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IP: a PU perspective -- Europe's Internet Lag: An American Fabrication?
From: David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 09:49:00 -0400
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 09:41:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Eszter Hargittai <eszter () phoenix Princeton EDU> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu> Subject: Re: IP: Europe's Internet Lag: An American Fabrication? Hi, The article's title is intriguing but says little to prove that the lag is a fabrication. In fact, most examples cited just prove that there really is less action in Europe and there is little to convince the reader that this is about to change.It may be more a matter of them being fee-phobic -- since most [govt-owned] Euro phone monopolies charge by-the-minute for ALL calls ... local or long-distance; residential or business.Yes.. it's easy to imagine how this may impact usage. But imagination can't capture actual effects. My recent stays in Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, and France showed me that I write email and surf the Web (if at all) VERY differently when I'm paying by the minute or have to wait until midnight for 'reasonable' fees. I wouldn't be surprised if people used the Net more at work in these countries. We need some studies on this and information on how employers are reacting to the trend. By the way, gov't ownership, per se, may be less of an issue than monopol status (whether private or public), or how political control operates with respect to the organization (see, for example, Raymond Duch: Privatizing the Economy, (1991, Univ Mich Press)). With respect to the importance of telecom, my most recent work on explaining the differences in Internet connectivity among OECD countries shows that economic wealth and telecom policy (monopoly/competition dichotomy) are the most salient predictors of an OECD country's Net connectivity. (forthcoming, Telecommunications Policy) Eszter Eszter Hargittai http://www.eszter.com Sociology Department Princeton University
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- IP: a PU perspective -- Europe's Internet Lag: An American Fabrication? David Farber (Sep 15)