POLICY
Let the Fun Begin
Wi-Fi Joins Broadband Access Debate
ACTIVISM
A Lens on the World
INTERNET
Free Web Research Link Closed Under Pressure from Pay Sites
Dyson Seeks to Amplify the Public's Voice in Internet Policy
A Library for Young Browsers
POLICY
LET THE FUN BEGIN
The final draft of a British communications bill published today will likely
appease industry, the government and the opposition alike. Members of
Parliament were cautious to balance the requests for deregulation from
industry and government, while ensuring that the needs of the consumer would
not be lost. The foreign ownership debate will likely dominate the bill's
ultimate passage, but perhaps the most significant act will be the creation
of Ofcom, the new regulator designed as a watchdog over the sprawling media
and communications sector. The challenge for Ofcom will be to ensure that
local stations avoid becoming quasi-national chains amid a near future in
which US giant Viacom could own the country's biggest commercial broadcaster
(ITV) and Rupert Murdoch could have control of four national newspapers, the
dominant pay TV platform in Sky and the second-largest commercial TV
station.
[SOURCE: Media Guardian, AUTHOR: Owen Gibson]
(http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,843938,00.html)
WI-FI JOINS BROADBAND ACCESS DEBATE
Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and George Allen (R-VA) plan to introduce a
bill to ensure that Wi-Fi options are seriously considered as a viable
method of broadband deployment. Entitled "The Jumpstart Broadband Act," the
bill asks the FCC to make more free-to-use spectrum available in bandwidths
strong enough to send signals across several miles at a time. The bill also
sets guidelines to prevent signal interference, which is currently a problem
with Wi-Fi networks. "This debate has reached an unproductive stalemate and
fails to consider that other technologies are available that can jump-start
consumer-driven investment and demand in broadband services," the senators
said in a letter to colleagues.
[SOURCE: CNET News, AUTHOR: Ben Charny]
(http://news.com.com/2100-1033-966667.html?tag=fd_top)
ACTIVISM
A LENS ON THE WORLD
Increasingly, activists and grassroots organizations all over the globe are
turning to video cameras to bring to light their struggles against
injustices. More than 150 such groups have received cameras, technical
training and distribution support from Witness, a nonprofit group founded by
musician Peter Gabriel in 1992. While he was on a world tour sponsored by
Amnesty International in 1988, Gabriel brought along a video camera; it
occurred to him "to arm the activists with cameras that they themselves
would operate" in order to document human rights abuses. More than 25
documentaries co-produced by Witness have been broadcast on television, used
in network news stories, shown at film festivals and meetings, streamed on
the Web and presented as evidence in federal courts, international tribunals
and the United Nations. "The point is not just to educate and inform people
about problems," says Gillian Caldwell, executive director of Witness, "but
to present solutions and to encourage governments to implement solutions."
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ann Hornaday]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17688-2002Nov20.html)
INTERNET
FREE WEB RESEARCH LINK CLOSED UNDER PRESSURE FROM PAY SITES
The Department of Energy shut down it popular PubScience research site amid
corporate claims that it competed directly with similar commercial services.
DOE claims that removing the site, which cross-indexed and searched some two
million government reports and academic articles, will actually save the
federal government $200,000 a year. The move alarmed researchers, who worry
that similar government services might give way to private gatekeepers,
ceding control over access to information and research. Though the private
firms offer free search services now, critics claim that this may only be a
ploy to lure researchers into dependence on their product.
[SOURCE: The Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jonathan Krim]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17568-2002Nov20.html)
DYSON SEEKS TO AMPLIFY THE PUBLIC'S VOICE IN INTERNET POLICY
Esther Dyson, founding chair of ICANN, is working to counterbalance the
corporation's new policy of not having a publicly-elected board by
organizing a global constituency of informed Internet users to serve as the
public's voice. In order to have a meaningful voice in policy decisions, the
public must work from within ICANN rather than having elected board members
vote on policies a few times a year, Dyson said. "What you really need... is
to have them in the bowels [of the organization] rather than on the board,"
she said. Under the restructuring plan, ICANN would create an At-Large
Advisory Council (ALAC) to serve in lieu of direct public representatives on
the board. For ALAC to be effective, users would have to coalesce into
groups representing the five regions of the world as defined by ICANN.
Dyson is helping to forge these local and regional relationships.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: David McGuire]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14760-2002Nov20.html)
A LIBRARY FOR YOUNG BROWSERS
The International Children's Digital Library, the world's largest digital
library for children, opened its doors this week thanks to grants totaling
$4.4 million. The library opened up a pilot version of the site, containing
nearly 200 digitized books in 18 languages for children ages 3 to 13. Site
creators Allison Druin and her husband Benjamin Bederson, both with the
University of Maryland, plan to offer over 10,000 titles by 2007. The
library lets children hunt for books based on characteristics ranging from
cover color to how the book makes them feel to what kind of characters they
depict. One of its goals is to test novel ways of navigating the pages with
graphical rather than text cues, which Druin says makes the site more
accessible for readers aged 4-8.
[SOURCE: The Washington Post, AUTHOR: Leslie Walker]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17546-2002Nov20.html)
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