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TechnologyDaily Mobile
The Rough Road To A Global Internet
by William New
Three years into its existence, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) faces some daunting tasks, not the least of which is how to make the Roman characters used in Internet addresses convertible to other types of languages.
Internet users who use non-Roman characters, such as those in Arabic or some Asian alphabets, have no way to search standard Web addresses in their own languages. This obstacle has slowed adoption of the Internet in some countries, industry sources say.
On Thursday, the ICANN board is expected to name about a dozen members to a committee to address the international domain-name issue and craft recommendations by the board's meeting next June, according to Masanobu Katoh, committee chairman. The committee will have a wide base, with representatives from the board, ICANN supporting organizations, ICANN's government advisory committee and individual countries.
One snag in the internationalization process has been the failure of the Internet Engineering Task Force to come to consensus on standards for translating Web names and addresses. Officials hope the group will reach agreement at its December meeting in Salt Lake City.
The fact that alternate root servers not sanctioned by ICANN already are offering translated names in China and some Arab countries injects urgency into the situation. Many countries link their identity with domain names and insist that they be in their own language, Katoh said.
Nations Seek Comments On FTAA
The 34 nations of the Western Hemisphere discussing a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) have issued a call for comments on the negotiation, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The call stems from the non-negotiating, government-only FTAA Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society.
While comments on the process may be submitted anytime, they must be in by May 1 in order to be included in recommendations to trade ministers at their next meeting. That FTAA ministerial will be held in October 2002 in Quito, Ecuador. Negotiators aim to complete the agreement in 2005, thereby creating the world's largest free-trade area, with some 800 million people.
United States Biggest Giver Of Trade Aid
USTR also announced the release of a report by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on initiatives to bolster trade-related capacity in developing countries. The report shows that the United States is devoting $555 million in aid this year to develop trade-related areas, more than any other country.
Trade-related development includes ways to ease trade flows, human resources, labor standards and infrastructure. The USAID report was announced at the outset of the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, where many developing countries showed skepticism about the launch of a new round of free-trade talks.
Europe Looks At Electromagnetic Exposure Limits
The European Telecommunications Network Operators Association last week issued a statement warning that decisions about exposure limits to national electromagnetic fields should not be politicized.
The statement was aimed at the European Union Council of Health Ministers meeting in Brussels on Nov. 15, at which the European Commission will present a report on electromagnetic fields. The European Union had requested that the independent Scientific Steering Committee author the report, which is not expected to result in dramatic findings on the potentially negative health impact of mobile-phone usage.
In other European news, a new directive of the European Patent Office has alarmed an open-source software coalition called EuroLinux Alliance for a Free Information Infrastructure. The group says the directive would extend European patent practice to software, business methods such as Amazon.com's patent on one-click shopping, and mathematics.
The decision preempts a pending EU vote on a directive on whether software can be patented, the coalition said.
According to EuroLinux, the decision would violate European democratic principles, the stated wish of European governments to exempt computer programs from tighter control, and an article of the European Patent Convention that says only the Enlarged Board of Appeal may make decisions on significant patent policy issues.
The open-source group called on European governments to state their opposition to the action.
Spam On The Run In Japan
The Japanese Democratic Party is preparing to introduce a bill into the Diet that would ban mass, unsolicited e-mail of commercial advertisements to users who have not given their consent to receive such "spam," according to Kenji Kosaka, senior vice minister for telecommunications issues. According to the Consumer Law News Network, the bill would establish criminal penalties for offenders.
Meanwhile, Kosaka told reporters at the ICANN meeting in Marina del Rey, Calif., this week that NTT DoCoMo, Japan's dominant wireless company, is acting to block the flood of spam hitting users of its i-mode mobile service. The blocking is expected to begin by the end of the month, once the Japanese government grants permission, Asahi reports.
Because the law prohibits the company from reading messages, NTT DoCoMo's technology will check for large mailings from single senders, especially if the mailings contain many non-existent addresses.
Telecom News Around The Globe
Representatives of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) met last week in Sydney, Australia, with officials from the world's top radio and telecom standards organizations.
The Global Standards Collaboration and the Radio Communications Industry Forum conducted the meeting, at which officials also agreed to consider addressing high-speed mobile communications for public safety and emergency services provided by the newly established Project Mobility for Emergency and Safety Applications (MESA), a partnership between TIA and European Telecommunications Standardization Institute.
In other telecom news, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans has announced his support for a new wireless partnership between Qualcomm and the Romanian government.
The deal, unveiled after Evans' recent meeting with Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, would allow the U.S. company to standardize and implement the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless technology in Romania. The CDMA network will be launched by domestic wireless provider Telemobil in 18 Romanian cities and in the area of major highways, with further expansion in the future.
Lucent Technologies will provide the CDMA equipment for the first phase of the network.
Dates To Watch
On Nov. 19-20, officials at a conference in Strasbourg, France, will attempt to reach agreement on the basis for a European policy for applying new information technologies to culture and education. The conference, which will involve the heads of the Council of Europe and the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, will complete a project launched in 1999.
The project seeks to provide for culture in the information society, foster public access and freedom of expression in cultural institutions and encourage diversity and globalization, among other things, according to the Council of Europe.
Meanwhile, the Software and Information Industry Association and the U.S. Information Office in Beijing are organizing an e-commerce and IT trade mission to Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai in China from Dec. 3-13. Participants will include IT firms that offer products and services that help companies develop e-commerce, and that offer software, Internet, wireless and telecom technologies.
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