See the Circuits in New York Times -- section E of the paper of on the web
at http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/circuits/index.html
Television
NTIA: President's Advisory Panel -- Digital Television
Current: FCC minimizes 'second-move' DTV headaches
Current: On-air PBS 'bug' aims to catch surfers, but catches flak
Current: Public TV's new Forum: its fifth center of power
Arts
NYT: Exhibit of Physical Objects Transcends Physical World
Internet
WSJ: Your Cyber Career: Using The Internet to Find a Job
NYT: Gore Letter Seems to Soften Stance On Encryption
NYT: 14 Are Charged With Taking Sports Bets Over the Internet
WP: 14 Charged in Internet Betting
WP: FTC Sues Online Marketer Over Alleged Spam Scam
Competition
FCC: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 --
Moving Toward Competition Under Section 271
Microsoft
WSJ: Washington Face-Off Dims Microsoft's Day
WSJ: Microsoft Weighs Killing 'Channels' On Web Browser
WP: Justice Dept. May Broaden Case Against Microsoft
NYT: Microsoft, Accused of Trademark Violations, Is Sued in Europe
Merger
WSJ: EU Commission Launches Probe Into WorldCom's MCI Purchase
Securities
NYT: Study Finds Rise in Computer Crime
WP: Hacker Hits NASA, Other PCs
** Television **
Title: President's Advisory Panel -- Digital Television
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/new.html
Issue: Digital TV
Description: A transcript of the March 2, 1998 meeting of the Advisory
Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television
Broadcasters http://www.ntia.doc.gov/pubintadvcom/pubint.htm has been
posted. One can view the morning session transcript
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/pubintadvcom/marchmtg/transcript-am.htm or the
afternoon session transcript
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/pubintadvcom/marchmtg/transcript-pm.htm. [Or see a
summary of the meeting at http://www.benton.org/Policy/TV/meeting4.html.
Title: FCC minimizes 'second-move' DTV headaches
Source: Current (pg.1)
Issue: Digital TV
Description: In its third and probably final set of channel assignments for
digital TV, the FCC relieved a number of expected problems by adding five
channels -- 2 through 6 -- to the "core" bandwidth that will be devoted to
TV in the future. This, along with rules that permit stations to boost power
and use UHF beam-tilting antennas, is good news for public broadcasters,
said Marilyn
Mohrman-Gillis. The assignments will reduce from 55 to 38 the
number of public TV stations whose DTV channels will be outside the "core"
and would have to move their digital operations to another channel -- the
expensive and much detested "second move."
Title: On-air PBS 'bug' aims to catch surfers, but catches flak
Source: Current (p. 3)
Issue: Public Broadcasting
Description: PBS postponed plans to introduce a new on-air "bug" that
promotes the network's brand with history programs after station programmers
objected that they had not been consulted about the icons. During the annual
PBS programmers' conference last month, the issue came up in an open-mike
general session with PBS executives, demonstrating again stations'
sensitivities on the question of whose identity -- PBS's or the local
stations' -- should be imprinted most strongly in viewers' minds. While not
unanimous, sentiment against the icons seemed to be heightened by concerns
that PBS hadn't offered stations enough opportunities to weigh in on the new
"History's Best on PBS" bugs, which were to begin appearing periodically in
the lower right corner of the screen during last week's debut of "Reagan."
Title: Public TV's new Forum: its fifth center of power
Source: Current (pg. 17)
Issue: Public Television
Description: The Nat'l Forum for Public Television Executives convenes for
the first time March 25 in Washington, D.C. In creating the Forum, licensees
have
carefully crafted a decision-making process and structure that they can
trust to represent their own collective best interests. The Forum has the
opportunity to develop definitive positions on important issues and become a
powerful voice among those who control public TV's destiny. There is a
danger, however, that station execs, struggling to balance competing demands
on their time and attention, will fail to commit adequate attention and
resources to make the Forum work.
** Arts **
Title: Exhibit of Physical Objects Transcends Physical World
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/cyber/artsatlarge/05artsatlarg...
Author: Matthew Mirapaul
Issue: Arts
Description: On Wednesday, the Smithsonian Institution's Without Walls
program launched its prototype site for Revealing Things, "an online
exhibition that examines the cultural significance of everyday objects
through onscreen text, audio remembrances and music clips of the period."
"It's actually the best thing I've seen any museum working on for a while,"
said David Green, executive director of the National Initiative for a
Networked Cultural Heritage, a coalition based in Washington, DC. The
exhibit, created specifically for the Web, contains 54 common but
distinctive household items. "Very few of these things are on exhibit,"
Judith Gradwohl, director of the Smithsonian Without Walls program,
explained. "Most are from the backs of drawers. We actually went around and
asked curators, 'What do you have in your collection that's really terrific
but you haven't been able to show?'" The curators worked to develop
something that could not be translated into a physical exhibition space.
Gradwohl asserted, "If we can do it better in our halls, we shouldn't be
attempting it on the Web." Revealing Things is a prototype for a larger
exhibit to be placed online in 1999. To access the Revealing Things site,
click on: http://www.si.edu/revealingthings/
** Internet **
Title: Your Cyber Career: Using The Internet to Find a Job
Source: Wall Street Journal (B8)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Rebecca Quick
Issue: Employment
Description: With a few keystrokes, you can beam your talents and background
to hundreds of potential employers. Job postings from around the globe are
available at your fingertips, and search engines will let you quickly scan
through thousands of postings to find those that match your skills. But once
you transmit your resume' into the digital realm, you quickly lose control
over which and how many people see that information. (www.monster.com;
www.careermosaic.com; www.collegegrad.com; www.hrsjob.com;
www.nationaladsearch.com)
Title: Gore Letter Seems to Soften Stance On Encryption
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/cyber/articles/05encrypt.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Encryption
Description: According to a letter sent by Vice President Al Gore to Senate
Democratic Leader Tom Dachle on Wednesday, the White House is backing off
from its push for national controls on computer encryption technology.
Instead of legislation, Gore said the administration wants to open
"intensive discussion that will apply the unparalleled expertise of U.S.
industry leaders in developing innovative solutions that support our
national goals." He added, "These and other discussions with industry can
also enable the administration to take additional steps to relax export
controls on encryption products." But Gore emphasized that the
administration "continues to believe in a balanced approach -- promoting the
growth of secure electronic commerce, protecting the public safety and
national security, ensuring privacy, and enabling continued technology
leadership by U.S. industry."
Title: 14 Are Charged With Taking Sports Bets Over the Internet
Source: New York Times (A1,A29)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/05gambling.html
Author: Benjamin Weiser
Issue: Content
Description: Authorities in Manhattan charged 14 owners and managers of
offshore companies yesterday with illegal use of interstate phone lines to
take online bets for Americans who placed wagers with the click of a mouse.
In the first federal prosecution case of sports gambling over the Internet,
the government said it would not charge any bettors who were using the sites
but that the prosecution should be viewed as a warning that such activity is
illegal. The case comes when the industry is seeing a tremendous amount of
growth. The government said that online sports betting had collected $600
million in gross revenues last year, up from approximately $60 million in
1996. "You're never going to see a shutdown," said Anthony Cabot, a gambling
law expert in Las Vegas. "What you're going to see is a number of people
being dissuaded from entering the industry and those who are in the industry
are going to take much greater precaution in hiding their ownership if they
are U.S. citizens."
Title: 14 Charged in Internet Betting
Source: Washington Post (E4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-03/05/176l-030598-idx.html
Author: Sharon Walsh
Issue: Content
Description: In New York yesterday, the owners and managers of six Internet
sports betting companies that operated offshore were charged in federal
court with illegally using the telephone and wires to transmit bets.
Although there have been a few state prosecutions, this is the first federal
case against businesses that allow illegal betting using the Internet, said
U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White. "The Internet is not an electronic sanctuary
for illegal betting," said U.S. Attorney General, Janet Reno. "It's a
federal crime to use the Internet to conduct betting operations...You can't
hid online and you can't hide offshore," Reno said.
Title: FTC Sues Online Marketer Over Alleged Spam Scam
Source: Washington Post (E2)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-03/05/170l-030598-idx.html
Author: David Segal
Issue: Online Services
Description: The Federal Trade Commission sued an online marketing company,
Internet Business Broadcasting, based in Calif., yesterday for allegedly
defrauding customers in an advertising scam through unsolicited mass email.
The FTC's move marks the first time in history that agency officials have
targeted a producer of spam. "Right now the agency is in a wait-and-see mode
to see what the people in the industry and in privacy advocacy groups have
to say about it," said Eileen Harrington, the FTC's associate director of
marketing practices. "It's a hugely effective way to reach a lot of people
and it's not, per se, a bad thing." Executives of Internet Business
Broadcasting could not be reached yesterday for comment.
** Competition **
Title: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 --
Moving Toward Competition Under Section 271
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/Statements/stwek811.html
Author: Chairman William Kennard
Issue: Long Distance/Competition
Description: Chairman Kennard's 3/4/98 Statement "The Telecommunications Act
of 1996