But if one damaging obstacle and dangerous precedent to free trade may soon be consigned to the dustbin of history, an equally threatening row is brewing between Washington and Tokyo over international value-added network services: Japan had been insisting that all value-added services originating in or terminating in Japan should use the International Telecommunications Union’s […]
But if one damaging obstacle and dangerous precedent to free trade may soon be consigned to the dustbin of history, an equally threatening row is brewing between Washington and Tokyo over international value-added network services: Japan had been insisting that all value-added services originating in or terminating in Japan should use the International Telecommunications Union’s advisory protocol, but under US pressure agreed in July to allow any protocols to be used within the network – GE Information Services, Infonet and so forth each use a proprietary protocol – so long as they used the standard protocol at termination; this has not satisfied the US, and US Commerce Secretary William Verity will start banging the table in Tokyo next week – but is expected to get a dusty answer from determined Japan.