DIGITAL DIVIDE
Despite Greater Access, Internet Inequities Remain
Despite Strict Government Control, Clever Cubans Still Get Bootleg
Internet
Norway Pledges Financial Support for ITU Proposal to Bridge Gender
Divide
Swapping Guns for PCs
INTERNET CONTENT
Law Limiting Internet in Libraries Challenged
Using the Internet for Political Campaigns
DIGITAL DIVIDE
DESPITE GREATER ACCESS, INTERNET INEQUITES REMAIN
According to the Commerce Department, 54 percent of Americans were online in
September 2001 with increases among all races, income levels and educational
backgrounds. These recent numbers seem to show that the online population is
increasing in diversity, but a new study is suggesting that the numbers may
be deceiving. New research from the Pew Internet & American life project
has found that only 12 percent of Internet users can log on away from home.
Fifty percent of blacks and Hispanics who use the Internet at public
libraries can not access the Internet at home compared with 30 percent of
whites and 22 percent of Asians. While public access has been extremely
valuable, the lack of privacy and limited hours and terminals can discourage
users from spending time researching new hobbies or developing interests
that could become future careers. More people have begun to look at digital
divide factors that go beyond access, and it has made finding solutions more
difficult. "If it is in schools, libraries or community technology centers,
then this is something for the community," said Mark Lloyd, executive
director for the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy. "We have a
great deal of difficulty making the argument that we ought to subsidize poor
people's [home] access".
[SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/custom/science/orl-ins-internet032402.s
tory?coll=orl%2Dnews%2Dheadlines%2Dscience)
DESPITE STRICT GOVERNMENT CONTROL, CLEVER CUBANS STILL GET BOOTLEG INTERNET
While the Cuban government has increased efforts to promote information
literacy in workplaces and youth clubs, tight restrictions control private
use of the Internet by average citizens. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of
Cubans have resorted to unauthorized and illegal methods to gain access to
the Internet. The government has seized unauthorized computers, primarily
from government opponents, blaming the restrictions on economic limitations,
not political ones. Cuba had 4.4 phones per 100 people in 2000 and even for
those with phone lines Internet service is extremely slow with the price of
Internet accounts far exceeding average salaries. When Cubans do surf the
Web it is on a network of national intranets. Over 60,000 of the 11 million
citizens use island-wide email accounts. Internet use is governed by a 1996
law stating that access would be selective and granted "in a regulated
manner...giving priority to the entities most relevant to the country' s
life and development." In an effort to get around these restrictions,
hundreds of Cubans have bought modem-equipped computers on the black market
and use pirated accounts to gain access to international email and the World
Wide Web.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/2928332.htm)
See Also:
CUBA BANS PC SALES TO PUBLIC
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Julia Scheeres]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51270,00.html)
NORWAY PLEDGES FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR ITU PROPOSAL TO BRIDGE GENDER DIVIDE
The Norwegian government has pledged a financial contribution in support of
gender-based activities of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) of
the International Telecommunication Union. If approved by the World
Telecommunication Development Conference, the proposed contribution would
enable the BDT to set up a full-time unit to mainstream gender issues into
the ITU. Patrica Faccin, Secretary to the Task Force on Gender Issues
(TFGI), noted that such a unit in the BDT would enable ITU to make greater
progress in gender analysis, collection of disaggregated statistics and the
integration of a gender perspective in policy and regulatory issues. "Making
better use of human resources and skills of women significantly adds to the
pool of talent which will be needed in the new information society," said
Eva Hildrum, Director-General of Posts and Telecommunications at the
Ministry of Transport and Communications. The TFGI shadows the six programs
of the ITU's Valletta Action Plan and fosters gender awareness in the
telecom sector in developing countries. The results of the latest survey on
gender and the development sector may be found at
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/gender/projects/reports/4-7-GendQustnrSurvey.pdf.
[SOURCE: ITU Press Release]
(http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2002/09.html)
SWAPPING GUNS FOR PCS
A Sierra Leonean entrepreneur, Francis Steven George, is planning to set up
a vocational training center to teach computer skills to child soldiers in
Sierra Leone. Hoping to give something back to his country, George envisions
using computer centers as a way to rehabilitate thousands of young people
who were taken away from school during the mid-1990s to fight in the civil
war. George hopes that the project will be a first step towards developing
West Africa as a regional hub for the computer industry. Despite major
obstacles, George remains optimistic about the project, saying "if you have
the right people with the right skills, the infrastructure and all the other
elements will quickly fall into place." George has already won the support
of the Norwegian government and various private Norwegian groups are
interested in providing financial support for the project.
[SOURCE: BBC News, AUTHOR: Alfred Hermida]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1886000/1886248.stm)
INTERNET CONTENT
USING THE INTERNET FOR POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
Campaign fund-raising is moving to the Internet. A new congressional ban on
unlimited 'soft money' donations will make it more important for campaign
fund-raisers to collect large numbers of smaller checks, according to the
San Jose Mercury News. Enter the Internet. Political parties are starting to
make better use of Web sites and e-mail to reach more potential donors at
far less expense than possible through traditional direct mail and telephone
solicitations. Both the Democratic and Republican parties are quoted as
having plans to more aggressively integrate Internet activities into their
fundraising and grass-roots campaigns. While political fund-raising is on
the rise, a recent study by the Bivings Group, reported in Newsbytes, states
that Internet usage by political campaigns is surprisingly low. Bivings
found that only 29 percent of the incumbent Senators and Representatives up
for election in 2002 have clearly marked campaign Web sites. Further, the
study found that, of the 2002 campaign sites that were operational, only
about 42 percent were designed to take secure donations over the Internet.
The study also found that Republicans were more likely than Democrats to
maintain functioning Web sites and were more likely to allow onlne
donations. The Bivings Group study may be found at
(http://www.bivings.com/campaignstudy/index.pdf)
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/2928331.htm)
And
STUDY SAYS POLITICAL CANDIDATES NOT USING WEB
[SOURCE: Newsbytes, AUTHOR: David McGuire]
(http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175417.html)
LAW LIMITING INTERNET IN LIBRARIES CHALLENGED
Today is the beginning of hearings to discuss the future of libraries and
define the increasingly complicated role of libraries. A coalition of
libraries, Web sites and library patrons is arguing that the passage of the
Children's Internet Protection Act last December, requiring schools and
libraries to use Internet filtering software, will endanger the mission of
libraries to provide access to information. The law will deny federal
funding and technology discounts to any schools and libraries without a
"technology protection measure" such as a filter to block access to Web
sites considered harmful to children. Those in favor of the law such as Sen.
John McCain (R-AZ), the bill's co-sponsor, has said, "it allows local
communities to decide what technology they want to use, and what to filter
out, so that our children's minds aren't polluted." Judith F. Krug, director
of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom stated
that the law "is going to affect everyone's First Amendment right to get
access to information that is perfectly legal." The case will be heard in
the U.S. District Court for the Third Circuit with any appeals going to the
Supreme Court.
[SOURCE: The New York Times, AUTHOR: John Schwartz]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/25/national/25LIBR.html)
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