The telecommunication network became sophisticated at last, but the Telecom's monopoly seems to slow development in prices and services. Will its end in 2002 bring the desired changes? The telephonisation index (number of links per 100 residents) shows the CR (31.8 link) still lag behind the EU standard (51.7 link).

Australia's Internet Industry Association (IIA) - a body that represents ISPs, Web content providers and others in the Australian online sector - tossed its institutional hat into the air after last week's passage of the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Bill 1999 through the Australian Parliament.

"To be truly effective, government policies would have to be implemented through international and intergovernmental action while having the flexibility to adapt to the dynamic nature of the internet. Yet the very nature of government bureaucracies limits their ability to co-ordinate on a global basis. his is not to say that governments do not have an important role to play in online security. The most effective contribution governments can make is to work alongside industry and facilitate open and earnest information-sharing." Article by Vint Cerf and John Patrick.

The always-present question was: "And how much would it cost to have this?". It was very gratifying to be able to answer "cero pence!" In the cases where the people understood the free software concept, we expanded a little more on philosophical issues, such as, "But the fact that the software is gratis is not the most important part, because you also lower your training costs (which become smaller) and administration costs (which is easier). You also get the opportunity to become independent from the tyrannical commercial environment, etc...".

Muslim insurgents battling Philippine troops in the south have a new weapon. When the shelling and gunfire let up, they send a barrage of scathing insults to Manila's forces by cell phone. The popularity of the practice puts the Philippines at the forefront of wireless Internet usage, well ahead of much richer countries. Already, people can use their phones to send text messages to computers, and vice versa.

The wording in a recent Council of Europe document may sound like boring legalese, but it could have profound implications for civil liberties around the world. A "Party" is any country that signs the International Convention on Crime in Cyberspace - let's call it IC3. The first draft was published for public comment in April by the Council of Europe, an independent group of 41 countries that focuses on social and legal issues.

Women earn 76.5 cents on the dollar compared to men. That's an increase of 0.2 cent from 1998 and a 14-cent increase since the government started keeping track in 1979. But in advertising, female CEO's average an annual salary of $275,000, compared to $253,100 for men. Female physicists earn $65,208, about $400 more than their male counterparts. In occupational therapy, women make an average of $39,312 -- $7,384 more than male occupational therapists.