A service of the Benton Foundation (http://www.benton.org)
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
The Media World According to Powell: FCC Media Ownership Order Released
INTERNET
Welcome to the Grid: Unlimited PC Power at Your Fingertips
Tax Holiday Expiring, Regulators Aspiring on Web
Court Says Telecommuter in Florida Should Not Get N.Y. Unemployment Benefits
PRIVACY
[Commentary] Rethinking Privacy Protection and Big Brother
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
THE MEDIA WORLD ACCORDING TO POWELL: FCC MEDIA OWNERSHIP ORDER RELEASED
The Washington Post reported today on the official release of the FCC's
controversial media ownership rules. Highlighting how subsequent, "Federal
Register" publication of the rules in the next few weeks starts the clock
ticking for all types of court or Congressional contests, the article also
notes the FCC report also includes a historical overview of the 20th-century
media industry representing "Powell's {FCC Chairman} belief that the FCC has
little role in regulating media content." Quoted from the report was the
FCC's contention that the agency did not find it "particularly troubling
that media properties do not always, or even frequently, avail themselves to
others who may hold contrary opinions... Nothing requires them to do so, nor
is it necessarily healthy for public debate to pretend as though all ideas
are of equal value entitled to equal airing..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1297-2003Jul2.html
The official text of the FCC Report and Media Ownership Order, along with
pro and con statements by FCC Commissioners is at:
http://www.fcc.gov/ownership/documents.html
INTERNET
WELCOME TO THE GRID: UNLIMITED PC POWER AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
The next generation of web technology will go live in two weeks, promising
to be "the biggest development in global communication" since the Internet.
Known as the grid, it will allow users to access the programs, processing
power, and storage capacity of entire computing centers, making the power of
the individual user's machine irrelevant. A small handheld computer, for
instance, would become a supercomputer when connected by mobile phone to the
Internet. Other potential applications of the technology include
e-business, architectural modeling and firefighting. It will take time
before such commercial uses of the grid impact consumers. Currently, the
grid is being developed to advance scientific research, connecting 10
laboratories around the world. The grid will be used to analyze, filter and
share enormous amounts of data produced by the large hadron collider (LHC),
which accelerates protons and smashes them together. Bob Jones, a grid
project manager says of the grid, "It'll be like the web. When you have it
you'll wonder how you ever got by without it."
SOURCE: Guardian Unlimited; AUTHOR: Alok Jha
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0%2C12597%2C990086%2C00.html
TAX HOLIDAY EXPIRING, REGULATORS ASPIRING ON WEB
Governments are becoming a dominant player in Internet regulation, as
evidenced by recent events in Montreal, Europe and Washington. The Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a private non-profit
tasked with administering the domain name system, held a meeting in Montreal
last week. While all stakeholders were represented, the Governmental
Advisory Committee (GAC) took an active role, questioning why ICANN has not
yet implemented recent policy recommendations dealing with disputes over
country name domains. Starting tomorrow, the European Union (EU) will
require that non-EU firms collect a Value Added Tax (VAT) for digital
products sold into the EU via the Internet. Dozens of US states have been
working on a unified system for collection of sales tax for online
purchases, and Canada will presumably apply the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
to online sales sometime soon. A recent US Supreme Court decision upholding
a law that mandates software filters for publicly funded libraries caught
many observers by surprise. Previously, the court had struck down an
attempt to regulate obscenity on the Internet.
SOURCE: Toronto Star; AUTHOR: Michael Geist
http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?GXHC_gx_session_id_=d...
71a2e6e0dd2&pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1056
924608744&call_pageid=971794782442
COURT SAYS TELECOMMUTER IN FLORIDA SHOULD NOT GET N.Y. UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
In a decision that could damper the fervor over telecommuting, New York's
highest court ruled yesterday that a woman living in Florida but working in
Long Island could not collect unemployment benefits from the state. The
court told Maxine Allen, who had already been denied benefits in Florida,
that because she performed her tasks in New York the state was not obligated
to pay. Allen had been employed by Reuters America in 1996 as a technical
specialist and made an arrangement to work remotely from Orlando in 1997,
when her husband changed jobs. Reuters severed that arrangement in 1999 and
offered Allen a position in New York, which she declined. State Labor
Department officials have not yet weighed in issue.
SOURCE: USA Today; AUTHOR: The Associated Press
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-07-02-telecommuter_x.htm
PRIVACY
[COMMENTARY] RETHINKING PRIVACY PROTECTION AND BIG BROTHER
Security guru Kevin Hanrahan claims that advocates are "making a big
mistake" in assuming that deleting personally identifiable information is
the only way to protect it in light of pending legislation and recent
measures. Instead, he argues, concerned parties should examine existing law,
which requires companies to maintain records on the data they possess and
what they've done with it. Federal laws such as the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (health care), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
(credit card issuers) and the Sarbannes-Oxley Act (corporate audits) are
designed to provide individuals with an avenue for ensuring that their
private information or other evidence is not destroyed, thus preventing its
use should an individual file suit. While maintaining the lengthy records
these laws require is an admittedly arduous task, new technologies make the
task much easier.
SOURCE: CNET News; AUTHOR: Kevin Hanrahan
http://news.com.com/2010-1071_3-1023117.html?tag=fd_nc_1
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