Cable
FCC: FCC Proposes Streamlined Cable Filing Requirements
Campaign Finance Reform
NYT: GOP, Relenting, Agrees to Take Up Campaign Finance
WSJ: Gingrich, in Reversal to Allow Debate On Changing
Campaign-Finance Laws
WP: Campaign Bill Gains in House
Telephone Regulation
WP: Minnesota "Slamming" Law Struck Down
Education/Computer Literacy
NYT: Whiz Kids Are Given a Chance to Teach Their Stuff
Technology
NYT: Computers Are Starting to Listen, and Understand
NYT: AT&T Says Failure Was Software Flaw
** Cable **
Title: FCC Proposes Streamlined Cable Filing Requirements
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/News_Releases/1998/nrcb8009.html
Issue: Cable
Description: "As part of an ongoing effort to streamline the regulatory
process, the Commission has adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to
simplify the Part 76 Cable Television Service pleading and complaint process
rules. The Commission believes that the creation of simpler, more uniform
pleading process will lessen confusion and reduce the regulatory burden on
franchising authorities, cable operators and other parties. This action is
initiated in conjunction with the 1998 biennial regulatory review process."
Comment Date: June 22, 1998 Reply Date: July 7, 1998
** Campaign Finance Reform **
Title: GOP, Relenting, Agrees to Take Up Campaign Finance
Source: New York Times (A1,A19)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/042398campaign-finance.html
Author: Alison Mitchel
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: Under growing pressure from insurgents, Speaker Newt Gingrich
and his lieutenants agreed yesterday to consider the "overhaul" of campaign
finance laws by late May and (this time) allow "full and open" debate on the
floor. The about-face came as the House Republican leadership became
concerned that Democrats, with the assistance of "dissident" Republicans,
were about to succeed in using "a parliamentary maneuver known as a
discharge petition to force a campaign finance bill to the floor over the
heads of leadership." Democrats claimed victory but remained suspicious of
GOP intent. "Make no mistake," said Rep. Dick Gephardt, the minority leader.
"This was a retreat not a conversion. The Republican leadership still
opposes reform that reduces the role of money in politics." [See also
NYTimes Editorial: "Campaign Reform Turns a Corner"
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/23thu1.html]
Title: Gingrich, in Reversal to Allow Debate On Changing Campaign-Finance Laws
Source: Wall Street Journal (A2)
http://wsj.com/
Author: David Rogers
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: Speaker Newt Gingrich's decision to agree to allow an open
House debate on campaign finance reform next month marks a retreat by the
GOP leadership, which has repeatedly worked to "squelch" any debate on this
issue in Congress. Proponents of the overhaul still face a difficult fight
on the floor, but almost any "significant" bill adopted by the House could
force the Senate to "revisit" the issue as well. "It's a great day for
democracy," said GOP Rep. Christopher Shays (CT), who helped lead a
bipartisan petition drive demanding reform this election year.
Title: Campaign Bill Gains in House
Source: Washington Post (A1,A5)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/23/133l-042398-idx.html
Author: Helen Dewar and Juliet Eilperin
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: "House Republican leaders yesterday abruptly reversed course
and agreed to votes next month on major campaign finance legislation,
retreating in the face of a bipartisan rebellion that threatened their
control of the House on the increasingly volatile issue. Reform advocates
hailed the agreement as a significant breakthrough in the long struggle over
legislation to curb fund-raising abuses but acknowledged it is unclear what
-- if any -- legislation will be approved." [See also WPost Editorial: "A
Chance to Vote on Reform"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/23/109l-042398-idx.h...
** Telephone Regulation **
Title: Minnesota "Slamming" Law Struck Down
Source: Washington Post (C4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: Minnesota District Judge Michael Fletsch ruled on Wednesday
that "federal law prevents Minn. from enforcing its own law to combat
'slamming,' the practice of switching consumers' long-distance telephone
service to another provider without their permission." If this ruling is
repeated in other states, experts familiar with the case warn that it could
remove the tools that states require to combat fraud. Many states have
enacted their own set of anti-slamming statutes that go further to protect
consumers rights than rules established by the Federal Communications
Commission and federal law. The Minn. ruling, however, does not prevent
states from enforcing federal rules. Judge Fletsch's ruling took the FCC by
surprise. "We generally have been supportive of efforts to expand the number
of cops on the street" to enforce against slamming, said the FCC's chief of
staff, John Nakahata. In his ruling, Judge Fletsch pointed out that the
federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 "preempts state regulation of
slamming and orders the FCC to write rules governing how consumers can
select long-distance carriers." He said that wording makes it "clear that
this area is preempted from state regulation" and "thus renders questionable
the validity" of Minn.'s anti-slamming law.
** Education/Computer Literacy **
Title: Whiz Kids Are Given a Chance to Teach Their Stuff
Source: New York Times (E7)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/circuits/articles/23kids.html
Author: Elizabeth Heilman Brooke
Issue: Education/Computer Literacy
Description: Dozens of teen-agers and community leaders have benefited from
the US West Foundation's New Technology Academy, based in Denver, Colo. The
academy is one of several programs using children as teachers of computer
technology. And the US West program is hoping to spread the word that even
in the poorest communities, kids with their "uninhibited" curiosity and
wealth of time to "fiddle and explore," may very well be the nation's most
natural teachers and technicians of technology. Programs that use young
computer whizzes as "computer-maintenance technicians, troubleshooters and
one-on-one tutors for fellow students, teachers and even school principals"
are popping up across the nation. "In a time when technology specialists are
increasingly in demand, schools, through desperation and happenstance, are
discovering that kids are incredibly adept at learning and using technology
and, with very little additional training, often make the best teachers of
technology," said Lin Foa, an educational consultant based in Potomac MD,
who is coordinator of the Technology Academy. "In a true community of
learners, kids are much more motivated when they finally have been given a
task and see that they can also contribute."
** Technology **
Title: Computers Are Starting to Listen, and Understand
Source: New York Times (E1,E8)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/circuits/articles/23voic.html
Author: Anne Eisenberg
Issue: Technology
Description: Over the past year, a huge leap in voice-recognition technology
has produced a new generation of significantly improved speech-based
products. Recent advancements now allow computers to recognize what is said
to them, talk back, and learn the patterns of the speaker quickly, whether
English in the standard or has the "lilt" of another dialect or language.
Conversational technology still has its flaws, but overall it is so useful
that it is already changing the way many people interact with computer
chips. One "hot application' for speech technology in voice-automated phone
transactions, known as input. When working within narrow contexts, like
airline reservations or mortgage rates, the programs are becoming more
accurate. Bill O'Farrell, co-founder and chairman of Applied Language
Technologies, called Altech, a Boston company that focuses on automating
over-the-phone transactions, says that we all sometimes need a bit of
clarification when we talk over the phone. He points out that a good speech
user interface mimics these qualities. "If Altech's speech recognizer misses
a beat, it politely says: 'I didn't catch that. Did you say yes or no?'" On
the output side of the technology, called text-to-speech, the programs are
showing that they can talk "intelligibly, but few would mistake the sound
for a human voice. "The technology here has lagged," said Paul Saffo of the
Institute for the Future, a research organization in Menlo Park, Calif. "I'm
still waiting for a voice that will pass the Turing test -- although, come
to think of it, I have some friends who would not pass this test." ("The
Turing test is named for Alan Turing, who said true artificial intelligence
would be shown when a machine's conversation could be mistaken for a
person's.") David Nahamoo, director of speech technology at IBM's Thomas J.
Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY, said in either case
"conversational technology is going to become the mode of any device you can
imagine embedded in the office, at home or in the car." He added, "Speech is
the interface of the future."
Title: AT&T Says Failure Was Software Flaw
Source: New York Times (D2)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/23phone.html
Author: Bloomberg News
Issue: Technology
Description: The AT&T Corp. announced yesterday that "software problems with
one of its switches caused the April 13 failure of the long-distance
company's nationwide network for high-speed data services." AT&T said that
they had changed the procedure for upgrading switching software to avoid
future breakdown problems on the network.
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