ANTITRUST
FTC-DoJ Merger-Review Plan Abandoned
Microsoft Adjusts XP's Features To Comply With U.S. Settlement
INTERNET
Text Message Votes 'Trivializes' Elections
ICANN Set For Meeting
ANTITRUST
FTC-DOJ MERGER-REVIEW PLAN ABANDONED
Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC) has halted a planned swap of merger-review
assignments between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of
Justice (DoJ). After the agreement was finalized back in March, the Media
Access Project, Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of American joined
the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) in seeking to reverse the agreement.
According to the plan, the Department of Justice would have taken over the
review of all media and Internet-related mergers. In response to the
original plan, Jeff Chester, the executive director of the Center for
Digital Democracy said, "The FTC has played a unique and important role in
media and new media-related mergers, given its orientation as both an
antitrust and consumer protection agency. Now all such mergers will be under
the supervision of a presidential appointee. Given the Bush administration's
apparent support for massive media deregulation, one can only surmise that
today's announcement sends a strong signal to big special interests that
they will get easy treatment." Sen. Hollings blocked the agreement by
threatening budget cuts to the DoJ and FTC. The FTC has been restored to its
former role and will be overseeing the upcoming AT&T Comcast merger.
[SOURCE: Center for Digital Democracy]
(http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/washingtonwatch/ftcdojUpdate.html)
MICROSOFT ADJUSTS XP'S FEATURES TO COMPLY WITH U.S. SETTLEMENT
In compliance with the settlement Microsoft signed last year with the
Justice Department, the software company will be releasing a "service pack"
to allow computer makers and consumers to install non-Microsoft software on
Windows computers. While the settlement has not been formally approved,
Microsoft had said they would start work immediately after signing the
agreement. The changes to the Windows XP system will address the
government's complaint that by bundling Microsoft browsers, email programs
and music players with Windows computers rival companies were put at a
disadvantage. Jim Cullinan, a Microsoft product manager, said the updated
Windows XP system would give people "the ability to hide Microsoft
technology on their computers." Nine states are continuing to push for
stronger penalties than the original settlement. Tam Ormiston, deputy
attorney general for Iowa said, "If the plumbing is still there in the
operating system, people will still write to it, that's the essence of the
concern...Within a market where 90-odd-percent is Microsoft, developers are
going to consistently use that as the standard. It continues to be
leveraged."
[SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Rebecca Buckman, Gary McWilliams]
(http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1022192707516578560.djm,00.html)
INTERNET
TEXT MESSAGE VOTES 'TRIVIALIZES' ELECTIONS
Earlier this month, the United Kingdom held e-voting trials at local
elections in several cities. The results from this trial, along with a study
led by the De Montford University, are in. The survey suggests that many
people like the idea of Internet or interactive television voting, but worry
about security and privacy. Others simply found the process (like keying in
personal identification numbers) unwieldy. The election trials showed mixed
results in boosting voter turnout: some areas saw marked improvement, while
in other wards, voter turnout fell. Dr. Laurence Pratchett, who led the
research, said "There is support for e-voting in the population, even among
those who won't use it." However, he cautions that "Those who don't vote are
no more likely to vote" because of e-voting availability. Part of the
problem is that many people felt that e-voting methods, such as Internet and
text messaging from mobile phones, trivialize the voting process and
disconnect the voter from the system even further.
[SOURCE: BBC News]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_2002000/2002212.stm)
ICANN SET FOR MEETING
Since its inception in 1998, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) has debated how it should function and who should
participate. A number of restructuring plans have been proposed in the past
year. The ICANN board of directors will meet privately this weekend in New
York to sift through the proposals and reach a rough consensus for ICANN's
future.
[Source: This Is London]
(http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=594117)
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