Communications-related Headlines for 3/07/02

DIGITAL DIVIDE
Big Country, Little Internet (Silicon.com)

ANTITRUST
Microsoft Judge May Allow Harsher Curbs (USA)
Is Clear Channel Running Stations It Doesn't Own? (WSJ)

INTERNET
Report: Half A Billion People Have Home Internet Access (SJM)
House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet Meeting
Today (House)
China Sweet, Sour on Spam (Wired)
Private Collection of Maps Available Online (Wired)

DIGITAL DIVIDE

BIG COUNTRY, LITTLE INTERNET
Issue: Digital Divide
The inequitable deployment of broadband will only aggravate the digital
divide between town and countryside in the United Kingdom, according report
by Local Futures Group entitled 'On the Move'. Kate Oakley, director of
research programmes at the group warned that if local authorities
concentrate solely on getting their services online as part of the
government's pledge to get all of its service online by 2005, people will be
left out of the loop because of a lack of access and awareness. Her comments
follows news yesterday that the government's portal for the people,
ukonline.gov.uk, is failing to draw in the crowds despite its reputed
technological excellence. Local Futures suggests that local authorities
should look to satellite and wireless as alternatives to broadband in the
battle to get more ICT services out to rural areas. However, the impetus for
these alternatives must come from central government. Oakley concluded that
in the short-term, rural communities face the prospect of an ever-increasing
divide with their town-living counterparts.
[SOURCE: Silicon.com]
(http://www.silicon.com/bin/bladerunner?30REQEVENT=&REQAUTH=21046&14001REQSU
B=REQINT1=51815)

ANTITRUST

MICROSOFT JUDGE MAY ALLOW HARSHER CURBS
Issue: Antitrust
Federal Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly questioned the Justice Department's
assertions that a settlement reached last fall would suffice in checking
Microsoft's monopoly power. Last year, Microsoft was ruled to have acted
illegally to quell competition against the Windows operating system. After
tossing out an order to break up the company, the court tasked
Kollar-Kotelly with devising new penalties for Microsoft. At Wednesday's
hearing the judge asked a Justice Department lawyer if the pact was too
narrow in defining the types of products PC makers could replace.
Additionally, she suggested that while the appeals court stated that direct
effects on competition needed to be proved to justify a breakup, it was not
required to enforce other tough restrictions.
[Source: USA Today, AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/03/07/microsoft-usat.htm)

IS CLEAR CHANNEL RUNNING STATIONS IT DOESN'T OWN?
Issue: Ownership
Washington attorney, Arthur Belendiuk has filed petitions with the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) claiming that Clear Channel Communications,
Inc. has been controlling radio stations without full disclosure.
Deregulation over the past few years has allowed Clear Channel to own
multiple stations within single markets as well as form agreements to run
the programming and advertising for independent radio stations. However, if
they handle more than 15 percent of the programming duties for another
station they must disclose the arrangement to the FCC. Mr. Belendiuk has
stated that the lack of disclosure is a tactic to avoid antitrust issues.
Clear Channel has maintained that the incidents of non-disclosures were
simply filing errors. The allegations have spurred Rep. Howard Berman D-CA
to ask federal regulators to investigate Clear Channel.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Anna Wilde Matthews]
(http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1015457133729748680,00.html?mod=us%5Fbu
siness%5Fbiz%5Ffocus%5Fhs)
(Requires subscription)

INTERNET

REPORT: HALF A BILLION PEOPLE HAVE HOME INTERNET ACCESS
Issue: Internet
Nielsen/NetRatings released a report stating 498 billion people around the
world had Internet access in their homes by the end of 2001. Home access in
Asia grew 5.6 percent in the last three months of 2001 with Europeans
following at a 4.9 percent increase, the United States at 3.5 percent and
Latin America at 3.3 percent. North America held the largest Internet share
of global Internet users at 40 percent with Europe, the Middle East and
Africa accounting for 27 percent and Asia 22 percent. In Asia, homes that
were headed by a college-educated male were most likely to have Internet
access while North American connected homes tended to have household heads
under thirty-five.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/2811195.htm)

HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET MEETING TODAY
Issue: Internet
The Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will today meet in
an open markup session to consider H.R. 3833, the Dot Kids Implementation
and the Efficiency Act of 2002. Today's meeting, and subsequent days if
necessary, is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn House Office
Building.
[SOURCE:US House of Representatives]
(http://energycommerce.house.gov/107/markups/03072002Markup504.htm)

PRIVATE COLLECTION OF MAPS AVAILABLE ONLINE
Issue: Internet
David Rumsey, president of Cartography Associates, is providing the public
access to his private collection of maps. Using a Geographical Information
System (GIS) browser developed by Telemorphic, users can overlay multiple
maps, create custom maps and trace historic or cultural changes in a
geographic area. Rumsey is the first collector to make GIS freely available
to people through the Internet. That effort is part of Rumsey's plan to keep
access open and free to the public. Currently the site boasts more than
6,500 images from Rumsey's vast collection of 150,000 maps. Rumsey's
ultimate goal is to digitize 50,000 maps in the next five years. Says
Telemorphic president, Todd Helt, "He is really paving the way to deliver
more geospatial content, information and tools for anybody with a Web
browser and an Internet connection to see how geospatial content and history
relate to each other.
The collection may be accessed at (http://www.davidrumsey.com/).
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Kendra Mayfield]
(http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,50785,00.html)

CHINA SWEET, SOUR ON SPAM
Issue: Internet
Many Chinese newspapers have been running articles and editorials calling
for the National People's Congress, China's primary political power, to ban
spam. The concern stems from a growing problem with Western and Asian
spammers who originate or relay messages through Chinese ISPs. Many Chinese
servers are poorly configured and blindly relay messages to or from people
who are not recognized users of that system. In essence, these open-relay
servers serve as virtual money-laundering devices for spammers, allowing
them to bypass local regulations against spam. In response, many Western
systems administrators are blocking all email from China in an effort to
stop the torrent of unwanted spam. Other sources being blocked by the West
include Hotmail, Yahoo's free e-mail and e-mail sent from Taiwan and Korea.
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Michelle Delio]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50856,00.html)

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