WAY_lad

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

   11-29-95. FiTi:

   "Information highway needs rules of the road, says report."

      Pointing out the possibility of technical
      incompatibilities and trade friction if companies are
      treated differently in different markets, the report
      outlines the case for a "global regulator" within the
      structure of the new World Trade Organisation. It points
      out that issues such as intellectual property rights,
      encryption and government control on cross-ownership
      have global rather than national aspects. "Encryption,
      for example, raises tricky and emotive issues connected
      with organised crime and national security and cannot be
      treated simply as a business problem."

   No revolution for software [Editorial]

      Today's software market is the way it is not because of
      some evil conspiracy in Seattle, Microsoft's home town,
      but because it meets most consumers' interests most of
      the time. The power to set standards follows from that
      success. Changing technology widens the range of
      possible market structures, but does not affect
      customers' underlying needs and preferences. In the
      battle between the technologically possible and the
      economically attractive, economics always wins.


   WAY_lad  (7 kb)


FiTi on-line at <www.ft.com> for waylaying top article.