BROADBAND
FCC Challenged On Cable High-Speed Internet Ruling
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Global Digital Divide Gets Wider
Argentina Economy A Net Loss
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Napster Loses Ruling On Court's Shutdown Order
BROADBAND
FCC CHALLENGED ON CABLE HIGH-SPEED INTERNET RULING
Verizon Communications, Earthlink and several public interest groups were in
court Monday to challenge the FCC declaration of cable-modem service as an
"information service." The FCC decision will remove existing requirements
that large cable operators such as AOL Time Warner and AT&T Broadband share
their systems with competitors. Internet service providers and public
interest groups have criticized the decision and fear it will benefit
dominant providers and limit consumer choice. "Without non-discriminatory
open access, cable operators retain the legal right to censor messages, to
limit the size and nature of files which can be uploaded and downloaded and
to favor content provided by their commercial 'partners' and 'preferred
vendors'," said Andres Jay Schwartzman, head of the Media Access Project.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jeremy Pelofsky]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16256-2002Mar25.html)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE GETS WIDER
The main conclusion of the 2002 World Telecommunication Development Report
is that the global digital divide is getting wider. The report, sponsored by
the ITU, argues that general levels of telephony penetration are growing
quickly, but from an extremely low base. Also, there is a great disparity in
the quality of Internet access available around the world. As more
developing nations gain access to voice communications, the debate is
shifting to Internet access. From a development perspective, this poses many
more problems as using the Internet requires user skills in addition to
access. "Access to information is a measure of power in society," says the
report, "and thus the digital divide reflects how power is distributed." The
report urges the developed world to help close the gap by funding
grass-roots ICT projects, incubate technology start-ups in developing
nations and build out infrastructure.
[SOURCE: Electronic Engineering Times, UK, AUTHOR: Nolan Fell]
(http://www.electronicstimes.com/story/OEG20020322S0015)
ARGENTINA ECONOMY A NET LOSS
Internet use in Argentina jumped 100 percent in 2000 and another 52 percent
in 2001. 2002 is likely to be a different story. A recent study by Prince &
Cooke sees Internet growth in Argentina coming to a halt in 2002. The
collapsing economy resulted in a sudden inflation of computer and ISP
prices, but other factors may also contribute to slowing Internet growth,
said Enrique Carrier, director of Prince & Cooke. "You also have to think in
terms of culture. The amount of people that understand the use of the
Internet in Argentina is not that big...The use of the Internet requires a
higher sociocultural level, and the hardware is more expensive," said
Carrier. "So our market may be getting to its mature size, at least in the
short run. The point, Carrier concludes, is that non-techies will not become
interested in Internet use in the current Argentine economy, and poor people
will not be able to jump in."
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Ricardo Sametband]
(http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,51294,00.html)
INTELLECTUALL PROPERTY
NAPSTER LOSES RULING ON COURT'S SHUTDOWN ORDER
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Napster's challenge of a July
2001 shut-down order yesterday. In the challenge, Napster asserted that the
"zero tolerance" rule requiring they find a filtering technology that would
be 100% effective at eliminating piracy was impossibly high. The appeals
court rejected these arguments saying Napster "must do everything feasible"
to prevent digital piracy. The record industry has praised the decision and
feels it is an acknowledgment that there are technologies that can stop
digital piracy and it is the responsibility of online-swapping services to
solve piracy. The Recording Industry Association of America general counsel
Cary Sherman said, "The big news from today's decision is the court's strong
endorsement of that point." Napster responded by saying the ruling was
largely irrelevant since Napster has already developed a paid service that
will allow users to swap only licensed music.
[SOURCE: Newsbytes, AUTHOR: Kevin Featherly]
(http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175447.html)
See also:
APPEALS COURT: NAPSTER CAN'T RESUME FREE SERVICE
[SOURCE: USA Today, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/03/25/napster.htm)
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