INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Clinton Signs Digital Copyright Act (CyberTimes)
EDTECH
Where the Kitchen Is Also the Classroom (NYT)
Online Courses Reach Students Beyond a University's Walls (WSJ)
SATELLITE
Satellite Launched for D.C. Firm's Radio Venture (WP)
TELEPHONY
AT&T Set to Purchase Equipment To Deliver Service on TCI's Lines (WSJ)
Ryan, Devine join to oppose Ameritech deal (ChiTrib)
INTERNET
A Remedy for Stale Web Design (NYT)
ANTITRUST
Microsoft Attorney Accuses Rivals of Collusion (WP)
Microsoft Accuses AOL, Netscape of Deal (WSJ)
U.S. Describes Microsoft Fight To Secure Ally (NYT)
CAMPAIGNS
Group Fights Attack Ads With Its Own (NYT)
The TV Column: Political Advertisements Outnumber Political News
Stories (NTY)
======================
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
======================
CLINTON SIGNS DIGITAL COPYRIGHT ACT
Issue: Intellectual Property
On October 28, President Clinton signed into law the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act ftp://ftp.loc.gov/pub/thomas/c105/h2281.ih.txt --
legislation to protect copyrights in the digital age. Starting two years
from now, it will be illegal to break through the encryption technologies
that protect intellectual property on the Internet. It will also be illegal
to manufacture or sell devices that circumvent encryption technology. "For
the first time, we are laying down some traffic rules of the road in
cyberspace," said Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of
America. "We're not saying this is the total that we would like, but it
certainly is a fresh and very cheery beginning for putting it in place,"
said Mr. Valenti, who has been a leading lobbyist in the nearly four-year
fight for passage of the legislation. Historically, it has not been a crime
to access or make a copy of a protected work -- only to misuse the
information. The new law makes it illegal merely to access copyrighted material.
"What we are worried about here is that we have for the first time a
prohibition on simply accessing information," said Adam Eisgrau of the
American Library Association. "In the past, the law has punished you on how
you used that information."
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing jeri( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/29wipo.html
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EDUTECH
========
WHERE THE KITCHEN IS ALSO THE CLASSROOM
Issue: EduTech
With the number of U.S. children schooled at home tripling in the 1990's,
technology may be playing an important role in increasing the popularity of
home schooling. Households in which a child is home schooled are almost
twice as likely to own a computer than the average American households with
children. Home-schooling sites, which have proliferated on the World Wide
Web in recent years, offer parents and students everything from support to
entire school curriculums online. While technology has opened up many
possibilities for those learning at home, not all home-schoolers are excited
about this high-tech trend. "To say that to be a good home learner, you've
got to have a $5,000 Pentium computer in the living room is confirming the
elitist perception of home schoolers" says Matt Hern, a writer and
home-schooling advocate.
[SOURCE: New York Times (E1), AUTHOR: Louise Yarnall]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/circuits/articles/29home.html
ONLINE COURSES REACH STUDENTS BEYOND A UNIVERSITY'S WALLS
Issue: Education Technology
Online education is growing for working people, mothers at home and others
who can't come to class in person. To observe it in operation the author
"visited" an online class, Rena Down's screenwriting class at New York's New
School for Social Research to see teacher and students interacting
exclusively through the university's Web site. The DIAL school now offers
more than 300 online courses (http://www.dialnsa.edu) and handles
everything from registration to final exams over the Internet. The Web site
for a course includes links to online course guides and handouts and permits
required books to be purchased via the Net. Using online discussion groups
the teacher can post lessons and respond to comments. A benefit is that
students can log on and do their work anytime (and wearing a robe, if they
choose). Procrastination is a danger since students often are slow to get
their classwork done. The online school's rate of "Incompletes" is lower
than its normal students, and the online students peform "as well, or
better" in their courses.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B9), AUTHOR: Robert Cwiklik]
http://www.wsj.com/
=========
SATELLITE
=========
SATELLITE LAUNCHED FOR D.C. FIRM'S RADIO VENTURE
Issue: Satellite
WorldSpace Corporation placed its first satellite into orbit yesterday. The
satellite is the first of three that are anticipated to provide radio via
satellite to Africa, Asia and much of the Americas. This satellite dubbed
AfriStar will provide 75 channels of radio and text messages to people in
Africa who have special radios when service begins next year. The company's
goal is to bring radio to underdeveloped areas of the world. The receivers
will initially be expensive, but organizers hope prices will drop to levels
of normal radios. Programming already lined up includes CNN, the Bloomberg
News, and various African radio services.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C2), AUTHOR: Mike Mills]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-10/29/181l-102998-idx.html
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TELEPHONY
==========
AT&T SET TO PURCHASE EQUIPMENT TO DELIVER SERVICE ON TCI'S LINES
Issue: Telephony
Although the merger with TCI has not been approved, AT&T has already agreed
to buy as much as $900 million in equipment which will permit it to deliver
telephone service via cable. This series of purchases will provide enough
cable-telephone equipment to server more than two million homes. The
initial $50 million equipment order with Antec Corp. calls for equipment to
begin shipping immediately. AT&T apparently hopes the merger will be closed
next year and will permit them to get a quick start on delivering voice,
Internet and interactive video over TCI's cable television lines. The first
purchase is expected to be used in a handful of markets to test the
technology which is already being used by some other cable companies.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: Rebecca Blumenstein & Leslie Cauley]
RYAN, DEVINE JOIN TO OPPOSE AMERITECH DEAL
Issue: Mergers
Illinois Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan and Cook County State's Atty. Richard Devine
have filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission an opposition to the
proposed merger of SBC and Ameritech. Along with the Citizens Utility Board,
the two offices filed a proposal to modify the merger by creating quality
standards the merged company would have to meet and reducing residential
phone rates by $343 million. A report compiled by independent consultants
Lee Selwyn and Charlotte TerKeurst says that SBC is paying a $13 billion
premium for Ameritech and may feel pressure to recoup that money by raising
rates for non-competitive services in Illinois. Ms. TerKeust former manager
of the commerce commission's telecommunications division, said that while
combining the two phone giants would undoubtedly produce some operational
savings, "The risks of the merger, as proposed, far outweigh the benefits."
The merger seems more likely to retard phone competition in Illinois than to
promote it, she said.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.1), AUTHOR: Jon Van]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-17574,00.html
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INTERNET
========
A REMEDY FOR STALE WEB DESIGN
Issue: Internet/Arts
The Remedi Project http://www.theremediproject.com/ is an online showcase
of 10 digital designers seeking to reinvigorate the Web. The site is a call
to graphic artists to explore the evolving capabilities of the Web. Josh
Ulm, the site's creator/organizer thinks the Web's interactive elements
remain undeployed. "We use the word to mean clicking on buttons and
hyperlinks," he said, "and interactivity can mean so much more than that. It
can mean changing the whole general direction, or it can mean creating
something unique that the author never intended. Those are the kinds of
things that some of these pieces [on Remedi] try to do."
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Matthew Mirapaul
mirapaul( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/artsatlarge/29artsatlarg...
==========
ANTITRUST
==========
MICROSOFT ATTORNEY ACCUSES RIVALS OF COLLUSION (WP)
MICROSOFT ACCUSES AOL, NETSCAPE OF DEAL (WSJ)
U.S. DESCRIBES MICROSOFT FIGHT TO SECURE ALLY (NYT)
Issue: Antitrust
Microsoft lawyers attempted to show that their company was not the only one
that was into deal-making Wednesday as the Microsoft antitrust trial
continued. John Warden alleged that America Online and Netscape
Communications discussed a plan to "divide the market" for browsers and
online services to compete with what one document called "the beast from
Redmond." AOL's David Colburn, on the stand for several hours as a
government witness denied the allegations. Despite discussions of an
alliance, such an arrangement never occurred and AOL eventually selected
Microsoft as its browser. Government lawyer David Boies, outside the
courtroom, said discussions between Netscape and AOL were different from
Microsoft's efforts because they lacked monopoly power. While Warden tried
to convince Colburn that Microsoft's browser was selected for use by AOL
because of its technology, Colburn was steadfast in his contention that it
was chosen because of the "distribution muscle" of Microsoft.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A10), AUTHOR: Rajiv Chandrasekaran]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/micro.htm
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: John R. Wilke]
http://www.wsj.com/
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Joel Brinkley & Steve Lohr]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/29microsoft.html
==========
CAMPAIGNS
==========
THE TV COLUMN: POLITICAL ADS OUTNUMBER POLITICAL NEWS STORIES
Issue: Campaigns
According to a recent nationwide survey, paid political advertisements
outnumbered actual political news stories during local newscasts more than 4
to 1 last week. Rocky Mountain Media Watch surveyed 128 newscasts from 25
states and found 693 paid political ads to only 171 political stories.
"Politics is not a subject that the audience is just clamoring to hear more
about," acknowledged Barbara Cochran, executive director of the
Radio-Television News Directors Association, "and that's a reality that news
directors have to contend with." The Television Bureau of Advertising
reported, however, that political ads on TV this year had increased 35
percent over the last midterm election in 1994.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (D13), AUTHOR: Lisa de Moraes]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1998-10/29/064r-102998-idx.html
GROUP FIGHTS ATTACK ADS WITH ITS OWN
Issue: Campaigns/Advertising
"Are your candidates more concerned with attacking the issues or each
other?" asks an advertisement that appeared repeatedly on CNN last week.
Produced by the Annenburg Public Policy Center of the University of
Pennsylvania, the ads are intended to raise voter awareness about the kind
of political contests that they are watching. This week, the Annenburg
Center is airing another ad also sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
This ad's message: What a candidate does not say is as important as what he
does.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A22), AUTHOR: David Stout]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/102998attack-ads.html
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Sorry, no Chicago Trib coverage today.