TAD Consortium September 2000 Information Update 2

One newspaper's Web site gets millions of hits per week, while another languishes in forgotten obscurity -- what are they doing differently? That's the question a recent seminar organized by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), the Media and Publishing Industries Department of Diebold Deutschland GmbH and BusinessWorld Online sought to answer. Identifying best practice examples from the successful Web sites of information providers worldwide, speakers noted that traditional publications must put value-added content on their Web sites to keep pace with the competition, and not just replicate what they do in print. Boston.com, for example, gets only 30% of its content from the Boston Globe print edition. Using that additional content to build community is vitally important. Some examples: The Manila Bulletin publishes its extensive classified section in a searchable online database; the South China Morning Post offers extensive horse racing information; the Bangkok Post complements its printed "Improving your English with the Bangkok Post" program by offering translation services and vocabulary training over the Net. Seminar facilitators concluded that, to launch a successful online presence, publishers must start by identifying their goals, content, value-added services, potential partners, the features that distinguish them from competitors, and their sources of revenue. (BusinessWorld 4 Aug 2000)

http://bworld.com.ph/

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Taken from NEWS-ON-NEWS/The Ifra Trend Report: No. 56 (16 August 2000)

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INTERNET GAINS GROUND WITH SOUTH AFRICAN EDITORS (SOUTH AFRICA)

Overcoming their initial distrust, South African newspapers are beginning to see the Internet as a means to support and draw attention to their printed product. "Traditional newspapers used to regard the Internet as a threat that would erode their readership," says Business Day Web services manager Geoffrey Cohen. "A couple of years ago there was a mind shift. They realized they did not have to be worried about whether they could own the medium." Gavin O'Reilly of Independent Newspapers Ireland adds, "The Internet is no longer a dangerous adversary. It is our ally. The winners in the Internet arena will be traditional publishing companies because of our unique content, inherent editorial skills, distribution capabilities and strong local provenance." While several editors acknowledged that few South African newspaper Web sites have yet to make money, they are looking to North American success for inspiration. "Half the newspaper Web sites in the U.S. and Canada are breaking even or already beginning to show a profit," says Leo Bogart, senior consultant at Innovation International Media Consulting Group. "The longer a site has been in business the more likely it is to be profitable." (Business Day 1 August 2000)

http://www.bday.co.za/bday/index/direct/1,3524,6078-0,00.html

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[from The World Bank Development News August 16, 2000]

DEVELOPING WORLD FACES DIFFICULTIES IN CLOSING IT GAP: STUDY.

Bridging the divide separating rich and poor nations in Internet access and participation will require more than money and technology, Agence France-Presse reports a new study released by Ohio State University says. "There's been a big push to help the world's poor countries overcome the digital divide, but most of the solutions take an overly technological focus," Edward Crenshaw, co-author of the study and associate professor of sociology at the university, is quoted as saying.

Crenshaw and his co-author Kyle Robison looked at 75 developed and developing countries between 1997 and 1999, using data from organizations including the World Bank, to count the number of Internet hosts that exist per 10,000 people. They found that a broad range of social, economic and political factors-including literacy and democracy-needed to be present for Internet development to take root.

The report comes following the G8 summit in Okinawa last month, when the group of industrialized nations created a "Digital Opportunity Task Force" to seek ways to help poor countries to take part in the Internet revolution. But "we found that Internet development is driven by complex interactions that could be aptly called 'post-industrialism.' Probably the most important factor is educational attainment," Robison said.

Ethiopia, Niger, Tanzania or Laos are unlikely to be represented on the Web in the near future, the authors of the report said. However, countries, such as Jamaica, Botswana, much of Central and South America and Indonesia, which may not yet possess extensive Internet development, do have the minimum requirements "to have a greater presence in the rapidly expanding global network of computers," they said.

The news comes as the Financial Times (p.4) reports that governments and entrepreneurs in the Caribbean appear to be coming to the conclusion that if the region fails to take advantage of its e-business opportunities, it could [be heading for] "e-limination". Facing uncertain markets for their traditional commodity exports, and with increasing pressure on their financial services sectors, small Caribbean countries are looking increasingly to e-business and related Internet services to support their narrow economies. The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says, however, that although the region has made progress in Internet services, it is far from optimizing the potential for e-business.

Meanwhile, notes the Australian Financial Review, the World Bank believes that especially in the past few years, there has been a structural break in commodity price levels, which has been caused by advances in technology, increased privatization and market liberalization. Technological advances take many forms and have been assisted by increased computerization in many industries, from agriculture to oil exploration.

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INSTANT MESSAGING DOMINATES SA INTERNET INDUSTRY

Source: ITWeb

Spurred by explosive growth in instant messaging in South Africa - and a funky, easy-to-use interface - MTN's SMS website has grabbed the mantle of South Africa's largest website from long-time leader Africam, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Internet Standards (ABIS). MTN SMS vaulted to the top of the local website rankings with its debut set of audited figures by recording more than 50 million impressions in the second quarter of 2000. The website boasts an international audience of more than 2.8 million subscribers. The site's sparkling debut played a significant role in the staggering growth in ABIS audited pages in the past three months, from 75,7 million to 165,6 million page impressions.

For the full story go to:
http://196.30.226.221/sections/internet/2000/0008171249.asp?A=INT&S=Internet&T=News&O=C

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"HELLO, I'M CALLING FROM PARULIA..."

Farid Ahmed, journalist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

A micro-credit programme set up by Grameen Bank enables rural villagers to acquire cell phones. For many, it means a break with poverty and isolation.

Once, it was hard for Fatema Begum and her day-labourer husband to provide three meals a day for their family, who lived in a thatched hut in a remote village called Parulia in Bangladesh's Narshingdi district. But a mobile phone she bought as a means of earning money for her impoverished family has changed her life. In a couple of years, she managed to acquire a brick-built house with electricity, an electric fan, a black and white television set and several other modern amenities. Mobile phones have not only improved the lives of villagers like Fatema, but also brought remote villages like Parulia out of isolation.

"Since my phone is the only one within three kilometres, many people come here to use it," Fatema says. She earns about 5,000 takas (US$100) a month from her mobile phone, after meeting all the costs -- four times the average per capita monthly income. Fatema adds, "People in my village who have relatives abroad often give me gifts in addition to payment of their bills because I bring the phone to their houses when there are incoming calls for them."

Mobile phones make up for a lack of services that the State-owned phone company is hard-pressed to provide. According to current statistics, Bangladesh has one phone for every 380 inhabitants, compared with one for every 50 in neighbouring India.

Fatema started her struggle for a better life ten years ago when she joined Grameen Bank, an internationally acclaimed micro-credit institution, to obtain a small, short-term loan of 2,000 takas ($40). She started a small business hawking various essentials, including rice, door to door in villages. When Fatema repaid that loan, she was granted another one of 5,000 takas ($100), which she also promptly paid back. In 1997, Grameen Telecom, a unit of Grameen Trust, one of the world's largest organizations working for poverty alleviation, introduced village phones for Grameen Bank members. Soon after, Fatema was allowed to purchase a phone at a cost of 19,500 takas ($390), reimbursing 400 takas ($8) every week in regular instalments.

Like Fatema, many other poor villagers throughout Bangladesh have opened phone shops in their homes to boost their income. Grameen Telecom has provided some 1,400 village telephones in rural areas across the country, serving tens of thousands of villagers. According to Mohammed Showkat Ali, a Grameen Telecom officer in Narshingdi, the programme was designed to help poor people in villages, especially women, who make up 94 per cent of Grameen Bank's borrowers, to earn additional income. As a result, the call-rate is cheaper than that of other existing telephone lines.

Apart from talking to relatives, villagers who grow crops or raise poultry or livestock now have a chance to speak with wholesalers in the capital or other big cities directly instead of selling their products at a cheaper price through a middleman. Some 100 village phones are in operation in the district of Narshingdi, which is famous for fruits, especially bananas, as well as green vegetables and handmade fabrics. Jamirunnesa, who runs a poultry farm in a farming village, bought a mobile phone on credit. Besides providing a service for her neighbours, the mother of four says, "there are buyers who want to cheat me. But they can't because I've got the phone, which comes in handy to know at what rate the chickens are selling in the markets."

Abdul Awal, a Bangladesh Railway ticket clerk at the train station in Narshingdi, keeps his village phone with him at work, where many people come to use it. Awal charges six takas (eight cents) per minute for a local call and 100 takas ($2) per minute for an overseas one. "I make a profit of 100 takas ($2) every day. Most of the people who come here are farmers and textile weavers and they talk to the wholesalers in Dhaka, the capital, or other cities," he said, adding: "Because of the additional income, I can afford to send my children to school."

http://www.unesco.org/courier/2000_07/uk/connex2.htm

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!Xu, Khwe to live on South African radio

The state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation launched a radio station on Friday to prevent the demise of two ancient languages, a spokeswoman said. The radio station will broadcast 12 hours a day in the !Xu and Khwe languages and will serve the San, or Bushman, community living in a tent village at Schmidtsdrif, 70 km west of Kimberley.

''There was a serious threat that these languages were going to die out. We are very confident that the service being launched today will prevent that,'' said Alet Bensch, an SABC spokeswoman.

The San, a nomadic tribe of stone-age hunters and gatherers, were nearly wiped out during centuries of persecution by white European settlers and larger black tribes.

SABC has spent 700,000 rand to establish the radio station - housed in a shipping container - and train six presenters and two administration staff, she said.

The radio station has a broadcast range of 20-40 km and will serve 20,000 San people, Ms Bensch said.

Source:
http://world.altavista.com/e?efi=21&ei=2100360&ern=y

Alta Vista/Reuters

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Haryana opens its first rural cyber café - out in the hills

by Akhil Gautam, India Abroad News Service

Chandigarh, July 30 - Nangal Chaudhary is a remote village on the southern tip of Haryana, bordering Rajasthan. It is one of the most backward villages of the state. Now, it is the first village in Haryana to get a rural cyber cafe.

Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala inaugurated the cyber café today, providing the rural backwater a window to the world.

The village is located 22 km from the nearest National Highway - No. 8 -- that links New Delhi, the national capital, with Jaipur. It's an area known more for its sand dunes and deserts lands. It's an area that faces an acute shortage of drinking water. It's also an area where, on August 9 every year, the villagers observe the festival of "guga navami," when they worship snakes and pour milk and water down the burrows of snakes.

The opening of the cyber cafe brings a whiff of high technology to residents of the village. It has been made possible by laying a fibre optic link to the nearest telephone exchange, located 26 km away in the district headquarter town of Narnaul.

The village panchayat provided the two rooms that house the cyber cafe. The funds for the two computer terminals, which cost Rs. 70,000 were provided by the District Computer Society, which is headed by the deputy commissioner (administrator) of the district, Chandra Shekhar.

Sixty students have been enrolled in the cafe and will each be given 20 hours of hands-on experience of computer basics and logging on to the Internet.

"We had to make a beginning somewhere. We have a hospital but no doctor wants to serve in backward areas. We have a school in the village where teachers do not want to come because of the backwardness of the area," he said.

The response of rural youth has been "encouraging." This has prompted the government to network all the block headquarters of the district within the next six months, Chandra Shekhar said.

The village traces its history back to 500 years. Its most prominent landmark is a dilapidated "haveli" (ancient mansion). Not surprisingly, this "haveli" adorns the Web site of the village, which also went online today.

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Taken from Nua Internet Surveys: August 21st, 2000

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Allegra Strategies: Internet access for the masses in UK

The Internet is coming closer to being an everyday feature in the lives of UK consumers, with an expected rise in the number of Internet cafes and an increase in the availability of Internet access in libraries, supermarkets, and even pubs, according to Allegra Strategies.

Access points for the Internet will rise to 60,000 units by the end of 2002, attracting over 320 million people to Internet cafes, Internet kiosks, and public libraries with Internet access.

The cybercafe market is predicted to grow at a rate of 24.5 percent per year with 630 outlets and 15,400 Internet terminals by 2002. The number of visitors to these cafes is also projected to rise from 21.8 million visitors per year to 42.2 million visitors over the same period.

Internet kiosks should rise in number to over 23,000 reaching 240 million people each year by 2002. The key features on kiosks will include web access, email, video-conferencing, gaming, and music downloads.

Mobile Internet access is also set to become a popular future trend in the UK. By 2002, the number of active mobile Internet subscribers will rise to 18.5 million, and 44.5 million by 2005. Awareness of mobile Internet phones is high among UK consumers, with 90 percent claiming they know about the Internet capabilities of these devices.

http://www.allegra.co.uk/iconkeystats.htm

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Taken from Nua Internet Surveys: August 21st, 2000

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Media Africa: South Africa sees Internet use soar

Internet penetration in South Africa continues to rise with half a million new Internet users in 1999, bringing the current total to 1.82 million users, according to a survey conducted by Media Africa.com.

The survey predicts that based on current trends, the number of Internet users in South Africa should grow to about 2.4 million by the end of this year.

The report 'South African Internet Services Industry Survey 2000' found that 560,000 South Africans access the Internet through dial-up modems via Internet Service Providers, up from 366,000 at the end of 1998-an increase of 194,000 and a growth rate of 53 percent. ISPs retain a strong customer base, with 17 having over 1000 dial-up subscribers. There were 112 ISPs in business at the end of 1999.

Corporate users also increased, with 980,000 users accessing the Internet from corporate networks in 1999, compared to 700,000 in 1998. The virus-threat, however, has led to a cautious approach to connectivity from knowledge workers, while delays in providing adequate infrastructures by Telekom indicate corporate use will slow in 2000.

Academic use of the Internet has also soared. The minimum number of academic users who actually use their accounts is 280,000. Uninet caters for about 250,000, while privately funded schools have another 30,000 active account users.

http://www.mediaafrica.co.za/3.html

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ANNOUNCEMENTS/REQUESTS

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News Update is a free e-letter covering African internet content and infrastructure developments published by Balancing Act. The latest issue and all previous issues appear on the balancing Act web site (www.balancingact-africa.com). To subscribe to this free e-letter, simply send a message saying subscribe to info@balancingact-africa.com. Future issues will cover: the internet in Namibia, South African telecommunications policy, an assessment of telecentres and the internet in Senegal. The Telematics for African Development Consortium is pleased to be working with Balancing Act, another initiative focusing on providing free information on Telematics and Development to e-mail subscribers.

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A workshop sponsored by the IDRC's Acacia Initiative held in Namibia in July 2000, attended by 100 delegates from school networking projects in 20 African countries, education ministries, private sector, donor organisations and teacher bodies, endorsed an agreement to develop a SchoolNet Africa project. SchoolNet Africa is being set up as a partnership of a constellation of school networking stakeholders in Africa to enhance education through the use of ICTs. It's main purpose is to provide support for existing national school networking projects in Africa and where these do not exist, to assist with starting new schoolnet projects. It has targetted the establishment of schoolnet projects in more than half of the number of African countries by 2005. During the "pre-start-up phase" which is to last for the first year, an interim steering committee will be set up as well as an advisory committee consisting of government reps and an advisory committee consisting of private sector representatives. SNA has also targetted a few key projects for its first year of operation: A SchoolNet Start-up Project which will develop a start-up toolkit, A Baseline Scan of school networking activity in Africa, An ICT Teacher Training project, Support for Thinkquest Africa, and the establishment of a Knowledge Warehouse on education and school networking in Africa. The workshop also agreed that during the interim, pre-start-up phase, the IDRC will manage the project. For more information on this, please contact Shafika Isaacs at Sisaacs@idrc.org.za or Claire Sibthorpe at CSibthorpe@idrc.org.za.

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"Dear Fellow TAD Consortium Colleagues,

My name is Gina Costante and I am a graduate student with the Graduate School of Education & Human Development at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, USA. I will complete my degree program in International Education with a specialty in educational technology in May of 2001.

I am preparing to write my capstone thesis on the digital divide in India. I was touched by a 1999 TAD article concerning the placement of computer technology in the slums of Delhi for illiterate children's use. I want to begin to draft policy on the investment of computer training dollars for undereducated populations in India. Is this logical when their basic educational needs have not yet been met?

I would be very grateful to hear from anyone who has any expertise in the use of educational technology in the developing world.

Gratefully yours,

Gina Costante
costante@gwu.edu
International Education
Graduate School of Education & Human Development
The George Washington University
Washington DC USA

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PROFILED ORGANIZATIONS

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Taken from KABISSA NEWSLETTER - 18 August, 2000

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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NETWORK PROGAMME IN BENIN (SDNP/UNDP)

Mission Statement: Help developing countries build human as well as computer networks as means for fostering information share and use towards a sustainable human development.

Website address: http://www.kabissa.org/pdan
Alternate website address: http://www.sdnpben.org.bj

Based in Benin Republic
Primary Contact: Dandjinou Pierre (sdnpaf@intnet.bj)

Secondary Contact: Amoussougbo Thierry (amsiat@bow.intnet.bj)
Mailing Address: Zone Résidentielle Cotonou Benin BP 506
Telephone Numbers: 229 31 53 84/31 54 27
Fax Numbers: 229 33 08 38

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Taken from From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000.
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

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Center for the Study of Technology and Society
http://www.tecsoc.org/

As issues about Internet surveillance and online copyright infringement as well as questions of human cloning and genetically-engineered foods increasingly feature in our national headlines, a Website such as the Washington-based Center for the Study of Technology and Society is a valuable resource for staying informed. The Website features sections entitled Government and Politics, Biotechnology, Special Focus on Who Watches the Web, National Security, Personal Security, Creativity, Convergence (defined as "the intersection of communication, computers, the Internet, invisible computing and television"), and more. These sections offer a wealth of annotated links to statistics, news, and commentary from publications, institutions, and advocacy organizations on the Internet, as well as statements by the Center's staff. The Center is a nonprofit think tank whose mission is "to emphasize and clarify the point that advances in technology are neither inherently good nor inherently evil - but that every new technology has the potential to cause problems, and the capacity to solve problems." [DC]

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ONLINE RESOURCES

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Taken from From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000.
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

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From the Global Digital Divide to the Global Digital Opportunity: Proposals Submitted to the G-8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit 2000" [.pdf, 38 pages]

http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Projects/FromTheGDDivideToTheGDOpportunity.pdf

Global Digital Divide Initiative -- World Economic Forum

http://www.weforum.org/centres.nsf/Documents/Home+-+Centres+-+Global+Digital+Divide+Initiative

At their annual meeting this year, the World Economic Forum (WEF) launched the Global Digital Divide Initiative and formed a task force to devise ways to engage interested international parties in a dialogue on closing the gaps between the digital haves and have-nots. This report, submitted by WEF's task force at last month's G-8 Summit, reframes that "divide" as a "global digital opportunity" and presents a variety of steps that the international community can take to improve the accessibility and use of telecommunications and the Internet in developing countries. The WEF's proposals are guided by nine principles, the first of which is that the G-8 should take a "leadership role" in the process. From these nine principles, the report delineates a ten-part action plan including steps to outline the G-8's role, improve education, give aid, and more. [TK]

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A Review of Online Privacy: Few Laws Offer Protection

http://www.gigalaw.com/articles/grossman-2000-08-p1.html

To many people's surprise, few laws in the United States prevent companies from gathering, using and even selling personal information about others. Still, individuals can take steps to protect their privacy online. A new article on GigaLaw.com explains how and why companies collect personal information and what can be done about it.

Here's an excerpt:

"If you're looking for a law to protect you, you're out of luck. Currently, there are no laws that govern how or when your personal information may be disseminated by a private business. Even oft-cited privacy laws, such as the Child Online Privacy Protection Act ('COPPA'), and the recently enacted Graham-Leach-Bliley Act, provide no restrictions regarding how private businesses can use the personal information of their adult customers.

"For the most part, the industry regulates itself. While this may evoke images of the proverbial mouse guarding the cheese, the movement toward self-regulation is beginning to catch on.

"Leading the way are companies such as TRUSTe and BBBOnline, which provide privacy seals to web sites that promise to keep consumers' personal information private. The seals are akin to the 'UL Listed' emblem that you see on electrical appliances -- if you see the seal, you can take comfort in knowing that the web site is privacy-friendly. Currently, more than 1,500 companies have been granted the privilege of displaying a TRUSTe or BBBOnline privacy seal on their web sites, with more being added each day."

To read the full article, go to
http://www.gigalaw.com/articles/grossman-2000-08-p1.html

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Taken from From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000.
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

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The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information Age_
http://books.nap.edu/html/digital_dilemma/

This online edition of a book published by the National Academy of Sciences is an example of its subject matter as it explores the issue of intellectual property in a digital age. The book examines the question of what happens to copyright issues when innumerable numbers of people can download a book (or a song, e.g., through Napster) from one copy on the Web? (Apparently, the National Academy of Sciences is less concerned about this issue than is the book's author.) Chapter titles include "The Origin Of The Digital Dilemma," "Music: Intellectual Property's Canary In The Digital Coal Mine," "Public Access To The Intellectual, Cultural, And Social Record," and "Individual Behavior, Private Use And Fair Use, And The System For Copyright." The text also considers issues in the emerging field of digital copyright and offers conclusions and recommendations vis-a-vis these issues. [DC]

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Taken from From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000.
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

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_Survival Guide for new Teachers_ [.pdf]
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/survivalguide/

.pdf version:
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/survivalguide/survguide.pdf

In keeping with the back-to-school theme, the Department of Education offers this new _Survival Guide for New Teachers_. Put together by award-winning teachers at a teaching conference in 1997, this guide confronts the challenges of being a new teacher in a frank and helpful manner. The e-book includes "A Message to New Teachers" and sections on working with parents, working with veteran teachers, working with Principals, as well as a "help desk" offering resources for first-year teachers and a conclusion that advocates more support and orientation for new teachers. The document is also available in .pdf format. [DC]

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ARTICLES

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PFIR Statement on Internet Hoaxes and Misinformation

August 28, 2000

http://www.pfir.org/statements/hoaxes

PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org

Greetings. It's human nature to want to believe that what we see on the printed page actually represents reality. We've tended to accept the proposition that what we read in reputable newspapers or hear from the mass media wouldn't be printed or broadcast unless there were at least *some* truth to what was being disseminated. Unfortunately, the Internet has proven to be fertile ground for all manner of misinformation and hoaxes, capable of doing a great deal of damage, often at little or no cost to the perpetrators. Purposeful acts such as libel, fraud, character assassination, untruthful propaganda, and the like are becoming increasingly simple to engage in, and ever harder to prevent thanks to the Internet.

A widely publicized example is the fraudulent press release that recently caused a drop of around 60% in the value of a technology stock (Emulex Corporation) almost immediately after the hoax's release and re-dissemination via various Internet sources who picked up the item and treated it as fact. While the stock ultimately regained most of its value later in the day when the company refuted the material, there were still massive losses and costs borne by Emulex stockholders from this attack, as a result of margin calls, automated sell programs, and widespread panic selling by individual investors. Whether this subterfuge was "merely" a mean-spirited prank, or a calculated attempt to manipulate stock prices for financial gain (evidence concerning stock trading patterns reportedly suggests the latter), it should serve as a wake-up call for the global Internet community.

These sorts of events really shouldn't come as much of a surprise at all. The world has never before seen a medium where an individual can reach mass audiences for little or no financial cost and in many cases with practical anonymity. When you combine such capabilities with the 24-hour news cycles that now prevail around the world and the ease with which news organizations can obtain and distribute stories with great rapidity, the stage is set for a cascade of misinformation that can be awe-inspiring in its impact.

False information on the Internet doesn't have to be of the "mass" variety to cause individuals a great deal of trouble--it can also be very personal. The rush to put all manner of information online creates all sorts of risks, often without any serious thought as to the ramifications of those actions.

For example, there are popular Web sites that provide "genealogical" information, ostensibly to help people research their family trees, but which often make no serious attempt to assure that the information submitted is accurate in any way. Users of such systems may often be misled into assuming that such information has been validated in some manner and the submitters positively identified. Many persons have also expressed concerns about information purporting to be about their families, especially their children, being present on such systems for public access, regardless of the data's accuracy or inaccuracy -- either way it can be trouble. Information that has not been properly vetted, posted without the permission of all individuals involved, is an invitation to bad feelings at best, and to serious problems at worst.

Inevitably, complex matters regarding the concept of anonymity come into play when discussing the issues of hoaxes, misinformation, and similar activities on the Internet. On one hand, it is clear that certain forms of speech frequently need the protection of anonymity to ensure their viability. Obvious examples include political speech (though the precise definition and implementation of this concept tends to vary from country to country and between political systems), and the protection of "whistleblowers" operating in the furtherance of public knowledge and/or safety.

However, the kinds of damage, both personal and more broadly financial, that can be done through the spread of false information on the Internet can be significant to say the least. It is difficult to assert that the individuals behind such activities deserve the protection that true anonymity offers. As a society, it is not tenable for such actions to be permitted without any penalty to the perpetrators. The creators of systems to allow for anonymous postings of e-mail and other materials on the Internet are usually focused on the laudable goal of providing these services for decent folks who have good motives. Unfortunately, there seems to be a tendency for many of these same technologists to dismiss as unimportant, or totally beyond their control, the issues surrounding the abuse of their systems by persons with evil intent.

An upcoming PFIR statement will deal specifically and in more detail with the issues of anonymity; for now, it is worth noting that societal concerns regarding this area are likely to soon reach a flashpoint. A real risk exists that society's reaction to abuse of truly anonymous systems may result in highly undesirable legislative crackdowns, perhaps even attempts to alter the constitutional speech protections in the U.S. and similar protections where they exist in other countries. The result could be serious damage to the precious freedoms that the operators of most anonymous systems presumably are seeking to promote.

This strongly implies that the need for responsible behavior will be paramount, both on the part of the users and creators of these systems. The classic newspaper model, where materials may be published on a "name withheld" basis when appropriate, but where true authorship is known to the publisher to help ensure responsibility for the letters or articles in cases of libel, fraud, or similar problems, may be useful in this context.

However, it is crucial that carefully structured and uniform standards be established whenever possible to ensure that access to such "protected" identity information be possible only with due process and appropriate notifications, and then only when absolutely necessary in cases of genuine risk or harm (e.g. to persons or property). The current environment, where different Internet Service Providers (ISPs) vary widely in their requirements for and responses to requests for such information, has itself created a dangerous situation. Clearly-defined procedures, presumably including the specific delineation of the immediate risks and a requirement for court orders before actions could proceed, would seem absolutely necessary.

In general, a mix of technical and legislative actions, combined with user and ISP responsibility, will likely be needed to deal with these problems in a manner that can help prevent the Internet from becoming an uncontrolled conduit for abusive behavior, but still protect important speech freedoms. In some cases, such as avoiding the dissemination of false press releases (at least through legitimate news organizations and Web sites), relatively straightforward digital signature systems could be used to validate releases' authenticity, provided that they are implemented on an end-to-end basis including the involved corporations, intermediate news agencies, and the like. Here we have an excellent application for such technologies, as contrasted with the risky e-commerce approach promoted in the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, a law that created an ill-defined situation where virtually any "electronic" procedure, regardless of how insecure or poorly implemented it might be, could be considered to create a binding signature for commerce purposes, even of very high value. (Please see the "PFIR Statement on Electronic Signatures and Documents" -- http://www.pfir.org/statements/e-sigs -- for more information about this topic.)

As always, and most particularly in this case, we must be on our guard to ensure that any legislative actions relating to these areas are both balanced and carefully considered. As we've seen, legislation can be both positive and negative, and when dealing with matters that relate to speech issues, our sensitivity must be most finely tuned. Already, we've seen some national governments proposing or implementing unilateral actions in this regard that could have serious negative consequences for individual speech rights. However, we can be sure that society will not be willing to ignore the problems to institutions, organizations, and individuals that Internet misinformation and its various cohorts are creating. It is in our own best interests, and the interests of freedom-loving people everywhere, to start striving toward balanced approaches now, with the goal of avoiding the possibility of knee-jerk, repressive reactions down the line that could seriously impact us all.

Lauren Weinstein
lauren@pfir.org or lauren@vortex.com or lauren@privacyforum.org

Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy

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TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS

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Taken from RCFoC for Aug. 21, 2000 - "Quietly Backwards Into the Offline Night?"

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Our Future Pockets?

By Jeffrey Harrow

I love my PC. It is an extraordinary device that provides (so far) an inexhaustible supply of information, entertainment, and thought-provoking activities. No other tool in my past has so-enabled my ability to work. And nothing in our collective past, short of the automobile, electricity, and the telephone, has so dramatically changed the way that so many people work and play.

Yet the PCs' days are numbered.

What!?! That's a chilling thought for those of us who regularly use PCs, and for the many companies that make them. Yet we're hearing such musings from a growing number of directions. Should we start hording PCs against that dark day?

Clearly, the FUNCTIONALITY of today's PCs will not be leaving us; we've embarked on a one-way street and we can't "go back" to pre-computing, and now to pre-Internet, days.

But as Moore's Law and its constantly improving technologies enhance the capabilities of our consumer electronics and industrial devices, it's obvious, if we look back in recent history, that the typical "computing devices" of five or ten years from now will be very different from today's PCs.

(By the way, do you have nagging worries as to whether Moore's Law will be able to continue, or will come to a crashing halt as our ever-smaller transistors run into physical limits? Today, the features on most chips are 180 nanometers (.18 micron) wide, but consider this latest research announcement from IBM. They say their new "V-Groove" technology is capable of scaling to create features 18-times smaller -- as tiny as 10 nanometers! And it's worth noting that this is significantly smaller than the 20 to 25 nanometer features that had previously been considered a "hard stop" - http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2614200,00.html . One more example of how we just insist on blowing by every "limit" that gets in our way.)

What are the trends that will cause our future computing devices to become so different? I think they include a continuing move towards portability, ubiquity (they'll be virtually everywhere, and hard to notice), constant connectivity, and increased aesthetic and fashion appeal (consider the new "Claudia Schiffer Palm Vx Edition" - http://www.claudiaschiffer.com/).

Where could this lead? If you've recently been to Japan or Hong Kong, or to Europe (especially to the Nordic countries), you know that these countries are far ahead of the U.S. in how they've "taken" to pocket cell phones (their high rate of adoption has been driven, in large part, by Europe's adoption of the widespread GSM standard.) So it's instructive for those of us in the U.S. to look to these other geographic areas to get a perspective on where "beyond the PC" may be going. Here, RCFoC reader Jon Andreas who lives in Norway, the heart of the European wireless world, offers us his perspective:

"I have just clicked off a message to a friend living in Geneva on how I see the "killer app" pocket device, which will elevate the Web from its present coarse stone-age cloth, into the most finely woven Chinese silk. I have rewritten it on my electronic notepaper, and clicked it off to you via my GSM lifeline. The last time I called this friend he answered me in Verona (Italy) on sightseeing - the GSM system automatically rerouted my call. Some time ago I called a Swedish colleague from my office in Oslo. He answered on the second ring, and the connection was as clear as was he sitting next door. He was on assignment in the Philippines, about to tuck in for the night ! When my aging parents go to Spain for some warmth, we still reach them - even when they are on a walk somewhere in the hillsides - and they are just a touchbutton away from alerting their family here in Norway if they need it. But when in the US with my European GSM phone, I feel cut off...

This brings me to what I think will be available as a mobile device shortly (hopefully the world, including the US, will by then have agreed upon a standard that will allow roaming from the south to the north pole): It will be a Palm-sized device with a bright, crisp color screen, combined with a speech-controlled "broadband" GSM phone that also has a wireless Bluetooth-connected earplug. It might also have wireless 3D goggles that can be made transparent with a brief spoken command (in case you need to peek at your surroundings.) It will translate dictated Emails into text, and incoming emails into speech. When you're in the vicinity of your business or home networks, it will automatically link to them, via Bluetooth, to save on wide-area networking charges. It will also carry a virtual purse with cybercash, well protected behind an integrated firewall and encrypted to prevent your kids and other rascals from emptying your virtual pocket. The integrated camera will also serve as a color document scanner, and will link into your storage archive to store the documents as bitmaps (using fractal compression), and as text, to enable high-speed searches. This "Omni-device" can also carry several hours of MP3 music, keep you online with your workgroups (any aspiring person will need to be working with many workgroups), and your information stores, wherever they may be. It will probably look cooler to wear your wireless 3D goggles to see the information, rather than putting on "inactive spectacles" to read the fine print on the Palm-size screen, so the device will likely remain in your pocket. Or perhaps it will be called your Personal Server? Maybe it will be made out of a flat, flexible thick sheet that will bend to your body contour, and be watertight so you can take it to the sea for some real "surfing." The 3-D goggles will be StarTrek-like, tough, and water resistant, and adapt their transparency to provide the proper UV and sun protection. They will display navigation info on the lower part of the display, blending it into a see-through upper section to let you see where you're going. The connection to GPS positioning will also be useful. If we could also trick all sharks into swallowing a wireless Bluetooth-enabled homing device, then a new service - shark alert - would also be available!

A daredevil skier with this device in his pocket can be easily be located if buried by an avalanche. While waiting for his rescuers to home in on him, he could listen to his favorite MP3 music, talk to his shrink for some therapy about the situation, and do some urgent last-minute work before a "deadline." If the 3D goggles were still on, he could even watch the news, or a movie, while awaiting rescue. A big question for lawyers: Will a "will," dictated from such a situation and digitally signed, be valid if the rescuers don't get to him in time? Please keep up you inspiring Newsletter."

Jon presents an interesting insight into how Europeans have allowed their pocket phones to change the way they work, live, and play, as well as some ideas to spark our thoughts around how we'd like ourpockets to evolve. With ever-more capable pocket computers, such as the Compaq iPAQ, evolving right before our eyes, how long will it be before these "PDAs on steroids" add telephone, and later broadband data, to their capabilities? (Indeed, using plug-in cards, it's already possible to make the first inroads!)

I do find it difficult to imagine something replacing my desktop PC, although I can certainly look forward to an "anywhere, anywhen" device that lets me carry my world of information with me whenever and wherever I go. On the other hand, if Jon's vision of a broadband-connected, speech-enabled, 3-D sunglasses-enabled pocket computer does evolve, such a device might prove compelling whether I'm in the office or on the road. What do you think?

The neat thing is, given the "Internet speed" of evolution of the various technologies that will make such "pockets on steroids" possible, it might not be too long before we get to find out!

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Telematics for African Development Consortium
P.O. Box 31822
Braamfontein
2017
Johannesburg
South Africa
Tel: +27 +11 403-2813
Fax: +27 +11 403-2814
neilshel@icon.co.za
www.saide.org.za
* To view an archive of previous updates visit:
www.saide.org.za/tad/archive.htm
* For resources on distance education and technology use in Southern Africa visit:
www.saide.org.za/worldbank/Default.htm

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