Universal Service and the Internet
NYT: On Internet, Playing Fair May Mean Paying Up
FCC: Commission Submits Report to Congress on Universal Service
NYT: Studies Explore Possibilities of E-mail for Everyone
Internet
WSJ: GTE to Offer Fast, Low-Cost Internet Access
NYT: Who Knows What About Whom on the Internet
NYT: Hong Kong Tycoon Seeks Internet Success
Telephony
NYT: Phone Competition, Finally
WSJ: Flaw Is Found in Digital Phone System That May Let
Hackers Get Free Phone Service
WSJ: Telephone Company Banned in Calif. And Refunds Ordered
WP: Phone Numbers to Go
Television
NYT: Network Chiefs Have Digital TV on Their Minds
NYT: Tough Documentaries Are a Tough Sell on TV
WP: Web Firms Seek A Bigger Slice Of TV Channels
Antitrust
WSJ: Microsoft Is on Defensive Over Media Strategy
Satellites
WP: Haig Floats A High-Tech Balloon
** Universal Service and the Internet **
Title: On Internet, Playing Fair May Mean Paying Up
Source: New York Times (D1)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/13phone.html
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: Universal Service/Internet
Description: "If it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it just
might be a duck." This may have been the prevailing wisdom behind the
Federal Communications Commission's proposal released April 10 to levy
network access fees against the companies that provide telephone service
over the Internet. But it can also be viewed as "a realization that there
are costs to operating a public communications network and that everyone
using the network should help cover the costs, Schiesel writes. Internet
phone calls are cheaper because 1) the system is more economical than the
phone system and 2) because it has been exempted for the web of subsidies
that support local phone networks. The FCC is moving to remove that
exemption and to regulate the Internet based on what it does rather than
what it is.
Title: Commission Submits Report to Congress on Universal Service
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Reports/fcc98067.html
Issue: Universal Service
Description: "In a Report to Congress submitted [on April 10], the
Commission revisited many of its major decisions related to the
implementation of the universal service provisions of the Telecommunications
Act of 1996. [The] Report is consistent with the Commission's aim of
ensuring that low-income and rural consumers have access to local telephone
service at affordable rates and that an evolving level of telecommunications
services are available and affordable for all Americans. At the same time,
the Report reaffirms the Commission's commitment to encouraging the
continued development of new services and technologies."
Title: Studies Explore Possibilities of E-mail for Everyone
Source: New York Times -- CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/11email.html
Author: Rebecca Fairley Raney
Issue: Universal Service
Description: A number of foundations and corporations are joining efforts to
have a national dialog "about universal e-mail access, an idea predicated by
findings of a Rand study that said universal access will not happen without
social intervention." "The goal is not to predict what will happen, but to
encourage uses to enhance a democratic society," said Zoe Baird, president
of the Markle Foundation. "Why be passive? We're hoping to have people
thoughtfully inspire uses." [See http://www.markle.org, E-mail For All
http://www.markle.org/projects.html, the International Advisory Group
http://www.iaginteractive.com/, and the Rand study
http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR650/index.html]
** Internet **
Title: GTE to Offer Fast, Low-Cost Internet Access
Source: Wall Street Journal (B8)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Jared Sandberg
Issue: Internet Sales & Services
Description: GTE said it will begin deployment of "asymmetric digital
subscriber line" service, or ADSL, beginning in June, pending approval by
the FCC. The technology allows extremely fast access to the Internet using
traditional phone lines, as much as 50 times the speed of today's modems.
GTE said it will focus on serving businesses and schools, and then begin
deployment to 30 markets. Prices are expected to start at $30 a month, not
including Internet-access fees, installation fees or monthly equipment
charges of $12. John Appel, president of GTE Network Services, said, "This
is the largest announcement on ADSL deployment to date."
Title: [Online Title] Who Knows What About Whom on the Internet
Source: New York Times (D5)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/digicom/13digicom.html
Author: Denise Caruso
Issue: Privacy
Description: Many data vendors believe that one-to-one sales pitches are the
future of commerce. And since the Internet is such a great vehicle for
reaching one user at a time, it may be the battleground for privacy. Many
people may be indifferent to junk mail delivered to their homes' mailbox,
but they hate junk email like this message. A June 1997 Georgia Tech survey
of Web users found that 87% think they should have "complete control" over
the demographic data captured on websites. More than 71% wanted new laws to
protect online privacy. The ability to collect information about online
users is great and shocks many consumers. Trust-E and the American Institute
of Certified Public Accountants are providing audits and reviews of
commercial information practices. Companies are being urged to voluntarily
post privacy policies, but many are reluctant: "We don't have generalized
privacy law today....Once you voluntarily promise, you have to keep your
promise," said a Federal Trade Commission official. [See
http://www2000.ogsm.vanderbuilt.edu, http://www.cybergold.com, and
http://www.ftc.gov/]
Title: Hong Kong Tycoon Seeks Internet Success
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/biztech/articles/13hong.html
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: International
Description: Hong Kong has been waiting for an encore from the man who
started Asia's first satellite-delivered cable television service, StarTV.
Richard Li has announced that he will start a digital media company to
provide Internet access to TV sets and computers throughout Asia, a part of
the world where first hand experience with the global computer network is
still rare.
** Telephony **
Title: Phone Competition, Finally
Source: New York Times (A30)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/13mon3.html
Author: NYT Editorial Staff
Issue: Competition
Description: The New York Public Service Commission has fashioned a deal
that may allow Bell Atlantic to become the first Baby Bell to be allowed to
offer in-region long distance service. Bell Atlantic has agreed to open up
the local phone market in New York by allowing competitors such as AT&T to
use BA's wires and switches. In exchange, BA will be allowed to charge the
competitors surcharges for use of these facilities. The PSC feat is that it
has helped to open New York's phone market to competition before the Baby
Bells have exhausted their legal challenges to the Telecommunications Act of
1996.
Title: Flaw Is Found in Digital Phone System That May Let Hackers Get Free
Phone Service
Source: Wall Street Journal (A3)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Jared Sandberg
Issue: Security/Cellular Phones
Description: A software developer and two graduate students said they can
extract key security information from so-called GSM digital cellular phones.
The breach is notable because such phone systems, unlike analog cellular
networks, were believed to be practically tamperproof. The security
information is contained in a "subscriber identification module," or SIM
card, a credit card-like device inserted into digital cellular phones that
identifies each customer to the telephone system. Computer security
engineers said they could copy the card and store its information on a
computer or a device as simple as a hand-held electronic organizer. When the
computer is connected to a phone, the cellular network believes it is being
used by an authentic customer. David Wagner, a 23-year old security expert
and grad student at the Univ. of Calif., said, "Once you've recovered the
key, all of the security in the system has been compromised."
Title: Telephone Company Banned in Calif. And Refunds Ordered
Source: Wall Street Journal (B6A)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Hijacking!
Description: Brittan Communications Internat'l Corp. has been banned from
Calif. for 2 years and must refund $702,000 to thousands of customers to
settle allegations that it hijacked their phone service. The phone company
was the subject of about 35,000 complaints from consumers charging they had
been involuntarily transferred to the company's service between Sept. 1995
and Oct. 1997. Under terms of the settlement, the company has 60 days to end
the service and repay customers affected by the "slamming."
Title: Phone Numbers to Go
Source: Washington Post (WashTech, p.6)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Jon Van
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: Lockheed Martin Information Management Systems has set up a
nationwide database to make "phone number portability" work. The first
manifestation of local phone number portability will begin Tuesday and is
scheduled to start in the Chicago area. The intention of portability is that
consumers and businesses can change local phone companies easily while
keeping the same phone number. A Gallup poll commissioned by MCI found that
83% of businesses and 80% of residential customers said they wouldn't even
consider changing local phone companies if that meant they would have to
change phone numbers. Such polls helped convince the FCC that number
portability is essential to make local phone competition possible.
** Television **
Title: [Online title] Network Chiefs Have Digital TV on Their Minds
Source: New York Times (D7)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/13hdtv.html
Author: Joel Brinkley
Issue: Digital TV
Description: The preoccupying topic of last week's National Association of
Broadcasters' convention was "The Power of Digital." Amazingly, the chief
exectutives of the television networks, the guys who are paid to think "big
thoughts" were all "talking geek." The industry is waist deep in discussions
about which digital TV format to use: progressive (like computer screens) or
interlace (like today's TV screens). As broadcast networks bicker, however,
"Here's a sobering fact," the president of ABC said. "When you list today's
10 most profitable networks, only one is a traditional broadcaster -- NBC."
Title: Tough Documentaries Are a Tough Sell on TV
Source: New York Times (D7)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/mip-tv-media.html
Author: Louise McElvogue
Issue: Television
Description: At an international trading market for television programming,
US firms selling shows like "E.R." dominate the scene. At best there's a
marginal appetite for hard-hitting documentaries. "Seeing lions copulate is
better television than anything we have made," said independent documentary
producer Elliott Halpern who has made films such as "The 50 Years War:
Israel and the Arabs" and "Death of Yugoslavia." "The type of documentaries
that are selling today are fur and feathers, travel and factual
documentaries, but not the quality documentaries with serious journalism,
which are becoming harder to sell," said one veteran distributor. Overall
documentary are on the rise because they are cheap to make ($300-400,000/hr
compared to $1.2 million for dramas and $900,000 for sitcoms) and bring in
respectable ratings.
Title: Web Firms Seek A Bigger Slice Of TV Channels
Source: Washington Post (WashTech, p.22)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/13/015l-041398-idx.html
Author: John Burgess
Issue: Internet Access
Description: WorldGate Communications is about to begin using what engineers
call the
Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) to offer what it predicts will become a
nat'l Web service. VBI is a slice of each TV channel that was set aside
decades ago to carry unspecified data (closed captioning, for example).
WorldGate is racing to build a mass market for the Web for people
who don't have the money and/or patience to get online using PCs. WorldGate's
service uses cable TV lines instead of phone lines and costs just $4.95 a
month. One can write e-mail by calling a keyboard image onto the screen,
then pressing keys using remote commands -- if that's too slow then wireless
keyboards can be purchased for real typing. The service
works best on cable systems that have had a costly upgrade to allow two-way
transmission of data.
** Antitrust **
Title: Microsoft Is on Defensive Over Media Strategy
Source: Wall Street Journal (B8)
http://wsj.com/
Author: David Bank & John Simons
Issue: Microsoft
Description: Microsoft has been on the defensive since Friday, when reports
surfaced of a proposal by Microsoft's PR firm in Washington to generate
favorable news articles, op-ed pieces and letters to the editor in many of
the states where Microsoft is under investigation by state attorneys general
for possible antitrust violations. Microsoft spokesman Greg Shaw called the
spate of publicity about the media plan "unfortunate" and acknowledged that
it could undercut the impact of testimonials to the company by casting doubt
on their authenticity. "It's an unintended consequence," he said.
** Satellites **
Title: Haig Floats A High-Tech Balloon
Source: Washington Post (WashTech, p.5)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/13/005l-041398-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Satellites
Description: Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig has led a campaign to
launch enormous, high-altitude zeppelins [all bearing images of the retired
General] over the major cities of the world to transmit the Internet, video
pictures and phone calls to the masses
below. Haig and the crew members of Sky Station Internat'l have won some
victories that put them closer toward a goal of launching the first of 250
robot balloons two years from now. They've hired well-known companies to
make the balloons and electronics. They've received approval from the FCC to
use a chunk of high-frequency airwaves. And last fall, in Geneva, they
persuaded diplomats from around the world to grant their service a global
allocation of frequencies. Per Lindstrand, founder of Lindstrand Balloons
Ltd., a lending balloon maker based in London, said, "Two years ago the idea
of a geostationary airship was only in specialists' heads... now you have
half the aviation world looking into it."
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