INTERNET
World Leaders take Fresh Look at Digital Divide (ITWeb)
Hacker Group to Release Anti-Censorship Software (USA)
Tauzin-Dingell Debate Launches Telecom Hub Internet TV Channel (WP)
FCC
Broadcasters Ask Senate to Let F.C.C. Loosen Rules (NYT)
FCC Awards '3G' Licenses (WP)
MERGERS
Comcast's Bid for AT&T Unit May Call for Complex Plays (WSJ)
JOURNALISM
Katharine Graham Dies at 84 (WP)
INTERNET
WORLD LEADERS TAKE FRESH LOOK AT DIGITAL DIVIDE
Issue: Digital Divide
World leaders attending the Group of Eight nations meeting this weekend off
the coast of Genoa, Italy are expected to adopt a new framework for
development aid that will address the electronic gap between rich and poor
nations. The groundwork for the plan was laid at last year's Group of Eight
meeting where the world's most industrialized nations called for affordable
technology and appropriate regulatory policies targeted to the needs of
developing nations. The challenge at this year's follow-up meeting is
whether the study and planning over the past year can induce an increase in
funding commitments sufficient to shrink the digital divide. The G8's
Digital Opportunities Task Force developed the nine-point action plan to
make communications services affordable and to reform regulations that
hinder the growth of information services that world leaders are positioned
to adopt at the G8 meeting. "No one is talking about putting satellites into
space or putting fast fibre optics across Africa." said Zoe Baird, president
of the Markle Foundation. "What we are talking about is incremental
developments."
[SOURCE: ITWeb, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2001/0107181035.asp)
TAUZIN-DINGELL DEBATE LAUNCHES TELECOM HUB INTERNET TV CHANNEL
Issue: Broadband/Internet
TVWorldwide.com and the Telecom Hub, a Washington-based telecom industry
networking group, are partnering in this week's launch of a new Internet
"TV" channel for the telecom industry, TelecomHub.tv (http://telecomhub.tv).
The site will premiere today with a live, interactive Webcast of a panel
debate over the Tauzin-Dingell Bill. The debate's audience will be able to
submit questions via chat and e-mail - a live audience at the event will
also be able to question panel members. The bill, the Tauzin-Dingell
Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001, is currently before
Congress. The legislation would reopen the 1996 Telecommunications Act and
give Bell companies the right to enter the long-distance data business. The
one-hour Tauzin-Dingell debate is set for July 18, 2:30PM EDT, at
http://www.telecomhub.tv.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Kyle Balluck]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/telecom/11237-1.html)
HACKER GROUP TO RELEASE ANTI-CENSORSHIP SOFTWARE
Issue: Freedom of Speech
The group of hackers "Hactivismo" will release new software later this year
to allow people to access Web sites censored by their governments, raising
the bar in the race between free speech advocates and government censors
over control of Internet information. Lead developer Oxblood Ruffin told
Reuters, "We believe that access to information is a basic human right
guaranteed by law. It is going to be an arms race." The software, called
"Peekabooty," will use a distributed privacy network to get around filters
blocking access to material considered political or pornographic by
governments like United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, China and
North Korea. Hactivismo is a group of about 30 volunteers ranging from
lawyers to human rights activists based in the United States, China, Canada,
Europe, Israel, Taiwan and South Korea. "Hacking is finding things out. It
is knowledge, especially when things are hidden, obscure and important,"
said Patrick Ball, deputy director of AAAS's Science and Human Rights Action
Network. Bell reported that his organization has used technology to save
lives and bring abuses to justice.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-07-17-hackers-anti-censorship.
htm)
FCC
BROADCASTERS ASK SENATE TO LET F.C.C. LOOSEN RULES
Issue: Broadcasting
Yesterday, executives from Viacom and the Tribune Company urged the Senate
to let regulators loosen or eliminate the rules that have restricted the
largest broadcasters from growing bigger and owning newspapers. But Senator
Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina, the new Democratic chairman of the
Commerce Committee, said that the rules had already been relaxed too much
and that what remained of them was central to preserving local programming
and a diverse array of voices on the airwaves. Recently, a federal appeals
court struck down the rules limiting the growth of cable television
companies to 30 percent of the market and temporarily suspended the limit on
a broadcast company's reaching more than 35 percent of households. With its
purchase of CBS, Viacom now reaches 41 percent of the nation's households.
The company has lobbied Congress and the F.C.C. to eliminate the rules, and
is scheduled to make its case before the Federal appeals court later this
year.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stephen Labaton]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/18/business/media/18MEDI.html)
(requires registration)
FCC AWARDS '3G' LICENSES
Issue: Spectrum
The FCC has awarded licenses to Seattle billionaire Craig McCaw and seven
others to provide satellite phone access and other new communications
services. The firms that will receive licenses are Boeing, Celsat America,
Constellation Communications Holdings, Globalstar, Iridium, Mobile
Communications Holding, TMI Communications and McCaw's ICO Services.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Staff Writer]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/telecom/11249-1.html)
MERGERS
COMCAST'S BID FOR AT&T UNIT MAY CALL FOR COMPLEX PLAYS
Issue: Mergers
In response to a bid from Comcast at $40 billion for AT&T Broadband, AT&T is
expected to reject the offer as not high enough but signal its willingness
to auction its cable business off to the highest bidder, according to
insiders. AT&T would benefit by giving the impression of a fierce
competition for the cable business, and already speculation on Wall Street
is rising about what rivals will try to top Comcast's bid and how the battle
for AT&T Broadband will play out. Comcast will need to strengthen its stance
and exact excellent timing to win the bid, say deal brokers and investors.
For Comcast to win it could play out a number of scenarios. Comcast could:
neutralize AOL's power to offer a counter-bid; raise its bid for AT&T to
bite, which some say is at least $70 billion; allow AT&T's board to have
some shareholder representation after the sale; appease rivals by, for
example, offering to trade resources; or wait and see what rivals step up to
the plate. If Comcast overpays, says Jeff van Harte of Trans-America Premier
Equity Fund, a major Comcast shareholder, the AT&T shareholders will lose
with lower Comcast shares. For Comcast, van Hart says, "the answer is do
nothing. I'm serious, dead serious."
[SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal, AUTHORS: Nikhil Deogun, Deborah Solomon
And Ken Brown]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB99542284689970973.htm)
JOURNALISM
KATHERINE GRAHAM DIES AT 84
Issue: Newspapers
In a moment of personal loss for the Washington Post, the paper today
devotes much ink to the life and death of Mrs. Katherine Graham. Mrs.
Graham, 84, who led The Washington Post Co. to prominence in the worlds of
journalism and business, died yesterday morning in Boise, Idaho. Mrs. Graham
was chairman and chief executive officer of The Post Co. and publisher of
The Washington Post. Under her watch the Post achieved some of its greatest
journalistic moments, including the publishing of the Pentagon Papers and
later its coverage of the Watergate scandal which led to Richard Nixon's
resignation from the presidency. Celebrated for her commitment to her
journalists, Mrs. Graham also led the Post to new heights in business during
her three decades of leadership, the Post's revenue grew nearly twentyfold,
the company acquired numerous new businesses, and it became a public
corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: J.Y. Smith and Noel Epstein]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9198-2001Jul17.html)
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