August 2002

JOURNALISM
Israeli Cable Outlets Get Permission to Remove CNN

INTERNET
Cautious Kabul Dabbles With Net
Britain's Great Digital Empire
Government 'A Long Way Off' E-Voting Target

CYBERSECURITY
Bush Advisor Encourages Hacking

JOURNALISM

ISRAELI CABLE OUTLETS GET PERMISSION TO REMOVE CNN
Three Israeli cable companies have received permission from Israel's =
cable
television commission to remove CNN International from their services. =
The
cable stations point to financial difficulty as the primary reason to =
drop
the service saying the prices they have been paying CNN have become
untenable. While the stations have not made a decision on dropping CNN, =
they
recently started offering Fox News Channel as an alternative to CNN. =
The
recent negotiations have been affected by Israeli government claims =
that CNN
coverage is biased towards Palestinians. While a CNN international =
executive
has stated that CNN is willing to cut their prices, the acting CEO of
Israeli cable provider Golden Channels said, "We gave them a proposal =
of the
maximum we are able to pay. If they meet it, we will not take them off. =
But
so far it looks like they don't want to meet it."
[SOURCE: The New York Times, AUTHOR: Jim Rutenberg]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/02/business/media/02TUBE.html)

INTERNET

CAUTIOUS KABUL DABBLES WITH NET
The first Internet caf=E9 in Afghanistan opened this week. Although the =
caf=E9
marks a techno-cultural step for the country, the effects of having an
Internet caf=E9 are not likely to affect the local population for some =
time to
come. The caf=E9, located in Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel, is used =
mostly by
hotel guests, including foreign journalists and wealthy Afghan =
=E9migr=E9s. Few
Afghanis can afford $5 an hour for Internet surfing when their average
salary is about $1 a day. Additionally, the caf=E9 owners, Afghan =
Wireless
Communication Company, censor content. "We're very sensitive to both =
the
culture and religious aspects of the environment we're working in," =
said
director Gavin Jeffrey. "We installed the blocking program on our own
initiative; there's not legal framework requiring us to do it." Afghan
Wireless also provides mobile phone services in the country and is =
currently
the only reliable telecommunication system in the Afghanistan. Afghan
Wireless is a joint venture of U.S.-based Telephone Systems and the =
Afghan
Ministry of Communications.
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Julia Scheeres]
(http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,54285,00.html)

BRITAIN'S GREAT DIGITAL EMPIRE
An ambitious project in Britain is turning heads around the world. New
Opportunities Fund-Digitize (NOF-Digitize) is funding 150 digitizing
projects involving 500 organizations. The goal is to digitize large =
segments
of Britain's social, political and cultural life. Working with =
government
and private partners, NOF-Digitize hopes to provide all of its =
information
for free, with the exception of high-resolution images. Although the
long-term impact of the online library is impossible to forecast, the
program is already having an impact. NOF-Digitize employs an =
open-source
approach to the technologies and formats used in the project, providing =
an
accessible set of tools for others interested in building online =
libraries.
The project has also created a pool of digital expertise in somewhat
isolated sectors: libraries, archives, most museums and local =
government
offices.
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Daith=ED =D3 hAnluain]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,54196,00.html)

GOVERNMENT 'A LONG WAY OFF' E-VOTING TARGET
The British parliament watchdogs warned that more tests are needed =
before
the government offers electronic general elections in 2006. While the
e-voting pilot tests in May's local elections worked well, there still
remain a number of technical and political issues to work out. For =
instance,
political parties in most areas have not yet adapted campaign =
techniques to
address new voting methods. Studies of the May tests indicated that of =
the
new techniques used -- including all-postal, Internet, telephone and =
text
message voting -- postal voting showed the most improvement in voter =
turnout
over conventional ballots.
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: Simon Parker]
(http://society.guardian.co.uk/internet/story/0,8150,767499,00.html)

CYBERSECURITY

BUSH ADVISOR ENCOURAGES HACKING
Computer security advisor Richard Clarke told a group of hackers at the
Black Hat conference "Some of us, here in this room, have an obligation =
to
find the vulnerabilities" in software programs. He stressed that =
hackers
should report programming mistakes directly to the software =
manufacturer and
go to the government if the software manufacturer does not respond in a
timely manner. Clarke also stated that the common practice of sharing
security hole information on email lists or Web sites could be =
"extremely
damaging" if published before the problem is fixed. While some software
companies encourage and reward hackers, others have brought civil and
criminal charges against hackers. Clarke believes that when acting in =
good
faith, hackers should be protected from lawsuits: "If there are legal
protections they don't have that they need, we need to look at that."=20
[SOURCE: Salon.com, AUTHOR: D. Ian Hopper]
(http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2002/08/01/hacking/index.html?x)

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