DIGITAL DIVIDE
'Talking' Tax Forms for Blind Developed
Farm Bureau, Lighthouse Communications Narrow Iowa's Digital Divide
Egypt Boasts Free Internet Service
South Africa ICT Strategy to Focus on Education, Health
and Small/Medium Enterprises
INTERNET
History as it happens: 9/11 voices online
COPYRIGHT
Microsoft, Allies Gear to Reshape Copyright Debate
DIGITAL DIVIDE
'TALKING' TAX FORMS FOR BLIND DEVELOPED;
PDF-READING SOFTWARE BOOSTS INDEPENDENCE
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is currently testing software that allows
visually impaired people to take advantage of government online services,
from applying for jobs to researching a homework assignment. The new IRS
forms are a significant advancement in increasing communication between the
government and visually impaired citizens. Previously developed software had
limited abilities when it came to reading documents created in PDF format.
The new software will interpret PDF documents and speak their content back
to the user. "It may seem like just a tax form, but we've hit what we
believe is a true breakthrough, important because blind people want to be
independent," said Michael Moore, chief of alternative media at the IRS, and
legally blind himself. "What blind people are striving for is equal access."
The IRS will post the software on its IRS.gov Web site next year.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Helen Rumbelow]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13536-2002Aug29.html)
FARM BUREAU, LIGHTHOUSE COMMUNICATIONS NARROW IOWA'S DIGITAL DIVIDE
Residents in rural Iowa, where access to the Internet can be a major
challenge, are now able to connect to the Web and experience the Internet
thanks to the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) and Lighthouse
Communications Inc. The two entities have established a guaranteed low-cost,
dialup service to more than 300 small towns and rural communities. Increased
access to the Internet will give rural Iowa residents an opportunity to
telecommute and provide a second income without leaving the farm, obtain
degrees online, and buy and sell agricultural products over the Internet,
said Dave Lyons, IFBF's business development director.
[SOURCE: Des Moines Business Record, AUTHOR: Beth Dalbey]
(http://www.businessrecord.com/businessrecord/myarticles.asp?P=564105&S=584&
PubID=9821&EC=0)
EGYPT BOASTS FREE INTERNET SERVICE
While free Internet service providers have failed as a business model in
many parts of the world, a no-cost dialup service is thriving in Cairo.
Since January, Cairenes have been able to access participating Internet
service providers for free, paying only the cost of a local phone call --
the equivalent of less than 25 U.S. cents per hour. This connection fee is
then split between the state-owned Egypt Telecom and the ISP. The pricing
model has lowered the cost of dial-up access by as much as 59 percent; it
has also increased competition among local ISPs, which are now vying for
consumers by touting improved quality of service. Competition, however, may
drive smaller ISPs out of business, but Egyptian telecom analysts suggest
that this might encourage them to expand their services into rural Egyptian
communities. "It's good for consumers and will develop the country at the
end of the day," said Fady Rafla, marketing manager of LINKdotNET, Egypt's
largest ISP. "I'll have my population exposed to other cultures, develop the
market and bridge the digital divide."
[SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer, AUTHOR: Hrvoje Hranjski, AP]
(http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/technology/4031269.htm)
SOUTH AFRICA ICT STRATEGY TO FOCUS ON EDUCATION,
HEALTH AND SMALL/MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
South African President Thabo Mbeki joined government ministers during a
Sunday meeting that focused on strategies to strengthen the government's
information and communications technology (ICT) initiatives in education.
South Africa has formed an international ICT advisory body that will assist
with the development and implementation of domestic e-strategies for
businesses and schools. Addressing concerns regarding the digital divide,
President Mbeki stated that many schools in the country are already
functioning as computer and communication centers in poor communities.
However, he said, there are high costs involved with going online, creating
a need to ensure that schools would not be charged the same
telecommunication tariffs as the private sector. Similar ICT policy
workshops will be held on health and small/medium enterprises; the
government will also appoint a taskforce to discuss the establishment an ICT
institute in South Africa.
[SOURCE: AllAfrica.com, AUTHOR: South African Press Association]
(http://allafrica.com/stories/200209090006.html)
INTERNET
HISTORY AS IT HAPPENS: 9/11 VOICES ONLINE
"Email preserved them on Sept. 11 like insects frozen in amber," writes
Leslie Brooks Suzukamo, describing the emotions and thoughts of Internet
users who participated in the SEPT11INFO discussion group one year ago.
SEPT11INFO, a Yahoogroups email forum created by the Benton Foundation's
Andy Carvin in the hours following the September 11 attacks, captured the
comments of citizens from around the world as they responded to the horrific
event. In the first 12 hours of the discussion, group members posted over
600 messages to the forum, including eyewitness reports, offers of
assistance and expressions of fear, anxiety and rage. Carvin wrapped up the
forum in February after the discussion died off, but recently donated the
group's entire catalogue of emails to the September 11 Digital Archive, an
effort by historians to preserve the vast amounts of digital content created
in response to the attacks. "What's important about this listserv and
listservs like it is that Sept. 11 was the first major event of the Internet
age," says Tom Scheinfeldt, director of the September 11 Digital Archive.
"It's the first time historians have access to real-time and spontaneous
reactions to an event as it was happening."
[SOURCE: St. Paul Pioneer Press, AUTHOR: Leslie Brooks Suzukamo]
(http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/industries/computers_and_
internet/4031718.htm)
(URL may need to be pasted together if broken)
Related links:
The SEPT11INFO Archive
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sept11info)
September 11 Digital Archive
(http://www.911digitalarchive.org)
COPYRIGHT
MICROSOFT, ALLIES GEAR TO RESHAPE COPYRIGHT DEBATE
Microsoft, Intel and approximately 200 other corporations have teamed up as
the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA). TCPA seeks to tighten
security on personal computers in the hopes of protecting digital content
copyright and preventing consumer content piracy. "If we're going to get
content on the Net, somehow we're going to have to reward the people who put
it on there," says University of Pennsylvania computer science professor
Dave Farber, who is serving as a TCPA consulting. Public interest groups
retort that TCPA's efforts will curtail consumer rights and prevent citizens
from reproducing content legitimately as allowed under fair use laws. "I
like to call this controlled computing rather than trusted computing," said
Chris Hoofnagle, legislative counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information
Center. "The companies are creating a system or infrastructure that the user
cannot tamper with."
[SOURCE: Yahoo News, AUTHOR: Elinor Mills Abreau, Reuters]
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=581&ncid=581&e=6&u=/nm/200
20907/tc_nm/bizcomputers_security_dc)
(URL may need to be pasted together if broken)
See also: CORPORATE PAWS GRAB FOR DESKTOP
(http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54941,00.html)
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