Communications-related Headlines for 10/1/99
INTERNET
Who's On First At Excite( at )Home Anyway? (NYT)
Hearing: Schools and Libraries Internet Access Act (House)
Survey: Electronic Mail Leading Reason To Go Online (SJM)
Workers Of The World Unite, On Line That Is (USA)
Skepticism On Online Degrees From A Supreme Court Justice (Cyber)
ECOMMERCE
Clinton Administration, Congress Press for a Ban on Net Taxation
(WSJ)
Easy on the E-Tax (WSJ)
TELEPHONY
At Last Some Competition (USA)
FCC Chairman Wary of MCI-Sprint Union (WP)
NTIA
Senate Commerce Approves Rohde/NTIA Nomination (Senate)
ARTS
Exploring the Aesthetics of Text (CyberTimes)
ADVERTISING
Real or Virtual? You Call It (NYT)
INTERNET
WHO'S ON FIRST AT EXCITE( at )HOME, ANYWAY?
Issue: Anti-Mergers
Recent market rumors and conflicting comments from Excite( at )Home and AT&T
officials about a potential break-up of Excite( at )Home has generated much
confusion. The board of the Excite( at )Home Corporation Thursday canceled a
meeting set for Monday to vote on splitting the company's Excite Web portal
from the AtHome cable modem venture. The decision to halt the meeting
resulted from Cox Communications, one of the venture's big shareholders,
threatening to veto the plan. Enter AT&T, the biggest shareholder in
Excite( at )Home. AT&T does not believe that Excite and At Home belong together.
There was speculation earlier this week that a deal under which Excite( at )Home
would be split -- with America Online acquiring Excite and AT&T retaining
AtHome -- was in the works. AT&T has been considering a deal to give America
Online enhanced access to AT&T's widespread cable television systems. If
Excite( at )Home were split, AT&T would then be able to make a deal with America
Online based on more access to its cable systems to provide high-speed
Internet access.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C2), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel & John Markoff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/10/biztech/articles/01phone.html)
HEARING: SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES INTERNET ACCESS ACT
Issue: Erate/Universal Service
Links to statements of Members of Congress and testimony at yesterday's
hearing.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://com-notes.house.gov/cchear/hearings106.nsf/12b6a0781fa86e88852567e50
07558f4/1de31ceb1e4d8faa852567b600775a75?OpenDocument)
See Also:
Acting Associate Administrator Kelly Levy delivered testimony on H.R. 1746,
the Schools and Libraries Internet Access Act, before the House Subcommittee
on Telecommunications.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/congress/erate93099.htm)
SURVEY: ELECTRONIC MAIL LEADING REASON TO GO ONLINE
Issue: Internet
According to the 1999 Consumer Technology Survey released yesterday by
consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, e-mail has replaced research as the
leading reason given by people in the U.S. for using the Internet.
Approximately 48% of U.S. consumers said e-mail was the primary reason to go
online, followed by research at 28% -- last year the numbers were
essentially the reverse. PricewaterhouseCoopers polled 800 users in the
U.S., the United Kingdom, Germany and France. In the U.K., 39% use the
Internet for e-mail, while 37% use it for research. Both German and French
users primarily go online for research purposes. The survey also said 43% of
U.S. homes have Internet access compared with around 27% in last year's
survey. In the U.K., home Internet access nearly doubled to 24%. U.S. users
spend an average 5.3 hours a week online, compared to users in the U.K.,
France, and Germany, who spend 2.4 hours a week online.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/912796l.htm)
Workers OF THE WORLD UNITE, ON LINE THAT IS
Issue: Internet/Advocacy
Has the Internet become the watercooler of the late 1990s? Workers at
companies around the nation are increasingly utilizing the Internet as a
means of exchanging information and organizing co-workers. IBM employees,
for example, have created Web sites that provide national forums to share
ideas and speak out online. "This is not just something for the techno
elite," says Erik Gordon, professor at the University of Florida's college
of business in Gainsville. "The ability of dispersed people to be organized
has completely changed." Online organizing is not just limited to high-tech
workplaces. Bruce Finely of the Food & Commercial Workers Union says that
the Internet has helped communication with younger
workers. "It's their medium," says Finely.
[SOURCE: USA Today (2B), AUTHOR: Stephanie Armour]
(http://www.usatoday.com/)
SKEPTICISM ON ONLINE DEGREES FROM A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
Issue: Ed-Tech
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg earlier this month touched off a
debate among law school officials, law school students and online educators
when she criticized efforts to offer law degrees online. The comments were
part of a speech on the history of legal education. Ginsburg believes the
Internet, when used as a supplement to the classroom, is an "invaluable
teaching tool." Chat rooms that extend discussions outside class could be a
boon "for the shy or withdrawn student, hesitant to speak in class," she
said. She also praised innovations like the use of the Internet to allow
students to hear oral arguments in important cases. However,
Ginsburg said she felt "uneasy" about classes in which students learn only
by sitting in front of a computer screen. She singled out the program
offered by the Concord University Law School. "So much of legal education
-- and legal practice -- is a shared enterprise, a genuinely interactive
endeavor," she said, according to a transcript of the speech. "The process
inevitably loses something vital when students learn in isolation, even if
they can engage in virtual interaction with peers and teachers. The debate
over Ginsburg's comments has taken place on the Jurist: The Law Professors'
Network, a site based at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. The
comments can be viewed at (http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/colloq.htm#Previous)
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Pam Mendels]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/10/cyber/cyberlaw/01law.html)
ECOMMERCE
CLINTON ADMINISTRATION, CONGRESS PRESS FOR A BAN ON NET TAXATION
Issue: Ecommerce
The Clinton administration and Congress are urging the World Trade
Organization to impose a permanent global ban on taxes and tariffs aimed
specifically at Internet commerce. The administration's particular concern
is the "bit tax" on transmission of digital data proposed recently by the
UN -- that tax would increase based on the size of the file being
transferred. Yesterday, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representative
Christopher Cox (R-CA) introduced legislation urging U.S. trade officials to
lobby for the permanent ban and said the U.S. should oppose an attempt by
any nation to impose a bit tax. Last year, the WTO adopted a one-year
moratorium on Internet tariffs and discriminatory taxes, but several
European countries have expressed interest in attempting to impose their
value-added taxes on goods sold in their respective countries. "We're trying
to get everyone to understand that this would be mutually assured
destruction," Representative Cox said. "It's appealing to people's better
judgment."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB938721449513854573.htm)
EASY ON THE E-TAX
Issue: Ecommerce
[Editorial] Sales taxes in the U.S. are extremely complicated with complex
jurisdictions, which cause confusion to businesses and customers. The key
question with respect to Internet
taxation is: Whose standards will be imposed? "Given this reality, there's
something to be said for sticking with chaos. Indeed, today's jumbled tax
landscape does have one salubrious effect: it provides a healthy check on
government avarice." E-businesses know the difference in taxation in this
medium, as many businesses choose states where there is no sales tax to
plant themselves for the duration. But "until the future of Internet
taxation becomes clearer, politicians would do well to err on the side of
letting a million tax flowers bloom."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Wall Street Journal Editorial Staff]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB938730685556277562.htm)
TELEPHONY
AT LAST SOME COMPETITION
Issue: Telephony/Competition
[Editorial] Bell Atlantic's application to provide long distance service to
residents of New York is an important step towards the competition Congress
promised consumers when telecommunications were deregulated in 1996. While
the regional Bells complain that the Federal Communications Commission has
blocked their attempts to enter the long-distance market, the Bells have no
one but themselves to blame for delaying competition to AT&T, Sprint, and
MCI. The 1996 law requires incumbent local carriers to open their systems
to competitors before they are allowed to offer long distance services to
their customers. Because the Bells have dragged their feet in opening local
markets to new entrants, they have also slowed their own ability to offer
consumers more long distance choices.
[SOURCE: USA Today (18A), AUTHOR: USA Today Editorial Staff]
(http://www.usatoday.com/)
FCC CHAIRMAN WARY OF MCI-SPRINT UNION
Issue: Merger
Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard is doubtful that
the FCC will permit a merger between MCI WorldCom and Sprint currently being
considered by the nation's second- and third-largest long-distance telephone
carriers. Chairman Kennard stressed that the FCC would seek to block any
move it perceives as a threat to the roiling
competition refashioning the telecommunications world. "American consumers
are enjoying the lowest long-distance rates in history," Chairman Kennard
said.
"That's a function of one thing: competition. We cannot allow any merger to
happen in this industry that turns back the clock of competition." The
MCI-Sprint union would result in a combined $35 billion in annual revenue
and control 30 percent of the nation's long-distance market, second only to
AT&T.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E3), AUTHOR: Peter S. Goodman]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-10/01/070l-100199-idx.html
)
NTIA
SENATE COMMERCE APPROVES ROHDE/NTIA NOMINATION
Issue: NTIA
Yesterday, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved
the nomination of Gregory Rohde to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Communication and Information.
[SOURCE: US Senate]
(http://www.senate.gov/~commerce/press/106-111.htm)
ARTS
EXPLORING THE AESTHETICS OF TEXT
Issue: Arts Online
A look at Ascii art, pictures made from precisely arranged letters, numbers
and punctuation marks, and how it can be used corroboratively online. "One
aspect of Ascii art that is compelling to a lot of people right now is its
difference from the ray-tracing images that are often described in some
circles as computer art," said artist Andy C. Deck. Using Ascii "is a flag
indicating an attitude that image-making with computers is not merely the
technical pursuit of creating the perfect simulation." At the same time,
Deck said, there is a forward-thinking element in working with Ascii. "To
use it as an artist," he said, "is a rejection of the idea that art with
computers needs to be some sort of simulation of the painting process. So
many of the paint-oriented programs have little buckets and brushes, and the
use of Ascii may signal a move away from those metaphors." Ascii, which
stands for "American Standard Code for Information Interchange," was created
in 1963 as a standardized way of storing textual information in digital
form. The term is now used to refer to plain text without any fancy
formatting or graphics. Long before there was a Web or HTML, people created
Ascii art as a way to include images in their e-mail. To see Ascii art,
visit these sites: Icontext (http://www.andyland.net/icontext/index.html),
Artcontext(http://www.artcontext.com/index.html), Ascii Art Web Pages
(http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/2695/links.htm), Vuk Cosic
(http://www.vuk.org/), Star Wars Asciimation
(http://www.asciimation.co.nz/), Windowsninetyeight
(http://www.shoevegas.com/windows).
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Matthew Mirapaul (mirapaul( at )nytimes.com)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/cyber/artsatlarge/30artsatlarge.h
tml)
ADVERTISING
REAL OR VIRTUAL? YOU CALL IT
Issue: Advertising
Digital technology has made in possible for advertisers to insert
electronic images like signs, brand logos and even product packages into
live and previously taped television programs. The use of virtual
advertising, as it is called, has generally been limited to live sports
programs, where make-believe billboards and trademarks appear next to the
real ads that wallpaper many sports stadiums. While American networks have
resisted the integration of this trend into entertainment programming, TV
shows in countries like Canada, Mexico and Spain are regularly augmented
with virtual product placements. "You are seeing the first glimpse of the
future of advertising," said Mr. Verklin of Carat, "where the product and
the program are integrated in a fashion that's more seamless than we ever
could have imagined." The prospect of this type of digital manipulation
outrages critics who fear the increasing commercialization of content.
"This is just one way television is up to its neck in commercialism, and
it's getting worse by the day," said Gary Ruskin, director of Commercial
Alert, an organization founded by consumer advocate Ralph Nader.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/10/biztech/articles/01adco.html)
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...and we are outta here. Have a great weekend.