipping all schools with a gigabit of
fiber to each class. Bill Giddings, a project manager at MOREnet (Missouri
Research and Education Network), which provides high-speed access to public
and non-profit agencies, including most schools in Missouri, says that
broadband access is a must for those looking down the pike to the future of
education with the new Internet2, an advanced education and research network
created to avoid the crowded commercial pathways of today's Internet. He
says "if districts are not stepping up to get higher speeds, they cannot
take full advantage of the robustness and the speed and the capability.''
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Karen Thomas]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20011120/3637671s.htm)

PRIVACY

CIA-BACKED WEB PRIVACY FIRM CLOSES SERVICE
Issue: Privacy
An Internet privacy firm has closed an anonymous Web surfing service that
had been partly funded by the CIA and intended to give Web users in
countries such as China and Iran a way to circumvent censors, the company
said Monday. The service, offered by SafeWeb, had allowed users to be
practically invisible on the Internet. It was the second of its kind to
close in as many months, a trend experts ascribed primarily to commercial
problems, but also a shifting mood in the United States that favors national
security over protection of privacy. "This is the space to be in if we want
to be profitable," said SafeWeb spokeswoman Sandra Song of the corporate
security market. "Consumer privacy is more of an idealistic vision. It's a
project, something we had a passion to deliver on and we did." Privacy
experts suggest that people don't care or just aren't willing to pay for
protecting their privacy.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Elinor Mills Abreu(Reuters)]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/software/13778-1.html)

ANTITRUST

MICROSOFT'S NEXT BATTLE
Issue: Antitrust
While Microsoft may have fended off a number of restrictions on its business
in its settlement with the Bush administration, the software giant still
must face potentially tougher trustbusters in Europe. The European
Commission, which enforces antitrust policy for the 15-member European
Union, filed its "statement of objections'' against Microsoft after an
18-month investigation. The EC's issues are different from the ones in the
U.S. case, although they are mentioned in the settlement reached Nov. 2
between Microsoft, the Department of Justice and nine of 18 states that sued
the company. The commission could force changes to Windows, levy fines of up
to 10 percent of global sales, or even go so far as to impose a structural
remedy -- even a breakup -- on Microsoft, said one European lawyer with
knowledge of the case.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Kristi Heim]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svtop/msft112001.htm )

SATELLITE

WAR BOOSTS POPULARITY OF SATELLITE TELEPHONES
Issue: Satellite
Andrew Marshall, a Reuters staff writer who roams some of the world's most
remote regions for the wire service, said a new generation of relatively
small, lightweight satellite phones have allowed him to report stories in
ways that would have been too cumbersome to manage just five years ago. "In
the days before [handheld] satellite phones, Afghanistan would have been a
black hole for news," Marshall said. Long considered an expensive, bulky
alternative to land-based wireless service, satellite phones are enjoying
something of a renaissance since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 and amid
the war that followed. Satellite phone retailers report a sharp surge in
business from journalists and humanitarian groups preparing to travel to
Afghanistan. But analysts say it is far too early to tell whether the new
demand for satellite phones will rescue an industry buffeted by financial
troubles.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Christopher Stern]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/telecom/13771-1.html)

--------------------------------------------------------------

MERGERS
AOL-AT&T Cable Talks Said to Be Advancing (NYT)

INTERNET
Senate Passes Two-Year Internet Tax Ban (WP)

FCC
Senate Aide Adelstein Nominated For FCC Post (WP)
FCC Acts To Expedite DTV Transition (FCC)

SECURITY
Cyber Security: Private-Sector Efforts Addressing Cyber Threats
(House)

MERGERS

AOL-AT&T CABLE TALKS SAID TO BE ADVANCING
Issue: Cable
AOL Time Warner tentative discussions about acquiring the cable television
business of AT&T have edged forward, with AOL Time Warner signing a
confidentiality agreement that could allow the talks to move to a new stage,
people close to the negotiations said. This is a necessary precursor if AOL
Time Warner is to make a firm bid for AT&T's cable operation, the nation's
biggest, with about 14.4 million subscribers. AOL Time Warner is the No. 2
cable company, with about 12.7 million customers. AT&T has set a Nov. 30
deadline for outside companies to bid on its cable division. Other
interested companies include Comcast, the No. 3 cable operator, with about
8.4 million subscribers. Comcast has already signed a confidentiality deal
with AT&T as it, too, vies to acquire the unit.
[SOURCE: New York Times (), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel And Andrew Ross Sorkin]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/16/business/media/16CABL.html)
(requires registration)

INTERNET

SENATE PASSES TWO-YEAR INTERNET TAX BAN
Issue: Internet
The U.S. Senate late Thursday approved a two-year extension of the
moratorium on new Internet-specific taxes, and rejected an amendment that
could have led to the state taxation of sales over the Internet. The
language of the legislation approved Thursday was taken directly from a
House-passed extension, and adds two years to the ban on new and
discriminatory Internet taxes that expired on Oct. 21. In 1998, Congress
voted to place a three-year ban on any new state taxes that specifically
target the Internet, such as Internet access charges. At the time, Congress
decided not to address the issue of Internet sales tax out of concern that
imposing a patchwork of several thousand state and local tax jurisdictions
on Internet merchants would stifle the nascent medium. The bill will now be
sent to the White House for the president's signature. The Bush
administration has signaled that the president would sign the measure into
law if passed.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Krebs (Newsbytes.com)]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/regulation/13723-1.html)

FCC

SENATE AIDE ADELSTEIN NOMINATED FOR FCC POST
Issue: FCC
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., has nominated his aide Jonathan
Adelstein to fill the vacant Democratic commissioner's seat on the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC). Adelstein, who has been with Daschle since
1995, joins Robert Rowe, a member of the Montana Public Service Commission,
on short-list of nominees to replace ex-FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Newsbytes.com]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/telecom/13730-1.html)

FCC ACTS TO EXPEDITE DTV TRANSITION AND CLARIFY DTV BUILD-OUT RULES
Issue: DTV
The FCC today modified a number of its Digital Television (DTV) transition
rules in order to enable more broadcasters to get on the air with a digital
signal and to help speed the DTV transition. The changes the Commission
adopted today will permit stations to elect a more graduated approach to
providing DTV service. Broadcasters would be permitted initially to build
lower-powered, and therefore less expensive, DTV facilities, and retain the
right to expand their coverage area as the digital transition continues to
progress.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/News_Releases/2001/nrmm0114.html)

SECURITY

CYBER SECURITY: PRIVATE-SECTOR EFFORTS ADDRESSING CYBER THREATS
Issue: Security
Yesterday, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection held
a hearing on cyber security. An audio archive of this hearing is available.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://energycommerce.house.gov/107/hearings/11152001Hearing420/hearing.htm
)

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