September 2002

BROADCASTING
FCC to Begin Rewriting Media Ownership Limits
The Big Picture on Digital TV: It's Still Fuzzy=20

INTERNET
Afghans Thirst for Web Access=20
Bill Urges Rules For Policing Privacy

=20
BROADCASTING

FCC TO BEGIN REWRITING MEDIA OWNERSHIP LIMITS
At its monthly meeting today, the Federal Communications Commission =
will
launch a broad effort to relax rules that govern the ownership of =
newspapers
and television stations. FCC Chairman Michael Powell has said he =
expects the
new rules to be a bit more "liberalized," which makes some lawmakers =
and
consumer groups worry that allowing companies to get bigger will =
negatively
impact diversity. The review will probably include limits on how much =
of the
national television audience one company can reach as well as limits on
local radio station concentration.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jeremy Pelofsky]
(http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=3Dbusinessnews&StoryID=3D=
1432242
)
See Also:
FCC'S MEDIA OWNERSHIP PROCEEDING WILL HURT NATIONAL SECURITY
[SOURCE: Center for Digital Democracy, AUTHOR: Jeremy Pelofsky]
(http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/ownershipNPRM.html)

THE BIG PICTURE ON DIGITAL TV: IT'S STILL FUZZY
The mandate that requires the United States' 1,309 local commercial
broadcast stations to switch from analog to digital transmission has =
been
terribly slow. Only 393 stations have started (despite the May 1, 2002
deadline to begin transmission) and the government seems to be off =
schedule
for the 2006 deadline of having all stations fully converted. The FCC =
admits
that the transition has been difficult. "We're midstream in a boat that =
some
say has leaks," states Kenneth Feree, chief of the FCC media bureau. =
"We're
patching the leaks and trying to get to shore." A survey produced by =
the
Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing states that 32
percent of adults have never heard of HDTV (high definition =
television),
while 56 percent have no idea how to go about receiving digital tv =
signals
and 81 percent are unlikely to buy an HDTV set in the next 12 months.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric A. Taub]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/12/technology/circuits/12TEEV.html)
(requires registration)

INTERNET

AFGHANS THIRST FOR WEB ACCESS
One might not expect the Internet to be high on the list of =
Afghanistan's
priorities, but Andrew Stroehlein says that among local journalists,
government workers and other educated Kabulis, "there is a real thirst =
for
access." Stroehlien writes about a recent media-training visit to Kabul =
in
which he instructed a group of Afghan journalists in online publishing. =
Many
returning Afghans, who became accustomed to the Internet while living
abroad, have found almost nonexistent access in Afghanistan. The =
capital
city of Kabul has only two Internet caf=E9s, and in a country where the =
annual
GDP per capita is $160, four dollars an hour online is prohibitively
expensive for most Kabulis.
[SOURCE: Online Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Andrew Stroehlein]
(http://www.ojr.org/ojr/world_reports/1030032560.php)

BILL URGES RULES FOR POLICING PRIVACY
On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee =
approved
the Federal Agency Protection of Privacy Act, a bill that requires =
federal
agencies to prepare and publish a "privacy impact analysis" of any =
proposed
regulation. "Americans deserve to know how government regulations will
impact their personal privacy, and this legislation reforms the =
regulatory
process to make sure that occurs," says Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), who wrote =
the
bill. The bill gives Americans the opportunity to sue in federal court =
if
they were targets of agencies that did not prepare privacy impact
statements. The bill does not apply to private firms or state and local
agencies, however. Senator Max Cleland (D-GA) has introduced a similar =
bill
in the Senate, but no hearings have been held thus far.
[SOURCE: CNET, AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh]
(http://news.com.com/2100-1023-957419.html?tag=3Dfd_top)

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INTERNET
What's OK For Dot-Kids Domain?
Americans Believe Net Is The Coolest Medium
The Post-9/11 Rise Of Do-It-Yourself Journalism

INTERNATIONAL
Nigeria Pledges Support For IT Development
Google Mirror Beats Great Firewall Of China

INTERNET

WHAT'S OK FOR DOT-KIDS DOMAIN?
After several unsuccessful attempts to regulate online sex, violence and
other material inappropriate for children, U.S. lawmakers have proposed
setting up a kids-only area within the dot-us domain. NeuStar, a
Washington-based domain management company, plans to establish the dot-kids
subdomain, where pornography, hate speech and other forms of adult content
would be banned if enacted into law. Developers would have to follow
existing legislation that require some educational content for the use of
the subdomain and forbid the use of sex, violence and profanity. The company
will seek public input until Oct. 11, and invites commenters to suggest
means of defining a "bright-line test" for determining when violent content,
or any other content, might be inappropriate for children 12 and under. The
U.S. House of Representatives passed the dot-kids bill in May; a similar
bill has been introduced in the Senate.
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55032,00.html)

AMERICANS BELIEVE NET IS THE COOLEST MEDIUM
One out of five Americans feel that the Internet is the 'most essential'
medium to their lives, according to a new study by Arbitron and Edison Media
Research. According to the study, 34 percent of Americans chose the Internet
as the most 'cool and exciting' medium; among 12-to-34-year-olds, 46 percent
of respondents chose the Internet as the best medium. According to the study
findings, residential broadband adoption in the US has doubled in the last
18 months, from 13 percent in January 2001 to 28 percent in July 2002.
However, access to the Internet has leveled off at approximately 70 percent
of all Americans.
[SOURCE: NUA.com]
(http://www.nua.com/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905358358&rel=true)

THE POST-9/11 RISE OF DO-IT-YOURSELF JOURNALISM
One result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was an increase in the practice
of do-it-yourself journalism on the Internet, according to a new study by
the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Most notable, the study said, was
the widespread emergence of first-person accounts, which most frequently
appeared on personal Web logs and a wide variety of Web sites -- even on
sites that usually don't publish news. In addition to providing a platform
for amateur journalists, the Web also made it possible for Americans to go
directly to primary sources, such as the Department of Defense, the FBI and
the Red Cross, to get information on the attacks. "This democratization of
journalistic sources... provided new opportunities for individuals to
explore the space of news and information more extensively," the University
at Buffalo's Alex Halavais says in the study. He adds, "It also provided new
sources of error, rumor, and propaganda."
[SOURCE: CyberJournalist, AUTHOR: Jonathan Dube]
(http://www.cyberjournalist.net/features/pew0209.html)

INTERNATIONAL

NIGERIA PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR IT DEVELOPMENT
Nigeria's Minister of State for Science and Technology made a pledge to the
federal government and members of Digital Peers International, an NGO on
information communications technology development, to support and promote
any initiative that develops communication and inculcates IT knowledge in
children. Minister Pauline Tallen pointed out that the investment is
strategic because children easily assimilate information at a young age. The
government hopes that successful technology initiatives like Digitest,
developed by the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Information, will generate
wealth and better living conditions for Nigerians, while empowering children
to use technology to become better leaders.
[SOURCE: AllAfrica.com, AUTHOR: Yemisi Ezekiel]
(http://allafrica.com/stories/200209090044.html)

GOOGLE MIRROR BEATS GREAT FIREWALL OF CHINA
A new Web site called elgooG provides a way around China's widely criticized
blocking of the Web's most popular search engine, Google. Quite literally a
"mirror" site, the text on elgooG has been reversed in order to fool Chinese
Net filters, and all searches must be entered in reverse. The site then
returns all the same hits as Google. Viewing the page using a mirror makes
it somewhat easier to read. China has recently blocked both the Google site,
as well as the search engine Altavista. The specific reason for the latest
restrictions is not clear, but observers have speculated that government
elections in November could have prompted a crackdown on access to
information via the Internet.
[SOURCE: NewScientist.com, AUTHOR: Will Knight]
(http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992768)

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INTERNET
I'll see your domain name in (US) Court!

DIGITAL DIVIDE
Give and Take: High-Tech Cuts Planned Under Bush Plan
South Africa's Mbeki to Host Meeting on ICT Development

EDTECH
Filters, Schools Like Oil, Water
Aloha, You've Got Hawaiian 101

INTERNET

I'LL SEE YOUR DOMAIN NAME IN (US) COURT!
(Commentary) Andrew Lothian, CEO of the Internet brand consultancy Demys,
discusses two August rulings of the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that
have potential ramifications on dot-com address owners around the world.
According to the rulings, the court determined that dot-com domain names are
pieces of property residing in the US commonwealth of Virginia -- Virginia
in particular because that is where the Internet's dot-com registry is
located. In many countries, domain names are regarded as the Internet
equivalent as signs or billboards representing a particular interest; for
example, "registering coke.com in conflict with the Coca-Cola Company's
rights is much the same as nailing up a large board over your business with
the word 'Coke' painted on it in the familiar style of that company's brand
without the right to do so," says Lothian. But the US appeals court rulings
take a different view, labeling domain names as pieces of property in a
particular geographic jurisdiction that can actually be sued in their own
right. "If you thought you were registering your domain name with your
registration service provider in your own particular country," he continues,
"think again."
[SOURCE: The Register (UK), AUTHOR: Andrew Lothian]
(http://theregister.co.uk/content/6/26957.html)

DIGITAL DIVIDE

GIVE AND TAKE: HIGH-TECH CUTS PLANNED UNDER BUSH PLAN
Students at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, California, many of whom
worked in restaurants, are preparing to become system administrators through
an eight-week technical boot camp funded by proceeds from the federal H-IB
visa program. The program allowed foreign high-tech workers to come to the
US to work for American companies; each company would pay the government an
application fee, generating funds for US IT training programs. However, the
Bush administration now plans to cancel the program, having labeled it
"ineffective." Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) complains that the program was cut
by administration bureaucrats without consulting the US Department of Labor,
which had considered the program a success. "So when the president said to
[his budget staff], 'find me a place to cut,' they picked that one and they
forgot to ask the Department of Labor," she said.
[SOURCE: ABCNews.com, AUTHORS: Claire Shipman and Kendra Gahagan]
(http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/tech_training020904.html)

SOUTH AFRICA'S MBEKI TO HOST MEETING ON ICT DEVELOPMENT
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa will host the second meeting of the
Presidential International Advisory Council on Information Society and
Development this weekend. The meeting will explore the development of an
information and communications technology (ICT) institute, the
implementation of e-government programs, and research and development
regarding economic growth and competitiveness. The council hopes the meeting
will guide South Africa in its attempts to bridge the digital divide, build
a sustainable human resource base and attract local and foreign investment.
[SOURCE: AllArfrica.com, AUTHOR: Veronica Mohapeloa]
(http://allafrica.com/stories/200209050687.html)

EDTECH

FILTERS, SCHOOLS LIKE OIL, WATER
Last autumn, students in John Elfrank-Dana's class in Lower Manhattan's
Murry Bergtraum High School attempted to use the Internet to write research
papers on terrorism. Having fled the school on September 11 -- Murry
Bergtraum is a quarter mile from Ground Zero -- Dana and his students were
eager to cover the subject, but quickly discovered that they couldn't. The
school's filters blocked Web sites with references to terrorism, and it
would take days for Dana to go through school bureaucracy to unblock the
sites, so students were eventually forced to conduct their research from
home. Dana's experience has become commonplace among teachers across the
country, as the majority of US schools now use filtering software. Congress
mandated filtering for all schools receiving federal E-Rate funding, which
has frustrated many educators.
Bob Moore, director of information technology for the Blue Valley School
District in Kansas, notes that prior to using filters, his schools relied on
teaching students to be responsible Internet users. "Information skills and
safety skills are first and foremost," says Moore. "Schools are using
technology quick-fixes as surrogates for the more important educational
responsibilities of education and supervision to truly prepare kids to make
safe and responsible choices," adds Nancy Willard, who runs the Responsible
Netizen Institute. Willard also criticizes filtering companies for not being
publicly accountable, as they do not acknowledge to educators which sites
they block, nor do they utilize educators or librarians to make those
decisions. David Burt, head of public relations for filtering company N2H2,
disagrees. "We're very accountable," he says. "If (people) feel an URL has
been incorrectly categorized, they can request that it be changed."
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Katie Dean]
(http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,54632,00.html)

ALOHA, YOU'VE GOT HAWAIIAN 101
Since 1994, Keola Donaghy has worked to find a way for computers to speak
Hawaiian. Thanks to his persistence and the work of fellow Hawaiian
enthusiasts, the University of Hawaii at Hilo has launched a virtual
Hawaiian 101 class -- believed by university officials to be the first
indigenous language to be taught solely on the Net. Reproducing Hawaiian on
the Net had been a challenge due to the way the language is expressed when
written. Because Hawaiian has more words with multiple means than possibly
any other language, it relies on the use of rhythm and context for speakers
to understand the meaning of a particular word. In written form, this
requires the use of diacritical marks -- for example, ko'u ("my") becomes
kou ("yours") and k

DIGITAL DIVIDE
A Burgeoning Hacker Culture Points to Promise in Africa

INTERNET
ICANN Threatens to Take Away VeriSign's '.com' Privileges
Campaign Reform Sponsors Oppose Internet Exemption

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Judge Blocks Napster's Sale to Bertelsmann

DIGITAL DIVIDE

A BURGEONING HACKER CULTURE POINTS TO PROMISE IN AFRICA
Despite inadequate infrastructure and training, a young generation of
computer-savvy people is taking root in Accra, Ghana's capital. Ghana
remains a country where "wiring a school" means installing electricity
service, not the Internet. "We talk about moving into the 21st century, but
the truth is that we never mastered the technologies of the 20th century:
roads, electricity, the telephone, water and the like," says Kwaku Boadu,
who runs a computer networking company in Accra. Against great odds,
however, youth are finding ways to tap into the global computing culture,
creating new jobs and identities in the process. Recently, the New York
Times published a page-one story about how data from New York City traffic
tickets was being computerized by Ghanaians at Accra's BusyInternet
cybercafe. The positive attention, and a growing awareness of the tech-savvy
youth scene, is encouraging to Accra's elite. "We are destined for greatness
as an information hub," says Ken Ofori-Atta, executive chairman of Databank,
a local investment bank and money manager.
[SOURCE: Technology Review, AUTHOR: G. Pascal Zachary]
(http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_zachary083002.asp)

INTERNET

ICANN THREATENS TO TAKE AWAY VERISIGN'S '.COM' PRIVILEGES
VeriSign, the oldest and largest registrar of accredited domain names, is
being threatened by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN), stating that VeriSign "ignored its contractual responsibility to
maintain an accurate, searchable database of its customers." VeriSign
currently manages more than 10 million domain names, and has 15 days to
remedy the contractual breaches before losing their right to sell dot-com
names. ICANN said that while all of the 150 registrars occasionally have
inaccurate entries, VeriSign's Dulles-based Network Solutions unit has
failed to remedy inaccurate information listed in its "Whois" database,
which tracks and displays information regarding individual domain names.
ICANN claims that VeriSign "has exhibited a pattern of persistent violations
of its contractual obligations to take reasonable steps to correct
inaccurate or incomplete Whois data in spite of repeated requests and
reminders by ICANN." ICANN also announced yesterday the establishment of an
online form that people can use to report faulty Whois data.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: David McGuire]
(hhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34373-2002Sep3.html)

CAMPAIGN REFORM SPONSORS OPPOSE INTERNET EXEMPTION
The McCain-Feingold law, authored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ
Feingold (D-Wis.), is currently undergoing hearings on the interpretation of
their law by The Federal Election Commission (FEC). The senators contend
that Internet-based political communications should follow the same rules
that soon will govern most forms of
political advertising. However, Bradley Smith, an FEC commissioner, states
that the statue makes no mention of expanding the law to include
Internet-based ads. "The flat exemption for the Internet proposed in the
regulation is too broad-brush a treatment of this issue, which requires a
more particularized approach," said attorney Donald Simon, in written
comments submitted to the FEC on behalf of Common Cause and Democracy 21.
The McCain-Feingold law will take effect after the November 6th election.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Krebs]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10966-2002Aug29.html)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

JUDGE BLOCKS NAPSTER'S SALE TO BERTELSMANN
Napster, once the most popular Internet music file sharing program,
effectively ceased to exist yesterday with a court ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy
Judge Peter Walsh in Delaware. The judge ruled that Napster's acquisition by
Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's largest media companies, posed potential
conflicts of interests because Napster's chief executive Konrad Hilbers
worked with Bertelsmann before joining Napster. Napster laid off all of its
42 employees yesterday. "As with most start-up technology businesses,
Napster's technology is of little value without the talented team that
created it, so it is an occasion of loss on many levels," Napster said in a
statement.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Frank Ahrens]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34582-2002Sep3.html)

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