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Cisco Government Affairs
E-Update
Volume 2, Issue 36
11 October 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
If you have news or
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This Week@WASHINGTON, DC
SENATORS URGE QUICK ACTION ON NATIONAL BROADBAND POLICY -
Sens. John Breaux, D-La., and Don Nickles, R-Okla., sponsors of legislation to
deregulate the regional Bell operating companies, urged FCC Chairman Michael
Powell on Wednesday to expedite the creation of a national broadband policy
"that achieves regulatory parity" for all providers of broadband
services, CongressDaily reports. "There is simply no public policy justification
for regulating the non-dominant players in this emerging and competitive market
while the dominant players are completely unregulated," the senators wrote
in a letter to Powell. (National Journal’s Tech Daily – www.nationaljoural.com)
LAWMAKERS TUNING IN TO NEW MEDIA ISSUES - Rep. Howard L.
Berman has a daughter who's a big fan of downloading music online, but the
Mission Hills Democrat is sponsoring a bill that might block file-swapping. And
Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) made a fan of Walt Disney Co. by introducing a
bill requiring anti-piracy devices in new technology, but he's the
entertainment industry's staunchest foe in blocking big media mergers. As Hollywood starts to take center stage
again in Washington, lawmakers--for different reasons--are promoting
legislation that would have a significant effect on consumers' everyday
activities, including buying TVs, taping favorite programs and downloading
songs. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-mediapols6oct06,0,4033449.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dtechnology
BABY BELL RIVALS TO TAKE CASE TO WHITE HOUSE - Executives
from upstart telecommunications firms are scheduled to go to the White House
Friday to lobby senior officials to maintain tough restrictions on what
services the Baby Bell telephone giants can offer. Executives from firms
competing with Verizon and other regional phone companies are expected to tell
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and special adviser Karl Rove that they
should not kowtow to Baby Bell requests that the government kill regulations
that tell them where they can sell Internet service. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7032-2002Oct10.html
FCC LEVIES RECORD FINE AGAINST SBC - The FCC fined SBC
Communications $6 million on Wednesday for failing to open its landline
telephone network to competing companies. The fine is the
highest ever imposed by the FCC, which had made sharing a
condition of SBC's 1999 merger with Ameritech. "Instead of sharing, as the
law requires, SBC withheld and litigated, forcing competitors to expend
valuable time and resources to exercise their rights under the FCC's
order," FCC Chairman Michael Powell said, adding that "[s]uch
unlawful, anti-competitive behavior is unacceptable." http://news.com.com/2100-1033-961491.html?tag=fd_top_7
HOUSE APPROVES WEB RADIO ROYALTY DEAL - A last-minute change
enabled the US House of Representatives to approve a royalty-payment deal
between small Internet broadcasters and the music industry. The deal would
allow Webcasters to pay a percentage of revenue or expenses to artists and
record labels whose songs they use, rather than pay the flat rate set by the
Library of Congress this summer.
Webcasters claimed that the rate, .07 cents per listener per song, could
drive many of them out of business, exceeding revenue from advertising or other
sources. Small Webcasters are defined as those who will have taken in less than
$1 million in total from 1998 until the end of 2002. Trade groups for both
sides expressed satisfaction with the outcome.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2002-10-07-web-radio-update_x.htm
This
Week@EMEA
BROADBAND "TAKING OFF
IN THE UK" - An upcoming study by the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development shows that broadband access in the UK is growing
faster than other European countries. The UK government wants to make their
country one of the most competitive places for broadband access by 2005, and is
very close to having one million people connected to the Internet. Much
work has been done to get people online in the UK, but the country is still
well behind Germany, France, Japan, Canada and the United States. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2295697.stm
UK GOVERNMENT TO PUSH
E-VOTING - Next year your local council could ask you to vote online, by mobile
phone, digital TV or at a touch-screen kiosk - The UK government is calling on
councils to conduct electronic voting trials in the next local elections, which
will take place in May 2003. Schemes
that allow voting via the Internet, by mobile phone, digital TV, at a touch-screen
kiosk or by post will all be welcomed, local government minister Nick Raynsford
has indicated. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2123453,00.html
TELECOM ITALIA TAKES EUROPE'S
BIGGEST STEP IN VOICE OVER IP (VOIP) WITH CISCO SYSTEMS AND ITALTEL - 100% of Telecom Italia's national Rome-Milan voice calls
and 50% of its international European voice calls now run over a converged
"Voice over IP/MPLS " network - 100% of Telecom Italia's telephone calls made between
Italy's capital city, Rome, and its industrial capital, Milan, as well as 50%
of all Telecom Italia's International European telephone calls, travel over the
Internet Protocol (IP) network. This represents over 3 billion minutes of
telephone calls a year running over a Voice over IP (VoIP) solution based on
technology from Cisco Systems and implemented by Italtel. http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/prod_100902.html
HIGH-LEVEL
E-GOVERNMENT CONFERENCE SETS GOALS FOR ON-LINE PUBLIC SERVICES AND LAUNCHES NEW
PAN-EUROPEAN PORTAL - E-government
services must cater for Europe's linguistic diversity and be delivered as close
as possible to the customer. These were key conclusions of the recent IDA
(Interchange of Data between Administrations) conference: "Pan-European
e-government services for citizens and enterprises: the role of IDA", in
Brussels. The conference focused on the needs of cross-border users of e-government
services. For citizens, these services include advice on living in another
country (health care, driving licence, school, retirement, opening a bank
account, finding employment etc). For enterprises, they include advice on
accounting regulations, funding opportunities, human resources, employment
laws, international trade, duties and procedures. To improve the current
situation, the Conference saw the launching of the web-portal
"Public-Services.eu" aimed at providing information and services to assist
citizens and enterprises carry out cross-border activities with public
administrations across Europe. http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/1435|0|RAPID&lg=EN
COLLEGES IN 16 COUNTRIES
WORK TO CREATE VIRTUAL MEDICAL SCHOOL - Led by Scotland's University of Dundee,
an international group of medical schools is trying to create the world's first
online medical school. More than 50 institutions in 16 countries have helped
plan the International Virtual Medical School, which its organizers plan to
open in the summer of 2004. The institutions include all five of Scotland's
medical schools, at the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow,
and St. Andrews. Initial financing for the project, amounting to $140,000, came
from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. http://chronicle.com/free/2002/10/2002100901t.htm
SPEECH - Prof. Mario Monti
EU Commissioner for Competition Analytical Framework of merger review
International Competition Network Inaugural Conference Naples, 28-29 September
2002 - http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=SPEECH/02/473|0|RAPID&lg=EN
SPEECH - Mr Erkki Liikanen
Member of the European Commission, responsible for Enterprise and the
Information Society "Enterprise Policy in Europe, in particular the role
of SMEs" CEN (The European Committee for Standardization) Annual Meeting
"European Standardisation - opportunity or threat for SMEs?" Lisbon,
10 October 2002 - http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=SPEECH/02/475|0|RAPID&lg=EN
BARRIERS TO BROADBAND
ADOPTION IN IRELAND - An ODTR survey indicates that 39% of Irish adults are not
likely to subscribe to broadband internet, and just 8% of net users cite its
speed and immediacy as a key feature. http://www.emarketer.com/news/article.php?1001708&ref=ed
COMMISSION
TO LAUNCH NANOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIAL PLATFORM - "Smart dust" computers are the size of a grain of sand.
"Lab-on-a-pill" devices can surf our bloodstream. Nanotech products
are extremely small so small they can save raw materials, energy and time. To
discuss nanotech's potential, Mr Helge Sander, Danish Minister of Science,
Technology and Development Innovation, and EU Research Commissioner Philippe
Busquin today held a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The meeting brought
together nanotechnology experts, researchers and policy-makers. As a next step,
the Commission will launch a Nanotechnology Industrial Platform in 2003 - a
forum gathering all major nanotech stakeholders at EU level. http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/1434|0|RAPID&lg=EN
NIGERIA VOTE: PEACE THROUGH TECH? - Nigerian officials are investing $30
million in technology that they hope will allow the country to have a peaceful
presidential election next April. The
upcoming election will be the first to be conducted by a civilian government in
Nigeria's 42 years of statehood, and officials are particularly anxious to
ensure that all goes well. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55702,00.html
This Week@Asia/Pac
TAIWAN REJECTS U.S.
COPYRIGHT DEMANDS - Taiwan has turned down a U.S. demand on Friday to extend
copyrights on works including earlier Walt Disney movies for another 20 years
as negotiators on both sides held talks on intellectual property rights. Taiwan told a delegation led by Joseph
Papovich, assistant U.S. trade representative, that it would not extend
copyright protection to 70 years from 50 years, a Taiwan Ministry of Economic
Affairs official said. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4260499.htm
CISCO SELECTED FOR CHINA TELECOM'S
"CHINANET" IP BACKBONE NORTHERN NETWORK
- Cisco Systems, Inc. announced
that China Telecom has selected Cisco technology and products for the
construction of its northern ChinaNet IP backbone network expansion. The
network will connect 10 provinces, including Beijing and Tianjin, and will
maintain China Telecom's competitiveness across China, while maintaining
service for its already large customer base in the north. http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/prod_101002b.html
This Week@US STATES
STOPPED
AT THE STATE LINE - CABERNET-AND-CONTACTS
COALITION FIGHTS RESTRICTIONS ON E-COMMERCE
- A native Californian,
Washington lobbyist and wine lover Bob Moss has a short list of home-state
favorites, many from wineries so small he can't find their labels in local
stores. But ordering over the Internet for direct shipment to his home in the
District is implausible because a local law permits consumers to receive only
one quart of wine a month from out-of-state wineries. "It's very
frustrating," Moss said. Recently,
however, such limits on shipping wine and other products -- including contact
lenses, mortgages, cars and caskets -- across state lines are being challenged.
A growing number of business owners, academics and government officials say
these restrictions on Internet sales have become anti-competitive because they
are hindering, if not outright blocking, business opportunities. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57272-2002Oct7.html
54 MEGABITS AND NOTHING ON - Ask anyone who's going
through the process of building a first home network and they'll probably tell
you they're doing it because of their job or to help the kids with their
homework. But let's face it, the only thing that will really sell consumers on
the idea of stringing category-five Ethernet cable around their baseboards is
better entertainment. http://www.forbes.com/2002/10/09/1009homenet.html
OTHER
TECH STORIES OF THE WEEK
BROADBAND BECOMES ULTIMATE
PIRACY TOOL - Broadband technology is becoming the greatest threat to software
and entertainment companies battling copyright piracy in Asia, industry
executives say. Traditional copyright
piracy continues to worsen in developing countries including China, Malaysia
and Indonesia, where illegal optical-disc factories produce millions of music,
video and software discs each year. Developed Asian countries, where broadband
penetration is the highest, are adding fronts to the piracy war. "As broadband becomes more accessible
and home PCs become more pervasive, the Internet is evolving as a whole new
canvas for piracy," said Sanjay Mirchandani, Southeast Asia president for
Microsoft Corp. He and other executives were speaking during a panel discussion
at the World Economic Forum here. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1034042124444014600,00.html
(Paid subscription required)
COURT FINDS COPYRIGHT CASE A
TOUGH ONE - After intense oral arguments this week, the U.S. Supreme Court
appeared torn as to the ultimate outcome of the Eldred v. Ashcroft copyright
extension case. The high court's ruling will determine whether Congress faces
any real limits in giving authors and artists exclusive control of their work –
a matter made murkier by the Internet's ability to facilitate the spread of
works in the public domain. "I can find a lot of fault with what Congress
did here... [b]ut does it violate the Constitution?" asked Justice Sandra
Day O'Connor, adding that it might not have been good policy to keep so much
art from public use. Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig answered Justice
O'Connor's question in the affirmative, arguing that the 20-year extension
exceeds Congress's power to set "limited times" and also violates the
First Amendment. While Lessig focused on potential users of artistic works,
Solicitor General Theodore Olson defended the creators, suggesting that
Congress intended to give artists a wide window to benefit from a work's
distribution. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2002-10-09-net-copyright_x.htm
BROADBAND SPEED AT DIAL-UP PRICES? - Artera Group has launched a
service called Artera Turbo that promises to boost dial-up speeds by an average
of five times, at just $10 a month--and offers a free two-week trial for
skeptics. Artera Turbo works by routing
your Internet connection through its own servers, which automatically shrink
images, block pop-up and banner ads, and cache popular Web pages. On your PC,
Artera Turbo client software performs a handful of other tricks to accelerate
surfing, such as optimization of modem settings and additional caching of Web pages
on your hard drive so the sites you visit regularly will load even faster. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20021010/tc_pcworld/105795
HOW
FAST CAN WIRELESS GET? - Wireless data transfer speeds hold the promise of
moving from today's dial-up pace to hundreds of kilobits per second, but that
promise has a high price tag attached, and demand so far has been flimsy. Given
the prohibitive expense and the current yawning response from consumers, the
speed of wireless tech is not likely to max out anytime soon. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20021008/bs_nf/19609
CRAZY
FOR A CONNECTED KITCHEN? - For the last week or so, the potential customers at
the P.C. Richard & Son electronics store on Manhattan's Upper East Side
have had a true novelty catching their eyes just a few feet inside the
street-level entrance. The first thing they notice is the 15-inch LCD TV
screen, usually tuned to an all-news channel. It's not particularly large nor
is the picture quality all that remarkable. What gets the attention is the fact
that the screen is built into the front of a refrigerator. Ask a salesman a few
questions about it and you'll get a sales pitch that's sprinkled with the pride
of a new father bragging about his kid. The touch-sensitive screen can also be
used for Internet access. It connects to the Internet via an Ethernet
networking port. Running Microsoft's Windows CE, it can retrieve e-mail,
display Web sites and even has a 20-gigabyte hard drive. http://www.forbes.com/2002/10/08/1008homenetwork.html
WHY THE POOR NEED TECHNOLOGY
– (commentary) There are more than 600 million people in the world who have
access to the Internet, yet an estimated 5.5 billion are not online. Most of
these people live outside developed Western countries. Though over half of UK
households are online, only 0.1% of homes in Bangladesh are on the Net. The
Internet creates greater opportunities for communities and schools, but many
developing countries continue to weigh the value of integrating technology
versus other pressing social problems such as access to healthcare and clean
water. Development experts, however, are beginning to see the Internet as an
important gateway to other resources, as well as to self-reliance. Author Bill
Thompson suggests an update to the old adage "If you give me a fish, you
feed me for a day. If you teach me to fish you feed me for life. " He
proposes: "If you give me information, you answer one of my questions. If
you get me online, you let me answer my questions for myself." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2295447.stm
FACTS & STATS
KIDS KNOW MORE ABOUT
INTERNET THAN BOOKS - Children in the UK know more about the Internet than they
do about books, reports the BBC. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358419&rel=true
NO NEW CONFIDENCE IN
INTERNET - The latest Yahoo/AC Nielsen Internet Confidence Index shows that
overall confidence in the Internet remained flat during the third quarter. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358415&rel=true
WEB-BASED SHOPPING STILL
UNPOPULAR IN EU - eMarketer reports that only 35 percent of Internet users in
the European Union have purchased products or services online for personal
use. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358388&rel=true
ECOMMERCE ACTIVITY IN CANADA
ON THE RISE - New research from Statistics Canada indicates that 2.2 million
Canadian households spent close to CAD2 billion(USD1.27 billion) on online
shopping in 2001. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358400&rel=true
OVER 60 BILLION DAILY EMAIL
MESSAGES TO BE SENT - The total number of email messages sent daily will exceed
60 billion worldwide by 2006, according to an IDC forecast. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358417&rel=true
GROWTH IN NUMBERS SEEKING
HEALTH INFO ONLINE - The BBC reports that more people are turning to the
Internet to look for health information for themselves and their families. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358381&rel=true
HONG KONG TOP FOR MOBILE/NET
TECHNOLOGIES - Hong Kong and Denmark rank best in terms of mobile and Internet
technologies, according to the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU)
Mobile/Internet Index.
http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358390&rel=true
HIGH-SPEED ACCESS COSTS TOO
HIGH FOR US USERS - The price of high-speed Internet access is too high for
most US users, according to a report by the Office of Technology Policy. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358404&rel=true
SPANISH BROADBAND COSTS TO FALL
NEXT YEAR - Broadband costs in Spain are set to get cheaper, claims a report
from Europemedia.net. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358410&rel=true
US BROADBAND SUBSCRIBER
MARKET SET TO GROW - The Yankee Group predicts that the US broadband subscriber
market will grow 361 percent by the end of 2007. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358398&rel=true
NEARLY FOUR MILLION DSL
SUBSCRIBERS IN JAPAN - The number of DSL connections in Japan continues to rise
with an additional 310,000 subscribers being added at the end of July, reports
AsiaBizTech. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358382&rel=true
BROADBAND GETTING MORE
POPULAR IN THE UK - The number of Internet connections in the UK rose by 16.5
percent from July 2001 to July 2002, according to the Office of National
Statistics. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358396&rel=true
MORE BROADBAND SUBSCRIBERS
IN EUROPE - Almost six percent of Europeans have access to broadband services,
up from four percent six months ago. With 56 percent of subscriptions,
xDSL technologies have become the lead access mechanism for the first time. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358402&rel=true
HIGH-INCOME GROUPS FUEL
BROADBAND TAKE-UP - Nearly 30 percent of US households with incomes over
USD100,000 have broadband Internet service at home, according to Leichtman
Research. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358389&rel=true
INTERNET USE INCREASING IN
AFRICA - Reuters reports that Internet use is taking off in Africa. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358408&rel=true
HUNGARIAN WOMEN GET ON THE
NET - The number of Hungarian women going online has almost tripled over the
past three years, reports Europemedia. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358386&rel=true
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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