INTERNET
High-Speed Net Debate Turns On Service Rollout (USA)
Countries That Track Internet Activity (NYT)
JOBS
Senators Pitch Tech Training Tax Credit (WP)
Writers Strike Would Spell Trouble (USA)
FCC
Commissioner Susan Ness To Leave FCC (FCC)
INTERNET
HIGH-SPEED NET DEBATE TURNS ON SERVICE ROLLOUT
Issue: Broadband
The regional Bell companies told lawmakers Wednesday that a new bill to lift
restrictions on their high-speed Internet services would spur rollout of
such services, especially in rural areas. The Internet Freedom and Broadband
Deployment bill would be the first major overhaul of the 1996
Telecommunications Act of 1996, aimed at sparking local phone competition.
Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., the bill's co-sponsor, has argued that cable
companies, which control 75% of the broadband market, are not regulated, so
the Bells should be able to play by the same rules. Bell rivals and their
supporters, however, claim that the bill would do the opposite and would
squash Bell competition. The bill "shields the Bell companies while emptying
a six-shooter into the heart of New Economy companies," said Edward Markey,
D-Mass, at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the bill. "It's
a competition killer."
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010426/3266864s.htm)
COUNTRIES THAT TRACK INTERNET ACTIVITY
Issue: Internet
Reporters Without Borders, a French advocacy group, reports that many
countries attempt to control or track their residents' online activities.
The group says that filtering is just one method of restricting access to
the Internet. In Russuia, for example, the government has instituted an
Internet surveillance system that requires I.S.P.'s and telephone operators
to reroute data traffic to local law enforcement headquarters, allowing
authorities to monitor phone calls or e-mail. The Australian government does
not filter the Net, but a new law forbids certain kinds of online content,
including specific representations of sexual acts, and information on crime,
violence and the use of certain narcotics.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: New York Times Staff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/26/technology/26BSAF.html)
(requires registration)
JOBS
SENATORS PITCH TECH TRAINING TAX CREDIT
Issue: Training
Led by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-ND, a quartet of lawmakers yesterday proposed
legislation that would give companies a tax credit for teaching workers
high-tech skills. Joined by Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, Mike DeWine,
R-Ohio and Harry Reid, D-Nev., Conrad introduced the Technology and Training
Act of 2001, which would allow companies to take a per-worker tax credit of
as much as $2,000 to defray the cost of information technology (IT) training
classes. On hand today to support the bill's introduction was Information
Technology Association of America President Harris Miller, who said that the
Conrad bill and other initiatives aimed at bolstering high-tech education
are critical to the US technology industry's continuing health.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: David McGuire]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/regulation/9292-1.html)
WRITERS STRIKE WOULD SPELL TROUBLE
Issue: Jobs
On the eve of the first labor-management showdown in the era of the media
megaconglomerate, Viacom president Mel Karmazin says he's indifferent "from
a profit-and-loss point of view." About 11,000 movie and TV scriptwriters in
the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are threatening to strike after May 1,
when their contract expires. They want more pay, more credit and more
control over their work, and are fighting studio demands for givebacks. The
Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio
Artists (AFTRA) might also join ranks with the writers once contracts with
studios run to the end of June. Not everyone is as apathic as Karamzin about
the prospect of a strike. Southern California alone could lose 81,900 jobs
and $6.9 billion if a strike runs through September, according to a study
prepared by the Milken Institute and Sebago Associates for Los Angeles Mayor
Richard Riordan.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: David Lieberman and Michael McCarthy]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010426/3266942s.htm)
FCC
COMMISSIONER SUSAN NESS TO LEAVE FCC
Issue: FCC
After serving seven years as FCC Commissioner, Susan Ness announced today
that she will depart the Commission by June 1, 2001. President George W.
Bush has announced his intention to nominate three new Commissioners.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Ness/States/2001/stsn122.html)
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