INTERNET
Dot-Kid Tussle in Congress
Dot-Org Selection Process Criticized
Chinese Web Surfers Still Face a Backwash
JOURNALISM
All the News That's Fit to Burn
INTERNET
DOT-ORG SELECTION PROCESS CRITICIZED
Groups competiting to manage the Internet's the "dot-org" domain question
ICANN's endorsement of the Internet Society's (ISOC) proposal. Many of
eleven entities vying to take control of dot-org complained that recent
ICANN evaluations were flawed. In addition to questioning ISOC's fiscal
fitness, some of the groups charged that ICANN staff were biased in favor of
granting dot-org's management to a nonprofit organization. ICANN Vice
President and General Counsel Louis Touton said that critisms lodged by
competing dot-org bidders follow a predictable pattern. "Those who did
poorly on the noncommercial evaluation are critical of that and those that
did poorly on the technical were critical of that," Touton said.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: David McGuire]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12027-2002Sep13.html)
DOT-KID TUSSLE IN CONGRESS
On Thursday, NeuStar, the company that manages the United States dot-us
domain and is responsible for establishing the dot-kid.us subdomain, asked
Congress not to interfere with their attempts to provide an educational and
kid-friendly Internet zone. In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed
a bill that would ban forms of interactivity such as instant messaging and
chat room, if NeuStar could not could certify that they were free of
pedophiles or other online predators. Congress wants the kids subdomain to
be available within a year. However, NeuStar's Jim Casey said that
legislative action would not give the company enough freedom or time to
properly set up dot-kid.us. Lawmakers, however, are concerned whether
NeuStar will ever get around to rolling out the dot-kids.us Internet domain
if they are not required by law to do so.
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55131,00.html)
CHINESE WEB SURFERS STILL FACE A BACKWASH
The Chinese government on Thursday gave its citizens restricted access again
to the popular U.S. search engine Google. Analysts and users say the
government blocked the site in early September to tighten their controls of
news and sensitive stories that contain keywords such as "Jiang Zemin,"
president of the People's Republic of China. There is uncertainty as to
weather Zemin will stay in office. The government wants to maintain social
unity before the 16th Communist Party Congress, which begins Nov. 8. Some
information is still restricted on the Google site, even though access has
resumed.
[SOURCE: LA Times, AUTHORS: Ching-Ching Ni and Henry Chu]
(http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fg-google13sep13.story?coll=la%2Dheadl
ines%2Dtechnology)
JOURNALISM
ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO BURN
The San Francisco Chronicle plans to offer a new service that will allow
subscribers to have the newspaper read to them. This October, the Chronicle
plans to release an audio version of the newspaper that can be downloaded
and burned onto a personalized CD. Subscribers to the service, which will
cost between $5 and $10 a month for newspaper customers, can burn up to 60
minutes of stories on a CD each morning. Jonathan Hiller, the Chronicle's
chief information officer, said that unlike a radio broadcast, subscribers
to the Chronicle audio edition will be able to choose the news they want,
free of advertising, and hear an entire newspaper story on the CD. Hiller
said the service is perfect for on-the-go professionals. "We are constantly
trying to understand what our readers want and deliver it to them."
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Elisa Batista]
(http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,55094,00.html)
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