Legal and regulatory issues

   Access to public sector information / IT in government

• Sweden - E-mail messages are public documents (Prime Media Press) [The newspaper Enkopings Posten appealed against a local authority's refusal of access under the Swedish Freedom of Information Act to all its electronic mail messages. The court has now ruled that all messages sent between official e-mail addresses fall under the access rules, whatever their subject matter.] Suecia: Correo electrónico estatal es material público. El periódico sueco Enkopings Posten se querelló contra el estado sueco debido a que las autoridades de la comuna de Enkoping le negaron el acceso a mensajes de correo electrónico interno intercambiados por algunos directores comunales. El tribunal determinó que todo el correo electrónico enviado entre direcciones de correo electrónico fiscales, es material público, independientemente de que se trate de mensajes personales.

• UK - IT saves court £1m in a single case (Silicon) Southwark Crown Court is set to save up to £1m using document imaging software in a serious fraud trial involving up to 10,000 documents.

• USA - New site features hospital ratings (Reuters) A new service, HealthCareReportCards.com, that rates cardiac surgery and cardiology programs in hospitals around the United States using a five-star system has launched on the Web. The mortality data used to produce the rating was purchased from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.

   Audiovisual

• Privatsender sehen bei Neufassung des Rundfunkstaatsvertrags Selbstkontrolle gefährdet (Reuters) Die Privatsender haben vor einer Aushöhlung der Selbstkontrolle ihrer Programme gewarnt. Die Pläne der Länder, im Jugendschutz umfangreiche Kompetenzen von der Freiwilligen Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen (FSF) zu den Landesmedienanstalten zu verlagern, brüskiere die Sender und die FSF, erklärte der Verband Privater Rundfunk und Telekommunikation (VPRT).

• EU - Des programmes européens à l'ère du numérique (Press Release) Conférence de l'Union européenne de radiodiffusion Bruxelles, le 27 octobre 1998 - Discours de M. Marcelino OREJA Membre de la Commission européenne.

• EU - The Digital Age: European Audiovisual Policy (European Commission) Report from the High Level Group on Audiovisual Policy chaired by Commissioner Marcelino Oreja and composed of Francisco Pinto Balsemão, José-Maria Bergareche, Hervé Bourges, Liliana Cavani, Michael Kuhn, John McGrath, Jan Mojto, Albert Scharf and Boleslaw Sulik

• France - "Pas d'augmentation brutale et massive" de la redevance TV (Agence France Presse) Le ministre des Relations avec le Parlement Daniel Vaillant a assuré mercredi qu'il n'était pas prévu "d'augmentation brutale et massive" de la redevance pour compenser les pertes de recettes publicitaires de l'audiovisuel public prévues dans le projet de loi relatif à ce secteur.

• France - Le CSA a reconnu la nationalité luxembourgeoise à RTL9 (Agence France Presse) Le Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) a reconnu la nationalité luxembourgeoise de la chaîne RTL9. Cette décision permet à RTL9 d'échapper aux obligations des chaînes prévues par la législation française et de n'être soumise qu'à la directive européenne. RTL9, dont le siège est au Luxembourg, diffuse à la fois en hertzien, sur le câble et sur le satellite. La chaîne pourra programmer des films sans quota d'heures ou de jour de diffusion, et passer de la publicité pour des secteurs comme l'édition ou la distribution.

   Competition

• Commission reaches preliminary agreement with British Interactive Broadcasting (BiB) (Press Release) The European Commission has announced that the parties to the British Interactive Broadcasting joint venture (BiB) have made a number of substantial concessions to meet the competition concerns put to them by the Commission's services. A notice has been published in the Official Journal which sets out in detail the conditions agreed by the parties. Third parties have 30 days in which to submit their comments. The Commission will reach a final decision after taking account of third party comment.

• Commission should have investigated state aid complaint (Recent case-law of the Court of Justice and of the Court of First Instance) Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 15 September 1998 (State aid — Public service television — Complaint — Action for declaration of failure to act — Commission's duty to investigate). In Case T-95/96, Gestevisión v Commission of the European Communities, the Court declared that the Commission failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty by failing to adopt a decision following the two complaints lodged by the applicant.

• US hails EU antitrust cooperation, snubs WTO talk (Reuters) Top U.S. antitrust officials on Wednesday hailed cooperation with the European Union on antitrust issues as "remarkable," but remained sceptical about adopting international competition rules at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Microsoft

• USA - Desktop Placement Won AOL Over To IE (TechWeb) America Online executives testifying as government witnesses in the antitrust case against Microsoft on Wednesday said placement on the Windows desktop was the overwhelming reason the Internet service chose to make Internet Explorer its default browser.

   Computer crime

• Cyber-cash making money laundering easier-expert (Reuters) Increased use of new technologies such as Internet banking and smart cards is making money laundering easier, says the head of the Sydney-based Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering Secretariat. Vastly increased volumes of electronic commerce have made it easier for money launderers, allowing them to avoid the risks of being reported by suspicious bank tellers or bank officers.

• USA - Pro-Violence Sites Push Boundaries Of Law (TechWeb) In the wake of last week's murder of abortion doctor Barnett Slepian near Buffalo, N.Y., last week, FBI officials have reportedly said the subsequent investigation will include anti-abortion websites that have endorsed violence.

• USA - Internet Child Porn Ring Busted (Wired) Thirteen people have been arrested for operating an Internet child pornography ring that spanned four nations. The online ring, which dubbed itself "Pedo University," traded in electronic images of pre-teenagers engaged in graphic sex acts.

• USA - S.E.C. Accuses 44 Stock Promoters of Internet Fraud (New York Times (registration required)) Federal regulators said yesterday that they had accused 44 stock promoters of fraudulently recommending more than 235 small companies on the Internet. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which created a special enforcement squad in July to monitor Internet frauds, called the civil enforcement action the first such nationwide crackdown.

   Content regulation

• USA - ACLU files suit against Net porn law (MSNBC) The American Civil Liberties Union and several other groups filed suit Thursday seeking to stop enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act. Unlike the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which the Supreme Court struck down unanimously, the new law regulates only commercial Web sites. The new law applies only to data given away free of charge on the commercial sites. It exempts information that is sold.

   Copyright

• Piracy wrecks job growth (InfoWorld Electric) The Business Software Alliance (BSA) released a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers which shows that piracy has become a major impediment to job growth and tax collection in almost every country in the world.

• EU - Counterfeiting and piracy in the Single Market (European Commission) The European Commission has adopted a Green Paper on combating counterfeiting and piracy in the Single Market, marking the start of a wide-ranging consultation of all the parties concerned, the Member States and the institutions of the European Union (EU).

• USA - Cyber-Pirates Beware (IP Magazine) Though posted on the Internet for free distribution, shareware is still entitled to copyright protection

• USA - Digital copyright bill becomes law (CNET News.com) President Clinton today signed a bill that sets new rules for downloading, sharing, or simply viewing copyrighted material online. Congress passed the bill, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, earlier this month.

   Data Protection (privacy)

• "What's Related?" Everything But Your Privacy (Matt Curtin) Netscape Communications latest release of Communicator contains a new feature, "Smart Browsing", which raises potentially serious privacy concerns. Specifically, URLs that are visited while a user browses the web are reported back to a server at Netscape. see also Schwere Schatten über dem Netscape Communicator - Heise Online.

• European Law Aims to Protect Privacy of Personal Data (New York Times (registration required)) The European Union put into effect a law Sunday prohibiting U.S.-style buying and selling of personal data, a move that could interrupt electronic commerce with the United States if the two sides fail to resolve deep philosophical and legal differences over protecting privacy. see also Reuters.

• UK - Data Protection law may outlaw spamming (ZDNet UK) Spamming could be outlawed under the new Data Protection Act due to come into force early next year, according to the Data Protection Registrar (DPR). Discussions are currently underway at the European Commission and the Department of Trade and Industry about whether unsolicited e-mails can be controlled under the Telecommunications Directive which explicitly gives people the right to object to direct marketing calls.

• USA - Activists: Kids' Privacy Law Is Only First Step (TechWeb) The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act will require websites targeted at children to gain parental permission before collecting personally identifiable information from kids under 14. Net privacy groups will continue to lobby Congress and the administration next year to extend privacy protections online to all individuals.

• USA - More Sponsors Join BBBOnLine Seal Program (InternetNews) BBBOnLine, a subsidiary of the Council of Better Business Bureaus Inc., said that two dozen major companies are now spearheading the creation of a privacy seal program to inspire confidence in Web consumers.

   Domain names

• Critics demand more accountability of Net administration (Inter@ctive Week Online ) In the ongoing skirmish over who administers a key part of the Internet, Jon Postel may have gotten the last word. Though the Net pioneer died this month at the age of 55, his plan to create an international organization to administer the Net's domain name and numbering system lives on after being endorsed by the U.S. government last week.

• ICANN Elects Interim Board of Directors (The Industry Standard ) Board members of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, proposed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, met in New York Monday and officially established the interim board. ICANN will replace IANA, which has coordinated and administered policies and technical protocols related to Internet domain names and addresses under a contract with the U.S. government. The nine-member board elected Esther Dyson interim chairman and hired Michael Roberts to be interim president and CEO but not a board member. see also Inter@ctive Week.

   Electronic democracy

• Germany - Homepages von Politikern - Vernichtende Testergebnisse (Heise Online) Der Koalitionsvertrag und der erzwungene Abgang Stollmanns enttäuschte die hochgesteckten Erwartungen der IT-Branche. Kein Wunder: Eine Analyse der Politikerhomepages zeigt jetzt, daß die allermeisten Bundestagspolitiker tatsächlich wenig mit dem neuen Medium Internet anfangen können.

• USA - Vote Results, ASAP (Wired) Los Angeles County is ramping up for Election Day with big plans to make results available online almost immediately. Internet service provider USWeb will operate an election site in conjunction with the county to provide real-time election returns at 15-minute intervals. The data will be fed to a county Web site directly from the computers that tally results.

   Euro and millennium bug

• European firms face Y2K legal chaos (Silicon) A US law could turn the wrath of Y2K litigation on European companies. The Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act - dubbed the Good Samaritan Act - grants US companies limited immunity from Y2K litigation. The worry is that if the UK has no similar protection, then frustrated companies who are blocked from suing in the US, could simply sue in Europe.

   Filtering and rating

• PSINet hält das Internet sauber (news aktuell) Der anhaltenden Diskussion über Kinderpornographie und andere illegale Darstellungen im World Wide Web setzt der Internet-Carrier PSINet jetzt einen weltweiten Dienst entgegen, der unerwünschte Inhalte einfach abblockt.

• Teen Group Distributes New Net-Filter Crack (TechWeb) A group of teenage anti-filtering activists has released a new program online that lets computer users bypass one of the most popular Net-filtering software packages. The software decrypts the master password for the Cyber Patrol filtering program. Using this password, users are able to shut off Cyber Patrol's site-blocking features, allowing uncensored access to the Web and chat rooms.

• UK - Teenage terrors (Guardian) Video games are ever more violent and realistic. But the classification system for games hasn’t kept pace.

   Information society and Internet policy

• The Web’s Unelected Government (Technology Review) Its meetings are closed to outsiders. Its mandate has brought it into controversial policy-making. Its decisions reflect one man’s vision. Meet the World Wide Web Consortium. [detailed article about W3C's activities and structure]

• Germany - Koalitionsvertrag - Vom Internet keine Rede (Spiegel Online ) Im Koalitionsvertrag bleibt eine Suche nach dem Stichwort "Internet" erfolglos. Den Begriff "E-Commerce" sucht man ebenfalls vergebens.

   Interception

• UK - Big Brother Preis geht an Echelon (Telepolis) Die Britische Abhörstation Menwith Hill wurde mit einem "Lifetime Award" für permanente Verletzung der Menschenrechte ausgezeichnet.

• USA - Report due on high-tech spies (Reuters) A Washington DC civil liberties organization will send a detailed report on a National Security Agency's top-secret high-tech spying network to members of Congress later this week. The report, "Echelon: America's Spy in the Sky," details the known history and workings of the agency's global electronic surveillance system. The system is reportedly able to intercept, record, and translate any electronic communication-such as telephone, data, cellular, fax, e-mail, telex-sent throughout the world.

• USA - Showing goods intentions (Communications International) A Washington DC civil liberties organization will send a detailed report on a National Security European Commission proposals to reform export control on certain goods could have profound implications for the telecomms industry.

   Internet access and use

• Spanische Telefongesellschaft soll Surfer geprellt haben (Heise Online) Es heißt, Telefónica habe Internet-Benutzern auch dann Telefongebühren berechnet, wenn die Verbindung gar nicht zustande gekommen sei. Ein Rechtsanwalt aus Oviedo wirft dem Telefonriesen daher Betrug vor und hat dementsprechend Strafanzeige erstattet.

   Junk mail (spam)

• USA - Lawsuit filed under Washington spam law (Computer World) The first spamming lawsuit was filed by the Washington State attorney general's office. Under that state's antispam law, it is illegal to send unsolicited commercial E-mail that doesn't identify itself as such in the subject line or that contains a false return address. The law applies to E-mail sent from or received in Washington State. see also Reuters

   Protection of minors

• Making Tomorrow's Internet a Good Place for Children (New York Times (registration required)) Last week, an eclectic assortment of advocates for children, professors, software producers and others gathered in Washington to ask how to insure that the Internet and other technologies become something edifying rather than stultifying for children?

   Security and encryption

• Cyber-commerce threatened by malicious code (ZDNet UK) E-commerce development could be threatened by malicious mobile code in Cyberspace, according to security software company Finjan.

• Wassenaar on the Danube (Heise Online) A small office in Vienna oversees the export of cryptography software.

• China partially blocks access to hacked Web site (Reuters) Rather than restore the original contents of its new official human rights Web site, China's cyber-police have partially blocked access to home viewers after it was defaced by a computer hacker, who labeled it "propaganda." The Web site launched by the government-backed Chinese Society for Human Rights had been replaced late on Monday by a hacked version which included links to critics of China's communist regime such as human rights group Amnesty International.

• Ethical hackers are concerned by inside jobs (BBC) A conference on computer security in London has been warned that companies face a bigger threat to their networks from their own employees than from hackers.

• Hacking site gets hacked (CNET News.com) Hacking and security news and information site Rootshell.com was the subject of its own coverage today after suffering an early morning hack.

• Microsoft shuts site--IDs exposed (CNET News.com) Microsoft yesterday shut down a site hosted by Softbank Services after discovering that it was revealing private identification and contact information for 108,000 Microsoft customers.

• Germany - Verschlüsselungstechniken sicherheitspolitisch umstritten (Handelsblatt ) Kaum eine Technologie ist politisch so umstritten wie die Kryptographie, die Wissenschaft von der Verschlüsselung von Informationen.

• USA - Breaking the Code (IP Magazine) How to gain a license to export encryption technology.

   Telecommunications

• FCC takes aim at calls to Internet service providers (Reuters) The Federal Communications Commission is expected to decide as soon as Friday that telephone calls people make to connect their computers to Internet service providers are more like long distance calls than local calls and therefore subject to the agency’s jurisdiction.

• USA - Agency: Telcos to pay for ISP calls (News.com) A phone call is still a local call, whether it's to another person or another computer, according to a new ruling by the California Public Utilities Commission. The ruling means that local phone companies, including Pacific Bell and GTE, will have to foot the bill for calls their customers make to Internet service providers that use other local phone carriers.

Market & Technology

   Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology sectors

• Digital TV Seen As Interactive Challenger To Net (Reuters) Digital television will soon seriously challenge the Internet in Europe for interactive consumers and must not be ignored by commerce, advertising and broadcast companies, a new survey said today. Jupiter Communications said that by 2002 digital TV (DTV)- based interactive services will reach 28 percent of homes in Sweden, 19 percent in the UK and 12 percent in France. In addition, 33 percent of UK households and 29 percent in France say they would be willing to pay for interactivity on TV sets, services that many European broadcasters are expecting to offer for free.

• DTV: They'd rather fight than switch (CNET News.com) As broadcasters prepare to throw the switch on digital TV broadcasts early next month, International Data Corporation says the market for DTV will slog slowly through a period of consumer confusion and technical hang-ups--but finally boom in 2007 in an unexpected way.

• Entertainment moguls eager for interactive TV (ZDNet News) Interactive television is just a short way away. But for a group of entertainment moguls speaking here today, it can't come fast enough. Speaking here at the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Global Convergence Summit, speakers agreed that interactivity will become more common in the future.

• HDTV: The revolution will be televised -- some day (Reuters) Top U.S. television stations will start beaming movie-theater-quality signals to U.S. homes this weekend in the most dramatic change in the industry since color TV was launched in the 1950s. But few will even notice.

• Intel, PBS team on 'datacast' (CNET News.com) Intel and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) are teaming up next month on the first digital television trial that will also allow consumers to obtain Web-based content while watching TV.

• Mitsubishi unveils digital TV plan (CNET News.com) Mitsubishi Consumer Electronics America today elaborated on a strategy to deliver digital TVs to retail stores nationwide--but these sets are really aimed at improving standard broadcast images rather than showing high-quality HDTV programming, which will be scarce until the turn of the century.

   Electronic commerce

• Visa pushes e-commerce growth (Cnet News.com) Visa says it made a "significant" equity investment in CyberSource to help fuel e-commerce growth.

• Agents who sift information overload (Financial Times (registration required)) The wealth of data on the internet has created a role for 'infomediaries' able to package it for clients.

• AOL builds up shopping sites (CNET News.com) Coming on the heels of a robust earnings report yesterday, the online giant signs on 40 merchants to further beef up its shopping services.

• Digital Business (Financial Times (registration required)) Digital business embraces e-commerce and the internet, but extends much further. This 10-part series examines the impact of technological advance on business

• E-Commerce Stays On Course (InternetWeek) Surprising nobody, market research-firms predict a groundswell of e-commerce projects by firms in the United States and abroad. Fifty-seven percent of companies will implement e-commerce systems by the end of next year, according to Zona Research, which earlier this month announced a quarterly research program that tracks Internet adoption.

• Europe overtakes U.S. in Internet banking (Reuters) Europe has nearly twice as many advanced Internet banks as the United States, with value-focused specialists and small, new players leading the way, a new survey said Wednesday.

• Excite UK launches Christmas shopping channel (Internet Magazine) Yes, Christmas is coming and Excite UK is trying to tempt you away from the high street scrum with an online Christmas shopping Channel. Retailers selling on the Excite channel will have to adhere to the company's Certified Merchant Programme (CMP), which includes email confirmation within one day of purchase and the use of secure servers and encryption technology.

• How the Internet is revolutionizing your health care (ZDNet News) Not satisfied with their current health-care providers, consumers are going online in greater numbers to find out more about how to get and stay healthy. Meanwhile, medical professionals are finding the Internet a valuable tool, too, in the battle to reduce costs.

• Microsoft inks $90 million ad deal (Cnet News.com) Microsoft signs a $90 million Internet advertising deal with credit card lender First USA.

• Visa losing ground in ecash war (Computing) Visa's battle with Mondex to become the electronic cash standard appears to be losing ground. Last week, the credit card giant announced that its trial of Visa Cash will be slightly expanded, although the company was sketchy on details. Visa and the rival Mondex electronic purse consortium are locked in battle to ensure their electronic card system becomes used throughout the UK and Europe. Both have moved to sign card issuers to their systems across Europe.

• Visa pushing for Net shopping (CNET News.com) After watching warily from the sidelines, the credit card giant is trying to convince consumers that using Visa cards to shop online is safe.

   Employment and social issues

• Software sex bias 'puts girls off' (BBC) Research suggests schoolgirls would be just as good as boys in computing if the software were made 'gender neutral'.

   Internet access and use

• Bandwidth’s New Bargaineers (Technology Review) You may not think of it as a commodity, but some brash startups are treating bandwidth the same as pork bellies.

• Can free-access ISPs defy gravity? (ZDNet News) Why not make Internet access free, like TV? After all, advertising brings vastly expensive and complex programming into our homes, so why can't it work for e-mail and Web surfing as well? A number of companies have built their business models around this plan and -- almost without exception -- they have gone out of business or suspended operations.

• Italians make waves with Net protest (IDG) Italian cybernauts Wednesday launched their first-ever Internet protest against plans by Telecom Italia to increase the cost of local phone calls, organizers of the protest said. Organizers of the protest used a Web site to invite Internet users to contact Telecom Italia's Web site and download information and thus blocking access to the site for other users.

• TCI Dances Around Internet Access Issues ( Reuters) Cable giant TCI said it was willing to share its new high-speed Internet service with leading online services such as America Online, but under conditions that the other services have previously rejected.

• UK - Users will miss out on new technology (Guardian) New standards to enable ordinary users to surf the Internet 30 times faster than the fastest current modems are being agreed in Geneva this week. But it seems likely that users in Britain will have to wait longer than in other countries to take advantage of this low-cost technology.

• USA - Free Internet access provider folds (ZDNet News) An Internet service provider that offered free lifetime service has has folded after 21 months. The provider, @bigger.net, launched in January 1997 offering users in the San Francisco Bay Area a lifetime of Internet access for a one-time $59 fee, with e-mail services for an extra $10 a year.

   Market

• Nielsen and NetRatings Unite (The Industry Standard http://www.thestandard.net/articles/article_print/0,1454,2252,00.html) Just one month ago, four major ratings firms were vying to become the standard in Web site measurement. Today there are two. At AdTech in New York, Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings announced a strategic alliance to measure consumer behavior on the Web: Nielsen NetRatings.

• Smart Devices To Outsell Home PCs By 2001 (Reuters) Growing popularity for devices that free users from desktop computers means that by 2001 these smart appliances will outsell consumer desktop PCs in the United States. The hottest items in this market are Internet-smart hand- held devices like 3Com Corp.'s Palm Pilots and devices running on Microsoft Windows CE software

   Multimedia content and tools

• Cable titans say content is king - even on the Net (ZDNet News) Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone and Time Warner Vice Chairman Ted Turner may have their differences, but they agree about the Internet. Speaking at the PricewaterhouseCoopers/Business Week forum, the two media giants said that what matters is content -- not where that content is viewed.

• Can You Charge for Online Content? (ZDNet News) Recent consumer research by Jupiter Communications indicates people will not pay for content which appeals to a mass audience. However they will ante up for niche information.

• Microsoft unveils new names for software packages (NandoNet) Microsoft has christened the next version of Windows NT, its operating software for business computers, with a new name: Windows 2000.

   Portals, browsers and search engines

• When.com plans calendar launch (CNET News.com) Internet start-up When.com is expected to launch its new calendar service next month, yet questions remain whether it will join forces with one of the portal heavy hitters.

• Yahoo! browses for more acquisitions (Reuters) Internet navigation company Yahoo! Inc. said Monday it had $450 million in cash to make more acquisitions and partnership deals to retain its leadership position in the Net directory business.

   Security and encryption

• Dial-A-Strength Crypto on a Chip ( Wired) In a development that could break a longstanding deadlock between Silicon Valley and the Clinton administration, Hewlett-Packard and Wave Systems on Tuesday will announce a new hardware system. It's designed to administer encryption policies on PCs anywhere in the world.

• MSN.com Suffers Password Glitch (TechWeb) An unusual password prompt on the home page of Microsoft's MSN.com website raised concerns among users that an unauthorized Trojan-horse program was stealing passwords. The problem was not an external threat, but an internal glitch.

   Standards

• ICE group releases spec for content exchange, syndication (InfoWorld Electric) The ICE Authoring Group and Advisory Council on Tuesday released the ICE (Information and Content Exchange) specification, Version 1.0. The ICE 1.0 specification is intended to streamline the exchange of content across the Internet and enable the syndication of such information between companies in business-to-business exchanges. see also TechWeb

• Standard may speed ADSL adoption (MSNBC) A high-speed standard for accessing the Internet over today’s copper telephone lines passed a critical test Thursday when the International Telecommunications Union gave it the technical thumbs up. The soon-to-be standard, called G.Lite, simplifies installing necessary hardware and connecting to the Internet via a technology known as asymmetric digital subscriber line, or ADSL. Most G.Lite services offer connection speeds of up to 1.5Mbps — about 30 times that of today’s fastest modems.

   Statistics

• China to top Asian Net use by 2001 (Reuters) China will have more Internet users than any other Asian country by 2001, excluding Japan, according to a new study. China's user population will reach about 9.4 million by 2002, up from 1.4 million in 1997, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). By 2001 the country is expected to have the largest Internet user base in the region, surpassing Australia, which is expected to have about 5.8 million users by 2002.

• EITO analysts expect 8% increase in Western Europe (Press Release) Growth in the European market for information technology and telecommunications (ICT) should be 8.3% by the end of 1998. These industries of the future are expected to achieve a turnover of 385 billion Ecu this year in hardware, software and services in Europe as a whole. In 1999, turnover should reach 416 billion Ecu. This represents a further increase of 7.9%. The forecast comes from the latest study of the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO)

• Over 1 Million Belgians Have Surfed the Web (NUA) 1.32 million Belgians, 15.9 percent of the population, connected to the Internet in the first six months of 1998, according to a study conducted by Initiative Media Brussels.

• Study Profiles Spanish Internet User (NUA) Almost 2.25 million Spaniards, 6.6 percent of the population, have Internet access, according to a study by the Spanish Internet Users Association, AUI. It predicts that the number will rise to 8.74 million by 2001. The study found that the typical Internet user in Spain is male, 78 percent, under 37 years old, 80 percent, with a third level qualification, 70 percent, and a high-income level. Over 94 percent of those surveyed access the Internet to surf the Web and to send email.

   Technology

• An end to the ad wait? (MSNBC) New technologies may allow for 'rich' banner ads, delivered fast. New York City plays host this week to AdTech, a conference of the Internet advertising industry, and center stage will be attempts to improve how fast online ads can be delivered to consumers. On Monday, IBM is expected to introduce a technology called Hot Media, which will allow 3D rotation of an object within an ad. Another company at AdTech, Narrative Communications, will give the first public demonstration of a new version of its Enliven software, a Java-based technology that lets people do things like take a quiz or play a game right in an ad banner.

• Buyers get a peek at paperless book (Wall Street Journal) A group of major book companies have agreed to provide texts for one of the country’s first electronic books. The Rocket eBook was created by NuvoMedia, whose investors include a unit of media giant Bertelsmann and Barnes & Noble. Other companies are racing to launch rival electronic-book formats, but NuvoMedia is the first to announce a list of publishers, hundreds of book selections, and to conduct a public demonstration.

• Digital Cameras Harness Chip Technology to Do the Job of Film (New York Times (registration required)) Once considered an engineering folly in a world of film and video cameras, digital still cameras have become a booming industry in the last decade. [with illustrations]

   Telecommunications

• Bertelsmann Unveils IP Telephony (IDG) Media giant Bertelsmann Tuesday launched its long-awaited Internet telephony service for the German market. It is offering a telephone service over ISDN lines, where consumers are charged on a call-by-call basis, and is also beta-testing a multimedia messaging service that sends different forms of data via the Internet. But the big price advantages that usually come with voice-over-IP will only come if there are regulatory changes in Germany, due to the high interconnection fees which ISPs have to pay to lease transmission lines from Deutsche Telekom. see also OTS.

• Wireless Alliance Prepares to Oppose Microsoft (New York Times (registration required)) Cementing an alliance intended to block the Microsoft Corporation from dominating new consumer communications markets, Motorola Inc. said yesterday that it had completed an investment in a European joint venture, known as Symbian, that is developing an operating system for a future generation of digital wireless phones.

• Wireless Duels in China (Reuters) Qualcomm, the San Diego-based telecommunications firm, is lobbying Beijing to adopt a US cellular standard in an effort to take market share from entrenched European mobile phone companies.

• Italy - Scramble to appoint Telecom Italia CEO this week (Bloomberg News) Telecom Italia SpA, Italy's former telephone monopoly, aims to find a chief executive within a week, an official said, after executive chairman Gian Mario Rossignolo resigned, ending a 10-month tenure marred by mishaps.

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