turn to inexpensive sources of content to fill them, and this content is overwhelmingly American. Another recurring theme is the "we will be left behind" argument. In the late 1980s, U.S. telephone companies sought to convince American policymakers that the United States was at a disadvantage because its citizens did not have Minitels, small computer terminals provided to French households by France Telecom. Yet Americans had much of the functionality of the Minitel through widely available facilities, including telephone access to audiotext services and growing access to personal computers equipped with modems. Today, Canada, the European Union and Japan are all concerned that they will be left behind the United States if they do not implement their own information infrastructures. Notably, the report to the European Union states: "The first countries to enter the information era will be in a position to dictate the course of future developments to the late-comers. But is this really so? It may be that their technology companies will have an advantage if they have a ready market for fast packet technologies, such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) servers, set-top boxes, and multiplexers that can also be exported. But the real payoff for users will be from the application of these technologies to access and share information that can contribute to the development of their own societies and the competitiveness of their economies. Promises and paradoxesNew technologies and services are alluring, but they also present challenges and paradoxes for the telecommunications industry, users and policymakers. Consider the following: Technological Trojan HorsesNew technologies are introducing changes faster than policymakers can respond. "Callback" services (where calls between countries with high international tariffs are actually reoriginated from a third country with much lower rates such as the United States) are undermining the traditional ...
