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Cisco Government Affairs E-Update
Volume 2, Issue 16
16 April 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
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NEW Cisco Government
Affairs Videos -
Please visit the Cisco Government Affairs website and see these new
Cisco videos on the following topics:
Ø
Copyright Protection/DRM
– Jeff Campbell, Senior Telecom Policy Counsel
Ø
Broadband – Jeff Campbell
Ø
California Protective
Orders Issue – Michelle Peacock, State Government Affairs Manager
Ø
U.S. State Elections
– David London, State Government Affairs Representative
All these new videos
and more can be viewed at our multimedia site at: http://www.cisco.com/gov/multimedia/index.html
INTERNET STAT
OF THE WEEK: NET MOST IMPORTANT MEDIUM FOR KIDS - According to a study from Knowledge
Networks/Statistical Research (KN/SRI), one-third of children ages 8
to 17 say the internet is the medium they would choose if they could
only have one, topping television, telephone and radio. For boys, television
was a strong second choice, though girls ranked TV third behind the
net and telephone. http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/edemographics/20020410_kids.html
This Week@WASHINGTON, DC
COMMANDER
OF THE AIRWAVES - The FCC could be a big obstacle to recovery, unless
it can be overhauled by its chairman, Michael K. Powell. Powell, 39, a lawyer elevated
to the chairmanship by the Bush Administration a year ago, is a man
with a name--his father, Colin, is secretary of state--and a man with
a mission. Michael Powell vows to refashion the FCC into an outfit that
is fast, decisive and, above all, hands-off. This
is an agency that has spent a decade fumbling, albeit with good intentions.
Its wireless-spectrum auctions tempted smaller bidders, given special
terms in the auctions, to overreach and end up bankrupt, with valuable
airwave properties left for years in limbo. Some of the FCC's efforts
at social engineering, with incentives for minorities and women, were
outlawed by an appeals court. The agency deliberated over digital television
for a decade, giving away new spectrum to the old broadcast networks,
which still haven't used it. Its antiquated restrictions on the ownership
of TV stations and cable systems just got thrown out by a federal court.
Other FCC rules artificially block the wireless business from undergoing
a much-needed consolidation. The worst FCC disaster of all: its reading
of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which was supposed to deregulate
phone and cable, spark more competition, cut prices and spawn new services.
In the hands of FCC lawyers the law turned into thousands of pages of
gobbledygook that had the opposite effect. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2002/0429/078.html
BUSH SUPPORTS BUSINESSES
IN DEBATE OVER CHANGING OPTIONS ACCOUNTING - The Bush administration
is siding squarely with the business community in the escalating debate
over whether to account for stock options as a business expense, opposing
any changes in the way options are treated on financial statements. The stakes are high for the business community: Reported profits
would suffer if corporate-accounting critics get their way and the value
of stock options is subtracted from earnings. Stock options give employees
the right to buy a company's stock, in the future, at a predetermined
price. The more the company's stock price rises in the meantime, the
more valuable that right becomes. On
Monday, President Bush himself said stock options shouldn't be treated
as a corporate expense -- taking issue with Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan and some lawmakers. Mr. Bush went on to say that options
should be handled precisely the way they currently are in annual reports.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1018390978662248640,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us (Paid subscription required)
SPEECH: BRUCE MEHLMAN,
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR TECHNOLOGY POLICY AT THE COMMERCE DEPARTMENT,
gave a speech titled "Our Digital Future" to the European
American Business Council Digital Economy Workshop in Brussels, Belgium.
He advocated the benefits of new technologies, reviewed Bush administration
policy initiatives, and discussed pending technology related policy
debates. “I am happy to report that President George W. Bush and his
Administration are committed to strengthening America’s science and
technology capabilities. In fact, the common theme among our highest
priority issues right now - winning the global war on terrorism, protecting
Americans at home, and restoring robust economic growth - is using technology
to improve our world.” http://www.ta.doc.gov/Speeches/BPM_020410_DigitalFuture.htm
OP-ED: AN ENRON 'ELIXIR'
WOULD TRY TO CURE WHAT DOESN'T AIL US - By HARRIS N. MILLER, President
of ITAA - A wag once said that for every challenge, there is a solution
that is simple, straightforward--and wrong.
Unfortunately, that seems to be the case in the congressional
response to the Enron collapse. And the worst example of a wrong solution
to Enron is the Levin-McCain bill on stock options.
Proposed in the Senate by Michigan Democrat Carl Levin and Arizona
Republican John McCain, the bill would require the stock option tax
deduction to be reflected as an expense on a company's income statement,
reducing reported profit. It would have the harmful effect of limiting
the use of stock options, a form of employee ownership, for all but
the most senior executives. Levin-McCain takes away the incentive for
companies to encourage employee stock ownership, a practice that Congress
and other provisions of federal tax law have tried to promote. Never
mind that the tax on stock options is paid by the individual employee
who receives the benefit and usually at a higher rate than the company
would pay. If either the financial or tax costs of offering stock options
to employees is increased, as happens with Levin-McCain, companies will
be forced to limit option grants. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-000025759apr11.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dcomment%2Dopinions
OP-ED: STOCK OPTIONS
AND COMMON SENSE - By Warren Buffett - In 1994 seven slim accounting
experts, all intelligent and experienced, unanimously decided that stock
options granted to a company's employees were a corporate expense. Six
fat CPAs, with similar credentials, unanimously declared these grants
were no such thing. Can it really be that girth, rather than intellect,
determines one's accounting principles? Yes indeed, in this case.
Obesity -- of a monetary sort -- almost certainly explained the
split vote. The seven proponents
of expense recognition were the members of the Financial Accounting
Standards Board, who earned $313,000 annually. Their six adversaries
were the managing partners of the (then) Big Six accounting firms, who
were raking in multiples of the pay received by their public-interest
brethren. In this duel the Big
Six were prodded by corporate CEOs, who fought ferociously to bury the
huge and growing cost of options, in order to keep their reported earnings
artificially high. And in the pre-Enron world of client-influenced accounting,
their auditors were only too happy to lend their support.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16890-2002Apr8.html
FED CHAIRMAN STAYS FIRM ON IDEA THAT OPTIONS SHOULD BE EXPENSED - Alan
Greenspan may be the most respected figure in Washington, but eyes roll
and heads shake when the Federal Reserve chairman talks about the need
to count stock options as a corporate expense. And he won't stop talking
about it. President Bush disagrees, respectfully. "Alan
Greenspan is very smart. I'd hate to get into a debate with him on it,"
he said Monday in an interview in the Oval office. Securities and Exchange
Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt disagrees, too. Only a handful of members
of Congress back his cause -- either because they are incurable mavericks,
like Senator John McCain, or because they've reached the limits of their
political ambitions. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1018313716950777560,00.html?mod=politics%5Fsecondary%5Fstories%5Fhs
(Paid subscription required)
FCC
ISSUES ORDER ON REMAND IN CALEA PROCEEDING - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released an Order on Remand
in the proceeding titled "In the matter of Communications Assistance
for Law Enforcement Act". http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-02-108A1.pdf
DIGITAL-COPYRIGHT
BILL INSPIRES FLURRY OF CRITICISM
- A digital-copyright bill introduced last month has inspired howls
of protest from consumers and high-tech firms who say it could slow
technological advances and dictate how consumers listen to music or
watch videos at home. Well-connected lobbyists and everyday users alike
have flooded Congress with faxes and e-mails over the last several weeks
to lodge complaints against a bill that would prevent new computers,
CD players and other consumer-electronics devices from playing unauthorized
movies, music and other digital media files. Sen. Ernest Hollings' bill
is backed by media firms such as The Walt Disney Co., who fear fast
Internet connections and an array of digital devices such as MP3 players
and CD burners will encourage consumers to seek free copies of hit singles
and new movies. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=582&582&e=19&u=/nm/20020409/wr_nm/tech_media_piracy_dc_2
ANDREESSEN: COPY PROTECTION EFFORTS ARE
DOOMED - Netscape co-founder
Marc Andreessen told the nation's broadcasters that efforts to copy
protect music, movies or television shows are destined to fail. As film studios and recording studios urge Congress to extend copy
protection to every home entertainment device, Andreessen said the entertainment
industry need look no further than the software industry's own expensive,
failed attempts at encryption to realize it is ineffective at stopping
piracy. ``If a computer can
see it, display it and play it -- it can copy it,'' said Andreessen,
in a keynote address to the National Association of Broadcasters convention. Andreessen said the recording and broadcast
industries should recognize the explosive popularity of Napster and
successor song-swapping services for what they are: evidence of unmet
consumer demand and a terrific business opportunity. It should respond
with a volume of cheap digital music -- and an ad campaign that reminds
consumers that ``file swapping'' is merely a euphemism for theft.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3031836.htm
'GEEKPAC' TAKES ON
MICROSOFT, HOLLYWOOD, TAUZIN-DINGELL
- Two longtime Linux enthusiasts are calling on geeks everywhere
to join an ambitious new political action committee designed to blunt
the lobbying might of Hollywood, Microsoft and the Baby Bells.
Jeff Gerhardt, host of "The Linux Show," and Doc Searls,
senior editor of Linux Journal, are soliciting donations and volunteers
to jump-start an advocacy group called the American Open Technology
Consortium, and a new political action committee affectionately dubbed
"GeekPAC." The groups will attempt to educate lawmakers
from the developer's viewpoint, taking aim at such legislation as the
Tauzin-Dingell broadband deregulation bill, the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act, and legislation offered by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest
"Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C., that would mandate the inclusion
of copy prevention technologies in all digital media devices.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175789.html
This Week@EMEA
USING
IT TO FIGHT POVERTY - G-7 NATIONS
FIND A NEW FORM OF FOREIGN AID - PALERMO, Sicily An unusual coalition
of wealthy Group of Seven governments, leading multinational corporations,
nonprofit groups and developing countries is seeking ways to use the
Internet and information technology as a new form of foreign aid to
help alleviate global poverty. The public-private partnership, which was among
the top issues discussed during a two-day meeting here of 91 countries,
is called the Digital Opportunity Task Force, or DOT force. Members of the group will present their work
to President George W. Bush and other G-7 leaders attending their annual
summit meeting, to be held in June in the Canadian resort town of Kananaskis. Flanking the G-7's DOT force are aides to Kofi
Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, and James Wolfensohn,
the World Bank president, both of whom have taken a personal interest
in the new aid project. "The
real significance of this initiative," said Denis Gilhooly, director
of information technology aid projects at the UN Development Program,
"is that information technology will ultimately be integrated into
the mainstream of overseas development aid."
http://www.iht.com/cgi-bin/generic.cgi?template=articleprint.tmplh&ArticleId=54460
EUROPE
ELBOWS INTERNET CONTENT 'BLOCKING' - The
European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to oppose the use of "blocking"
as a way of regulating content on the Internet. The vote (460 in favour,
0 against and 3 abstentions) this morning means that ISPs will not be
forced to restrict access to Web sites.
Instead, they have been given the green light to continue with
self-regulation. Today's decision
has been welcomed by Louisa Gosling, President of the European Internet
Services Providers Association (EuroISPA), as a "forward looking
and informed decision". Said
Ms Gosling: "We are also very pleased that the Parliament has come
out strongly against blocking, which is not only a technically disastrous
solution, but also raises significant free speech and democratic concerns." http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/24808.html
BT
DEFIES BAN TO LAUNCH WI-FI NETWORK - British
telephone company British Telecommunications said Wednesday that it
plans to launch the nation's first commercial Wi-Fi network in June,
despite a ban on such businesses in the United Kingdom.
The carrier is trying to follow the lead of U.S. carriers that
have already added wireless Internet access into their mix of offerings.
These wireless networks can download Web pages at speeds much quicker
than a digital subscriber line (DSL). But their drawbacks include a
range of less than 300 feet and notoriously porous security. Despite
that, Wi-Fi networks have grown in popularity, finding a place in millions
of businesses and homes worldwide. VoiceStream Wireless sells Internet
access based on Wi-Fi, otherwise known as 802.11b, at about 600 Starbucks
throughout the United States. Nextel Communications said it intends
to add Wi-Fi to its stable of offerings, and Sprint is an investor in
Boingo, a commercial Wi-Fi service. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-880181.html,
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT32VP04UZC&live=true&tagid=ZZZPCGI2B0C
BT
TO UNVEIL NEW CHEAP BROADBAND OFFER THIS MONTH - BT Group said on Monday it will introduce a discounted high-speed Internet
access package in the coming weeks in a concerted push to hit its ambitious
goal of one million broadband customer by next summer. BT has temporarily
dubbed the new broadband package "Direct." It said it will
provide full details, including prices and which markets it is intended
for, on April 24. "All I can say now is it is seen as a mass enabler
for broadband. It's another way for BT to reach its goal of one million
new broadband connections by next summer and five million by 2006,"
a company spokesman said. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020408/wr_nm/telecoms_bt_broadband_dc_2
INTERNET FOR AIR TRAVELERS
ANNOUNCED - The pool of firms vying to provide airline passengers with
high-speed Internet service just got another player. Inmarsat Ltd.,
the British satellite communications firm, announced Tuesday it would
begin selling satellite bandwidth to fliers who wish to surf the Web,
send e-mail and eventually, watch television.
The service, called Swift64 and resold by four separate providers,
will be offered to corporate jet owners in June and to commercial airliners
by year's end, said Simon Tudge, an Inmarsat marketing manager.
Swift64 will offer data speeds of up to 64 kilobits per second,
equivalent to an earth-bound digital subscriber line, or DSL, connection. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&528&e=13&u=/ap/20020409/ap_on_hi_te/inmarsat_airline_internet_2
COMPUTER LIFELINE FOR
REFUGEES - Refugees in Belgium, mostly from the former Soviet republics,
Iran and Afghanistan, are being offered training in computer skills.
The program, offered at a refugee reception center in Kapellen, is run
by volunteers and relies on donated computers. "Experience with
computers can open new opportunities for the person, whether it is to
continue with language learning or with computer skills, or simply to
be able to access the Internet for news," said a representative
for the center, Rudi De Bleser. The project began in 1999 with two computers
donated by Oxfam and has since grown to include 27 computers and a volunteer
staff of computer experts to provide training to the 450 migrants who
await answers to requests for asylum. "We offer the opportunity
to acquire skills that may be useful to [the refugees] in Belgium as
well as in any other country, since only 20 percent gets a positive
result to their asylum request," said Bleser. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1917000/1917441.stm
FT CASSE LES PRIX DE
L'ADSL ET L'AUTORITÉ DE L'ART - France Télécom a cédé aux pressions
conjointes des opérateurs tiers, de l'ART, de la Commission européenne
et sans doute du gouvernement Jospin. Sans attendre l'homologation de
l'ART, l'opérateur historique propose une baisse de ses tarifs ADSL
d'environ 20 % pour « démocratiser le haut débit ». Les opérateurs concurrents
sont partagés entre satisfaction et réserve.
http://lettres.01net.com/u.asp?a=103998:62:3
INTERVIEW: GUILLAUME
KLOSSA (EBG) : « Le bas débit ne permet pas d'amortir les investissements
» Dans son Livre blanc sur «la généralisation de l'accès internet
à haut débit», l'European Business Group (EBG) prône la libre concurrence
pour relancer l'économie numérique. Guillaume Klossa, son vice-président
répond à nos questions.
http://lettres.01net.com/u.asp?a=103998:62:4
GERMANY - Regulator lowers one-time charges for access to the
"last mile" - Prices reduced as much as 24 percent. http://www.regtp.de/en/aktuelles/pm/02532/index.html
UNITED
STATES AND EUROPEAN COMMISSION AGREE INCREASED REGULATORY COOPERATION
- The United States authorities and the European Commission
today announced that they have developed guidelines designed to promote
more effective US-EU regulatory cooperation. In particular, the EU and
US will share better mutual access to the process of developing regulations.
EU Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society Erkki
Liikanen, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, United States Trade Representative
Robert B. Zoellick and US Commerce Secretary Don Evans welcomed the
Guidelines as an important mechanism for promoting a more positive US-EU
trade agenda. Under negotiation since late 1999, the completion of the
"Guidelines on Regulatory Cooperation and Transparency" has
been a priority initiative for the United States, the European Commission
and transatlantic stakeholders. http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/555|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=
COMMISSIONER LIIKANEN SPEECH: http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=SPEECH/02/140|0|RAPID&lg=EN
CASTRES ET MAZAMET RELANCENT LEUR EXPÉRIENCE PILOTE SUR LE HAUT DEBIT - Le
contrat signé, le 5 avril, avec Cegetel pour alimenter en services
de télécommunications le réseau de ces deux villes devrait leur permettre
d'attirer les activités et les entreprises, qui, depuis dix ans, ont
un peu boudé ce projet. La mayonnaise
du réseau à haut débit commence-t-elle enfin à prendre à Castres et
à Mazamet ? Les signes positifs s'accumulent, presque dix ans après
les débuts d'un projet d'infrastructures de élécommunications censé
être la clé du renouveau industriel de cet ancien grand pôle lainier
et textile du Tarn. Vendredi 5 avril,
Philippe Germond, PDG de l'opérateur Cegetel, est venu y signer un contrat
engageant son entreprise à fournir pendant dix ans des services de télécommunications
s'appuyant sur le réseau mis en place. Ce dernier représente une infrastructure
haut de gamme, 30 kilomètres de fibres optiques enterrées, 155 Mbits/s
de débit ; "comme à la Défense", a-t-on coutume
de dire sur place. http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,5987,3228--270743-,00.html
E-VOTING
IN UK 'MUST BE POSSIBLE BY 2005' - Electronic voting in local and national elections must be technically
possible by 2005, local authorities will be told on Monday. The move
to develop the technical capacity for e-voting raises the possibility
of an online poll for the first time at the next general election. The government instruction follows approval
for 30 pilot projects testing alternative methods in the English local
government elections on May 2, including a trial of internet voting
in Liverpool and the use of electronic voting machines in Newham, east
London. Nick Raynsford, the
local government and regions minister, said the trials would help to
resolve security problems with electronic voting, including restricting
access to those entitled to vote. However, ministers believe electronic
voting has the potential to deliver a substantial boost in voter turnout,
which fell to 60 per cent in the 2001 general election and rarely reaches
much more than half that level in local elections.
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT30I1N7RZC&live=true&tagid=FTDDMJNIFEC
This Week@Asia/Pac
SOUTH KOREA: A DIGITAL SHOWCASE - Imagine
a vast urban landscape transformed into one big point-and-click gallery.
Leave your money, credit cards and checkbook at home. Sporting an infrared
equipped mobile phone, walk into any store, pick up a shirt or CD and
carry it to the clerk’s terminal. The clerk initiates the sale. Point
your phone and shoot your encrypted credit card information at the receptor. Almost instantly, an electronic receipt is beamed back to your phone.
No numbers to punch (or air time charge). No cumbersome barcode to download.
Elsewhere in the city, bus stops, toll gates and kiosks are similarly
equipped, making your excursion almost friction free. This scenario is becoming
a reality today in Seongnam (pop. 930,000), a densely urbanized suburb
of Seoul, Korea. It is part of the government’s three year plan to transform
this middle class municipality into the world’s “first digital city.” http://www.thefeature.com/index.jsp
TIBETAN
CULTURE GETS A TECH BOOT - At a gala recently at the opulent Russian
Tea Room in New York City, serene looking Tibetan monks rubbed elbows
with suited clients of a Silicon Valley company that boasts about having
survived the tech bust. This is a story about an unlikely marriage between
philanthropy and capitalism, and how it could very well help preserve
the culture of the people of Tibet. SCATTERED across Northern India, Nepal and Bhutan are
32 settlement camps, home to more than 122,000 Tibetan exiles displaced
from their native land by Chinese troops, who invaded the country 50
years ago. Just last month, action was begun in earnest to install a
computer in each of these settlements, and to wire each for Internet
access. Part of the bill for this project is being paid by a Web-based
customer relations management company, half a world away.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/737241.asp?0si=-
MORE
CHINESE HOPE TO LEARN, WORK ON HOME PCS
- More Chinese are showing interest in using computers at home for education
or work, but online shopping or e-commerce is proving slow to catch
on, according to a recent survey by market research group AC Nielsen.
In the past, getting onto the Internet to use e-mail, download music
and play games were the top services driving Chinese to buy PCs, according
to the study, which questioned 8,000 Internet users in Asia Pacific
countries including China. But among those Chinese consumers who planned
to buy a PC within the next six months, a growing number were showing
interest in other services. "What's more telling is the shift in anticipated functions,"
said Barry Tse, an AC Nielsen research director based in Beijing.
One third of Chinese planning to buy a PC said they hoped to
use it for education, compared to 23 percent of those who already owned
a PC, the report said. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&581&e=11&u=/nm/20020411/tc_nm/lifestyle_china_computers_dc_1
This Week@US STATES
MICHIGAN: COMCAST TO SPEED INTERNET
ACCESS - BROADBAND SERVICES TO HAVE DIFFERENT LEVELS - Comcast
Corp. plans to unveil a high-speed Internet plan with faster download
speeds designed for small businesses within the next few months.
Comcast could not say how fast the new levels of service would
transmit data or exactly how much they would cost, but the different
services will give customers different levels of bandwidth.
Its Internet service costs $39.95 a month for those who have
cable TV and about $10 more for those who don't. The new business plans
will cost more. Schaefer will
explain the Internet service tiers and how Comcast's network runs Thursday
when he kicks off the first of three forums on the state of broadband
services in Michigan, sponsored by Glima, an association of about 200
businesses that have interests in doing business on Web.
http://www.freep.com/money/business/bband10_20020410.htm
BILL WOULD FREE BELL
BROADBAND FROM REGULATORS - A bill to enable Southwestern Bell
of Oklahoma to expand its high-speed Internet service in the state easily
passed Wednesday in the state Senate, despite an argument it would limit
competition. The legislation,
House Bill 2796, removes Southwestern Bell's high- speed Internet service
from regulation by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Sen. Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, the bill's author, said no one else
is regulated in the field in Oklahoma.
This includes cable companies that have 70 percent of the high-
speed Internet service in Oklahoma, he said.
He said this legislation levels the playing field in high-speed
Internet service, also known as broadband communications. Sen. Bernest Cain, D-Oklahoma City, urged senators to vote against
the bill. "This is for
limiting competition," he said.
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=846618&pic=none&TP=getbusiness
BRANCHING OUT IN MONTICELLO
- Jefferson County, Florida's first branch library has been designed
to serve double duty as a community technology center. The library
branch will be housed in the Jefferson County Youth Council and Teen
Center and include five flat-screen computers plus 1,000 books.
The Jefferson County Main library often has a line of patrons waiting
to use the eight Internet-ready PCs. Verna Brock, director of
the Jefferson Country library, said, "In our county, a lot of people
can't afford their own computers and Internet. We provide a place
for them to train and become more familiar with technology. This
(branch) will help bridge the digital divide in Jefferson County."
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/3046769.htm
CALIFORNIA VENTURE
GROUP SEEKS TO FUND CHARTER SCHOOL 'BRANDS' - A nonprofit venture-capital
fund in Silicon Valley has raised $25 million to invest in networks
of charter schools, independent public schools that are seen as a promising
approach to education but have suffered from lack of management expertise
and access to capital. The New Schools Venture Fund hopes to raise
$50 million to create as many as six nonprofit charter-school management
organizations, each with a unique "brand" identity. Within
five years, the fund expects the networks will run a total of 80 schools
serving 30,000 students. Los
Angeles billionaire Eli Broad, through his foundation, pledged as much
as $10.5 million for the charter-school management effort and promised
millions more to launch a revolving fund to finance facilities for charter
schools. Charter schools receive state funding based on student enrollment
but generally don't have access to school buildings or other state-funded
facilities. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB101840150642272760,00.html?mod=venture%5Fcapital%5Fprimary%5Fhs
(Paid subscription required)
FED CIO URGES STATE
PARTICIPATION - Mark Forman, who essentially is the chief information
officer of the federal government, urged his state counterparts on April
8 to participate in several federal initiatives to help foster citizen-centric
government. Forman, associate
director of information technology and e-government at the Office of
Management and Budget, outlined a number of government-to-government
initiatives, such as electronic grants, the e-Vital project for accurate
death reporting, disaster assistance and crisis response, the geospatial
one-stop program, and GovBenefits, among others that will begin testing
within the next six months. "At
the end of the day, this is about transforming government to give results
to the citizen," Forman said at the National Association of State
Chief Information Officers' midyear conference in Denver. http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0408/web-forman-04-09-02.asp
CIOS BUILD CASE FOR
BUSINESS - With budget revenues below expectations in most state governments,
getting information technology projects approved during the next two
years will require a strong business case, according to several experts
and chief information officers. During a roundtable discussion April
9 at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers' midyear
conference in Denver, a survey of about two dozen chief information
officers found that 57 percent said that building a business case showing
a return-on-investment (ROI) strategy is the single most important driver
of new funding for IT initiatives. http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0408/web-nascio-04-11-02.asp
EDUCATIONAL SHIPMENTS
OF iBOOKS ARRIVING IN MAINE - Nine Maine middle schools have received
their first shipments of 675 iBooks.
The program is part of the Maine Learning Technology Wireless
Classroom Solution to help Maine students "become one of the most
digitally capable groups in the world." In a contract that runs
through 2006, Apple will provide 36,000 iBooks to all seventh and eighth
grade students and teachers in Maine. Laptops will be shipped to seventh
grade students and teachers by fall 2002 and to eight graders in 2003.
The nine schools that are receiving their shipments early have
been selected to be Demonstration/Exploration Schools. They will serve
as laboratories and teacher training sites and share information about
their experiences at conferences. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=77&ncid=77&e=8&u=/mc/20020410/tc_mc/educational_shipments_of_ibooks_arriving_in_maine
STUDY SAYS N.C. NOT
FRIENDLY TO E-COMMERCE - You can finally buy wine online in North Carolina,
thanks to a court ruling this week, but the state still puts too many
limits on Internet commerce, critics say.
A state law passed in 1997 restricted online wine sales until
a ruling Monday by a federal judge in Charlotte declared the legislation
unconstitutional. But there are other laws in place that make it difficult
or downright illegal to buy some goods and services online, despite
the state's many achievements in building a tech economy and the touted
consumer benefits of e-commerce -- price, variety, convenience, prompt
service. For example: Find a great deal on a year's supply of soft contact
lenses at 1800contacts.com? You can't have them shipped to North Carolina
because the nation's largest online contact lens dealer doesn't meet
the state's criteria for a "dispensing optician," according
to the state Board of Opticians. http://www.news-observer.com/front/Business/v-print/story/1284331p-1318381c.html
MISSISSIPPI SCHOOLS
RECEIVE POWERUP GRANT - The Mississippi Department of Education has
received funds from PowerUP, a non-profit initiative which seeks to
bridge the digital divide across the nation. The Mississippi Department
of Education awarded funds from PowerUP to 50 schools across the state.
Known as PowerPALS in Mississippi, the program provides computers, printers,
software and Internet accounts for school labs. But PowerPALS is not
just for students: the labs remain open into the early evening for those
in the community who wish to further their education or gain more computer
skills. http://www.djournal.com/djournal/site/articles/news/988821.htm
SILICON VALLEY HAS
VOICES IN SACRAMENTO, AND SOMETIMES THEY'RE HEARD - WHEN Silicon Valley
went calling on Sacramento last week, it was government right out of
a civics textbook. Appointments were made with elected representatives.
The visitors were courteously received. Positions were urged upon legislators,
who either hastened to agree, politely demurred or vowed to cogitate
deeply until their indecision vanished. This was not, needless to say, the complete picture of lobbying
in Sacramento. But it would be a mistake to dismiss it simply as a charade.
Not all that happens in the Capitol is partisan calculation and trolling
for campaign dollars. The delegation
embodied Silicon Valley the geographic region, not just Silicon Valley
the business dynamo. The Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, the Santa
Clara County supervisors and the Santa Clara County Cities Association
gathered people from businesses and local government to meet with legislators
over two days. It was the sixth year for such a trip.
http://www.prod.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/columnists/phil_yost/3008694.htm
OTHER
TECH STORIES OF THE WEEK
THE BENEFITS OF BROADBAND
- Many governments around the world including South Korea, the United
Kingdom, Canada, Japan and others have instigated national policies
to drive the adoption of high-speed internet. Why? What benefits or
potential benefits are there in widespread broadband adoption?
US Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps says: "The
transformative potential of broadband technologies is, I believe, akin
to the major infrastructure developments that built America to greatness."
http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/technologies/20020404_at.html
(Part I) http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/technologies/20020411_at.html
(Part II)
TELECOM FIRMS IN BROADBAND
BUSINESS GET RELIEF FROM RIGHT-OF-WAY RULES -
Telecommunications
companies' complaints against local governments are getting the attention
of the Bush administration and state governments. The telecom industry
is claiming that municipalities are making it too difficult to continue
broadband expansion. In response to the complaints, more and more state
legislatures have passed laws limiting the municipalities rights to
regulate use of the their streets and other "rights of way".
Seventeen telecom companies have formed a lobbying group called Industry
Rights-of-Way Working Group to ask the FCC to limit government fees
to "only the actual and direct costs incurred in managing"
public rights of way. FCC Chairman Michael Powell has said that
there is a "growing concern about rights of way as a barrier"
and the FCC will "tee up and put the spotlight on these issues."
Local officials are saying telecom companies are trying to blame them
for industry problems stemming from a glut of fiber and that the telecom
industry seeks to avoid paying for damage to the streets when installing
new wires. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1018403314933037360,00.html?mod=telecommunications%5Fprimary%5Fhs
(Paid subscription required)
FREE-SPACE OPTICS OFFER FAST DATA WITH FEWER PHYSICAL LINKS - When LifeSpan BioSciences sought to move its burgeoning
data center last April to a new building three blocks away, it faced
having to shut its research labs for a few months. That's how long it
would take to tap fiber-optic lines buried in the street and establish
a high-speed connection between labs in the old building and databases
in the new. Instead, LifeSpan used laser beams to zap data between the
buildings. It took about two weeks to get the system up and running.
The technology, called free-space optics (FSO), is emerging as
one way to avoid the bottleneck that occurs when fiber-optic lines don't
extend the ''last mile'' to offices. Instead of spending time and money
to tap into those lines, companies can use laser beams to relay massive
amounts of data from building to building -- or from a building to one
from which it can more easily be shifted to a fiber-optic line for transmission
over greater distances. The laws of physics tightly constrain FSO.
It can be used only where there is a clear line of sight between buildings
-- which can be rare in crowded cities. Bad weather and obstructions
can interfere with the beam, thus data transmission. And beleaguered
telecommunications companies are too distracted to do much with the
infant technology. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20020411/tc_usatoday/4018160
HOME
NETWORKS: A SHOCKING IDEA - Connect
a HomePlug device to an Internet feed and suddenly the high-speed Web
courses through your home power wires. What can emerge from a standard
electric outlet besides electricity? Starting now, the Internet. Swapping
information over power lines isn't new. Systems like X10, Cebus and
LonWorks have long used those wires to send smidgens of data for controlling
appliances and other devices. But grander schemes for bigger data flows
have been short-circuited by light dimmers and hair dryers that broadcast
heavy-metal levels of electrical noise into the wires. http://biz.yahoo.com/fo/020429/home_networks_a_shocking_idea_1.html
WORLDWIDE I.T. SPENDING
POISED FOR RECOVERY - After years of double-digit growth, worldwide
spending on information technology, or IT, screeched to a halt in 2001.
According to a study by the Aberdeen Group, IT spending will begin to
recover this year, but growth will be nothing like it was during the
tech boom in the late 1990s. Aberdeen, a market analysis firm, said worldwide
IT spending grew just 0.2 percent last year, including a 0.4 percent
decrease in the U.S. Hugh Bishop,
senior vice president at Aberdeen and lead author of the study, told
Newsbytes the first quarter of 2002 was "not anything stellar,"
but he believes a turnaround will begin this year due to pent-up demand. "Many companies have put things off for
the past 12-15 months," said Bishop. "The economy is picking
up, and there is more capital available in Europe and the U.S. than
there was last year." Total
IT spending was $1.21 trillion last year, Aberdeen said. The firm said
it foresees a 3 percent growth rate from 2001 to 2002, with IT spending
of $1.24 trillion this year. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175829.html,
http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/ebusiness/20020411_ab.html
RIAA BLASTS GATEWAY'S DIGITAL
MUSIC CAMPAIGN - Gateway plans to add even more support
for digital downloads. The company reportedly is negotiating with several
record companies to provide downloadable music on its Web site. The
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has charged that a
Gateway (NYSE: GTW) advertising campaign that declares support for digital
music downloads uses "misleading scare tactics" to frighten
consumers into buying more of the company's products. Gateway, the fourth
largest PC maker in the United States, launched a radio, television,
Web and in-store advertising campaign Wednesday in an effort to rally
support for consumers' rights to download music from the Internet.
"If only they would devote a little bit of the millions
of dollars they're spending on this ad campaign to help stop illegal
downloading ... but that wouldn't help them sell more CD burners, would
it?" RIAA president and CEO Hilary Rosen asked rhetorically. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17220.html
MICROSOFT, I.B.M. AND
VERISIGN TO COOPERATE ON WEB SECURITY - Microsoft, I.B.M. and VeriSign
plan to announce a new technical approach today that they hope will
ensure greater security and thus stimulate commercial development of
an emerging Internet technology called Web services.
Web services is the term used to describe clever software that
in theory could bring a new level of automation and greater productivity
to all kinds of online transactions among companies, suppliers and consumers.
Yet the new, unproven technology — which uses the Web to find and share
data in electronic databases of companies or individuals — has stirred
concerns about data security and personal privacy. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/11/technology/11WEB.html
(Free registration required)
FACTS AND STATS:
DUTCH ONLINE SPENDING
GROWS - Online spending in the Netherlands rose by 50 per cent in 2001,
a new study by Blauw New Media, commissioned by the Dutch organization
HBD, has shown. http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357813&rel=true
INCREASE IN ONLINE
SALES IN CANADA - Canadian businesses increased sales of goods and services
over the Internet in 2001, according to a new report from Statistics
Canada. http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357806&rel=true
GLOBAL HOME NET ACCESS
GROWS - Home Internet users account for almost one eighth of the world's
population and this number is still rising, findings from Nielsen//NetRatings
have shown. http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357811&rel=true
TWO MILLION ADSL SUBSCRIBERS
IN JAPAN - Reuters reports that subscriptions to high-speed Internet
access ADSL services in Japan have passed the two million mark. http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357801&rel=true
SEX OUT, ECOMMERCE
IN - A new report from Penn State University indicates that Internet
users
are spending less time
searching for sexually orientated material, and more time looking for
useful information.
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357809&rel=true
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
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Positions in articles
and papers from outside sources are in no way endorsed by Cisco Systems'
Office of Government Affairs. We offer articles on topics of interest
to our audience to further the debate on the issues that are important
to high-tech. To view our positions
on the policy matters that we care about, please visit our Government Affairs homepage. – http://www.cisco.com/gov
CISCO.COM/GOV AND E-UPDATE
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