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Technology Stocks : Loral Space & Communications -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: straight life who wrote (6160)	5/15/1999 2:23:00 AM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10852

Belgrade Satellite Link Safe updated 5:30 p.m. 14.May.99.PDT by Leander Kahney 2:00 p.m. 14.May.99.PDT The Clinton administration has promised not to pull the plug on the Internet in the Yugoslavian war zone. Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin on Friday morning told the Associated Press that there was "no truth to allegations that we are attempting to cut off the flow of information to Serbia." As first reported in Wired News, satellite-communications company Loral Orion sought clarification from the US Treasury Department about whether a presidential order banning trade with Yugoslavia would sever a link to two of the country's major Internet service providers. The answer was no. "Full and open access to the Internet can only help the Serbian people know the ugly truth about the atrocities and crimes against humanity being perpetrated in Kosovo by the Milosevic regime," Rubin said Friday. "The Serbian people deserve to access independent and objective information, whether by the Internet or other media. "We encourage the people of Serbia to use the Internet and other open media to challenge the misinformation they are receiving from the Milosevic press within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia." The response from Yugoslavian ISPs was grateful, but wary. "We appreciate the hundreds of supportive emails and Loral Orion's decision not to shut down the link, at least for now," said BeoNET co-founder Alex Krstanovic, in an email. However, he said he was concerned that the United States may still decide to censor information coming out of the war-torn country. "We are deeply concerned after hearing Mr. Rubin's remarks, which indicate the US government is deciding which information is good and which is bad," he said. "Does it mean that if the State Department decides we are publishing bad information they will give the order to bomb our offices as the US did with Serbian TV stations? Does it mean we now have to follow Washington's 'independent and objective' information line or else we will be blocked out of the Net? "This is, in our view, another of those 'We're sorry' ... incidents, where [the US and NATO] make damage and then claim they never did it." Yugoslavia's already overloaded Internet infrastructure would probably have collapsed altogether if Loral had severed its link. In the absence of a press corps in the war zone, the Internet has served as a major source of news and information. However, Loral said it is still waiting to receive official confirmation from the Treasury Department, which enforces the trade ban. Copyright © 1994-99 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.