| Michael van Eeden on Tue, 25 Feb 97 14:02 MET |
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| nettime: Censorship/monitoring Europe's internet |
>[...] > > European Parliament Launches Internet Censorship Project > > The European Parliament has awarded Surrey-based Smith > System Engineering a contract to investigate the feasibility > of jamming or censoring pornography and racism on the > Internet. The consultants will work with legal and social > policy experts over a period of six months. A recent study, > based on one sample of Internet traffic using a European > search facility, showed that 47 percent of queries logged by > the indexing system were related to pornography. "The > passing of pornography and racist material over the Internet > has been recognised as a serious social issue by all > countries within the EU," said Alan Pitman, project leader. > (Financial Times, Britain; February 14, 1997) > >[...] > > Activist Groups, InfoTech Industry Urge Monitoring Of Net > > At the first European conference on pornography on the > Internet, human rights activists and the computer industry > urged more effective policing of pornography and violence on > the Internet. "We acknowledge the problems. We're not > abdicating responsibility," said Janet Henderson, lawyer at > British Telecommunications (BT). BT has adopted a "taste and > decency" policy where illegal material is reported to the > Internet Watch Foundation, created last October. But > Henderson said ISPs could not be the "moral guardians of the > nation." German human rights campaigner Monika Gerstendorfer > noted that the Internet made it easier for extremist > political organisations to coordinate efforts worldwide. > (Reuters News Agency; February 13, 1997) > -- Michael van Eeden mieg@factory.org Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii; name="today.html" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline; filename="today.html" Content-Base: "http://netday.iworld.com/business/toda y.html" <html><BASE HREF="http://netday.iworld.com/business/today.html"> <html> <head> <title>Net Across the World: February 24, 1997</title> </head> <BODY background="/images/business/pad.gif" LINK="#D60027" VLINK="#232182"> <CENTER> <strong>a Monday feature</strong> <p> <!-- <A HREF="http://www.iworld.com/cgi-bin/track?ms-office-natw" target="_top"><IMG ALIGN="BOTTOM" SRC="http://www.iworld.com/images/ads/ms-office.gif" BORDER=1 WIDTH=457 HEIGHT=32 ALT="Microsoft Office '97 wins big at Comdex. Click to learn how.."></A> --> <STRONG><A HREF="mailto:rao@igc.org">by Madanmohan Rao</A></STRONG> <p> February 24, 1997</h3> </center> <blockquote> <h3>Webcasting Ushers In New Model Of Information Distribution</h3> In a world of online traffic congestion and growing competition for advertising dollars, software entrepreneurs are borrowing from another medium--television--to cut through Web clutter. The narrowcasting model of information delivery is transforming the Internet into a personal broadcast system, and is hotly pursued by companies like Pointcast, BackWeb, Ifusion, Marimba, and Netscape. According to the Yankee group, Webcasting may generate a third of the $14 billion in Net advertising, subscriptions, and retail revenues by the year 2000. Companies ranging from ZDNet and the Wall Street Journal to the Samsung New Media Group in Korea are experimenting with such "push" systems to deliver news and entertainment. Perhaps the most revolutionary advance may be the creation of a "whole universe of small-scale broadcast networks." (Wired magazine, March 1997; Business Week, February 24, 1997) <p> <h3>Online Gaming May Account For 10 Million Households By Year 2000</h3> According to Jupiter Communications, a market research company, online gaming is growing so rapidly that the number of households playing will have soared from 800,000 in 1995 to 10 million by the year 2000. Revenue from gaming may hit US$1.6 billion in 2000 from a modest $90 million in 1996. Six companies offered gaming services in 1993; by 1996, that number rose to 46. Factors to boost game growth will be increased PC penetration, the growth of ISDN, cable modems, the deregulation of telephone companies, and MMX technology. (The Age, Australia; February 18, 1997) <p> <h3>Row Breaks Out Over Internet Ratings In Australia</h3> The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) is expected to gain control over Australian Internet content later this year. The PICS and RSACi (Recreational Software Advisory Council internet) systems allow users to select the level of sensitive material they are willing to view. Sites self-rate according to preset criteria, and it are these criteria that some Australian critics feel are "U.S.-centric." A review of RSACi underway could allow a local version of RSACi to be more relevant to non-U.S. Internet users, the ABA countered. The ABA has provided RSACi with copies of the Australian ratings systems now used for film and television. (The Age, Australia; February 18, 1997) <p> <h3>Internet Accounts For Largest Portion Of Seed Capital</h3> In 1996, for the first time, venture capitalists surpassed the US$2 billion milestone in investing in Silicon Valley. But financiers are also demanding tougher business models and tempering their expectations of swift returns. The Mercury News/Price Waterhouse LLP quarterly survey shows that venture capitalists invested $2.25 billion in 524 separate deals in Silicon Valley last year, an increase of 42.6 percent over 1995. The increase of $672 million was almost as large as a year's investment a dozen years ago. <p> Securities Data of New Jersey estimates that the amount of fresh money committed to venture funds in the United States has grown from $2.5 billion in 1993 to $5.2 billion in 1996. In the last quarter of 1996, Internet companies got more than 30 percent of the money in the seed capital category, as compared to 25.3 percent in telecommunications and 20.5 percent in biotechnology. Many financiers remain bullish on the future of the corporate side of the Internet phenomenon. "We suspect that there'll be a lot of interesting things happening in bandwidth, and Intranet companies and electronic commerce," says analyst Tim Draper. (San Jose Mercury News; February 17, 1997) <p> <h3>Internet Creates Opportunities, Challenges For Medical Care</h3> Some physicians think online discussion groups about medicine and health are starting to revolutionise medicine itself. "People do have a right to medical information. They'll get it somewhere, whether it's over the back fence, at the bowling club, or in the Encyclopedia Britannica," says Adrain Cohen, an Australian doctor. Automated consultations are one thing, but a site run by a U.S. doctor already has a physician on duty 24 hours a day. Pages devoted to alternative medicine abound on the Web. <A HREF="http://www.cmhc.com" target="_top">Mental Health Net</A> is a site packed with information on all kinds of disorders, including depression, anxiety, and chronic fatigue syndrome. <p> There may also be a great future in selling medical products over the Net. But the medical profession is also becoming increasingly concerned. Plastic surgeon Vic Zielinski warns that "a little knowledge is worse than no knowledge at all." Some sites contain directly misleading information. Also at issue is the legal status of a doctor who gives incorrect information. (Sydney Morning Herald; February 18, 1997) <p> <h3>European Parliament Launches Internet Censorship Project</h3> The European Parliament has awarded Surrey-based <A HREF="http://www.smithsys.co.uk/smith/" target="_top">Smith System Engineering</A> a contract to investigate the feasibility of jamming or censoring pornography and racism on the Internet. The consultants will work with legal and social policy experts over a period of six months. A recent study, based on one sample of Internet traffic using a European search facility, showed that 47 percent of queries logged by the indexing system were related to pornography. "The passing of pornography and racist material over the Internet has been recognised as a serious social issue by all countries within the EU," said Alan Pitman, project leader. (Financial Times, Britain; February 14, 1997) <p> <h3>Japan And Singapore Launch Online Trading System</h3> Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corporation is to set up what may be Asia's first Internet-based electronic trading system in a joint venture with Singapore Technologies, the Singapore government-owned industrial group. The joint venture, to be named Asia Business Venture Holding, will be based in Singapore, with branches in Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The system will match buyers and sellers via the Internet, arrange for delivery, and clear payments for traders across the region. It will be set up by the end of April and start operating in March next year, handling exports of used cars from Japan to the rest of Asia. Future goods include electronic components, construction machinery, oil, and petrochemicals, with traders from Europe and the U.S. as well. (Financial Times, Britain; February 13, 1997) <p> <h3>Activist Groups, InfoTech Industry Urge Monitoring Of Net</h3> At the first European conference on pornography on the Internet, human rights activists and the computer industry urged more effective policing of pornography and violence on the Internet. "We acknowledge the problems. We're not abdicating responsibility," said Janet Henderson, lawyer at British Telecommunications (BT). BT has adopted a "taste and decency" policy where illegal material is reported to the Internet Watch Foundation, created last October. But Henderson said ISPs could not be the "moral guardians of the nation." German human rights campaigner Monika Gerstendorfer noted that the Internet made it easier for extremist political organisations to coordinate efforts worldwide. (Reuters News Agency; February 13, 1997) <p> <h3>Internet Relay Chat Networks Growing But Fragmented</h3> The number of nonconcurrent IRC users has grown dramatically from 2,000 worldwide in 1990 to what is believed to be at least half a million people today, excluding corporate Intranets. As it has grown, the "world's largest electronic playground" has changed and fragmented. IRC was once a large, interconnected network, but a schism between U.S. and European operators led to its fragmentation into Efnet and Irc Net. There are now at least 45 different IRC networks, none of which talk to each other. Some are local networks, some are international. Commercialisation of the Internet in Australia also contributed to the growth of smaller local IRC networks and the fragmentation of IRC worldwide. (The Age, Australia; February 11, 1997) <p> <a href="/business/NATW/archive.shtml" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="/images/r-ball.gif" border=0> Past international news installments</a> <center> <a href="http://www.iworld.com/" target="_top"><img height=20 width=134 src="/images/URL.gif" alt="http://www.iworld.com/" border=0></a> </center> </blockquote> </body> </html> </html>