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Cisco Government Affairs E-Update
Volume 2, Issue 7
8 February 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
ITALY ANNOUNCES BROADBAND PLAN – Italy formally announced
its broadband plan recently, leaving the U.S.A. as the only G-7 nation
without a federal broadband strategy.
The stated purpose of the Italian Broadband Task Force was “to conduct a survey of broadband
communications infrastructure, to identify steps that should be taken
to foster the broad-based and balanced development of uses of the infrastructure
and to identify problems in the field and specify appropriate remedies
for them”.
Italian Broadband Task Force Report: http://www.mininnovazione.it/broadband/documenti_pdf/rapporto_completo_eng.PDF
(Adobe file)
This Week@WASHINGTON, DC
FCC:
BROADBAND GREW STEADILY IN FIRST HALF 2001
- U.S. households and small
businesses signed up for high-speed Internet access at a steady clip
in the first half of 2001, according to a U.S. government report released
Thursday. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
found that 9.6 million customers had signed up for high-speed, or "broadband,"
Internet access by the end of June 2001, an increase of 36 percent over
Jan. 2001 figures. Broadband
connections are now widely available, the FCC said, with 78 percent
of the nation's zip codes serviced by at least one provider and 58 percent
serviced by multiple providers. "Advanced
telecommunications capability is being deployed in a reasonable and
timely manner," the FCC said in a release.
Residential and small-business subscriptions grew at a 51 percent
rate during the same period. Seven percent of U.S. households had signed
up for broadband services by June, the report said, up from 4.7 percent
in January. Broadband users access the Internet through satellite, cable-TV,
or telephone connections at speeds five to 50 times faster than a regular
dial-up connection.
FCC Press Release: http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/2002/nrcc0201.html
FCC Report (Adobe file): http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-02-33A1.pdf
News story: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020207/tc_nm/tech_broadband_dc_5
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE REPORT - A NATION ONLINE: How Americans Are Expanding
Their Use Of The Internet - Few technologies have spread as quickly,
or become so widely used, as computers and the Internet.
These information technologies are rapidly becoming common fixtures
of modern social and economic life, opening opportunities and new avenues
for many Americans. A Nation
Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet shows
the rapidly growing use of new information technologies across all demographic
groups and geographic regions. Not
only are many more Americans using the Internet and computers at home,
they are also using them at work, school, and other locations for an
expanding variety of purposes. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/nationonline_020502.pdf
(Adobe file)
FCC CHIEF POWELL BELIEVES IN FREE MARKET - Michael Powell, the USA's
top communications regulator, might be mistaken for a cold-hearted stock
analyst as he schmoozes with a clutch of phone industry executives.
The conversation turns to the woes of regional Bell rival XO Communications,
and someone suggests that if XO can restructure, "they'll survive."
"It's going to be hard," responds a grimacing Powell, chairman
of the Federal Communications Commission and son of Secretary of State
Colin Powell. The exchange, which took place at a recent conference,
seems to capture Powell's hands-off approach to regulation, one that
says companies should rise or fall on their merits. "There's this tendency to think that I'm
somehow the puppet master and because, oh, the economy's down and these
guys are hurting, so I'm going to do a little something for them,"
Powell says in an interview in his corner office. "My religion
is the market." http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/02/06/fcc-powell.htm
SPEECH: FCC COMMISSIONER
KEVIN MARTIN – Martin recently gave a speech to the Federal Communications
Bar Association in Washington DC. Among the issues he addressed were
spectrum management and copy protection. http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Martin/2002/spkjm201.html
BUSH BUDGET BOOSTS
I.T. SPENDING - The Bush administration's proposed 2003 federal budget
includes an 11 percent spending increase on information technology--a
bright spot in an otherwise gloomy tech-spending environment.
The budget would give the U.S. federal government--already the
world's biggest IT spender--a $50 billion IT budget next year if approved
by Congress. Federal IT spending grew from $32.9 billion in 1999 to
$45 billion in 2002, according to the Office of Management and Budget. Increasing IT expenditures would support the nation's war on terrorism,
its homeland security efforts and an ongoing attempt to streamline government
operations, according to the proposal. It's also a helping hand to the
beleaguered computer industry, which had seen a dramatic decline in
business last year as companies tightened purse strings on corporate
spending. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-829484.html
2003 BUDGET - http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2003/
BILL CREATES SHOW-AND-TELL
FOR BROADBAND IN SCHOOL - Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., Monday introduced
legislation that would create a National Science Foundation program
that would concentrate on bringing broadband technology to public schools.
The NSF would design demonstration projects for schools using broadband
technology. It also would allow the agency to perform research projects
that would develop what Larson called "novel uses" for high-performance
computer networks in elementary and secondary math and science education. "Broadband is the most advanced form of Internet connection
and it is critical that our students are well versed in its uses,"
Larson said in a statement. "Bringing the most advanced and modern
tools into classrooms is a critical step in ensuring that American students
are well equipped with the skills and knowledge they will need as they
enter the job market." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174251.html
TECH INDUSTRY PUSHES GOVERNMENT
TO PUSH BROADBAND - Technology industry
lobbyists have swooped down on Washington, seeking to influence any
broadband strategy that may emerge.
A top federal regulator stunned participants at a broadband
conference last month by predicting that high-speed Internet usage would
be driven by a concept unveiled at the 1964 World's Fair: video phones.
"If you want to sell broadband to someone like my mother, you could
do it by telling her that she could use it to speak face to face with
her granddaughter," said Kenneth Ferree, chief of the Federal Communication
Commission's cable services bureau.
Many participants at the Washington gathering shook their heads
in disagreement, believing that downloaded music, online gaming, and
video on demand will play a bigger part in making broadband more than
a fringe market. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/?id=16211
THE INTERNET AS CLASSROOM
- Newton N. Minow, former head of the Federal Communications Commission,
and Lawrence K. Grossman, former president of NBC News and PBS, have
proposed to Congress that it use $18 billion from upcoming FCC auctions
of radio spectrum to fund the digitization of educational material.
A major goal of their Digital Opportunity Investment Trust [DO IT] proposal
is to put material from universities, museums, and libraries on the
Internet. In an interview with BusinessWeek Correspondent Darnell Little
Minow and Grossman explained how their plan could revolutionize K-12
formal education and lifelong learning."[The government is] spending
$2 billion a year to connect every classroom to the Internet, but we
spend virtually nothing on content," said Grossman. "So when
they connect to the Internet, the uses of it for educational purposes
are extremely limited. And certainly the training of teachers is virtually
nonexistent."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/011208/z84e9yszp3yhcddzgaacsq_1.html
COMMERCE TO HOST SPECTRUM
SUMMIT - The Commerce Department will host a summit in Washington, D.C.,
on April 4-5, to help identify the best solutions to challenges posed
by management of the nation's airwaves, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don
Evans announced today. The "Spectrum
Summit," to be hosted by the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications
and Information Administration (NTIA), will address spectrum allocation
and efficiency, the spectrum requirements of new technologies, and regulatory
processes. It is a key step through which NTIA, the Federal Communications
Commission and federal agencies are working together to make spectrum
management processes more effective. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2002/20702summitpr.htm
'DIRTY DOZEN' BILLS
REVEAL A TECH-ACTIVIST CONGRESS - Judging from the intent and sheer
volume of tech-centric bills introduced in 2001, lawmakers in the 107th
Congress appear far less reluctant to regulate the Internet economy
and emerging technologies, according to a report released today by the
libertarian Cato Institute. The study - titled "The Digital Dirty
Dozen," - takes aim at what Cato deems the 12 most misguided tech-specific
bills so far this Congress. The report also holds up the several hundred
tech measures introduced last year as evidence that Congress has largely
abandoned an early bipartisan consensus to exempt the emerging tech
sector from knee-jerk regulations. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174175.html
GOVT,
TECH ALLIANCE PROMOTE HOME COMPUTER SECURITY - A group of high-tech
companies and U.S. government agencies announced on Thursday a new campaign
to educate home computer users and small businesses about ways to keep
hackers and viruses at bay.
At
the core of the Stay Safe Online Campaign is a Web site (http://www.staysafeonline.info)
with information and tips people can follow to protect the security
of their computers.
The
campaign is aimed at home users and small businesses, who are increasingly
vulnerable to attack because many of them use so-called "always
on" cable and digital subscriber line Internet connections. In
addition, home and small business computer users lack the money and
dedicated security staff that corporations have to secure their systems.
http://dailynews.netscape.com/mynsnews/story.tmpl?table=n&cat=50380&id=200202071925000299790
OMB COACHES TECH ON
HOW TO SELL TO GOVERNMENT - A senior Bush administration official coached
a select group of technology vendors Tuesday on how to sell to the federal
government, which will spend more than $52 billion on information technology
in fiscal 2003. “We’re clearly going to ramp up the demand for your
services,” said Mark Forman, associate director for information technology
and e-government at the Office of Management and Budget, at a briefing
on the fiscal 2003 budget for IT vendors and the press.
He warned industry officials that the fiscal 2003 budget reflects
a change in how the federal government will purchase IT and IT-related
services. “The federal government has become a solutions buyer,” Forman
said, and is no longer “just putting PCs on desks.” http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0202/020602j1.htm
USDA REAPS I.T. INCREASE
- President Bush's fiscal 2003 budget request for the Agriculture Department
includes a 13 percent hike in spending on information technology and
more than doubles the money for the Common Computing Environment. Greg Parham, the acting deputy chief information
officer at USDA, said the budget increase would be earmarked to continue
the flow of money mostly to existing programs as well as expanding CCE.
CCE is the Web-based program that is expected to bring the latest technology
to farmers and USDA workers in the field. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0204/web-usda-02-06-02.asp
SENATORS PROBING ENRON
WILL TRY TO REPEAL STOCK-OPTION TAX RULE - Leaders of the Senate's investigation
of the collapse of Enron Corp. are moving to repeal a tax law that encourages
companies to issue stock options, saying the energy company's financial
dealings show the provisions are being abused. Under current law, firms
are allowed to claim tax deductions for stock options while not counting
them as expenses on annual financial statements. Sen. Carl Levin (D.,
Mich.) complained the rule allows firms to effectively hide their long-term
obligations, and he and Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) will introduce
legislation next week that would deny the tax benefits of stock-option
expenses that aren't reflected on company books. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,4286,SB1013035703148740360,00.html?mod=politics%5Fprimary%5Fhs
(Paid subscription only)
HOUSE PASSES CYBER
R&D BILL - The House voted to provide colleges and research groups
with $800 million over the next five years to figure out new ways to
protect computers against hackers. The bill, fueled in part by the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks and a new focus on weaknesses in business and government
computer security, passed 400-12. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50296,00.html
BUSH
PLAN 'DIGITAL DISTORTION' -
The Bush administration has responded to progress in
bridging the digital divide by cutting technology funding for low-income
communities. In the budget proposal
released on Monday, the Bush administration seeks to eliminate some
programs aimed at closing the gap between digital haves and have-nots.
The biggest cut is to the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP), a
federal grant program designed to bring aid to communities that are
lagging in access to digital technologies. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50279,00.html
This
Week@INTERNATIONAL
CHINA'S
INTERNET POPULATION NEARS 34 MILLION - By
the end of December 2001, China had 33.7 million Internet users, according
to a regular report on the development of China's Internet industry
by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).
China's Internet users numbered only 620,000 in October 1997,
according to previous studies. By January 2000, the number had jumped
to 8.9 million and, following a period of rapid growth, China had 22.5
million at the end of January 2001.
This remarkable growth continues while developed Western countries
are seeing their Net populations level out.
The report breaks down China's Internet population, estimating
some 21.33 million dial-up modem users, 6.72 million leased-line connections,
5.65 million with both, and 1.18 million who use mobile terminals or
other Internet appliances. http://www.newsbytes.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.display.printable?client.id=newsbytes&story.id=174299
VOLUNTARY SINGAPORE
WEB CODES TO PROTECT PRIVACY - A Singapore Internet advisory body has
launched two voluntary industry codes to protect the privacy of consumers
and regulate online content in the hopes of offering consumers greater
peace of mind when online. The
National Internet Advisory Committee (NIAC), an independent body appointed
by the Ministry of Information and the Arts, launched its Model Data
Protection Code for the Private Sector and Industry Content Code Tuesday.
``The two codes are....in line with the NIAC's call that there
should be greater industry self-regulation and any such regulation should
be voluntary,'' NIAC Chairman Bernard Tan told a news conference. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020205/wr/singapore_internet_code_dc_1.html
BROADBAND USE IN HONG
KONG SET TO SKYROCKET - Hong Kong is expected to rank third in broadband
penetration within the Asia region with 38 per cent of Internet subscribers
using high-speed Internet access by 2004. The SAR will follow South
Korea and Singapore, according to a report by The Yankee Group. The
group predicted the number of cable and ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber
line) subscribers would reach 712,500 this year and 1.3 million by 2004.
The figures included an 88 per cent growth in the number of ADSL subscribers
from 486,890 to 915,950, as well as a 75 per cent increase in cable
modem subscribers from 225,650 to 395,000.
Agatha Poon, senior analyst for convergence communications at
Yankee, said: "Currently, 100 per cent of Hong Kong's commercial
buildings have broadband coverage, as do 80 per cent of its households.
http://technology.scmp.com/techmain/ZZZK0O1H5XC.html
(free registration required)
KOREA TELECOM: A MOST
UNLIKELY VICTOR - The telecommunications wars of the 1990s are over,
and as the dust clears from the fallout of mega-mergers gone awry, bankruptcies
and misplaced strategic thrusts, Korea Telecom seems to have emerged
as a most unlikely victor. In
an interview at the World Economic Forum here, Sang-Chul Lee, chief
executive of KT, as Korea Telecom is now known, outlined plans to complete
the company's privatization and take its place on the global telecommunications
stage. "We used to benchmark ourselves vs. AT&T,
BT (Group) and NTT and see what they were doing. Once they were doing
well with a service we would follow them," Lee said. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-829779.html
UN LOOKS TO NARROW
TECH GAP - Bolivia, Mozambique and Tanzania are to be first among a
dozen developing countries to receive teams of high-tech consultants
bent on boosting the information technology infrastructure of those
nations. The two-year Global Digital Opportunity Initiative,
announced Tuesday by the United Nations Development Program and the
Markle Foundation, aims to bolster health care, education and business
development with the latest computer and communications equipment. ``New technologies, deployed appropriately,
offer an unprecedented opportunity to meet global development challenges,''
said Zoe Baird, president of the Markle Foundation. The initiative has attracted requests for help from 45 other countries;
12 will be selected, Markle officials said. Partners in the two-year
project have already committed an initial $10 million to fund the work.
SUN, Cisco, HP, AOLTW and others are participating in this program.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020205/tc/global_tech_gap_1.html
U.K. E-LEARNING TASK
FORCE FORMED - A new task force that will look look at how e-learning
can enhance opportunities for young people in colleges and lifelong
learning, has been unveiled. The
work of the Task Force will link into with the Department of Education
and Skills e-Learning Strategy Unit and with the Learning & Skills
Council Distributed and e-Learning Group (DELG). http://www.number-10.gov.uk/news.asp?NewsId=3530&SectionId=30
BRITAIN
VOWS TO MAKE SCOTLAND AN IT LEADER - The
UK Government has stressed its commitment to placing Scotland at the
forefront of the "information technology revolution". The importance of the "new economy" to businesses north
of the border has been highlighted by Scottish Secretary Helen Liddell. And she has encouraged Scottish companies to
take the lead in areas such as the use of smart cards, e-business and
mobile commerce. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/scotland/newsid_1798000/1798797.stm
BT CUTS BRING BROADBAND
BRITAIN CLOSER TO REALITY - BT Group's plans to cut the cost of high-speed
internet access have raised hopes that the UK government's dream of
"Broadband Britain" might at last start to live up to the
hype. http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=166389374&i=461986&m=1&d=2279650
BROADBAND
TOO DEAR, SAY EUROPEANS - The
anticipated boom in European demand for high-speed internet access is
unlikely to materialise until subscription prices fall, according to
the research firm GartnerG2. Consumers
in Europe's main internet markets - the UK, France and Germany - are
not prepared to pay fees up to twice as high as the cost of traditional
internet connections, GartnerG2 said.
"The industry has assumed that broadband would set consumers
on fire," said Adam Daum, vice president and chief analyst at GartnerG2.
"However, speed alone is not enough of an enticement." http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1800000/1800139.stm
FRANCE: FRENCH MINISTER
FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Michel Sapin, has announced and awarded
the winners of the most innovative e-government applications award.
Of 92 candidate projects, 20 have been retained. To look at the projects
descriptions: http://www.atica.pm.gouv.fr/evenements_ateliers/electrophees2001.shtml
THE MOST ADVANCED CITY
IN FRANCE - For someone who has written a book titled Ces Imbéciles
Qui Nous Gouvernent (These imbeciles who govern us), André Santini
clearly considers himself a breed apart from the common political herd. And in one respect at least, the cigar-loving mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux,
a city of 53,000 on the southwestern outskirts of Paris, seems entirely
justified in adopting a holier-than-thou pose to other elected officials.
Information technology is Mayor Santini's badge of distinction
-- and one he wears with pride. Back in the mid-1990s, when most other
French politicians and business leaders were studiously ignoring the
then largely Anglophone Internet, Santini was spearheading a campaign
to turn Issy-les-Moulineaux into a "digital city" par excellence.
Mayor’s website: http://www.andre-santini.net/; News Story: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,49996,00.html
NORDIC TELECOMS STUCK
IN THE GLOOM - Nokia and Ericsson may be experiencing deeply divergent
operational fortunes, but neither company's stock price seems able to
escape the gloom which has settled so firmly over the telecoms equipment
sector this year. http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=166389374&i=461988&m=1&d=2279724
COMMISSION
LAUNCHES OPEN CONSULTATION ON E-ECONOMY - A
wide-ranging online consultation on the EU policy agenda for helping
European enterprises to take full advantage of the e-Economy will be
open from 1 February 2002 on the enterprise pages of the European Commission's
EUROPA web site. The
"e-dimension" needs to be systematically included in all policies
affecting enterprises. The Commission's e-Economy priorities include,
inter alia, accelerating the creation of a clear and predictable framework
for e-business, fostering full participation by small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) in the e-Economy, and improving the availability
of risk capital and market-based financing. All e-Economy stakeholders
are invited to submit their contributions by 31 March 2002. http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/200|0|RAPID&lg=EN
ONLINE
TECHNOLOGY MARKETPLACE PROMISES NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES - The European Commission launched the Technology Marketplace,
a new CORDIS service, on 1 February 2002. This multilingual facility,
which is part of a wider drive to stimulate innovation and investment
in new knowledge, offers the results of European research for market
exploitation. It is intended as an attractive and user-friendly tool,
providing users and promoters of research results with free access to
the latest and most competitive technologies. It also includes an 'offer
of the week' in the areas of biology and medicine, energy, the environment,
information technology, telecommunications and industrial applications.
The Technology Marketplace offers the contact details of technology
owners, technology tips, business advice, and reader-friendly digests
of new scientific achievements. http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/199|0|RAPID&lg=EN
This Week@US STATES
SILICON VALLEY SUPPORTING
MEASURE E: Voters in San Jose, CA are being asked to vote for
Measure E -- a bond measure that will raise funds for the Mission Valley
school district's infrastructure and technology improvements. Please
view the Measure E website at: www.wvm-yes-on-e.org
for more information.
GATES
BLAMES HIGH PRICES FOR US BROADBAND LAG - The high prices charged for broadband internet access
in the US mean it was likely to lag behind other countries in the development
of high-speed residential communications for the next "five to
six years," Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, warned recently. Mr Gates' comments, made at the World Economic
Forum in New York, pointed the finger of blame squarely at communications
companies for not doing enough to stimulate demand for their broadband
service. Rather than cut prices,
US telephone and cable television companies had actually raised them
in recent months, further slowing the development of the service, he
said. However, a spokesman for Verizon Communications,
one of the biggest US telecoms companies, denied that prices were excessive.
"At the moment, broadband isn't a money-making proposition for
any of us," he said. http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT34DES99XC&live=true&tagid=FTDDMJNIFEC&subheading=internet%20and%20e-commerce
VIRGINIA'S
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION BILL ADVANCES - Localities could provide service - A
state Senate subcommittee approved a bill yesterday that would let localities
provide telecommunications services, including phone, cable television
and high-speed Internet. The
bill, by Sen. William C. Wampler Jr., R-Bristol, would help extend high-speed
services to parts of Virginia that existing companies have failed to
serve. Representatives of Verizon and Sprint, two
of the state's largest local phone companies, opposed the measure. Supporters say the bill would improve the quality
of life and economic-development prospects for rural Virginia and other
areas that now lack those telecommunications services. Local governments are interested in providing
a service, compared with commercial companies that are interested in
making a profit, Jim Bowie, a lawyer for the city of Bristol, told the
subcommittee. http://www.timesdispatch.com/vametro/genassembly/MGBRFDCU6XC.html
AMERICAN WEB USAGE REACHED 54% GOVERNMENT STUDY SAYS - Internet
use continued to grow rapidly last year, with new government data showing
that the number of Americans using the Web in 2001 passed 50% of the
population for the first time. The Commerce Department report, set for
release Tuesday, found that 143 million Americans, or 54% of the country,
were using the Internet as of September. The number was up 26% from
a year earlier. The government numbers are slightly higher than many private-sector
estimates. Nielsen/NetRatings,
for instance, estimated that Internet usage hit 115.2 million in October,
up 15% from a year earlier. Despite concerns that interest in Internet usage might cool as many
dot-com businesses vanished, the government report put new users at
two million per month in 2001. E-mail continues to be the nation's favorite
online activity, and 45% of the population now uses it regularly, up
from 35% in 2000. The report
found 174 million Americans, or 66% of the population, were using computers
as of September, with those numbers substantially higher among children
and teenagers. The data show that 48 million Americans between age five
and age 17, 90% of that population, use computers. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1012789793162132080,00.html?mod=technology_main_whats_news
(paid subscription required)
STUDY: AMERICANS TURNED
TO E-MAIL AFTER SEPT. 11 - Americans used the Internet more like a greeting
card than a newspaper after the Sept. 11 attacks, the first national
crisis since the advent of the Web and e-mail, according to a survey
released on Thursday. More than 100 million Americans -- about 57 percent
of e-mail users -- sent or received e-mail expressing concern after
the attacks, with nearly 23 percent receiving e-mail from overseas,
the study by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found.
"The most interesting thing was that a whole new type of
communication emerged out of Sept. 11, the first national crisis since
the Internet and e-mail," said Jeffrey Cole, director of the UCLA
Center for Communication Policy and founder of the UCLA Internet Project.
http://dailynews.netscape.com/mynsnews/story.tmpl?table=n&cat=50380&id=200202070021000276918
IBM
TO FINANCE U MD. E-GOV STUDY - IBM
Corp. has agreed to fund the study of electronic government for a three
years at the University of Maryland, the company announced Feb. 5. The research will be carried out by the Robert H. Smith School of
Business' Center for e-Service. The contribution was made by IBM Global
Government Industry Group, a unit of IBM Corp. of Armonk, N.Y. IBM and the university declined to disclose
the financial terms of the agreement.
http://www.washtech.com/news/govtit/15015-1.html
NEW YORK GOVERNOR PATAKI CREATES KEY
STATE TECHNOLOGY POSITION - Former
Acting Labor Commissioner James Dillon Named State CIO - Governor George
E. Pataki today announced the creation of the position of Chief Information
Officer (CIO) of the State of New York, a position to be filled by former
Acting Commissioner and Executive Deputy Commissioner of Labor James
T. Dillon. As CIO, Mr. Dillon will be responsible for
the oversight and supervision of the Office for Technology, and will
coordinate the technology policies of all State government agencies
and public authorities. http://www.state.ny.us/governor/
OTHER
TECH STORIES OF THE WEEK
TRENDS SHOW DIAL-UP
SPEED GETTING SLOWER - Even as the Internet's core backbone renders
faster data speed to those who can tap into the high-speed Internet,
the reverse is true for the dial-up customers who still constitute the
majority of U.S. Internet users. According to figures compiled by Web-measurement
firm Keynote Systems since October 1999, dial-up users connecting to
major U.S. consumer sites like Yahoo.com, Excite.com and Travelocity.com
have gradually seen page downloads slow down.
"The choke point is still the dial-up line," said Eric
Siegel, principal Internet consultant Keynote Systems. "So to some
degree, the guy at home on the phone doesn't really see that the backbone
has gotten a lot faster." http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174210.html
STUDY:
CONSUMERS GO WIRELESS AT HOME - Consumers are pulling the plug on traditional
phone lines at home as wireless service and broadband connections become
cheaper, according to a recent survey from Forrester Research. New communication services, such as those offered by AT&T Wireless
and Sprint's PCS business, have already replaced landline service in
1.7 percent of households. By
2006, more than 5 million U.S. homes will start using mobile and high-speed
broadband networks as their primary connection, according to Forrester.
That would make wireless services the primary means of communications
in 11 percent of households. http://news.com.com/2100-1033-825104.html
BILL GATES SAYS 3G
WILL CREATE HUGE OPPORTUNITIES - Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates
expressed confidence on Thursday that advances in mobile technology
will create "huge opportunities" for the software industry
and said his company was poised to take advantage of them. Gates, who
was in Stockholm to accept an honorary doctorate from Sweden's Royal
Institute of Technology, said he was optimistic that so-called third-generation
mobile networks would be successful. "There are some financial
challenges for the people making the big investments, but I have no
doubt that 3G will be pervasive and a very positive thing for personal
computing," he told reporters after the 30-minute award ceremony.
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/244209p-2315911c.html
INTERNET
VOTING IN THE NEAR FUTURE? - Well before the 2000 presidential election,
government, academics and industry were testing the Internet as a medium
for casting and recording votes. The Florida debacle, with its butterfly
ballots, contested chads and equipment failures, gave new impetus to
this research. But despite the clamor for more reliable voting systems
that arose from the bitter Bush vs. Gore contest, experts say security
and infrastructure problems make Internet elections a distant prospect,
at best. http://www.msnbc.com/news/701210.asp
HIGH-TECH FOR SMALL
BUSINESS A LOW PRIORITY - With customers queued up, phones ringing and
employees needing guidance on matters urgent, James Ogburn, owner of
Little Jim & Tim's auto repair in Los Angeles, has hardly a nanosecond
to discuss his e-commerce strategy. He doesn't think he has a Web site to promote
his 15-year-old business. His assistant corrects him. He does, sort
of. It's part of a larger automotive-services cybermall, on which it's
nearly impossible to find information about Little Jim & Tim's. How about getting his own Web site? "We're
still thinking about it," Ogburn said, noting that such matters
would have to wait, because more pressing upgrades are needed around
the shop. While American small business has been struggling to keep
the doors open during the economic recession, the rapid development
of electronic commerce has raised the stakes for companies such as Ogburn's
that remain ambivalent about investing in technology. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000009007feb05.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dtechnology
SURVEY IS DOWNBEAT
ABOUT IT SPENDING RECOVERY - US corporate information technology spending
is projected to continue to be below "normal" levels this
year, said Goldman Sachs, which released the results of a survey of
top IT executives at large US companies.
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=166389374&i=461358&m=1&d=2275359
BROADBAND NOT READY
FOR HOLLYWOOD - Internet video-on-demand has been hyped as the coming
wave in entertainment once high-speed Internet service is in enough
homes, but experts say current broadband services are not ready for
prime time. Video-on-demand providers, such as privately
held Intertainer Inc., have had to turn away customers because the broadband
in many homes still falls short of the required minimum sustained bandwidth
of 500 kilobits per second (Kbps) or more needed to deliver a movie,
the companies said. The emerging
services allow consumers to start, pause and resume a film any time
they want, typically on a personal computer.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-828869.html
BASEBALL ABANDONS CONTRACTION
UNTIL 2003 - Major League Baseball accepted what was looking increasingly
inevitable; that its plan to eliminate two teams will not happen until
next season.
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=166389374&i=460706&m=1&d=2271273
FACTS AND
STATS:
BROADBAND AROUND THE
WORLD - According to a recent GartnerG2 report, a mere 10% of households
in France, Germany and the UK will have high-speed internet connections
by 2005. GartnerG2 finds that by the end of 2001, there were 500,000
households with broadband in France, 1 million in Germany and 200,000
in the UK. Story also includes a graph on worldwide broadband penetration
and projections. http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/broadband/20020205_gart.html
ONLINE ADS TO OUTPERFORM
OTHER MEDIA - Online advertising in the US is forecast to grow 8.8 percent
this year, reports CyberAtlas. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357599&rel=true
HALF OF US USERS BOUGHT
ONLINE IN 2001 - Eighty-four percent of US Internet users have bought
online at least once, but less than a third buy online regularly, according
to the Internet Commerce Briefing from the Intermarket Group. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357609&rel=true
HALF OF EUROPEANS NOW
ONLINE - According to IDC, almost half of all Europeans went online
in the past month. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357608&rel=true
TEENS PREFER INTERNET
TO TELEPHONE - CyberAtlas reports on a new survey from AOL which has
found that the Internet is now the primary communication tool for US
teenagers. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357613&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.
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