Communications-related Headlines for 10/20/2000

POLITICAL DISCOURSE
The Ad Campaign: Bush Is Hit on Social Security (NYT)

MEDIA & SOCIETY
Support Grows for Proposal to Require Internet Filters in
Schools and Libraries (NYT)
The Ringing in Their Ears Causes a Japanese Revolt (WP)

OWNERSHIP
AT&T's Bid for President's Help in Changing FCC Ownership Rules (CU)

THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
D.C. Limits Technology 'Hotels' (WP)

PHILANTHROPY
Philanthropy's a game to be taken seriously in valley (SJM)

POLITICAL DISCOURSE

THE AD CAMPAIGN: BUSH IS HIT ON SOCIAL SECURITY
Issue: Political Discourse
The Democratic National Committee released an ad attacking Gov Bush on
Social Security in 9 states this week (11 in all will see it by Monday).
Building on criticism that Vice President Al Gore directed at Bush's plan
to create private investment accounts in the Social Security system in the
final presidential debate on Tuesday night, the commercial says Gov. Bush
cannot meet his promise to create investment accounts for younger workers
without shortchanging retirees. The commercial is correct in saying that
Mr. Bush is proposing to take $1 trillion out of the revenues from the
payroll tax that finances Social Security benefits. That money would go to
help establish accounts through which individuals could invest in stocks
and bonds for retirement. But the commercial is somewhat misleading in its
implication that Mr. Bush's plan would not leave enough money to pay
current retirees. Mr. Bush's plan would arguably move up the date at which
the federal government would need to begin using general tax revenues to
help pay benefits to current retirees. The ad is an attempt to make Bush
pay a political price for his Social Security proposal, but the tactic also
opens Gore to accusations of using scare tactics.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A21), AUTHOR: Richard Stevenson]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/20/politics/20ADBO.html)
(requires registration)

MEDIA & SOCIETY

SUPPORT GROWS FOR PROPOSAL TO REQUIRE INTERNET FILTERS IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES
Issue: Filtering
Provisions of an appropriations bill expected to be approved in the next
few days would make filtering software a condition for grants under the
E-rate program, which subsidizes Internet connections for schools and
libraries. The legislation is drawn from proposals by three Republicans,
Senators John McCain of Arizona and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and
Representative Ernest Istook of Oklahoma. It also comes just as a special
commission appointed by Congress to study protecting kids online, the Child
Online Protection Act Commission, has declined to include mandatory
filtering in its recommendations. "We looked at mandatory filtering" and
unanimously rejected it, said Donald Telage, chairman of the commission and
an executive of Network Solutions, the company that manages many Internet
functions. The timing of the filtering bill drew criticism from Alan
Davidson of the Center for Democracy and Technology, which took part in the
commission's work. "For Congress to be charging ahead even before it sees
the report of the commission it created calls into question whether this
legislation is really about protecting kids effectively," Mr. Davidson said.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A23), AUTHOR: John Schwartz]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/20/technology/20NET.html)
(requires registration)

THE RINGING IN THEIR EARS CAUSES A JAPANESE REVOLT
Issue: Media & Society
Incessant electronic rings and one-sided conversations by users in public
are fraying at the nerves and cultural sensitivities of a nation that prides
itself on politeness. While many countries, including the United States, are
starting to confront the public nuisances of the communications age, Japan
is taking it more seriously than most. Restaurants are beginning to post
signs prohibiting cell phone use. One train line has even designated its
even-numbered cars as "no cell phone" cars. Another has replaced its gentle
appeals for courtesy with stronger announcements telling people to turn off
their phones. In Japan, there are nearly 55 million cell phones in a country
of 127 million people. The result is streets full of people seemingly
talking to the themselves (much too loudly). And with 27 million people
living together in the world's largest metropolitan area, manners count. A
1000-citizen survey by the
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications found nearly 900 deemed cell phones
offensive. The National Police Agency became alarmed when the number of car
accidents caused by drivers fumbling with cell phones began averaging 200 to
250 a month. "It's good to have a networked society, but it has some
drawbacks," said Inspector Hisaaki Abe, legal section chief of the
department's Traffic Planning Bureau. "Accidents can be a terrific
drawback." The close quarters of Japan's transit system holds another
danger: a government panel has warned that cell phones operating within nine
inches of a heart pacemaker might affect the pacemaker's operation.(!)
Japan's jammed commuter trains brings commuters well within that proximity.
Companies are seeking to appeal to the sensitivity and morals of users, one
industry-sponsored slogan on billboards: "Everybody on the train is hearing
what you wouldn't tell your mother."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A22), AUTHOR: Doug Struck]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44434-2000Oct19.html)

OWNERSHIP

AT&T'S BID FOR PRESIDENT'S HELP IN CHANGING FCC OWNERSHIP RULES
Issue: Ownership/Lobbying
From Press Release: AT&T Chairman of the Board C. Michael Armstrong has
asked President Clinton to support the company's effort to change the
Federal Communications Commission's attribution rules, which are used to
calculate the cap on broadcast and cable ownership. Gene Kimmelman,
co-director of Consumers Union's Washington D.C. office, made the following
statement today in response to a letter from Armstrong to Clinton dated
October 17:
"This is a blatant attempt by AT&T to circumvent the conditions it agreed
to when the FCC cleared the AT&T-MediaOne merger. AT&T's push for a 'change
in attribution rules' is simply an effort to eliminate meaningful limits on
cable and broadcast ownership, limits that were designed to prevent
monopolization of the airwaves and the cable television market. We call on
President Clinton and Congress to stand firm in preventing AT&T from
expanding its monopoly power in the cable TV market."
[SOURCE: Consumers Union]
(http://www.consumersunion.org/telecom/at%26tdc1000.htm)

THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

D.C. LIMITS TECHNOLOGY 'HOTELS'
Issue: Local Role
The Zoning Commission of the District of Columbia adopted emergency measures
this week that would restrict the development of structures called "tech
hotels." Tech hotels are data centers or telecommunications switching
stations. These centers are often warehouse buildings filled with fiber
optics and other telecommunications equipment. The Commission's actions were
prompted by concerns of residents that the structures would overwhelm
certain neighborhoods of the city. The new DC regulations, which were
proposed with the blessing of Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), require that
future data centers be built underground or go through a special review
process to determine their effect on the surrounding neighborhood. Local
business boosters were infuriated by the proposal. Marc Weiss, a former
consultant to the city's economic development office said, "this
[resolution] is going to be killing the goose that laid the golden egg. We
will have lost the opportunity to have a technology district." Tech hotels
can be critical to a technology community because they provide the
connectivity that Internet and other high-tech companies need; but zoning
officials believe they create "dead zones" as well and have the look and feel
of compounds. Some DC businesses have also complained to the Commission
that they cannot locate new office space due to the existing number of tech
hotels. "We're not saying cyber hotels are out and out negative. We're
saying they need to be in an appropriate location. It's a balancing act,"
said Planning Director Andrew Altman.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E01), AUTHOR: Jackie Spinner]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41553-2000Oct19.html)

PHILANTHROPY

PHILANTHROPY'S A GAME TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY IN VALLEY
Issue: Philanthropy
A new foundation in the Silicon Valley has inherited $500 million from a
technology tycoon after his death. The foundation's director has a mission
to create in a clever new CD-ROM simulation, an arts-led renaissance in a
place where culture has been an afterthought and the arts languish amid
unprecedented riches. Culture surely belongs on any list of qualities that
matter, but here, in the richest place on the planet, there's not a single
world-class arts institution. Money-starved public schools pay too little
attention to the arts. Yes, some of the valley's wealth has gone into the
arts, but not on a level that begins to resemble what public-spirited people
do in real renaissance communities. According to the people behind the
interactive CD-ROM game, which will be released next week, the arts are
intimately related to the region's long-range health. "Unless we pay more
attention to culture," says San Jose-based Cultural Initiatives Silicon
Valley (www.arts4sv.org), "we may be nothing more than a boomtown that
someday goes bust." "Do we want Silicon Valley to be a great place?" asks
Harry Saal, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who is board president of
the non-profit Cultural Initiatives organization. "It's not fated that this
will be a great place." So Saal and his colleagues at
Cultural Initiatives are trying to spark a conversation -- to persuade the
valley's business community of the real value of arts in people's lives.
The CD-ROM is part of the campaign.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Dan Gillmor]
(http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/dg102000.htm)

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...and we're outta here. OK, New York, you asked for it -- show us what you
got.