Global Policy and Government Affairs (GPGA)

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SUPREME COURT HEARS TWO KEY INTERNET CASES - The U.S. Supreme Court is about to wade into back-to-back cases that will determine much about how cable companies, movie studios and musicians -- to say nothing of the average teenager -- operate on the Internet. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111162931330288368,00.html (Paid subscription required)

NEW TECHNOLOGY USES HUMAN BODY FOR BROADBAND NETWORKING - Your body could soon be the backbone of a broadband personal data network linking your mobile phone or MP3 player to a cordless headset, your digital camera to a PC or printer, and all the gadgets you carry around to each other. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2005/03/20/2003247076

FCC TO DRESS 'NAKED' DSL - U.S. regulators are expected to up-end state public utility rules that force BellSouth to let customers buy its high-speed Internet service without having to also sign up for its local phone offering. http://news.com.com/Source+FCC+to+dress+naked+DSL/2100-1037_3-5627726.html

GAO REPORT - INFORMATION SECURITY: Securities and Exchange Commission Needs to
Address Weak Controls Over Financial and Sensitive Data. GAO-05-262,
March 23. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-262
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05262high.pdf (Adobe document)

TISCALI TO SELL INTERNET PROVIDER IN FRANCE - Tiscali, the money-losing Italian Internet service provider with operations in seven European countries, said Thursday that it had begun to negotiate the sale of its French unit to Telecom Italia. http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/24/business/tiscali.html

MOBILE AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS: COMMISSION WELCOMES INDUSTRY PLAN TO BOOST RESEARCH INVESTMENT - A call for action to step up industry investment in mobile and wireless technologies was issued by a group of 15 companies in Brussels today on behalf of the Mobile and Wireless Communications Technology Platform (eMobility). http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/
332&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS COSTLY IRISH BROADBAND - Lobby group IrelandOffline has published a comparison of broadband prices in 30 OECD countries, with Ireland ranking 27th. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050321/95/feo1s.html

BRITAIN TOPS ZOMBIE PC CHARTS - Britain has the largest zombie PC population of any country on the planet, according to the latest Symantec Internet Security Threat Report. US and China are 2, 3. HTTP://WWW.THEREGISTER.CO.UK/2005/03/21/BOTNET_CHARTS/

LAMPPOSTS TO PROVIDE LOCATION-BASED SERVICES? - In what sounds like a tale from the heady days of the dot-com boom, a British company plans to roll out high-speed wireless networks and location-based services using street lampposts. http://news.com.com/Lampposts+to+provide+location-based+services/2100-1034_3-5632095.html

TURNING EU RESEARCH INTO SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS: FOUR CASE STUDIES - Four projects showcasing SME involvement in European research programmes were presented at a press briefing in Celje, Slovenia. The projects illustrate the full range of EU research tools at the disposal of SMEs from a broad variety of industries. http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/05
/101&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN

BROADBAND HAS POWER TO TRANSFORM LIFE IN THE BOONIES - When Project Probe was mooted as a way to get broadband internet into every school, community-builders up and down the country thought it should be more than a photo opportunity for Education Minister Trevor Mallard. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10116504

NEBRASKA LAWMAKER TRIES TO HEAD OFF BROADBAND MEASURE - A state lawmaker is trying to head off pending legislation that would ban local governments from competing with telephone and cable companies by offering cut-rate broadband service. http://www.theomahachannel.com/politics/4304575/detail.html?rss=oma&psp=news

MARYLAND SCHOOLS NEGLECTING COMPUTERS - Technology Used Mostly for Basics - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58146-2005Mar22.html

BROADBAND FIBER OPTICS TO CONNECT VA UNIVERSITIES TO NATIONAL SCIENCE RESEARCH NETWORKS - Governor Mark R. Warner has announced the creation of VORTEX, a broadband optical fiber network that will connect Virginia’s universities to new, national and international research networks. http://www.richmond.com/education/output.aspx?ID=3565940&Vertical_ID=127&tier=10&position=4

FEWER START-UPS SPAWNED ON UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES - Amid scarce start-up money, the number of young companies spun off by universities is tumbling - pinching revenue needed to dampen tuition increases. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20050324
/bs_usatoday/fewerstartupsspawnedonuniversitycampuses

COMPANIES IN RADIO TAG BUSINESS BROADEN LEGAL DISPUTE - A skirmish over patents between suppliers of gear that uses radio signals instead of bar codes to identify commercial goods expanded yesterday into a much broader legal battle. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/25/technology/24tags.html

MCI TO EXPAND ITS WI-FI COVERAGE IN U.S., EUROPE, ASIA - MCI Inc. plans to expand its Wi-Fi Internet coverage, adding 3,400 more hot spots in the U.S., and 1,300 in Europe and Asia. MCI currently operates about 6,200 hot spots, or points where customers can access the Internet through their personal computers without using a cord, around the world. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111154867685287368,00.html (Paid subscription required)

COMMENTARY - HIGH COURT MUST PROTECT INNOVATORS - Everyone knows about the problems facing Hollywood and the recording industry because of the rampant illegal trading of their goods via peer-to-peer Networks. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150886,00.html

TELEWORK TOUTED AS KEY TO SECURITY - Telecommuting has long been touted as a way to save the environment and reduce traffic. But area politicians now say it is a way to preserve business operations — and even save lives — in an emergency. http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20050320-094843-8243r.htm

COMMENTARY BY THOMAS FRIEDMAN – “HOMELAND INSECURITY” - …” at a time when China is encouraging its new companies to offer employees stock options to get Chinese innovators to stay at home and start new firms, the Bush team has been mutely going along with a change in accounting standards that will force U.S. companies to expense stock options by June 2005. This is likely to dampen the growth of our own high-tech companies and encourage U.S.-educated Indian and Chinese techies to go back home.” http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/17/opinion/17friedman.html (Free registration required)

COMMENTARY by Cisco’s Robert Redford - Enter the Intelligent Network - It's the foundation for true business process transformation. In today's global marketplace, with its shrinking product life cycles and shorter time-to-market windows, business success is measured by the speed with which an organization can gather and analyze data, and effectively execute plans based on that analysis. The fundamental reason IT exists is to help companies succeed with that endeavor by providing two things: business transparency and agility. http://computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/story/0,10801,100536,00.html

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