Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 21:47:59 -0700
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Hello folks -
Here's a condensed version of this week's international media
coverage of the Internet; a fuller version can be found at the
Mecklermedia Web site (http://www.mecklerweb.com).
Thanks for all your comments; special thanks to those who have
offered to translate Internet-related stories from newspapers
published in languages other than English.
Note the mention of this discussion list (and of Steve Outing)
in Tuesday's "Financial Times." There's something delightful in
this recursive cyclical feedback....
- madan
___________________________________________________________________
Madanmohan Rao Phone: (212) 963-1175
Communications Director Fax: (212) 754-2791
Inter Press Service E-mail: rao@igc.org
United Nations ipsny@undp.org
New York, NY 10017
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U.N. Internet Sites Report 16,000 Document Retrievals A Day
-----------------------------------------------------------
United Nations Internet sites (such as gopher://gopher.
undp.org) report that there are about 16,000 retrievals of U.N.
documents each day. In addition to documents, U.N. Internet sites
offer press releases, contact information, and coverage of the
World Summits.
(Inter Press Service Daily Journal; April 20, 1995)
U.S. Newspaper Giants Form Publishing Alliance On The Internet
--------------------------------------------------------------
Eight of the biggest newspaper companies in the U.S. have
formed an alliance called the New Century Network, to create a
"unified, nation-wide system" of publishing on the Internet. The
founders - including Gannett, Hearst, Knight-Ridder, Times-Mirror
and Tribune - hope to gain a competitive edge against other news
and entertainment ventures formed by the telephone companies, cable
TV operators, and commercial online services. The "key to future
Internet ventures" is community-centered information. The alliance
has chosen the World Wide Web as the electronic publishing medium.
Advantages of such a common system include standardised versions
for advertisements across newspapers, shared systems for gathering
reader demographics, and secure financial transactions.
(New York Times; April 20, 1995)
British Library Introduces Internet Porn Clause
----------------------------------------------------------
Internet users at the Lord Louis Library in Newport will have
to sign an agreement to not use the Internet for accessing
pornographic material. Violators will be "banned for life" from the
library, according to a public affairs official. In March the
British government set up a committee to monitor issues relating to
pornographic material in cyberspace. However, due to the global
nature of the Internet, it will be difficult to regulate such
material.
(The Times, England; April 18, 1995)
Internet Represents Major Shift In Worldwide Publishing Industry
----------------------------------------------------------------
Technologies like Internet publishing allow publishers to
"think in entirely different ways," according to Steve Outing,
author of "The 1995 Online Newspaper Report." His database of
online newspapers worldwide (http://marketplace.com/e-papers.list.
www/e-papers.home.page.html) covers online ventures of newspapers
from Sweden and Italy to South Africa and the U.S. The number of
online newspapers has doubled since the end of 1994. Several
factors will dictate the growth in revenue streams of online
publications - quality of content, fee structure, advertising
models, commission on transactions, auxiliary services, and the
interest of younger generations. Such issues are discussed in
online-news and online-newspapers, two Internet discussion lists
set up by Outing.
(Financial Times, England; April 18, 1995)
Dutch Company Launches International Cybercash Trial
----------------------------------------------------
DigiCash, the Dutch software house founded by a Berkeley
expatriate, is trying to promote a new form of digital currency
that allows commerce on the Internet. The "e-cash" system uses
digital "coins" downloaded from users' banks. Special encryption
methods are used to make transactions anonymous. Participants in
the "Cyberbucks" trial include South Africa's "Weekly Mail and
Guardian" newspaper and Ottawa-based Global-X-Change
Communications. Other competing solutions for digital commerce
include the Microsoft-Visa digital charge card, the Netscape-
MasterCard digital credit card, and electronic encryption on MCI's
"secure" World Wide Web mall.
(Wall Street Journal; April 17, 1995)
Reporters Start Internet-Based News Wire Service
------------------------------------------------
An Internet-based "digital daily" news wire has been launched
as an informative news source in cyberspace. Called the American
Reporter, the newswire has a "national flavour" and covers
investigative material, book reviews, science, entertainment and
humour. According to editor-in-chief John Shea, a veteran reporter,
it is owned by reporters and is independent of publishers.
(Cowles/Simba Media Daily; April 17, 1995)
Dozens Of Governments Launch Internet Sites
-------------------------------------------
At least 30 national governments and international
organisations - mostly in Europe and North America - have set up
Web and gopher servers. Reporter Andrew North lists the "best and
worst" government Internet sites, ranked according to quality and
usefulness of information (eg. press releases, speeches,
transcripts of meetings, policies, documents, news, budgets,
databases). The top 10 include U.S. Fedworld (http://www.fedworld.
gov), UK government (http://www.open.gov.uk), French Ministry of
Culture (http://www.culture.fr/culture), African National Congress
(gopher://wn.apc.org), and Hungary's Prime Minister (http://www.
meh.hu/gov). The "worst" government sites are those of Italy,
Singapore and Japan.
(The Independent, England; April 17, 1995)
New Books Urge Internet Surfers To "Get Back To The Real World"
---------------------------------------------------------------
Clifford Stoll's recently released book, "Silicon Snake
Oil," and Stephen Talbott's forthcoming "The Future Does Not
Compute!" warn about unmet expectations, information overload, and
diminished people-to-people interaction in the "electronic mirage"
of cyberspace. What sets these authors apart is that they are not
reactionaries or Luddites, but have been at the "frontline" of
cyberspace - perhaps for too long. Instead of the "global village,"
what you enter is a "soluble tissue of nothing," according to
Stoll. While not denying the benefits of this technology, Talbott
warns that this process "appears to be running out of control."
(TIME magazine; April 17, 1995)
Russian "Nuclear Correspondence" On Internet Worries U.S.
---------------------------------------------------------
While the U.S. raises concern over Russia's plans to sell
nuclear reactors to other countries, the "electronic brain drain"
is not noticed as much. Physicists working on atomic and missile
technology in Russia have been known to correspond via the Internet
with people in countries like Iran and Pakistan. Such e-mail on the
Internet poses special problems to some analysts because "there are
no national borders and no inspectors from the International Atomic
Energy Agency." Since encryption programs are now easily available,
neither the Russian KGB nor the U.S. NSA can monitor e-mail.
(U.S. News and World Report; April 17, 1995)
Sri Lanka To Get Local Access To Internet
-----------------------------------------
The Lanka Internet Service will be launched on April 26, and
will offer Sri Lankans a local gateway to the Internet, according
to technical director Prabhat Samaratunga. The 64K bps line has
been leased from Sri Lanka Telecom. This represents a major step
forward, since Sri Lankans could get access to foreign Internet
gateways only by dialing overseas.
(Reuters News Service; April 17, 1995)
Investors Can Find Wealth Of Information On Internet
----------------------------------------------------
A whole host of financial services on the Internet now vie for
your investment dollars. Despite access delays and some security
risks, the Internet offers investors several useful Web sites, such
as QuoteCom for stock news (http://www.quote.com), Edgar for
corporate disclosure filings (http://town.hall.org/edgar/
edgar.html), and Pawws for brokerage services (http://pawws.
secapl.com/top.html).
(Fortune; April 17, 1995)
Battle For Control Of Palestine Takes To Internet
-------------------------------------------------
Cyberspace has become "a new front in the battle for control"
of the land known as Palestine. Information about the Palestinian
organisation Hamas, criticism of stereotypical portraits of Muslims
as bearded terrorists, and corrections of misconceptions about the
Arabic word "jihad" can be found in gopher sites, electronic
mailing lists like Palestine-Net, and Usenet discussion groups.
Statements from Kahana Chai, a "right-wing Jewish group banned in
Israel and deemed terrorist by the U.S.," are also available
online.
(San Francisco Chronicle; April 17, 1995)
Commercial Culture Is Transforming The Internet
-----------------------------------------------
The non-profit, voluntary, and giving nature of the Internet
when it was first created has produced such useful information,
that it is "bound to co-opt, if not ruin altogether, the culture of
voluntarism that spawned it." The arrival of the "Big 3" commercial
online services on the Internet marks the "beginning of the end of
the Old Internet." In the New Internet, the information that has
been free will not stay that way.
(San Jose Mercury News; April 16, 1995)
U.S., Japan Begin Internet-Based Information Partnership
--------------------------------------------------------
Japan's NTT telecommunications corporation and Stanford
University have begun a project called "Japan Window" (http://jw.
stanford.edu) to enable NTT to learn about the Internet and its
potential, while U.S. researchers can learn about Japanese
government and corporations. However, there may be a clash between
the free-wheeling flow of information on the Internet and the
"normally secretive" world of Japanese commerce, leading some to
wonder if this project will be a "sham."
(San Jose Mercury News; April 16, 1995)
British Conference Addresses Governance Problems of Internet
------------------------------------------------------------
The global span and anarchic nature of the Internet pose a
challenge "to any would-be regulators," according to speakers at a
conference on "Global Governance of Cyberspace" in Teesside
University. Information technologies like the Internet can
undermine the "foundation, power and authority of the nation state"
by transferring power to the "cyberstate," said Stephen Morey from
the London School of Economics. Information from racially
inflammatory material to bomb-making instructions can be found on
the Internet. Other serious issues not yet tackled adequately in
cyberspace include libel, racism, pornography, and copyright
infringements.
(The Times, England; April 13, 1995)
International Telcos Race To Carve Up The World's Markets
---------------------------------------------------------
The Albacom alliance between British Telecom and the Italian
Banca Nationale del Lavaro are only the latest in a race to form
alliances as international telecommunications companies attempt to
carve up the world's markets. Their goal is to form a "seamless
global phone company." British Telecom is trying to lock up the
European home market before AT&T, and has formed alliances with MCI
as well as Banco Santander in Spain to offer data communications
services. AT&T has teamed up with Singapore Telecom and KDD,
Japan's largest overseas carrier. The "Holy Grail" is NTT of Japan,
the world's biggest telco.
(The Times, England; April 13, 1995)
Television, Radio Stations Set Up Shop On Internet
--------------------------------------------------
Online information providers may represent a "threat to
television news operations in the next 10 to 15 years," according
to Skip Erickson of WCCO-TV in Minneapolis. In preparation to this
challenge, 43 TV stations and 125 radio stations in the U.S. are
now online on networks like the Internet, providing local news
transcripts, weather, traffic reports, and pictures. In the future,
some also plan to offer premium services like stock prices, for a
fee. Questions about staffing, copyrights, and advertising models
need to be addressed.
(Associated Press; April 13, 1995)
Internet Will Have Profound Impact On Business
----------------------------------------------
The Internet will "profoundly impact how we do business,"
according to Stewart Alsop, editor of InfoWorld. "It's eliminating
the advantages of size - meaning entrepreneurship will be more and
more valued," says Alsop. It is facilitating entirely new kinds of
businesses, some of them "exclusively online." As business size
becomes less important, we will go back to "being more of a society
of merchants." But businesses should get on the Internet only if it
seems useful, and not out of fear of getting left behind. Obstacles
to business on the Internet include a lack of e-mail directories
and of established advertising mechanisms.
(Entrepreneur; April 1995)
Over-Hasty Legislation Not Advisable For Censoring Cyberspace
-------------------------------------------------------------
The governments of the U.S., New Zealand and Singapore are
among those discussing ways to police cyberspace. Very often,
debate over such issues is confused with "a simple choice between
free speech and censorship." Networks like the Internet do need
laws to protect against fraudulent sales, theft, and harassment.
However, the seamlessness of the Internet as well as the unique
nature of its information and communications challenge existing
models of legislation. In a sense, the Internet is a "microcosm of
the ordinary world, with all the same mingled potential for good or
bad."
(The Economist, England; April 8-21, 1995)
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