JOURNALISM
Justices Question TV's Use on Raids (WP)
CABLE
Pulling the Plug (ChiTrib)
TELEPHONY
Ericsson,Qualcomm Settle Standard Dispute (WP)
MERGERS
Ameritech Pulled in 2 Directions (ChiTrib)
Ameritech To Buy Bell Canada Stake For $3.4 Billion (NYT)
AOL Announces Layoffs, Reorganization (WP)
ANTITRUST
Microsoft Offers to Settle Suit (WP)
PR vs. Substance in Microsoft Trial (ChiTrib)
INTERNATIONAL
Telecommunication Consortium Is Said to Be Near Collapse (NYT)
LIFESTYLES
E-Mail Pen Pal Sites Give Prisoners a Link to the World Outside (NYT)
JOURNALISM
JUSTICES QUESTION TV'S USE ON RAIDS
Issue: Journalism/Privacy
Justice David H. Souter said, "It sounds like fluff." The comments in court
yesterday by other Supreme Court Justices sounded a similar theme. The Court
will not announce formally their conclusions for weeks but the comments led
observers to conclude that the practice of television crews and reporters
traveling with police on raids may soon be a thing of the past. The Justices
may conclude the action violates people's privacy rights. Many police
jurisdictions today allow camerapersons and other reporters to go with them
as they serve papers, perform searches and make arrests. The results are
generally positive publicity for the police and dramatic stories for the
media. The current cases before the Supreme Court involve a raid on a
Rockville, MD couple in 1992 that included a photographer taking pictures of
the husband and his wife in nightclothes and a Montana search for an eagle
poisoner that included a CNN crew. The cases are considered a referendum on
the "ride along" practice. The second question before the justices may be
more difficult: If law enforcement officials indeed violated the Fourth
Amendment prohibition against unreasonable search and seizures, should the
officers nonetheless be able to claim "qualified immunity" in a civil rights
lawsuit by the homeowners? A lawyer representing the Montana ranchers said,
"Entry into the home is one of the clearest violations of the Fourth
Amendment that one could imagine."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A2), AUTHOR: Joan Biskupic]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-03/25/274l-032599-idx.html)
See also:
SUPREME COURT WEIGHING POLICE PRACTICE OF BRINGING MEDIA ON RAIDS
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.4), AUTHOR: Jan Crawford Greenburg]
(http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9903250139,00.html)
CABLE
PULLING THE PLUG
Issue: Cable
[Commentary] A look at the end of cable rate regulation -- 4/1/99. Chapman
recognizes that cable rates have been climbing faster than inflation since
passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and that local cable operators
are monopolies. But he does not believe that the Federal Communications
Commission should regulate prices -- he proposes that an unregulated
monopoly in this case is better than a regulated monopoly. Why? Because once
federal regulators set prices, cable operators start skimping on channels
and service. What the feds need to do is to encourage competition: cities
should allow more than cable operator in their jurisdictions and satellite
operators should be allowed to air local television signals. "Until the
government is prepared to stop blocking competition," Chapman concludes, "it
should face the humbling fact that the best thing it can do about cable
rates is nothing."
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.31), AUTHOR: Steve Chapman]
(http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9903250097,00.html)
TELEPHONY
ERICSSON, QUALCOMM SETTLE STANDARD DISPUTE
Issue: Wireless
Ericsson of Sweden and Qualcomm of the US announced Thursday that they have
settled a patent dispute and are taking steps that could lead to a global
wireless standard. Under the deal Ericsson will purchase Qualcomm's
terrestrial Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless infrastructure
business which could boost Ericsson's position in the US mobile phone
market. Ericsson, the world's third biggest maker of mobile phones, agreed
to support Qualcomm's CDMA technology, now used for wireless telephony
primarily in the US. Qualcomm also gets access to Ericsson's patents for
CDMA's rival technology, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).
Ericsson and Qualcomm will both support approval of CDMA as the
international standard for the next generation of mobile phones, known as
3G. The new phones are intended to carry high speed digital traffic,
including Internet messages.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (Online), AUTHOR: Paul de Bendern (Reuters)]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/daily/march99/qualcomm25.htm)
MERGERS
AMERITECH PULLED IN 2 DIRECTIONS
Issue: Mergers
After winning approval from the Department of Justice for their proposed
merger, SBC and Ameritech now turn their attention to Illinois as one of the
last remaining hurdles to the deal. The staff of the Illinois Commerce
Commission is on the record opposing the merger -- arguing that the combined
company is likely to raise prices in Illinois in order to enter other
markets in the country. And on 3/24, Ameritech announced that it has agreed
to buy one-fifth of Bell Canada for $3.4 billion dollars. The combined
footprint of SBC-Ameritech would include interests in the dominant local
telephone carriers from California and Nevada down to (and including)
Mexico, up through Texas, Missouri, Illinois to Wisconsin, Michigan and
Detroit -- and now north into Canada as well. That's a big foot. SBC also
owns the biggest wireless provider in Illinois -- Cellular One. "Illinois is
ground zero in deciding the fate of this merger," said Mark Cooper, research
director of the Consumer Federation of America. "SBC has a physical presence
in Chicago with announced plans to compete with Ameritech. It's very clear
that allowing SBC to buy its way into the market instead of competing will
harm Illinois consumers." SBC says there is no plan B -- if the merger does
not go through, SBC will not compete for Chicago customers or in other
cities it is now promising to enter. Ameritech had hoped to sell opponents
to the merger on a deal similar to th one hammered out in Ohio. "The Ohio
settlement is a joke," said Cooper. "If SBC breaks every promise it made,
the penalties it has to pay in Ohio wouldn't equal the signing bonus they're
paying Notebaert to do the merger." "The Bell Canada deal demonstrates that
Ameritech is trying to run its business in case the merger doesn't work
out," said Andrew Lubetkin, a telecommunications consultant based in
Winnetka. "They're saying they won't let the ICC staff dictate how they run
the business, and I think that's as it should be."
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3,p.1), AUTHOR: Jon Van]
(http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-25623,00.html)
AMERITECH TO BUY BELL CANADA STAKE FOR $3.4 BILLION
Issue: Alliance/International
American Baby Bell Ameritech has plans to purchase a 20% stake in BCE's Bell
Canada unit. This move is the latest in a series of American/Canadian
alliances that have come in the wake of recent deregulation and increased
American business with our northern neighbors. "Canada is a great market,
and it is an open market," said Ameritech CEO Richard Notebaert. Ameritech's
deal illustrates the eagerness of US carriers to build international
alliances and provide customers with global telephone services.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A8), AUTHOR: Stephanie Mehta and Solange De
Santis]
(http://wsj.com)
AOL ANNOUNCES LAYOFFS, REORGANIZATION
Issue: Merger/Jobs
America Online announced four business units are central to its
reorganization plan for life with Netscape Communications under its wing.
The reorganization also anticipates layoffs of 700 to 1,000 employees from
the 12,000-person work force. Persons laid off will predominantly be in
human resources and accounting and will receive at least three months
severance pay. The four AOL business divisions will be the Interactive
Services Group, handling the basic online service; the Interactive
Properties Group, handling special projects; the Netscape Enterprise Group,
focussing on electronic commerce; and the AOL International Group, which
will look after overseas operations. The new arrangement will include about
2,000 AOL and Sun Microsystem employees working together on a project to
develop electronic-commerce technology for businesses.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Shannon Henry]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/tech/aolnetscape/aol
netscape.htm)
ANTITRUST
MICROSOFT OFFERS TO SETTLE SUIT
Issue: Antitrust
Microsoft has offered to amend controversial provisions in its contracts
with Internet companies and would be willing to discuss giving personal
computer makers additional flexibility to change parts of Microsoft's
Windows operating system. The company made the proposal in an effort to
settle the federal antitrust suit against it. Several government officials
yesterday called the offer insufficient. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said
yesterday the company would not be willing to discuss any restrictions on
the types of technologies that it could add to Windows. No face-to-face
discussions between the two sides have been scheduled. Legal analysts said
the prospect of a settlement is highly unlikely because both sides remain
far apart on key issues.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Rajiv Chandrasekaran]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/micro.htm)
PR VS. SUBSTANCE IN MICROSOFT TRIAL
Issue: Antitrust
The authors claim that the Department of Justice is winning the public
relations battle in its war with Microsoft, but the purpose of antitrust law
is to protect consumers and the Government has not proven that yet.
Moreover, the Government does not have a theoretical understanding of how
the computer industry works -- why we enjoy the high-quality and low prices
of computer today. "But it still maintains that it can fashion an antitrust
remedy that will make the personal computer industry even more successful in
the future. We think not," they conclude.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.31), AUTHOR: Steven Davis, Kevin Murphy &
Lynn Shishido-Topel, consultants to Microsoft]
(http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9903250096,00.html)
INTERNATIONAL
TELECOMMUNICATION CONSORTIUM IS SAID TO BE NEAR COLLAPSE
Issue:
The three year old Global One Telecommunications consortium of Sprint,
France Telecom and Germany's Deutsche Telekom is nearing dissolution. The
three companies had joined forces to offer customers integrated worldwide
telecommunications services. The consortium, however, never ran smoothly.
There was never agreement as to who would run different aspects of the
venture. Operational problems resulted from the companies never fully
integrating their networks. If the Global One partners do agree to dissolve
the venture, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom will still together control
20% of Sprint's stock. In the meantime, Sprint is looking to partner with
another major telecommunications carrier.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Seth Schesel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/global-one.html)
LIFESTYLES
E-MAIL PEN PAL SITES GIVE PRISONERS A LINK TO THE WORLD OUTSIDE
Issue: LifeStyles
The Internet can even help connect people who aren't allowed to receive
email. There are now about a half a dozen services that help prisoners
establish pen-pal relationships with people on the outside. These Wed sites
also print and mail email messages to inmates who are not able to receive
email. While some critics worry about inmate's ability to win the confidence
of, and manipulate, naive individuals online, creators of the sites say that
they provide a vital service to lonely and alienated prisoners. "This is the
most remarkable thing I've ever done in my life or ever will," says Charles
Sparks, Founder of Penn-Pals. "I can't imagine going back to a regular job.
I worked in robotics for seven years and didn't add anything to society at
large. This makes a difference."
[SOURCE: New York Times (E8), AUTHOR: Seth Schesel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/circuits/articles/25jail.html)
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