INTERNET
'Virtual' Child Pornography Ban Overturned
Without Congress' Help, Internet Radio Will Wither [Editorial]
ANTITRUST
Microsoft Witness Says State Antitrust Penalties Would Help
Competitors, Not Consumers
OWNERSHIP
A Deal Against Digital Piracy Hardware Makers, Studios In Accord
Media Access Project: Newspaper Broadcast Rule Supplemental Filing
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
A Connect Call From Algeria
INTERNET
'VIRTUAL' CHILD PORNOGRAPHY BAN OVERTURNED
The Supreme Court struck down provisions of the Child Pornography Act of
1996 that make it a crime to create, distribute or possess "virtual" child
pornography. Six justices agreed that the law violated the First Amendment
and Justice Kennedy wrote that," the statute prohibits the visual depiction
of an idea - that of teenagers engaging in sexual activity - that is a fact
of modern society and has been a theme in art and literature throughout the
ages." Attorney General John Ashcroft stated that the ruling would make it
"immeasurably more difficult" to prosecute child pornography. The Supreme
Court majority concern was that the law was too broad and could potentially
inhibit artistic and literary expression. In writing for the majority
Justice Kennedy also stated, "The right to think is the beginning of
freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is
the beginning of thought."
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Linda Greenhouse]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/17/national/17PORN.html)
(Requires subscription)
See also: Law Aimed At 'Virtual' Child Porn Overturned
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Charles Lane]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62639-2002Apr16.html)
WITHOUT CONGRESS' HELP INTERNET RADIO WILL WITHER
[Editorial] According to the San Jose Mercury News editorial staff, the
proposed performance royalty that Webcasters will need to pay recording
companies and artists will result in many Internet radio stations closing up
shop. Broadcast radio stations have avoided paying a performance royalty on
the theory that hearing songs on the radio drives CD sales. The Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) has convinced Congress that Internet
radio stations should pay a performance royalty in addition to the standard
royalty paid to the artist. The RIAA points to the danger of piracy when in
fact Web streaming degrades the quality of a recording and piracy of
streaming files has not been an issue. An arbitration panel has proposed a
.14-cent per listener per song royalty for Internet-only radio stations that
is in some cases 100 times the royalty currently paid to songwriters. The
U.S. Copyright Office will respond to the recommendation next month.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: SJM Editorial Staff]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/3078109.
htm)
ANTITRUST
MICROSOFT WITNESS SAYS STATE ANTITRUST PENALTIES WOULD HELP COMPETITORS, NOT
CONSUMERS
Kevin Murphy, a University of Chicago economist testified that the antitrust
penalties proposed by nine states would not benefit consumers. Murphy
supported the original settlement between Microsoft and the federal
government saying, "The proposed settlement focuses on enjoining
anticompetitive conduct and allowing market forces to determine the
competitive threats to Windows." Another defense witness, W.J. "Jerry"
Sanders, chairman of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., testified that the
widespread use of the Window's operating system allowed for free innovation
and the penalties proposed by the nine states would set the computer
industry back twenty years. According to Sanders, Gates asked him to testify
and told him the state proposals would fragment the computer industry. In
the course of testifying, Sanders admitted he had not read the state
penalties or the federal settlement and was testifying on the basis of his
conversation with Bill Gates.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3081362.htm)
OWNERSHIP
A DEAL AGAINST DIGITAL PIRACY HARDWARE MAKERS, STUDIOS IN ACCORD
A preliminary agreement was reached on Tuesday relating to copy protection
for high-definition broadcasts and digital TV sets. The High Definition
Multimedia Interface (HDMI) will carry full-bandwidth digital video and
audio from set-top boxes to TV sets. This agreement is just one of many
that will need to be negotiated between electronics manufacturers and
Hollywood. Supporters of the HDMI standard include Fox and Universal
studios, as well as DirecTV, EchoStar, Hitachi, Phillips, Thompson, Toshiba,
Matsushita (Panasonic) and Sony. Panasonic's Peter Fannon said the agreement
is "a good step forward", but many issues "still have to be worked out."
[SOURCE: USA Today, AUTHOR: Mike Snider]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020417/4034233s.htm)
MEDIA ACCESS PROJECT: NEWSPAPER BROADCAST RULE SUPPLEMENTAL FILING
In September 2001, the Federal Communications Commission released a Notice
of Proposed Rule Making seeking comment "on the appropriateness of either
retaining or eliminating entirely our newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership
rule". This report by University of Colorado Associate Professor Andrew
Calabrese critiques the quality of the Belo and Media General studies in
answering the question: Are viewpoint diversity and economic competition
positively or negatively affected at the local level by newspaper /broadcast
cross-ownership? Calabrese concludes that the studies do not sufficiently
respond to the question and he offers a set of observations and
recommendations on media cross-ownership, including viewpoint diversity.
[SOURCE: Media Access Project, AUTHOR: Andrew Calabrese]
(http://www.mediaaccess.org/filings/calabreseFCCfiling.pdf)
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
A CONNECT CALL FROM ALGERIA
Algerian ambassador Idriss Jazairy encouraged a group of Northern Virginia
telecommunications and technology firms to invest in Africa's second-largest
country saying, "You'd be surprised to see the amount of opportunities that
are there." He went on to say the banking and insurance industries are
modernizing, the government is offering exemptions on taxes and customs, and
the regulatory and legal environment is liberalizing. On average, there are
5.7 phone lines for every 1,000 people in Algeria, 20,000 Internet
connections, and a total of 100,000 cell phone users. Rudy L. Baca, an
analyst from the Precursor Group said that instability in the international
telecommunications market has created a "... great, great reluctance of
U.S. markets to look at the overseas markets." However, some companies such
as BCE Teleglobe, Inc. are looking at developing countries. Roger Wu, sales
executive with BCE Teleglobe said, "We want to work with companies looking
to get into countries like Algeria...Everyone talks about bandwidth excess
[here]. As far as other regions are concerned there is not enough capacity
on the international side."
[SOURCE: The Washington Post, AUTHOR: Yuki Noguchi]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62747-2002Apr16.htm)
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