-Caveat Lector- ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- POLICY.COM POLICY UPDATE Week of August 23, 1999, Volume 2.54 http://www.policy.com/ In this Issue: + Issue of the Week - The Internet Society + Special Report - Campaign 2000 + Daily Briefing Wrap-Up + This Week's Issues Library Updates ******************** PARTNER MESSAGE ********************* * * * Do you always have too much to read and too little time? * * Are you always one day behind the latest news? * * * * You don't have to be. * * * * Sign up for the VoxCap Reader * * and let us bring the Web to you. * * VoxCap.com scours the Web in search of * * the essential news and commentary for * * the in-the-know citizen. * * Visit VoxCap.com: * * http://www.voxcap.com * * * ************************************************************ ____________________________________________________________ I s s u e o f t h e W e e k THE INTERNET SOCIETY The challenges facing Internet society range from forming cohesive communities as Internet traffic explodes to determining privacy rights in an increasingly commercial World Wide Web. Policy.com outlines ten defining characteristics of the Internet that shape electronic culture, and weighs the pros and cons of each. http://www.policy.com/issuewk/ After Aug. 29, this Issue of the Week moves to Policy.com's IW Archive at http://www.policy.com/issuewk/issuewkarc.html. ____________________________________________________________ S p e c i a l R e p o r t s CAMPAIGN 2000 Lamar Alexander's announcement this week to withdraw from the race for the White House makes him the second Republican candidate to drop out even before the first primary is held in 2000. Get a hold of the issues and the candidates here as the upcoming election is one of the most important in years. For complete and continuously updated coverage of Campaign 2000 -- the candidates, the issues and the latest results from all of major polls -- visit Policy.com's exclusive Special Report: Campaign 2000. http://www.policy.com/issuewk/1999/0719_84/index.html Your Chance to Weigh In! -- Join our interactive bulletin board. http://207.87.1.174/cgi-bin/podium/show?PIPSERV=0&ROOT=71&MSG=71&T=index Other Special Reports: Why NATO? Why Kosovo? Why Now? http://www.policy.com/issuewk/1999/0420_69/Intro69.html U.S. vs. Microsoft http://www.policy.com/reports/dojvsms Social Security at the Crossroads http://www.policy.com/issuewk/1999/0306_60/index.html ____________________________________________________________ D a i l y B r i e f i n g Each weekday, the Policy.com Daily Briefing provides a concise policy analysis of a major item in the news. Today's Daily Briefing: America the Violent? http://www.policy.com/news/dbrief/ Last week's Daily Briefings: 8/20/99: "U.S. Trade Deficit Hits New Record" The Commerce Department released the figures for the June U.S. trade balance, revealing a record $24.6 billion one-month goods-and-services deficit. The first six months of 1999 put the country on track for a total 199 deficit of $236, up 43 percent from last year. Economists trace the deficit to the relatively healthy U.S. economy. But while many say the deficit is a misunderstood boon for Americans, others say it shows that American workers are getting a raw deal. http://www.policy.com/news/dbrief/dbriefarc310.asp 8/19/99: "Earthquakes: The Sudden Killer" Tuesday's massive earthquake in western Turkey has left more than 6,866 dead and more than 33,000 injured with at least 35,000 still missing. The quake has also left the heavily populated area east of Istanbul in a shambles, with many bridges and buildings destroyed or rendered unusable and the country's largest refinery in flames. The international community has responded with an outpouring of support, sending donations of cash and supplies, as well as search- and-rescue teams. http://www.policy.com/news/dbrief/dbriefarc309.asp 8/18/99: "PSAs to Fight Youth Violence" A new series of television public service announcements debuts tonight, encouraging parents and children to discuss school violence. That goal comes in response to the public perception that poor parenting may have contributed to April's shooting in Littleton, Colo. The ads are privately sponsored, but have the blessing of -- and feature a soundbite from -- President Clinton. http://www.policy.com/news/dbrief/dbriefarc308.asp 8/17/99: "Report Shows Record U.S. Prison Population" A new Justice Department report shows that the U.S. prison population hit a record high of more than 1.9 million last year -- despite reductions in crime rates in recent years. Some say this is evidence that laws imposing strict sentences on repeat offenders are working to reduce crime. Others say the still-rising prison population demonstrates the injustice of strict sentencing laws, noting that only Russia has a higher percentage of its citizens imprisoned. http://www.policy.com/news/dbrief/dbriefarc307.asp 8/16/99: "America the Violent?" White supremacist Buford O. Furrow, charged with shooting five in a Jewish community center outside Los Angeles last week, has intensified the national debate on how to combat hate crimes and gun violence. Legislation is in the works in Congress, but some argue that laws alone will not heal deeper societal rifts that cause violence. http://www.policy.com/news/dbrief/dbriefarc306.asp ____________________________________________________________ P o l i c y N e w s s t a n d Visit Policy.com's Policy Newsstand for timely, concise summaries of the nation's leading policy journals. Featured in the Newsstand are recent reviews of Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly and Columbia Journalism Review. http://www.policy.com/newsstand/ ____________________________________________________________ I s s u e s L i b r a r y U p d a t e s Visit the Policy.com Issues Library at http://www.policy.com/issues/ for comprehensive information on more than 300 issue areas. Recently updated areas of the Issues Library include: COMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY --> Bandwidth; Censorship; Electronic Commerce; Encryption; FCC; IT and Society Legislation; Privacy; Telecommunications; Values and the Media http://www.policy.com/category/category19.html CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES --> Censorship http://www.policy.com/issues/issue130.html CRIME --> Drugs; Gangs and Community Violence; Juvenile Justice; Legislation; Penal Code; Prison Reform http://www.policy.com/category/category9.html EDUCATION --> Quality and Safety http://www.policy.com/issues/issue172.html ENVIRONMENT --> Conservation; Policy and Regulation http://www.policy.com/category/category14.html FOREIGN AFFAIRS --> Europe; Foreign Aid; Middle East http://www.policy.com/category/category15.html SOCIETY & VALUES --> Civil Society; Domestic Issues; Values and the Media http://www.policy.com/category/category24.html TRADE --> Free Trade; Trade Deficit http://www.policy.com/category/category27.html ------------------------------------------------------------ Among the abstracts added to the Issues Library last week: ------------------------------------------------------------ "Trade Deficit Not a Threat to America" -ECONOMIC STRATEGY INSTITUTE July 20, 1999: Clyde V. Prestowitz of the Economic Strategy Institute contends that "any public hysteria over the rising U.S. trade deficit is unwarranted." Prestowitz says that "structural trade barriers created by mercantilist policies and anti-competitive practices in a number of important economies" are a more important problem than the cyclical increase in the trade deficit. Prestowitz attributes most of the deficit to the Asian financial crisis, saying that the American economy has experienced an increased deficit as "the sole market able to absorb increased worldwide production." "Rather than focus on the trade deficit, the United States should attack unfair trade practices that are commonplace around the globe," ESI says. http://www.econstrat.org/prdeficit.htm "Justice Revised Draft Bill on Cyberspace Electronic Security Act" -U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE August 20, 1999: The Justice Department is planning to ask Congress for new authority allowing federal agents armed with search warrants to secretly break into homes and offices to obtain decryption keys or passwords or to implant "recovery devices" or otherwise modify computers to ensure that any encrypted messages or files can be read by the government. http://www.cdt.org/crypto/CESA/ "Broadband: A Grand Slam Strategy for Bridging the Digital Divide" -CITIZENS FOR A SOUND ECONOMY July 14, 1999: Citizens for Sound Economy examines ways to close the "digital divide." The gap in Internet access "was not created by a lack of available technology, or by a physical inability to provide these services, or even by a failure on the part of corporations to enter new markets," but rather by excessive telecommunications regulations, CSE claims. According to CSE, policymakers shoud open telecommunications markets to more competition and refrain from "over regulating new products and services." CSE speculates that "competition and innovation will lower costs and increase availability of the Internet for all consumers." http://135.145.55.74/cse/tech-background071499.htm "NCAC Letter to Vice President Al Gore About Internet Censorship" -NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST CENSORSHIP June 16, 1999: Joan E. Bertin of the National Coalition Against Censorship writes to Vice-President Gore to protest his support for a "Parents' Protection Page." The "Parents' Protection Page," which would include "tools to block, filter, and monitor their children's Internet activities" is an oversimplified solution to a complex problem, Bertin contends. Further, Bertin argues that filtering software is plagued by a litany of deficiencies. "Such devices are over and under-inclusive, employ subjective judgments, exclude a great deal of useful information, and often conceal both the criteria for blocking and information about what material is blocked," she says. Bertin argues that parents should "instruct children in personal safety online" rather than "spying" on them. http://www.ncac.org/algoreletter.html "Is Reliance on the AP Draining the Life from Online News?" -ONLINE JOURNALISM REVIEW May 20, 1999: Matt Welch writes for the Online Journalism Review that even top-flight news Web sites are depending on wire services to fill the gaps between 24-hour news cycles. TV networks and search engines include batches of Associated Press and Reuters stories as a basic commodity-style offering. As two or three wire services emerge as dominant content providers to news organizations that don't want to spend money on news bureaus and travel, Internet readers are cheated out of different, more lively versions of events. http://www.ojr.org/indexf.htm?/sections/features/99_stories/stories_ap_052 099.htm "Reinventing Parole and Probation" -BROOKINGS INSTITUTION April 1, 1997: John J. DiIulio Jr. of the Brookings Institution makes the case for probation in the Brookings Review. DiIulio criticizes both the "brain-dead law-and-order right" and "soft-in-the-head anti- incarceration left," arguing that crime policy should focus on reforming parole and probation. Current parole and probation systems are "failing to protect the public," DiIulio notes. The United States must invest more heavily in probation programs through "more money, more agents, and closer supervision," DiIulio argues. http://www.brook.edu/pub/review/spring97/parole.htm "America's One Million Nonviolent Prisoners" -CENTER ON JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE August 16, 1999: Vincent Schiraldi, Jason Ziedenberg and John Irwin of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice argue that the majority of people being sent to prison are nonviolent offenders, incarcerated under "harsh mandatory sentencing schemes which were ostensibly aimed at the worst of the worse." The authors contend that "77% of the growth in intake to America's state and federal prisons between 1978 and 1996 was accounted for by nonviolent offenders." The authors argue for the abolition of mandatory-sentencing laws. http://www.cjcj.org/jpi/onemillion.html "Fairfax USAR Team Deploys to Turkey" -FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA. August 17, 1999: The Fairfax County, Va., Fire and Rescue Department announces that the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team has been deployed to Turkey to assist in search-and-rescue operations. The squad consists of "urban search and rescue technicians, cave-in experts, canine teams, physicians, paramedics, logisticians, and command and control personnel," and will have 56,000 pounds of specialized equipment on hand, the department says. The department notes that the team "is one of only two urban search and rescue task forces in the United States trained and authorized for overseas deployment." http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/ps/fr/NEWS/99-60.htm "America's Maligned and Misunderstood Trade Deficit" -CATO INSTITUTE April 20, 1998: Daniel T. Griswold of the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies writes that the U.S. trade deficit is not due to other countries' unfair trade practices or declining industrial competitiveness. Instead, he says, it reflects the international flow of capital, which is determined by national savings and investment rates, and that trade deficits do not harm American industry or cost American jobs. Griswold states that the nature of the trade deficit makes it unaffected by trade policy decisions, and that more restrictive trade policies would only harm American consumers and businesses. http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/pas/tpa-002.html "Two-way Trade vs. One-way Trade" -ECONOMIC STRATEGY INSTITUTE March 19, 1999: Lawrence Chimerine of the Economic Strategy Institute writes in the Journal of Commerce that many U.S. trading partners structure their trade policy to generate export-led economic growth, while limiting imports from the U.S. Chimerine argues that this is the source of the persistent U.S. trade deficit, and that it harms American workers and businesses. Chimerine states that such trade regimes reduce or eliminate the benefits of free trade, and that U.S. policy should seek to counter this trend. http://www.econstrat.org/joctwovone.htm "Saving Species or Saving Face?" -COMPETITIVE ENTERPIRSE INSTITUTE June 30, 1998: Ike C. Sugg of the Competitive Enterprise Institute criticizes the Endangered Species Act, arguing that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's claims that the act is working are false. Of the 34 species Babbit claims the ESA has saved, Sugg notes that the majority went extinct, are ineligible for de-listing or were not in trouble to begin with. Twelve of the species would never have been listed in the first place but for "data errors," Sugg claims. Of the other remaining success stories, Sugg argues that their recoveries were caused by other factors such as the discontinued use of DDT or habitat purchases, not the Endangered Species Act itself. http://www.cei.org/OnPointReader.asp?ID=40 "The Endangered Species Act: Myth vs. Reality" -NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION January 1, 1997: The National Wildlife Federation refutes several commonly held beliefs about the Endangered Species Act. The ESA has been largely successful, the federation says. Furthermore, the ESA explicitly requires balancing of environmental and economic concerns, it states. NWF adds that the ESA is neither unconstitutionally taking away private property, nor is it causing "economic disaster." "When you look behind the myths, the facts speak clearly: The ESA is a successful, balanced, and critically important law which must be maintained or strengthened," NWF concludes. http://www.nwf.org/endangered/species/a7esamyt.html "The Too-Much Information Age?" -THE INDUSTRY STANDARD September 15, 1998 : The average office worker receives over 160 messages a day, including e-mail, faxes, voice mail and standard mail, according to an international report by Pitney Bowes and the Institute for the Future. U.S. workers receive on average 190 messages per day, while workers in the U.K. are also are barraged with information, receiving around 169 messages per day, according to the report, entitled "Managing Communications in the 21st Century Workplace." Many people in large corporations surveyed said their days were getting longer and longer in order to process all of the information coming at them, a spokesperson for the report said. http://thestandard.com/articles/display/0,1449,1699,00.html "Are You Who You Say You Are?" -INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA March 31, 1999: Web retailers have their work cut out for them if they want to get more shoppers clicking on buy buttons. A survey, conducted by the Information Technology Association of America <http://www.itaa.org/> and Ernst & Young, finds that while the surrender of personal data worries would-be customers, knowing who is receiving the data is also a concern. http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/18866.html "Using the Internet to Shape an Informed Electorate" -CALIFORNIA VOTER FOUNDATION July 11, 1996: Kim Alexander of the California Voter Foundation writes that "the Internet can play a fundamental role in providing the tools citizens need to begin reclaiming government and make it more responsive, effective and efficient." The Internet can be a valuable resource for individuals to obtain information on candidates and issues, and electronic filing can improve access to campaign contribution records, Alexander says. http://www.calvoter.org/cvf/publications/cpsr071196.html ____________________________________________________________ We welcome your comments and suggestions at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thanks, and enjoy, The Policy.com Staff Policy.com - A VoxCap.com Network Site ____________________________________________________________ S u b s c r i p t i o n I n f o r m a t i o n This e-mail is in response to your subscription to the Policy.com PC Update. Thank you for subscribing. PC Update is typically sent out Monday or Tuesday of each week. If this edition of PC Update was forwarded to you by someone and you would like to SUBSCRIBE to our email update for FREE, please go to: http://www.policy.com/pupdate.html. 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