DIGITAL DIVIDE
Providers Push For Rural Broadband Bill (Newsbytes)
Congress Urged To Include Rural Areas In Telecom Reform (Newsbytes)
PRIVACY
Sites Let Consumers 'Opt Out' of Net Tracking (WP)
WIRELESS
Wireless Providers Ill-Prepared To Meet FCC Requirements (Newsbytes)
HIGH TECH
Gore Talks High Tech in Washington (NYT)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
PROVIDERS PUSH FOR RURAL BROADBAND BILL
Issue: Digital Divide
Legislation is being considered in the House, introduced by Rep. Phil
English (R-PA), that would provide tax credits to any carriers that acted to
help close the "digital divide" with emphasis on providing access to
broadband Internet service to rural areas. Telecommunications carriers'
executives urged the House small business subcommittees to adopt "technology
neutral" legislation to encourage broadband deployment to rural areas. Small
telecom businesses say that a combination of satellite, wireless, cable, and
telephone technologies is more likely to deliver broadband to rural areas
than one single technology. "I have no preference as to which technology or
provider wins this debate," said Rep. Mike Pence, Chairman of the Small
Business Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform and Oversight. "My only interest
in the debate over broadband access is ensuring that business in rural
America have the same access to advanced services as businesses in Los
Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C."
[SOURCE: Newsbytes, AUTHOR: Brian Krebs]
(http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166108.html)
CONGRESS URGED TO INCLUDE RURAL AREAS IN TELECOM REFORM
Issue: Rural Internet Access
The National Telephone Cooperative Association (NTCA), a group representing
500 small and rural telecommunications providers, urged Congress to consider
the impact of pending telecom regulations on rural areas. In a letter to
Congress, the NTCA asked legislators to give the Telecommunications Act of
1996 more time to have an impact and refrain from overturning existing
requirements designed to stimulate competition. Pending before the House is
controversial legislation to overturn requirements that incumbent providers
open their markets to local competitors before entering the long distance
data market, and rent phone lines to competitors providing digital
subscriber line (DSL) service. The Senate is considering legislation on tax
credits and rural loan guarantees to encourage the spread of broadband
service. "[W]hile these sectors of the industry vie for quick-fix solutions
to problems for which the Telecom Act has established solutions," the NTCA
letter said, "we must not forget an important fact: Universal Service
preserves the health of all these interests by ensuring that all Americans
are connected."
[SOURCE: Newsbytes]
(http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166120.html)
PRIVACY
SITES LET CONSUMERS 'OPT OUT' OF NET TRACKING
Issue: Privacy
The advertising industry launched two Web sites recently that allow Internet
users to prevent popular commercial Internet sites from collecting and
profiling their personal data. These sites were created in response to
critics who argue that commercial databases, such as profiling done by
bookseller Amazon.com, violate people's right to privacy, since users can't
view or correct their information. Proponents like members of the Network
Advertising Initiative, an advertiser's lobby and trade group, argue that
data collecting on consumers is valuable to electronic commerce, and opposed
legislation in Congress that would have required consumers to select the
option to be profiled. The new privacy protection sites backed by the NAI
allow people to complete a single Web form to "opt-out" of profiling, so
that consumers won't have to request to be "opted-out" on each Web site.
Andrew Shen at the Electronic Privacy Information Center remarked, "It
doesn't necessarily improve the situation at all. Most Internet users still
don't realize that such third party profiling even exists. They're so
invisible to the average Internet user that opt-out really isn't enough."
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-05-24-privacy-site.htm)
WIRELESS
WIRELESS PROVIDERS ILL-PREPARED TO MEET FCC REQUIREMENTS
Issue: Wireless
The wireless industry probably won't meet a government-imposed deadline for
rolling out technology designed to pinpoint the exact physical locations of
individuals who make "911" emergency calls from their wireless phones,
Cingular Wireless Chief Executive Stephen Carter said today. The Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) has imposed an October deadline for the
wireless industry to establish "E-911" capabilities using positioning
technology. "There are very few companies that I know of that believe they
can make the (October 2001) deadline without a waiver," Carter said today.
Carter urged federal regulators to "relax the restrictions, go to a lesser
standard (and) let the technology catch up" with the federal expectations.
Carter argued that the public has not yet expressed enough interest in
location technology to make it a marketable service.
[SOURCE: Newsbytes, AUTHOR: David McGuire]
(http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166115.html)
HIGH TECH
GORE TALKS HIGH TECH IN WASHINGTON
Issue:
Former Vice President Al Gore told a technology industry gathering on
Thursday that advances in computing power and storage capacity will mean
little unless managers figure out how to harness them. "There is no
technological silver bullet that's going to solve a problem unless it is
used by people who understand its capabilities and are willing to make
changes in their actions," Gore said in a speech at the Communications
Solutions Expo.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-gore-dc.html)
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