There will be no Headlines Monday, January 19 in observance of Dr. Martin
Luther King Day.
Digital TV
NTIA: President's Advisory Committee Meeting
Universal Service
Congressional Report on Universal Service Subsidies
Antitrust
WSJ: Judge Jackson's Cyberlesson
On-Line Advertising
WSJ: Intel Proposal Is Angering Web Publishers
Privacy
NYT: Sailor Who Became a Symbol Wins Delay
Telephony
TelecomAM: Powell Calls For New Approach To Long Distance Applications
TelecomAM: Long Distance Entry Will Cost Consumers $10 Billion, CFA Says
TeleccoAM: Appeals Court Seems More Sympathetic To FCC In Early Arguments
Politics
WP: OMB Official Joins Economic Council
Television
The Future of Television: PIAC Update
Computer Technology
WP: Computer Question? Chip In!
WSJ: SEC Plans Guidance To Help Web Sites On Securities Offers
WP: Dec. 31 Holiday Urged For Year 2000 Problem
Lifestyle
NYT: Creating Made Easy With a "Collaborator"
** Digital TV **
Title: President's Advisory Committee Meeting
Source: NTIA
http://www.real.com/corporate/digitaltv/
Issue: Digital TV
Description: On January 16th, RealNetworks will broadcast live audio
coverage of the meeting of the Advisory Committee on Public Interest
Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. President Clinton appointed
the Committee to study and recommend which public interest obligations
should accompany broadcasters' receipt of digital television licenses. The
Committee will discuss digital broadcasting, educational programming, closed
captioning, and natural disaster information systems.
** Universal Service **
Title: Congressional Report on Universal Service Subsidies
Issue: Universal Service
Description: Among the Universal Service Fund mandates, the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 directs the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) to include support for elementary and secondary schools, public
libraries, and nonprofit rural health care providers in the area of
telecommunications. In a report released by the Congressional Budget Office
(CBO), titled "Federal Subsidies of Advanced Telecommunications for Schools,
Libraries, and Health Care Providers," they conclude that resulting
subsidies will increase federal revenues and outlays by $560 million in FY
1998 and $1.2 billion in FY 1999. The CBO believes that the revenues needed
to support those activities will be collected, leaving the Universal Service
Fund deficit neutral, and they do not foresee the $2.25 billion cap on
school and library subsidies being reached until 2007. The report is
available from the CBO web page at: http://www.cbo.gov
** Antitrust **
Title: Judge Jackson's Cyberlesson
Source: Wall Street Journal (Op-eds, A14)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson is in the early stages of the
world's most expensive introduction to cyberworld. Presiding over the
antitrust suit against Microsoft, he demonstrated his progress the other day
by personally removing the Microsoft Explorer from a Windows desktop. He
also just denied Microsoft's challenge to his special master for the case,
Internet lawyer Lawrence Lessig. Perhaps he should be disqualified;
especially considering that Mr. Gates's platoon of lawyers found an e-mail
to Netscape in which Professor Lessig confided that installing the Microsoft
browser was something like "selling his soul." That didn't bother the judge,
who didn't think it meant Professor Lessig thought of Microsoft as the
devil. What it does mean is that Mr. Lessig shares the animosity toward
Microsoft endemic on the Internet. This bias against Microsoft by its most
savvy customers is an interesting phenomenon. Mostly, though, what the
cybergeeks resent is Mr. Gates's demonstration that marketing trumps
technology.
** On-Line Advertising **
Title: Intel Proposal Is Angering Web Publishers
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Thomas E. Weber
Issue: On-line Advertising
Description: Intel has persuaded major Web sites, including those of CNN and
computer publisher Ziff-Davis, to add features that slow down all but the
newest and most expensive machines with the latest Intel chips. The sites
are being asked to run a notice explaining, "Content on this page benefits
from the performance of the Intel Pentium II processor." In other words, if
that Web page seems too slow, it's time to buy a new Intel-based personal
computer. Intel is backing up the unusual request with a promise to pay
bigger subsidies to advertisers who place "Intel Inside" ads on these sites.
The program, dubbed "Optimized Content," is roiling some big Web publishers,
who are outraged at the notion of making their sites less friendly to the
vast majority of their readers. Kelly Conlin, president of International
Data Group, said, "This is unusual and untenable...there is a line that we
cannot and will not cross in regard to respecting the interests of our readers."
** Privacy **
Title: Sailor Who Became a Symbol Wins Delay
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/011698navy.html
Author: Lisa Napoli
Issue: Privacy
Description: The submarine crew chief, Timothy R. McVeigh, stands today as a
symbol for electronic privacy and gay rights advocates alike. Yesterday, in
the first case of its kind, Senior Chief Petty Officer McVeigh filed a suit
against the Pentagon, accusing the government of violating the Electronic
Privacy Communications Act by illegally requesting and receiving information
about him from the online server, AOL. The information the government
received has cost McVeigh his job and was about to get him dismissed from
the Navy after more 17 years of service. After the lawsuit was filed, the
government agreed to delay McVeigh's discharge, giving him an additional
six-day reprive and a chance for his claims to be considered.
** Telephony **
Title:
Source: Telecom AM---jan. 16, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Telephony
Description: As it heard over two hours of argument on the FCC's access
charge, the Eighth U.S. Court of Appeals seemed to go easier on the FCC than
it did in last year's interconnection case. Presiding Judge Pasco Bowman
repeatedly asked attorney's why the court should act when the challenged
issues tended to be transitional actions by the FCC. At one point, he
wondered if the FCC should "get deference from us on transitional measures."
The question arose during the Bell companies' argument that the FCC method
of moving from implicit to explicit subsidies denies local carriers full
cost recovery. They said competitive pressures will "erode" implicit
subsidies from rates before the Jan. 1999 implementation of explicit
subsidies. The FCC denied that argument, saying a year has elapsed without
the local carriers being hurt by competition.
Title: Powell Calls For New Approach To Long Distance Applications
Source: Telecom AM---jan. 15, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Long Distance
Description: FCC Commissioner Michael Powell called for a new "collaborative
approach" to Bell company long distance applications. Powell said that the
Commission "must partner" with state public utility commissions and the
Justice Dept., "respecting and, where appropriate, deferring to their
judgments." He said it is "imperative" that the FCC modify its current
approach and adopt a process that is designed to produce success rather than
failure. "What I am calling for is a process that will clearly place in the
hands of the [Bell companies] the seeds of their own success," Powell said.
Title: Long Distance Entry Will Cost Consumers $10 Billion, CFA Says
Source: Telecom AM---jan. 16, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Long Distance
Description: Consumers could lose as much as $10 billion each year in
savings from lower local phone bills if the Bell companies are allowed into
the long distance market before local competition exists, according to a
Consumer Federation of America report. If the Bells enter the market before
competition exists the report said, local competition will be "undermined
because only the Baby Bells would be able to offer an attractive bundle of
local and long distance services."
** Politics **
Title: OMB Official Joins Economic Council
Source: Washington Post (A21)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-01/15/173l-011598-idx.html
Author: Stephen Barr and Cindy Skrzycki
Issue: Politics
Description: President Clinton announced yesterday that Sally Katzen,
attributed with bringing more openness to how federal regulations are made,
will leave her post at the Office of Management and Budget for a job in the
White House helping to shape economic policy. Katzen, a Washington lawyer
who joined the administration in 1993, served the longest of any of the
administrators at OMB's office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
** Television **
Title: The Future of Television: PIAC Update
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Over the next several months, President Clinton's Advisory
Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television
Broadcasters (PIAC) will be deciding how television, which is arguably the
most powerful medium of the 20th century, can contribute to the 21st
century. PIAC has met twice since October and is meeting again today,
January 16. RealNetworks, Inc. will webcast the meeting over the Internet.
The proceedings can be accessed at at RealNetworks' homepage:
http://www.real.com or at PIAC's:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/pubintadvcom/pubint.htm. The agenda for the
meeting includes a panel on the technology of digital broadcasting and the
implications for new programming services, briefings on closed captioning
and video description of broadcast programming and natural disaster
information systems, and a panel on educational programming in the digital era.
** Computer Technology **
Title: Computer Question? Chip In!
Source: Washington Post (G1,G4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-01/16/070l-011698-idx.html
Author: Beth Berselli
Issue: Technology Use
Description: For the many computer users who received software packages
during the holidays, be aware that if you can't figure it out on your own
you are likely to pay for advice. While most companies still handle calls
from users regarding software problems, many of the big names in the
industry, including Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, and International Business
Machines, require users to pay for advice once their warranty has expired.
In the past several years, it has become common for customers to pay $25 to
$35 for each inquiry or $2 to $3 a minute to a 900 number. The companies say
that the continued growing number of inquiry calls have made it impossible
for them to continue to support their products free of charge. However, Pete
Gladstein, who heads Apple Computer Inc.'s support services, and other
computer company executives point out that the majority of their customers
still receive free phone support, as most questions come up within the first
few months of ownership. They estimate that fewer than 10 percent of the
calls result in fees.
Title: SEC Plans Guidance To Help Web Sites On Securities Offers
Source: Wall Street Journal (B22)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing guidance on
how creators of Web sites can avoid triggering U.S. laws governing the offer
or sale of securities. The guidance will apply chiefly to sites generated
abroad, as U.S.-based sites would automatically be governed by U.S.
securities laws, said Robert Colby, deputy director of the SEC's division of
market regulation. U.S. securities laws have strict conditions that
generally require anyone offering or selling securities in this country to
be registered here. Mr. Colby said, "We're trying to think through an
interpretation that would say what are reasonable steps we can recognize to
deflect requirements that they register here." The interpretation would
apply only to passive Web sites and not to e-mail, which would be regarded
as a more-direct offer, he added.
Title: Dec. 31 Holiday Urged For Year 2000 Problem
Source: Washington Post (G2)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-01/16/091l-011698-idx.html
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Technology
Description: Irving Weiser, the chairman of the Securities Industry
Association's executive committee, proposed in a speech yesterday that U.S.
banks and stock markets shut their doors on December 31, 1999, to fix any
last minute problems that their computers may incur in transferring to the
year 2000. The association's request reflects growing concerns about the
year 2000 among financial industry executives and regulators.
** Lifestyle **
Title: Creating Made Easy With a "Collaborator"
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/nation/011698nation.html
Author: Jason Chervokas and Tom Watson
Issue: Lifestyle
Description: Sigfried Gold, a PhD. student at the Univ. of IL and an
organizer of the School for Designing a Society in Urbanna IL, is the
inventor of a piece of code called the Collaborator. Mr. Gold believes that
genius of the next century will be collaborative, and the great ideas, art
forms and stories will come from people working together instead of alone.
The Internet is one tool that will assist in bringing that collective genius
together. With the Collaborator, available on the Web in versions 2.0 and
3.0, Gold's writing colleagues and strangers around the world can get
together to write fiction and poetry. His collaborative engine attracts "a
wide variety of people, from serious writers to a mob of suicidal
teen-agers," Gold said. "For me, though, it's this issue -- the era of the
individual literary genius was over in the 1930s, and literary genius has
propelled itself through economic inertia since then." The works that result
from the Collaborator probably would not interest any large publishing
house, but they are "strangely engrossing" as writers from all different
walks of life come together to work on the same subject matter. The works
are quite non-linear in nature, reflecting what we see in contemporary media
where surfers point-and-click on the Web and TV, creating their own versions
of non-linear film. You can access the Collaborator at:
http://www.shout.net/~sigfried/
*********
...and we are out of here. See you Tuesday (as there will be no Headlines on
Monday in respect of Dr. MLK Day).