TELEPHONY
Fair Local Phone Rates (NYT)
INTERNET
Catch It Before It Spreads (WP)
Judge Puts Napster Case on Hold (WIRED)
The New Medium for a New Media? (NTIA)
TELEPHONY
FAIR LOCAL PHONE RATES
Issue: Competition
[Editorial] Yesterday, the New York Public Service Commission yesterday
ordered Verizon to further discount the wholesale rate at which it leases
its lines to competing companies trying to enter the New York market. In
recent years, healthy competition has revolutionized the market for many
telecommunications products, from long distance to cellphone services. But,
despite the goal of the landmark 1996 Telecommunications Act to unleash
competition, the market for local phone service remains a near-monopoly,
firmly in the hands of the Baby Bells, including Verizon. The 1996 Act asked
the Baby Bells to lease parts of their networks to competitors for a
"reasonable and just" wholesale rate, in return for allowing them to enter
the long-distance market. There is concern, however, that Baby Bells are
being let into the long-distance market without honoring their obligation to
open their home markets to real competition. "Other states should follow New
York's lead to encourage meaningful competition," concludes the Times.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: New York Times Editorial Staff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/24/opinion/24THU2.html)
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INTERNET
CATCH IT BEFORE IT SPREADS
Issue: Health
New Web-based systems could alert public health officials to disease
outbreaks nearly in real time. The Walter Reed Army Medical Center is
testing a surveillance system that is intended to mine data on multiple
health indicators across a population, helping epidemiologists spot trends
and spikes that a single hospital, doctor or pharmacist might not see. If
the new tools work as planned, they could cut the human cost of naturally
occurring disease outbreaks and biological attacks by 50 percent to 90
percent, estimates Dr. Alan Zelicoff, a senior scientist at Sandia National
Laboratories in Albuquerque. But some experts worry that such systems might
be useless if hospitals and doctors are unequipped to operate them. "The
doctors don't have time to load in the data," warns Dr. Tara O'Toole,
director of the Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Laura Sivitz (Washington Techway)
(http://www.washtech.com/news/biotech/14779-1.html)
JUDGE PUTS NAPSTER CASE ON HOLD
Issue: Intellectual Property
The recording industry's suit against Internet song-swapping service Napster
was put on hold for a month after requests from both sides while they seek a
possible settlement. A federal judge's order, made public Wednesday, puts
the record labels' entire copyright infringement suit against Napster on
hold until Feb. 17. Napster chief executive Konrad Hilbers said he's
confident the legal downtime will lead to an accord with the labels. In
February 2001, Napster made a highly publicized $1 billion offer to settle
the case if the major labels would license their catalogs to the Redwood
City-based company. The record labels rejected the offer.
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49977,00.html)
THE NEW MEDIUM FOR A NEW MEDIA?
Issue: Broadband
Commerce Assistant Secretary Nancy Victory spoke about the importance of the
government's role in broadband deployment earlier this week at the Broadband
Outlook 2002 Conference. Full speech available at URL below.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/speeches/2002/outlook_012302.htm)
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