DIGITAL DIVIDE
Simputers: When Technology Does _Not_ Bridge the Digital Divide
(commentary)
Malaysia's Penang State Unveils K-ICT Blueprint
PHILANTHROPY
Packard Foundation Facing Cutbacks
DIGITAL TV
Tauzin Sets 2006 Deadline for Digital TV Signals
New Bill: More DTV Limits
INTERNET
Experts Slam Cyber Security Plan
Consumer Groups Cry Foul Over E-Filing Plan
Australian Racism Ruling to Affect Internet
DIGITAL DIVIDE
SIMPUTERS: WHEN TECHNOLOGY DOES _NOT_ BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
(Commentary) Columnist Scott McCollum takes issue with the Simputer, the
India-developed handheld device designed for use by low-literate and
non-English speaking populations. McCollum criticizes the Simputer as a
misguided attempt to bridge the digital divide. "The well-meaning academics
and activists that have showered the Simputer with accolades apparently
don't realize by teaching an illiterate nomad how to use a computer that
only other illiterate nomads use, they are not helping to bridge that
digital divide," he says. "How can anyone honestly expect developing nations
to ever help themselves if the Simputer doesn't actually teach them how the
rest of the world really works?" McCollum also laments that the Simputer's
ease of portability will make it a natural target for theft. "Customs and
mores aside," he continues, "someone _will_ steal the village Simputer to
make a quick buck and it is unrealistic to claim poor villagers in remote
areas won't do it."
[SOURCE: World Tech Tribune, AUTHOR: Scott McCollum]
(http://www.worldtechtribune.com/worldtechtribune/asparticles/buzz/bz0919200
2.asp)
PENANG UNVEILS K-ICT BLUEPRINT
The Malaysian state of Penang has published a "Knowledge-Information
Communications Technology Blueprint" (K-ICT) that sets the goal of
transforming the state into an "intelligent land" over the next several
years. Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, who announced the plan on
Wednesday, stated that the blueprint would focus on connectivity, knowledge
worker development, e-economy, digital equity and electronic good
governance. "We will appeal to telecommunications companies to help in
ensuring Penang becomes a fully connected state by 2005." he explained. Koh
emphasized the blueprint's focus on e-government: "[The] entire state
government would be re-invented with its structure and mindset transformed
through a fully networked e-government that is client-focused, efficient and
transparent." Koh added that the state would establish CTCs known as
k-community centres in villages across the state.
[SOURCE: The Star (Malaysia), AUTHOR: K. Suthakar]
(http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/9/19/nation/stinfoo&sec=nat
ion)
PHILANTHROPY
PACKARD FOUNDATION FACING CUTBACKS
Demonstrating the measurable effect of the tech sector's stock slide on
philanthropic endowments, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation announced
plans to lay off up to 80 staff members and slash its grants to nonprofits.
The foundation's endowment -- consisting primarily of Hewlett-Packard stock
-- has shrunk from $13 billion in 1999 to $3.8 billion today. "The Packard
Foundation needed to adjust its size to represent a new reality," said
foundation president Richard Schlosberg. The foundation's board of
directors reduced next year's grants budget by $50 million to $200 million,
as compared to $616 million in 2000. Family-oriented and population control
programs will still be a priority for the foundation. However, Packard will
consilodate conservation and science resources, and will no longer consider
arts and nonprofit effectiveness -- an area it all but created -- as major
programs. The foundation plans to diversify its endowment by selling its
shares of HP and Agilent, which make up about 86 percent of the portfolio.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Jon Boudreau]
(http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/4112039.htm)
DIGITAL TV
TAUZIN SETS 2006 DEADLINE FOR DIGITAL TV SIGNALS
Yesterday, Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), chairman of the US House Energy and
Commerce Committee, released a draft proposal of legislation that would
increase the transition to digital television in the US. The bill would
require all US broadcasters to transmit digital signals by the beginning of
2006, and have them cease broadcasting analog signals by the end of that
year. "While we prefer marketplace solutions, clearly it's time for us to
provide leadership in this area," Tauzin said. The bill would also direct
the FCC to set technical standards for DTV, including the implementation of
a "broadcast flag," which would allow consumers to copy DTV programming for
their own personal use, but prevent them from distributing it on the
Internet. Consumer groups have criticize the legislation. "This bill draft
would give an unelected, unaccountable federal bureaucracy the authority to
dictate the use of and regulate the devices in a consumer's family room,"
Digitalconsumer.org said in a statement.
[SOURCE: Yahoo! News, AUTHOR: Andy Sullivan, Reuters]
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=581&ncid=581&e=6&u=/nm/200
20919/tc_nm/media_digitaltv_dc)
See also:
NEW BILL: MORE DIGITAL TV LIMITS
A new bill proposed by Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), calls for the adoption of
additional measures to end analog television compatibility. Seth Schoen, a
technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the bill will
allow the government to control the next crop of consumer electronics.
Government officials and manufacturers want to prevent the redistribution of
TV shows and movies through the Internet by implementing technology that
bans copying and recording. The bill would also make analog recording media
such as VCRs obsolete. Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) has proposed a measure
similar to Tauzin's that would require not only television sets, but all
electronic devices to come with restrictive copy protections. The House
Telecommunications Subcommittee is expected to debate Tauzin's bill next
Wednesday.
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Brad King]
(http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,55276,00.html)
INTERNET
EXPERTS SLAM CYBER SECURITY PLAN
"The government cannot alone secure cyberspace." With that statement, White
House cyber security adviser Richard Clarke presented the National Strategy
to Secure Cyberspace, a plan that stresses voluntary cooperation and
education while garnering expert criticism. "It's far too amorphous," said
Christopher Wolf, head of the computer security practice at Proskauer Rose
LLP in Washington, noting that the strategy is analogous to "asking ordinary
citizens to erect a nuclear shield." In lieu of regulation, the strategy
advocates a free-market approach in which the government would foster
communication among companies and allow increased revenues to motivate
compliance. The report makes about 70 recommendations and raises issues for
further discussion. Despite being criticized for lacking teeth, some
experts see a bright spot in that the report might establish acceptable
standards for security. "Right now, most users don't know what you should
do to take reasonable care," said Michael Overly of Foley & Lardner. Two
months of debate remain before the proposal is submitted to President Bush
CONSUMER GROUPS CRY FOUL OVER E-FILING PLAN
A Bush administration plan to increase income tax electronic filing has
drawn criticism from consumer groups. The plan, part of an effort to meet
the congressionally-mandated target of 80 percent of citizens e-filing by
2007, would be administered by a nonprofit consortium of private firms
offering free services to 60 percent of taxpayers nationwide via the IRS
website. Consumer advocates such as the Consumer Federation of America,
Consumers Union, the National Consumer Law Center and the US Public Interest
Research Group worry that e-filing would be used to ensnare low-income
taxpayers in refund anticipation loans, or RALs. RALs offer a short-term
cash advance of anticipated tax refunds, often at high interest rates. The
groups said the proposed agreement should be changed to prohibit consortium
members from offering RALs -- a move industry giant H&R Block said was
unnecessary, since the agreement specifically prohibits conditional sales.
[SOURCE: USA Today, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2002-09-19-etax-protest_x.htm)
AUSTRALIAN RACISM RULING TO AFFECT INTERNET
An Australian court ordered a Holocaust revisionist to remove insensitive
and racially-motivated content from his Web site or face jail time. The case
against Dr. Fredrick Toben is believed to be the first in regards to
Australia's Racial Discrimination Act and the Internet. "The court was
satisfied on the evidence ... [that Toben] has published material on the
World Wide Web which is reasonably likely, in all of the circumstances, to
offend, insult, humiliate and intimidate Jewish Australians," the judge said
in its ruling. "If we consider things to be truthful, then we should not be
fearful of stating them," Toben said after the ruling. Toben previously
spent seven months in a German jail for defaming the dead and provoking
racial hatred. He has seven days to remove the online content, and is banned
from republishing similar material to the Internet.
[SOURCE: The Australian, AUTHOR: Sharon Labi]
(http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,5115501%255E4
21,00.html)
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