Communications-related Headlines for 2/07/02

DIGITAL DIVIDE
Bush Plan 'Digital Distortion' (WIRED)

REGUALTION
Consumers Still Waiting For Better Phone & Cable Services (CU)
House Schedules Feb. 27 Broadband Deregulation Vote (WP)

INTERNET
The Internet as Classroom (BW)
Study: Sept. 11 Changed E-Mail Usage Patterns (USA)

DIGITAL DIVIDE

BUSH PLAN 'DIGITAL DISTORTION'
Issue: Digital Divide
In the budget proposal released on Monday, the Bush administration seeks to
eliminate some programs aimed at closing the gap between digital haves and
have-nots. The biggest cut is to the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP),
a federal grant program designed to bring aid to communities that are
lagging in access to digital technologies. On Tuesday, the Commerce
Department released a report showing gains in Internet use among minorities,
low-income households and people living in rural areas -- groups that have
been behind the national average for computer use and Internet access in
years past. Larry Irving helped draft past versions of the report as
assistant secretary of commerce under Clinton. He thinks the optimistic tone
of the report is little more than spin used to justify cutting support for
the programs that helped make progress possible. "I would call this a
digital distortion," Irving said. "Do you think these numbers would be where
they are without public investment?" Although traditionally unwired
communities are getting online in record numbers, they are still fall far
behind the national average. Whites are still twice as likely as Hispanics
to have Internet access, for example. In addition to the TOP program, the
funding for community technology centers administered through the Department
of Education, which was set at $32.5 million in 2002, is also set to be
eliminated next year.
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Benner]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50279,00.html)

REGULATION

CONSUMERS STILL WAITING FOR BETTER PHONE & CABLE SERVICES
Issue: Competition
February 8 marks the sixth anniversary of the1996 Telecommunications Act,
which promised consumers lower prices and more choices in cable television,
long-distance and local telephone services. Lawmakers agreed to deregulation
based on the belief that the resulting competition would remove the need for
public oversight. According to the Consumers Union And Consumer Federation
Of America, however, the Telecommunications Act has not delivered on its
promises to consumer. Local telephone charges have increased 17 percent and
cable rates have increased 36 percent since the Telecommunications Act
became law. The groups urge the President and lawmakers to re-establish
industry accountability to consumers and to find ways of opening markets to
competition, while protecting consumers until competition develops.
[SOURCE: Consumers Union]
(http://www.consumersunion.org/telecom/sixthdc202.htm)

HOUSE SCHEDULES FEB. 27 BROADBAND DEREGULATION VOTE
Issue: Broadband
The House leadership has scheduled a vote on the controversial
"Tauzin-Dingell" broadband deregulation bill for Feb. 27. If passed, the law
would allow local Bell phone companies to offer broadband Internet services
over long-distance lines without requiring the Bells to open their local
service monopolies to outside competition. Bell companies and their
supporters say the law would spur broadband rollout by allowing them to reap
a reasonable profit on their investments in digital subscriber line (DSL)
networks and infrastructure. Bell opponents, including many of the nation's
long distance competitive carriers and high-speed cable providers, say the
legislation will remove any real incentive for the Bells to relinquish their
local phone monopolies, while at the same time ensconcing the Bells in a new
DSL monopoly.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Krebs (Newsbytes.com)]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/regulation/15033-1.html)

INTERNET

THE INTERNET AS CLASSROOM
Issue: EdTech
Newton N. Minow, former head of the Federal Communications Commission, and
Lawrence K. Grossman, former president of NBC News and PBS, Minow, have
proposed to Congress that it use $18 billion from upcoming FCC auctions of
radio spectrum to fund the digitization of educational material. A major
goal of their Digital Opportunity Investment Trust [DO IT] proposal is to
put material from universities, museums, and libraries on the Internet. In
an interview with BusinessWeek Correspondent Darnell Little Minow and
Grossman explained how their plan could revolutionize K-12 formal education
and lifelong learning."[The government is] spending $2 billion a year to
connect every classroom to the Internet, but we spend virtually nothing on
content," said Grossman. "So when they connect to the Internet, the uses of
it for educational purposes are extremely limited. And certainly the
training of teachers is virtually nonexistent."
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Darnell Little]
(http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/011208/z84e9yszp3yhcddzgaacsq_1.html)

STUDY: SEPT. 11 CHANGED E-MAIL USAGE PATTERNS
Issue: Inernet
According to UCLA study, 57% of e-mail users -- more than 100 million
Americans -- received or sent messages related to support or concern in the
week following the attacks. Based on focus groups conducted afterward,
researchers found that many of the contacts - particularly with those
outside the immediate circle of friends and family - wouldn't have been made
by telephone, even if phone lines had not jammed on Sept. 11. Jeff Cole,
director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy, also said some
Americans used e-mail as an opportunity to reconnect with someone with whom
they had lost contact or had a fight.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/02/07/attacks-email.htm)

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