TELECOMMUNICATIONS
How the Net Can Save Telecoms
COPYRIGHT
FCC Targets Copying of Digital TV
INTERNET
VeriSign to Revive Redirect Service
DIGITAL DIVIDE
India Bridges Digital Divide
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS
HOW THE NET CAN SAVE TELECOMS
In the 1990s, a few long-distance companies began installing so-called
Internet protocol (IP) gear, believing that the idea would quickly spread.
But by late 2000, capital spending had slammed to a halt, and the IP
transition slowed. Now digital convergence appears to be making a comeback.
Cisco Systems Chief Executive John Chambers says the change to a single
packet network that serves voice, data, wireless, and Internet service is
inevitable, but he expects telecom carriers to take anywhere from 1 to 10
years to make the move. The elusive prospect for video over the telecom
networks appears a little closer to reality with Microsoft's unveiling of
new software to support movies, TV, and other forms of video delivered over
the Web by telecoms. Sun is advancing its idea of "network computing," which
features a memory card that users can plug into a network computer anywhere
in the world to retrieve all their data. The new trend for telecoms is
micro-markets, says HP's Phillip McKinney. "In the past, telecom companies
were happy if they introduced 10 new services a year. But the business is
changing. In the future, they will need 500," he explained.
SOURCE: Business Week; AUTHOR: Steve Rosenbush
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2003/tc20031014_8966_t...
.htm
COPYRIGHT
FCC TARGETS COPYING OF DIGITAL TV
For the first time, it might become a requirement that consumer and other
electronics devices contain technology to help block Internet piracy of
digital entertainment. The Federal Communications Commission is considering
one of a series of proposals pushed by the entertainment industry to help
obstruct the copying and online trading of movies and television shows. The
new rule would also force consumers to purchase new equipment if they wanted
to record enhanced digital-quality television programs and replay them on
other machines. With this rule, the FCC will address how programming can be
protected from piracy, which undermines the lucrative aftermarket of videos
and television syndication. Opponents of the rule, including technology
companies and consumer groups, are concerned that the rule will lead to
government regulation of how personal computers and other devices are built.
The rule will not affect consumers who use VCRs to record TV shows and
movies. The FCC has taken on one of the most contentious issues of the
computer age: how to how to protect against unauthorized use of digital
entertainment when part of its appeal is the increased ability to manipulate
it, customize it and transfer it to different locations.
SOURCE: Washington Post; AUTHOR: Jonathan Krim
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32173-2003Oct15.html
INTERNET
VERISIGN TO RECEIVE REDIRECT SERVICE
Yesterday at a gathering of technical experts in Washington DC, VeriSign
said it will give a 30- to 60-day notice before resuming Site Finder, the
controversial and temporarily suspended feature that redirects many .com and
.net domains. The company's internal re-evaluation of its Site Finder
redirection service found "no identified security or stability problems."
Its own expert group, including the chief technology officers of Brightmail
and Morgan Stanley, reviewed Site Finder and decided that most issues were
"minor or inconvenient," VeriSign says. When Site Finder was active, it
added a "wild card" for .com and .net domains that snared queries to
nonexistent Internet sites and forwarded them to VeriSign's own servers.
Anti-spam filters and other network utilities were affected by the
redirection, but VeriSign claims that the benefits to users outweighs the
costs to network administrators. "One of the segments of the community that
has not been looked at in this whole issue, in my opinion, is the user
community," VeriSign Vice President Chuck Gomes said. "They're very
relevant." VeriSign says that before resuming Site Finder, it will address
specific criticisms by adding foreign language support to the site and
updating the way email works with nonexistent domains.
SOURCE: CNET News; AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh
http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-5092133.html?tag=nefd_top
DIGITAL DIVIDE
INDIA BRIDGES DIGITAL DIVIDE
Sukanya Sakkarai, 19, thought her future would the same as most young women
living in the farming village of Ulagupitchanpatti, India, but then the
information age arrived on her doorstep. A communications company scouted
Sakkarai to open a computer-equipped "information kiosk" in the village. At
first, Sakkarai was apprehensive, but now she runs a thriving small
business, which charges moderate fees for services that range from Internet
browsing and email to daily computer classes to weekend screenings of
Tamil-language films by means of her computer's CD-ROM drive. More
importantly, she acts as a kind of village ombudsman, brokering email
exchanges and even videoconferences between semiliterate villagers and the
government bureaucrats who still control many aspects of their lives.
Backers predict that these types of information kiosks will be starting up
all across the nation of more than a billion people, who until now had
little access to government officials and reaped few benefits from the
country's booming trade in information technologies.
SOURCE: MSNBC News; AUTHOR: John Lancaster, Washington Post
http://www.msnbc.com/news/979311.asp#BODY
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