INTERNET
Digital Divide: Racism's New Frontier (UK)
Pope Loves, Fears the Net (WIRED)
Content a Tough Sell in Europe (WIRED)
ANTITRUST
An AOL Unit Sues Microsoft, Saying Tactics Were Illegal (NYT)
INTERNET
DIGITAL DIVIDE: RACISM'S NEW FRONTIER
Issue: Internet
"If we have racism," writes Robin Chandler, "a digital divide is its new
colonial frontier." He suggests that IT has become an important site of
struggle for democracy and social and economic justice. "The future of
linking students and teachers in networked learning communities around the
globe represents the best hope for a peaceful century," says Chandler, who
suggests that IT is key for better jobs and better lives. He likens the
digital divide to structural inequalities such as poverty, lack of access
and unequal educational opportunities.
[SOURCE: Guardian, AUTHOR: Robin Chandler]
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4336861,00.html)
POPE LOVES, FEARS THE NET
Issue: Internet
The Internet caters to the best and worst of human nature and needs
regulation to stop depravity flooding cyberspace, Pope John Paul said on
Tuesday. He warned that while it offered access to immense knowledge, the
Internet did not necessarily provide wisdom and could easily be perverted to
demean human dignity. "Despite its enormous potential for good, some of the
degrading and damaging ways the Internet can be used are already obvious to
all," the pope said in a message prepared for World Communications Day. "The
Internet offers extensive knowledge, but it does not teach values and when
values are disregarded, our very humanity is demeaned," he said, adding that
the system focused people's attention on an "almost unending flood of
information."
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,49910,00.html)
CONTENT A TOUGH SELL IN EUROPE
Issue: Internet
Aside from the lucrative world of online porn, European consumers aren't
willing to pay for Internet content. According to a new study of Internet
payment habits, 47 percent of European Web users would not even consider
paying for Internet content. While they might not be willing to pay for
downloading songs or obtaining stock quotes, Europeans seem happy to pay
extra for a whole range of services on their cell phones. In Europe, high
Internet-connection costs have kept Web usage down and, as a result, helped
accelerate the huge uptake of wireless communications services. The growing
popularity of SMS in Europe -- a cheap mobile alternative to e-mail -- is
also helping to drive consumer interest in paying for content.
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Chloe Veltman]
(http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49916,00.html)
ANTITRUST
AN AOL UNIT SUES MICROSOFT, SAYING TACTICS WERE ILLEGAL
Issue: Antitrust
Netscape, the commercial pioneer in Web browsing software, whose fortunes
faded after a withering assault from Microsoft, filed a broad antitrust suit
yesterday against the company. The suit shows that Netscape's large
corporate parent, AOL Time Warner, is willing to confront its bitter rival
Microsoft in what could prove to be a long, costly courtroom battle. Seeking
to "restore competition," AOL Time Warner is also going to court to try to
get stronger sanctions against Microsoft than the Bush administration
accepted in a settlement last year. Among the findings in the government
case, the court determined that Microsoft employed illegal efforts to reduce
the distribution of Netscape's browsing software. But while the appeals
court found that Microsoft illegally maintained its monopoly, it concluded
that there was not sufficient proof that Microsoft sought to monopolize the
browser market itself. In the suit, AOL is seeking financial damages for the
lost profits, advertising revenues, licensing fees and other losses because
of Microsoft's purported illegal tactics. If a jury ruled against Microsoft,
the treble damages would surely total several billion dollars, legal experts
said.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/23/technology/ebusiness/23SOFT.html)
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