DIGITAL DIVIDE
Lower-Income Surfers Spend Most Time Online, Study Says (WSJ)
Study Shows Many Non-Web Users Distrust Internet,
Don't Want Access (WSJ)
Clinton Focuses on Access of Disabled to Computers (NYT)
Rating the E-rate (EdWeek)
POLITICAL DISCOURSE
Bill Gates's Senator Confronts Upstart Internet Challenger (NYT)
Blurring Distinctions While Chasing Laughs (NYT)
RADIO
New F.C.C. Rules Could Smooth Way for Low-Power Stations (NYT)
TELEVISION
Cutting-Edge Commercials Get Axed After Complaints (USA)
Not Another Peep out of CBS (WP)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
A Question on Music Piracy (NYT)
PRIVACY
Cuecat Lets Privacy Out Of The Bag, Critics Say (SJM)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
LOWER-INCOME SURFERS SPEND MOST TIME ONLINE, STUDY SAYS
Issue: Digital Divide
People with lower incomes spend more time surfing the Web at home than more
affluent people, according to a study a study by Nielsen//NetRatings. The
study was based on data from a panel of 57,000 at-home computer users.
Although the digital divide still exists, "when lower socioeconomic groups
get onto the Net ... they find enough services and content to keep them
there," said Peggy O'Neill, an analyst with Nielsen//NetRatings. She noted
that people with higher income and more education tend to have easier access
to the Internet on the job than blue-collar employees, who typically have
lower income and less education. This could account for the latter group's
longer home-surfing sessions, she said. This is the first study
Nielsen//NetRatings has done that uses Prizm clusters to analyze the number
of hours people spend online. Prizm clusters are a statistical tool
developed by marketing-information provider Claritas Inc. that divides the
U.S. into neighborhoods based on demographic and psychographic, or
lifestyle characteristics. The 62 clusters have names such as "Shotguns and
Pickups," for rural blue-collar workers, and "Country Squires," for "elite"
married professionals who live in the country.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Melinda Patterson
Grenier]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB969578398278162051.htm)
(Requires subscription)
STUDY SHOWS MANY NON-WEB USERS DISTRUST INTERNET, DON'T WANT ACCESS
Issue: Digital Divide
A new study by The Pew Research Center for People and the Press suggests
that many people who aren't online simply don't want to be. Many say
Internet access is too expensive, and that the online world is dangerous,
confusing and generally not worth bothering with. Those who said they either
would probably not or would never venture online tend to be above 50 years
old, are less likely to be employed and live in households earning less than
$50,000. Pew said its report suggests that the booming growth of the U.S.
Internet population of the past few years will slow. It added, however, that
most people under 30 who aren't online plan to get access, especially
parents with children living at home. The report's findings were based on
separate surveys of as many as 12,751 people conducted from March through
June. The margins of error for the surveys were 2.5 and three percentage
points.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Staff Reporter
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB96959131498234003.htm)
(requires subscription)
CLINTON FOCUSES ON ACCESS OF DISABLED TO COMPUTERS
Issue: Digital Divide
Studies show that only 24 percent of the country's 54 million people with
disabilities have access to a computer, compared with 52 percent of those
without disabilities. And a review of state and federal government Web sites
by Darrell M. West, a Brown University professor, found that only 278 of
1,813 sites provided disability access. So, in continuing efforts to bridge
the digital divide, President Clinton announced some modest proposals to
increase the number of disabled people with access to computers including:
1) 45 technology companies have pledged to do more to make their products
and services accessible to the disabled and 2) The Department of Education
will provide $16 million in grants to make cyberspace more accessible. "We
all know that not everyone has shared in the American economic renaissance,"
president Clinton said in a speech at Mott Community College in Flint (MI).
"We all know there are people and places who have been left behind,
including millions of Americans with significant disabilities who want to go
to work, but whose path is blocked and who could work and contribute, not
only to their own lives, but to the rest of us, as well."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A14), AUTHOR: Marc Lacey]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/22/technology/22CLIN.html)
(requires registration)
See Also:
On September 21, President Clinton announced that NTIA's Technology
Opportunities Program will provide a grant to the Pangea Foundation, based
in San Diego, California. The foundation will create Web-based templates
that will make it easy for organizations to enter information in a format
that is accessible to people with disabilities. People with disabilities
will be able to find information on local services through a central
clearinghouse on the Web in a format that they can use. The Administration
has proposed tripling the budget for the Technology Opportunities Program
from $15 million to $45 million so that the government can support creative
uses of information technology for underserved communities.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/new.html)
RATING THE E-RATE
Issue: Erate
Global Connections, Local Static: Gauging the E-rate's Impact
This special section examines the federal government's attempts to help
close the digital divide by means of the E-rate program.
Includes:
Rating the E-rate; Leveraging the E-rate's Power; The Future of the E-rate;
Following the Money; and Frequently Asked Questions
[SOURCE: Education Week]
(http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=03eratemain.h20)
POLITICAL DISCOURSE
BILL GATES'S SENATOR CONFRONTS UPSTART INTERNET CHALLENGER
Issue: Political Discourse
The man known as the Senator from Microsoft, Slade Gordon (R-WA), is being
challenged by a woman who could come to be known as the Senator from
RealNetworks, Maria Cantwell. In a race for a seat that had been thought to
be safe for Sen Gordon, Ms. Cantwell, a former Member of Congress, is the
first woman of the "new economy" to run for the Senate. And, according to
the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, no woman
in the country's history has spent a greater amount of money earned entirely
by herself on a race for major elective office. Ms. Cantwell is a top
executive at RealNetworks and her campaign estimates her personal fortune at
$40 million; she's vowed to spend as much as it takes to win the race.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Sam Howe Verhovek]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/22/technology/22SENA.html)
(requires registration)
See Also
AS HIGH-TECH GROWS UP, EYES TURN TO WASHINGTON
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: JASON ANDERS
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB969397791983214036.htm)
(Requires subscription)
BLURRING DISTINCTIONS WHILE CHASING LAUGHS
Issue: Political Discourse
The politics of personality are in full swing. Would you rather have a
president who can hold cue cards or one who dresses like a game show host?
The candidates are getting big publicity by appearing on puffball talk shows
like Oprah, Live With Regis, The Tonight Show and Late Night with David
Letterman. On each, the candidates try to do the same things: prove that
they have a sense of humor and love their families. The unspoken bargain is
that serious considerations are outside the range of these shows. For VP
Gore, the shows help preserve the image he's had since the convention that
he's not wooden. For Gov Bush, the appearances play to his strengths,
letting him display his personal appeal in a friendly atmosphere.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A17), AUTHOR: Caryn James]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/22/politics/22CRIT.html)
(requires registration)
RADIO
NEW F.C.C. RULES COULD SMOOTH WAY FOR LOW-POWER STATIONS
Issue: Radio
The Federal Communications Commission could release new rules as early as
today aimed at defusing opposition to its plans to license hundreds of new
low-power FM radio stations. The new rules will permit larger stations to
raise complaints about any signal interference from the start-ups. FCC
Chairman William Kennard said that he continued to believe there would be no
interference from the new stations and that the new order was an important
way of assuring the critics that there would be no problems. "We have gone
the extra mile to address their concerns," he said. "This order will put to
rest any question about whether these services can coexist." The FCC has
received 1,200 applications for licenses from organizations in 20 states.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C2), AUTHOR: Stephen Labaton]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/22/business/22RADI.html)
(requires registration)
For more on Low Power Radio, see:
[SOURCE: Media Access Project]
(http://www.mediaaccess.org/programs/lpfm/index.html)
TELEVISION
CUTTING-EDGE COMMERCIALS GET AXED AFTER COMPLAINTS
Issue: Advertising
Some big advertisers, including Campbell Soup, Nike and John Hancock, have
been force to pull new commercials from the airwaves or have them dumped by
TV networks because of consumer complaints. Experts say that the Internet
has helped facilitated a consumer backlash. Groups can now use e-mail to
build large protests in short time. Nike got more than 2,000 e-mails within
days of airing its "Horror" commercial showing a chain-saw killer attacking
Team USA runner Suzy Hamilton. Advocacy groups also pressured Campbell to
drop a commercial pitching soup as a diet tool to weight-conscious girls.
And John Hancock was forced to twice recut its "Immigration" spot showing a
gay female couple at an airport talking about their newly adopted Asian
infant.
[SOURCE: USAToday (1B), AUTHOR: Michael McCarthy]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000922/2675520s.htm)
NOT ANOTHER PEEP OUT OF CBS
Issue: Television
After birders cried foul, CBS has decided to stop broadcasting canned bird
songs during its coverage of golf tournaments. Some birders complained that
the tapes interfered with their hobby of listening for songs during sports
events, while other enthusiasts were thrilled that the network cared enough
to use bird sounds at all.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C05), AUTHOR: Lisa de Moraes]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57076-2000Sep21.html)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
A QUESTION ON MUSIC PIRACY
Issue: Intellectual Property
The Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 makes crystal clear that consumers may
use digital audio tape players or similar audio recording gadgets to make
copies of digital music for their personal, noncommercial use. But is it OK
to do so with a home computer? Advocates for Internet-based music
file-sharing networks say the answer must be "yes," or tens of millions of
people who swap music by computers could be subject to lawsuits for
copyright infringement. The music industry disagrees, claiming that people
who download and distribute music files without authorization or payment are
engaging in massive theft, not lawful copying. Several lawyers and law
professors who are experts in Internet law and copyright infringement say
that the 1992 law was designed to deal with CD players, digital recorders
and other emerging technology of the time -- not with Internet file sharing,
which is at issue in the Napster case. "I'm afraid the recording industry is
correct on this one," said Terry Fisher, a professor at Harvard Law School
who teaches Internet law and intellectual property. "It is true there is
some ambiguity in the statutory language involving home recording," Fisher
said of the 1992 law. "However, the construction that Napster is arguing for
would have a huge implication. It would immunize all forms of recording of
copyrighted material in the home. It's unlikely the Court of Appeals would
accept that."
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Carl Kaplan]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/22/technology/22CYBERLAW.html)
(requires registration)
PRIVACY
CUECAT LETS PRIVACY OUT OF THE BAG, CRITICS SAY
Issue: Privacy
CueCat, a new bar code-reading gadget that allows readers jump to a specific
site online after reading an ad or article in a magazine, is being chased by
privacy watchdogs. CueCat is different from many other forms of tracking
online - such as the ubiquitous "cookies" left on computers when people
visit Web sites - because that CueCat has the constant ability to link a
user's name to his or her behavior. Users must register the software to use
it, providing their names, e-mail addresses, age, gender and ZIP code.
DigitalConvergence, the creator of the CueCat, vows in its privacy policy
not to share personally identifiable data with marketers unless users give
express permission. But privacy advocates are still concerned that
DigitalConvergence hasn't completely explained the conditions under which it
will release personal data to third parties.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Deborah Lohse]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/front/docs/cuecat092200.htm)
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...and we're outta here. Go for the gold this weekend!