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)
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