DIGITAL DIVIDE
'Digital Divide' Plan in Peril (WP)
Federal Gov Publishes Internet Report (NTIA)
U.N. Looks to Narrow Tech Gap (YAHOO)
SECURITY
Bush Eyeballs Heavy Tech Spending (WIRED)
MERGER
FCC Urged To Reject Echostar, Directv Merger (USA)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
'DIGITAL DIVIDE' PLAN IN PERIL
Issue: Digital Divide
President Bush's proposed budget for next year would kill two widely
heralded grant programs to help low-income, rural and other disadvantaged
groups share in the benefits of high technology. The Technology
Opportunities Program, a federal initiative aimed at bridging the "digital
divide" through $45 million in grants to state and local agencies and
nonprofit groups, would be eliminated by the proposed budget released
yesterday. Also slated for elimination is a companion Community Technology
Centers program funded through the Department of Education. "We're very
disturbed that these investments will potentially be axed," said Norris
Dickard, a senior associate at the Benton Foundation. The Technology
Opportunities Program "has been a laboratory of how technology can empower
low-income communities to solve social problems," said Dickard. The proposed
Bush budget also would slash high-tech research grants, which went to
corporations and universities, by 42 percent, from $185 million in 2002 to
$108 million in 2003.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jonathan Krim]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23353-2002Feb4.html)
FEDERAL GOV PUBLISHES INTERNET REPORT
Issue: Digital Divide
Today, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and
the
Economics and Statistics Administration released A Nation Online: How
Americans
Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet. The report -- based on the
September 2001U.S.
Census Bureau's Current Population Survey -- provides comprehensive
information on
Americans' connectivity to the Internet, broadband services and computers.
According
to the study, in September 2001, 143 million Americans (about 54 percent of
the
population) were using the Internet. It also found that children and
teenagers are more
likely to use computers and the Internet than any other age group. Ninety
percent of
children between the ages of 5 and 17 (or 48 million) now use computers. The
report's
finding, however, still point large divides between technology "haves" and
"have nots."
People with mental or physical disabilities, for example, are stell less
likely than those
without such disabilities to use computers or the Internet.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/nationonline_020502.htm)
U.N. LOOKS TO NARROW TECH GAP
Issue: Digital Divide
A two-year Global Digital Opportunity Initiative, announced Tuesday by the
United Nations Development Program and the Markle Foundation, hopes to use
communications technology to improve health care, education and economic
development. The initiative, announced at the close of the five-day World
Economic Forum, will provide high-tech consultants to help boost the
information technology infrastructure of dozens of developing nations those.
"New technologies, deployed appropriately, offer an unprecedented
opportunity to meet global development challenges,'' said Zoe Baird,
president of the Markle Foundation. Many delegates at the forum discussed
development problems, including the so-called "digital divide," but few
concrete initiatives were announced at the forum.
[SOURCE: Yahoo, AUTHOR: Jim Krane (Associated Press)]
(http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020205/tc/global_tech_gap_1.html)
SECURITY
BUSH BUDGET WOULD BOOST TECHNOLOGY SPENDING
Issue: Security
President Bush's budget proposal would more than double the growth of
federal technology spending. The budget reflects a new respect for
information technology's part in fighting the war on terrorism. The budget
proposal includes $23 million for the State Department for a passport
modernization system, which aims to decrease the percentage of fraudulent
domestic passports. The Department of Justice would get $30.7 million for an
integrated automated fingerprint identification system. But most of the
increase would be in the Department of Defense as it fights the war in
Afghanistan, Forman said. Defense Department information technology spending
would hit $26 billion in 2003, up from $23 billion this year.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Renae Merle]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/washtech/A23534-2002Feb4.html)
MERGER
FCC URGED TO REJECT ECHOSTAR, DIRECTV MERGER
Issue: Merger
On Monday, groups representing broadcasters and rural communities joined the
ranks of many others in asking the Federal Communications Commission to
reject EchoStar's $30 billion plan to merge with DirecTV parent Hughes
Electronics. The National Association of Broadcasters told the FCC that
creating a satellite monopoly would give EchoStar "the ability and incentive
to raise prices and lower the quality and quantity of available
programming," The 25 million homes that don't have cable would be left with
only option for multi-channel TV service if the merger is approved,
according to the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, which sells
DirecTV services in many small communities. The Competitive Enterprise
Institute, on the other hand, say that if deal is rejected by the FCC or the
Justice Department, which is weighing antitrust concerns, "there is no
guarantee that both companies, or either, would remain viable."
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/invest/2002/02/05/echostar.htm)
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