Communications-Related Headlines for July 18, 2002

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Cable Customers Get Digital Recording Option

DIGITAL DIVIDE
Not Just Closing a Divide, But Leaping It

CENSORSHIP
Why Countries Make Sites Unseen

COMPETITION
FCC's Policy Would Deliver Deathblow to Local Phone Competition
FTC Seeks Greater Authority Over Telecom Sector

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

CABLE CUSTOMERS GET DIGITAL RECORDING OPTION
In a decision that seems at odds with positions in other parts of the
empire, AOL Time Warner announced that it will offer new cable set-top boxes
that will allow customers to pause and digitally record television programs.
Just last week, Jamie Kellner, chairman of AOL Time Warner owned Turner
Broadcasting System, warned that television viewers could expect to start
paying for channels if personal video recorders (PVRs) have significant
negative impact on advertising revenue. Time Warner Cable, who will offer
the boxes in an attempt to compete with satellite TV, say that their devices
will not allow the controversial ad zapping feature that has frightened so
many in the entertainment industry.
[SOURCE: USA Today]
(http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2002-07-18-cable-recorder
s_x.htm)

DIGITAL DIVIDE

NOT JUST CLOSING A DIVIDE, BUT LEAPING IT
For four days in July, more than 100 young people from the United States and
abroad came to Boston to share and further their computer accomplishments.
Started in Boston in 1993, the Intel Computer Clubhouse program has grown
into an international network of 50 Computer Clubhouses. The Clubhouses are
designed to provide a place for young people in low-income areas to really
explore and develop their interests. The Computer Clubhouse program is
exactly what is needed, according to many educators. As the Bush
administration uses data on increasing computer access to cut federal
efforts to close the digital divide, many educators and technology experts
say that the challenge is far more complex than just providing access. What
young people need is more programs, like the Computer Clubhouse, to develop
fluency with advanced computer hardware and software.
[SOURCE: The New York Times, AUTHOR: Michel Marriott]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/18/technology/circuits/18CLUB.html)

CENSORSHIP

WHY COUNTRIES MAKE SITES UNSEEN
With the full cooperation of the Saudi Arabian Internet Services Unit, which
is responsible for routing and filtering all international Internet traffic
in the country, Harvard law professor Jonathan Zittrain and researcher
Benjamin Edelman tried to access nearly 60,000 Web pages through Saudi
servers. They discovered about 2,000 sites to be blocked by the Saudi
government, one of dozens of governments around the world trying to control
content their citizens see online. A new Harvard Law School study examines
the pattern of censorship of governments around the world. "You can get a
sense of what worries a regime by what sites they block," said Carin
Karlekar, a senior researcher at Freedom House, a pro-democracy group. "In
Saudi Arabia, the government's more interested in clamping down on personal
freedom than on political freedom. But in China, they're more concerned
about political subversion than personal morality, so news sites are the
ones that are censored."
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Noah Shachtman]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,53933,00.html)

COMPETITION

FTC SEEKS GREATER AUTHORITY OVER TELECOM SECTOR
At a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on Wednesday all five Federal
Trade Commissioners pressed Congress for authority to regulate the nation's
largest telecommunications providers in an effort to shield consumers
against aggressive telemarketers and questionable billing practices. Draft
legislation that would grant much of the FTC's request focuses on funding
for new consumer protection measures, and does not seek to involve the
commission in telecommunications merger and competition proceedings, which
are currently decided by the FCC in consultation with the U.S. Justice
Department. But Mozelle Thompson, one of two Democratic commissioners on the
FTC, said he hopes the commission can use the added authority to weigh in on
competition proceedings within the telecom sector. Consumer groups support
the FTC move, arguing that the agency responsible for policing the industry
- the FCC - has failed to crack down on carriers accused of billing
consumers for unauthorized services and "slamming," the illegal practice of
changing a consumer's telephone service without permission.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Krebs]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14569-2002Jul16.html)

FCC's POLICY WOULD DELIVER DEATHBLOW TO LOCAL PHONE COMPETITION
Yesterday, consumer groups filed reply comments with the FCC charging the
Commission to "affirm its current list of unbundled network elements to
foster competition and avoid further disrupting the already precarious
competitive phone carrier market." The FCC proposes rewriting regulations
that currently require incumbent phone companies to open their local phone
networks to competition. "The Federal Communications Commission and its
Chairman, Michael Powell, must bear significant responsibility for the
current telecom crisis," said Dr. Mark Cooper, Director of Research,
Consumer Federation of America. "Less than a month after Powell took over as
Chairman, he tilted the scales in favor of large monopoly incumbents by
declaring his preference for deregulation before competition, a policy he
continues with this rulemaking." The consumer groups fear that by
eliminating competition, the FCC will doom customers to be captives of
monopolies with the power to raise prices, limit service and ignore customer
service.
[SOURCE: Consumer Federation of America]
(http://www.consumerfed.org/backpage/071702_UNEReplyReleasefinal.html)

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