OWNERSHP
The Urge to Converge (NYT)
INTERNET
House Subcommittee Approves Bill For Kid-Safe Net Domain (SJM)
AOL Still Dominant ISP (WP)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Internet Domain Name Plays Role in East Timor's Struggle for
Independence (Wired)
Computer Students "Bridging Digital Divide" (AllAfrica.com)
OWNERSHP
THE URGE TO CONVERGE
Issue: Ownership
William Safire question weather the "the urge to converge" has really led to
"the happy marriage of news and entertainment content with the computer,
wireless telephone and video - all supposedly lowering prices to consumers
with no restraint of trade or news." Instead, he suggests, that the
creation of media empires has diluted the mission of acquired companies.
Safire points to the case of Disney's recent decisions regarding ABC News,
including the threat of replacing Ted Koppel's "Nightline," with the David
Letterman show, if Disney can entice the comedian from CBS. Disney's
"misbegotten purchase of a news medium allows it to prostitute ABC News's
journalistic mission to conform to the parent company's different goal,"
writes Safire. He likens the concentration media power to the concentration
of governmental authority, which the Constitution prevents with a system of
checks and balances "Why, then, should we supinely go along with the
seizure of economic power by today's triopolies and duopolies on their march
to becoming tomorrow's monopolies?" he concludes.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: William Safire]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/07/opinion/07SAFI.html)
(requires registration)
INTERNET
HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE APPROVES BILL FOR KID-SAFE NET DOMAIN
Issue: Internet
The Energy and Commerce Committee's telecommunications panel yesterday moved
to create a "kids.us" domain on the Internet. "While there is not substitute
for parental supervision, responsible parents that I talk to want more tools
to assist them in protecting their kids on the Internet," said subcommittee
chairman, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich. NeuStar, Inc., the organization that
manages the ".us" domain has been tapped to make the decisions about what
Web sites are appropriate for the "kids.us" domain. There is widespread
support for the bill among lawmakers, but many have concerns about the
international implications of regulating Internet information and how to
avoid free speech violations.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/2813823.htm)
AOL STIL DOMINANT ISP
Issue: Internet
Predictions that America Online's Internet service would lose ground once
people learned how to use the Web are proving untrue. According to a study
released today by WebSideStory's StatMarket unit, AOL's share of global
Internet usage as of February 27 was 13.58 percent. A distant second place
was held by Road Runner with a share of 2.76 percent. UUNet places third in
global usage with a 2.18 percent share, followed by Canada's Sympatico ISP,
Mindspring and T-Online. "Some people thought as the Web matures, AOL's
usage would go down. They saw AOL as 'training wheels' for the Internet,"
says Geoff Johnston, StatMarket's vice president of product marketing. "The
Web is maturing - some people have been on for five or ten years - but AOL
still is doing well." Most ISP measurements count revenue or numbers of
subscribers. StatMarket is different in that it measures the number of
people who use an ISP to get on the Web.
[SOURCE:Washington Post, AUTHOR: Michael Bartlett]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/telecom/15542-1.html)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
INTERNET DOMAIN NAME PLAYS ROLE IN EAST TIMOR'S INDEPENDENCE STRUGGLE
Issue: Internet
Dublin Internet service provider manager Martin Maguire will merit a
footnote in East Timor's history. When the country officially achieves
independence on May 20, Maguire will happily hand over East Timor's
cyberspace national flag - the top-level domain name dot-tp. In 1997, using
East Timor's U.N. country code, Maguire applied for East Timor (dot-tp) to
be set apart from military occupier Indonesia (dot-id) on the Net. As a
further poke at Indonesia, Maguire registered East Timor's independence
leader, Xanana Gusmao, as the country's top-level Internet domain manager.
Maguire's act was obviously symbolic: at the time Gusamao was under house
arrest and had no access to a computer. East Timor has only about 8,000
telephone lines for 800,000 people, almost no computers and greater than 50
percent illiteracy in the general population. But dot-tp did provide a
platform for raising East Timor's political profile at the international
level, by posting information and news (through http://www.freedom.tp) about
the island.
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Stewart Taggart]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50659,00.html)
COMPUTER STUDENTS "BRIDGING DIGITAL DIVIDE
Issue: Digital Divide
Cisco Systems, Inc. and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are
working together to provide information and communications technology
training to students in Tanzania at affordable prices. Students of the
program earn Cisco Certified Network Associate certificates after completing
a four-month course. The course would normally cost $3000, but the
UNDP-Cisco initiative has cut tuition in half. In addition to training,
students receive career counseling and assistance finding jobs managing
small and medium-sized networks. Tanzania is a leader among 24 African
countries who have embraced the program and there are plans to integrate the
program into university curriculum.
[SOURCE: AllAfrica.com]
(http://allafrica.com/stories/200203070013.html)
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