European and Asian nations lead the list of economies with high access to information and communication technology (ICT), the ITU said Wed. Canada ranked 10th and the U.S. 11th, it said. The findings are part of the ITU’s first digital access index (DAI), which ranks ICT access in 178 countries. Economies are classed in one of 4 digital access categories -- high, upper, medium and low -- by examining 5 areas: availability of infrastructure, affordability of access, educational level, quality of ICT services and Internet usage. The DAI differs from other indexes, the ITU said, by including new variables such as education and affordability and by focusing on factors with an immediate impact on determining people’s potential access to ICTs rather than on qualitative variables such as the market structure and degree of competition. The DAI is part of the ITU’s upcoming 2003 edition of the World Telecommunications Development Report, scheduled for release in early Dec., before the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Other “surprising” findings were that Slovenia and France are tied in the high category and that S. Korea, “usually not among the top 10 in international ICT rankings,” came in 4th in that category. The leading nations were Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Korea, Norway, Netherlands, Hong Kong, China, Finland and Taiwan. Ireland topped the list of nations with upper access to ICTs. The top 5 gains in ranking between 1998 and 2002 were S. Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Denmark. Countries whose rankings fell in that time included New Zealand, Australia, S. Africa, France and the U.S., which dropped from 5th to 11th place, the ITU said. The U.S. was 2nd in infrastructure (by fixed telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants); 2nd in affordability (by Internet tariff as percentage of per capita income); and 4th in usage, measured by Internet users per 100 inhabitants. The DAI results suggest that ICT access potential must be redefined, the ITU said. “Until now, limited infrastructure has often been regarded as the main barrier to bridging the Digital Divide,” said Michael Minges of the ITU’s Market, Economics & Finance Unit. However, he said, the research suggests that affordability and education are equally important. Asked whether the DAI findings were likely to prompt changes in the WSIS draft declaration of principles and action plan still under negotiation -- to focus, for example, more on education and less on infrastructure issues -- an ITU spokesman said: “I don’t think it’s a matter of more emphasis but a matter of having the best possible and transparent indicator… to measure the results of the action plan, or ICT development generally.”
In advance of its end-of-year introduction as the U.K.’s new communications regulator, the Office of Communications (OFCOM) unveiled a proposal to delegate regulation of TV and radio advertising to a new industry co-regulatory entity. In a consultation paper, OFCOM suggested that existing differences between regulation of broadcast and nonbroadcast media no longer might make sense in the digital world. Currently, the Independent TV Commission enforces ad rules for TV and the Radio Authority for commercial radio. However, all other media -- including Internet advertisements and text messaging -- are governed by a code of practice set up by advertisers, agencies and the media and managed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), an industry self- regulatory body. OFCOM proposes that viewers’ and listeners’ complaints about TV or radio advertising also be handled by a self-regulating industry body under the aegis of the ASA, with OFCOM continuing to control such issues as the amount on advertising that can be shown on TV. The change would benefit consumers, OFCOM said, because many of them already think the ASA regulates TV and radio advertising and because allowing the ASA to handle all gripes would create a “one- stop shop” for complaints about all U.K. advertising. OFCOM is seeking input on several questions, including: (1) The pros and cons for consumers of using the same approach to regulating all advertisements in all media. (2) The advantages and disadvantages to the advertising and broadcasting industries. (3) ASA’s independence from the ad industry. (4) What enforcement authority ASA would have. (5) What appeals process there should be for viewers, listeners, advertisers and broadcasters. Comments are due Jan. 9, 2004 -- ian.blair@ofcom.org.uk.
British telcos are keeping a wary eye on possible legislation the U.K. govt. says is needed to clear congestion on the country’s roads, but which the industry contends will severely hamper broadband deployment. The proposed Traffic Management Bill, which telcos say would make it harder for utilities to carry out street works, is being drafted by the Dept. for Transport (DfT). A DfT spokeswoman Tues. couldn’t confirm the measure would be part of a legislative package to be announced during the Queen’s Nov. 26 speech opening a new session of Parliament, but said it probably would be. DfT is looking for a legislative slot for the bill this year, the spokeswoman said.
Competition regulation is needed to help spur broadband takeup, a key U.K. ISP group said this week. Regulation “will almost certainly be required in a market where a single operator continues to hold a significant market power,” said Matthew Hare, chmn. of the broadband subgroup of the Internet Service Providers Assn. (ISPA) U.K. However, he said, regulation “ideally” would fade out over time, leaving the market to encourage greater broadband use. The comments came in a submission to the Commons Trade & Industry Select Committee, which is investigating the deployment of broadband in the U.K.
Although Webcasters are likely to be left out of an expected World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaty extending copyright protection to broadcast electronic signals carrying radio and TV programs, support may be growing for their inclusion in some later protocol, we're told. As delegates to WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright & Related Rights (SCCR) prepare to meet Nov. 3-5 in Geneva, the issue of protecting Webcaster broadcast rights remains “so divisive” it could get in the way of a broadcast treaty, said Michael McEwen, secy. gen. of the North American Bcstrs. Assn. (NABA), which takes part in SCCR meetings as an observer. Some say that, despite the fact that the U.S. delegation is the only one openly calling for inclusion of Webcasters, there’s some indication others may be quietly moving in that direction.
The U.S. Appeals Court, Federal Circuit, vacated a lower court summary judgment ruling holding that an enhanced TV (ETV) system used by Disney, ABC and ESPN didn’t infringe on patents owned by ACTV. The case involves technology that synchronizes TV programming with Web pages by using the video blanking interval of an analog video signal to send a uniform resource locator (URL) specifying the location of online content, the appeals court said. ACTV sued Disney and the others for patent infringement in U.S. Dist. Court, N.Y. After that court construed the term “Internet address” in ACTV’s patents to mean “a particular host on the Internet, specified by a uniform [URL] that is unique to that host,” and “Internet information segments” to mean “parts into which information on the Internet is commonly divided, such as a Web page,” Disney sought summary judgment, saying its ETV system transmitted only file names, not absolute URLs. Moreover, it argued, because absolute URLs weren’t transmitted, its ETV system didn’t receive, decode or interpret URLs as defined by the trial court. The lower court held Disney’s ETV system didn’t perform the identical functions of ACTV’s patents and thus didn’t directly infringe. The Federal Circuit disagreed, saying: (1) Despite ACTV’s failure to explicitly define URL, the patents didn’t indicate a clear intent to limit the definition to absolute URLs (addresses consisting of a protocol type such as “http://” and a resource location such as “www.fedcir.gov") as opposed to both absolute and “relative” URLS -- that is, those made up of less than a protocol type and a resource locator. (2) Both parties’ reliance on Requests for Comment (RFCs) from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was misplaced because such documents, far from being authoritative, unbiased sources relating to the meaning of URL, were simply working papers meant to “assign language to facilitate further discussion.” (3) The trial court erred in construing URL to encompass only absolute URLs. Instead, the appellate court said, in ACT’s patents, URL meant a reference identifying the location of information segments such as audio clips, Web pages and images. (4) The file names transmitted by Disney’s ETV system fell within the scope of the term URL. The Federal Circuit ordered the lower court to consider ACTV’s claims of both literal infringement and infringement under the doctrine of equivalents.
The U.S. intends to press delegates at next week’s Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meeting to agree on the 2 documents scheduled for discussion at Dec. World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) as soon as possible, delegation head David Gross said Wed. Going into the 3rd PrepCom meeting, the declaration of principles has been broadly negotiated but needs tightening, said Gross, U.S. coordinator-international communications & information policy at the State Dept.
The issue of trade in services -- including telecom -- is high on the European Union’s agenda for next week’s World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun, Mexico, Comr. Pascal Lamy said Thurs. Services are “extremely important” to Europe in terms of opening markets, he said in a news briefing on the upcoming trade talks. Europe’s key objectives include: (1) Removing barriers to trade in several sectors, including telecom and computer. (2) Ensuring a more transparent and nondiscriminatory regulatory environment. (3) Making sure WTO negotiations in the services arena preserve public services regulated by individual nations. (4) Helping developing countries benefit from the trade negotiations in such areas as capacity- building in telecom and information technology services. Europe doesn’t distinguish between telecom and Internet services in trade talks, Lamy said: “Technology is neutral and it doesn’t bring changes in the way we have to handle trade negotiations.” Lamy called the Cancun talks “a sort of midpoint review” of whether WTO members are on track for next year’s Doha Round. The basic test for Europe of whether Cancun succeeds or fails will be whether negotiators leave feeling they have only half way to go to complete negotiations, Lamy said. Various countries have put services offers on the table, he said, but those proposals need to be accelerated so negotiations can begin soon. “We are leaving for Cancun with an open mind,” he said.
NTIA, FCC and State Dept. officials said Wed. they supported the idea of an industry-based mechanism for choosing the provider of “Tier I” services for a U.S. e- numbering (ENUM) system -- under certain conditions. The ENUM Forum, an industry group, is considering forming a limited liability corporation (LLC) to manage the selection of one or more database operators from which ENUM queries would be launched (akin to domain-name system registries).
Verizon Internet Services’s warnings about the dangers of RIAA’s sweeping Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) subpoena blitz have been borne out, Verizon Vp-Assoc. Gen. Counsel-Internet Policy Sarah Deutsch said Fri. Pacific Bell Internet Services’ filing of a lawsuit last week challenging the issuance of hundreds of DMCA subpoenas and/or DMCA notices by RIAA, MediaSentry and Titan Media prove Verizon’s point -- so far unsuccessfully argued in federal court in D.C. -- that the DMCA Sec. 512(h) subpoena process is unconstitutional and will be abused, Deutsch told us. “These are not hypothetical arguments,” she said.