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Cisco Government Affairs
E-Update
Volume 2, Issue 20
17 May 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
This Week@WASHINGTON, DC
LEASING RULES FOR PHONE
START-UPS ARE UPHELD - The Supreme Court handed a huge victory to start-up
telephone companies today by broadly affirming rules that permit them to lease
equipment from the largest phone companies at relatively low costs. The pricing regulations are meant to let
rivals viably compete with the entrenched local phone companies by leasing
access to their networks rather than having to build expensive duplicate
systems. Although local telephone competition has been slow to catch on for a
variety of reasons, rivals have blamed the intransigence of the dominant local
companies. The established telephone companies had argued that the rules, which
grew out of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, forced them to give competitors
access to their networks at unfairly low prices. While the decision was largely about the arcane issue of accounting
practices for telephone companies, it has significant implications for
competition in the local phone markets. The rate formula helps determine a
number of market issues, including which companies will enjoy greater profits,
whether smaller local companies are able to survive and effectively compete,
and the extent to which the larger companies are willing to make capital
investments. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/14/business/14BIZC.html
(Free registration required), http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT361A7M61D&live=true&tagid=ZZZPCGI2B0C
The full opinion: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/13may20021500/www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/01pdf/00-511.pdf
(Adobe Document)
STATEMENT BY FCC CHAIRMAN POWELL - http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Powell/Statements/2002/stmkp210.html
STATEMENT BY AT&T - http://www.att.com/news/item/0,1847,10447,00.html
STATEMENT BY WORLDCOM - http://www.worldcom.com/about_the_company/press_releases/display.phtml?cr/20020513
STATEMENT BY COMPTEL - http://www.comptel.org/press/may13_2002.html
STATEMENT BY USTA - http://media.usta.org/pr/pressRelease.cfm?id=108
STATEMENT BY BELLSOUTH - http://bellsouthcorp.com/proactive/newsroom/release.vtml?id=40323
STATEMENY BY PFF - http://www.pff.org/pr/pr051302TELRIC.htm
BILL WOULD CREATE A POST TO MANAGE WORK FORCE
SHRINKAGE - Congress
may consider a bill that would call for federal agencies to appoint a chief
human capital officer to address the problems of a dwindling federal IT work
force. Republican Sen. George V.
Voinovich of Ohio plans to sponsor a bill establishing the post and giving
agencies funds to offer recruitment and retention incentives. The human capital managers would make up a new
CHCO Council led by Office of Personnel Management director Kay Cole James,
said a staff member for the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/18627-1.html
PENTAGON
COMMITMENT HELPS ADVANCE E-LEARNING STANDARD - Michael Parmentier almost
gushes about the potential benefits of online learning. He envisions a world
where pieces of information -- no matter how detailed or obscure -- are instantaneously
available, packaged and delivered for easy absorption. Next week, Parmentier's
vision will come a step closer to reality. An initiative spearheaded by the
Department of Defense to make various online training technologies work
together has quickly produced an unofficial set of standards for the industry.
"When we first tried to use distance learning, every time you changed a
chip or part of the system, we'd have to recreate all of the content,"
said Parmentier, director of readiness training policy and programs for the
Defense Department. "We knew that if we could create an agreed-upon
platform, we wouldn't have to keep changing the content that had been
created." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11555-2002May13.html
THE DMCA IS THE TOAST OF
D.C. - At a party this week, Washington's most influential lobbyists and
politicians raised toasts to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Officially, the celebration, hosted by the
International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), was to cheer a global
copyright treaty that takes effect on Monday. Equally important, however, was
the show of support among key legislators and industry groups for the DMCA
which has come under increasing scrutiny in the courts and from technologists.
Critics of the DMCA argue that it does not allow for fair use of copyrighted
works and that creativity will be stifled. But supporters of the DMCA argue
that copyright is essential to promoting creativity. "Creativity - and the
economy – thrive when copyrights are strong," said Robert Holleyman,
president of the Business Software Alliance. "The DMCA is proof of that.
It has been one of the central pillars supporting the growth of the Internet
and the economy in general." http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52602,00.html
COMMERCE COMMITTEE OKS
ALLEN-BACKED LEGISLATION TO HELP - Close Digital Divide at Minority-Serving
Institutions - The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
today approved a bill cosponsored by U.S. Senator George Allen (R-VA) that
would authorize grants to help close the digital divide at minority-serving
institutions nationwide. The NTIA
Digital Network Technology Program Act, S. 414, provides $250 million in grants
to minority-serving institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and
Universities and Hispanic-serving institutions, to upgrade their technology infrastructure,
provide educational services for technology degrees, to provide educator
training and to implement technology projects in conjunction with government
agencies. (U.S. Senate e-mail)
SPEECH: National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Director Nancy Victory
gave a speech titled "Telecommunications Challenges: The Telecom
Tsunami". She spoke about spectrum management. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/speeches/2002/GS_050802.htm
This
Week@EMEA
UK BROADBAND - Oftel has
published a Direction amending the requirements for provision of a Flat Rate
Internet Access Call Origination product - this is on the website at: http://www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/internet/2002/stfriaco0502.htm,
Press release is at: http://www.oftel.gov.uk/press/releases/2002/pr26_02.htm
UK PRIME MINISTER ANNOUNCES
STUDY OF UK ELECTRONIC NETWORKS - The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, recently
announced that he has asked the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) to carry
out a project examining the development of Electronic Networks in the UK over
the next decade. The project will look
at predicted technology and market developments; the importance of Electronic
Networks to UK productivity and growth; and the regulatory challenges for the
next decade. The output of the project will be a report to Government, which
will assist with the setting of future Government policy and approach, and will
contribute to strategic thinking for the new regulator OFCOM. Responsibility for the current performance,
development and economic impact of UK Electronic Networks already lies with
groups including the DTI, Oftel, the Office of the e-Envoy, HM Treasury, the
Broadband Stakeholders Group and those involved in the Digital TV Action Plan.
The PIU has been asked to take a long-term strategic view to complement this
existing body of work. Mr Blair said:
"Electronic Networks are important to the UK both economically and
socially. Government has an important role to play in their development along with
the private sector. The current work to set up the new regulator OFCOM gives us
a good opportunity to take stock of how the UK can benefit from developments in
Electronic Networks over the next decade." Douglas Alexander, Minister of State for e-Commerce and
Competitiveness at the DTI, will be Sponsor Minister for the project. The PIU
aims to complete the project by Summer 2002.
A scoping note outlining the background to the PIU project will be
available on the PIU website (www.piu.gov.uk).
FREESERVE
DEAL SEES NTL OPEN BROADBAND NETWORK - NTL this week became the first UK cable company to open its broadband
network to rival internet service providers in a deal with Freeserve, the
France Telecom-controlled ISP.
Freeserve customers, who use standard internet access via phone lines,
will be free to buy much faster access from NTL provided they swap their BT
accounts for cable telephony. The
wholesale pact, due to take effect from the autumn, will step up cable competition
to BT as the latter tries to drive broadband usage over its phone network. It
will cover a potential 6m homes in NTL's broadband franchises. http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT35WZEJ61D&live=true&tagid=FTDDMJNIFEC
SKY'S THE LIMIT FOR
E-GOVERNMENT - Much is unknown about the UK government's decision to launch
government services on digital television without first issuing a policy
statement or seeking consultation. It is speculated, however, that the
government eschewed its "fundamental duty of being consultative and
commercially neutral" in a desire to appear technologically progressive.
Without having paused, the government launched its UK Online service with two
digital television providers: Sky and ITV Digital. But ITV Digital is now
defunct, leaving taxpayers wondering if the government is justified in using
tax money to have public information content converted into Sky's proprietary
format. Without any policy statements, the government now looks like it is
favoring a private sector company with patronage. Even more skepticism has been
generated by the fact that the government is receiving profits from television
e-government. http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,715874,00.html
GOVERNMENT GOES MOBILE -
Imagine getting your exam results, an update on your passport application or
news that your state benefit was in your bank via mobile phone. It could become
a reality as the UK Government considers mobile communications as part of its
drive to make all public services available electronically by 2005. As well as offering services online and via
interactive TV, officials are looking at mobile phones as an alternative
delivery method.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1991000/1991093.stm
COMMISIONER: AUTHORITIES SHOULD
ENCOURAGE CONVERGENCE - European Enterprise and Information Society
Commissioner Errki Liikanen has said that government authorities should work to
encourage the convergence of digital television, mobile phones and broadband.
At a recent conference he said, "With a wider choice of platforms and
networks we will increase inclusion...There is far less reason for anyone to be
excluded on the grounds of geography, skills or capabilities." He also
added that convergence would help promote entrepreneurship and that "local
initiatives that exploit cultural diversity should be able to flourish." http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=10531
TURKEY CONSIDERS STRICTER
INTERNET BILL - A media bill to go before the Turkish parliament Tuesday could
cripple the Internet industry, harm the nation's struggling economy and hobble
free speech on the Web, observers say. The bill would expand already stringent
regulations on all forms of media and would require websites to submit two hard
copies of pages to be posted on the Internet to a government agency for prior
approval. It also would require those
who wish to open a website to obtain permission from local authorities, and to
inform them every time the site is changed. The legislation comes at a time
when European Union-hopeful Turkey is struggling to meet Brussels' political
criteria for membership, including overhauling its often dismal human rights
record and expanding civil liberties. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52477,00.html,
LAW PASSES: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52558,00.html
This
Week@Asia/Pac
U.S.
OFFICIALS TO TALK TELECOM IN CHINA - Senior Bush administration officials will be in China
later this month for a biennial, high-level meeting on telecommunications and
information industries under the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
forum. The APEC meeting held every two years is the primary venue for the
advancement of telecom issues among the countries that border the Pacific
Basin. David Gross, a deputy assistant secretary of State, will lead the U.S.
delegation and be joined by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps and Nancy Victory,
director of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The
theme of this year's meeting, to be held May 29-31 in Shanghai, will be
"leveraging digital opportunities to promote common development." The
meeting will be an opportunity for telecom ministers to exchange views on
subjects important to them. Several
areas will be discussed including: the "digital divide," with input
from government, industry and academic officials; information infrastructure;
telecommunications policy and market regulation; and worker training. The event
is expected to result in a statement of policy, the "Shanghai
Declaration," that will provide instructions for APEC's telecom working
group for the next two years. (National
Journal’s Tech Daily – http://nationaljournal.com/pubs/techdaily/)
CHINA'S
TELECOMS GIANT SPLITS INTO TWO - China Telecom,
the dominant company in the world's second-largest fixed- line telephone
market, was formally broken up on Thursday, setting the stage for its two
successor companies to launch multi-billion initial public offerings and for an
eventual increase in competition. Wu
Jichuan, the powerful minister of information industry, the regulator and owner
of China Telecom, said the break-up would promote "fair market
competition". Telecoms industry
analysts cautioned, however, that the task of integrating systems among the two
emergent operators would be significant, slowing progress toward genuine tariff
competition. China Telecom will
continue as a much-reduced company, operating in 21 provinces in China's south
and west. Ten of its former provincial
operations in the north are now part of a competitor, the new China Netcom
Group, which also includes an existing data communications operator, the China
Netcom Corp. http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT38ANZVA1D&live=true&tagid=ZZZPCGI2B0C
ONCE
BLOCKED FOREIGN NEWS WEB SITES OPEN IN CHINA - China appears to have lifted
long-standing blocks on the Web sites of several Western news organizations that
were freely accessible through local Internet connections in Beijing and
Shanghai on Thursday. There was no official announcement explaining why
normally censored Web sites, including those of Reuters, CNN, and the
Washington Post, were unexpectedly open. Foreign news organizations have
lobbied hard for China to lift blocks on their sites, which Web-savvy Chinese
already access through proxy servers, but Beijing remains deeply suspicious of
foreign media, especially in the run-up to a leadership reshuffle expected
later this year. The reason for the apparent lifting of the blocks was not
immediately clear and it was not known if the measure would be permanent. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=582&ncid=582&e=2&u=/nm/20020516/wr_nm/tech_china_censorship_dc_1
NEW 'DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY'
WEB INITIATIVE TO ELEVATE VOICES FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES - Digital
Opportunity Channel launch to coincide with World Telecommunications Day -
OneWorld (www.oneworld.net), the online sustainable development and
human rights network, and the Benton Foundation, the Washington, D.C.-based
nonprofit that works to realize the social benefits of communications
technology, today announced the launch of Digital Opportunity Channel, an
online community focusing on the use of information and communications
technologies (ICT) for sustainable development. Officially launched on World Telecommunications Day from the
OneWorld center in India, the Web site will place a special emphasis on
promoting digital opportunity in developing countries. "Developing
countries have largely been marginalized in the global dialogue on the benefits
and negative impacts of digital technologies," said Kanti Kumar, channel
editor. "Digital Opportunity Channel aims to give organizations and
community leaders - especially in the South - a platform for their voice to be
heard." http://www.digitalopportunity.org
(Benton foundation e-mail)
SINGAPORE ISP TO OFFER
BROADBAND MOVIES - A DSL service provider in Singapore is set to offer
movies-on-demand over the Internet. Singaporeans with Internet service faster
than 512 Kbps will be able to order from a selection of 20 Hollywood movies
each week. The service will cost US $7.09 per month ($2.66 for those who
subscribe by June) and uses Microsoft's Windows Media Player for playback on a subscriber's
PC. SingNet, the on-demand service
provider, says that most of the films will be offered on broadband before being
shown on local television. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176618.html
TEACHING GOES VIRTUAL IN
PAKISTAN - Thanks to a new virtual university, thousands of Pakistanis now have
the opportunity to learn computer skills. The $40 million project provides
distance learning via the television and Internet. The program is designed to
create the estimated 60,000 computer science graduates needed to develop an
information technology industry. "India is a very inspiring case. They got
their act together very early," said Salman Ansari, adviser to Pakistan's
Ministry of Science and Technology. "We are leveraging technology to get
to the level that we need to get to," he added. In order to keep access
open to all citizens, regardless of income, the prices have been kept extremely
low and educational centers are being set up around the country. The government has worked with the
university to ensure that the cost of going online is reasonable for most
people. Currently approximately 500 students are enrolled in a pilot project.
The university hopes to have 5,000 students by September and 25,000 students by
the end of 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1979000/1979750.stm
This
Week@Americas International
BRAZIL: LET'S GO POSTAL - In
another attempt to close the gap between the wired and the unwired, Brazil will
install computer kiosks in post offices around the country, where people will
be able to log on to the Internet. Correios, Brazil's postal agency, plans to
have at least one computer in each of Brazil's 5,366 post offices. As a way of
encouraging people to use the service, the first 10 minutes will be free. It
has not yet been determined how much users will have to pay after that.
"Of course we intend to charge a very low price, at least lower than
cybercafes," said Fausto Weiler, Correios' assessor in the capital city of
Brasilia. "Our goal is to open this new world for those who can't afford
to buy a computer, even in the countryside." According to Weiler, the
kiosk project is only a first step in reducing, and eventually eliminating, the
country's digital divide. Once an easy Web link is established, the plan is to
launch another project, called Permanent Electronic Address (PEA), that will
supply every Brazilian with a free, private e-mail account. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52414,00.html
This Week@US STATES
BELLSOUTH'S BIDS FOR
LONG-DISTANCE ARE CLEARED IN GEORGIA, LOUISIANA - Federal regulators cleared
the way for BellSouth Corp. to begin selling long-distance phone service to its
local-phone customers in Georgia and Louisiana, dealing another blow to
beleaguered long-distance providers such as AT&T Corp. and WorldCom
Inc. The Federal Communications
Commission approvals are the first for Atlanta-based BellSouth, which has
struggled to persuade state and federal regulators that its local markets are
open to competition. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allows the four
regional Bells to sell long distance only after their local markets are opened
to competition. The action also marks a
turnaround of sorts for the company. In December, BellSouth withdrew the two
applications ahead of almost-certain rejection by the FCC, which was initially
concerned that the company hadn't done enough to open its local market to
competition. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1021499589116142600.djm,00.html
(Paid subscription required)
CALIFORNIA PUC ORDERS RATE CUT FOR PAC
BELL RIVALS - In a
decision expected to jumpstart competition in the state's residential local
phone business, California's Public Utilities Commission on Thursday sharply
lowered the wholesale rates that Pacific Bell can charge rivals for access to
its monopoly local phone networks. Both
AT&T and WorldCom hailed the decision as a major victory for California
consumers and vowed to go head to head with the Baby Bell in delivering local
phone service to the state's residential and small business customers. In order to reach customers, AT&T,
WorldCom and other competitors must lease local phone lines from Pac Bell,
which controls the connections going into homes. Until now, however, the
challengers have argued that they could not compete because the rates Pac Bell
charges for access to its networks made it uneconomical for them to sell local
phone service. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3282094.htm
MICHIGAN PLANS TO SUPPORT BROADBAND NETWORKS - Firms would get deals for fast
Net connections - In an effort to provide the high-speed Internet connections
that Michigan officials think are critical for growth, the state on Monday is
expected to announce a plan to encourage the construction of more broadband
networks. The proposal would give
broadband companies special deals for guaranteed business with groups of state
government offices, and possibly colleges, school districts and local
governments, as an incentive for building the new networks, according to a
report from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., the agency that will
unveil the plan. The companies would be
free to sell the remaining bandwidth access to business customers, as long as
they sell it fairly and do not give any customer preferential treatment,
according to the MEDC report obtained by the Free Press. The report's recommendations were developed
for a state policy called LinkMichigan, intended to create more broadband
networks throughout the state. http://www.freep.com/money/tech/cable12_20010512.htm
KENTUCKY LAUNCHES PROGRAM TO
ASSESS STATE'S USE OF TECHNOLOGY - In an effort to move Kentucky to
''the forefront in participating in the networked world,'' Gov. Paul Patton
yesterday announced a plan to assess where the state leads or lags in Internet
use and develop a plan for improvements.
The three-year program, called connectkentucky, will examine such areas
as the state's overall network capacity; the use of the Internet by
individuals, government, schools and businesses; and the availability of
high-speed connections throughout the commonwealth. A development plan will be laid out by early fall, said Linda
Johnson, president of the Center for Information Technology Enterprise, which
will coordinate the project. Speaking
to a gathering of business leaders from around Kentucky at the Capitol, Patton
said the program springs from the state's Office of the New Economy, which
identified ''information technology and communications'' as one of five
priority research areas. http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2002/05/16/ke051602s207882.htm
CELLPHONE CHATS COURTESY OF
THE TELEVISION AIRWAVES - SIGFX, a Ridgeland, Miss. Company is developing
technology that would use a small part of a broadcast television signal to send
and receive cell phone calls. SIGFX officials view the technology as a
cheap way to augment current cell sites in the United States and
internationally. Dr. Nash, co-founder of SIGFX said, "We are another
alternative to help them reach areas that are not as profitable, but they would
like to get there. We don't replace their expansion plan, we augment their
plan." The technology is still in the testing phase and the company is
working through a number of issues with the technology including problems
handling multiple calls. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/16/technology/circuits/16NEXT.html
(free registration required)
LOCAL GOV'TS LAMBAST FCC
RULING - Groups representing the nation's local governments are suing the
Federal Communications Commission over a ruling they say will cost them $300
million in revenues from lost cable fees this fiscal year alone. The lawsuit
concerns the FCC's March decision to insulate high-speed Internet services
offered by cable companies like AOL Time Warner and AT&T Broadband from
extensive regulations. The FCC tentatively concluded that local authorities are
not allowed to charge a fee for the cable Internet service like the fee
currently charged for video programming offered by the cable operators. Cable
companies currently pay franchise fees of up to 5 percent of their gross
revenue from video services, roughly $2 billion annually. Local governments are
not only upset at the loss of revenue, but at what they say is the FCC's
pre-empting their control over their own public assets, such as the streets
that must be torn up and repaired to lay Internet infrastructure. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52531,00.html
OTHER
TECH STORIES OF THE WEEK
A NEW DIRECTION FOR
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY - A group of law and technology scholars are setting up a
nonprofit company that will develop ways for artists, writers and others to
easily designate their work as shareable. The firm's founders argue that recent
expansions in intellectual property law could stifle creativity. The new
company, called Creative Commons, will work on clearly identifying material
that is meant to be shared. By making it easier to place material in the public
domain, Creative Commons hopes to encourage more people to do so. "It's a
way to mark the spaces people are allowed to walk on," said Lawrence
Lessig, leading intellectual property expert. Lessig will take a partial leave
from Stanford Law School to serve as chairman of Creative Commons. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/13/technology/13FREE.html?ex=1021953600&en=ca323ab879f0cd03&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER (Free registration required)
'THIS IS WAR' - SHOULD THE
COMPUTER INDUSTRY PROTECT HOLLYWOOD FROM DIGITAL THEFT? The guns are drawn. -
Nothing has stirred up Hollywood lately like Ted Waitt's talented Holstein.
Waitt is CEO of Gateway, the nation's fourth-largest PC manufacturer, and the
cow is his company mascot. It's the Holstein's spots you see on Gateway
packaging. Lately, though, Waitt has been using his sidekick to attack the
entertainment industry. In a TV commercial, Waitt is driving down the highway
in an 18-wheeler at dusk, with the cow riding shotgun. Waitt shoves a homemade
CD into the truck's sound system. Out comes a hip-hop version of Gordon
Lightfoot's 1974 classic "Sundown." Waitt raps along as he steers the
big rig, bobbing his head to the beat. "Hey, B, what's the deal?"
Waitt asks the cow. On cue, the
Holstein starts rhyming like a bovine Jay-Z: "Sometimes I rap slow,
sometimes I rap quick..." Sounds
innocent enough. But as Waitt and cow head off into the sunset, viewers are
directed to Gateway's Website, where they can download the song free. There,
they are urged to oppose a Hollywood-backed bill in the U.S. Senate intended to
end the unlawful distribution of copyrighted music and movies. "Have you
seen this??" asks an e-mail circulating among movie-studio and
record-company executives. "This is WAR!" It certainly is. Hollywood has gone to Washington to stop the
trading of pirated movies online. It has thrown its lobbying muscle behind a
bill, introduced by South Carolina Senator Ernest Hollings, that would order
the Federal Communications Commission to find a way to halt this thievery if
the entertainment and technology sectors can't come up with their own solution.
Disney CEO Michael Eisner, testifying in favor of the bill, took the
opportunity to bash Silicon Valley on the Senate floor: "We're dealing
with an industry where an unspoken strategy is that the killer app is
piracy." http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=207975
KAAZA, VERIZON PROPOSE TO
PAY ARTISTS DIRECTLY - Over the past few years the major record labels have
been attempting to control online music swapping with little success.
When one company is shut down another one takes its place and today online file
swapping is booming. In an effort to
convert individuals into paying customers, the major record labels started up
two online music ventures, PressPlay and MusicNet. For the most part, the
public has ignored the ventures because they do not offer music in MP3 format
and the files cannot be used on portable devices or burned to CD. Jim
Guerinot, a board members of Don Henley's and Sheryl Crow's Recording Artists
Coalition said, "It would be like me opening a video store, charging 10
times what others were charging and only offering videos in Beta
format." Kaaza, an online music sharing Web site and Verizon have
drafted a possible solution. They propose computer manufacturers, blank CD
makers, ISPs and software companies each pay a modest fee and use the funds to
pay artists directly. Verizon vice president Sarah Deutsch said,
"We're proposing the idea of a copyright compulsory license for the Internet,
so peer-to-peer distribution would be legitimate and the copyright community
would get compensation."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/05/14/music-kazaa.htm
POPE
GIVES BENEDICTION TO INTERNET - Pope John Paul II is putting his faith in the Internet. In his weekly address at St. Peter's
Square on Sunday, the 81-year-old Pontiff said: "I've decided, therefore,
to propose a big new theme for this year: 'The Internet--a new forum for
proclaiming the Gospel.'" The leader of the world's Roman Catholics didn't
say how much he practices what he preaches--for instance, whether he surfs the
World Wide Web. He doesn't have his own e-mail address. But the Vatican does have
an active Web site, the pope sent his first message over the Internet last
year, and there's talk that he is searching for a patron saint for Internet
users. ``Recent progress in communications and information have presented the
church with unheard-of possibilities for evangelism,'' he said. ``We shouldn't
be afraid to put to sea in the vast ocean of information,'' he went on. ``If we
do so, the good news can reach the hearts of the men and women of the new
millennium.'' In the past, the pope has said the Web should be regulated to
stop depravity in cyberspace. Sunday, he gave it his unwavering blessing. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-912013.html?tag=fd_top;
Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/
VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL
SPARKS GROWTH OF NEW PHONE TECHNOLOGY - When Houston City Official Denny Piper
wants to know who has phoned him, he checks his e-mail. "I can see, oh, somebody left me a
voicemail message, double click on it and it plays back the message," says
Mr. Piper, the city's chief information officer. To phone others, he can click on names on his laptop's contact
list or dial by clicking on a phonelike image on the computer screen and
"just talk to the microphone on the PC." His BlackBerry wireless
e-mail device also lets him know who has called. "It's really neat
stuff," Mr. Piper says. Joining a
small but growing number of organizations, Mr. Piper is leading the city of
Houston's leap into the so-called next generation of voice technology. The city
hired Cisco Systems Inc. to transform its functional but technologically
disparate traditional phone network, including 43 separate voicemail systems,
into a network that converges voice and data communication and will link the
city's 400 facilities with 25,000 new phones. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1021501835169835800.djm,00.html
(Paid subscription required)
TELEPHONY THAT TARGETS SMALL
BUSINESSES - Robert Flood knows that most people think Internet-based phone
services mean static and delays. His mission is to show them it doesn't have to
be that way. Flood, founder and chief
executive of PingTone Communications Inc., believes that combining Internet and
telecom services will eventually become standard for U.S. business. While some large enterprises began switching
to Internet telephony services in recent years, small and medium-sized
businesses have been slower to make the change. PingTone plans to target this
group by promising lower costs and comparable quality. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8360-2002May12.html
FACTS AND STATS:
WORLDWIDE WIRELESS INTERNET
MARKET - According to a recent report from Pioneer Consulting, worldwide
revenues from mobile and wireless internet service will grow from $1 billion in
2002 to $18.4 billion by 2008. Pioneer predicts that wireless equipment
revenues will also rise by $16 billion between 2002 and 2008. http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/wireless/20020516_pioneer.html
DSL BOOSTS PRODUCTIVITY IN
THE WORKPLACE - Most DSL business subscribers in the US believe that the
productivity benefits associated with DSL outweigh the monthly subscription
costs. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357940&rel=true
MORE RUSSIANS GET ONLINE -
Europemedia reports that the number of Internet users in Russia doubled in
2001, to reach a total of 18 million. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357923&rel=true
GLOBAL HOME NET ACCESS
POPULATION GROWS - The number of people who access the Internet from home, grew
by 7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2001 to the first quarter of 2002,
reports Newsfactor. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357941&rel=true
US INTERNET TRAFFIC DOUBLES
IN 2001 - Internet traffic in the US doubled during 2001, according to a new
report from RHK. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357928&rel=true
BROADBAND GROWTH EXPECTED IN
NORTH AMERICA - The North American market for broadband will continue to grow
in both subscribers and revenues over the next five years, according to a new
forecast from the Yankee Group. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357929&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@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
CISCO.COM/GOV AND E-UPDATE
FEEDBACK
As we continue to build out
Cisco’s Government Affairs web site, as well as this service, this E-Update, we
welcome comments, criticisms, praise and suggestions. Please send any
feedback to John Earnhardt at jearnhar@cisco.com.
To contact any member of the
Government Affairs team, please visit our “Contact Us” page. http://www.cisco.com/gov/contact/index_ext.html
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