August 2003

MEDIA
Our Democracy, Our Airwaves

TECH POLICY
TOP on Top ... For Now

EDTECH
The Other 'e' in Education

INTERNET
Anti-Spam Bills: Worse Than Spam?
Internet Tax Ban Advances in Senate

MEDIA
OUR DEMOCRACY, OUR AIRWAVES
Common Cause announced their support yesterday for a bill requiring TV and
radio broadcasters to use part of their public interest obligation to
provide minimum airtime to political candidates in order to educate voters.
Introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and others, the "Our Democracy, Our
Airwaves Act" would mandate two hours of political or issue-related content
per week during an election. "Congress has made it clear that they realize
that Americans want some control over the airwaves they own," said Chellie
Pingree, president of Common Cause, adding that "the next step is to give
the public what it wants and needs for a democracy to thrive: an equal and
balanced presentation of political views." The bill would further require
that all such programming, which could include issue-oriented debates, must
air between 6 a.m. and midnight, that all candidates be charged the same
rate as year-round advertisers, and that a voucher system be created for
federal candidates to buy airtime.
SOURCE: Common Cause
http://www.commoncause.org/news/default.cfm?ArtID=215

TECH POLICY
TOP ON TOP ... FOR NOW
"The Department of Commerce's Technology Opportunity Program (TOP) has been
on the chopping block since the beginning of the Bush administration," notes
Norris Dickard, director of public policy for the Benton Foundation. When
the President's FY 2004 budget again called for the program's termination,
Benton and others argued for continued funding. The coalition scored a
victory yesterday when the Senate Commerce Committee approved the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Reauthorization Act
of 2003, which authorizes the TOP program for five years. This measure could
be very significant - NTIA and TOP have not had an official authorization
for years, relying instead on the shaky budgetary ground made possible by
the suspension of Congressional rules to allow "unauthorized
appropriations." The battle is not yet over, however - the NTIA/TOP
authorization bill must ultimately be passed by both Houses and signed by
the President. In the House, meanwhile, the appropriations bill that made
headlines last week for its inclusion of a media ownership rollback
provision also contained funding for the TOP program, a considerable
accomplishment since the House has historically been less friendly toward
the program than their Senate counterparts, who must now vote on a similar
bill. To help ensure further action, the Leadership Conference on Civil
Rights/Education Fund has launched a grassroots campaign to encourage
activists to send a general letter of support on TOP to the President and
their elected officials.
SOURCE: Benton Foundation; AUTHOR: Norris Dickard
http://www.benton.org/publibrary/issuesinfocus/top-ntia.html

EDTECH
THE OTHER 'E' IN EDUCATION
[Commentary] C. Gopinath, a professor of international business and
strategic management at Suffolk University in Boston, deconstructs the 'e'
in e-education. He describes two levels of the 'e': the first is
familiarizing students with the available technology and its uses; the
second is students actively incorporating the technology to enhance
learning. Gopinath describes how computer labs have given way to students
with laptops walking into regular classrooms. Some institutions of higher
learning are even making classrooms Internet-enabled, though this can be an
expensive proposition. Another downside of the wired classroom is the
frustration of some instructors when students check email or surf the web
during their lectures. Gopinath believes that some fundamental pedagogical
questions should be answered before institutions rush to 'e-enable' their
classrooms. These include: Should students be able to immediately access a
website the professor references or is it enough to watch from a screen and
access the site at home? Is education better served in reducing class sizes
or in providing more training for teachers? He concludes that in every
decision to use technology, it should be regarded not as an end but a means
to an end, that is, preparing students for their various vocations.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line; AUTHOR: C. Gopinath
http://www.blonnet.com/2003/07/28/stories/2003072800390900.htm

INTERNET
ANTISPAM BILLS: WORSE THAN SPAM?
Some online advocates are concerned that anti-spam measures will end the
free flow of information-the first principle of the Internet. Marv
Johnson, legislative council for the American Civil Liberties Union, worries
that the ability to speak anonymously on the Internet is put at risk by
legislation that makes it illegal to mask a sender's identity or forge
routing information. This would criminalize the actions of people who have
a legitimate reason to hide their identities, for instance dissidents under
oppressive regimes, closeted gay teens, or government whistle-blowers.
Technology may be the best way to stop spam. A promising new approach is
the use of Bayesian algorithms to tag spam automatically and move it to a
spam folder. The algorithm learns from past experience to identify junk
messages and can be trained by users when they move misclassified email to a
different folder. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) uses software
that doesn't block spam, but rates it so that users can have messages sent
to different inboxes. Cindy Cohn of EFF says, "It's not the job of an ISP
to block email." Similarly, Johnson hopes that technology will head off the
worst of the anti-spam legislation. "Let the marketplace handle spam," he
said.
SOURCE: Wired News; AUTHOR: Elizabeth Armstrong
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59840,00.html

INTERNET TAX BAN ADVANCES IN SENATE
The Senate Commerce Committee yesterday approved a measure that would
permanently ban taxes on Internet access. The Internet Tax
Non-Discrimination Act would prevent states from charging a tax regardless
of the manner in which an individual accesses the Web, including high-speed
services that are bundled with other telecommunications services. This was a
key provision in the eyes of telecom service providers, who sought to
eliminate the state tax on their Internet customers who also subscribed to
basic phone services. Currently 18 states have enacted such legislation, and
six more are considering doing so. The bill would also eliminate a
"grandfather clause" allowing certain states to continue imposing the tax.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) did not oppose the bill but expressed concern that
states might be prevented from taxing regular phone service, an issue that
Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) pledged to address. The House Judiciary
Committee passed identical legislation earlier this month. The Senate
measure is not related to a multi-state effort to impose and collect sales
taxes on goods and services purchased on-line, but McCain suggested that his
committee would hold hearings on the issue pursuant to the August recess.
SOURCE: The Washington Post; AUTHOR: Brian Krebs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8310-2003Jul31.html

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