FCC
FCC: FCC Staff Proposes 31 Proceedings As part or 1998 Biennial
Regulatory Review
NYT: FCC Rule Review Assailed By a New Republican Member
Microsoft/Antitrust
WSJ: Sen. Hatch Issues Warning Microsoft May Be Building 'Proprietary
Internet'
NYT: Microsoft Shifts Web Unit to Windows Group
NYT: Senator Warns of Microsoft Dominance
Internet
NYT: U.S. Puts Junk E-Mailers on Notice
WSJ: Group Plans Ad Campaign To Promote Encryption
WSJ: Don't Expect Your Secrets To Get Kept on the Internet
Telephony
WSJ: New Standard For Modems May Spur Sales
Corporate
NYT: A Reorganization Is Expected at America Online
WSJ: Tech Firms Study Host of Netscape Deals
NYT: New Funds Halted by MCI To Joint Venture in Mexico
Legal Issues
NYT: Reuters Consultant Seen Taking Large Amounts of Data
** FCC **
Title: FCC Staff Proposes 31 Proceedings As part or 1998 Biennial
Regulatory Review
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Miscell...s/News_Releases/1998/nrmc8010.html
Author: Rosemary Kimball
Issue: FCC
Description: The Commission staff has released a list of 31 proposed
proceedings to be initiated as apart of the 1998 biennial regulatory review.
The review is aimed at eliminating or modifying regulations that are overly
burdensome or no longer serve the public interest. The list was compiled
following a broad, comprehensive internal review of all existing FCC
regulations and informal input from the industry and the public through
recently held forums with the practice groups of the Federal Comm. Bar
Assoc. The Commission will continue to solicit public input as the process
continues.
Title: FCC Rule Review Assailed By a New Republican Member
Source: New York Times (C2)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/fcc-review.html
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: FCC
Description: Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a new member of the Republican minority
on the Federal Communications Commission and a former chief economist for
the Housing Commerce Committee, criticized the commission yesterday for
failing to review its telecommunications regulations adequately. The
Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires the commission to review all of its
telecommunications regulations every two years, beginning this year. The FCC
announced Thursday that it had completed an internal evaluation and proposed
altering or eliminating 31 rules that it deemed unnecessary or overly
burdensome. But Furchgott-Roth called the commission's efforts inadequate.
Referring to the section in the act that requires the review, he said, "I
don't think it's there just to do a paper shuffle. It's there for a purpose.
Aside from simple following the law because that's what we have to do, I
think there's a real public-policy reason for that section to be there. And
I'm afraid that if there's just a selective review of a few regulation we're
not following the letter or the spirit of the law." William Kennard, FCC
chairman, said, "This is the most comprehensive review ever conducted by the
FCC. The suggestion that we would take all of the rules that govern the
agency and put them on a table and invite the public in to tell us which
ones to do away with would be a very unproductive process." Furchtgott-Roth
said he was undecided on what official action to take, if any, if Kennard
refused to significantly broaden the review.
** Microsoft/Antitrust **
Title: Sen. Hatch Issues Warning Microsoft May Be Building 'Proprietary
Internet'
Source: Wall Street Journal (B15)
http://wsj.com/
Author: John R. Wilke & David Bank
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch warned that
Microsoft may be trying to build a "proprietary Internet," excluding
competitors, stifling innovation and ultimately leading to government
regulation of the global network. To forestall federal meddling akin to an
"Internet Commerce Commission," Sen. Hatch said tough scrutiny is needed
now. "Vigilant and effective antitrust enforcement today is preferable to
the heavy hand of government regulation of the Internet tomorrow."
Title: Microsoft Shifts Web Unit to Windows Group
Source: New York Times (C3)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/020698microsoft-side.html
Author: John Markoff
Issue: Antitrust/Corporate Retrenchment
Description: In a quiet reorganization, Microsoft yesterday moved the unit
that develops its Internet Explorer web browser into the business group that
develops and markets its Windows operating system. Analysts say that
irrespective of antitrust arguments, the move made sense from a business
standpoint. "Internet Explorer is an integrated product," said David
Readerman, a financial analyst at Nationsbank Montgomery Securities Inc.
"You better integrate the reporting responsibilities."
Title: Senator Warns of Microsoft Dominance
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/020698microsoft.html
Author: John Markoff
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Antitrust economists, legal experts and public officials
gathered yesterday at a conference titled "Competition, Convergence and
Microsoft Monopoly: The Future of the Digital Marketplace" to debate whether
government action is needed to rein in Microsoft. Senator Orrin Hatch, who
gave the morning address, talked about how aggressive antitrust enforcement
is crucial now to keep the corporate giant from taking over the Internet and
creating the need later for government regulation of the network. He said,
"I can assure you that if one company does exert such proprietary control
over the Internet, and the Internet does in fact become a critical
underlying medium for commerce and the dissemination of new and information,
rest assured that we will be hearing calls from all corners for the heavy
hand of government regulation -- for a new 'Internet Commerce Commission.'
It seems far better to have antitrust enforcement today than heavy-handed
regulation of the Internet tomorrow." The conference was sponsored by the
Progress and Freedom Foundation.
** Internet **
Title: U.S. Puts Junk E-Mailers on Notice
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/020698spam.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Postal Inspection
Service said yesterday that they have put more than 1,000 junk emailers on
notice that the agencies are monitoring unsolicited email for fraudulent
schemes. The program is the latest in an aggressive attempt by the FTC to
protect the Internet from scams. "Fraud promoters should think twice before
plying their trade on the Internet," said Jodie Bernstein, Director of the
FTC's bureau of Consumer Protection. "First, the FTC is on the Internet beat
and will follow up with spam artists who don't clean up their
correspondence. Second, many consumers are already on to them -- they know
better than to believe promises from strangers."
Title: Group Plans Ad Campaign To Promote Encryption
Source: Wall Street Journal (B2)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Encryption/Privacy
Description: A coalition of technology companies and political groups plans
to launch a splashy advertising campaign to promote the notion that some
things are best kept secret. The group, Americans for Computer Privacy,
wants to give the public a quick lesson on encryption -- the use of complex
codes to scramble messages like e-mail and cell-phone calls -- and has hired
Goddard-Claussen to produce ads that will air nationwide next month. The
coalition also opposes efforts by the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies
to require "backdoors" on all encryption software to help police track
criminals. Ed Gillespie, an aide to Rep. Dick Armey, said "people would be
up in arms if the government said you had to give the FBI your PIN number
just in case they had to get into your bank account."
Title: Don't Expect Your Secrets To Get Kept on the Internet
Source: Wall Street Journal (B5)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Rebecca Quick
Issue: Privacy
Description: It turns out that some of the Internet's defining
characteristics -- high-tech tricks and search methods that make finding
info easy -- allow others in cyberspace to take a peek at your behavior. In
cyberspace, you may be posting notes to a few friends on an electronic
bulletin board, but even if the bulletin board is obscure, your message
could wind up archived forever in a search engine like Deja News, which
specializes in scanning bulletin boards and even allows you to look up all
the postings by one person. But some industry experts say the Internet isn't
to blame -- info ranging from credit card numbers to bank account balances
to mortgage info has always been vulnerable in the real world. But critics
point out that profit and privacy are two concepts that may not mix well in
the digital age. In the end, consumers are left questioning what reasonable
expectation of privacy they have in cyber space.
** Telephony **
Title: New Standard For Modems May Spur Sales
Source: Wall Street Journal (B15)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Frederick Rose
Issue: Telephony
Description: The Internat'l Telecom Union affirmed a standard for high-speed
computer modems, unleashing analysts' projections for big sales growth in
that market. The new standard sets a series of detailed protocols for
computer devices that transmit data over ordinary phone lines at close to
56,000 bits per second, or 56K. Analysts and market participants cheered the
standard-setting. Dataquest, Inc., a research organization, estimates that
manufacturers will ship 33 million so-called so-called 56K modems this year.
But problems remain as manufacturers wring out problems in making one
another's modems communicate. Senior analyst Lisa Pelgrim said, "It's going
to be a little messy, but we go through this with all new standards."
** Corporate **
Title: A Reorganization Is Expected at America Online
Source: New York Times (C1,C3)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/020698aol.html
Author: Saul Hansall
Issue: Corporate Rentrenchment
Description: America Online is expected to announce a reorganization next
week that will shift both the company's focus and executive power. The
reorganization would consolidate the power of Robert Pittman who currently
runs the company's other main division, AOL Networks. AOL Networks is
responsible for operating the company's core online services. With the
changes, he would also oversee the development of AOL's new online content,
an area that had been overseen by Ted Leonsis, the president of the AOL
Studios division. As part of its reorganization, the unit established to
nuture online programming would be dismantled, just a year and a half after
it was created.
Title: Tech Firms Study Host of Netscape Deals
Source: Wall Street Journal (B15)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Kara Swisher & Nick Wingfield
Issue: Mergers
Description: Netscape is focusing on other deals involving its World Wide
Web site and software businesses. The Internet pioneer is seeking to bolster
its position in the wake of a withering assault by Microsoft. But
anti-Microsoft allies including Sun, Oracle, and IBM are believed to be more
likely to consider other ways to financially support Netscape's Web-browser
software. The most immediate possibility is a deal to exploit the value of
Netscape's popular Web site by selling the service outright or broadening
partnerships among companies that are already affiliated with it.
Title: New Funds Halted by MCI To Joint Venture in Mexico
Source: New York Times (C18)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/t06pho.html
Author: Bloomberg News
Issue: Corporate Retrenchment/International
Description: "MCI announced yesterday that it had halted plans to invest a
further $900 million in Avantel, its long-distance venture in Mexico,
declaring that current regulations made it difficult to earn a profit. MCI
and its partner in Avantel, Grupo Financiero Banamex-Accival, have already
invested $900 million in the venture which competes with the former state
monopoly, Telefonos de Mexico, or Telmex, in the $4.5 billion Mexican
long-distance market. MCI said that regulations required Avantel to pay 70
percent of its revenue to Telmex to use Telmex's network. Mexican regulators
fixed the subsidy in 1996 to protect Telmex from an expected onslaught of
international carriers seeking to enter the Mexican long-distance market."
** Legal Issues **
Title: Reuters Consultant Seen Taking Large Amounts of Data
Source: New York Times (C5)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/020698reuters.html
Author: Kurt Eichenwald
Issue: Legal Issues
Description: Yesterday, people briefed on the case of Reuters Holding PLC to
steal information from Bloomberg LP, said that a Manhattan computer
consultant was monitored downloading hundreds of screens of proprietary
Bloomberg data during one-day periods. The amount of information said to be
downloaded by the consultant, from Cyberspace Research Associates Inc.,
significantly exceeded the amount downloaded by other Bloomberg customers.
Bloomberg executives were said to have debated shutting down the consultants
terminal but were persuaded by law-enforcement officials to keep it active
in order for the investigation to continue.
*********
And we are outta here. Have a great weekend -- see you Monday.