February 1998

Arts
WP: NEA Grant Proposal Looks Like a Bomb(er)

Universal Service
TelecomAM: Commerce Secretary Urges Business Involvement
in Wiring Nation
NTIA: Connecting All Americans for the 21st Century

EdTech
NYT: ...With Liberty and Laptops For All?

Television/V-Chip
WP: Viewers' Mute Response

Internet
WP: White House Resists Taxes On Internet
NYT: Clinton: Don't Tax Internet Commerce
WSJ: Web Magazines' New Battle Cry: Charge!
NYT: Bloomberg to Supply AOL With On-Line Business Data
NYT: Bertelsmann Plans Website For Book Sales Via Internet
NYT: Amplifying Voices For Human Rights
NYT: Web TV Offers Cheap Web Access, But Consumers Are Wary

Jobs
NYT: High-Tech Executives Ask for Leeway on Foreign Workers

Newspapers
NYT: Circuits

Radio
WSJ: Korean War: Radio Is the Battleground of L.A. Broadcasters

** Arts **

Title: NEA Grant Proposal Looks Like a Bomb(er)
Source: Washington Post (A13)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/26/117l-022698-idx.html
Author: Rick Weiss
Issue: Arts
Description: The embattled National Endowment for the Arts has received a
unique proposal: the NEA Army has applied for a grant of $98 million -- the
agency's entire annual budget -- to model a section of the $2 billion B-2
Stealth bomber and carry the work around the country with a sign that simply
read "PRIORITIES." See The NEA Army: Practitioners of Stealth Art home page
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~hodin/NEAArmy/index.html]

** Universal Service **

Title: Commerce Secretary Urges Business Involvement in Wiring Nation
Source: Telecom AM -- 2/26/98
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: In remarks at a conference sponsored by the NTIA and PULP
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/connecting/index.html, Commerce Secretary William
Daley said that companies that help provide Internet access to poor and
rural areas will be "paid back through better workers and better customers."
FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani told participants that the Commission will
soon begin a rulemaking to determine how to increase the availability of
advanced telecommunications capabilities.

Title: Connecting All Americans for the 21st Century
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/new.html
Issue: Universal Service
Description: "Connecting All Americans for the 21st Century:
Telecommunications Links in Low Income and Rural Communities. This summit,
sponsored by the Clinton Administration and PULP will address the immediate
opportunities to take full advantage of Telephone Lifeline, improve access
to new telecommunications technology for low income and rural communities,
and develop strategies to connect and network those communities." [Hear it
at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/connecting/index.html]

** EdTech **

Title: ...With Liberty and Laptops For All?
Source: New York Times (E14)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/circuits/articles/26laptop.html
Author: Mike Romano
Issue: Education
Description: This March, New York City Community School District Six will
distribute 1,000 laptops to students in 26 middle schools, expanding the
pilot program, Learning With Laptops, that was started by the Microsoft
Corporation and Toshiba USA three years ago. The venture which arranges
services and lease agreements for schools now includes AT&T, Acer and
Compaq. The majority of schools that participate in the Learning With
Laptops program lease the basic laptop package to parents for three years at
about $58 a month. District Six will split this cost evenly with the
student's families, who get to keep the computers. At a recent Microsoft
promotional meeting in Seattle, teachers participating in the program
reported improved writing and time-management skills and better attendance
among students with laptops.

** Television/V-Chip **

Title: Viewers' Mute Response
Source: Washington Post (D1,D3-2/25/98)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: V-Chip
Description: Almost nothing has happened in the almost five months since the
television industry started offering on screen labels to warn viewers about
explicit program material. Given the public's underwhelming response, it is
difficult to say whether they are pleased with the new labels or mystified
by them. Bob Wright, chairman of NBC, said, "We get letters and calls about
everything that's on the air, but this has not been one of them." Jack
Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and who
oversaw the development of the movie and TV ratings said, "This has been a
non-event in TV homes. We were prepared for complaints but so far we haven't
received any." The MPAA has received about 800 letters, emails or phone
calls so far, but almost all of them are requesting a brochure on the new
system.

** Internet **

Title: White House Resists Taxes On Internet
Source: Washington Post (E1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/26/161l-022698-idx.html
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: On Tuesday, the National Governors' Association passed a
resolution urging Congress to allow states to require Internet and
mail-order merchants to collect sales taxes for purchases that are made in
states where the merchants do not have a physical presence. But President
Clinton is backing legislation that would place a moratorium on new Internet
taxes. In an announcement expected today, the President will call for a
commission to develop a uniform approach to taxing Internet purchases.

Title: Clinton: Don't Tax Internet Commerce
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/022698clinton-internet.html
Author: John Markoff
Issue: Internet Commerce
Description: When President Clinton addresses a technology investor's
conference in
San Francisco today, he will speak against taxing Internet commerce, said an
administration official on Wednesday. The Administration's position, which
would bar state and local governments from enacting taxes on the Internet
until 2004, is in direct opposition to state governors. The Clinton
Administration believes that the Internet is "spurring the growth of new
industries" and that new taxes imposed by local jurisdictions would
undermine that economic impact.

Title: Web Magazines' New Battle Cry: Charge!
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: Jared Sandberg
Issue: Internet Content
Description: Many online magazines are moving to charge subscribers for
their content. "Everybody wanted to get some market share by giving it away
for free," said the business development manager at the Economist. "But
that's not a model that can last forever. Their business models will evolve
into being paid." If this transition works, it could mark the opening of the
floodgates to pay-per services throughout the Internet and end the flow of
red ink that has sunk many websites. [So, how much are your Headlines worth?]

Title: Bloomberg to Supply AOL With On-Line Business Data
Source: New York Times (D2)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/biztech/articles/26bloomberg.html
Author: Lisa Napoli
Issue: Online Services
Description: Bloomberg L.P. plans to announce today that it will work with
America Online as their feature provider of business information. AOL hopes
that the addition of Bloomberg will further increase confidence in the
online consumer markets that have yet to show a profit.

Title: Bertelsmann Plans Website For Book Sales Via Internet
Source: New York Times (D4)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/biztech/articles/26book.html
Author: Doreen Carvajal
Issue: Internet Commerce/International
Description: Bertelsmann A.G., the German media conglomerate, announced
yesterday plans for a world-wide electronic bookstore. With Bertelsmann's
vast resources, publishing experience and international distribution
network, the bookstore has the potential to become the world's largest
online merchant of books.

Title: Amplifying Voices For Human Rights
Source: New York Times (E14)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/circuits/articles/26justice.html
Author: Michel Marriott
Issue: Internet Content
Description: In an effort to turn the world's attention to the gross amounts
of human suffering that continue to take place around the planet, some human
rights groups are taking their information online. Focus on Justice, an
online human rights group, brings actual accounts of current situations to
people by using video-cassette recorders, television monitors and powerful
computers, much of it donated. "What this technology allows us to do is to
have an impact that no other human rights activists have ever had before,"
said Andrew Greenblatt, co-director of Focus on Justice, which was founded
last fall. Neil V. Getnick, a senior partner in the New York law firm of
Getnick & Getnick and a major supporter of Focus on Justice, said that the
Internet's power to aid human rights is its interactivity: "You can go to a
Web site, learn something about an issue, and then, if you are motivated
about it, immediately have an opportunity to send email to the right people."

Title: Web TV Offers Cheap Web Access, But Consumers Are Wary
Source: New York Times (E6)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/circuits/articles/26webtv.html
Author: Michel Marriott
Issue: Web TV
Description: With almost every U.S. household having a television set,
unlike the only 4 out of 10 American households that have computers,
Microsoft, owner of WebTV Networks, thought that pumped-up TV sets would
quickly replace the home computer. A complete WEBTV system can be purchased
for less than $200 -- one-fifth the cost of a bargain PC. "But sales of
WebTV, the most established player in the Internet-television industry, have
proved modest." Retailers say sales are particularly disappointing when you
consider how quickly video-cassette recorders were adopted by the public.
Yet some people believe that the public will want access to the Internet via
their TV set as soon as they get use to the idea. Matthew York, who began
Smart TV, a magazine published six-times a year that focuses on the
dissolving edges that have separated computers and TV's for decades, said,
"I think the days of TV as we know them are numbered. A major paradigm
shift is taking place." Ahran Achachter, vice-president and general manager
of Datavision, a Fifth Avenue electronics superstore said, "This is not
something that can be thrown into the superstore to be bought like bread or
milk. That can be done when everyone understands what it does."

** Jobs **

Title: High-Tech Executives Ask for Leeway on Foreign Workers
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/cyber/articles/26workers.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Jobs
Description: On Tuesday, high-tech executives came to Capitol Hill to plead
for the ability to bring more foreign workers into the United States in an
effort to fill the deficit of skilled workers available in this country. The
Clinton Administration indicated that it was willing to discuss increasing
the current cap, which now gives visas to up to 65,000 skilled foreign
workers a year. Several technology representatives said that they feared
some of the conditions that were proposed along with an increase would make
an already complex process only more burdensome.

** Newspapers **

Title: Circuits
Source: New York Times (Section E)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/circuits/index.html
Issue: Technology
Description: The New York Times introduces a new section on Technology today
called "Circuits." The new section will come out every Thursday and focus on
the "personal side of digital technology in everyday life."

** Radio **

Title: Korean War: Radio Is the Battleground of L.A. Broadcasters
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A1)
Author: John Emshwiller
Issue: Radio
Description: Los Angeles two Korean-language radio stations are fierce
rivals. Jea Min Chang runs FM Seoul and Janghee "Jay" Lee runs Radio Korea.
The two trade barbs that would make Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch blush. But
their latest fight has started an international incident. While reporting
from Korea, Radio Korea's news director reported "word on the street" that
Mr. Chang's family-owned media empire was in dire financial straits and
would not be able to print its newspapers the next day. Mr. Chang complained
to Korean authorities and the news director was arrested and charged with
slander.
*********
Has anyone seen my missing spell checker?

Free Speech/First Amendment
WP: Ruling Limits Speech Rights for Teachers

Internet
TelecomAM: Internet Said To Help and Hurt Congress,
Consume Human Resources

Wireless
WSJ: Network Snags Imperil Sales Of Motorola
TelecomAM: McCain To Introduce Bill To Repeal Excise
Tax On Telecom Services
TelecomAM: Kennard Calls On Wireless Industry To Meet 'Club' Obligations

Cable
WSJ: TCI Selects At Home Corp. For Services

Regulation
NYT: European Study Paints Chilling Portrait of Technology's Uses

** Free Speech/First Amendment **

Title: Ruling Limits Speech Rights for Teachers
Source: Washington Post (B3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/24/116l-022498-idx.html
Author: Brooke Masters
Issue: Free Speech/First Amendment
Description: The 4th U.S. Circuit Court ruled that a North Carolina school
board did not violate a school teacher's First Amendment rights when it
disciplined her for putting on a controversial play. In the majority opinion
the court found that school boards by definition have control over decisions
that involve cirriculum. "Someone must fix the cirriculum of any school. In
our opinion it is far better public policy...that the makeup of the
cirriculum be entrusted to local school authorities who are in some sense
responsible rather than to the teachers who would be responsible only to the
judges." The teacher picked the play "Independence" which is controversial
because of its portrayal of a "dysfunctional family, including promiscuity
and lesbianism."

** Internet **

Title: Internet Said To Help and Hurt Congress, Consume Human Resources
Source: Telecom AM---feb. 24, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Internet
Description: The Internet can help the gov't., lobbyists and public interest
groups, but can also pose serious dangers to the institution of the
Congress, speakers said at a conference in Washington. At "Lobbying and the
Internet," Howard Marlowe, head of the Marlowe & Company lobbying firm, said
Web sites he set up for clients have been useful and efficient in
communicating information. He said lobbyists can use the Internet to win
their legislative fights and advised that simple e-mail should not be
overlooked as a means of keeping interested Net users in touch with issues.

** Wireless **

Title: Network Snags Imperil Sales Of Motorola
Source: Wall Street Journal (A3)
http://wsj.com/
Author: John J. Keller & Quentin Hardy
Issue: Networks/Wireless
Description: Motorola is struggling to correct defects in its
cellular-network equipment and software that are crippling its expansion
into new wireless systems and have already led one major customer to cancel
its order. Executives close to the company said PrimeCo Personal Comm. has
canceled its $500 million contract and will replace almost all its Motorola
gear with equipment and software from rival supplier Lucent Technologies.
Motorola's problems supplying systems for so-called personal communications
services could seriously damage its credibility as a leading provider of
network and software world-wide.

Title: McCain To Introduce Bill To Repeal Excise Tax On Telecom Services
Source: Telecom AM---feb. 24, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Wireless
Description: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman McCain will introduce a bill
"immediately" to repeal the three-percent excise tax on telecom services, he
said Feb. 23. Minutes before, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry
Assoc. President Thomas Wheeler had urged wireless carriers to detail the
costs of various taxes on bills so customers can know "what they're paying
for and why." McCain said state and local governments see the wireless
industry as "a cash cow." He said it should be protected from taxes to
sustain its growth. McCain added that he was "astounded" that the FCC
"resisted" attempts to detail taxes on phone bills.

Title: Kennard Calls On Wireless Industry To Meet 'Club' Obligations
Source: Telecom AM---feb. 24, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Wireless
Description: "Wireless has arrived" as a "full-fledged member of the telecom
club," said FCC Chairman Kennard. But as a club member, the industry has an
obligation to contribute to the universal service fund, meet E911 location
capability mandates and serve the disabled community. Kennard also said key
decisions are ahead for the industry on wireless tower siting,
interconnection and numbering. He acknowledged the different technical
issues that wireless carriers face, but said "911 calls must go through" and
called on the industry to develop callback and location capability before
the FCC's requirement goes into effect in 2001.

** Cable **

Title: TCI Selects At Home Corp. For Services
Source: Wall Street Journal (B8)
http://wsj.com/
Author: David Bank
Issue: Set-Top Boxes
Description: Tele-Communications Inc. selected At Home Corp. to provide
e-mail services to users of as many as 11 million new cable TV set-top
boxes, a potentially lucrative franchise as online advertising increases.
At Home will also help banks, travel companies and online service providers
develop software for TCI's new set-top boxes. The role will make At Home a
referee between Microsoft and Sun, which were earlier selected to provide
operating systems and other technology for the new boxes. The selection of
At Home is further evidence of the intention of cable operators to retain
control of technology in the new boxes.

** Regulation **

Title: European Study Paints Chilling Portrait of Technology's Uses
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/euro/022498euro.html
Author: Bruno Giussani
Issue: Technology Regulation
Description: A new study by the European Parliament titled "An Appraisal of
Technologies of Political Control" describes the ability of a massive
telecommunications interception network to tap into almost all international
telecommunications as well as parts of domestic phone traffic. According to
the study, written by Steve Wright, and analyst with the Omega Foundation, a
British human rights organization, on behalf of a research unit of the
European Parliament known as STOA (Scientific and Technological Operations
Assessment), the network "targets the telephone, fax and email messages of
private citizens, politicians, trade unionists and companies alike."
Apparently, the network, dubbed Echelon, is operated by intelligence
agencies without any mechanism of democratic control. According to the
report, many governments have spent huge sums of money over the past several
years to develop new technologies for their police and security forces.
While these technologies may be used for legitimate law enforcement purposes
and may be relatively harmless when accompanied by accountability mechanisms
and strong regulation, "without such democratic controls they provide
powerful tools of oppression," the report states. The fear is that with the
increased speed and complexity of technological innovation, controls of the
past are quickly weakening.
*********

Television
FCC: Free Air Time for Political Candidates

Satellite
NYT: Satellite Experiment Builds a Tribal 'Meta-University'
FCC: DBS Service Rules, Technical Rules and Ownership Limitations

Mergers
WP: CSC Refuses Attempted Takeover
NYT: Computer Services Company Vows Fight on Hostile Offer
FCC: Bell Atlantic/NYNEX Merger Performance Monitoring Reports

Internet
WSJ: Start-Up Plans Internet Search Service Tying Results to
Advertising Spending
NYT: A New Tack for Filtering Spam
NYT: Internet Transmissions Should Remain Duty Free, U.S. Tells
World Body
TelecomAM: Missouri PSC Sets March Hearings On Promoting Internet Access

Privacy/Security
WP: Phone Users' Privacy Addressed
WSJ: FCC Rules Limit the Use of People's Phone Records
TelecomAM: FCC Sets Rules For Use Of Proprietary Phone Information
FCC: Customer Privacy Provisions of 1996 Telecommunications Act

International
WP: MCI, AT&T Find Mexico a Bad Connection

Microsoft
WSJ: AOL, MCI Subpoenaed in Microsoft Case

** Television **

Title: Free Air Time for Political Candidates
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/Statements/stwek809.html
Author: Chairman Bill Kennard
Issue: Free Air Time for Political Candidates
Description: FCC Chairman William E. Kennard States Preliminary Views in
Support of FCC Authority to Require Broadcasters to Provide Free or
Reduced-Rate Air Time to Political Candidates: "The FCC has received dozens
of requests and petitions from citizens, political scientists, public
interest advocates, 55 Members of Congress and the President asking the
Commission to examine whether broadcasters should be obligated to provide
free or reduced rate air time for political candidates as a way of reducing
the demand for campaign dollars by enhancing candidates' ability to reach
the electorate. Given these calls and my conviction that improved exposure
to informed political debate would serve the public interest, I favor an FCC
rulemaking proceeding examining free or reduced-rate air time initiatives."

** Satellite **

Title: Satellite Experiment Builds a Tribal 'Meta-University'
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/nation/022098nation.html
Author: Jason Chervokas & Tom Watson
Issue: EdTech
Description: Northwest Indian College, in Bellingham, WA, is part of an
ambitious experiment in distance learning. The program, called the American
Indian Higher Education Consortium Distance Learning Network, uses a network
of satellite links spread across 30 tribally controlled community colleges
to offer audio, video and data course materials in everything from
accounting and business management to native philosophy. "The system has
two-way audio, video and data capability between schools where there are
both downlinks and uplinks, and one-way data transfer elsewhere." The
results have been mixed over the past three years since the program started,
but enrollment in virtual classes has more than doubled in each of the
years and "a 'meta-university' is developing that serves previously
unreachable groups of students where education is needed to help combat high
unemployment and poverty."

Title: DBS Service Rules, Technical Rules and Ownership Limitations
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/International/News_Releases/1998/nrin8004.html
Issue: Satellite
Description: In order to facilitate the licensing of advanced satellite
services and to promote competition in the multichannnel video programming
delivery (MVPD) market, the Commission has proposed streamlining and
consolidating its service rules governing the Direct Broadcast Satellite
(DBS) service. The Commission's proposals are consistent with its goal of
regulating services in a common-sense manner that reduces regulatory burdens
and facilitates the delivery of new services to consumers. To these ends,
the Commission proposes consolidating the DBS service rules, currently
located in Part 100, with the rules for the other satellite services,
including the Direct-to-Home Fixed-Satellite Service (DTH-FSS) in Part 25.
The Commission also proposed updating the technical rules for the DBS
service and requested comment on additional actions it could undertake to
speed the delivery of DBS service to the states of Alaska and Hawaii as well
as to non-continental United States territories and possessions. [Statements
of Commissioners Furchtgott-Roth
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Furchtgott_Roth/Statements/sthfr806.html and
Powell http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Powell/Statements/stmkp804.html]

** Mergers **

Title: CSC Refuses Attempted Takeover
Source: Washington Post (G1,G4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/20/056l-022098-idx.html
Author: Mark Leibovich
Issue: Merger
Description: On Thursday, Computer Sciences Corp.'s board of directors
rejected an unsolicited bid from Computer Associates International. The
board said the deal would make "no business sense" and that it had no
intention of negotiating a deal with Computer Associates. In a letter to
CA's chairman, Charles Wang, Van Honeycutt, CSC'c chief executive, said,
that Computer Sciences had "moved to strengthen our protection against your
ill-considered and unwelcome attempt to force and acquisition" and that the
company would "utilize every legal means necessary to defeat your attempt."

Title: Computer Services Company Vows Fight on Hostile Offer
Source: New York Times (C3)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/022098merger.html
Author: Saul Hansell
Issue: Merger
Description: Computer Sciences Corp. announced yesterday that it would fight
the hostile takeover bid made by Computer Associates International Inc. CSC
said that CA's offer of $9.8 billion, or $108 a share, was far too low and
that a merger would pose problems for its customers, employees and business
prospects. CSC's chief executive, Van Honeycutt, released a letter to
Charles Wang, CA's chief executive, that said, in part: "Charles, we
respectfully suggest that you withdraw your offer immediately and move on."
CA issued a statement saying that it would continue to fight for the merger.

Title: Bell Atlantic/NYNEX Merger Performance Monitoring Reports
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/ba_pmr/
Issue: Mergers
Description: This URL noted above provides a link to an Excel (version 4.0)
spreadsheet file which contains all of the non-proprietary data filed by
Bell Atlantic pursuant to the Bell Atlantic/NYNEX merger order, Appendices C
and D. Bell Atlantic has not requested confidential treatment for certain
data concerning its retail operations in the performance monitoring reports
for Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. The
FCC is making the information for these jurisdictions available at this
time. The FCC has not determined if the data does or does not conform to the
merger requirements and the FCC has not audited the validity of the data. If
you have any legal questions, please call Tony Dale on (202) 418-2260. If
you have technical or engineering questions, please call Whitey Thayer on
(202) 418-0822.

** Internet **

Title: Start-Up Plans Internet Search Service Tying Results to Advertising
Spending
Source: Wall Street Journal (B6)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Don Clark
Issue: Online Services
Description: GoTo.Com is the latest in a series of start-ups hoping to
improve on conventional technologies for finding information on the World
Wide Web. Companies such as Yahoo! and Lycos and Excite have built large
audiences, but are often criticized for returning large quantities of
irrelevant material. Bill Gross, GoTo.Com's founder, decided to let market
forces take over where technology development failed. The search service is
based on the idea of ranking answers to consumer queries according to which
advertiser will bid the most money. The concept would be controversial
because so many Web users are seeking information that doesn't necessarily
come from the largest companies. But Mr. Gross argues that the idea is much
the same as ads in the Yellow Pages, where big companies often purchase
prominent positions. "It's the stock market for attention," Mr. Gross said.
"I think it's going to change the marketplace forever."

Title: A New Tack for Filtering Spam
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/022098spam-filter.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: Two programmers in Florida, Jennifer Vassilev and Maurice
Valmont, have developed software that promises a simple solution to the
overabundance of spam. The program, called Mail Guard, processes an
individuals email before it gets to her/his mailbox. "Mail Guard then
automatically creates a 'blacklist' and a 'whitelist' by asking all unknown
senders to reply to a query that says they will never send unsolicited junk
email." Since the majority of spammers send in bulk, most are unlikely to
ever respond. These messages are then kept out of the user's mailbox in a
separate file and the address is added to the black list. The program user
also can physically add names to the lists.

Title: Internet Transmissions Should Remain Duty Free, U.S. Tells
World Body
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/022098trade.html
Author: Bruno Giussani
Issue: Internet Use and Regulation
Description: Yesterday, the U.S. proposed to the World Trade Organization
that Internet transmissions, such as downloading software, accessing
financial information, attending a "virtual" language class over the
Internet, etc., should be kept free of customs duties. Out of the 132
countries that are members of the WTO, none of them "currently consider
electronic transmission as import items for custom duties purposes" and
therefore "no one is levying duties on them," said U.S. Representative, Rita
Hayes, to the organization's General Council gathered in Geneva. Hayes
added, that WTO members "should agree to continue this practice" and
consider the Internet a duty-free zone. The U.S. proposal was welcomed by
diplomats from industrialized countries, such as Japan, Switzerland,
Australia and the European Union. On the other hand, diplomats from
developing countries voiced suspicions over the U.S. administration's
intentions and spoke of their reluctance to give up this possible future
source of tax revenue. The Nigerian representative stressed that the
Internet is still in the early stages of development in Africa. And the
Egyptian representative expressed concern that international discrimination
would arise from the technological dominance of the U.S. and a handful of
other countries, adding, "electronic commerce and the computer industry are
not a level playing field today,"

Title: Missouri PSC Sets March Hearings On Promoting Internet Access
Source: Telecom AM---feb. 20, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Internet: Access
Description: The Missouri Public Service Commission will hold five public
hearings around the state to collect customer comments on Internet access
concerns and issues. The hearings are part of a PSC study of what changes
are needed to facilitate public access to the Internet. The PSC has asked
each intervenor and service provider in this proceeding to file a position
paper outlining the Internet access services and rates now available, and
offering specific suggestions for rule changes to improve availability of
Internet access services.

** Privacy/Security **

Title: Phone Users' Privacy Addressed
Source: Washington Post (G1,G3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/20/059l-022098-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Privacy
Description: The Federal Communications Commission moved to protect
consumers yesterday from having their privacy invaded by telephone companies
hoping to use customer calling information for marketing purposes.
"Consumers will now control what the phone company can do with that personal
information," said William Kennard, FCC Chairman. They "can be confident
that personal information will not be used or sold by phone companies
without their consent." Telecommunications companies will now be required to
obtain explicit permission to use data, by informing consumers, by mail or
telephone, about how they wish to use or sell the data and then ask their
permission.

Title: FCC Rules Limit the Use of People's Phone Records
Source: Wall Street Journal (B9)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Privacy
Description: In an attempt to protect customer privacy, federal regulators
adopted rules aimed at preventing telephone, cellular and paging companies
from using customer records or calling patterns to sell other services. The
FCC agreed to require companies to obtain permission -- either written, oral
or electronic -- to use such personal information before they market new
services to those people. A 1996 telecom law says companies have to secure
permission to use personal information about customers before pitching them
new services or products. AT&T, as well as other companies wanted the FCC to
let them assume they have permission to use customers' personal information
unless customers tell them they may not. The FCC rejected this approach, and
instead put the onus on telecom companies, the FCC officials said.

Title: FCC Sets Rules For Use Of Proprietary Phone Information
Source: Telecom AM---feb. 20, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Privacy
Description: The FCC clarified rules to protect private information about
consumers' phone service that some companies say will make one-stop shopping
a bit more expensive. The Commission approved regulations defining when
phone companies can use proprietary information about a customer's service
without approval and set rules for seeking permission when it is needed.
Regulations that protect so-called customer proprietary network information
-- such as "when you call, who you call and how much you pay for the call"
-- was included in the Telecom Act, Chairman Kennard said.

Title: Customer Privacy Provisions of 1996 Telecommunications Act
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/1998/nrcc8019.html
Issue: Privacy
Description: The Commission adopted an Order that furthers the privacy
rights of telecommunications customers while promoting the convenience by
which customers may receive telecommunications service. In addition, the
Commission's action fosters fair competition among telecommunications
carriers regarding the use of customer information. This sensitive and
commercially valuable customer information includes, for example, when a
customer places a call, whom and where a customer calls, and the types of
service offerings to which a customer subscribes. The Telecommunications Act
of 1996 refers to this as "customer proprietary network information," or
CPNI. [See statement of Commissioner Susan Ness
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Ness/States/stsn806.html]

Title: Digital Information Protection Proposed
Source: Washington Post (G3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/20/060l-022098-idx.html
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Digital Protection
Description: Five companies, Hitachi Ltd, Intel Corp., Marsushita Electric
Industrial Co, Sony Corp and Toshiba Corp., proposed a technical framework
Thursday to hopefully prevent people from making unauthorized duplicate of
copyrighted material, such as music and movies, when it is stored in digital
form. The group hopes to see devices with the anti-copying technology in
retail stores by the end of the year.

** International **

Title: MCI, AT&T Find Mexico a Bad Connection
Source: Washington Post (G1,G4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/20/065l-022098-idx.html
Author: John Ward Anderson
Issue: International/Telephony
Description: MCI and AT&T decided to enter the Mexican phone market when the
market became fully privatized on Jan. 1, 1997. However, these two U.S.
behemoths underestimated the strength of Telmex, Mexico's ex-monopoly phone
company, and overestimated how many customer they could steal from the
former monopoly. "The promised Clash of the Titans has degenerated into a
playground brawl, with the U.S. companies casting themselves as 90-pound
weaklings being picked on by the resident bully." Although AT&T and MCI now
offer long-distance services to Mexican consumers, they have to use Telmex's
local phone network to complete their international and domestic
long-distance calls, forcing the companies to give more than 70 percent of
their revenue to Telmex. In a letter to FCC Chairman William Kennard, asking
the FCC to intervene on MCI's behalf, MCI chief executive Gerald H. Taylor
said, "MCI knows how to compete, but we cannot do so against a heavily
subsidized Telmex, whose strategy of open discrimination and
anti-competitive abuse has been tolerated for far too long." Some
communications analyst said that the U.S. companies are victims of their own
"brash style and inflated expectations." Ray Ligouri, a telecommunications
analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York said, "This notion that Telmex is
the behemoth and poor little MCI and AT&T are getting beat up is ridiculous.
Rather than adapt to the Mexican style of negotiation and conciliation, they
have been very adversarial, especially Avantel [the MCI joint venture]. This
is a bed U.S. carriers made for themselves, and now they don't want to lie
in it."

** Microsoft **

Title: AOL, MCI Subpoenaed in Microsoft Case
Source: Wall Street Journal (B6)
http://wsj.com/
Author: John R. Wilke & David Bank
Issue: Antitrust
Description: The Justice Dept. sent civil subpoenas to AOL and MCI to
examine additional channels Microsoft uses to distribute its Internet
Explorer software. A Microsoft spokesman said the company doesn't know what
the department is seeking in its requests. The subpoenas appear to focus on
whether the Internet providers agreed to favor Microsoft's Internet Explorer
product over Netscape's browser program. AOL reported that the Justice Dept.
requested that AOL turn over correspondence and contracts with Microsoft.
Department officials have said they are conducting a broad examination of
Microsoft's practices beyond the pending case.
*********
Swoooosh! And we are outta here. Have a great weekend and we'll see you Monday.

Spectrum
WSJ: FCC May Alter Payment Plan For Licenses
WP: Virginia Tech Won't Get FCC Discount

FCC
FCC: Biennial Review Home Page
TelecomAM: FCC Chairman Challenges Industry To Create
Education Partnerships
FCC: Lessons from the Underground Railroad

Telephony
NYT: US West to Ask FCC Permission to Build Big Data Network

Technology
WP: High-Tech ID Cards Planned For Use on Mexican Boarder
WP: Intel Expands Pentium II Chip Line at High, Low Ends

Mergers
NYT: Hostile Offer For Computer Services Unit
WP: Computer Associates Bid For CSC Turns Hostile
WP: Illinois Company Buys Coherent Communications
WSJ: BellSouth, EDS Plan An Alliance to Offer Data Services
in Region

Microsoft
WSJ: Injunction Sought Against Microsoft Is Denied by Judge
NYT: Judge Dismisses Texas Challenge Against Microsoft

** Spectrum **

Title: FCC May Alter Payment Plan For Licenses
Source: Wall Street Journal (B2)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Bryan Gruley & Elizabeth Jensen
Issue: Spectrum
Description: Federal regulators are preparing to make small but significant
changes that would aid wireless companies that haven't been able to pay
billions of dollars for licenses they won in a government auction two years
ago. Bidders in the FCC auction offered $10.2 billion for licenses to use
the airwaves to provide a new generation of wireless phone service. But last
year, many said they couldn't pay on the FCC's installment plan, and the
commission adopted a plan letting bidders choose among four options to pay
or relinquish their licenses. Now, in response to pleas by several
companies, the FCC is considering changes that would give bidders more
flexibility in choosing an option and allow them to forfeit less of the
money they have paid the gov't., agency officials said.

Title: Virginia Tech Won't Get FCC Discount
Source: Washington Post (C13,C14)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/18/041l-021898-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Spectrum
Description: Bidding will begin today at a federal auction for the largest
blocks of airwaves ever to be put up for sale. An unlikely bidder among the
wireless industry giants and venture capitalists is Virginia Tech. The
university hopes to win a license covering the 7,000-square-mile area around
its Blacksburg campus. If it wins, student engineers hope to construct a
test project showing that "low-cost, high-speed Internet access to each home
and office, using small antenna, is possible in an area where mountains and
trees often cause radio interference." Yet the Federal Communications
Commission denied VA Tech's request to be classified as a bidder with no
revenue yesterday, a designation which would have given the university a 45
percent discount on the price of its license. The FCC said the reason for
its decision is because the nonprofit VA Tech Foundation, which is financing
and carrying out the project, has endowments totaling about $78 million, $3
million over the limit required for the "small business" designation. The
agency also counted the $500 million that the school receives annually from
state aid, tuition and other sources. The FCC "has not adopted any special
exemptions for not-for-profit entities," said a letter yesterday from
kathleen O'Brian Ham, chief of the FCC's wireless bureau, to Virginia Tech.
The university therefore, "does not meet the gross revenue requirements to
qualify as an entrepreneur." To make it worse, university officials say that
most of the wealthiest bidders qualified for the discounts of 25 to 45
percent because, despite their billions in assets, these companies have
little or no revenue.

** FCC **

Title: Biennial Review Home Page
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/biennial/
Issue: Regulation
Description: Section 11 of the Communications Act requires the Commission to
review all of its regulations applicable to providers of telecommunications
service in every even-numbered year, beginning in 1998, to determine whether
the regulations are no longer in the public interest due to meaningful
economic competition between providers of the service and whether such
regulations should be repealed or modified. Section 202(h) of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 also requires the Commission to review its
broadcast ownership rules biennially as part of the review conducted
pursuant to section 11. The Commission has determined that the first
biennial regulatory review presents an excellent opportunity for a serious
top-to-bottom examination of all of the Commission's regulations, not just
those statutorily required to be reviewed.

Title: FCC Chairman Challenges Industry To Create Education Partnerships
Source: Telecom AM---feb. 18, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Education/Jobs
Description: FCC Chairman Kennard challenged the telecom industry to
establish partnerships with universities to train and prepare high-tech
workers. Kennard said studies show a lack of trained workers will result in
345,000 unfilled technology jobs this year. Kennard also said that the
Virginia High-Technology Partnership Program should be a model for the rest
of the industry. "I would be delighted to the see the FCC
related-industries... consider setting up a partnership like this one." [see
speech at http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/spwek804.html]

Title: Lessons from the Underground Railroad
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Powell/spmkp802.html
Issue: Minorities
Description: Commissioner Powell's 2/17/98 Remarks to the Douglass Policy
Institute. "Let me ...commemorate Black History month by focusing my
comments on the apt theme of this forum: 'From the Underground Railroad to
the Information Superhighway.' To be honest, when I first heard this title I
thought it a bit strained. Is there really any connection between the
underground railroad and telecommunications policy? When we asked Faye
[Anderson, Douglass Policy Institute] for a little help with what she was
getting at, she dutifully pointed out that both the underground railroad and
the information superhighway are powerful metaphors for opportunity. In a
time before Black History Month even existed, some of our ancestors rode the
Underground Railroad, risking their lives and their families to trade
slavery and degradation for freedom and at least a chance for a better life.
It dawned on me that this last part -- freedom and a chance -- is what
serves as the common ground for both our ancestors migrating from the South
and those of us who are trying to make our way onto the information
superhighway."

** Telephony **

Title: US West to Ask FCC Permission to Build Big Data Network
Source: New York Times (D4)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/021798uswest.html
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: Telephony
Description: US West Communications Group, which provides local telephone
service in 14 western states, said Tuesday that it plans to ask federal
regulators for permission to build a large new data network. Their move
joins a new attack on rules that keep the Bell local telephone companies out
of the $80 billion long-distance market. Executives at US West said that
they intend to file a petition with the Federal Communications Commission
within a week. The company also announced yesterday agreements with six
major computer and software developers and with a company that is building a
new national fiber-optic network.

** Technology **

Title: High-Tech ID Cards Planned For Use on Mexican Boarder
Source: Washington Post (A19)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/18/059l-021898-idx.html
Author: William Branigin
Issue: Smart Cards
Description: In an effort to tighten control of the US-Mexican boarder, the
US government will soon begin replacing millions of Boarder Crossing Cards
with state-of-the-art documents that use compact-disc technology to store
information. The new cards, called"laser-visa" cards, will have security
features that will make them more difficult to counterfeit.

Title: Intel Expands Pentium II Chip Line at High, Low Ends
Source: Washington Post (C15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/18/049l-021898-idx.html
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Computer Technology
Description: In an effort to better tailor its products to fit different
types of computers, the Intel Corp announced yesterday that it will
introduce two new lines of computer chips based on its Pentium II
microprocessor. Andrew Grove, chairman of Intel, told a group of software
and hardware developers that in the next few months the company will unveil
a new brand of chips intended for the sub-$1000 machines, one of the
fastest-growing segments of the computer market. The other new line will be
aimed at sophisticated workstations and servers. "One size certainly doesn't
fit all the processor business anymore," said Drew Peck, an analyst with
Cowen & Co. in Boston. With the growing enthusiasm for less expensive PCs,
Intel needed to develop another computer chip to reduce the price erosion
that has been reducing the profitability of its current mainstream chip, he
said.

** Mergers **

Title: Hostile Offer For Computer Services Unit
Source: New York Times (D1,D21)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/021898merger.html
Author: Saul Hansell
Issue: Merger
Description: Computer Associates International Inc. intensified its bid to
purchase Computer Sciences Corp. yesterday by filing a formal tender offer
to buy its stock for $108 a share in cash. Merger experts say that Computer
Associates' move towards a hostile takeover will increase the chances of the
Computer Sciences Corp. being sold -- if not to Computer Associates then to
another company. "One way or another, this company is going to get sold,"
said Moshe Katri, an analyst with UBS Securities. He said that Computer
Sciences' business appeared to be slowing down making it a more attractive
time to sell. "Fundamentally, business is kind of weak for these guys,"
Katri said, "and they have a more than generous offer."

Title: Computer Associates Bid For CSC Turns Hostile
Source: Washington Post (C13,C15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/18/046l-021898-idx.html
Author: Mark Leibovich
Issue: Merger
Description: Computer Associates International Inc. turned hostile
yesterday after the Computer Sciences Corp. did not respond to overtures to
negotiate a friendly merger. CA revised their offer from $114 a share to
$108 a share after CSC did not respond to a letter that CA President Sanjay
Kumar wrote to CSC chief executive Van B. Honeycutt over the weekend. "If
substantive negotiations have not started by Monday at 12:00 noon EST, we
will have no choice but to move ahead on a unilateral basis at a
substantially lower price than we communicated," Kumar said in the letter.
CA would not comment yesterday. CS spokesman, Bruce Plowman, said his
company would respond later this week. "Until then, Computer Associates can
do whatever it wants," Plowman said. Computer Sciences has 10 days to
respond to Computer Associates' bid.

Title: Illinois Company Buys Coherent Communications
Source: Washington Post (C15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/18/048l-021898-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Merger
Description: Tellabs Inc., based in Lisle, IL, announced yesterday that it
will merge with Coherent Communications Systems Corp., based in Ashburn, VA,
in a deal valued at approximately $670 million. The deal will combine
Tellabs' strength in the US market for products that improve voice quality
over traditional and wireless telephone networks with Coherent's strong
international presence with similar voice-enhancement products for
telecommunications companies. "The combination of Tellabs and Coherent
Communications allows us to bring sophisticated echo-canceler and
speech-processing technology to customers around the world and provides us
the resources to quickly explore new uses for this technology," said Michael
Birck,Tellabs president and chief executive.

Title: BellSouth, EDS Plan An Alliance to Offer Data Services in Region
Source: Wall Street Journal (B2)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Merger
Description: Electronic Data Systems and BellSouth said they will form an
alliance to sell data services to small and midsize businesses in the nine
southeastern states where BellSouth provides phone service. The alliance
comes six months after BellSouth, Atlanta, chose EDS, Plano, Texas, to
operate the computer systems of its telecommunications subsidiary. Execs
said the companies jointly would invest $50 million in the alliance.
Initially, the alliance will sell Internet commerce services and management
help for wide-area computer networks.

** Microsoft **

Title: Injunction Sought Against Microsoft Is Denied by Judge
Source: Wall Street Journal (B10)
http://wsj.com/
Author: David Bank
Issue: Antitrust
Description: A Texas district-court judge rejected arguments by the state's
attorney general that provisions in Microsoft's licensing agreements
interfered with the state's antitrust investigation of the company's
marketing practices. Judge Joseph Harris refused to grant an injunction
sought by Texas Attorney General Dan Morales, who challenged the
nondisclosure agreements Microsoft requires of computer makers and others
that license its software. Mr. Morales said his probe of Microsoft's
business practices has been hampered by companies' fears that they will have
to report to Microsoft about any information they share with investigators.
Microsoft said Mr. Morales produced no evidence that the nondisclosure
agreement had interfered with his investigation.

Title: Judge Dismisses Texas Challenge Against Microsoft
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/021798texas.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Judge Joseph Hart of State district Court in Austin dismissed a
lawsuit by the state yesterday that challenged part of the licensing
agreements that the Microsoft Corp. has with computer manufacturers. Judge
Hart said that he would consider further evidence showing that the
non-disclosure provision, which require manufacturers to notify Microsoft
before releasing any information to government investigators, is hampering
the state's investigation. "We are please that the court recognized the
important role non-disclosure agreements play in protecting microsoft's
intellectual property -- out most valuable asset," said Tom Burt, associated
general counsel for Microsoft.
*********