DIGITAL DIVIDE
Taking Up the Fight Against the Digital Divide(NYT)
HEALTH ONLINE
An Online Aid for Surviving Cancer (NYT)
Help for Web Pharmacy Users (NYT)
INTERNET
No More Milking The Internet (WP)
Internet Phone Service Catches On With Millions In China (WSJ)
Lobbying for 'Net Firms Gets Boost From 'Adhocracy' (WSJ)
TELEPHONY
Playing the Field for Phone Service (NYT)
DTV
Australia Outlines Digital TV Rules, Offering More Options to
Viewers (WSJ)
ANTITRUST
Judge Rebuffs Microsoft's Objection To Brief Writer in Antitrust
Trial (WSJ)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
TAKING UP THE FIGHT AGAINST THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Issue: NTIA
Gregory L. Rohde has inherited - for a year's time - the fight against the
digital divide from the waning Clinton Administration and the man credited
with defining it. Rohde, a 38-year-old former Senate staffer from North
Dakota, was selected by William Daley to run the NTIA after Larry Irving's
September departure. Rohde said he intends to use the information that has
already been compiled to get the public and private sector focused on
solutions to the digital divide - letting the marketplace lead, while
imposing minimal regulation. "But the market will only go so far," he said.
"That's where we need to focus, making sure all segments of society keep
up." In addition to the digital divide, Rohde will be focused on FCC reforms
to the Universal Service program. Although Rohde only has a one-year job
guarantee, the position could be a stepping stone into a Gore
administration. Rohde said he took the job because "it seemed to be a right
fit. This is a terrific place to be, and a job worth doing, even if it is
for just a year."
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/12/cyber/capital/21capital.html)
HEALTH ONLINE
HELP FOR WEB PHARMACY USERS
Issue: Health
The Food and Drug Administration has launch a Web site to help patients
buying drugs and medical products on the Internet. The site, accessible from
the agency's home page (www.fda.gov), is part of a heightened effort to
police the sale of drugs on the Internet. It provides instructions for
consumers on how to report suspicious sites and advises them not to buy
prescription drugs without real prescriptions from known physicians. The
drug agency says that consumers can make sure an online pharmacy is
legitimate by checking the Web site of the National Association of Boards of
Pharmacy (www.nabp.net).
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/health/122199hth-fda-web...
l
AN ONLINE AID FOR SURVIVING CANCER
Issue: Health
A newly redesigned Web site aims to help the 8.4 million Americans who have
survived some form of cancer. National Cancer Institute's Office of Cancer
Survivorship (dccps.nci.nih.gov) has recently overhauled the "Survivorship
Research" site that it has maintained for some years. Although much of the
information there is not new, officials say, it has been reorganized for
simplicity. The site is designed to be of use not just to patients but to
researchers and practicing doctors. The old version of the site drew about
five million visits a month.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Nagourney]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/health/122199hth-vital-sign
s.html)
INTERNET
NO MORE MILKING THE INTERNET
Issue: Internet Taxation
[Op-Ed] Whether or not the Internet should be taxed is ultimately the wrong
question since the building blocks of the Internet--phone lines, cable, all
telecommunications--are already one of the most heavily taxed areas of the
economy. Some governors want to add additional taxes on the Internet that
would run counter to Supreme Court decisions that protect interstate
commerce. Present law forbids Utah from forcing Amazon.com to collect Utah's
sales tax when a citizen from Utah buys a book over the Internet.
"Pro-tax-the-Internet Gov. Michael Leavitt (R) of Utah argues that the
states need the extra taxes, that much tax revenue is being lost, and that
these additional taxes can be imposed without hurting the Internet or the
Constitution. He is wrong on all counts." In 1998 the 50 states ended the
year with $11 billion in surpluses, Norquist points out. Additionally, a
June 1999 study by Ernst & Young shows that most e-commerce is
business-to-business or the sale of intangible services or other exempt
products not subject to sales taxes, the actual "loss" to state and local
sales tax collection was one-tenth of 1 percent of sales taxes collected. A
study on how taxing e-commerce would affect Internet sales done by Prof.
Austen Goolsbee of the University of Chicago Business School who found that
changing the Constitution to allow taxation of electronic commerce would
reduce e-commerce by 24 percent or more. "The Constitution's commerce clause
is not a loophole. It created a single American market and stopped states
from attacking "foreign" (out-of-state) businesses."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A40), AUTHOR: Grover Glenn Norquist, is president
of Americans for Tax Reform and the consumer/taxpayer representative member
of the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce.]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/21/021l-122199-idx.html
)
INTERNET PHONE SERVICE CATCHES ON WITH MILLIONS IN CHINA
Issue: Internet Telephony
The high cost of making long-distance calls in China is attracting
alternatives in the form of phone calls transmitted through the Internet. In
the process, this cheap and lucrative technology is challenging the longtime
dominance of China Telecom. After a year and a half of operation,
Internet-protocol phone service has already won millions of customers in
China by routing international and domestic long-distance calls over the
Internet at a fraction of the cost of regular fixed-line or cellular
service. Internet phone companies, which charge about one-third the price of
standard long-distance service, present the strongest challenge to state-run
China Telecom and could make China one of the world's biggest markets for
Internet phones in record time. More than a third of China's international
traffic could be carried through the Internet within three years, according
to a report by Boston-based Yankee Group.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A14), AUTHOR: Leslie Chang]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB945708593116745294.htm)
LOBBYING FOR 'NET FIRMS GETS BOOST FROM 'ADHOCRACY'
Issue: Internet/Politics
Washington lobbyists and trade associations --long accustomed to clients
with predictable needs -- have struggled to address the concerns of the
technology industry. About a dozen new groups have sprung up, many on a
temporary basis, to meet the needs of Internet-service providers, marketers
and equipment makers on issues ranging from privacy to taxation. Leading the
way in temporary coalition building is Americans for Computer Privacy, which
lobbies for relaxation on exports of encryption technology, and the Online
Privacy Alliance, which is seeking to head off regulation of Internet-based
marketing. Traditional trade associations don't work in the technology
sector because they are not structured to adapt to the swift changes in the
Internet industry. Some lobbyists believe the coalition model and "virtual
associations," will become the dominant model in Washington advocacy. Others
think the model is a temporary one. "The long-term goal is for the companies
to regulate themselves, and you can't do that with ad-hoc organizations,"
former Representative Rick White, a founder of the Congressional Internet
Caucus who now lobbies for the Seattle law firm Perkins Coie says. A few
associations already aspire to umbrella-group status, including
California-based TechNet (www.technet.org) and the Internet Alliance.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A24), AUTHOR: Glenn R. Simpson]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB945731759116628143.htm)
TELEPHONY
PLAYING THE FIELD FOR PHONE SERVICE
Issue: Telephony
With growing competition in the long-distance market, many consumers have
discovered that it pays to be fickle. Long-distance customers are more
likely than ever to change companies in search of the best deal. A recent
marketing survey by J. D. Power & Associates showed that 31 percent switched
their long-distance service at least once this year compared with 26 percent
in 1997. "Brand loyalty doesn't matter any more; what drives the consumer is
cost," said Kirk Parsons, director of telecommunications accounts at J. D.
Power. "The way the rate is going down, in a couple of years, long distance
is going to be free."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A27), AUTHOR: Winnie Hu]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/regional/ny-phone-service.ht
ml)
DTV
AUSTRALIA OUTLINES DIGITAL TV RULES, OFFERING MORE OPTIONS TO VIEWERS
Issue: Digital Television/International
Digital television broadcasts will begin in Australia on Jan. 1, 2001 and
the government there is setting rules for the new service. Free,
over-the-air channels must "triplecast" in order to give viewers the maximum
range of choices: For eight years after DTV begins, broadcasters will have
to continue existing analog broadcasts. Commercial television networks must
offer both standard definition and high definition digital broadcast
signals. In return, the broadcasters each receive seven MHz of spectrum free
of charge. The Australian Consumers' Association said consumers should be
able to get standard definition digital TVs for a minimum outlay of A$2,500.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Iain McDonald
(iain.mcdonald( at )dowjones.com)]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB945754030687871427.htm)
ANTITRUST
JUDGE REBUFFS MICROSOFT'S OBJECTION TO BRIEF WRITER IN ANTITIRUST TRIAL
Issue: Antitrust
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson rejected Microsoft Corporations
renewed objections to Lawrence Lessig's participation in the company's
antitrust trial, saying he finds no convincing evidence the Harvard
University Internet expert is biased against Microsoft. In an earlier court
filing Microsoft had said that Lessig, whose views on the case had been
solicited by Judge Jackson, "may not be an impartial friend of the court
with regard to legal issues in the case." Microsoft's filing excerpted a
brief radio interview in which Mr. Lessig is quoted as saying Microsoft's
control of the "architecture of cyberspace" is a "threat to innovation."
Microsoft had also complained that Lessig was associated with an advisory
group connected to Red Hat Incorporated, which promotes Linux, computer
operating-system software that competes with Microsoft's dominant Windows
software in some markets. Judge Jackson said the decision to hear the
Harvard Law School professor's views "is within the sound discretion of the
court" and found no evidence of bias either in comments made by Mr. Lessig
or in his financial or professional interests.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John R. Wilke]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB94572575327530510.htm)
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