INTERNET
Can ICT Stimulate Economic Development?
Northern Virginia Group Takes Lead in Dot-Org Bidding Process
COPYRIGHT
Judge hits rewind on ReplayTV case
PRIVACY
Group warns of massive EU surveillance
ADVERTISING
Newspaper Ads Are Down Again, Causing Worries
INTERNET
NORTHERN VIRGINIA GROUP TAKES LEAD IN DOT-ORG BIDDING PROCESS
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) recommended
that the Reston-based Internet Society (ISOC) take over running the dot-org
domain. Eleven entities submitted proposals bidding for the contract, which
will be awarded later this year. "The ISOC proposal was the only one that
received top ranking from all three evaluation teams," said ICANN President
Stuart Lynn. "On balance their proposal stood out from the rest." Under the
ISOC proposal, a for-profit company will administer the back-end operations
of the system and charge ISOC a flat fee for each registered domain name.
[SOURCE: The Washington Post, AUTHOR: David McGuire]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38319-2002Aug20.html)
CAN ICT STIMULATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT?
Researchers at Washington State University have created a model to help make
sense of the relationship between information communication technologies
(ICT) and economic development. They have observed that a growing number of
digital divide projects (in the U.S. and abroad) are aimed at beneficially
impacting economic development. Their model is intended to address some of
the challenges in monitoring and evaluation the results of ICT-related
projects aimed at benefiting economic development. They isolate three
important elements essential for success of such projects: 1) a market
demand for ICT; 2) community members positioned to demonstrate a market
demand for ICT investment; and 3) a regulatory environment that encourages
fair competition.
[SOURCE: Digital Divide Network, AUTHOR: Bill Gillis and Matthew Mitchell
(WSU Center to Bridge the Digital Divide)]
(http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/content/stories/index.cfm?key=254)
COPYRIGHT
JUDGE HITS REWIND ON REPLAYTV CASE
A U.S. District Court Judge has granted permission to the Electronic
Frontier Foundation to combine its copyright lawsuit with one filed by
Sonicblue, manufacturer of ReplayTV. The joint lawsuit is in defense of a
suit filed by several TV networks and movie studios. They claim that
ReplayTV infringes on copyrights by allowing consumers to skip commercials.
The judge allowed the joint suit to help answer the question of whether
consumer's use of ReplayTV's features constitutes fair use.
[SOURCE: ZDNET News, AUTHOR: Stefanie Olsen]
(http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-954169.html)
PRIVACY
GROUP WARNS OF MASSIVE EU SURVEILLANCE
The privacy advocacy group Statewatch claims that European governments are
planning to require telecommunications companies and Internet service
providers to track and store customer information for up to two years. The
information would be made available to law enforcement and government
agencies. Right now, a 1997 EU directive only allows data collection for
billing purposes. It was public knowledge that changes would be made to the
directive that allowing further data collection, but according to Tony
Bunyan, editor of Statewatch, "EU governments claimed that changes to the
1997 EU directive on privacy in telecommunications to allow for data
retention and access by the law enforcement agencies would not be binding on
member states.... Now we know that all along they were intending to make it
binding, compulsory across Europe."
[SOURCE: CNET News.com, AUTHOR: Graeme Wearden]
(http://news.com.com/2100-1023-954487.html?tag=cd_mh)
ADVERTISING
NEWSPAPER ADS ARE DOWN AGAIN, CAUSING WORRIES
While many in the newspaper industry were somewhat optimistic just a month
ago, after a mildly encouraging ad-page performance in the second quarter,
there is now cause for second thoughts. Gannett reported yesterday that at
USA Today, the nation's largest-circulation newspaper, ad volume was off 16
percent in July, compared with the same period in 2001. Advertising volume
at The New York Times dipped 5.7 percent compared with July 2001. The drop
in advertising has caused many newspaper chains to reduce their workforces;
some have eliminated more than 10 percent of jobs in the last two years.
Newspapers in smaller markets, however, have done relatively better, in part
because they tend to be less dependent on national advertising.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Felicity Barringer]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/20/business/media/20ADCO.html)
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