TELEVISION
Cable Rates Rising as Industry Nears End of Regulation (NYT)
Survey Shows Viewers Want Interactive HDTV Options (NYT)
INTERNET
Criteria Are Set for Applicants to Join Internet Name Registry (NYT)
What Hath Drudge Wrought? (NYT)
Company Trolls for Scuttlebutt on the Internet (NYT)
Internet Retailers Work to Turn Shoppers Into Buyers (NYT)
Firm Gives Web Artists A Paid Forum (SJ Merc)
Britain Unveils New Legal Framework For E-Commerce (SJ Merc)
TELEPHONY
AT&T's Embrace of New Technology Signals Next Era (NYT)
In Phones, The New Number Is Four (WSJ)
PRIVACY
Microsoft to Rid Windows of Tracking Numbers (WP)
Tales From the Crypto, Without an End in Sight (WP)
TELEVISION
CABLE RATES RISING AS INDUSTRY NEARS END OF REGULATION
Issue: Cable
"We may now be facing the worst of all worlds, which is an unregulated
monopoly," said John McCain (R-AZ), head of the Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science and Transportation. In theory, the cable industry would
have faced enough competition by now from satellite providers and telephone
companies. But with the sunset of cable regulation approaching this month,
consumers have seen cable rates increase 22% since passage of the Telecom
Act of 1996 (4x the rate of inflation) and they should expect additional
increases (averaging 5%) after March 31. Cable executives claim the
increases are due to the sky rocketing cost of programming and investments
they have made to upgrade their systems. But consumer groups dispute these
claims: said Gene Kimmelman, a co-director of the Washington office of
Consumers Union, "In those few areas where there has been competition, cable
companies charge 10 to 15 percent less than where there's a monopoly to
provide the exact same quality programming. And government data show cable
rates going up twice as fast as programming cost increases." Billy Tauzin
(R-LA) who is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications,
Trade and Consumer Protection, said, "It's a date that's arising somewhat
prematurely in terms of competitive opportunities for consumers, and that's
troublesome for a lot of folks, me included."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Stephen Labaton]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/cable-tv-deregulate.html
SURVEY SHOWS VIEWERS WANT INTERACTIVE HDTV OPTIONS
Issue: Digital TV
Survey says..."I want my interactive TV." That's what consumer electronics
executives heard from their trade group. The television industry has bet the
farm on high definition television (HDTV) making it the most important new
product they have offered in 50 years. Some manufacturers are even paying
television stations to broadcast HDTV programming. But results from focus
groups assembled by the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association show
that consumers don't just want prettier pictures -- they want interactive
services as well. "People want a high-quality picture and data at the same
time, and they want us to figure out how to do it," Todd Thibodeaux, a vice
president with the manufacturers' association, said in his presentation of
the findings. HDTV sets on the market now cost $3,000 - $12,000. About
20,000 have been sold. But they do not have the interactive data capacities
that consumers may want. Executives are calling it a "2nd generation"
feature. Of the three options digital technology makes available to
broadcasters, consumers seemed least interested in multicasting.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Joel Brinkley]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/biztech/articles/08hdtv.html
INTERNET
CRITERIA ARE SET FOR APPLICANTS TO JOIN INTERNET NAME REGISTRY
Issue: Internet Regulation
Starting a week from today, companies may begin to compete with Network
Solutions in registering Internet domain names. Accreditation guidelines are
among the first decisions made by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (Icann). "We made some major progress toward creating a truly
competitive environment in the .com, .net and .org domain-naming system,"
said Esther Dyson, chair of Icann's board. "We also showed the consensus
process in operation by changing our initial proposals to reflect the
community's feedback." Icann's goal is to have five competitors in the
domain name business by May 1 -- two months later, Icann hopes to let an
unlimited number of companies compete around the world.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C6), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing jeri( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/biztech/articles/08net.html
WHAT HATH DRUDGE WROUGHT?
Issue: Internet Content/Journalism
"Drudge may have started it, but there are many more Drudges out there, and
more to come." A posting to Capitol Hill Blue www.capitolhillblue.com was
picked up by The Hotline, a respected electronic tip sheet that's an
offshoot of The National Journal, and journalists from broadcast, US News &
World Report and several newspapers. The case is another example of how
online-only publications are affecting mainstream journalism. Barringer
gives a look at the who behind Capitol Hill Blue and Free Republic.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C10), AUTHOR: Felicity Barringer]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/biztech/articles/08web.html
COMPANY TROLLS FOR SCUTTLEBUTT ON THE INTERNET
Issue: Internet Content
Ewatch has taken the work of traditional clipping services and adopted it to
the Internet. The company searches listservs and chat rooms and discussion
forums looking for rumors etc about corporate clients. For example, after
the verdict in the OJ Simpson trial, there was a rumor -- reported that Mrs
Fields Cookies had sponsored a party for the jurors. Cookie sales dropped.
Ewatch found the places on the Internet that the rumor was being discussed
and posted corrections. Cookie sales then jumped back up. [Heavy Internet
users *love* cookies, BTW] The service costs $130,000/year and Ewatch hopes
to expand the service. One day, they hope to offer a service that allows an
executive to type a natural language question like "Why are sales lagging in
Minnesota? and receive reports about marketing, media and mendacity that
might help explain the problem.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Matt Richtel]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/biztech/articles/08grim.html
INTERNET RETAILERS WORK TO TURN SHOPPERS INTO BUYERS
Issue: E-Commerce
Having problems with follow through while shopping online? Internet
retailers are discovering that up to two-thirds of purchases begun on the
Internet are dropped before they are completed. Some executives believe that
it's because consumers are still getting used to shopping online, that they
are really just browsing, or that they are hesitant to share personal
information over the Internet. But Ken Casser, an e-commerce analyst at
Jupiter Communications, believes the problem is shipping and handling costs
which are often not disclosed until late in the buying process: "It's
sticker shock. A lot of people just aren't willing to pay what is
essentially a 30 to 40 percent markup." In any event, e-retailers are trying
to devise ways to make a consumer's purchase decision as slippery as
possible. Excite, for example, allows users to enter their credit card
number once and shop at a number of vendors with the network.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Bob Tedeschi]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/cyber/commerce/08commerce.html
See also
Internet Concern Plans System for Small Online Transactions
[SOURCE: New York Times (C8), AUTHOR: John Markoff]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/biztech/articles/08gold.html
FIRM GIVES WEB ARTISTS A PAID FORUM
Issue: Intellectual Property
Cybergold takes a huge step forward today toward realizing a long-held goal
of content producers everywhere: a Web marketplace for intellectual
property. Cybergold is debuting a system that will let artists post their
works online and charge users a small fee to download them. They even have a
way for consumers to buy such products without shelling out any cash.
Cybergold in partnership with 19 online vendors of books, music,
photography, software and other goods and services will work on the payment
system permitting content producers to focus on the creative side of the
business. Cybergold will assume all the administrative and financial details
of collecting money from consumers. The company hopes to gain from both
sides of the equation, by taking a 10 to 20% share of revenues from its
creative partners and also profiting from the sale of advertising.
Meanwhile Qpass went live Tuesday with its own solution to the problem.
Qpass plans to allow people to post content online and set their own price
for it. Cornelius Willis of Qpass said the company hopes to have dozens of
content providers by 2000 and thousands by 2001.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Stephen Buel]
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/cyber030899.htm
BRITAIN UNVEILS NEW LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR E-COMMERCE
Issue: Electronic Commerce
British Trade Secretary Stephen Byers has introduced a consultation document
intended to give Britain the most attractive legal framework in the world
for doing economic business. The document "Building Confidence in Electronic
Commerce" offers the first glimpse at government plans. The British
government intends to introduce legislation in Parliament in April in hopes
of passing new laws later in the year. Byers said that the proposed
legislation "will start removing the legal barriers to using electronic
means, instead of pens and paper. It will also enhance confidence in the
technologies which people can use to ensure that others cannot read their
credit card data when shopping online and businesses can ensure that
sensitive information is not being read by competitors."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Reuters]
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/214544l.htm
TELEPHONY
AT&T'S EMBRACE OF NEW TECHNOLOGY SIGNALS NEXT ERA
Issue: Infrastructure
Perhaps lost in last week's headlines was an announcement from AT&T that it
would no longer invest in traditional telephone switches for its core
network. With its large influence on the market, AT&T's decision may mean
that the aging and crowded phone network may be rejuvenated with younger,
more efficient technology. For consumers the move could mean lower prices
and new services and features. "As the functionality moves closer and closer
to the customer, the bottom line for the consumer is that clearly we will
drive the economics down," said Neil J. Grenfell, an engineering vice
president at Sprint. "This can also help give the customer more and more
control and more and more integration." The heart of the switch is a move to
packet switching technology like that used by the Internet. Packet switching
is much more efficient than today's circuit switching system.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/biztech/articles/08phon.html
See also:
Data networks: new weapon in phone competition
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec4, p.1), AUTHOR: Jon Van]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-24548,00.html
IN PHONES, THE NEW NUMBER IS FOUR
Issue: Mergers
Recent trends in phone companies has led to basically four parts of an
"oligopoly": AT&T/TCI, Bell Atlantic/GTE, SBC/Ameritech, and MCI WorldCom.
These "megacarriers" are battling for the best customers and some communities
may be left behind, Mehta reports. Wireless service is especially exclusionary,
as companies are not obligated to serve everyone and can deny people with bad
credit. AT&T has led the way with its pending merger with TCI, which it plans
to use to bypass Baby Bells and offer local phone service and Internet access.
Other wireless companies are trying to keep up with AT&T's flat-rate nationwide
calling plan. Currently, SBC, based in San Antonio, is waiting to hear from
regulators that would allow it buy Ameritech, extending its reach into the
Midwest. Reed Hunt, former chairman of the Federal Communication Commission,
says the big four is sparking competition and consumers will benefit: "There
will be multiple national carriers, a handful of local regional operators and
great variety and tremendous creativity in marketing." But Royce S. Caldwell,
President of SBC, admits rural homes, low-spending phone users and small
business are customers that "nobody wants to serve." For example, Mayor Fred
Peralta of Taos (NM) says that companies will not spend millions to provide
service to just a handful of customers in rural towns. But William Barr, of
GTE's general counsel says competition is hurt by federal subsidies. It is
impossible for non-subsidized companies to compete in rural areas where firms
are receiving federal funds to serve residents, he says.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Stephanie N. Mehta ]
http://wsj.com/
PRIVACY
MICROSOFT TO RID WINDOWS OF TRACKING NUMBERS
Issue: Privacy
Richard M. Smith, a computer programmer, compares it to a Social Security
number being stamped on every document a person creates on a computer
operating with the Microsoft Windows 98 operating system. "It" is a unique
32-digit serial number that is generated in the latest version of Windows
and planted within electronic documents. It could be used to trace the
author's identity. Microsoft officials said they are investigating whether
the company is collecting the serial numbers from customers even if they
explicitly indicate they didn't want them disclosed. "If it is, it's just a
bug," said Robert Bennett, Microsoft's group product manager for Windows.
"If it is indeed happening, we'll absolutely fix that." Bennett said
Microsoft will create a software tool to let customers remove the Windows
number, which he said is meant to help diagnose problems for customers who
call with technical problems. Privacy activist Jason Catlett of Junkbusters
said, "This is going to be a cleanup job larger than the Exxon Valdez oil
spill." [Bug...or feature?]
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A8), AUTHOR: Ted Bridis (Associated Press)]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/feed/biztop920897272397.htm
TALES FROM THE CRYPTO, WITHOUT AN END IN SIGHT
Issue: Encryption
John Schwartz explains the latest round on the US battle over encryption.
"Encryption? It might seem arcane, that technology for scrambling secret
data and communications so that only the intended users can read them. But
it's anything but dull: Crypto sits at the center of a massive global
struggle that should resonate with anyone who cares about privacy, national
security and the extent to which government is able to peer into our lives."
The new round in the fight is centered on the recent reintroduction of the
Security and Freedom through Encryption Act (SAFE), sponsored by Reps.
Robert W. Goodlatte (R-VA) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). That bill, which has 200
co-sponsors, would greatly limit the government's power to restrict
encryption use or export. It's a response to attempts by the Clinton
administration to slow or stop the spread of strong crypto through export
controls and to move toward a system in which it would be illegal to sell
encryption software that law enforcement officers working under court
authority can't break. The bill is available at
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c106:H.R.850.IH:.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (F28), AUTHOR: John Schwartz]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/feed/biztop920897289648.htm
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