DIGITAL DIVIDE
President Stresses Internet's Potential (WP)
Clinton Hopes to Raise Indian Internet Use (NYT)
INTERNET
New Study Finds Hope for Internet Retailers (WSJ)
New Privacy Law Forcing Changes to Children's Sites (NYT)
Election Regulators Dismiss Complaint Against Bush Parody Site (NYT)
Webcasters Request Blanket Music License for Interactive Shows (WSJ)
Disney's Miramax to Distribute Films Online via SightSound.com
Technology (WSJ)
TELEPHONY
Telecom Mergers Anticipated (WP)
Public Forum on Secondary Markets in Radio Spectrum (FCC)
Forum Connection (CRF)
ADVERTISING
Separating Content From Ads on Web Can be Quite a Blur (WSJ)
Ford to Sell Safety to Kids on Nickelodeon (WSJ)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
PRESIDENT STRESSES INTERNET'S POTENTIAL
Issue: Digital Divide
In East Palo Alto, CA and Shiprock, NM Clinton announced more than $100
million in corporate contributions to efforts to close the technology
gap. In a society increasingly fueled by information technology the
President is stressing the need to bring technology to children.
"[Technology] can save you and your children from having to wait 30
years to move into the mainstream. . . . But you have to believe it,
and you have to take advantage of it," the President said. In East Palo
Alto several corporations made pledges to aiding the government's
efforts. Hewlett-Packard pledged $15 million for access for homes and
community centers. Gateway launched Teach America, a program to train
75,000 teachers in computer technology. Qualcomm pledged $25 million
for efforts in San Diego and Novell announced $20 million in software
contributions to nonprofit groups that help Hispanic communities. Jesse
Jackson called this moment in time a "cultural revolution" and urged
youth to "shift from high-tops to laptops in terms of what's important.
Because you can get your high-tops from laptops, but you cannot get
your laptops from high-tops." [The Kaiser Family Foundation is also
creating a series of public service ads to raise awareness of the
issue]
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A8), AUTHOR: Charles Babington]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32766-2000Apr17.html)
See Also:
CLINTON TAKES STEPS TO BRIDGE NATION'S 'DIGITAL DIVIDE'
[SOURCE: USA Today, Author: Richard Benedetto]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000418/2169239s.htm)
CLINTON HOPES TO RAISE INDIAN INTERNET USE
Issue: Digital Divide
While visiting the Navajo Nation, in Shiprock New Mexico, President
Clinton introduced a program that would provide low-cost phone service
to Indian Country. Currently, a significant portion of Indian Country
lacks phone service. For instance, no more than 22 percent of
households on the Navajo Reservation have phone service, which raises a
critical barrier to the President's goal of universal connectivity.
The $17 million initiative will be subsidized through a federal
surcharge increase of four-tenths of 1 percent on long distance service
carriers. President Clinton's initiative calls for $1-a-month phone
service to up to 300,000 American Indians throughout Indian Country.
The initiative is an addition to an existing $500 million program for
phone service to disadvantaged communities, and would not require
congressional approval.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A19), AUTHOR: Marc Lacey]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/biztech/articles/18bill.html
)
INTERNET
NEW STUDY FINDS HOPE FOR INTERNET RETAILERS
Issue: E-Commerce
Despite the recent pummeling of Internet retail stocks, a new study
shows 38% of Web retailers are actually making money and 72% of catalog
companies that have moved onto the Internet are operating in the black.
"The issue around a lack of profitability and the number of online
retailers that will die has been grossly overstated," says James
Vogtle, research director at Boston Consulting Group, which conducted
the study in conjunction with shop.org, an online retail trade group.
BCG's study notes that traditional bricks-and-mortar companies tend to
turn a profit more quickly than their Internet-only counterparts. Last
week Forrester Research also released an e-commerce study. Forrester
projected that most dot-com retailers would be driven out of business
by 2001.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A2), AUTHOR: Rebecca Quick]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956008213598764116.htm)
NEW PRIVACY LAW FORCING CHANGES TO CHILDREN'S SITES
Issue: Privacy/ Internet
When the new federal law overseeing privacy online takes effect on
Friday, Web sites that want to gather personal information from
children under 13 will have to receive parental permission before doing
so. The law, called the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, will
be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. Passed two years ago, the
legislation requires that sites obtain "verifiable" parental permission
before collecting any information. For the next couple of years, the
type of permission necessary for garnering information about kids will
be on a sliding scale, with more reliable permission necessary for more
detailed information. For instance, if a site wants information that
will be available to a third party or if a child wants to participate
in an online chat, the site will have to get a parent's home address,
credit card number, or electronic "signature." Information used only on
that site could be obtained after a simple email or phone call from the
parent. The cost of the new law is estimated to be $50,000 to $60,000 a
year for Web companies to operate a toll-free number that can be used
to verify e-mail from parents, according to Parry Aftab, a New York
lawyer who represents a number of children's Web sites. However,
Kathryn Montgomery, executive director of the Center for Media
Education, said the rules were a "fair tradeoff." "If you are going to
be making money off children, you shouldn't be taking advantage of
them," she said.
[SOURCE: New York Times (Cyber Times) AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/cyber/capital/18capital.html
)
ELECTION REGULATORS DISMISS COMPLAINT AGAINST BUSH PARODY SITE
Issue: Political Discourse/Internet
The Federal Election Commission threw out George W. Bush's complaint
against a critic whose Web site, gwbush.com, posts derisive satire
about the Texas governors official site. The Commission said Friday
that the complaint was not important enough to warrant using its
resources to pursue it further. Zack Exley, the owner of the site, said
that he was heartened by the dismissal, when he learned of it from a
reporter on Monday. Exley said, however, that he was troubled by the
fact that the FEC did not address the larger issue of political action
on the Web. Scott McClellan, a Bush campaign spokesman said the
campaign would not likely pursue further action in the matter. "We just
hope people will use good judgment and common sense," McClellan said.
"If you look at all the Web sites, you'll see that free speech is alive
and well in America, and Governor Bush has a very thick skin." Echoing
Exley's concern about the FEC's failure to address the issue of
independent Web-based political speech, some civil libertarians have
raised their own alarms. "Once again, the FEC has left the individual
citizen, voter or unaffiliated activist in legal limbo," said James X.
Dempsey, senior staff counsel for the Center for Democracy and
Technology, a Washington nonprofit group.
[SOURCE: New York Times (Cyber Times), AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/cyber/articles/18bush.html)
WEBCASTERS REQUEST BLANKET MUSIC LICENSE FOR INTERACTIVE SHOWS
Issue: Internet
Internet companies petitioned the Copyright Office to grant Web music
broadcasts that allow listeners to personalize what they hear (such as
skipping a song they don't like) the same favorable licenses that are
available to noninteractive programs. The issue is whether personalized
broadcasts should be subject to compulsory licensing, under which
Internet firms negotiate one industry wide royalty fee for their use of
various songs, or whether the Webcasters would have to cut licensing
deals with each record company, which is likely to be more costly.
Major music companies have argued that Webcasters should have to cut
licensing deals with each record company, "We think the statute's
pretty clear," said Steven Marks, a senior vice president of the
Recording Industry Association of America.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B4), AUTHOR: Joe Flint]
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956018620942080066.htm
DISNEY'S MIRAMAX TO DISTRIBUTE FILMS ONLINE VIA SIGHTSOUND.COM
TECHNOLOGY
Issue: Internet
Walt Disney's Miramax Films unit signed an agreement with the Web
company SightSound.com to make 12 Miramax films available online for
downloading on a pay-per-view basis. The nonexclusive deal will allow
Web users to download a film for viewing during a specific time period,
probably a day, after which the movie will be disabled. SightSound.com
has developed a filter that will allow only users in the US to download
films. The encryption and digital-rights management is important to
Miramax since it frequently doesn't own distribution rights to its
films outside the US. What the 12 movies will be, the date of their
availability or their rental price hasn't been determined yet.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: Bruce Orwall]
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956012066492774974.htm
TELEPHONY
TELECOM MERGERS ANTICIPATED
Issue: Mergers
Even before technology stocks bellyflopped in the past few weeks,
telecommunications companies were hurrying to buy each other up. Now
with many company's stock trading at a fraction of what they were going
for even a month ago, analysts are expecting telecom merger mania to
get even more. . .well, manic. "A lot of our companies at this point
are great values," said Jonathan Askin, chief legal counsel at the
Association for Local Telecommunications Services, an industry trade
group. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few larger companies
out there that saw good value." Many believe that European companies,
who want to get in on the growth of the U.S. market are the ones to
watch, as companies that they have had their eyes on for months are now
available at bargain-basement prices. For instance, Qwest, whose deal
with Deutsche Telekom went south last month over how to share takeover
proceeds with its partner, US West Inc, is now trading at $40.81 1/4 a
share, down from its high of around $66 a share.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E3), AUTHOR: Peter S. Goodman]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32228-2000Apr17.html)
PUBLIC FORUM ON SECONDARY MARKETS IN RADIO SPECTRUM
Issue: Spectrum
The FCC will hold a Public Forum addressing issues related to the
development of secondary markets for radio spectrum on Wednesday, May
31, 2000, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. As a result of the explosive
growth in wireless communications and the growing demand for scarce
spectrum resources, the FCC's seeks to increase the efficiency of
spectrum use and to make more spectrum available for use.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Public_Notices/2000/
da000862.html)
FORUM CONNECTION
Issue: Telecommunications
The latest issue of the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy's
"Forum Connection" includes an article on the exportation US
entertainment products; an update on proposed legislation to help rural
communities receive local broadcasts; an interview with Joel Klein,
Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of
Justice; and commentary by Mark Lloyd on the need for local public
affairs programming.
[SOURCE: Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy]
(http://www.civilrightsforum.org/connectionapril2000.html)
ADVERTISING
FORD TO SELL SAFETY TO KIDS ON NICKELODEON
Issue: Advertising
Even though the majority of Nickelodeon viewers don't know how to
drive, Ford is betting that they do carry a lot of clout when it comes
to deciding what gets parked in the family driveway. Ford has become
the first car maker to commit to advertising on a kids' television
network. The three-year deal is estimated to be for $20 million and
feature "Blue", the computer animated dog star of the network's hit
cartoon "Blue's Clues". Blue will serve as an official Ford
"spokespuppy" and will be featured in signage at Ford dealerships. "The
intent of this is not to sell vehicles, it is trying to convey a safety
message to kids and parents," said George Murphy, general marketing
manager of Ford's Ford Division. There is no plan to include product
placement for Ford in the "Blue's Clues" TV show. In anticipation of a
flat advertising year, Nickelodeon put together a separate sales unit
devoted to attracting nontraditional advertisers to kids fare. Among
other areas being targeted are travel, tourism and telecommunications.
Maybe the next time your child watches "Blue's Clues", she'll be
driving her Ford car to the airport, talking on her Nokia cell phone
with AT&T wireless service, trying to catch her Delta flight for a
weekend of fun at Walt Disney World.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: Joe Flint]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956022131109028131.htm)
SEPARATING CONTENT FROM ADS ON WEB CAN BE QUITE A BLUR
Issue: Advertising
Wall Street Journal reporter Stan Sesser looked at four English-
language portals in Hong Kong to determine how they dealt with the
separation of advertising and content. He was not pleased by what he
found. Sesser was particularly disturbed by what appeared to a common
practice of combining advertising and content in "soft news" stories.
A Chinadotcom executive says, "We don't see a requirement for
[advertiser and news] separation for soft subjects." According to
Sesser, the switch from print to the Internet "doesn't bode well for
the maintenance of ethical standards."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: Stan Sesser]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB955994263412114669.htm)
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