Communications-related Headlines for 7/6/99

DIGITAL DIVIDE
Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide (NTIA)

INTERNET
Closing the Distance (WP)
Internet Governing Group Already has a Watchdog (CyberTimes)
Hackers Redirect Network Solutions Sites (CyberTimes)
CNET Singed by Internet's Offbeat Logic (CyberTimes)
Sit Back and Tune Into Your Computer (ChiTrib)

TELEVISION
Does Children's TV Have to Be Edifying? (NYT)
Networks Cover Pro Wrestling Over Chinese Espionage (WSJ)

FIRST AMENDMENT
Intel Gadfly at it Again (SJM)

MERGERS
Pleading Cycle Established for Comments on Conditions
Proposed by SBC/Ameritech (FCC)

SATELLITE
Senate Legislation to Aid Lockheed With Its Acquisition
Plan for Comsat (WSJ)

DIGITAL DIVIDE

FALLING THROUGH THE NET: DEFINING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
On Thursday, July 8 at 9:30 am, the U.S. Department of Commerce will release
"Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide," the third report by the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, detailing the
technology and information gap in America. The report shows more Americans than
ever are connected to the nation's information infrastructure but a gap
persists among certain demographic groups. Technology access on a
state-by-state basis will also be presented. Larry Irving, Assistant Secretary
of Commerce, will release the report at the National Press Club, 13th floor,
Holeman Lounge. Also present will be representatives of the public and private
sector who are engaged in efforts to address the new technology gap.
[SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/fttn063099.htm)

INTERNET

CLOSING THE DISTANCE
Issue: Internet
Instant-messaging programs like America Online's ICQ are changing the way
people communicate online. More than 35 million people are using the ICQ (which
means "I seek you") instant messaging system to "chat" (trade live messages)
with friends and families on the Internet. Though its challenging to install,
ICQ lets people trade private messages, find out when others are online, lets
people find people with similar interests, maintain to-do lists and calendars
and perform other personal tasks. There is speculation that instant-messaging
programs could challenge the market dominance of Microsoft programs and its
Windows technology in the future as more features are added and as people find
more reasons to spend more time ICQing than working on other platforms. Yahoo,
Walt Disney and Tribal Voice Inc. also have instant messenger programs and
Microsoft is working to incorporate one into its Hotmail e-mail service, while
AOL prepares to launch a free e-mail service for ICQ. AOL's program was
developed by an Israeli company which AOL purchased last year for about $300
million.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Leslie Walker]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-07/06/039l-070699-idx.html)

INTERNET GOVERNING GROUP ALREADY HAS A WATCHDOG
Issue: Internet
A new Web site,Icann Watch, was recently launched with the goal "to
serve as a forum for the understanding of and informed debate about the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (Icann) role in managing
the Domain Name System." The site was developed by professors at Temple
University, the University of Miami and the University of Pennsylvania to
monitor the actions of the Internet's new governing body. "There is a lot of
bashing going on [of Icann], and it's getting nastier," said David Post a law
professor at Temple University. "At this point, my goal is to help Icann do a
very difficult job. It's a very difficult thing they've been offered. I have
both sympathy and respect for what they are trying to do. I think they've made
mistakes. We will point that out when appropriate. But I think this is also
going to help them." Though the focus of the Web site could change, depending
on Icann said Post, the present objective is to create a place for objective
news and analysis about the nonprofit corporation.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/cyber/capital/06capital.html)

HACKERS REDIRECT NETWORK SOLUTIONS SITES
Issue: Internet/Security
Three Web sites operated by Network Solutions (www.networksolutions.com,
www.netsol.com and www.compeople.com) the domain name registrar were "hijacked"
by hackers. Instead of displaying those sites, viewers were redirected to the
Internet's oversight body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (Icann) and to another group that has been trying to break the
company's monopoly on the registration business. The new sabotage adds to the
political drama surrounding the corporation and the sticky transition process
that has been taking place from Network Solutions to Icann. Icann, which was
appointed by the federal government to take over the administration of the
global network, is in the process of relocating the Internet's main root server
from Virginia to California. It also wants to break up the monopoly held by
Network Solutions, which has created much resistance to the process. The attack
has allegedly been traced to SoftAware, an Internet service provider located in
the same building as Icann, which has denied any collaboration and has
condemned the attack. SoftAware has said they will fully cooperate with the
FBI's further investigations. Network Solutions registers some 10,000 new names
a day, but said the attack had little effect on their business.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/cyber/articles/03icann.html)

CNET SINGED BY INTERNET'S OFFBEAT LOGIC
Issue: Internet
Irregularities in the Internet stock market disturbs CNET, one of the first
companies to build a business on the World Wide Web. CNET was founded before
most investors had heard about the Internet in 1992 to create a series of
online services and television programs about computers. It accounts for real
dollar earnings and has a successful business on many counts. However, a recent
announcement planned to spur company growth shakes investors and creates
unwarranted worry, according to CNET. "When you announce changes that hurt the
near term only to improve the long term, people tend to just focus on the near
term," says Douglas N. Woodrum, the company's chief financial officer. "We're
not going to let that stop us from doing what's right." With confidence, and
one eye sharply focused on the "peculiar logic of the Internet investor," CNET
continues to develop its convoluted business model [the popular versatile model
of diversification of services] to continue improving revenues.
[SOURCE New York Times: AUTHOR: Market Place]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/biztech/articles/06place.html)

SIT BACK AND TUNE INTO YOUR COMPUTER
Issue: Ecommerce
America Online recently purchased Spinner.com, a Web site that provides 120
channels of music, and Nullsoft Inc., which makes a downloadable player for
music files stored on the Internet and software that lets anyone transmit
their own music content. By the end of the year, AOL subscribers should be
able to download and transmit music at their whim. "We want to reach the
mass market so that we can let them push one button and they've got music,"
said AOL spokesman Jim Whitney, adding that customers will be able to
download songs from AOL in the future. "What the AOL announcement really
signals is that the record industry's competition is anyone who is in the
business of distributing information digitally," said Ric Dube, an Internet
music industry analyst at Webnoize.com in Stoneham, MA.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Patrick Cole]
(http://chicagotribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,2669,SAV-99070601
80,FF.html)

TELEVISION

DOES CHILDREN'S TV HAVE TO BE EDIFYING?
Issue: Children's Television
[Op-ed] A resent study conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the
University of Pennsylvania concluded that most children's TV is of little
educational value. They found that 28% of children's programming contained four
or more acts of violence, and that only one third of shows classified as
"educational" under FCC guidelines could be considered "highly educational."
While Gillespie does not take issue with these findings, he does question
the assumption that children's programming should be educational. He believes
the content of most educational shows merely replicates material that can
easily be learned elsewhere. The apex of truly edifying programming for kids,
according to Gillespie, is not "School House Rock", but "Bugs Bunny."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A21), AUTHOR: Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason
magazine]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/06gill.html)

NETWORKS COVER PRO WRESTLING OVER CHINESE ESPIONAGE
Issue: Television
[OP-ED] On May 25th, the Cox report on Chinese espionage was released. The
report had
unanimous, bipartisan support by Congress and revealed perhaps the most serious
nuclear security breach in history. The panel listed 11 cases of espionage, of
which eight took place during the Clinton Administration. The three big
networks, ABC, CBS and NBC covered little, if any, of the report. ABC's Good
Morning America covered the story for three minutes compared to the eight
minutes they gave to pro wrestling. NBC's Today show gave pro wrestling triple
the time they gave to the espionage story. When the House and Senate probed the
Iran-Contra affair in 1987, there was no security threat to the U.S. and it did
not have unanimous, bipartisan congressional support but the networks made it
the lead story and covered it daily. With the Cox report, the only network to
give the report serious coverage was FOX.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A14), [AUTHOR: L. Brent Bozell III, Chairman of
the Media Research Center]
(http://wsj.com/)

FIRST AMENDMENT

INTEL GADFLY AT IT AGAIN
Issue: Fist Amendment/Legal Issues
The right of an individual to speak on a privately owned network is at the
center of lawsuit involving Intel and one of its former employees. A state
court barred Ken Hamidi from sending emails to Intel employees after he sent a
critical message about the company to nearly 30,000 workers. The court ruled
that he was trespassing on private property by sending mass mailings on the
corporate-owned email network. Hamidi has filed an appeal on the grounds that
free speech should be protected even on privately owned email systems. Experts
are closely watching the case, which they say could establish an important
precedent for free speech in cyberspace.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Jonathan Rabinovitz]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/ham070699.htm)

MERGERS

PLEADING CYCLE ESTABLISHED FOR COMMENTS ON CONDITIONS PROPOSED BY SBC/AMERITECH
Issue: Merger
Interested parties are invited to comment to the Federal Communications
Commission on the proposed conditions for the proposed SBC/Ameritech merger no
later than July 13, 1999 with the Commission's Secretary, Magalie Roman Salas,
FCC, Room TW-A325, 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D. C. 20554. Oppositions
or responses to these comments may be filed with the Secretary, FCC, no later
than July 20, 1999. All pleadings are to reference CC Docket No. 98-141.
Comments filed through the ECFS can be sent as an electronic file via the
Internet to http://www.fcc.gov/ecfs.html. (See the site below for a letter from
Chairman William Kennard as well as the proposed conditions.)
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Public_Notices/1999/da991305.html)

SATELLITE

SENATE LEGISLATION TO AID LOCKHEED WITH ITS ACQUISITION PLAN FOR COMSAT
Issue: Satellite
In 1984, Comsat, Intelsat's U.S. signatory, held 70% of the voice market and
99% of the video market for satellite transmissions between the U.S. and
foreign countries. Today, Comsat only holds 20% and 35% respectively as the
playing field has changed. This is what led to a bill, which passed unanimously
in the Senate last Thursday, that would require Intelsat, the quasi-government
organization that controls most of the world's communication satellites, to
privatize by 2002. It would allow long distance carriers to gain access to
Intelsat satellites by July 1, 2001. This must be reconciled with the House
bill. The major difference between the bills is that the Senate bill will allow
Comsat's contracts to stand while the House bill calls for their
renegotiations. The passage of these bills will pave the way for Lockheed
Martin to buy Comsat. Lockheed must also get the approval of the Federal
Communications Commission and the Justice Department.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A28), [AUTHOR: Kathy Chen]
(http://wsj.com/)

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