• USA - A watershed day for high-tech policy
  
• EU set to unveil draft electronic commerce law
  
• Germany - SPD will Medienkontrolle in Deutschland neu gestalten
  

Legal and regulatory issues

   Access to public sector information / IT in government

• USA - Government Paperwork Elimination Act (Thomas) Lays the framework for using electronic signatures for federal forms submitted via the Net, and mandates that more federal documents be posted online.

   Audiovisual

• Germany - Stoiber will ARD-Strukturrreform erzwingen (Reuters) Der bayerische Ministerpräsident Edmund Stoiber (CSU) hat mit dem Ausstieg aus dem Finanzausgleich der Rundfunkanstalten gedroht, um damit eine Strukturreform der ARD zu erzwingen. Stoiber erklärte am Mittwoch auf den Münchener Medientagen, es müßten Rundfunkanstalten geschaffen werden, die aus eigener Kraft lebensfähig seien. Dies müsse notfalls mit der Kündigung des Finanzausgleichs vorangetrieben werden. Stoiber wandte sich ferner gegen eine Zentralisierung der Medienaufsicht. Nicht hinnehmen werde er zudem, wenn sich die Europäische Union (EU) in der Medienpolitik immer mehr Kompetenzen aneigne, die bei den Bundesländern lägen.

• UK - Londres lance une réflexion sur le financement de la BBC par la redevance (Agence France Presse) Le gouvernement britannique a lancé mercredi une réflexion sur le financement de la BBC, le service public de radio et de télévision, actuellement assuré pour l'essentiel par la redevance mais de plus en plus contesté par ses concurrents privés.

   Competition

• High-tech lawyers thinks antitrust needs help with high tech (ZDNet News) Industry lawyers think perhaps U.S. antitrust bodies should have their own powers curtailed. In the mind of George Riley, attorney and partner at O'Melveny & Myers, the high-tech industry needs a unique set of antitrust regulations. The problem with the high-tech industry, said Riley, is that innovation is too fast, integration makes the concept of a "product" unclear, and intellectual property is a key tool to defining markets.

Microsoft

• Microsoft: Trial not hurting Europe (Reuters) Microsoft's antitrust battle is not harming the software giant's business in Europe, a company executive said today. John Frank, director of European Law and Corporate Affairs at Microsoft Europe, also said the company would change its policies worldwide if the Justice Department (DOJ) won its court case over whether Microsoft had abused its position in the market for computer operating system software.

• How a Giant Software Maker Played the Game of Hardball (New York Times) A close look at Microsoft's no-holds-barred push into the Internet software business offers a window into the ways the company uses its market muscle to influence the behavior of virtually every player in the industry.

• USA - Microsoft Retort Reinterprets Gates E-Mail (New York Times) In its latest pretrial salvo, the Microsoft Corporation yesterday issued a 40-page document titled "Setting the Record Straight" that attempts to refute the Government's antitrust case -- a case that Microsoft asserts is based on "a handful of snippets" quoted "misleadingly" from among the 3.3 million pages of e-mail and memos the company handed over to the Justice Department.

• USA - Microsoft's holy war on Java (CNET News.com) Microsoft so feared that Java would undermine its Windows franchise that its highest executives cemented partnerships with influential companies to prevent Sun Microsystems from getting them first, according to evidence not yet public in the high-profile lawsuit between the two companies.

• USA - Wooing of AOL considered key in Microsoft trial (The Washington Post - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) The tale of how Microsoft wooed -- and won over -- Case and his online service AOL has emerged as a key part of the government's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, which is scheduled to go to trial this month.

   Computer crime

• Singapore Takes Hard Line On Computer Crime (Newsbytes) Singapore's computer crime laws need to be extended to cope with increased hacking, fraud and theft using computers, according to Singapore's minister for law and foreign affairs. In 1998 there had already been 56 reported cases of computer crime in Singapore, from credit card "swiping" to the cloning of mobile phones, to hacking, fraud and defacing or breaking Web sites.

• Norway - Child pornography - nine charged (Aftenposten/TV2) Nine persons were charged with distribution of child pornography on the Internet. Police seized ten computers.

• Switzerland - Bundespolizei bekämpft Rassismus im Internet (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) Die Bundespolizei hat Schweizer Internet-Service-Anbieter aufgefordert, rassistische Internetseiten im Ausland dem Zugriff ihrer Kunden zu entziehen. Damit soll offenbar ein Pilotprozess in Sachen Rassismus im Internet vorbereitet werden. Das überstürzte Vorgehen der Bundespolizei provozierte Kopfschütteln und Verärgerung. Nicht nur wurden viele technische Probleme übersehen, es gibt auch Rechtsunsicherheiten.

   Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology sectors

• Germany - SPD will Medienkontrolle in Deutschland neu gestalten (Newsroom DE) Offenbar Aufsichtsbehörde nach kanadischem Vorbild geplant. Die SPD will als Regierungspartei die Kontrolle über Medien und Telekommunikation in Deutschland neu gestalten. Dazu sollten Bund und Länder einen "Kommunikationsrat" für Fernsehen und Telekommunikation bilden. Im Gespräch ist demnach ein Modell, bei dem die 15 Landesmedienanstalten und die Kommission zur Ermittlung der Konzentration im Medienbereich (KEK) zu einer Bundesmedienanstalt als Bundesanstalt der Länder zusammengefaßt werden.

• Germany - VDZ begrüßt Forderung Stoibers nach Verbot der Werbung in Online-Angeboten von ARD und ZDF (Newsroom DE) Der Verband Deutscher Zeitschriftenverleger (VDZ) hat die Äußerungen des bayerischen Ministerpräsidenten Stoiber zu einem Verbot der Werbung in Online-Angeboten von ARD und ZDF begrüßt. Auf den Münchener Medientagen hatte Stoiber ausgeführt, Rundfunkanstalten seien weder Verlagshäuser noch Online-Anbieter. Internet-Auftritte öffentlich-rechtlicher Sender dürften nicht aus Werbeeinnahmen finanziert werden, da es sonst zu Wettbewerbsverzerrungen komme.

   Copyright

• British protest Rio invasion (ZDNet News) Three heavyweight UK industry bodies backed the landmark suit brought against Diamond Multimedia by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). see related story

• USA - Bands urged to help stop piracy (CNET News.com) In its continuing battle against Internet piracy, industry group the Recording Industry Association of America is turning to artists to back it up. Over the last few weeks, the RIAA has sent a letter to the management of big-name artists including Mick Jagger, Sarah McLachlan, and the Brian Setzer Orchestra, asking them to "speak out against Internet piracy."

   Data Protection (privacy)

• UK - Internet cameras to guard school? (BBC) A headteacher's plan to use the Internet to protect his school from intruders has fallen foul of data protection regulations. John Mann, head of Portsdown Primary School, Portsmouth, wanted to connect his school's security cameras to a Website, so that he could monitor the premises from home in the evening. But Portsmouth City Council has advised Mr Mann that the scheme could be in breach of an updated Data Protection Act, due to be implemented next year.

• USA - Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (Thomas) Web sites must get parental consent before collecting information from children aged 12 or younger.

• USA - New guidelines on child privacy (CNET News.com) Industry group TRUSTe is creating a new child privacy program that it hopes will address issues raised by the Federal Trade Commission and the so-called Bryan bill now pending in Congress.

   Electronic commerce

• EU set to unveil draft electronic commerce law (Reuters) The European Commission is about to issue a proposal on how to regulate sales of goods and services over the Internet or similar networks. The European Union's executive arm has begun debating a draft text covering issues such as advertising, electronic contracts, liability for illegal content and professional standards.

   Electronic democracy

• Amnesty seeks Net aid (BBC) The latest campaign of the human rights organisation Amnesty International is to get more of its members onto the Internet. Amnesty believes more people online will boost the effectiveness of its Urgent Action Network. Its alerts mobilise thousands of supporters to bombard the authorities with messages when there is a threat of human rights violations.

• Elektronische Subversion in China (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) In China wird zwar das Internet dazu genutzt, vom Regime unterdrückte Informationen unter die Öffentlichkeit zu bringen. Doch bisherige Erfahrungen lassen (noch) nicht darauf schliessen, dass die Subversion Auswirkungen auf die Innenpolitik hätte.

• Web polls given vote of confidence (BBC) Are opinion polls taken over the Web as accurate as those done over the telephone or in the street? At least one major research organisation seems 100 per cent confident they can be (although, as they traditionally say, it may only be accurate to within plus or minus four per cent).

   Employment and social issues

• Congress Revives Measure on High-Tech Visas (New York Times) Congressional leaders on Tuesday revived legislation being sought by the high-tech industry to nearly double the number of visas available for skilled foreign workers.

• USA - Workforce Improvement and Protection Act (Thomas) Increases the number of special H1-B visa for skilled foreign workers.

   Euro and millennium bug

• UK - Millennium bug hits home (BBC) Householders are being warned to check for the "millennium bug" inside appliances in their homes. The UK Government is sending out 15 million information packs warning of the effects the bug could have on equipment used in the home every day. Four of the pack's eight pages are devoted to computers - the most advanced piece of technology in the home.

   Information society and Internet policy

• USA - A watershed day for high-tech policy (Inter@ctive Week) A last-minute avalanche of deal-cutting and arm twisting Thursday produced a watershed day for high-tech policy. Multiple high-tech bills that had languished for months were given a near-certain seal of approval when they were tacked onto the larger budgetary deal brokered by Congressional and administration leaders. In quick succession today, the White House and law makers signed off on a $500 billion budget deal that included bills to:
  • Double the number of temporary visas granted high-tech workers.
  • Restrict children's access to online pornography.
  • Place a time-out on further taxation of the Internet.
  • Require the federal government to post all its forms to the Internet, as well as accept electronic, online signatures in lieu of the old-fashioned pen-and-paper kind.
  see also CNET News.com and TechWeb.

   Internet content

• USA - New laws won't stop hate (New York Times) The author, James B. Jacobs, a professor of law at New York University and co-author of "Hate Crime: Criminal Law and Identity Politics", argues against special laws dealing with hate crime.

   Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law

• Child Online Protection Act (Thomas) The controversial provisions require commercial Web site operators who offer "harmful" material to check visitors' identifications or face up to $50,000 in fines and six months in prison each time a minor gains access to the content. Civil liberties groups already plan to file a lawsuit once President Clinton signs the spending authorization into law. Another provision that troubles free speech groups was tacked on to the Net Tax Act and exempts sites from the moratorium if they give minors unfettered access to "harmful material".

• Australia - ISPs liable for Net porn in legal deal (The Australian) Internet service providers may face liability for child pornography and other illegal online content after a series of top-level meetings on Net regulation in Australia.

• USA - Child Protection and Sexual Predator Punishment Act (CNET News.com) The Child Protection and Sexual Predator Punishment Act applies stiff penalties for using the Net to sexually solicit minors or knowingly send "obscene" material to a person under 16. Violators could get up to five and ten years in prison, respectively, for the offenses. The bill also sticks Net access providers with new liabilities for failing to report child pornography once they are made aware of the illegal material. ISPs could be fined up to $50,000 the first time they fail to report the activity and up to $100,000 for each subsequent time they don't contact law enforcement authorities. It also provides an exemption that will make ISPs immune to prosecution should they wrongly release information. ISPs, for their part, do not like being put in the position of being forced to police their members, and the act is criticised by civil liberties bodies for its vague language. See also TechWeb.

• USA - Mother cannot sue AOL over porn peddled by member, appeals court rules (Associated Press) A Florida State appeals court ruled that a mother cannot sue America Online because one of its customers peddled a pornographic video of her 11-year-old son in an AOL chat room. Federal law protects online services from being held liable for the messages transmitted by their members. However, the appeals panel asked the Florida Supreme Court to review the case and determine whether the law should apply to activity that took place prior to 1996, when the federal Communications Decency Act was enacted, if the federal law pre-empts state law and if an online service should be held responsible if it knows the customer is posting defamatory messages.

• USA - Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (CNET News.com) The Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act, which passed Tuesday, would limit lawsuits against companies with volatile stock prices by requiring class-action shareholder suits brought against companies for failed earnings to be filed in federal court. Proponents say the statute will protect the slew of public high-tech start-ups from being sued in every state, arguing that such suits have the potential to stifle the growing computer industry.

   Protection of minors

• Microsoft veut promouvoir la protection des enfants sur l'internet (Agence France Presse) Microsoft a annoncé la création d'un nouveau site internet pour aider parents et éducateurs à encourager les enfants à explorer le Web tout en les protégeant, dans un communiqué publié jeudi. Ce site offre des informations sur la protection de la vie privée ainsi que des liens directs avec des sites d'intérêt général ou destinés particulièrement aux enfants.

   Security and encryption

• Germany - "Kultur der Aufklärung" (Der Spiegel) Interview mit Otto Ulrich, beim Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI) für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung zuständig, über den Wandel in der Kryptopolitik. Das BSI ist dem Innenministerium zugeordnet und galt lange Zeit als Vollstrecker der harten Kryptolinie Manfred Kanthers. Nach der politischen Wende ist aus dem mit rund 300 Mitarbeitern relativ kleinen Bundesamt nun viel über Kryptographie als Bürgerrecht und eine neue demokratische Diskussion der Sicherheitstechnologien zu hören.

   Taxation and tariffs

• USA - Internet Tax Freedom Act (Thomas) Seen as a boon to e-commerce, the bill would create a national three-year moratorium on "discriminatory" taxes on Net access and services. Taxes passed before October 1, 1998, are exempt.

   Telecommunications

• Industry Players Add New Twist to Plenipot Proceedings (Total Telecom (registration required)) The fifteenth ITU Plenipotentiary Conference is the first treaty-making conference in the history of the specialized agency, indeed in the history of the United Nations system, in which private industry will be able to participate as observers.

• Spain - BT solicita licencia para ser operador de servicios completos en España (ZDNet España) BT Telecomunicaciones, filial en España de BT, presentó ante la Comisión de Telecomunicaciones la solicitud de una licencia tipo B1 para ofrecer servicios de telefonía fija en España. Esta licencia complementará la actual oferta de la compañía como proveedora de servicios avanzados de comunicaciones a empresas, y le permitirá convertirse en la Operadora de Servicios Completos de Comunicaciones, con infraestructura y redes propias, para toda la sociedad española.

• USA - Supreme Court hears arguments in telecom case (InfoWorld Electric ) The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a dispute over whether the U.S. Federal Communications Commission or state utility regulatory boards have authority under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to write rules governing competition in the local telephone market. Long-distance carriers such as AT&T and MCI WorldCom support the FCC's role in writing the rules because they say it would be too difficult to enter local markets unless there are uniform price guidelines effective countrywide for the cost of leasing pieces of an incumbent carrier's network.

Market & Technology

   Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology sectors

• Digital TV Seen As Home Multimedia Server (EE Times) The digital TV will not be another PC-like Internet box, but rather a home multimedia server, judging by the prototypes on display at the recent Japan Electronics Show. Both JVC and Matsushita showed off TVs at the show that incorporate HDDs and act as central systems for audio, video, and data. JVC's prototype features 1 gigabyte of storage capacity; Matsushita showed a large-screen TV with a whopping 12.5-GB HDD.

• NTL leads the way for interactive TV (Press release) NTL has announced its plans for TV-based interactive services, available nationally across a variety of interactive TV platforms and - launching on 31 March 1999 - the first to reach the consumer. NTL Interactive combines the breadth of digital expertise in the NTL group itself with best-of-breed technology and content partners including Microsoft, Barclays Bank, Airtours, Press Association and Universal Studios. NTL is offering an end-to-end service to new-media entrants who wish to market their products and services through interactive TV set-top boxes.

   Domain names

• Canadians market Tuvalu's name (Reuters) The world's smallest country, the south Pacific island of Tuvalu, could undergo a Cinderella-like transformation after hanging a "for sale" sign on its Internet domain name. A privately held Canadian company, the .TV Corporation, today began to market Tuvalu's country code designation, hoping that major television companies, producers, television personalities, and others might want to own a Web site address that has a ".tv" ending.

   Electronic commerce

• Amazon.com sets up shop in Britain, Germany (Reuters) U.S. online bookseller Amazon.com Inc set up shop overseas on Thursday by launching its first domestic services in Britain and Germany, two of Europe's biggest book markets. The new websites -- www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.de -- mean that Europeans will have a greater choice of British and German-language bestsellers, as well as top U.S. titles.

• EC: businesses are failing to pool ecommerce expertise (Silicon News) European businesses have come under fire from the European Commission for stifling the growth of electronic commerce. Speaking yesterday at the BT E-business awards ceremony in London, Rosalie Zobel, Head of Unit in DGIII at the European Commission, said that European businesses are still failing to pool resources and valuable expertise in ecommerce.

• Ecommerce predictions way off mark, suggests Cisco CEO (vnu|net) Estimates of the amount of business that will be done on the Internet have been very conservative claims John Chambers, chief executive of Cisco, who believes that by 2002 ecommerce could pass $1,500 billion or more. Speaking at Gartner Group’s annual US Symposium, before an audience of 10,000 IT managers, vendors and analysts, Chambers said the potential savings would force the pace. He claims Cisco saved $500 million last year through its Web applications.

• Net retailers join forces (CNET News.com) Four major Web retailers today are jointly launching a shopping network featuring all the firms' products. CDnow, Cyberian Outpost, eToys, and Reel.com said they plan to launch the site in November.

• UK - BT banks on e-commerce for low-value transactions (ZDNet News) BT is beefing up its e-commerce capabilities with the launch of a new consumer service for handling low-value transactions traditional credit card companies tend to shun. BT Argent - to be launched later this month - is aimed at thrifty, cyber-shoppers who want to spend anything from a few pence to £15 on goods, software and information. Customers are charged on their monthly credit card bill but unlike wallet-based micropayment systems, do not have to pay up front.

• UK - Share dealing: an Online revolution (BBC ) Share trading in the UK is about to undergo a revolution. Next week Barclays Stockbrokers, the UK's largest share broker, plans to make the first ever "real time" share trade in Europe over the Internet. Investors will be able to buy and sell shares at the very latest market prices at the click of a button.

   Employment and social issues

• Europe. like Silicon Valley. reports worker shortage (Reuters) California's Silicon Valley isn't the only place that says it's running short of high-tech talent. Western Europe's computer and telecommunications industry has some 367,000 jobs that it can't fill, costing it a few percentage points of economic growth. In Germany, 75,000 jobs are going unfilled because of too few qualified workers, said Bernhard Rohleder, managing director at the European Information Technology Observatory.

   Euro and millennium bug

• Printers Lag In Euro Conversion (TechWeb) A survey of 450 European sites with about 170,000 printers carried out over the past two months found 93 percent of U.K. businesses have not yet converted their printing systems to handle the euro.

   Internet access and use

• Argentina se acerca a Internet2 (Prime Media Press ) Argentina podría convertirse en el primer país latinoamericano en disponer de acceso a Internet2, red académica que alcanzará velocidades de flujo de datos entre 100 y 1000 veces superiores a las actuales.

• British Telecom Lags With ADSL (TechWeb) British Telecom announced Wednesday a limited trial of a high-speed Internet access service using Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology. BT began tests of ADSL technology more than two years ago, and the technology already is being used by several telephone companies in the United States. But analysts said BT has good reason not to rush the service to market.

• Russia - Alle benutzen das Internet - auch der KGB (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) Wenn es ums Internet oder um E-Mail geht, sind die Russen regelrechte Fortschrittsfanatiker. Die schrankenlose Kommunikation findet allerdings an den russischen Realitäten ihre Grenzen: an der mangelnden Qualität der Telefonleitungen und an den Kontrollgelüsten des Staates.

• Spain - Nace la Asociación de Internautas (ZDNet España) El pasado fin de semana se reunieron en Madrid miembros de los grupos que convocaron la jornada de protesta del 3 de octubre, FrEE - Fronteras Electrónicas, GTP - Grupo Tarifa Plana, PLH - Plataforma La_huelga y PTP - Plataforma Tarifa Plana para fundar la Asociación de Internautas.

   Market

• French To Spend $40 Billion On IT (CNET News.com ) High spending by French companies on IT products and services is set to continue, while IT spending habits will change as companies reduce the number of suppliers they use by half, according to two studies published this week.

• Murdoch wegen Turbulenzen an Finanzmärkten keine Fusionspläne (Reuters) Die Turbulenzen an den globalen Finanzmärkten behindern nach den Worten des Medienunternehmers Rupert Murdoch den Ausbau seines Konzerns. Solange sich die Märkte nicht beruhigten, habe News Corp keine großen Fusionspläne, erklärte Vorstandschef Murdoch nach der Hauptversammlung des Unternehmens am Dienstag im australischen Adelaide.

• France - L'annuaire dépoussière son image avec Internet (Agence France Presse) Le bon vieux "bottin" du téléphone entre dans le cyberspace: la plupart des annuaires français sont désormais en ligne et leur chiffre d'affaires publicitaire sur Internet dépassera cette année celui de tous les autres sites français sur le web, selon le Syndicat national des annuaires (SNA).

• Germany - "TM3" dementiert Bericht über Murdoch-Einstieg (Newsroom DE) Der Münchener Fernsehsender "tm3" hat einen Magazinbericht zurückgewiesen, wonach der australische Medienunternehmer Rupert Murdoch bei dem Sender einsteigen will. Mit Murdoch bestünden derzeit keine Absprachen, die auf eine Übernahme von "tm3"-Anteilen zielten.

   Multilingual content and software

• IBM Reports Speech Technology Gains In China (EE Times) IBM's China Research Laboratory has reported a series of major developments in Chinese speech- and handwriting-recognition software that are expected to accelerate the growth of China's burgeoning information technology market.

• Netscape expands international sites (ZDNet News) Netscape Communications Corp., aiming to take advantage of what it describes as the growing Internet fever abroad, will add content and services on its localized international Web sites. see related story

   Portals and search engines

• AltaVista returns to roots (ZDNet News) AltaVista rolled out a host of new services aimed at improving Internet searching. The move is a return to AltaVista's roots as a search engine. In an effort to be more of a portal, the site recently had added features unrelated to searches, such as news feeds and stock quotes. New options include an improved category search, a "Q&A" search, which lets the user ask a question such as "What is the weather forecast for Toledo, Ohio?", Photo Finder: users can search a catalog of more than a million images and Family Filter: the filtering option screens out pornographic content, while allowing sites on such topics as sex education and breast cancer. see also Wired.

• MSN Fires Latest Shot in Portal Battle (Internetnews) Microsoft Corp. Wednesday debuted the latest addition to its burgeoning MSN.com portal, adding a personal finance hub dubbed MSN MoneyCentral.

• Netcenter beefs up content (ZDNet News) Netscape Communications Corp. plans to announce Thursday a number of new content deals for its Netcenter Web site, part of its drive to attract a wider audience for the site. see related story

• The meek (portlets) shall inherit the earth (ZDNet News) The author discusses "portalmania" and suggests a new type of portal called a "portlet."

• Italy - Internet: Telecom Italia s'allie à Excite (Agence France Presse) Telecom Italia a annoncé mercredi la signature d'un accord avec le moteur de recherche américain Excite, pour lancer prochainement Excite Italia, qui offrira à ses clients un accès internet personnalisé et rapide.

   Security and encryption

• Software bug hits Cisco (ZDNet News) A software error has been uncovered that compromises the security of certain products made by Cisco Systems. The bug which affects the company's networking software allows unauthenticated users to penetrate logins for routers and other devices. That, in turn, can open the door for hackers to read information entered by prior users of the devices - including passwords.

   Software

• USA - Navigator tops IE in corporate arena (ZDNet News) Far from losing the browser wars, a new study concludes that Netscape Communications Corp. is actually pulling away from Microsoft Corp. in one key market: corporate America. The report by Zona Research Inc., released Thursday, says that Netscape’s Navigator has widened its lead in the business market, now residing on 60 percent of corporate desktops.

   Statistics

• Spain - Ciudadanos digitales: qué hacemos, cómo somos y hacia dónde vamosos (Novatec - La Vanguardia) La comunidad de internautas crece en nuestro país y en todo el mundo. En este artículo de Miguel Pérez Subías, presidente de la AUI, se condensan los datos más relevantes a modo de radiografía del Internauta a partir de los últimos informes elaborados, recalcando especialmente el perfil del usuario español.

   Telecommunications

• High Europe Internet Phone Growth Seen (Reuters) International telephone services running over the Internet are set to explode across Europe in the next five years, helping to force some traditional telephone companies to slash charges by almost 70 percent. But companies leading the way on the Internet will soon fall victim to a backlash by traditional companies which will not stand idly watching their markets disappearing, the report by high technology consultancy Schema said.

Useful addresses

• CataLaw (Dov Wisebrod) Catalog of catalogs of law on the Internet. It helps speed research by arranging all legal and government indexes into a unique, uniform and universal metaindex. There are now over 7000 links.

• Telecom Information Resources (Prof. Jeffrey MacKie-Mason) References to information sources relating to the technical, economic, public policy, and social aspects of telecommunications. All forms of telecommunication, including, voice, data, video, wired, wireless, cable TV, and satellite, are included.

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