EDTECH
Boston Becomes 1st Big City to Link Entire School System to Web (WP)
Company Offers Schools Advertiser-Supported Computer Labs (CyberTimes)
INTERNET
Letter to the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (NTIA)
Replay on Internet Porn (WP)
Candidates in Tight Races Turn to Web, Survey Finds (CyberTimes)
Nielsen Partners With Web Measurement Company (CyberTimes)
Intel Is Investing In Health Firms On The Internet (WSJ)
TELEVISION
Commissioner Ness's Remarks at the MSTV Annual Update (FCC)
Gay Church Sues TV Station for Rejecting an Infomercial (NYT)
TELEPHONY
Phone Fee Quirk Benefits New Providers (NYT)
SBC Communications, Inc and SNET Merger (FCC)
Tariffing of Digital Subscriber Line Services (NTIA)
SATELLITE
Iridium Is Set to Launch Call Service But Concerns Mount Over
Performance (WSJ)
JOBS
Vacancy Announcement: Associate Administrator for Policy
Analysis and Development (NTIA)
ANTITRUST
In Its Case Against Microsoft, U.S. Now Cites Note From Apple (NYT)
U.S. Signals New Focus in Microsoft Case (WSJ)
U.S. Uses Apple Notes Against Microsoft (WP)
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EDTECH
======
BOSTON BECOMES 1ST BIG CITY TO LINK ENTIRE SCHOOL SYSTEM TO WEB
Issue: EdTech
On Monday Boston became the first large urban school district in the U.S. to
link all its public schools, libraries and community centers to the
Internet. The city possesses one computer for every 10 students in its 128
schools and aims to have a computer for every four students by 2001. The
effort, a partnership between government and private industry, has raised
over $26 million in outside support. Each Boston public school has at least
one computer lab. About 60 percent of the system's 4800 teachers have been
trained on using computers as instructional tools. The effort led by Boston
Mayor Thomas Menino is intended to give economically disadvantaged students
access to technology, improved education and additional career
opportunities. [This story appeared in the Washington Post on Tuesday.]
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A6), AUTHOR: Pamela Ferdinand]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-10/27/041l-102798-idx.html
COMPANY OFFERS SCHOOLS ADVERTISER-SUPPORTED COMPUTER LABS
Issue: EdTech/Advertising
Faustian bargain or sensible horse trade. ZapMe!, a new company, is offering
schools thousands of dollars worth of free computer equipment, software and
Internet access in exchange for the right to post advertising in schools.
"When I first heard about this, I asked the ZapMe! people 'Are you sure your
offices are in San Ramon and not the North Pole?'" said Theodore F. Maddock,
technology coordinator for Mt. Diablo High School, a public school that uses
ZapMe! and serves a largely poor and minority student body in Concord, CA.
"This is one of a number of commercial initiatives that tie in access to
selling students' eyeballs," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the
nonprofit Center for Media Education, an electronic media public interest
group in Washington, D.C. Mr. Chester added, "Selling is not the purpose of
public education. Educating students is." Mendels reports, Schools that join
get free computer equipment and services -- including a satellite dish, 15
personal computers for a computer lab and Internet access -- as well as
support and maintenance of the system. It is a package worth about $9,500 a
month over a three-year period, according to Frank J. Vigil, president of
the company.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Pamela Mendels
mendels( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/education/28education.html
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INTERNET
========
LETTER TO THE INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS
Issue: Internet
"Based on a review of ICANN's submission, other public submissions, and on
public comments on those submissions, the Department of Commerce regards the
ICANN submission as a significant step towards privatizing management of the
domain name system. Overall, the submissions we received supported moving
forward with the ICANN structure. We note, however, that the public comments
received on the ICANN submission reflect significant concerns about
substantive and operational aspects of ICANN. We strongly recommend that you
review and consider the many thoughtful and constructive comments posted at
www.ntia.doc.gov. The submissions of the Boston Working Group and the Open
Root Server Confederation, among others, articulate specific concerns, many
of which we share. As you refine your proposal, we urge you to consult with
these groups and others who commented critically on your proposal to try to
broaden the consensus."
[SOURCE: NTIA]
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/icann102098.htm
REPLAY ON INTERNET PORN
Issue: Internet/Content [Editorial]
The constitutional challenge to the 1996 Communications Decency Act will
soon be revisited in a Philadelphia court. Critics of the original law have
already filed suit against Congress's revised version the 1996 Act, which as
rejected by the Supreme Court last summer. While the new law replaces the
"indecency" standard with "harmful to minors" and now only applies to
commercial Web sites, the "new measure is an echo of the original bad idea."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A18), AUTHOR: Washington Post Editorial Staff]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-10/28/010l-102898-idx.html
CANDIDATES IN TIGHT RACES TURN TO WEB, SURVEY FINDS
Issue: Media & Politics
Elaine Kamarck, researcher at Harvard University's Kennedy School of
Government, has found that the more competitive the political contest, the
more likely a candidate will try to reach out to voters online with a Web
site. "In a competitive race, you would not want to leave even one stone
unturned," Ms. Kamarck said. "In competitive races, people are on the Net."
Of the 46 candidates running in competitive races for Governor or United
States Senate, only one candidate -- Gov. Lincoln Almond of Rhode Island --
did not have a campaign Web site. Of the 36 major-party gubernatorial
candidates, 83% of the incumbents have campaign sites, while 92% of their
major-party challengers do. Of 28 candidates said to be in competitive
gubernatorial races, 27 have Web sites. Candidates in Senate races are not
quite as Web-friendly and Ms. Kamarck believes it is because the races are
less competitive. In 34 Senate races nationwide, 77% of the incumbents have
campaign Web sites, and 64% of the major-party challengers have them.
However, all of the 18 candidates in competitive races for the Senate have
sites, Ms. Kamarck said. In the House, only 19% of the 409 incumbents
running for re-election have campaign sites, while 52% of the 371
challengers had sites. Two factors may influence these numbers: Many
challengers with sites are vying for open seats, and many of the incumbents
are running unopposed. Ms. Kamarck found that of the 78 minor-party
candidates in gubernatorial races, just 44% had Web sites. Of the 72
minor-party candidates for Senate, 33% were on the Web, and of the 295
running for Congress, 34% were online. "In direct contrast to those who
think the Web will be so revolutionary, the minor party candidates are not
using the Web," Ms. Kamarck said. "They're not there. And the major parties
are there." See also "Candidates for New York Governor Are Big Online
Spenders"
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/28campaign.html
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney
rfr( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/28campaign-side...
NIELSEN PARTNERS WITH WEB MEASUREMENT COMPANY
Issue: Mergers
Nielsen Media Research, the television audience measurement company, will
acquire a minority interest in NetRatings, a company that tracks Internet
usage. Nielsen's main competition in this new field will be the combined
Media Metrix and RelevantKnowledge companies -- they announced a merger on
October 12. "It's back to the future," said Jim Nail, an analyst with
Forrester Research. "Two weeks ago we started to solve the competing
technology problem that's been preventing a standard from evolving, with a
single vendor providing numbers for the industry. Well, now we're back to
where we were." According to John Dimling, Nielsen's president and chief
executive, the company had developed both a measurement technology and a
sample pool of Internet users this summer, "but we found that NetRatings had
a technology that was better than anyone else's, including ours, so we went
in that direction."
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: ]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/28ratings.html
INTEL IS INVESTING IN HEALTH FIRMS ON THE INTERNET
Issue: Health
Intel Corporation has made minority investments in health-care start-up
companies that are providing information on the Internet. Most of the
companies are providing personalized medical information. Making the
announcement, Intel Chairman Andrew Grove said that consumers are
transforming the medical industry with information from the Internet. He
admitted the corporation's support also was to encourage more use of
connected personal computers. Meeting participants presented data showing
that nearly half of Internet users have checked the credentials of their
doctors online and that some online support-group participants have improved
since joining the groups.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B4), AUTHOR: Dean Takahashi]
http://www.wsj.com/
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TELEVISION
==========
COMMISSIONER NESS'S REMARKS AT THE MSTV ANNUAL UPDATE
Issue: Digital TV
Commissioner Ness makes four main points on the conversion to digital
television: 1) We've come a long way; 2) There will be bumps along the way;
3) The Government's formal role is winding down as the new TV antennas are
being turned on; and 4) You need to keep your viewers foremost in mind. Also
contains interesting tidbits like: "the FCC has granted 104 Construction
Permits for new digital stations."
[SOURCE: FCC]
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Ness/spsn817.html
GAY CHURCH SUES TV STATION FOR REJECTING AN INFOMERCIAL
Issue: Advertising
The Cathedral of Hope, the nation's largest gay and lesbian church, filled
suit against Chicago TV station WGN for breaking an agreement to air a
church infomercial. The Dallas-based church spent two years producing an
infomercial intended, in part, to counter the recent anti-homosexual
campaign launched by conservative Christian groups. "We wanted mostly to
reach out to lesbian and gay teen-agers but also people living in rural
areas, to tell them there is this possibility that you can be gay and
Christian, there is this possibility that you are a child of God, " said the
Rev. Michael Piazza, pastor of the Cathedral of Hope. In July, WGN-TV
accepted an initial payment and scheduled five showings of the
advertisement. One week later, according to church officials, the station
returned the check and canceled the agreement.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A16), AUTHOR: Pam Belluck]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/wgn-ads.html
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TELEPHONY
=========
PHONE FEE QUIRK BENEFITS NEW PROVIDERS
Issue: Telephony
Federal Communications Commission will soon have to determine how data and
voice services will be regulated in this age of convergence. Current
regulations have lead to a situation that benefits new local phone
companies, but incumbent carriers claim is unfair. Reciprocal compensation,
which was intended to help newly competing phone companies share the cost of
local calls, now allows local entrants to change incumbents for calls their
customers make to Internet service providers, who are most often carried by
the new entrants. The reciprocal compensation rules have resulted in more
than $500 million in fees that Regional Bells will have to pay to new phone
companies this year alone.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/phone-fee.html
SBC COMMUNICATIONS, INC AND SNET MERGER
Issue: Mergers
From the news release: The Commission has approved the transfer of
communications licenses and authorizations from Southern New England
Telecommunications Corp. (SNET) to SBC Communications, Inc. (SBC), thereby
granting the companies' merger application. In accordance with the
Communications Act, merger applicants must persuade the Commission that
their proposed merger will serve the public interest. In this case, the
Commission concluded that the merger is unlikely to have any anticompetitive
effects or any other adverse effect on the public interest. The Commission
further found that the merger is likely to produce some tangible public
interest benefits, including possible improvements in wireless competition.
Based on these determinations, the Commission concluded that the merger is
in the public interest.
[SOURCE: FCC]
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/1998/nrcc8077.html
TARIFFING OF DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE SERVICES
Issue: Bandwidth
NTIA made a letter filing with the FCC on Tariffing of Digital Subscriber
Line Services, CC Docket Nos. 98-79, 98-103, 98-161, and 98-165: "A number
of incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) have filed tariffs with the
Commission covering so-called digital subscriber line (DSL) services, which
can provide end users with relatively high speed connections to Internet
Service Providers (ISPs). The Commission has solicited comment on the
question of whether such services are interstate offerings that can be
tariffed at the Federal level.(1) For the reasons set forth below, the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) believes
that the services at issue are interstate in nature. The Commission should
therefore permit the associated tariffs to go into effect, subject to the
conditions discussed below. The Commission should make clear, moreover, that
its decision (1) does not address the jurisdictional classification of
dial-up calls to ISPs; (2) does not disturb myriad State commission rulings
that, under existing interconnection agreements, such calls were intended to
be treated as local calls, thereby obliging ILECs to compensate competitive
local exchange carriers (CLECs) for dial-up calls to ISPs that are
terminated via CLECs' facilities; and (3) leaves in place the long-standing
access charge exemption for ISPs and other information service providers."
[SOURCE: NTIA]
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fccfilings/102798dslltr.htm
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SATELLITES
==========
IRIDIUM IS SET TO LAUNCH CALL SERVICE BUT CONCERNS MOUNT OVER PERFORMANCE
Issue: Satellites
A month after it had planned to start service, Iridium will begin
planet-wide communication service. This Sunday Iridium will turn on service
on its $5 billion system to commercial users. Iridium has 66 low-orbit
satellites to offer communications to or from any point on the globe. The
start of telephone service was delayed by quality problems which company
officials now say have been remedied by software changes and by
repositioning a series of antennas at satellite gateways where calls are
downlinked and connected to the commercial telephone system.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: Quentin Hardy]
http://www.wsj.com/
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JOBS
====
VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT: ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR POLICY ANALYSIS AND
DEVELOPMENT
Issue: Jobs
The Associate Administrator for Policy Analysis and Development provides
advice and assistance to the Assistant Secretary for Communications and
Information and is the principal official of the National Telecommunications
and Information Administration (NTIA) responsible for the analysis and
development of domestic telecommunications and information policy positions
of the Executive Branch of the Federal government. In this capacity, the
incumbent is responsible for the analyses, review, and formulation of
domestic telecommunications and information policies; and, at the direction
of the Assistant Secretary, the presentation of such policies before the
Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, industry and the public.
Incumbent is responsible for the (1) development and management of NTIA's
domestic telecommunications and information policy program to meet long- and
short-term policy goals and objectives, (2) direction and review of policy
research studies and analyses which incorporate the legal, economic,
technical and social aspects of domestic telecommunications and information
policy (3) integration and coordination with other units of NTIA of the
results of these studies and analyses into policy options and
recommendations for the Executive Branch, and (4) preparation of program
plans, budget documents, and periodic progress reports. Close date Nov 13.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otherinfo/documents/sesntia2.htm
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ANTITRUST
=========
IN ITS CASE AGAINST MICROSOFT, U.S. NOW CITES NOTE FROM APPLE (NYT)
U.S. SIGNALS NEW FOCUS IN MICROSOFT CASE (WSJ)
U.S. USES APPLE NOTES AGAINST MICROSOFT (WP)
Issue: Antitrust
One part of a host of new documents introduced by the Justice Department
Tuesday, was a handwritten note from Apple Computer's chief financial
officer Fred Anderson, explaining why Apple had agreed to use Micrsoft's
Internet Explorer on Macintosh computers. In the note, Anderson claims that
Microsoft had "threatened to abandon Mac" if the company did not make
Internet Explorer the default browser. If all goes as planed, tomorrow the
government will begin showing parts of the 20-hour videotaped deposition
given by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Steve Lohr & Joel Brinkley]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/biztech/articles/28soft.html
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR: John Wilke]
http://www.wsj.com/
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A8), AUTHOR: Rajiv Chandrasekaran]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/micro.htm
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Sorry, no Chicago Trib coverage today.