October 2003

COPYRIGHT
Dueling Rappers Debate Downloading Music

JOURNALISM
The Role of the Delete Key in Blog

INTERNET
ICANN Seeks Views on Verisign's Site Finder
Tech Use Gives Young People Sense of Accomplishment
Commentary: Not the Public's Domain

EVENTS
Bridging the Digital Divide to be Discussed at Commonwealth Summit

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COPYRIGHT

DUELING RAPPERS DEBATE DOWNLOADING MUSIC
At a Senate Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Rapper LL
Cool J joined entertainment executives in defending the music industry's
lawsuits against Internet users who illegally distribute music online. "If a
contractor builds a building, should people be allowed to move into the
building for free?" he asked. Taking the other side, rapper Chuck D, founder
of Public Enemy, testified that people ought to be able to distribute the
songs they want to hear on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. "P2P to me means
power to the people," explained Chuck D. "I trust the consumer more than I
trust the people at the helm of these (record) companies." The Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) has settled 52 of the 261 lawsuits it
has brought against people who illegally distribute copyrighted music. "File
sharing networks like Kazaa deliberately induce people to break the law,"
says RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol. Alan Morris, executive vice
president of the company that owns Kazaa disagrees. "The issue here does not
seem to be about copyright," Morris said. "It's about control of the
Internet."
SOURCE: Yahoo! News; AUTHOR: Frederic J. Frommer, AP
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030930/ap_on_go_co/d...
oading_music_11

JOURNALISM

THE ROLE OF THE DELETE KEY IN BLOG
A recent policy change at the Sacramento Bee newspaper requiring
journalists' Web logs (blogs) to be reviewed by an editor has sparked debate
about the nature and purposes of both blogs and journalism. The Bee has
sought to make clear that the policy was not a result of political pressure,
but a response to complaints from Bee news staff members who wanted blogs to
be treated the same as print stories. Of late, a number of newspapers have
jumped on the blogging bandwagon, but not all of them edit their reporters'
online journals. Dallas Morning News editor Keven Ann Willey said the paper
does not edit posts "because we believe the best blog entries are fresh,
spontaneous and instant and that we are able to be fresh, spontaneous and
instant without jeopardizing this newspaper's standards or this department's
goals." Professor Paul Grabowicz, who taught a class on weblogs last fall,
said that many of the traditional aspects of journalism and the new
publishing medium are not incompatible. "I think you can do a blog and
retain journalistic standards without bleeding the life out of it and
without sacrificing what is important about journalism," he said.
SOURCE: New York Times; AUTHOR: Michael Falcone
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/29/technology/29blog.html

INTERNET

ICANN SEEKS VIEWS ON VERISIGN'S SITE FINDER
ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee has scheduled a meeting
for Oct. 7 in Washington DC to discuss VeriSign's Site Finder, which
redirects Internet users who try to access a mistaken .com and .net URLs to
their company's search engine -- and in the process causes ISP's anti-spam
filters to falter. The meeting will result in a committee report on its
effects. ICANN called on VeriSign to suspend Site Finder, but the company
refused. "VeriSign introduced its wild card service, and although I am told
there was some kind of advance notice, it came upon the world as a surprise
and after some hours it became clear that it is a pretty big deal," said
Steve Crocker, ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee chair.
After Site Finder's release, an uproar among network administrators spawned
when anti-spam filters failed. "Now you have a warring set of changes and it
becomes a rickety system," Crocker continued. "That makes us engineers
nervous. Generally we like to make changes slowly, carefully and with a
great deal of consultation." In terms of commercial interests, two competing
Internet companies have already sued VeriSign, charging unfair competition.
SOURCE: IDG News Service; AUTHOR: Joris Evers
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/1001icannseeks.html

NOT THE PUBLIC'S DOMAIN
[Commentary] Critics are already calling VeriSign's Site Finder system "the
Great Internet Hijacking of 2003." "Used to be, you probably got an error
page if the address you typed in didn't belong to someone else," writes
Washington post .gov columnist Jonathan Krim. "Now, you might get sent to
sitefinder.verisign.com, a Web page full of links to vendors who have paid
to be placed there to attract your attention and your business." VeriSign's
action is a rude reminder that the Internet is no longer a public
enterprise. Fewer players increasingly control more Internet functions. A
handful of large companies control high-speed connections and standards for
security are largely corporate battlegrounds. Major companies cannot even
muster support in advocating limited regulatory principles to guide the
Internet's development. The most significant of these is a push by large
corporations to get the federal Communications Commission to guarantee the
notion of "network neutrality." These companies fear that Internet carriers,
like cable and phone companies, could choose what content moves over their
systems. "The Net is evolving in the image of its largely free heritage,
something that many cheer," Krim concludes. "For those who see the need for
something closer to a public utility, more ground is falling away beneath
you every day."
SOURCE: Washington Post; AUTHOR: Jonathan Krim
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31115-2003Oct1.html

TECH USE GIVES YOUNG PEOPLE SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT
A new study suggests that children and young adults use cell phones and the
Internet not just to fit in, but because it gives them a sense of
accomplishment. The telephone survey involved interviews with 500 children
ages eight to 17, along with one parent in each household. Contrary to the
image of the young Internet loner, 58 percent of those polled said they made
new friends online. Fourteen percent said they had their own websites and
online journals. Fifty-four percent of this group said that their Web pages
allow them to relay personal information they wouldn't feel comfortable
sharing in person. Of those who created their own Web pages, 88 percent said
they were proud of their abilities, and 82 percent believed they could
easily learn how to use new technologies. "Rather than being a negative
influence, [technology] can be positive in terms of children's development,"
says Stephanie Azzarone, president of the research group that conducted the
survey. "It makes kids feel good about themselves."
SOURCE: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-09-29-kids-study_x.htm

EVENTS

BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE TO BE DISCUSSED AT COMMONWEALTH SUMMIT
Representatives of Commonwealth governments, business leaders, civil society
groups, donor agencies and academics will gather in London for the
Commonwealth Network Society Summit. The Commonwealth Business Council
(CBC), which is hosting the event, says 150 delegates from more than 20
Commonwealth counties will gather on October 6 and 7 to discuss the
development of information and communication technologies (ICTs). "An
important subtext of this meeting will be the digital divide, a phrase which
adequately describes one of the main challenges facing the world today, as
we strive to create a more technologically inclusive and socially
responsible global society," says Brian Naughton, CBC's Director of
Strategic Partnerships. Following the summit, a findings report will be
given to the Commonwealth heads of government at their meeting scheduled
this December in Abuja, Nigeria. "ICTs help fulfill the aspirations of the
people by enabling access, and play a crucial role in development. The
Commonwealth Network Society Summit is a timely step before Heads of
Government meet in Abuja," says B. J. R. Rao of the Commonwealth
Secretariat.
SOURCE: AllAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/stories/200310010764.html

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