InternetPolicy.net

Email's impact on West African post offices

"At a recent meeting of the West African regional organisation of postal services (CPAO), delegates shared the pain they were taking from the impact of e-mail on their business. Business losses of between 5-15% were discussed. Although letters will never completely disappear, African postal services are a great deal more vulnerable than their developed world counterparts to e-competition: they have much lower volumes and the level of security they offer is often far from impressive. But all was not doom and gloom for these monopoly postal companies. Several pointed out that the revenues from their own cybercafes now exceeded those from their traditional post office activities...." (Balancing Act News Update, issue 177)

FCC may start regulating capabilities of personal computers

"The federal government is preparing for the first time to require that personal computers and other consumer electronics devices contain technology to help block Internet piracy of digital entertainment. A rule being considered by the Federal Communications Commission is one of a series of proposals pushed by the entertainment industry to help thwart copying and online trading of movies and television shows... Opponents of the proposed rule, including many technology companies and consumer groups, say it won't work. They are especially concerned that the plan might lead to government regulation of how personal computers and other devices are built..." (Jonathan Krim, Washingon Post, 15 Oct)

We were unable to find a docket number tor this rule-making on the FCC website. But digitalconsumer.org has an online form that wll send a fax in your name to the FCC to protest against the imposition of "broadcast flag" detecting technology.

EU broadband meeting today

Reuters says that top executives from 9 of Europe's leading telecom firms will meet today with Information Society commissioner Erkki Liiakenen to present their recommendations for a European strategy to accelerate broadband deployment.

"Uncontrolled" Internet surveillance in Ukraine

The Ukrainian Internet Association (InAU) told a meeting of the OSCE's Human Dimension Implementation meeting in Warsaw yesterday about the "uncontrolled" surveillance of Internet users by Ukraine's Security Service. According to Interfax-Ukraine, "InAU referred to [the] existence of binding requirements to the [Internet] operators...which were set in force by the Ordinance of the State Committee of Communications and Informatization of Ukraine No. 122 as of June 17, 2002. One of the requirements listed in the Ordinance is installation of monitoring equipment in spite of the fact...that 'the legislation of Ukraine does not make any provisions for information monitoring [or for] limitations on the right to privacy of correspondence under such monitoring. As a result of illegal monitoring, Security Service of Ukraine receives full uncontrolled access to Internet information flows, including confidential information and private correspondence. Internet Association of Ukraine regards such violation of the Declaration of Human Rights as impermissible.'”

Belarus' media crackdown reaching the Internet

Belarus' Charter 97 Human Rights Centre posted a note on their website last week informing visitors that they are suspending their news updates in English due to a lack of money to pay translators. However, their reports about increasing repression in the runup to the next presidential election continue to be posted in Russian. They note that "'the internet is the only source of information not under the control of the authorities... Today many of those who lost sources of information following a shutdown of dozens of independent newspapers, are navigating [the] Internet in search of truthful and quick information on the country's life, as proven by the constant rise in the number of users of the independent news sites. The authorities can't ignore that tendency. So we have plenty of grounds to suppose that shortly they will embark on certain measures to restrict the freedom of speech in Internet."

A new draft media law is expected to reign in e-publishers. According to Vera Rich (Index for Free Expression), the law will likely define the Internet as a 'global media organ' so that anyone wishing to create a website in Belarus must obtain prior court approval and the slightest infraction might cause that approval to be revoked. Preparing for the possibility that their website will be forced offline, Charter 97 is appealing for hosting services outside Belarus to "mirror" their content, and they have launched email lists in English and Russian for delivery of news updates. Information about these precautionary services can be found here.

Report on China's Internet Media Forum

"The 2003 China Internet Media Forum opened in Beijing [last] Friday, calling for local Internet media to take more responsibility in dealing with online ethical issues. Diverging from the previous two forums in 2001 and 2002, which mainly focused on the development of the Internet in China, this year the topic turned to 'social responsibility of the Chinese Internet media.' Cai Mingzhao, deputy director of the Information Office of the State Council, said in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony that the Internet should contribute to China's social progress... While offering a quick access to information, the Internet also can expose people to pornography, violence, superstition and evil cults, Cai said. He urged local Internet portals, the 150 approved news publishing portals in particular, to bear more social responsibility... The two-day forum is co-sponsored by the All-China Journalists' Association and major Chinese news portals like those run by People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency and China Daily." (Xinhua via China Daily)

Asian Forum on ICT Policies and Strategies

UNDP-APDIP, in collaboration with the UN ICT Task Force and with the support of the Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia (Malaysia) is organizing an Asian Forum on ICT Policies and Strategies next week in Kuala Lumpur (20-22 October). The Forum website has the agenda, participants list, a set of country profiles, and useful background documents.

Digital Review of Asia Pacific

A website was launched last month to publicize and update a new reference book focusing on Internet developments in the Asia-Pacific region: the Digital Review of Asia Pacific. Sponsored by Orbicom, PAN-IDRC, UNDP-APDIP and Southbound, "The 2003/2004 edition focuses on nine areas about the Internet: local online content, online services, industries, key local and national initiatives, enabling policies, regulatory environment, open source movement, research and development, and trends. The publication covers 27 economies in the region. There is also a special chapter on the Pacific Islands which overviews 14 island states. Thirty authors, who live and work in the region, contributed towards the researching and writing of the 28 chapters found in the book. Many of them are digital pioneers who played active roles in extending the Internet across the Asia Pacific."

According to the website, "Asians became the largest Internet user group at the end of 2001. An estimated 160 million users had gone online across Asia Pacific by then. They accounted for 33 percent of all Internet users in the world... What is significant about this is not Asia Pacific taking first place, but that the region had done so with such a small proportion of its population having Internet access to begin with. The most populous nations in the region also happen to have some of the lower Internet-user densities per 10,000 inhabitants - 68 for India, 191 for Indonesia, and 256 for China. The potential for the region is therefore vast."

"Technology's Impact on Everything"

Don't miss the special (free, online) fall/winter 2003 issue of CIO Magazine. Seventeen deep thinkers, from the Dalai Lama and Queen Noor to Ray Kurzweil, Howard Reingold, Paul Saffo and Jonathan Zittrain, discuss "Technology's Impact on Everything."

Industry guidelines for bulk commercial email

After months of wrangling, the US Council for Responsible E-mail finally released its guide to "E-mail Delivery Best Practices" on 8 October. CRE is affiliated with the Direct Marketing Association and its recommendations are not legally enforceable. A brief summary by Out-Law.com begins:

• Consent – bulk commercial e-mail should only be sent to persons with whom there is an existing business relationship or if consent has been actively obtained...

For the full text of the guide, click here.