LEGISLATION
Political Maneuvering Delays Internet Tax Bill (CyberTimes)
REGULATION
FCC to Review Phone Access Fees (WP)
High-Speed Data on Hold (ChiTrib)
Commission Adopts Modifications to Closed Captioning Rules
for Video Programming (FCC)
EDTECH
Kids Learn Lesson That Pays Off (EdTech)
MEDIA & POLITICS
It Was All Too Familiar, Like a 'Nightline' Rerun (NYT)
INTERNET
Operator? Give Me the World Wide Web and Make It Snappy (NYT)
Bell Atlantic Offering High Speed Internet Access (NYT)
U.S. Network Solutions Reach Accord To Open Web Addressing
to Competition (WSJ)
IBM Picked to Bring World Wide Web to France's Millions of
Minitel Users (WSJ)
INFO TECH
Microsoft to Market Phone That Can Be Used With PC (WSJ)
MERGERS
AT&T Agrees to Buy Vanguard Cellular (WSJ)
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LEGISLATION
===========
POLITICAL MANEUVERING DELAYS INTERNET TAX BILL
Issue: Legislation
The Internet Tax Freedom Act http://cox.house.gov/nettax/ (S442) was
thought to be on its way to easy passage in the last days of the 105th
Congress, but political infighting on other issues may delay the
legislation. Senators are also trying to attach other legislation to the
bill in hopes of getting them passed for the session ends. The House passed
a version of the bill that would place a three-year moratorium on Internet
taxes. The Senate version of the bill would only allow a two-year period.
Sen Richard Bryan's (D-Nevada) Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
(S2326) has already been attached to the bill as has Senator Spencer
Abraham's (R-Michigan) Government Paperwork Reduction Act (S2107) which
would require the federal government to develop standards for digital
signatures. Senator Dan Coats is trying to attach a measure that would
outlaw the distribution by commercial Web sites of material deemed "harmful"
to children -- a bill that has been dubbed "CDA II."
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing jeri( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/tech/indexcyber.html
==========
REGULATION
==========
FCC TO REVIEW PHONE ACCESS FEES
Issue: Long distance
The FCC decided Monday to review federally regulated "access" fees in phone
bills. The Commission will request public comment on the amount of fees
paid by long-distance companies to local phone carriers to connect calls.
The action opens the possibility of reductions in those charges, a step that
would further lower long distance bills for consumers. Consumer groups and
long-distance companies have been calling for reductions. A complicating
factor is that part of the fee revenue goes toward making local phone
service affordable to poor people and customers living in rural or high-cost
areas. In a separate action the FCC delayed by six months an increase in
other phone fees that consumers and businesses now pay. The 1999 changes
are scheduled now for July 1.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (WashTech website), AUTHOR: Jeannine Aversa
(Associated Press)]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/washtech/daily/oct98/phone100598.htm
HIGH-SPEED DATA ON HOLD
Issue: Bandwidth/Regulation
Ameritech will make ADSL service available to 20,000 University of Michigan
students and faculty members, but still does not know when it will roll out
the service in Chicago. The service was expected to be available this
summer, but, to date, only customers in two suburban communities can get the
high-speed data connections. "We may not know until January when we'll roll
out ADSL in Chicago," said Richard C. Notebaert, Ameritech's chief
executive. Ameritech is waiting for the FCC to set new rules on how it and
other Baby Bells may offer the service and what the conditions of resale
will be. Speaking at the National Communications Forum of the International
Engineering Consortium, Mr. Notebaert also said "Inevitably, we will evolve
to the point when the public switched voice network becomes our public
switched multimedia
network. In essence, we'll always be on-line and that capability will enable
us to develop
applications we can't even imagine today."
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.3), AUTHOR: Jon Van]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9810060388,00.html
COMMISSION ADOPTS MODIFICATIONS TO CLOSED CAPTIONING RULES FOR VIDEO PROGRAMMING
Issue: Disabilities
From the press release
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/News_Releases/1998/nrcb8021.html: "The
Commission has adopted an order (FCC 98-236) revising the video programming
closed captioning rules. With this action the Commission is responding to a
number of petitions for reconsideration of the closed captioning rules.
Section 305 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act added a new Section 713,
Video Programming Accessibility, to the Communications Act and required the
Commission to prescribe rules and implementation schedules for captioning.
On August 7, 1997, the Commission adopted an order (FCC 97-279) that
included rules and implementation schedules for captioning of video
programming ensuring access to video programming by persons with hearing
disabilities. Congress generally required that video programming be closed
captioned, regardless of distribution technology, to ensure access to video
programming by persons with hearing disabilities. Congress also recognized
that in some situations requiring that programming be closed captioned might
prove to be an economic burden on video programming providers or owners."
Key points from reconsideration order: 1) On reconsideration, the Commission
defines full accessibility to be the captioning of 100% of all new nonexempt
video programming; 2) The Commission establishes a requirement that at least
30% of a channel's pre-rule programming be provided with captions beginning
on January 1, 2003; 3) Beginning January 1, 2000, the class of video
providers prohibited from using electronic newsroom ("ENR") technology for
compliance with the rules will include the four major broadcast networks
(ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC), broadcast stations affiliated with these networks
in the top 25 television markets as defined by Nielsen's Designated Market
Areas, and nonbroadcast networks serving 50% or more of the total of
multichannel video programming distributor households; 4) A requirement that
Spanish language programming be closed captioned; and 5) Maintaining the
decision in the Closed Captioning order that short-form advertising is not
required to be closed captioned.
[SOURCE: FCC]
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Orders/1998/fcc98236.wp
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EDTECH
======
KIDS LEARN LESSON THAT PAYS OFF
Issue: EdTech
Chicago's Street-Level Youth Media http://streetlevel.iit.edu/ will be
presented with a $10,000 Coming Up Taller Award presented by the President's
Committee on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. The small,
nonprofit group founded in 1993 makes the latest media technology available
to inner-city youth. "We aim to demystify the equipment," said special
projects director Paul Teruel. "We're not trying to produce the next
Spielberg, but to give them the experience they will need for the
future--and help these kids express themselves." "We get to use the
equipment for free and do what we want," said one student. "And this is
where I got my first hands-on experience with a computer." Street-Level
Youth Media have worked with the Chicago Historical Society to compile an
oral history of a neighborhood and produced a video on public
transportation. [Also, see What's Working in Low Income Communities
http://www.benton.org/Practice/Low-Income/home.html for additional info on
extending access to information and communications technologies]
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 2, p.3), AUTHOR: Dan Baron]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9810060189,00.html
================
MEDIA & POLITICS
================
IT WAS ALL TOO FAMILIAR, LIKE A 'NIGHTLINE' RERUN
Issue: Politics/Television
"Who needs Congress when there's 'Crossfire'?" asks Times author Caryn
James, responding to the integral role of television coverage in the current
political debate about the future of the President. Yesterday, Rep. Robert
Wexler (D-Fla.) and Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) seamlessly carried their debate
regarding an impeachment inquiry from the floor of the Congress to the set
of "Crossfire", as if one venue was merely an extension of the other. During
the afternoon's House Judiciary hearing, Rep. Wexler even joked that "in an
effort not to ruin the show tonight, I'm going to wait to respond to Barr's
comments earlier until we get on the show."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A21), AUTHOR: Caryn James]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/100698clinton-notebook.html
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INTERNET
========
OPERATOR? GIVE ME THE WORLD WIDE WED AND MAKE IT SNAPPY
Issue: Internet
Today, a group of communication, financial and software companies will
announce the formation of an alliance to create standards for speech
recognition that will expand the ability to perform Internet transactions
with the spoken word. New technologies, which have made possible the
integration of voice systems with Internet and corroborate data bases, could
eventually enable consumers to access the Wold Wide Web through a variety of
devices including telephones, pagers, and cell phones. Companies hope to
facilitate the implementation of voice services with the development of
industry wide speech standards.
[SOURCE: New York Times (B3), AUTHOR: John Markoff]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/biztech/articles/06voice-internet
.html
BELL ATLANTIC OFFERING HIGH SPEED SERVICE
Issue: Internet Access
Bell Atlantic announced that it has begun offering high-speed Internet
access in Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh, PA., to help meet the demand for
faster modem connections. Starting at $59.95 a month, the new service uses
ADSL lines to offers Internet connections up to 250 times faster than
standard modems .
[SOURCE: New York Times (B2), AUTHOR: Bloomberg News]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/biztech/articles/06bell-internet.
html
U.S. NETWORK SOLUTIONS REACH ACCORD TO OPEN WEB ADDRESSING TO COMPETITION
Issue: Internet regulation
Network Solutions Inc. and the White House have agreed on a plan that will
gradually dismantle the legal monopoly on registering World Wide Web
addresses. The agreement which may be announced today will open the
registration of Web addresses with suffixes of ".com" and other endings to
competition. Under the agreement Network Solutions will give the
Administration its information on its current registrations. Much of that
information will be available for companies that may choose to enter the
market. A nonprofit corporation will take over the government's oversight
role in the address system, but the creation of that organization is months
away. Network Solutions will continue as the sole service provider until
the nonprofit corporation is operational. Some analysts say that because
Network Solutions already has two million names registered it may remain a
defacto monopoly. The current agreement between the federal government and
Network Solutions expires Wednesday.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: John Simons & Glenn R. Simpson]
http://www.wsj.com/
IBM PICKED TO BRING WORLD WIDE WEB TO FRANCE'S MILLIONS OF MINITEL USERS
Issue: International/Online Services
France has decided to update its national Minitel information network and
move closer to Internet operation. The selection of International Business
Machines Corp. to develop software and services for Minitel will be
announced today by France Telecom, the system's owner. Minitel was one of
the first online services and is widely used in France. The lack of
connectivity to the Internet with its availability of many services is a
major part of the problem that IBM will be asked to correct. France Telecom
also is expected to team with local technology companies to create new
devices which gradually will replace the current generation of Minitel
equipment with state-of-the-art Internet devices. France Telecom and IBM
also expect to market their new system to other nations.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B11), AUTHOR: Raju Narisetti]
http://www.wsj.com/
=========
INFO TECH
=========
MICROSOFT TO MARKET PHONE THAT CAN BE USED WITH PC
Issue: Technology
Microsoft Corp. will soon be selling cordless telephones that plug into
personal computers. The $200 phones will be capable of handling voice mail
and caller-ID recognition. One feature will allow users to enter names and
phone numbers into an address book in Internet Explorer and then use voice
commands for placing calls. In offering a line of consumer products that
will also include audio speakers and universal remote controls, Microsoft is
branching out into the consumer electronics market against established
manufacturers.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B11), AUTHOR: Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter]
http://www.wsj.com/
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MERGERS
=======
AT&T AGREES TO BUY VANDGUARD CELLULAR
Issue: Wireless
AT&T has agreed to buy Vanguard Cellular, one of the last independent
cellular phone companies, for $900 million in stock and cash, aiming to fill
a critical hole in its wireless network. Increased competition and
consolidation in the wireless industry convinced Vanguard's co-founder and
chief executive officer Stephen RE. Leeolou that "size does matter."
Analysts expect the wave of mergers and consolidations to continue to
decrease the number of independent cellular companies.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR:Rebecca Blumenstein]
http://wsj.com/
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Thanks for the kind notes yesterday and this morning about my email gaffe --
they are much appreciated.