A new report by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) provides good guidance for governments around the world on the hands-off approach to the Internet the commisssion recommends should be followed for future growth.

The paper notes that one-third of US households are Internet users and for an average of $20 a month gets good value for the buck.

Among the initiatives cited by the FCC is "exempting enhanced service providers (read `Internet providers') from the access charges paid by interexchange carriers (read `regular telecommunications providers'), helping drive the availability of inexpensive dial-up Internet access.'' The FCC warns against Govenrment's tendency to "automatically impose legacy regulations on new technologies''. It advises "When Internet-based services replace traditional legacy services, begin to deregulate the old instead of regulate the new''.

The tendency to regulate is always a danger as Government attempts to figure out where this technology is taking business and civic society. The FCC also cautions that a watchful eye must also be kept to ensure anti-competitive behaviour doesn't develop. We've seen that trend in the Bermuda market for sure.

One interesting comparison is between the US and the European approach. The US has an estimated 6,000 Internet service providers (ISPs). About 95 percent of Americans have access to at least four local ISPs through a non-metered telephone call.

In the UK, ISPs usual offer a flat rate for monthly service, but end users also pay a per-minute charge to telephone providers making the Internet relatively expensive. Users are conscious the meter is ticking.

In the UK, a leased line can cost $64,000 a year for a one megabit per second line. In the US the same line costs thousands of dollars less. The result is UK consumers use the Internet much less than US consumers, in the end holding back the development of what's becoming the single most important communications tool.

While there's a certain amount of back slapping in the FCC's paper, it presents a clear and concise map of the organisation's outlook. Grab tThe FCC and the Unregulation of the Internetv at www.fcc.gov/opp/workingp.html.

Four new services on the Internet plan to store your e-mail, manage your appointments, keep your address book and handle your faxes and voice mail.

Messageclick.com, onebox.com, telebot.com, and uReach.com each assign you a toll-free or local number in the US that friends, family and business contacts can use to send voice mail and faxes. If they want they can also send you an e-mail.

The subscriber then downloads the messages in a particular file format through the Internet then listens to the voice mail or reads the fax. As these are free services you have to put up with advertising, and of course the knowledge that someone, somewhere could know your business.

Scare of the week: Because of uncertainty of airport readiness for the Year 2000 computer problem Japan's largest travel agency has decided not to book any customers on airline flights from evening December 31, 1999 and in the morning of January 1.

The decision affects flights from Japan to Australia or New Zealand. The company said the move could cost it $12.7 million based on 6,000 customers during the same period last year. Virgin Atlantic, LOT Polish Airlines, Vietnam Airlines and a few regional British airlines have said their planes will be grounded for the two days.

Australia's Qantas has ordered top executives not to fly on the dates, while China has ordered airline executives to be in the air. Personally I like China's decision, however heavy handed. I won't be flying Qantas. Meanwhile the Concorde will be flying high-paying travellers to catch Year 2000 twice. A tour operator has hired one of Air France's Concords and is charging $10,000 to those who want to celebrate the New Year in Paris, then hop on its plane and streak across to New York at 1,400 mph.

Travellers will arrive in New York at 10 p.m. December 31, get on private helicopters for the trip to Times Square for another celebration. Me? I'd rather spend the evening on the ground, on a beach. No fuss, no bother.

Message of the week: Bang & Olufsen Beotalk 1100 will be the bane of all those technophobes who hate to leave a message on an answering machine. The machine allows you to leave as many as four outgoing messages and lets you programme it to decide which incoming telephone numbers should hear a particular greeting.

The Beotalk will also reject callers, and gives the date and time for the most recent 50 incoming calls. It's available in the US for about $150. Go to www.bang-olufsen.com for information.

A recent article in Bloomberg magazine on hackers gave me pause for thought.

It seems after Citibank's computer systems were broken into by hacker-thief Vladimir Levin many banks have now gone mum on the whole issue.

They're afraid of a loss of confidence in the industry and so won't reveal when hackers break through their systems. Mr. Levin switched about $10 million from Citibank accounts around the world into other banks. Mr. Levin was eventually caught and Citibank recovered all but $400,000.

After the publicity, about 20 of the bank's top accounts reportedly switched to competing banks, according to Bloomberg.

The US House Banking Committee estimates the financial sector lost $2.4 billion to computer attacks in 1998, triple the amount as in 1996. A 1998 survey by Computer Security Institute of San Francisco found that three-quarters of the 563 companies surveyed had suffered a total of $100 million in losses from computer crime in a 12-month period. Only 17 percent of those saying they lost money reported the crimes.

Tech Tattle deals with topics relating to technology. Contact Ahmed at techtattle ygazette.newsmedia.bm or 295-5881 ext. 248 or 238-3854.