An interesting drama played out at the U.N.’s World Summit on an Information Society today. Berkman Center Fellows Rebecca MacKinnon and Ethan Zuckerman were scheduled to lead a workshop on “Expression on Repression.” But Tunisian authorities unilaterally cancelled the event because they deemed it to be incompatible with the conference themes.
The reality may be that the talk MacKinnon was scheduled to give took the Tunisian government to task for employing Internet filters to block out content.
After complaints by WSIS attendees, the session was put back on the schedule, but according to Berkman blog postings from the summit, secret police showed up in force at the session, scaring everyone.
before the break, a phalanx of secret police (ie scary guys in dark suits) showed up. they filled the hall outside the room, forcing cancellation of the break for fear that we’d not be allowed to re-start. as rsf started to hand out books at the non-break, the authorities stated that documents could only be distributed outside the event, not in the room. this is in direct contrast to the WSIS rules, which state that materials can be passed out inside an approved event (unless they receive special approval for wider distribution).
Addendum: The WSIS event in Tunis is no picnic for free press advocates. This Reuters piece reports that the press is being denied entry to public sessions at the summit, even when the journalists have been invited to attend. One reporter was reportedly kicked, beaten and stabbed by Tunisian police.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 1:58 PM | Print | Comments (0)
On Wednesday, MIT researchers displayed their $100 hand-cranked laptop computer at a UN technology summit in Tunis. Reuters has some comments from MIT Media Lab chairman Nicholas Negroponte, who is spearheading the project. Some pictures of the device are here.
The goal is to provide the machines free of charge to children in poor countries who cannot afford computers of their own, said…Negroponte. Governments or charitable donors will pay for the machines but children will own them, he said. “Ownership of the laptops is absolutely critical,” he said. “Have you ever washed a rented car?” Brazil, Thailand, Egypt and Nigeria are candidates to receive the first wave of laptops starting in February or March, and each will buy at least 1 million units, he said.
The laptop is not yet in production but one company has offered to build it for $110 and four others are considering bids as well, he said. The computers operate at 500 MHz, about half the processor speed of commercial laptops, and will run on Linux or some other open-source operating system, he said.
They can be folded in different ways to serve as an electronic book, a television or a computer. A bright yellow hand crank that sticks out prominently from the side serves as an alternate power source when batteries or an electric outlet are not available. The computer uses a screen from a portable DVD player, which can be switched from color to black and white to make it easily viewable in bright sunlight, said Mary Lou Jepsen, the project’s chief technical officer.Posted by Mitch Shapiro at 12:25 PM | Print | Comments (0)
According to The Wall Street Journal’s Jesse Drucker, “The U.S. needs some big-picture thinking by policy makers about broadband. The first thing they need to do is admit that U.S. broadband isn’t keeping pace with the global market.”
The inferior value of U.S. broadband service becomes clear when you calculate the monthly “cost per megabit” of Internet access, or how much you pay to get a megabit’s worth of download capability.
While entry-level download speeds in the U.S. lag behind much of the world, the situation is worse with upload speeds. This has hit home in the Drucker household since I started sending pictures of my five-month-old son to his grandparents, waiting impatiently for the photos to leave my PC. Uploading digital camcorder movies of Hank would be even more annoying.
In the end, even talking about market forces in telecommunications is misleading. Phone companies, for example, get billions of dollars in federal and state subsidies for rural service; they also have teams of lobbyists and attorneys to influence policy. As cities try to introduce competing wireless networks, traditional telecom providers lobby to restrict such plans.Posted by Mitch Shapiro at 11:31 AM | Print | Comments (0)
On The Commons blog has an excellent write-up of two recent reports, one European, one American, that document the digital divide. An EU report shows a digital divide based on age and education.
Only in Sweden (70%), Denmark (64%), Finland (54%) and Germany (51%) did more than half of the lower educated use the internet during the first quarter of 2004, while the proportion of the higher educated who used the internet fell below 50% only in Lithuania (38%) and Greece (48%). Only in the Netherlands did more than half of the retired use the internet.
A report by the Pew and Internet Life Project arrives at pretty much the same conclusions.
As of May-June 2005, 68% of American adults, or about 137 million people, use the internet, up from 63% one year ago. Thirty-two percent of American adults, or about 65 million people, do not use the internet and not always by choice. Certain groups continue to lag in their internet adoption, including Americans age 65 and older, African-Americans, and those with less education.
Neither of these reports shed any new light on the digital divide problem, and it’s a no-brainer that Internet use is tied to age and educational status (which in turn is tied to household income). But it’s good to keep checking in on any disparities regarding digital access as the Internet rapidly transforms into a full-fledged voice, video and data platform.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 10:25 AM | Print | Comments (0)
The Hollywood Reporter has an item today about the development of a “mini” (in the figurative and literal sense of the word) series based on the hit show “Lost” that will be available only on cell phones. The show is not being developed by Disney’s Touchstone or ABC, but by “Lost” executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.
About 20 several-minute long episodes are being shot next month in Hawaii and are slated to hit phones sometime early next year. Entitled “Lost Video Diaries,” the series will feature two characters who are said to be stranded alongside the regular cast featured on the primetime show. Verizon is the current top candidate to air the mini-shows.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 10:12 AM | Print | Comments (0)
Sony Electronics and IP-based video communications company GlowPoint have joined the ranks of companies pushing the VoIP model toward the free end of the spectrum. The two companies announced yesterday the launch of Sony’s IVE or Instant Video Everywhere service which offers free unlimited voice and video service combining traditional VoIP with desktop-based video communications.
Like the leading free VoIP service, Skype, IVE is a computer-to-computer application downloadable from the Internet, but, also like Skype, it also offers premium upgrades, starting at $10/month, that allow users to place phone calls to traditional phones.
Another VoIP provider, Yak Communications, announced yesterday the launch of a no-cost, video-enabled VoIP service called YakforFree that allows users to make and receive voice and video calls to and from other YakforFree members by downloading a “Virtual VideoPhone” software application. Like Skype and Sony, Yak also offers premium services that enable the delivery of calls to traditional phones, with prepaid increments starting at $5.00 and unlimited monthly service for $19.99.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:06 AM | Print | Comments (0)
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