DIGITAL DIVIDE
Hearing: Digital Dividends and Other Proposals to Leverage
Investment in Technology
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Stop the FTAA Campaign
EDUCATION
Report: Rich Nations Flunk Test on Educating Poor
INTERNET
Microsoft News Site to Customize Content
AT&T Patents Anti-Antispam Technology
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DIGITAL DIVIDE
HEARING: DIGITAL DIVIDENDS AND OTHER PROPOSALS TO LEVERAGE INVESTMENT IN
TECHNOLOGY
Today at 10:30 AM the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the
Internet held a hearing on "Digital Dividends and Other Proposals to
Leverage Investment in Technology." Witnesses included Newton Minow, senior
counsel, Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, Chicago, Ill.; Eamon Kelly, professor
of international development, Payson Center for International Development
and Technology Transfer, Tulane University, New Orleans, La.; James
Welbourne, director, New Haven Free Public Library System; and Ginger Lew,
CEO, Telecommunications Development Fund, Washington, DC. A transcript
should be available within 60-90 days of the conclusion of the hearing at
the following website:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house/house05ch108.html.
SOURCE: House Committee on Energy and Commerce
http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/11192003hearing1125/hearing...
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
STOP THE FTAA CAMPAIGN
The organization Free Press has organized a petition drive and virtual
demonstration against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) meeting.
Starting today in Miami, trade ministers from 34 countries will meet to
advance negotiations on the proposed FTAA plan. Free Press and others argue
that the agreement threatens to undermine media democracy, privatize public
services, and expand corporate power in every sector. "Under the FTAA, US
regulations that favor media diversity, localism and the public interest
could be attacked as 'barriers to trade,'" the organization said. "Media
ownership limits, as well as Federal and state programs that encourage
diverse media, could be considered outright 'trade violations.'" Media
corporations would be allowed to sue governments for maintaining
democratically created, public interest media and cultural policies.
SOURCE: Media Reform Network
http://www.mediareform.net/petition.php?campaign=ftaa
EDUCATION
REPORT: RICH NATIONS FLUNK TEST ON EDUCATING POOR
According to a report by the Global Campaign for Education, the United
States ranks third from last among 22 rich countries that help educate the
world's poor. President Bush received 12 marks out of 100, just above the
leaders of Greece and New Zealand. The report said that the United States
was the least generous aid giver as a share of national income. At the top
were the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Development groups and the United
Nations estimate that $5.6 billion in additional aid is needed to ensure
that children in poor countries get a basic education; the amount is the
equivalent of just three days of global military spending. Rich countries
now provide $1.4 billion annually toward aid for basic education in poor
countries. "The contrast between rhetoric and reality is staggering," the
report said.
SOURCE: Yahoo! News; AUTHOR: Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031118/ts_nm/economy...
cation_aid_dc_1
INTERNET
MICROSOFT NEWS SITE TO CUSTOMISE CONTENT
Microsoft is in the process of testing MSN Newsbot, an online news gathering
tool that will personalize results with 10 minutes of a user starting to
browse for news. It is a potential rival of the popular Google News, which
clusters stories from over 4,000 news sources according to topics, but does
not customize results based on user interests. Microsoft is not revealing
how Newsbot will work, but there are several types of algorithm that could
be used. One type analyzes the choices of other people who have read the
news story and groups articles according to reading patterns of previous
users. The other approach analyzes article text and relates the story to
other articles with similar content. Oren Etzioni, a computer scientist at
the University of Washington, says both approaches deal with the growing
problem of "information overload," which deters users from accessing
information because it is so time consuming to sift through it. What remains
to be seen, he says, is which method provides the best user experience.
SOURCE: New Scientist; AUTHOR: Celeste Biever
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994398
AT&T PATENTS ANTI-ANTISPAM TECHNOLOGY
Critics ponder why AT&T would patent a technology that thwarts antispam
filters. The technology operates as a "system and method for counteracting
message filtering," according to its patent awarded on Nov 4. "Why is AT&T
inventing and patenting a method for e-mail spammers to fight spam-filtering
systems?" questions Greg Aharonian, publisher of the Internet Patent News
Service. "Some legitimate e-mail is being blocked by spam filters, but the
solution is not new techniques to make spam more spammable, but rather
coordination among ISPs and backbones to quickly shut down spammers." The
technology is described as being able to trick filters that compare digital
messages to known pieces of spam by altering each message so that no two are
identical, therefore making duplicate detection schemes unproductive. AT&T
commented that the patent was purely a defense mechanism. "This is an arms
race, and (Bell Labs researcher Robert Hall) tried to stay one step ahead of
the spammers," said Michael Dickman, a spokesman for AT&T Labs. "He
anticipated that spammers would try to change the message to circumvent the
filters." AT&T says it is re-evaluating the patent and has not decided how
it will use the technology.
SOURCE: News.com; AUTHOR: Paul Festa, CNET
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5108918.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------