DIGITAL DIVIDE
Isolated Tribe Struggles Without Phones, Power (LA)
G8 Sets Plan to Bridge Digital Divide with Poor (Yahoo)
FREE SPEECH
Net Reporting at Stake (Wired)
Report: China shuts down 2,000 Net cafes (CNN)
INTERNET & SOCIETY
Group Proposes Public Trust For Net-Content Development (WSJ)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
ISOLATED TRIBE STRUGGLES WITHOUT PHONES, POWER
Issue: Digital Divide
Just hours away from the Silicon Valley, the Yurok people of Northern
California live without either electricity or telephones." Nearly half of
the reservation's 500 homes exist without the simplest phone or electric
service and there are no phone lines to connect classroom computers to the
Internet. In response to the tribe's lobbying, the state Public Utilities
Commission this month required a local phone company to broaden its service
to the reservation. But the commission's ruling affects only 35 homes and
provides for a few pay phones. "In this technological era, our kids are
falling behind--they can't compete without phones and electricity," says
Yurok tribal Chairwoman Sue Masten. "The so-called Digital Divide is wider
here than any other place in California."
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: John M. Glionna ]
(http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-07212001-tribe.story)
G8 SETS PLAN TO BRIDGE DIGITAL DIVIDE WITH POOR
Issue: Digital Divide
In Genoa, Italy the world's big eight powers endorsed an action plan on
Saturday to bridge the ``digital divide'' with the poorest countries. The
Digital Opportunity Task Force was set up at last year's G8 summit in
Okinawa, Japan. ``Even a year ago, demonstrators were burning computers on
the streets of Okinawa saying that poor people need water and you can't
drink a computer,'' Vernon Ellis, a business executive who served on the
task force, told a news conference. ``In fact...there isn't a trade-off
between information and communication technologies and other development
needs. These technologies can make a real difference to health, to
education, to empowerment and to enterprise.''
[SOURCE: Yahoo, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010721/tc/group_technology_dc_1.html)
FREE SPEECH
NET REPORTING AT STAKE
Issue: Journalism
Free speech advocates warn that if a current New York state court accepts
jurisdiction over a libel case brought by the National Bank of Mexico
(Banamex) against two investigative reporters and their Web site criticizing
the drug war, then it would set a precedent allowing harassment of Internet
journalists by libel suits all over the world. The plaintiff Banamex is
arguing that Al Giordano of The NarcoNews Bulletin and Mario Menendez of the
Mexican daily Por Esto! knowingly printed lies in a series of investigative
stories that labeled the general director and majority owner of Banamex as a
cocaine trafficker. The case was previously thrown out three times by
Mexican courts, so Banamex is arguing that the case should be heard in New
York because the defendants have made public statements about the
investigative stories in New York, and that NarcoNews has a New York
Internet service provider and it has ties to New York organizations. The
defendants are arguing that the case should be dismissed because all
pertinent facts and events in the case are based in Mexico, and not New
York; and even if libel is found, the major site of harm would be in Mexico,
as well. Earlier in the week, Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a
friend-of-the-court brief defending Giordano and Menendez and urging the
court to refuse to hear the case, to prevent enabling "foreign plaintiffs to
forum shop abusively, subjecting online, independent journalists to foreign
laws and distant forums that will chill the Internet's free press."
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Mark K. Anderson]
(http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,45231,00.html)
REPORT: CHINA SHUTS DOWN 2,000 NET CAFES
Issue: Freedom of Speech
Almost 2,000 Internet cafes have been closed and 6,000 have been ordered to
suspend operation until changes are made, reports Chinese media on Friday.
China clamps down a second time in about a year on cybercafes, said Shanghai
Daily, to regulate the Internet service market in line with government laws.
Over 56,800 Internet cafes and bars have been the target of investigative
probe since April, the newspaper said.
[SOURCE: CNN.com, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/07/20/china.internet.reut/index.html)
INTERNET & SOCIETY
GROUP PROPOSES PUBLIC TRUST FOR NET-CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
Issue: Internet & Society
Former president of the Public Broadcasting System Lawrence K. Grossman and
former Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow are
partnering to invest in preserving public space online at the price of $18
billion. Grossman and Minow are pursuing their idea through the Digital
Promise Project, an organization recommending the creation of the Digital
Opportunity Investment Trust. The trust is envisioned as an agency chartered
by the federal government along the lines of the National Science Foundation
or the National Institutes of Health that would provide venture-capital
funding for educational and civic applications of digital technology. "The
potential exists to use these technologies in ways we can't imagine now.
It's worth investing in this," says Grossman. The Digital Promise Project is
proposing the federal dollars could come from telecommunications industry
bids on wireless spectrum licenses, and would go toward buying public online
space for library and museum collections and technology training for
teachers. "You could have a virtual solar system, a 3-D model of a human
body or a re-creation of Mark Twain's America." (You can learn more at
www.digitalpromise.org.)
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: AUTHOR: Tom Weber]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB995840737736919399.htm)
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