MEDIA OWNERSHIP
FCC Gets an Earful from Colorado
DIGITAL DIVIDE
India's Telephone Man: Bridging the Digital Divide
Technology Companies Take Hope in Charity
INTERNET
Webloggers Signing On as War Correspondents
Junk Fax Ruling May Help Anti-Spam Effort
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
FCC GETS AN EARFUL FROM COLORADO
Colorado residents are among the thousands of citizens who have emailed =
the
FCC to comment on current proposals to deregulate US media ownership =
rules.
Even though the official public comment period ended in February, =
emails
continue to pour into the FCC, many of them critical of both the =
proposed
deregulation and the limited number of public forums to address the =
issue.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell said in a recent interview that while it's
interesting to receive public opinion through email, the emails don't =
count
as evidence. "The comments are nice to know people's sentiments," =
Powell
said. "But they tend to be at a very generalized level." Consumer =
advocates
are critical of Powell. "I think it's outrageous that the chairman of =
the
FCC in our democracy does not believe that the viewpoints and concerns =
of
the American people are relevant," said Cheryl Leanza, deputy director =
of
the Media Access Project. "Aren't the airwaves meant to serve the =
public?"
wrote Dariel Blackburn of Colorado Springs. "Why is the public not =
given
access to these hearings, and how can you make such an important =
decision
regarding future ownership of our media without asking for public =
input?"
[SOURCE: Denver Post, AUTHOR: Anne C. Mulkern]
(http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E33%257E1261284%257E,00.=
html
)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
INDIA'S TELEPHONE MAN: BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Ashok Jhunjhunwala of the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras is
passionate about telephones and the Internet. Both an educator and
entrepreneur, Jhunjhunwala is currently working to bring low-cost =
wireless
telephone service to Egypt. The project is part of Jhunjhunwala's =
vision of
bringing affordable telephony and Internet service to the world's poor. =
He
cites India's own flourishing telephone kiosk market; since 1987, the
kiosks, known locally as STDs, have grown to nearly a million in =
number,
serving hundreds of millions of Indians who lack telephones at home.
Jhunjhunwala hopes to expand India's telephony and rural Internet =
markets,
connecting 600,000 villages and deploying two million telephones. =
"Internet
is power. It enables people," he says. "It is changing the way we live.
Those without Internet will have a tremendous disadvantage as we go on. =
We
would like to see that all villages get reasonable speed Internet =
connection
at the earliest."
[SOURCE: Hindustan Times, AUTHOR: Frederick Noronha]
(http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_220171,0003.htm)
TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES TAKE HOPE IN CHARITY
Hewlett-Packard is among the many high tech companies that have adopted
philanthropic activities that simultaneously attempt to bridge the =
digital
divide and develop new consumer markets around the world. In the case =
of HP,
they are supporting the expansion of micro-loan initiatives in =
Bangladesh.
HP describes such philanthropy as "enlightened self-interest," but some
question the motivations of these companies. "It's too early to tell if
companies are simply pushing technologies on na=EFve populations or if =
the
products they sell will ultimately increase productivity," says Craig =
Warren
Smith, author of Digital Corporate Citizenship: The Business Response =
to the
Digital Divide. Other companies like IBM are less open about the
relationship between their philanthropy and their business objectives. =
"I
think it's the struggle between what they think they should be doing, =
what
their public image should be and what they're actually doing," says =
Dwight
F. Burlingame of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Susan E. Reed]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/business/23PHIL.html)
INTERNET
WEBLOGGERS SIGNING ON AS WAR CORRESPONDENTS
Reports of how new technologies available to the media have altered war
coverage have been widespread, but the Internet has made this conflict =
even
more personal. Using Web logs, or blogs, sites mainly comprised of =
periodic
text entries, individuals closest to the battles are keeping the world
informed. US soldiers, a British lawmaker, an Iraqi exile, and a =
resident of
Baghdad have so far authored such sites, each injecting the kind of =
personal
perspective absent in the media and heretofore impossible in real time.
Though the posts are often biased towards the author's point of view,
readers can anticipate such bias and recognize the value of these =
unique
perspectives. "The value we add is in unpacking the spin in the media
coverage," says University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, a
fellow blogger.=20
[SOURCE: The Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12179-2003Mar22.html)
JUNK FAX RULING MAY HELP ANTI-SPAM EFFORT
A ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit on Friday =
upheld
legislation banning unsolicited fax advertisements -- a decision some =
hope
will add fuel to a push for federal anti-spam laws. The three-judge =
panel
ruled that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act did not violate the =
First
Amendment of the US Constitution. Anti-spam supporters note that the
cost-shifting model on which Congress based the TCPA is similar to the
argument against junk mail -- individuals and corporations must =
purchase
filtering software, larger servers and disk space and broader Internet
connections in order to handle the increased email traffic.
[SOURCE: CNET News, AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh]
(http://news.com.com/2100-1028-993749.html?tag=3Dfd_top)
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