Cisco Government Affairs E-Update

Volume 2, Issue 1

04 January 2002

Brought to you by Cisco Government Affairs Online: http://www.cisco.com/gov

This Week@Cisco in Government Affairs

Cisco's E-Update keeps you up to date on the major policy news of the week. Focusing on broadband, education and e-government areas, but covering high-tech and telecom in general, the E-Update is a great source of information for state, federal and international policymakers. To subscribe, send a message with “subscribe” in the subject line to “Subscribe-eUpdate@cisco.com

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This Week@WASHINGTON, DC

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), January 4, 2002 -

“High-speed, broadband Internet access has become an indispensable tool for businesses, schools, libraries, and hospitals. And access to this service is fast becoming the line between the haves and have-nots in the information age. We should create tax credits, grants, and loans to make broadband service as universal tomorrow as telephone access is today.”

Full Speech: http://democrats.senate.gov/~dpc/releases/2002-1-4a.html

STATEMENT OF LAURA IPSEN, CISCO’S VICE PRESIDENT OF WORLDWIDE GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS:

“Cisco thanks Leader Daschle for drawing attention to the importance of broadband for our economy. His vision in recognizing broadband as a conduit for education, increased productivity and other purposes is vital to the future of our nation. We look forward to continue working with the Majority Leader on broadband and other technology issues.”

ASSOCIATION COMMENDS DASCHLE - The Alliance for Public Technology Commends Senate Majority Leader Daschle for Commitment to Universal Broadband Access - The Alliance for Public Technology (APT) applauds Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle for his recognition of the importance of broadband services to America's future. Senator Daschle's call for ``making broadband Internet access as universal as telephone service'' reinforces the need for a national broadband policy that will bring the life-enhancing applications of high-speed services to all Americans. APT encourages Senator Daschle to now use his leadership to advance this goal in Congress. With economic uncertainties, widening gaps between information rich and information poor, and no coherent national policy, millions of Americans, particularly underserved communities such as people with disabilities, Native Americans, and rural residents, are even more at risk of not receiving advanced services. Senator Daschle's commitment to universal availability of advanced services will help these marginalized communities enjoy the myriad benefits available through broadband services. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020104/dcf019_1.html

DEMAND GROWS FOR NET SERVICE AT HIGH SPEED - It has been a tumultuous year for providers of high-speed Internet service. Three companies that offer it over phone lines filed for bankruptcy. So did the leading provider of high-speed Internet service over cable TV systems, Excite@Home. And the largest cable company, AT&T Broadband, spent much of the year trying to decide its future before finally falling into the arms of Comcast last week. While each of these events had some effect on customers, nothing has deterred an increasing number of Americans from signing up for high-speed — or broadband — Internet access. "Despite the recession and the demise of many of the providers, broadband is one of the technologies that consumers continue to spend money on," said Jed Kolko, an analyst with Forrester Research. "Given the choice, they will upgrade to broadband before they buy a new PC." http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/24/technology/ebusiness/24DSL.html

THREAT OF TERRORISM ON U.S. INFRASTRUCTURE - Even before the World Trade Center towers fell, Richard Clarke was working to make the nation's computer networks, and the myriad industries and institutions that they connect, more secure. Mr. Clarke, a former Clinton administration official for counterterrorism, was working within the Bush administration to shore up the cyberspace portion of the nation's critical infrastructure, and to increase cooperation between business and government on security issues. In October, Mr. Clarke was named special adviser to the president for cybersecurity within the new homeland security team. He was also named chairman of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, which will try to protect essential national systems like the power grid and telecommunications networks. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/31/technology/ebusiness/31TECH.9.html

U.S. EASES SOME CURBS ON EXPORTING TECHNOLOGY - The White House loosened the limits yesterday on exporting high-performance computers and microprocessors, saying the move was aimed at helping change the nation's export controls to focus on "truly sensitive goods and technologies." Under the new guidelines, American companies will be required to notify the Commerce Department of proposed exports of computers to certain restricted countries when systems are faster than 190,000 Mtops, or millions of theoretical operations a second. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/03/technology/03EXPO.html

FCC ALLOCATES ADDITIONAL SPECTRUM FOR NEW WIRELESS SERVICES - The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order reallocating 27 megahertz of spectrum transferred from Federal Government use for new flexible services. The Order reallocates a number of small spectrum blocks transferred pursuant to the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The 27 megahertz of reallocated spectrum is in the 216-220 MHz, 1390-1395 MHz, 1427- 1429 MHz, 1429-1432 MHz, 1432-1435 MHz, 1670-1675 MHz, and 2385-2390 MHz bands transferred from Government to non-Government use. These actions will benefit consumers by permitting and encouraging the introduction of new and innovative wireless technologies while at the same time preserving the primary status of Wireless Medical Telemetry Services and elevating Low Power Radio Services in the 216-217 MHz band, which include auditory assistance and law enforcement applications, to primary status. http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/News_Releases/2001/nret0108.html

FCC set to expand wireless frontier Ultra-wideband could help quake victims, police - Regulators are poised to approve a breakthrough wireless technology despite concerns by airlines and cellphone carriers about interference. The versatile technology, ultra-wideband (UWB), is expected to revolutionize industries such as consumer electronics. Among other things, it could let consumers set up wireless cable TV networks at home, help rescuers find earthquake victims in rubble and greatly improve collision-avoidance systems. The Federal Commu-nications Commission is expected to OK the technology next month, paving the way for product rollouts this year, say people familiar with the matter. http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020103/3743093s.htm

SECURITY EXEC PICKED FOR BOARD - Howard Schmidt, Microsoft Corp.'s chief information security officer, is in line to be vice chairman of the federal Critical Infrastructure Protection Board. President Bush announced Dec. 21 his intention to nominate Schmidt to the board, which Bush created to coordinate the protection of the government's and the private sector's critical cyber assets. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1231/web-cipb-01-02-02.asp

FCC CABLE CHIEF KEN FERREE TO DELIVER LUNCHEON KEYNOTE ADDRESS; Nancy Victory, Top Policy Experts Featured at Broadband Industry Conference -Ken Ferree, chief of the FCC's Cable Services Bureau, will deliver the luncheon keynote address at ``Broadband Outlook 2002: Vision, Strategy, Implementation,'' a one-day conference to be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington on Jan. 23. Ferree, the FCC's point man for broadband development, joins morning keynoter Nancy Victory, administrator of NTIA, for a one-two policy punch from the perspectives of the Bush Administration and the FCC. Other experts appearing on a policy panel will include Robert Pepper, chief of the FCC's Office of Plans and Policy; noted economist Thomas Hazlett; and former FCC official Dale Hatfield, chair, Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Dept., University of Colorado at Boulder. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020103/dcth016_1.html

This Week@INTERNATIONAL

TOP BRITISH FIRMS HAVE POOR WEBSITES, STUDY SAYS - Britain's leading companies are ''woefully inadequate'' at providing corporate information on their Web sites, according to a study released Monday. It said half the companies listed on the London stock market's main barometer, the FTSE 100 blue-chip share index, did not give their share price on their Web sites or put it where it was hard for shareholders to find. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011231/wr/tech_britain_websites_dc_1.html

BT'S NEW CHIEF HAS THE CAPACITY TO SURPRISE - The newly appointed chief executive of British Telecommunications is scheduled to begin work on February 1. Few other jobs in British

industry have attracted quite so much attention, or criticism, in recent years and 2002 is unlikely to be any different. http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=166389374&i=442936&d=2164985

SECOND UMTS LICENCE CONTEST STARTED IN FRANCE: On 31 December 2001 the French government launched its second beauty contest for the two outstanding UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) licences. http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=7489

ITALIAN SMES SLOW ON TAKING UP THE INTERNET: Italian SMEs are approaching the internet with a conservative attitude, according to recent research by GoToWeb.

http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=7481

200,000 ADSL CONNECTIONS IN BELGIUM: According to the Belgian telecom operator Belgacom, which rents out all ADSL-lines, the country currently has some 200,000 connections. This is five times more than a year ago. http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=7495

KOREA TELECOM TO EXPORT BROADBAND SERVICES - Korea Telecom is planning to export its expertise in high-speed internet services to markets such as China and Japan in an effort to establish itself as a global force in the telecommunications industry. http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=166389374&i=440904&d=2158789

U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY CONGRATULATES TAIWAN ON WTO MEMBERSHIP - The U.S. Department of Commerce issued a press release January 2 congratulating Taiwan on officially becoming the 144th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1, 2002. http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/topic/econ&f=02010202.eec&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml

This Week@US STATES

ILLINOIS, KANSAS TOPS IN ONLINE STATE GOVERNMENT - Prairie states Kansas and Illinois topped a survey of U.S. state governments' online efforts on Thursday, outpacing high-tech hubs such as California and Massachusetts. Maryland ranked fourth in a national survey to be released today that gauges how well state governments use the Internet and other digital technology to provide help and services to residents. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020103/wr/tech_states_dc_1.html

Virginia did not rank among the survey's top 25 performers, and the District was not included in the study. The survey measured how the states used online technology and two-way multimedia applications to deliver services in 2001 for eight categories, including electronic commerce, taxation, social services, law enforcement and education, as well as providing state policy, agency information and voting materials online.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49764-2002Jan1.html

FIGHTING INTERNET TAXES TO THE END - Virginia Gov. James Gilmore may be about to ride off into the sunset, but he's still taking aim at Internet taxes. Gilmore, who this month will step down as chair of the Republican National Party and leave office as governor, has long been a proponent of keeping the Internet tax-free. As chairman of the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, Gilmore led a faction that resisted efforts to recommend any kind of Internet taxes to Congress, even though the stance prevented the commission from reaching any kind of consensus. More recently, Gilmore stepped into the Capitol Hill debate over whether to extend the Internet Tax Freedom Act. Going against many other governors and state leaders, Gilmore advocated that Congress extend the moratorium without worrying about whether states could tax Internet sales. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1014-201-8354714-0.html

VIRGINIA GOVERNOR COMPLETES CABINET, INCLUDING TECH CZAR - Gov.-elect Mark R. Warner (D) completed his state Cabinet appointments, naming a globe-trotting expert on information services as Virginia's technology czar and Democratic women to be his patronage chief and the state secretary of administration. George C. Newstrom, 55, who is well known in Northern Virginia business circles as a local leader and executive of Electronic Data Systems, will be only the second person to serve as the state secretary of technology, a post created by retiring Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59483-2002Jan3.html

MARYLAND IS BUILDING E-MAIL LINK TO DOCTORS - A private medical group in Maryland is compiling a registry of physician e-mail addresses so governments can send updated clinical advice to private doctors during bioterrorism incidents. So far, 5,500 of the state's 10,200 practicing physicians have registered their e-mail addresses with MedChi, the state medical society. Since September, MedChi has relayed more than a dozen alerts, mostly on anthrax and smallpox, to the e-mail addresses. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A54548-2002Jan2

OTHER TECH STORIES OF THE WEEK

FCC GRANTS BOEING LICENSE FOR IN-FLIGHT BROADBAND - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission granted Boeing Co. a license to provide high-speed Internet service to airline passengers. Boeing said the FCC approval clears the way for its planned in-flight Internet service, called Connexion by Boeing, which will enable airlines and other commercial jet operators to offer real-time, high-speed Internet and intranet access, television and e-mail above U.S. territory and waters. http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/011227/n27149102_1.html

SANTA WEB SITE HITS STRIDE DURING HOLIDAYS - A Web site that tracked the worldwide journey of Santa Claus Christmas Eve, NoradSanta.org (http://www.noradsanta.org), was the fastest growing domain among surfers at home during the week ended Dec. 30, according to Internet audience measurement service Nielsen//NetRatings. The site attracted 1.2 million unique visitors, soaring about 441 percent from 221,000 surfers the previous week. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020104/wr/tech_netratings_dc_6.html

GLOBAL MIGRATION TRENDS REFLECT ECONOMIC OPTIONS - As business moves around the globe, workers are on the move as well, leaving their home countries to escape economic dislocation or search for better opportunities, according to a new analysis of migration trends by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The agency reports that while family reunification remains an important reason for people to move abroad, people are just as likely to move for employment reasons today. Latin Americans, Africans and Asians continue to move to the United States, Australia and Canada, but they are increasingly moving to Europe as well, particularly the United Kingdom, Norway, Portugal and Belgium, according to the report. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54205-2002Jan2.html

FTC OKS FOUR ISPS FOR SERVICE ON AOL TIME WARNER'S CABLES - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has endorsed a batch of Internet service providers (ISPs) AOL Time Warner has invited to provide competitive Internet access through the communication and media giant's cable systems. The FTC approval Thursday of four ISPs - three of them regional service providers - helps shore up AOL's compliance with open- access conditions the regulator placed on its approval of the America Online/Time Warner merger. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/173277.html

MORE U.S. WOMEN SHOP ONLINE THAN MEN - Women outshopped men on the Internet during the holidays for the first time ever, infiltrating a retail realm once dominated by young, wealthy white males, according to a national survey released yesterday by a nonprofit research group. Of the 29 million Internet users who bought gifts online between Thanksgiving and Christmas, about 58 percent were women, up from 50 percent last year, the Pew Internet & American Life Project found after polling more than 2,000 adults with Internet access. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49305-2002Jan1.html

RISE OF INTERNET 'BORDERS' PROMPTS FEARS FOR WEB'S FUTURE - It is the modern-day equivalent of a border sentry. When visitors try to enter UKBetting.com, a computer program checks their identification to determine where they're dialing in from. Most people are waved on through. Those from the United States, China, Italy and other countries where gambling laws are muddy, however, are flashed a sign in red letters that says "ACCESS DENIED" and are locked out of the Web site. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59227-2002Jan3.html

ONLINE CENSUS CAPTURES THE IMAGINATION - What a boon the internet is to amateur anthropologists everywhere. Seeming to act sometimes as a huge social experiment, the net occasionally vouchsafes unsuspected insights into the strange things that turn other people on. The latest is old census statistics. http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=166389374&i=442934&d=2164927

RELIGION CLICKS WITH INTERNET USERS - More people in the U.S. use the Internet to get religious and spiritual information than to look for dates, gamble or trade stocks, research has

found. One in four Internet users - 28 million people - have turned to the Net for inspiration and 3 million people make such online visits every day, according to Pew Internet and American Life survey findings. "The most popular online religious activities are solitary ones," Pew said. "Most

Religion Surfers treat the Net as a vast ecclesiastical library and they hunt for general spiritual information online." http://www.washtech.com/news/media/14389-1.html

FACTS AND STATS:

ONLINE E-TAILING DONE RIGHT - According to the Nielsen/NetRatings Holiday eCommerce Index, the group of e-tailers deemed "fastest growing" for the 2001 holiday season were lead by value-oriented sites. Columbia House grabbed the top spot with more than 25 million shopping trips to the site in November and December 2001, a 219% jump from 2000. FingerHut.com came in second with 144% increase to 8 million visits. OverStock.com came in third with 13 million with a 107% gain.

E-RETAIL IN SOUTH KOREA - According to a Newsbytes.com article, the Korean government reports that online sales in the country totaled KRW 218.3 billion ($211.65 million) in October 2001 - down 5.7% from September, but up from the KRW 272.2 billion ($204.8 million) generated online in August. Online retail sales accounted for 1.9% of the country's total retail in October 2001, an increase from 1.2% in October 2000. The article also mentions that the National Statistics Office counts 2,015 business-to-consumer websites as of October 2001.

WIRELESS WORLDWIDE - A report by the Strategis Group predicts that 483 million wireless handsets will be sold worldwide in 2002, which is a 17% increase. Many of the sales will be to replace existing devices rather than first time buyers. Markets in the Asia-Pacific region will grow by 40% and overall one-third of the world's population will own a wireless device by 2008.

For Facts and Stats on the New Economy, visit our Facts and Stats page. Also, see our special State of the Internet report on this page. For daily, topical Facts and Stats visit our Hot In Tech page.

CISCO GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS@2001

Cisco’s top policy focuses for 2001 are the areas of Education, Broadband Deployment and eGovernment. To read or listen to our thoughts on these issues, please visit our Government Affairs home page or our visit our multimedia section . http://www.cisco.com/gov/multimedia/index.html

E-UPDATE ARCHIVE

To view past issues of Cisco’s Government Affairs E-Update, visit our E-Update Archive page . http://www.cisco.com/gov/archive/eupdates/index.html

DISCLAIMER

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