MEDIA & SOCIETY
Democracy Needs Many Voices (NYT)
MTV: Battling Hate Online (WP)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Internet Access To Expand In Brazil (NYT)
India's Fixed-Line Deregulation Draws Ire of Cellphone Industry
(WSJ)
E-COMMERCE
States Mulling E-sales Taxes (USA)
FCC
F.C.C. Member Won't Seek Another Term (NYT)
FCC Suspends of the Broadcast and Cable EEO Outreach Rules (FCC)
MEDIA & SOCIETY
DEMOCRACY NEEDS MANY VOICES
Issue: International
As Communism in Eastern Europe was crumbling, Secretary of State James Baker
called for international support for independent broadcasting in the
emerging states of the collapsing Soviet Union, in a speech delivered in
Prague in 1990. Nothing raises more fear in a repressive regime than
challenges to the control of information. And nothing is more important to
the development of a civil, democratic society. Press freedom, especially in
broadcasting, remains threatened in many former Soviet and East Bloc
countries, and in China the democratizing power of the Internet is stalled.
Free elections may be a first step in establishing the rule of law, but
there can be no multiparty elections without a multiplicity of news outlets.
Given the long history of Republican advocacy of First Amendment rights
abroad, President George W. Bush and policymakers should put American
support for uncensored news outlets at the top of their foreign policy
agenda.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A23), AUTHOR: David Hoffman]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/01/opinion/01HOFF.html)
(requires registration)
MTV: BATTLING HATE ONLINE
Issue: Internet
When MTV launched an Internet discussion board, Fight for Your Rights, where
users could address issues related to hate and violence, it quickly became a
forum for the expression of bigotry and hatred. MTV has decided to censor
any of the posts, including those that promote prejudice, hoping that
viewers will learn from reading bigoted expressions. Some, however, believe
that MTV needs to offer more guidance in the chat area if they want anything
good to come out of the discussions. Marc Weiss, the founder and executive
producer of Web Lab, a New York-based nonprofit that specializes in creating
productive online discussions, says unmediated discussions often "turn into
'flame' wars. The people who are the most passionate start butting heads,
and then the people who really want to talk don't want to stay there."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C04), AUTHOR: Kimberly Shearer Palmer]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10869-2001Jan31.html)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
INTERNET ACCESS TO EXPAND IN BRAZIL
Issue: Digital Divide
A new government program to build, sell, and finance low-cost computers,
could mean millions more Brazilians soon surfing the Internet.
Communications Minister Joao Pimenta da Veiga Filho said that the government
will make new PCs available for between $200 and $250, which poorer
Brazilians will be able to purchase for installments of around $10 a month.
Industry estimates now put the number of Brazilians who regularly surf the
Net at between 8.5 million and 14 million, by far the most of any South
American country.
[SOURCE: New York Times (Online), AUTHOR: ASSOCIATED PRESS]
(http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Brazil-Cheap-Computers.html)
(requires registration)
INDIA'S FIXED-LINE DEREGULATION DRAWS IRE OF CELLPHONE INDUSTRY
Issue: Digital Divide
India has opened its fixed-line phone business to unlimited competition,
hoping to quickly improve its archaic phone system. A new government policy
says anyone can start a fixed-line company in India as long as basic
requirements are met. But a provision that allows fixed-line companies to
operate wireless-in-local-loop networks, or WLL, a sort of poor man's mobile
phone, is driving the cellphone industry crazy. Advocates of WLL as a means
of expanding basic phone services say it will cut down on the costly,
time-consuming need to string wire into every home. Even as the industry
challenges WLL before a government tribunal, cellphone operators are
themselves racing to get into the fixed-line business. Allowing fixed-line
phone business to operate wireless services is a like a death knell to the
cellular industry. But while India may be deregulating, it's still not among
the most liberal telecom markets. For instance, transmitting voice traffic
over the Internet is still illegal.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A19), AUTHOR: Jesse Pesta]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB980966111150149119.htm)
(requires subscription)
E-COMMERCE
STATES MULLING E-SALES TAXES
Issue: E-Commerce
Some governors and lawmakers want to standardize tax codes from state to
state to try to capture sales taxes on things bought over the Internet, in
an attempt to stave off billions in lost revenue. Technically, online
purchases are subject to state sales taxes, but it is usually up to the
buyers to pay. And Few people do so. As a result, states are projected to
lose up to $20 billion a year in unpaid e-commerce sales taxes by 2003,
according to a study cited by the National Governors Association. The
governors association, with state lawmakers and others, is pushing
legislation to make it easier for states to capture such taxes. Even if
states buy into this approach, they will be relying on e-sellers to
voluntarily collect and send taxes to the states - at least until Congress
acts or a Supreme Court ruling is overturned.
[SOURCE: USA Today (Online), AUTHOR: The Associated Press]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-01-31-states.htm)
FCC
F.C.C. MEMBER WON'T SEEK ANOTHER TERM
Issue: FCC
Harold Furchtgott-Roth, one of two Republican commissioners on the Federal
Communications Commission, has declined to seek a second term on the
five-member commission. "There comes a time when every free-market advocate
in government must fulfill his dream by returning to the private sector,"
Mr. Furchtgott-Roth said. Mr. Furchtgott-Roth was often critical of agency's
attempt to regulate new technologies which he said hampered development and
innovation.
[SOURCE: New York Times (Online), AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/01/business/01ROTH.html)
(requires registration)
FCC SUSPENDS OF THE BROADCAST AND CABLE EEO OUTREACH RULES
Issue: Jobs
On January 16, 2001, a court of appeals found certain requirements in the
Federal Communications Commission's new broadcast and cable EEO rules to be
unlawful and therefore vacated the broadcast rule in its entirety. This
week, the FCC ruled to suspend the EEO outreach program rules for broadcast
and cable pending issuance of the Court's mandate and assessment of the
Court's decision.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Orders/2001/fcc01034.txt)
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