E-Commerce
     New York Gov. George Pataki has unveiled a Web site that offers free information on sexual predators through the State Division of Criminal Justice. The service allows the public to access the information on "high-risk" sex offenders as soon as the state enters the data into its system. "Now, New Yorkers will have quick and easy access to this vital information in order to make informed, responsible decisions about the safety of their children," Pataki said in a statement. New York also offers the information via phone, but that service costs 50 cents per call for up to five searches, a reduction announced last week from the previous $5 per call. Currently, all 50 states require sex offender registration and community notification. Of the states, 21 have posted some part of their sex offender registries online.

Privacy
     In international consultancy KPMG's latest "e-commerce update" newsletter, U.S. Reps. Asa Hutchison, R-AR, and Jim Moran, D-VA, pen a piece on why they have proposed legislation to create a 17-member privacy commission. The commission would address concerns over health records, online shopping and government identification numbers by proposing a "coordinated, structured approach to protecting the privacy of all Americans." The lawmakers write that as more information is being shared over the Internet, they are seeing an increasing number of privacy protection initiatives occurring at the state level and the international level. "This patchwork of different ideas and policies has resulted in a variety of privacy standards that further confuse the issue." The commission would study the issues for a maximum of 18 months and then present its findings to Congress. Hutchison and Moran acknowledge other legislative proposals currently in play that address privacy, but say that H.R. 4049 "is the only bill that examines privacy from a comprehensive standpoint." Additionally, the bill includes a measure that says the commission will host a series of local summits through the United States, providing an opportunity for states and localities to offer their input into the privacy issue.

Broadband
     Reps. Billy Tauzin, R-LA, and John Dingell, D-MI, have garnered more than 200 sponsors for their H.R. 2420, the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act, that is scheduled to be addressed during this week's hearing on broadband technologies in the House Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommitteee. The legislation, if passed, would lift some of the restrictions on local phone companies that prevent them from carrying data traffic across long-distance boundaries within their regions. The United States Telecom Association, which represents small, medium and large telecom firms, said: "This bill puts local phone companies of all size on an equal footing with cable companies and other competitors in providing advanced services."

     Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes and BellSouth unveiled a major initiative last week to build a broadband infrastructure throughout the state in an effort to deliver high-speed Internet access to consumers in rural Georgia, and all of the state's 1,800 K-12 schools. According to BellSouth, this project is the largest statewide deployment of broadband capability in the United States. "By creating a powerful incentive for BellSouth and other businesses to invest in rural areas, we will turn a digital divide into a digital opportunity," Barnes said in a statement.

     Meanwhile, Maryland's lieutenant governor, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, this week kicked off "Laurel On-line," a new educational pilot program that the state is monitoring to determine new curriculum and policy for Maryland's educational system. Ten schools throughout the City of Laurel will receive 500 computers equipped with technology developed to allow parents to download homework, daily lesson plans and communicate directly with teachers and school administrators. Cisco, Enterasys, Dell, Microsoft, Tech4 Kids, Apple and the University of Maryland are involved with project.

     The Schools and Libraries Division of the Universal Service Administrative Co. handed down last week its sixth wave of approval letters, doling out more than $117 million in discounts to needy schools and libraries. The e-rate, officially known as the Universal Service Fund for Schools and Libraries, provides discounts ranging from 20 percent to 90 percent to all K-12 public and private schools and all public libraries on three types of services - telecommunications, Internet access and internal connections. In this latest round of commitments, more than 77 percent of discounts, or $90.6 million, will go to needier schools and libraries, which is defined as those where 50 percent of more of the children in the community quality for free lunches.

     SchoolNet, a New York Internet firm, has hired public relations firm Widmeyer-Baker Group to provide advice, promote their missions, products and services. SchoolNet offers software technology that the company says "calls for increased accountability" in school districts. Another Widmeyer-Baker client is the Web-based Education Commission, a 16-member panel chaired by Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-NE, with Rep. Johnny Isakson, R-GA, as the vice chair. Over the next year, the commissoin plans to conduct a series of hearings on opportunities and obstacles of using the Internet for education.
- by Sharon McLoone