BROADBAND
Number Of Broadband 'Speedies' Growing - Study (Newsbytes)
INTERNET & SOCIETY
American Portals Learn to Yield To Local Censorship Laws in Asia
(WSJ)
Malaysia Considers Cafe Rules (Wired)
BROADBAND
NUMBER OF BROADBAND 'SPEEDIES' GROWING - STUDY
Issue: Broadband
According to a study by Arbitron Inc. and Coleman, nearly one-third (31%) of
Americans have high-speed access to the Internet, and 59% of those have
broadband access through work. Only 27% have broadband access at home, and
15% have access at both home and work. Of the people with broadband access,
termed "speedies" by the study, 86% are "extremely" or "very" satisfied.
College students reported they are more likely to get broadband at home in
the future, and they are more interested in the Internet for online
entertainment than other users. "To improve the number of residential
broadband subscribers, providers should consider marketing content rather
than just speed," said Coleman's vice president Warren Kurtzman. "Speed is
good, but the study shows that it will take more than speed to get people at
work to pay for broadband at home."
[SOURCE: Newsbytes, AUTHOR: Michael Bartlett]
(http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/167133.html)
INTERNET & SOCIETY
AMERICAN PORTALS LEARN TO YIELD TO LOCAL CENSORSHIP LAWS IN ASIA
Issue: Internet & Society
American Web portals make it a habit to localize their content in order to
compete with popular local media, but localization requires portals to
adhere to the censorship laws of countries in Asia and avoid controversial
content. This self-censorship is justified by Internet portal companies as a
demonstration of respect for other nations' beliefs and policies. Digital
Freedom Network found 15 cases in recent months where Internet-related
offenses - such as publishing criticism of the Chinese government, and
promoting Falun Gong - led to the arrest of activists in China. Executive
director Bobson Wong warns that news portals should resist censoring the
news too much because they may lose legitimacy and hurt their market over
time. Singaporean schoolteacher Adriana Wong complained that Yahoo Singapore
offers "only the Singaporean point of view" on politics and history. "I get
quite fed up."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Chen May Yee]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB993141907651201968.htm)
MALAYSIA CONSIDERS CAFE RULES
Issue: Internet & Society
The Malaysian government is considering a law barring cybercafes from
staying open after a certain hour, offering violent video games, and
allowing children in school uniform to enter, among other rules. Over the
last five years, Malaysia has built a Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and
encouraged information-technology literacy by placing public computers in
rural post offices and on cyber-buses that travel to remote schools. "We are
actually in a dilemma," said Abdul Rahim Mohammad Noor, chairman of the
Impact working group of the government's National Information Technology
Council. "On one hand we are going to be a cyber-society, at the same time
you are seeing a lot of so-called negative and harmful effects of the
new-age technology."
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,44716,00.html)
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