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Hello folks -
 
Here are excerpts from this week's edition of "International
Internet NewsClips;" the full version is on the MecklerMedia Web
site (http://www.mecklerweb.com), under the Net Day section. Thanks
again to Andreina Mandelli for translating an article from Italian.
Comments, feedback, etc. most welcome as always.
                                                            - madan
_________________________________________________________________
Madanmohan Rao                      Phone: (212) 963-1175
Communications Director             Fax:   (212) 754-2791
Inter Press Service                 E-mail: rao@igc.org
United Nations, New York
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 
Internet Seen As Political, Strategic Tool In Third World
---------------------------------------------------------
     Third World countries have "a slightly different take" on the
Internet than is found in the industrially advanced countries,
where greater emphasis seems to be on "marketing movies and selling
T-shirts" over the Internet. While most of the telecommunications
and computer executives gathered at the annual meeting of the
Internet Society in Honolulu saw the developing world as
potentially big business, Third World representatives were more
interested in using the Internet for socio-economic development,
political activism, and reversing trends like the "brain drain."
However, the Internet is a "chameleon-like tool," and many
governments may find that electronic information is a commodity
that is not easy to control. Other issues of concern in the Third
World are technical and economic inequities.
                                       (Boston Globe; July 9, 1995)
 
Debate About Cyberporn Spreads Around The World
-----------------------------------------------
     Fueled in part by "hysterical press coverage" in the U.S.,
media and organisations in other countries are also taking up the
issue. The British media are "not far behind their U.S.
counterparts," with prominently-featured articles in "The Guardian"
and "The Daily Mail." China and Saudi Arabia will "welcome" any
censorship imposed on computer-generated material at its point of
origin. Singapore already has regulations banning "obscene"
material in cyberspace. Meanwhile, on the Internet itself, the
controversial study by Marty Rimm which was splashed on the front
cover of "Time" magazine has come under intense criticism as a
"fraud." However, the Internet, with a global reach of 180
countries, may be "essentially untamable," since it is both
"everywhere and nowhere." Much of what the U.S. Senate deems as
obscene originates overseas, from countries like Finland and
Germany. Nonetheless, the view that "nothing can be done" is
probably wrong.
(Associated Press, July 7; New Scientist, England, June 24; The
Guardian, England, July 4; The Economist, England, July 1; Wall
Street Journal, July 5; Pacific News Service, June 22, 1995) 
 
New Media Advertising Ushers In A Nascent Revolution
----------------------------------------------------
     A "nascent revolution" in advertising is drawing advertisers
from Cadillac to Coors to the Internet, online services, CD-ROMs
and interactive TV. Just two years ago, virtually no major ad
agency had a group assigned to interactive advertising. Today, all
of them do. As advertising converges to one-on-one marketing,
analysts say that the key is providing information as well as
entertainment.
                        (U.S. News and World Report; July 10, 1995)
 
Is The Internet Swinging To The Right?
--------------------------------------
     Just as faxes and tape recorders helped bring down the Berlin
Wall, the Internet is "revolutionising politics" in North America.
Using the Internet, racists like Canadian rocker George Burdi have
revitalised the neo-Nazi skinhead movement in the U.S. According to
some estimates, about half of the Internet users in the U.S. are
Republicans, only a quarter Democrats, and the rest independent.
Conservative surfers can tap into a "treasure-trove of right-wing
analysis" at the Town Hall (http://www.townhall.com) Web site.
However, Democrats too are using sites like Newt Watch as a source
of "opposition research" (eg. http://www.cais.com/newtwatch/), and
electronic mailing lists to coordinate action. Other issues covered
in this special report on information technology include the myth
that "information wants to be free," and a guide to wiring up home
offices.
                                  (Fortune magazine; July 10, 1995)
 
Japanese Companies To Launch Internet Gallery, Shopping Service
---------------------------------------------------------------
     G-Search, a database company, will be launching a virtual
reality gallery called "From Japan" on the Internet, featuring the
works of 35 Japanese computer graphic artists. Works can be seen
free, but downloaded for a fee. Two other companies, Digital Media
Lab and People World, are tying up with U.S.-based Shopping 2000 to
set up an Internet-based shopping service. Products available will
be merchandise from Sears, CDs from Tower records, U.S. movies on
videotape, and Japanese movie tickets.
                          (Kyodo News Service, Japan; July 6, 1995)
 
Tens Of Thousands Of Companies May Participate In E-Commerce
------------------------------------------------------------
     Through the participation of companies like Netscape, IBM and
Europay, an electronic marketplace is being created on the
Internet. At the moment, though, cyberspace is more like "a chaotic
electric bazaar than a neat, orderly cybermall," according to a
representative of Pacific Rim Media. Technologies like "query by
content" systems are expected to aid electronic shoppers. But the
cost of entry into electronic commerce is also being driven up by
Internet users expectations of high quality presentations and
customer service. Other articles in this 16-page special supplement
on information technology focus on open systems, financial
services, system integration, software delivery, and personnel
management.
                            (Financial Times, London; July 5, 1995)
     
Italian Architect Combines Luxury, Internet Access
--------------------------------------------------
     In a pilot project for "luxury telecommuting of the future,"
renowned Italian architect Giancarlo De Carlo has been hired to
"make the transition from the stone to the bit" at an abandoned
village facing the Tirrenean Sea. The entire village of Colletta di
Castelbianco is being re-designed - as well as wired by ISDN for
Internet access. It will enable people to live in a secluded
medieval "borgo" as well as be instantly connected to "the best of
professional information and relationships."
                                   (La Stampa, Italy; July 5, 1995)
 
Menace Of Internet Libel Prompts New Bill In Britain
----------------------------------------------------
     British law will be reformed to deal with the growing menace
of libel on the Internet by introducing a Defamation Bill. The Bill
will protect Internet service providers against defamatory messages
sent by users. This reform is expected to remove the danger of
people suing the provider, rather than the person who committed the
libel. Defamation on the Internet is seen as "the next growth area
of litigation."
                                 (The Times, England; July 3, 1995)
 
Internet Offers Unique Initiatives For Music Businesses
-------------------------------------------------------
     An Internet site is an "effective and comparatively cheap" way
for music companies to communicate with consumers, by distributing
digitised music, band information, lyrics, and fan e-mail. The
Internet is attracting genres like funk as well as less obvious
ones like Gregorian chants. Warner, Sony, and EMI have established
Web sites for their labels in the U.S. and U.K. However, copyright
laws should be amended to ensure that the rights of the record
company and the artist are protected. Besides, the technology is
still quite slow - downloading a 50-minute rock album still takes
over an hour.
                           (Financial Times, England; July 3, 1995)
 
Financial Offerings On Internet In Britain Grow
-----------------------------------------------
     The Insurance Club (http://www.insuranceclub.co.uk) is one of
many British companies offering a range of financial services on
the Internet, such as insurance products for the home and the
automobile. This may be the "beginning of a revolution in the way
insurance is bought and sold," according to an insurance broker.
Other offerings include Barclaycard's insurance quotations
(http://www.barclaycard.co.uk), IFA Promotion's adviser location
service (http://www.demon.co.uk/moneyweb), and Moneyworld
magazine's news service (http://www.moneyworld.co.uk).
                           (The Sunday Times, London; July 2, 1995)
 
What Path Will The "Accidental Superhighway" Follow?
----------------------------------------------------
     No communications medium or consumer technology has ever grown
as quickly as the Internet - not even the fax or the PC. The
Internet has "challenged the corporate titan model of the
information superhighway," according to this 14-page special survey
of the Internet. Though "fathered by Cold War paranoia," the
Internet has now evolved into a "bottom-up infrastructure."
According to Forrester Research Inc., it may take at least four
more years for the number of consumer users to pass corporate ones
in the U.S. But this flood of new users will also put a "strain on
the egalitarian principles" of the Internet. As it becomes harder
to tell sense from noise on the Net, new hierarchies are being
created which mirror those of the real world. Though the Internet
may not suffer the same fate as CB radio, there is another danger
- the "empire" may strike back. As telecommunications giants "fight
to regain the pipes," they may eventually be able to impose the
telephone pricing model on the Internet - usage-based pricing. 
                             (The Economist, England; July 1, 1995)
 
Internet In Asia Is A Bonanza For Hardware, Software Providers
--------------------------------------------------------------
     With home users and companies in Asia all scrambling to get
plugged into the Internet, makers of Internet products are
reporting healthy sales. In the last quarter, Cisco - which
supplies nearly 80 percent of all Internet routers - has seen a 10-
15 percent growth in sales of low-end routers in Asia. Sun is
witnessing a strong demand for its Internet-ready Netra servers in
this region. The greatest beneficiaries are probably the Internet
access software companies like Brel and Radac, which make the
Internet Chameleon and the Internet In A Box.
                           (Singapore Business Times; July 3, 1995)
 
Internet Hackers Conference Scheduled In London
-----------------------------------------------
     A number of Internet-related conferences are being scheduled
in and around London over the next month, on topics like
interactive newspapers, medicine, social work, data protection law,
information futures, education, and the arts. However, "Access All
Areas" seems to be the first U.K. hacking conference of its type,
attracting hackers, cyberfreaks, and computer security
professionals. Topics include hacking, computer fraud, and Unix
security. Borderware Network Technologies will give a case of
champagne to anyone who can break into its firewall server.
                             (The Guardian, England; June 30, 1995)
 
Political Activists Around The World Make Use Of The Internet
-------------------------------------------------------------
     Besieged Bosnians, Mexican rebels, Rumanian activists, and
Cuban health workers are using the Internet as a "sounding board"
and an organising platform. Organisations like the Institution for
Global Communications in San Francisco (http://www.igc.org) have
been providing tools for online activists based in the U.S.,
enabling them to "dial locally and act globally." Still, the
Internet is not used just by people's movements, but also by
hardliners and propagandists. "You can take on just about any
identity" and push any political point of view, warns Steve Jones,
author of "CyberSociety." The high technology of the Internet also
limits its audiences, particularly in developing countries.
                        (Seattle Post Intelligencer; June 29, 1995)
 
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