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Cisco Government Affairs E-Update
Volume 2, Issue 18
26 April 2002
Brought to you by Cisco
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This Week@Cisco in Government Affairs
Cisco's E-Update keeps
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U.S. State Elections
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This Week@WASHINGTON, DC
LAWMAKERS MOVE TO BLOCK
SPECTRUM AUCTION - More than 50 influential members of Congress from
both parties have co-sponsored legislation that would block the FCC's
planned auction of a valuable swath of airwave spectrum. The legislation,
spearheaded by W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) and John Dingell
(D-Mich.) would indefinitely postpone the auction. Tauzin spokesman
Ken Johnson said that the auction was premature. "This auction
is not ready for prime time. The FCC has no (third-generation wireless)
plan in place, they have no (high-definition television) plan in place
and most importantly, they have no spectrum management plan in place."
The FCC is scheduled to begin the auction on June 19, in compliance
with a congressionally mandated September 2002 deadline. FCC Chairman Michael Powell said he would feel
uncomfortable postponing the
auction unless he received
a directive from Congress to do so. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42737-2002Apr24.html
FCC
APPROVES PLAN FOR SHARING SATELLITE AIRWAVES - The Federal Communications Commission said this week it has approved
a plan that would let companies share spectrum used by satellite television
services as long as it does not create interference. The agency plans
to auction off the spectrum that could be used by bidders for a variety
of services, including pay television, similar to those offered by EchoStar
Communications Corp., as well as high-speed Internet access. "The
end result is one that this commission can and should be proud of --
efficient and effective spectrum sharing on a broad scale that allows
us to license an entirely new service," FCC Chairman Michael Powell
and Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said in a joint statement. The FCC
also denied the petition of three companies that sought to use the airwaves,
including one from NorthPoint Technology Ltd., which wanted to launch
a satellite and terrestrial system that would offer nationwide programming,
local stations and Internet service. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=581&e=7&u=/nm/20020423/tc_nm/media_fcc_satellite_dc_1
HIGH TECH TASK FORCE,
TREASURY SECRETARY O'NEILL, SENATOR NICKLES, INDUSTRY LEADERS URGE TRADE
PROMOTION AUTHORITY - At a news
conference, Senate Republican High Tech Task Force (HTTF) Chairman George
Allen (R-VA) urged the full Senate to quickly bring up and pass Trade
Promotion Authority (TPA), which he said will increase markets and opportunities
for technology enterprises and jobs. Senator Allen was joined
by Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, Senator Don Nickles (R-OK), and
representatives of the technology sector.
“American workers and technologists can no longer afford for
our trade policies to spin their wheels while others race by us,” Senator
Allen said. “Free and fair trade is crucial to the future of our
nation and our economy, and it is indispensable to the innovators, enterprises
and job-creators of the tech sector.” American enterprises exported $134 billion
in IT products in the year 2000 to more than 180 nations. Technology
jobs that are supported by exports have average hourly earnings that
are 34 percent higher than the national average.
“Clearly, technology continues to be a dynamic sector in our
economy, yet there remains much work to do,” Senator Allen said. Representatives of the Electronic Industry
Alliance and the Telecommunications Industry Association also spoke
today in support. (Senate High Tech Task Force Press Release: http://allen.senate.gov/HTTF/
REPORT SLAMS CABLE
ISP DEREGULATION - Federal regulators should not count on satellite
providers and phone companies to provide ample competition to cable
in the high-speed Internet market if regulators approve the $72 billion
merger between Comcast and AT&T's broadband unit, consumer groups
warned today. In a study released today, the Consumer Federation of
America (CFA) and the Computer & Communications Industry Association
noted that satellite and digital subscriber line (DSL) Internet access
providers serve largely different markets than the cable companies.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176083.html,
THE CFA STUDY: http://www.consumerfed.org/Intercomp.20020423.PDF
(Adobe file)
GREENSPAN CREDITS TECHNOLOGY
FOR RECOVERY - The country is emerging from what may be the mildest
recession on record, and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that a lot of the credit goes to technology
that allows businesses to adjust quickly to changing economic conditions. Greenspan said American economy, jolted by
the Sept. 11 terror attacks, has shown an "impressive ability"
to withstand some hard knocks, including a drop in the stock market
and a sharp cutback in capital spending by businesses, a key reason
the economy fell into a slump. Such
resilience likely reflected U.S. companies' use of computer and other
technology providing them with real-time information, Greenspan said.
That information was used to help companies better respond to
a changing business climate, he said. For instance, moving to whittle
stockpiles of unsold goods at early signs of a slowdown, rather than
adding to them. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&ncid=528&e=5&u=/ap/20020423/ap_on_hi_te/greenspan_5,
Greenspan speech: http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2002/20020422/default.htm
E-GOV CHIEF: FED WORKERS
“HUNGRY FOR CHANGE” - When he joined the Bush administration as its
chief e-government architect last summer, Mark Forman thought one of
his biggest problems would be "changing the culture of the government
workforce." He had visions of endlessly prodding federal employees
to embrace information technology and current management techniques.
What he discovered was a surprise. The federal workforce is "very
hungry for change," he told an international gathering of e-government
officials in Seattle April 17. "It was just everywhere you look.
Employees were saying, 'Give us a modern work environment.' " http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0415/web-forman-04-19-02.asp
DIGITAL-DIVIDE DISCONNECT
- [Commentary] The Bush administration's proposed 2003 budget calls
for the elimination of two critical digital-opportunity programs: the
U.S. Department of Education's Community Technology Centers Program
and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Opportunities Program.
Norris Dickard, Senior Associate at the Benton Foundation, agues that
these small programs have a big impact. He cites both research and reports
from the field testify to the value of these federal efforts in helping
to narrow the gap between technology haves and have-nots. With waning
private-sector investments because of the recession and state budgets
under the biggest crunch in years, Dickard says that the need for smart
public-private partnerships to bridge the digital divide is more important
than ever. http://www.edweek.org/ew/newstory.cfm?slug=32dickard.h21
SPEECH: U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director James Rogan gave a speech in Washington
DC titled "Digital Online Content: Creating a Market that Works".
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/speeches/digconf2002.htm
ECONOMIC VIEWPOINT
- Don't Throw Out Options Because Investors Took a Bath -
By Laura D'Andrea Tyson - In the 1990s, U.S. companies fell in love
with stock options as a way to reward their top leaders and to align
their interests with those of shareholders. Options encourage risk-taking
by providing considerable upside potential while limiting losses. In
such a world, options are a powerful incentive to act in ways that maximize
the value of shares and thus serve the interests of shareholders. Granting
options to motivate risk-taking, leadership, and hard work captured
the spirit of entrepreneurship, the belief in the efficiency of the
stock market, and the commitment to shareholder value that characterized
American market capitalism in the '90s. By the end of 2001, 90% of large
U.S. companies issued stock options, more than 10 million American workers
received them as part of their compensation packages, and options accounted
for about 60% of CEO pay. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_17/b3780033.htm
SPEECH: The Commerce
Department's Chris Israel gave a speech titled "Prometheans in
Alaska -- Education and Technology, the Foundation of our Future".
He spoke at the Educause Networking 2002 Conference in Washington DC. He praised the use of broadband technologies in education, such
as by the Chugach School District in Alaska, which recently won a Commerce
Department Baldridge Award. He also addressed government policies designed
to promote broadband deployment. http://www.ta.doc.gov/Speeches/CI_020417_edu-tech.htm
(FROM WWW.TECHLAWJOURNAL.COM)
This Week@EMEA
NEW EU REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
- Five legislative measures of the new EU Regulatory Framework on Electronic
Communications are published in the Official Journal. Member States
will, from this date, have 18 months (i.e. until 24 July 2003) to implement
them into national law. The
measures published in the OJ are: Framework Directive (2002/21/EC), Access and Interconnection Directive (2002/19/EC), Authorisation Directive (2002/20/EC), Universal Service Directive (2002/22/EC), Radio Spectrum Decision (676/2002/EC): http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/2002/l_10820020424en.html
BT LAUNCHES DIRECT
ACCESS BROADBAND - BT has unveiled its latest service for the high-speed
internet access market - a no frills product called BT Broadband. Described
by BT as a "complementary alternative to the ISP (internet service
provider) model" the service strips out extra services such as
e-mail and free personal web space.
The direct connection broadband service will offer the same speeds
as other ADSL products on the market, but will be cheaper than most
at £27 per month. Customers
will also pay a one-off connection charge of £60 and modems will have
to be bought separately. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1947000/1947909.stm
BT
SETS OUT 'NO FRILLS' BROADBAND STRATEGY - BT Group launched the 'no frills' service which will
be at the core of the operator's broadband strategy and account for
a big share of additional targeted revenue.
The service will give users high speed access to the internet
without requiring them to sign up to an internet service provider such
as AOL or Freeserve. By the summer of next year BT aims for 500,000
new residential customers for the service accounting for half the group’s
targeted planned growth in wholesale broadband sales. The broadband
product is being launched by BT Retail, the telecoms operator’s fixed
line business, and is part of aggressive plans by the division to grow
overall revenues by three per cent a year despite declines in voice
revenues of around 2 per cent annually. http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT32YQS8F0D&live=true&tagid=ZZZPCGI2B0C
TELEWEST OFFERS SUPER-FAST
BROADBAND - UK cable operator Telewest has stepped up the battle for
broadband this week, with the trial of a super-fast service. It intends
to offer its blueyonder service at double the speed of current broadband
offerings and 20 times faster than traditional dial-up services. Initially, the service will be tested among 1,500 householders in
Scotland with the aim of rolling it out nationwide by mid-summer. The price is as yet undecided. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1946000/1946373.stm
EU LEADERS TO LAUNCH
INFORMATION SOCIETY PARTNERSHIP WITH LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
- Ministers, Regulators, Private Sector and Civil Society
representatives from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean
will meet in Seville on 26-27 April 2002 to discuss means to establish
a long term partnership aimed at building an open, inclusive and democratic
Information Society in these regions. The @LIS co-operation programme
of the European Commission (see IP/01/1761) will be officially launched
on this occasion. A contribution to the Summit of Heads of State and
Government of the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean,
to be held on 17-18 May in Madrid, will also be prepared during the
event. http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/614|0|RAPID&lg=EN
EUROPEANS
EYE E-VOTE EVENTUALITY - In the
first flush of Internet fever, electronic voting was hailed as the miracle
cure-all for democracy's ills. E-vangelists argued it would engage young
people in the political process, invigorate democracy and bring voting
methods up to speed with current technology. These days, online voting
invariably comes with a health warning attached: Use only in carefully
controlled circumstances. All experts are now more or less of the opinion
that it is too soon to contemplate remote Internet voting -- in which
people vote from home or other unofficial locations -- on a large scale.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51838,00.html
GERMAN ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES
ARE LEGALLY BINDING - The German federal government decided on April
17th to allow the electronic signature as legally binding. The text
of the main decision is here: http://www.staat-modern.de/infos/daten/elektron_signatur.pdf
(in German only)
ITALY
: NATIONAL E-GOVERNMENT
PLAN - In the framework of the Public Administration Forum, the Office
of the Local Government e-government Development has promoted a seminar
to discuss among interested parties the main issues around the first
tender announcement. The day is intended to help private and public
parties in the drafting of project under the first tender as promoted
by the Ministry of Technological Innovation. The seminar can also be
followed via web by accessing the www.pianoegov.it web site. http://www.pianoegov.it/open.asp?cat=178&doc=827
FRENCH TURN TO WEB
TO BLOCK CANDIDATE - French voters desperate to block far-right leader
Jean-Marie Le Pen after his shock success in a presidential election
are turning to the Internet to rally support against him.
Webmasters are posting details of protests on personal sites
or setting up new ones urging voters to back conservative President
Jacques Chirac and keep Le Pen out in the final ballot on May 5.
The 73-year-old ex-paratrooper stunned France on Sunday when,
boosted by a record abstention rate, he ousted Socialist Prime Minister
Lionel Jospin to clinch a place in the final vote. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=582&ncid=582&e=3&u=/nm/20020425/wr_nm/france_election_internet_dc_1
MAJORITY OF EUROPEANS
WILL BE ONLINE IN 2006 -
Forrester Research forecasts that 67 percent of European consumers
will be online in 2006, equivalent to 200 million users. This marks
an increase of 28 percent on the current number of Internet users in
Europe, which is estimated to be around 116 million users. According
to Forrester, half of all Europeans now have access to the Internet,
but only three-quarters of these use the Internet on a regular basis.
Most users connect from home, with just 13 percent of online users having
access solely at work. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357861&rel=true
INTERNET UNITES KOSOVO
FOES - Years of conflict have taken their toll on the environment in
Kosovo. Environmental groups now hope to use the Internet
to enable Albanian and Serb activists to work together on solving problems
such as polluted rivers, smog and deforestation. "Most people don't
know there is an environmental problem," said Blerim Vela of the
Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe. "So
we decided there was a need for an electronic network so that they can
disseminate information about the environmental problems." The
network, called Sharri.Net, was set up in February and the website is
expected to be running by June. Funding for the network is coming from
the Norweigan Ministry of Environment and Dutch Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. The network will be housed in an office in Pristina, available
to all environmental groups. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1939000/1939121.stm
This Week@Asia/Pac
CHINA AT-HOME HEAD
COUNT #2 IN WORLD - New data showing that China now has the world's
second-largest Internet population does not come close to illustrating
the Net's staggering potential in a country where only one out of three
homes has a phone line. Some 56.6 million people have home Internet
access in China, second only to the U.S. Net population of 166 million,
Nielsen//NetRatings said. But China's home penetration rate of slightly
more than 5 percent leaves plenty of room for growth, said Hugh Bloch,
managing director of the Internet audience measurement service's North
Asia operation. "Consider
the Internet market potential when Internet household penetration rates
in China start to more closely resemble those in other markets such
as the U.S., South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong, where penetration
currently sits above 50 percent," Bloch said in a news release.
Twenty-five percent penetration in China would work out to an Internet
user count of 257 million people, he said. "The potential is staggering,
and it's a not-too-distant reality," he said. Data from the Chinese
Ministry of Information shows Internet subscription rates growing 6
percent a month. "At these kinds of growth rates, 25 percent Internet
penetration in China is only three or four years off," Bloch said.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176049.html
SK
MAY DELAY 3G TILL 2004 - SK Telecom, South Korea's leading mobile operator, said on
Thursday it might delay introduction of third-generation wireless services
by a year, to 2004, because of doubts about the technology's profitability. The South Korean company would be the latest
in a string of operators around the world to set back its schedule for
launching 3G telecommunications, amid concern about the heavy cost of
the networks and doubts about demand for the high-speed data services. SK's warning was particularly noteworthy because
South Korea, one of the world's most advanced wireless communications
markets, was expected to be a global leader in 3G services. http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3RJVG6H0D&live=true&tagid=ZZZPCGI2B0C
JAPANESE
TECH COMPANIES SET FOR ISP VENTURE - Four leading Japanese high-technology companies plan
to join forces offering internet services in an effort to cut costs,
a move that brings consolidation of the industry one step nearer. NEC, Matsushita, KDDI and Japan Telecom are
forming a consortium to procure high-quality content for broadband internet
services offered by their internet service providers. The combined subscriber base of the consortium will be more than
10m, dwarfing Japan's other ISPs. The
new consortium, which brings together two of the largest electronics
manufacturers and the second - and third-largest telecommunications
operators in Japan, aims to begin operations in June.
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3XTQULC0D&live=true&tagid=FTDDMJNIFEC
SRI
LANKA PRESIDENT LAUNCHES HER OWN WEB SITE - Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga,
often at odds with the government that now controls the state media,
will launch a Web site on Tuesday to give her version of events, her
office said. The (www.presidentsl.org)
Web site will give details on "key policy initiatives and programs
spearheaded by the president and the president's views with regard to
the current peace process," said a statement from Presidential
Secretariat. After Kumaratunga's People's Alliance lost last December's
parliamentary elections, the party has had trouble getting its message
across through the state media. Kumaratunga, who wields sweeping powers
under the constitution and will remain in office until 2005, backs plans
for peace with the island's Tamil Tiger separatists but disagrees on
the methods the government is using to reach a deal.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=582&582&e=18&u=/nm/20020422/wr_nm/srilanka_president_dc_1
BURMESE
GET GLIMPSE OF SUPERHIGHWAY - In the elegant bungalow that is home to Bagan Cybertech, a
housewife seeking information on foreign education for her daughter
and a commodities trader looking for price data have signed up to join
Rangoon's version of the internet revolution.
Until recently, Burma's 50m citizens have been almost totally
cut off from the global information superhighway, denied access by a
military government fearful of the consequences. Only a handful of senior
officials in government ministries have been allowed to surf the net,
while another 4,000 people can send and receive e-mail, presumably monitored
by authorities. But last month Bagan Cybertech, a "semi-government"
company under the auspices of the defence ministry, and its private
joint venture partner, Maykha, launched a minor internet offensive.
It began accepting public subscribers to a new service - BaganNet -
that combines e-mail accounts with access to a handful of carefully
screened sites on the world wide web.
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3GYTEDF0D&live=true&tagid=FTDDMJNIFEC
TELEWORKING PROVES
POPULAR IN AUSTRALIAN STATE - Nearly 10 percent of the workforce in
Australia’s most populated state, teleworks, according to data from
the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Nearly one quarter of a million
people in the New South Wales region worked from home during normal
business hours between August and October 2001. This is equivalent to
8 percent of the local population. A further 12 percent worked at home
after normal business hours, according to ABS. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357848&rel=true
This Week@Americas
International
SPEED UP BROADBAND,
OTTAWA TOLD
- A national technology trade association is stepping
up the pressure on the federal government to help ensure all Canadians
have broadband Internet access. The
Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance, whose mandate is to promote the
growth of the industry, is attacking the federal government's national
policy on broadband access through a campaign called e-Canada!, which
it launched Tuesday evening. The
government had proposed an ambitious project to ensure broadband access
was made available to all Canadian homes and businesses by 2004, but
in its recent budget it scaled those plans back drastically. Instead,
the government has now pledged to make broadband "widely available
to Canadian communities" by 2005. "Unfortunately, the federal government's
commitment to this [broadband] goal appears to have faltered,"
Larry Boisvert, president and CEO of Telesat Canada, a CATA member,
said at the launch of the e-Canada! Initiative at the Smart City Summit
in Ottawa. There are 6,000 communities
in Canada and 4,700 of them (22 per cent of the population) do not have
high-speed Internet access available to their area, according to the
latest government figures. http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/RTGAMArticleHTMLTemplate?tf=RT/fullstory_print.html&cf=RT/config-neutral&slug=gtcata&date=20020424&archive=RTGAM&site=Technology
CANADA STILL TOPS IN
E-GOVERNMENT - For the second consecutive year, Canada has emerged as
the top rated country in Accenture’s e-government study. Rounding out the top five countries behind Canada were Singapore,
U.S., Australia, Denmark and the United Kingdom. The study found that
the gap between Canada and Singapore is rapidly closing, with an overall
score differential of less than one per cent between the two nations.
Canada’s e-government initiatives focus on the importance of grouping
online services around citizens and business’ needs and priorities,
says Accenture. For example, the Canadian government launched a portal
— www.gc.ca — in 2001 that provides a single point of access to 450
federal Web sites. http://itworld.ca/rpb.cfm?v=20021140004
DESPITE THE TECH DOWNTURN,
ONLINE SALES ARE QUIETLY BLOOMING IN CANADA - If the Internet
had lived up to its hype, the lumber traders on the floor of Canfor
Corp. would likely be out of jobs. The Internet, it was claimed in the
heady days of the late 1990s, was supposed to get rid of middlemen like
Canfor's lumber traders and bring buyers and sellers directly together
in one vast electronic marketplace. Costs would plunge and productivity
would surge and everyone would get rich.
It was a fantasy of course. The Internet bubble imploded and
e-commerce became a dirty word. But despite the tech wreck, recent data
show e-commerce is quietly blooming in Canada. And while the United
States felt the full force of the Internet meltdown, Canada has had
timing on its side. Because they didn't embrace the Internet rush, Canadian
companies avoided some of the pitfalls that felled many of U.S. dot-coms.
http://www.nationalpost.com/
E-MEXICO
MARKS COUNTRYS ENTRANCE INTO THE DIGITAL AGE - President Vicente Fox declared his intention to bridge his country's digital
divide to more than 400 delegates at Microsoft's Government Leaders
Conference. The conference featured presentations from government officials
throughout the world. In a live videoconference, Fox said the digital
revolution is comparable to the emergence of agriculture, the invention
of the press and the industrial revolution.
Fox's speech came on the heels of an announcement made Wednesday
that Mexico entered into a partnership with Microsoft to develop digital
community centers in rural parts of the country where Internet access
is unavailable. Fox said he and his technology team have committed to
an aggressive agenda to bring more than 2,000 localities in Mexico into
the Digital Age by 2006, with computer and Internet access available
in even remote regions of the country. Fox said the National e-Mexico
System is designed to create social change and economic improvement
for the country's 100 million citizens. "Digitalization is … increasing
social and political complexity and calling for radical institutional
shifts," he said. http://www.govtech.net/news/news.phtml?docid=2002.04.19-3030000000006201
MEXICO
PRESIDENT TO HEADLINE ONLINE COLLEGE GRADUATION - Mexico President Vicente Fox will be the keynote speaker
at the Englewood, Colo.-based Jones International University (JIU) commencement
ceremony on May 13, according to JIU, the first fully-online U.S.-accredited
university. Fox was chosen because
of his e-México online teaching initiative, which seeks to make Internet
connectivity available to more Mexicans, including taking online teaching
to all 130,000 of the country's schools. The president "is actively
working to make e-learning more widely available in his country,"
JIU said in a statement. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=582&582&e=14&u=/nm/20020422/wr_nm/mexico_fox_university_dc_2
YAHOO!
TO OFFER FREE INTERNET ACCESS IN BRAZIL - The Brazilian unit of Web giant Yahoo! Inc.
plans to launch a free Internet access service this week through a joint
venture with local telecommunications company Brasil Telecom . Yahoo!'s
Brazilian press relations said the company would lay out the new venture's
details soon. It is still unclear whether Yahoo! will also attempt to
move into the paid-Internet access market in search of new revenue sources
to offset a decline in advertising sales.
Yahoo! has offered broadband Internet access in Japan since September
2001 and began offering high-speed Web access in the United States in
November last year. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020422/wr_nm/tech_brazil_yahoo_dc_1
This Week@US STATES
BYPASSING THE CARRIERS,
A BURG GOES BROADBAND - After years of waiting for the phone company
(Verizon) to offer high-speed Internet service, the local government
of Cumberland, Maryland is ready to take matters into its own hands.
Cumberland, population 21,000, is facing a quandary familiar to much
of rural America: the cost of upgrading the telephone system's wires
to offer high-speed data service (DSL) is prohibitively expensive. As
a result, phone companies prefer to invest where the population density
guarantees a return on their upgrade investment. As a result, many local
governments are making the leap into providing DSL services for their
communities, in essence, going into competition with the phone companies.
Small cities and towns who have rolled out their own broadband systems
are finding themselves in legal battles with telecommunications companies.
Jim Baller, a Washington-based lawyer who represents the American Public
Power Association, an alliance of more than 2,000 community-owned utilities,
sides with the local government broadband initiatives. Says Baller,
"If local governments are not free to fill some of these gaps,
what we'll see happening is what happened in the electric power industry."
Electrification, he said, took government initiative in the most rural
areas. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/25/technology/circuits/25BROA.html
TROUBLED CALIFORNIA TECH AGENCY FACES ELIMINATION
- In what may finally spell the end for the troubled agency charged with
overseeing California's multibillion-dollar technology systems, San
Jose Assemblyman Manny Diaz abandoned his defense of the Department
of Information Technology and joined a growing chorus of lawmakers calling
for its elimination. Diaz dropped
legislation to reauthorize the department, citing a state audit released
last week that blasted the department for pushing a more than $120 million
contract with Oracle last year without verifying the need for the software.
The audit was sparked by a Mercury News investigation that exposed problems
with the contract. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/3119804.htm
JACKSON CONTINUES PUSH
FOR TECH DIVERSITY - The Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking at the third annual
Rainbow/PUSH Silicon Valley Project conference Wednesday, said that
Silicon Valley corporate boards are no more diverse than when his non-profit
first raised the issue three years ago. Jackson said the group's goals
have ``evolved'' to issues such as expanding opportunities for minority-owned
firms to do business with large corporations, increasing access to capital
for minorities and women and bridging the digital divide in poor communities.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/3132349.htm
LESS
EXECUTIVE TRAFFIC ON BRIDGE OVER DIGITAL DIVIDE - Apparently, it's getting harder to find a tech executive
with time to worry about the Digital Divide anymore. Of the many high-wattage
chief executives who kicked off Rev. Jesse Jackson's Digital Connections
conference three years ago, only Intel's Craig Barrett is on the agenda
this year. Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina has much bigger problems
on her hands in a Delaware courthouse. Even John Thompson, the African
American chief executive officer of Cupertino's Symantec Corp., had
to cancel to take care of a client issue. But Jackson, whose annual
San Jose conference brings together corporate leaders with minority
entrepreneurs, executives and job seekers, hasn't entirely lost his
knack for bringing in the big names. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is
scheduled to go straight from testifying in Washington, D.C., to San
Jose in order to speak at Jackson's third annual Silicon Valley conference.
Yesterday, Gov. Gray Davis addressed a luncheon Jackson put on to talk
about opportunities for small minority-owned businesses in California.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/04/25/BU195858.DTL
DIGITAL DIVIDE LIVES,
FEW PEOPLE CARE - The digital divide still is very much alive, but U.S.
corporations and the federal government have unfairly abdicated their
roles in helping to bring
the Internet to U.S.
citizens regardless of their race or class, said former U.S. Commerce
Undersecretary Clarence "Larry" Irving. "We're a nation
online?" Irving said, noting that 60 percent of African-Americans
don't have any Internet access, nor do 70 percent of Hispanic-Americans.
Speaking at the Computers Freedom and Privacy 2002 conference in San
Francisco, Irving responded to an earlier speaker's assertion that the
U.S. should view the digital divide situation as a "glass that's
half-full," Irving said, "Lady, for the folks who don't have
access, it is completely empty." Irving, who made the digital divide
a front-and-center issue for the Clinton
administration, said
that the Bush administration's elimination or scaling back of several
important programs to close the divide also reveals a basic lack of
desire to make the Internet a ubiquitous tool in the U.S. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12299-2002Apr18.html
WEST VIRGINIA CTO RESIGNS
- Keith Comstock, West Virginia's chief technology officer, will resign
his position May 10 — a move that also affects state governments' representation
on the federal CIO Council. "It
was a personal decision," said Comstock, who was appointed in January
2001 and ran the West Virginia Governor's Office of Technology. "We're
trying to make a nice smooth transition, but I decided it was time to
look for a new challenge." Comstock,
who handed in his resignation two weeks ago, also was the National Association
of State Chief Information Officers' ({www.nascio.org/} www.nascio.org)
liaison to the federal CIO Council. Rock Regan, Connecticut's CIO and
the current president of NASCIO, said April 24 that Ohio CIO Greg Jackson
had been tapped to replace Comstock on the federal council. http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0422/web-nascio-04-25-02.asp
MARYLAND COUNTY HIGH
IN ONLINE ACCESS - A new study, "eReadiness: Assessing our Digital
Opportunities," has revealed that the Annapolis, Maryland area
has the most reliable and speedy Internet connections in the state.
However, Phillip Singerman, executive director of the Technology Development
Group said the study also revealed that many small businesses, schools
and homes are not taking full advantage of the Internet. Income and
education levels were closely connected to personal computer use. Thirty-one
percent of high school graduates earning less than $50,000 a year reported
having a computer at home. Ninety-one percent of graduates earning more
than $50,000 had used computers at home. The next phase of the study
will involve using the data to develop public policy aimed at increasing
use of information technology in Maryland. http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/live/04_20-17/TOP
OTHER
TECH STORIES OF THE WEEK
THE INVISIBLE LIGHTNESS
OF BEAMS - Company promotes Internet access via laser beams that zap
through windows. - Look! Up in the sky, it's a ... well, actually, you
can't see it. But it's there. A
company called Terabeam recently landed in Los Angeles and announced
plans to "send invisible light beams through the air downtown."
Hoping to meet some UFO wackos, we trekked to a Wilshire Boulevard
skyscraper and passed through a security checkpoint. Ascending to the
20th floor, we were greeted by humanoid creatures who--to our great
disappointment--insisted they were from a Seattle suburb, not another
galaxy. Even so, Terabeam is an odd enterprise. Founded five years ago
by an eccentric inventor, the company delivers high-speed Internet access
via laser beams zapped through office windows. It might sound like science
fiction, but Terabeam is actually borrowing technology developed by
the military during the Cold War, when submarines used blue-green lasers
to chat with satellites. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000027771apr19.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dtechnology
STUDY: GOVERNMENT SITES
"SOPHISTICATED" - Treating citizens more like customers has
helped governments around the world become "increasingly sophisticated"
in their use of the Web, a new study has found.
Consulting firm Accenture, which issued its third annual global
eGovernment report this week, found that customer relationship management
was "a mere blip on the radar" a year ago. But researchers
in the past year found "a growing tendency to treat citizens and
businesses like customers and to introduce the techniques (of CRM) to
government service delivery," according to the report. The report
ranked 23 countries in terms of overall "maturity," or the
level at which a country has established an online presence. The top
three countries were the same as a year ago, with Canada in first place,
Singapore a close second and the United States third. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-9761225.html
WEB SURFERS SNUB PRICIER
BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS - Broadband growth continues to slow as customers
balk at higher prices and companies scale back promotions. The number of new broadband subscribers grew
12.6% in the first quarter from the previous quarter, based on results
from eight of 17 major players, research firm ARS says. That means it's
likely that the industry's overall growth will fall short of the 15.8%
growth from the third to the fourth quarter last year.
"If prices keep going up while the economy is going down,
you have a perfect recipe for slowing broadband growth," says ARS
analyst Mark Kersey. The slowdown could worsen because the second quarter
is usually the slowest for broadband growth, analysts say.
The biggest slowdown appears to be in digital subscriber line
(DSL) service. Verizon Communications signed up 13% more new customers
in the first quarter, down from 23% growth in the fourth. BellSouth's
DSL customers grew 17% compared with 34%.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/26/broadband-usat.htm
DEMAND
FOR BROADBAND GROWING SLOWLY, SURVEY SHOWS
- Internet users are showing more willingness to pay for a high-speed
broadband Internet connection, although large numbers remain happy with
dial-up, a survey said. Jupiter Media Metrix, which calculates just
16 percent of U.S. households currently have a broadband Internet connection,
said that 8.6 percent of the country's dial-up subscribers say they
are highly likely to sign up for such a service in the next year. The
survey found that an additional 15.4 percent of households were "somewhat
interested" in getting broadband within the next year. The remaining
76 percent of households were either neutral to the notion of paying
for a higher speed Internet connection, or were decidedly uninterested.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=581&e=9&u=/nm/20020423/tc_nm/tech_broadband_dc_1
STUDY: BANDWIDTH GLUT
EATS UP PROFITS - According to research firm TeleGeography, the data
transmission market remains unstable, with prices changing so quickly
and varying so widely across route and carriers that telecom companies
have little concept of a market price. The problem, according to TeleGeography,
is that a bandwidth glut on long-haul networks has pushed prices below
cost. While the price collapse is good news for Internet service providers,
it has been disastrous for telecom carriers. "The carriers and
customers are trying to do business in a hyper-deflationary environment.
Some carriers have absolutely reached the lowest price they can go,"
said Stephan Beckert, TeleGeography's research director. TeleGeography
believes that only market forces could result in further price cuts.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/22/bandwith-glut.htm
ECHOSTAR
IN INTERNET DEAL WITH EARTHLINK - EchoStar Communications Corp. said on Friday
it would offer EarthLink Inc.'s high-speed Internet service along with
its satellite television service, its second Internet deal announced
this week. By combining its service with EarthLink, EchoStar is hoping
to steal customers away from cable companies, who have been successful
in offering one-stop shopping for pay television and Internet access.
EarthLink, for its part, is looking to gain subscribers for its high-speed
Internet service over phone lines, called EarthLink DSL, which has 471,000
subscribers. EarthLink has been aggressively trying to boost its high
speed subscription as its dial-up system matures.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=582&ncid=582&e=8&u=/nm/20020419/wr_nm/media_echostar_earthlink_dc_1
YAHOO
CEO SAYS HOLLYWOOD HAS FAILED TO CONNECT ONLINE - Terry Semel, chairman of Internet
giant Yahoo Inc. and a former Hollywood executive, on Tuesday blasted
major media companies for being paralyzed by the threat of online piracy
and moving too slowly to bring music and movies to the Web. Semel, who
was co-chairman and co-chief executive of the Warner Bros studio, said
the music industry needed to revamp its business model, particularly
as free services inspired by the now-idled Napster continue to lure
music buyers away. "Four years ago, we saw the change in (music
buying) habits ... and the music industry still hasn't moved,"
he said during a panel discussion sponsored by the Milken Institute,
also attended by Mel Karmazin, president and chief executive of Viacom
Inc., and Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of media
giant News Corp. Semel said
the two industry-backed online music ventures, Pressplay and MusicNet,
were inadequate. "They have limited amounts of music and they're
not offering what people want," he said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=582&ncid=582&e=2&u=/nm/20020424/wr_nm/media_online_dc_1
BROADBAND REVOLUTIONIZING
MEDIA DISTRIBUTION - Jonathan Taplin, CEO of video on demand Web site
Intertainer.com, is sending the message that broadband streaming will
fundamentally change the way people get their entertainment. Taplin
says the entertainment industry is "on the verge of a new revolution,
a media of incredible richness." Taplin cautions, however, that
"media companies will do whatever it takes to protect themselves
from the broadband revolution" rather than watch their cash cow
walk out the door. Broadband turns the whole distribution and marketing
system on its head and Taplin is attempting to tap into the possibilities.
One such attempt of Intertainer.com, called Film Marketplace, is designed
for independent filmmakers to get their movies to the public and to
earn money. Taplin believes that alternative distribution models will
work for film because he sees an end to American cultural dominance.
"This dominance has been built on scarcity, which is disappearing,"
he said. "IT was thought for many years that only the American
market was big enough to support the entertainment industry. All of
that is about to change." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176120.html
TV STATIONS SIGNAL
A SLOW PACE TO DIGITAL BROADCASTS - Two weeks before a government deadline,
only 15% of the nation's commercial TV stations are transmitting a digital
TV signal over the air. A USA
TODAY examination of Federal Communications Commission data and other
reports shows that the transition to the next generation of TV broadcasts
has fallen far behind schedule. The FCC set a May 1 deadline for stations
to be broadcasting DTV signals over the air along with their current
analog signals. Reasons for delays vary, from a lack of finances
to transmitters that were destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "It's frustrating to us that it's not
rolling out quicker," says John Harris, director of special projects
and programming for WRAL in Raleigh, N.C. "We see the potential
in it." http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/23/digital-tv.htm
PATENTS, LONG THE TECH
WORLD'S CURRENCY, COME UNDER ATTACK - The patent office has been criticized
for allowing a ticket of patents to grow in recent years. In today's economy, driven as much by ideas as by actual products,
patents are more critical than ever. Just ask iSurfTV, a four-year-old
electronic-programming provider that still hasn't signed any cable companies
as customers, because those companies fear Gemstar-TV Guide (which holds
nearly 200 patents on its television guides) will sue them. The startup
expects several of its 80 filed patents to be approved this year, but
it has already eaten more than $13 million in venture funding. Startups hoping to capitalize on their innovations face the fear
of patent challenges constantly, and the problem has gotten only worse,
as companies race to patent new technologies before their competitors
do. Some are concerned that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO)
has responded to the increased level of patent activity by granting
patents that are too far-reaching, leading to what they say is unfair
market dominance by large companies that can afford to file broad patents
and fight to protect them. In response, the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division are cosponsoring
a series of hearings in Washington, D.C., and Berkeley, California,
called "Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy in
the Knowledge-Based Economy." http://www.redherring.com/insider/2002/0419/patents.html
MICROSOFT’S GATES GIVES COOL TESTIMONY IS WASHINGTON COURT - There
had been great expectations of fireworks on a dramatic scale when Bill
Gates took the stand during the Microsoft antitrust remedy hearings.
After all, during the original trial in 1998, the company’s chairman
and co-founder had given a disastrous performance during video-taped
testimony. This would be the first time he had actually given evidence
in person. http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT306EA1E0D&live=true&tagid=ZZZC00L1B0C
FACTS AND STATS:
B2B SPENDING NEAR $500
BIL IN 2002 - E-commerce in the U.S. will rise considerably in 2002,
as many companies that cut IT spending in the past year will boost their
e-business budgets by as much as 10 percent this year, according to
a report released today. By year's end, business-to-business (B2B) spending
will reach $482 billion, Emarketer analysts predicted in "North
America eCommerce: B2C and B2B Report." Spending will rise nearly
50 percent next year to $721 million and exceed the $1 trillion mark
in 2004. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176146.html
EUROPEANS AND E-SHOPPING
- According to a recent study from Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, 27%
of internet users in Sweden are online shoppers, whereas just 22% of
UK users and 21% of German users shop online. In fact, the study determined
that only 7% of respondents (from selected Western European countries)
believe it is "extremely important" to buy from a retailer
online. http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/eeurope/20020425_cap.html
DSL WORLDWIDE - According
to the fifth edition of the DSL Worldwide Retail Directory from Point
Topic, as of January 2002 there are roughly 18.8 million digital subscriber
line (DSL) subscribers worldwide -- 15.6 million are residential and
3.2 million are business. In
particular, the Directory indicates that 5.5 million DSL subscribers
are located in North America, 4.2 million are in Western Europe, 7.9
million are in Asia-Pacific and just 407,200 are located in Latin America.
Markets that lead the way in Latin America are Brazil with 232,700
DSL subscribers and Agentina with 122,600 subscribers. Following further
behind in third place is Venezuela with 17,900 DSL subscribers. http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/broadband/20020419_point.html
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@2002
Cisco’s top policy
focuses for 2002 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
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
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