Universal access to online services: An examination of the issue

Telecommunications Policy

Volumn 21, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 15-33

  Compaine, Benjamin M ^a   Weinraub, Mitchell J ^a  

^a TEMPLE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

INFORMATION SERVICES; LAWS AND LEGISLATION; ONLINE SEARCHING; ONLINE SYSTEMS; PUBLIC POLICY;

INFORMATION ACCESS; INFORMATION GAPS; UNIVERSAL ACCESS POLICY; UNIVERSAL TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES;

TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES;

EID: 0031074044     PISSN: 03085961     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/s0308-5961(96)00062-6     Document Type: Article

References (74)

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2. Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1996 US Bureau of the Census, Table 897.
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4. 47 US Code Sec 254 (b)(2).
5. Both Noam and Mueller, among others, indeed make proposals that respond to these questions.
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12. Ibid.
13. Op cit Ref 8.
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20. Ibid, p. 48.
21. The actual number is hard to pin down. The largest, America Online, claimed 6 million in September 1996. CompuServe may have had 3 million, Prodigy 1 million. The number of users of the World Wide Web, though the subject of surveys by AC Neilsen and others, may be 10 to 20 million world wide, depending on how the question is asked. What is not disputed is that based on subscriptions to Interest Service Providers, domain registrations, servers connected and 'hits' on server pages, the use of electronic information services was growing dramatically in 1996.
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25. Ibid, p. 95.
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40. Ibid, p. 172.
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51. Ibid.
52. Berendt, A 'Universal service: what is it, and how?' Intermedia 1995 23(2) 42. There is a certain paradox in the EC's position, as its members have long maintained the tight controls over the stateowned telephone and postal monopolies, charging rates for access and service far higher than in the United States. Broadcasting has also been controlled by the governments, offering far less choice in programming than in the US as well.
53. Browning, J 'Universal access (an idea whose time has passed)' Wired 1994 2(09). At http://www.hotwired.com/wired/ 2.09/features/universal.access.html
54. Ibid.
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56. Compaine, BM 'Information gaps: myth or reality' in Benjamin M and Compaine B (eds) Issues in New Information Technology Ablex, Norwood, NJ (1988) p. 187.
57. Ibid.
58. Sutherland, E 'Minitel - the resistible rise of French videotex'. At http://www.bf. rmit.edu.au/~ewan/minitel/conclusion.html
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60. Ibid.
61. Op cit Ref 53.
62. Metcalfe, B 'Beware of mandated access for solving the problem of information have-nots' Infoworld 1995 17(20) 49 ABI/ Inform Abstracts.
63. Op cit Ref 39, p. 189.
64. Op cit Ref 53.
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67. Op cit Ref 53.
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74. See Freemark Communications at http:/ /wwwfremarkcom and Juno at http:// wwwjunocom