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Netizens-Digest Volume 1 Number 259
Netizens-Digest Thursday, January 21 1999 Volume 01 : Number 259
Netizens Association Discussion List Digest
In this issue:
Re: [netz] A Call to Arms?
[netz] FCC power limits?
[netz] FYI: Electronic Commerce Project
[netz] European Net users saddled with high phone rates
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 13:31:37 -0500 (EST)
From: Ronda Hauben <ronda@panix.com>
Subject: Re: [netz] A Call to Arms?
Bino Gopal <bino@rabi.columbia.edu> writes:
>My name is Bino Gopal, and I've been subscribed to the netizens mailing
>list since last May, and while that may not be the longest time, I've been
>around for a while, and watched as it went from hardly any traffic, to the
>regular flow we see now (which was quite impressive, may I add!)
Yes it is good that the Netizens list has beocme a place again where
there is important discussion going on, and also it is good to hear
you post Bino.
>I recently graduated from Columbia University, (undergrad) and am now
>working in the Networks group here at the University, in the main Computer
>division (AcIS), so this is right up my alley. I'm also a lifeling
>computer user and net addict :). While I am very interested in what's
>happening, I've only been able to follow the discussions topically, and
>haven't been able to keep up on all the latest news. I have read enough
>though to say that I find myself in Ronda's camp more often than not, and
> find myself agreeing with many of her views...
It has been very interesting what has been happening, despite
the frustrations. But I think the important point is to try to
get underneath and identify the real issues that are being covered
up. I have found that participating, even though frustating, has
helped this to happen. And I have found that the discussion on the Netizens
list, becuase it takes a social focus, has also helped in
an important way.
Do you a sense why you have found you are "very interested " in
what is happening?
>But having said that, something is still troubling me--something recently
highlighted by the latest email to the list. In it, someone said that
>they too were wary of what was going on, but that they were afraid that
>this whole mailing list may be a waste of time. Now that's something
>that's crossed my mind, seeing how frustrated Ronda has been in her
>attempts to get 'the powers that be' to listen. I believe this
>consideration of efficacy is very important, and relates to my next point.
To clarify, the person I quoted in the email I sent to the Netizens list
was saying that they were feeling that the ICANN-membership list was
perhaps a waste of time. They weren't talking about the Netizens list
and I don't know if they know it exists. I had sent that post from the
ICANN-membership list to the netizens list. But maybe I should also
tell that person about the Netizens list.
Also I have been frustrated with the fact that the "powers that be"
don't seem to have any ears.
But it is still important that we have voices as someone will hear
and in the process we will figure out how to cooperate to determine
what is needed to both deal with the "powers that be without ears" and
also the scaling of the Internet that is the important problem on the
table and which the "powers that be without ears" are trying to
hijack as their exclusive property.
>Here is the one thing I would like to hear:
>A clear, concise, brief description of what the _real_ danger is in all
>the goings on and doings of the US Gov and all these supporting
>organizations. To explain why I ask this, listen to the following
>example:
Briefly, my suggestion is that we each try to say what we
feel is the problem and out of that can perhaps find a way to express
it in a way that will be helpful to otheres who don't understand.
What I see as the problem is that the essential funcitons of
the Internet give control over the Internet to whoever is
in control of ICANN.
That up to recently, these essential funcitons have been protected
from political and commercial pressures to a good part.
(less so more recently, but more so in the past)
That for the Internet to continue to grow nad develop, there is
a need to continue this protection, not to put these essential functions
in the hands of the commercial entities that want them for their
own self interest or in the hands of the political entities that
want to give them to the commercial entities, etc.
That the Internet developed under protection because it was
developed under government acting in a way to support the
scientific and technical research and development.
There is a need to continue this protective environment,
especially around these essential central and controlling
functions.
Also, the Internet developed as a human centered, not a
technology centered achievement.
That is because it developed under scientific and government support
and direction.
The commercial can perhaps create a technology centered achievement,
but not a human centered.
If you want examples, look at the Global Internet Project
view for the future of shopping malls and recreation, but not
communication.
Also, at CNRI there is an architectural plan for the future
of the Internet that is also a technology centered achievement
but that leaves out the communication, the interactive
contributions and cooperation, etc. that is what is so special
about the Internet.
I think the URL for the GIP is http://www.gip.com/
Those planning for a commercial internet don't support any
studies or research or consideration of the social develpment
of the Internet. And thse are the hard aspects that
need the study and the support.
The last surprising development to some ofthese folks is
email. They don't recognize the important new developments
that the Internet has given birth to, like the collaborative activity,
the ability of people to become reporters so that the world
can know first hand what is going on somewhere, the
ability to discuss a difficult issue and cut through because
people from around the world are contributing.
The ability to help people around the world use their computers and
technology as the technical newsgroups make posisble.
To me these are very precious.
.
But to those governement entities trying to hide their heavy
hands to give the Net to commercial entities, these mean nothing.
Chapter 6 of Netizens gives some perspective on how this
human centered environoment is developed and why it is so important.
I realize this is different from a concise response that
spells out the dangers of the ICANN folks grabbing the essential
functions of the Internet.
But I feel this is the kind of discussion we on the Netizens list
need to have to identify the shorter answer to the question
you ask Bino.
I have to go now, but I'll try to get back to this quesiton
you ask tomorrow.
Also it would be good to have debates or discussions on
this from the varied viewpoints, as I have had a very
interesting time at a talk I gave at Internatinoal House
near Columbia, where there was someone else also presenting
his views which were in support of ICANN.
Ronda
Netizens: On the History and Impact
of Usenet and the Internet
http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/
in print edition ISBN 0-8186-7706-6
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 17:59:18 -0500
From: "P.A. Gantt" <pgantt@icx.net>
Subject: [netz] FCC power limits?
>From BENTON:
DRAFT BILL WOULD RAISE CAPS, LOWER FCC PROFILE
Issue: Broadcast and Cable Regulation
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ.) is floating a
draft bill that would allow broadcast networks to own many more TV
stations and would allow satellite companies to carry local broadcast
signals. The TV ownership cap would rise from 35% to 50% of the national
viewing audience, a policy change for which networks are fighting hard
but which network affiliates are not supporting. The draft bill would
allow satellite broadcasters to import distant network signals to
households unable to receive over-the-air TV until January 1, 2002. At
that time satellite TV companies would have to carry all broadcasters'
local signals. Representatives of the satellite TV industry oppose
phasing out the distant network signal business. Local broadcasters want
Congress to ensure that DBS providers will carry all their signals as
soon as they are technically able.
The bill would also reduce the power of the Federal Communications
Commission over broadcasters by requiring a "supermajority" of four out
of five votes to approve new broadcast regulation. It would repeal the
FCC's ability to approve mass media mergers and give that authority
wholly to the Justice Department. The Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission would receive the FCC's jurisdiction over EEO rules for
broadcasters. Broadcast
lobbyists say Congress is unlikely to agree to such drastic limitations
on the FCC's powers.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 3), AUTHOR: Paige Albiniak]
<http://www.broadcastingcable.com/>
- --
P.A. Gantt, Computer Science Technology Instructor
Electronic Media Design and Support Homepage
http://user.icx.net/~pgantt/
mailto:pagantt@technologist.com?Subject=etech
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/vision/1998-11.asp
Common sense is not common, and conventional wisdom is not
wisdom. But at least you can have conventional sense. ~~ Daily Whale
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 19:20:32 -0500
From: "P.A. Gantt" <pgantt@icx.net>
Subject: [netz] FYI: Electronic Commerce Project
Electronic Commerce Project
http://legal.web.aol.com/ecommerc/
"...The Project's website, located at
http://legal.web.aol.com/ecommerc/, has been
completely re-structured. All information can now be accessed directly
from
the frontpage. All content has been updated, and will be refreshed on a
biweekly basis. The web site will prominently feature the
TKR-Newsletter, a
University of Muenster based mailinglist covering international
communications
law and policy issues, keeping our international audience well informed
of
current developments on a weekly basis, while the E-Commerce Project
provides
a archive of these current developments..."
Source:
Tom Dabney
Associate General Counsel
AOL International
America Online, Inc.
- --
P.A. Gantt, Computer Science Technology Instructor
Electronic Media Design and Support Homepage
http://user.icx.net/~pgantt/
mailto:pagantt@technologist.com?Subject=etech
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/vision/1998-11.asp
Common sense is not common, and conventional wisdom is not
wisdom. But at least you can have conventional sense. ~~ Daily Whale
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 01:45:22
From: John Walker <jwalker@networx.on.ca>
Subject: [netz] European Net users saddled with high phone rates
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The following is an excerpt from the CSS Internet News. If you are
going to pass this along to other Netizens please ensure that the
complete message is forwarded with all attributes intact.
- --------------------
For European Net users saddled with high phone rates, the meter is
always running.
http://www.salonmagazine.com/21st/feature/1999/01/18feature.html
BY DAVID BRAKE | LONDON --
I live in a third world country -- at least as far as the Internet
goes. Last month I paid more than $150 for my Net access. I was
almost resigned to this fate until I returned for Christmas to
Canada, where I used to live, only to find that almost everyone I
knew had signed up for either DSL, which offers high-speed Internet
service over normal phone lines, or cable modem Internet access. Even
my Dad is surfing at 10 times my speed, for just $25 a month.
Of course the backwater I live in has its compensations. My home is
London, capital city of Cool Britannia. Samuel Johnson said, "When a
man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London
all that life can afford." True enough -- but an Internet life of
North American standards is only barely affordable.
If you wonder why you don't see more people from outside North
America online, there is one simple reason -- local telephone
charges. Here in the United Kingdom, you pay $3.88 an hour between 8
a.m. and 6 p.m. for any local call -- if you sign up for the maximum
discount level British Telecom could supply (costing another $3 a
month), you can get that down to $2.90. Even the briefest of phone
calls will still cost 7 cents, and telephone line rental costs a
further $14 a month (though if you have cable it can cost you less).
On top of that, of course, you need to have signed up with an
Internet service provider -- an account with UUNet, which mostly
caters to business, costs around $25 a month. With prices like these,
it is a wonder anyone uses the Internet at home at all. Overall, some
80 percent of Europeans without home Internet access said in a recent
study that they were unlikely to get it -- if they were offered
Internet without a per-minute phone charge, 40 percent said they
would be likely to sign up.
Erol Ziya of the British-based Campaign for Unmetered
Telecommunications says that the high cost of Internet access is more
than just a consumer pricing issue. "Some of our strongest supporters
are the disabled and the unemployed. Many of the disabled people we
speak to say they have no access to the world except through the
phone and the modem -- charging by the minute is a severe detriment
to the quality of their lives."
Metering Net usage via per-minute phone charges doesn't only boost
European Net users' phone bills -- it affects the nature of their
online experiences. Forget surfing and schmoozing; we must get in,
get our information and get out.
Without the opportunity to choose a flat rate, users here and across
much of Europe always feel themselves racing against the clock.
Instead of logging on and simply following links that look
interesting, I find myself rigorously planning my online experience:
I dial up and start several browser windows going at once. I skim the
text of each page hurriedly, follow any "must read" links, log off,
then read what I have downloaded. A slow download speed is doubly
frustrating -- not only does it leave me looking at a blank screen,
but I end up drumming my fingers waiting to be able to log off.
Recreational Web surfing has to be squeezed in at off-peak hours, or
on office lunch breaks. Only 28 percent of European Net surfers said
they had visited entertainment Web sites in a recent survey.
Downloading large software demos is much less tempting (which may
explain why nearly all computer magazines here contain bonus CD-ROMs
full of trial software).
Ziya's experiences bear this out. He is one of the lucky ones: His
cable company experimented with free local calls inside its
franchise, and he is now one of the DSL trial customers. But his
first year of Internet use three years ago was metered, and he
remembers being "very aware" of the cost.
His phone bill doubled, and he found himself using the Internet just
for specific tasks rather than browsing around -- typically for
three or four hours a week. "Quitting the Internet altogether was
always in the back of my mind, particularly when I became
unemployed," he said.
"Before I had flat-rate access, I wasn't really using the Internet
as a communications tool, except for e-mail," he said. "Now I use it
primarily to interact with other human beings, whether through
gaming, ICQ, IRC or other programs. Before, it was primarily an
information-seeking tool."
DSL or cable modems could offer heavier Net users cost savings as
well as significantly higher speeds, since they won't usually be
billed by the minute. But across much of Europe, including the U.K.,
the technologies are still at the trial stage.
There is some dispute over whether the U.K. market is ready for such
"broadband" services. One cable company exec said that its research
found customers were "gagging for" cable modem access, and the 40
customers they offered a test service to in 1997 were "more than a
little pissed off" when the trial ended.
British Telecom, which is conducting a 2,000-household DSL trial in
London, seems less convinced. Simon Brooks, a marketing manager for
the company, says, "If we perceived there was a massive demand now
we would roll out very quickly. We believe in two to three years,
demand will be much greater. We're not going to be rushed into
launching the services earlier than we believe prudent." It looks as
if, at least in the U.K., even major metropolitan areas will have to
wait until toward the end of this year for any sort of broadband
access.
Of course, I have painted a deliberately gloomy picture so far. If
you can wait until after 6 p.m., you can get online in Britain for
not much more than $1 an hour -- and during the weekend prices
decline to as little as 70 cents an hour. Recently in the U.K.,
several "free" Internet service providers have emerged and are taking
a large chunk of the market. Freeserve, the first of them, has
quickly become the largest ISP after gaining 700,000 active
subscribers in only four months. The company says 40 percent of its
customers have never used the Internet before.
The Internet access offered isn't truly free, to be sure. Freeserve
and other such services don't charge users fees because they can
recoup much of their costs from a share in the phone revenues
(though some customers have also voiced alarm at charges of as much
as $1.60 a minute for calls to their technical support lines).
British ISPs don't limit the number of hours you can spend online
anymore; they don't have to -- the telephone companies do that job
for them. Thanks to this recent development, those who stay online
for less than 10 hours a month are getting a better deal than most
North American consumers.
Elsewhere in Europe, the picture differs widely, and a few people
have an easier time. In the Scandinavian countries, where the
telecommunications infrastructure is highly developed, Net access of
all kinds is cheaper and more prevalent -- even more than the United
States in some cases. In Germany, nearly one in five phone users has
adopted ISDN (a digital phone-line service that can deliver both
voice and data).
According to BMRB International, a market research firm, more than
half of the Swedish population, nearly 50 percent of Finns and 46
percent of Danes have used the Internet. Nonetheless, in most
European countries Internet users are even worse off than they are
here in Britain: According to BMRB's numbers, just under a third of
the U.K., the Netherlands, Ireland and Austria have used the
Internet; in France and Belgium it's a quarter, and a fifth in
Germany and Spain. Only 19 percent of Italians have ever used the
Internet.
Given the high cost of phone service, it's not surprising that 1998
saw a series of "cyberstrikes" across the continent by disgruntled
Internet users. In September and October, several Spanish Internet
groups urged Internet users to stay offline for a day to protest a
planned rate hike and plead for a flat-rate tariff for Internet
calls. Though they didn't get a flat rate, they did persuade
Telefonica de Espana, S.A, which has the monopoly on local-rate
calls, to offer discount plans.
In October, Italian users also registered their discontent and won
similar concessions. Soon protest spread across Europe. By the end
of the year protests had taken place in the U.K., France, Germany,
Italy, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and Poland. The Campaign for
Unmetered Telecommunications now plans to bring together campaigners
from across Europe for a strike in the middle of 1999 and has set up
a site to coordinate the protest. A group of French cyberstrikers,
the Association of Unhappy Internauts, demonstrated in mid-December
and has already announced a second strike for the end of January,
demanding a flat monthly rate of $36 for local calls.
There is a big "chicken and egg" problem for much of Europe. Fewer
Internet users means less local content, which means Internet
providers have to purchase expensive trans-Atlantic bandwidth to the
U.S. to give their customers access to the data held there. And
because European users have much more limited access to content
relevant to them, like TV guides, events listings, local news and
sports, the Internet is less appealing, so growth remains slower.
Language is another obvious barrier, given the English-dominated
nature of the Internet, and the difference in time zones means
anything "real-time" like chat rooms, live broadcasts and online
gaming are all less convenient for Europeans. There are also
substantial barriers to Internet shopping. American Web sites often
sell products at significantly lower prices than Europeans often
have to pay, but some don't sell outside the continental U.S., and
those that do usually charge much more for overseas delivery, which
can also take longer (sea mail can take eight weeks). Even bill
payment can present a problem, as customers nearly always need credit
cards, and these are still in less widespread use in Europe than in
America.
Whatever the problems, it is clear to European leaders as it is to
North Americans that the Internet will be central to future economic
development, and there are already some hopeful signs.
In Ireland, an Advisory Committee on Telecommunications recommended
a decrease in the price of Internet access and urged the main
telephone company to consider flat-rate Net access. While it has yet
to back fixed-price Net access, Telecom Eireann has announced new,
lower-priced rates for Internet users. Here in the U.K., the
government advertised in November to fill the post of "Digital
Envoy" -- an official charged with boosting e-commerce and Internet
use.
Meanwhile, in Germany, a pair of inventive private-sector companies
have found a way to give surfers what they want. A German magazine,
Tomorrow, has just teamed up with a telephone company, Mobilcom, to
offer a limited flat-rate service. For $45 a month (ISP and telephone
charges combined), users in major cities across Germany can dial into
the Internet as long as they like between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. weekdays
and all weekend. Outside those times they pay as little as $2.90 an
hour.
It may not amount to a bargain in American terms, but it is a start.
SALON | Jan. 18, 1999
Links:
http://www.hse.sympatico.ca/
http://www.wave.ca/
http://www.magsys.co.uk/telecom/
http://www.dial.pipex.com/
http://www.unmetered.org.uk/
http://www.isntrial.bt.com/
http://www.freeserve.co.uk/
http://www.salonmagazine.com/21st/feature/1998/12/08feature.html
http://www.telecom.eu.org/
http://www.altern.org/adim/accueil.htm
http://act.iol.ie/
http://www.tomorrow.de/
http://www.mobilcom.de/
- ------------
Also in this issue:
- - For European Net users saddled with high phone rates, the meter is
always running.
I live in a third world country -- at least as far as the Internet
goes. Last month I paid more than $150 for my Net access. I was
almost resigned to this fate until I returned for Christmas to
Canada, where I used to live, only to find that almost everyone I
knew had signed up for either DSL, which offers high-speed Internet
service over normal phone lines, or cable modem Internet access. Even
my Dad is surfing at 10 times my speed, for just $25 a month.
- - Books, on Tape, on the Web
Audible is using the Net to provide publishers with yet another way
to market titles: secure downloads of audiobooks. You can even listen
to them on your MP3 player.
- - Experts study war on Internet paedophiles
PARIS (Reuters) - Dozens of experts gathered at the headquarters of
UNESCO Monday to try to find ways of stopping the spread of
pedophilia on the Internet without infringing freedom in the
cyberspace.
- - With 2.1 million online, China clamps down on Internet freedom
China is to step up online supervision of Internet users as leaked
official statistics showed the number of online accounts doubled in
the second half of 1998 to more than two million, sources said
Sunday.
- - Online smut law heads into court
As general manager of Powell's Books, Miriam Sontz helps oversee a
successful retailer with seven stores in and around Portland, Ore.,
and a growing international online book-selling business.
- - New to the net? Learn your Netiquette
You have a new computer! Welcome to the Internet!
Here's a taste of what to expect from your new on-line newsgroup
buddies who are eager to share the ways of Netiquette:
- - THE CURSE OF NETSCAPE
Think back to the Internet of 1994. Remember how different it was
then? Oh, so much has changed over those brief, five years. That
old cliche is so true about an Internet month being like a normal
year. Isn't it? Come on, isn't it?
- - New Lists and Journals
1) Jewish Law Report
2) On Purpose
3) Liver Transplantation and Surgery
4) Management General
5) Pro.Screenwriter
6) Happy Healthy & Wealthy Weekly
7) Home Based Online Marketing News
8) Publishers Connection Newsletter
9) HIV Plus
10) Design/Pro Index
11) EventsBook
On-line Learning Series of Courses
http://www.bestnet.org/~jwalker/course.htm
Member: Association for International Business
- -------------------------------
Excerpt from CSS Internet News (tm) ,-~~-.____
For subscription details email / | ' \
jwalker@hwcn.org with ( ) 0
SUBINFO CSSINEWS in the \_/-, ,----'
subject line. ==== //
/ \-'~; /~~~(O)
"On the Internet no one / __/~| / |
knows you're a dog" =( _____| (_________|
http://www.bestnet.org/~jwalker
- -------------------------------
------------------------------
End of Netizens-Digest V1 #259
******************************
