FCC
Telecom AM: Kennard Defends FCC's 'Streamlining and Deregulation' Actions
FCC: Electronic Filing of Documents
Internet
WSJ: FCC To Propose Levies on Firms That Provide Phone Services Via
Internet
WP: FCC Rule Could Hike Internet Call Costs
NYT: Library's 'Internet User's Agreement' Violates Rights, Group Says
NYT: Vigilantes to Let Spam Flow to Prove a Point
WSJ: Web's Vastness Foils Even Best Search Engines
Telephony
Telecom AM: Tristani Says FCC Won't Break 'Deal' With Rural Phone Companies
Telecom AM: Sprint Executive Sees 'Misinformation' On Long Distance Bills
Disabilities
FCC: Access to Telecommunications Services and Equipment to
Americans with Disabilities
Telecom AM: FCC Proposes Rules to Ensure Disabled Access to Phones
Digital TV
WSJ: TV Plans to Use New Digital Capacity To Improve Picture, Not Add
Channels
Computer Industry
NYT: Committee Clears Bill to Allow More Immigrant High-Tech Workers
NYT: Digital Diaper Set Is Next Gleam in Software Industry's Eye
** FCC **
Title: Kennard Defends FCC's 'Streamlining and Deregulation' Actions
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: FCC
Description: Chairman Kennard defended the actions that he and other
commissioners have taken in their terms to streamline and deregulate the
FCC, countering Congressional criticism. Kennard said three of the four
items approved involve streamlining and deregulation, showing the "strong
commitment that I and my fellow commissioners have made to reduce regulatory
burdens and streamline the FCC." An FCC official, anonymously, said the
statement was intended to respond to Congressional critics who believe the
agency has been slow to update it regulations for competitive markets.
Title: Electronic Filing of Documents
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/OGC/News_Releases/1998/nrgc8002.html
Issue: FCC
Description: "The FCC has amended its rules to allow the public to file
comments and other pleadings electronically via the Internet in many
rulemaking proceedings. Electronic filing will be permitted in most notice
and comment rulemaking proceedings, most proceedings involving petitions for
rulemaking, Notice of Inquiry proceedings, and petitions for reconsideration
in these proceedings."
** Internet **
Title:
Source: Wall Street Journal (A1)
http://wsj.com/
Author: John Simons
Issue: Internet Regulation/Universal Service
Description: The FCC has a proposal that would require ISPs to pay access
charges to local phone companies for services they provide their customers
on-line. The FCC would also require those companies to pay into the
government's "universal service fund," which subsidizes inexpensive phone
service in rural and inner-city areas. If the commission approves of the
proposal it would be a major break from Clinton administration's hands-off
regulatory policy toward the Internet.
Title: FCC Rule Could Hike Internet Call Costs
Source: Washington Post (D1,D5)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/03/152l-040398-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Internet Use/Long-Distance
Description: Federal regulators are considering a proposal that would
require companies that carry long-distance telephone calls over the Internet
to pay the same fees that traditional long-distance companies pay to support
the nation's phone system. The proposal, that could raise the rates on
Internet long-distance services, is still in the discussion stage at the
Federal Communications Commission. "If the service they're providing is the
same that a classic long-distance company provides, that's an awful lot like
a telephone company," said one FCC staffer. "And that comes with obligations."
Title: Library's 'Internet User's Agreement' Violates Rights, Group Says
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/cyberlaw/03law.html
Author: Carl J. Kaplan
Issue: Internet Regulation/Privacy
Description: Many libraries are now using one of two methods to prevent
patrons from "ogling" smut online: 1) installing a software blocking program
on a computer terminal or 2) having users sign a form that basically says,
"Thou shalt not peek" at cyber porn. The first method "triggered" a First
Amendment lawsuit this past December that is now underway in Federal
District Court in Alexandria, VA. Now the second method is also under attack
in Los Angeles. Last month, 11 adult residents of Ventura County, Calif. and
the local branch of the Libertarian Party, filed a complaint in federal
court challenging the library system's requirement that patrons who want to
use library computers must sign an agreement that they will "refrain from
'displaying sexually explicit' material online." Generally, these library
attempts are efforts to keep children from accessing "inappropriate"
material or to keep adults from displaying sexually explicit sites that may
be offensive to others in the library. Opponents claim these measures are a
violation to the First Amendment, while others defend these moves as a
library's right to decide which materials to accumulate and display as part
of its collection. "Libraries are in a real quandary," said Karen G.
Schneider, a public librarian at Garfield Library in Brunswick NY and the
author of "A Practical Guide to Internet Fillers." "When computer terminals
are in an open area, as they usually are in libraries, there is a conflict
between a patron's right to view material online and the right of other
patrons not to see it...We've always had sexually explicit information in
libraries, but traditionally that information was tucked into books. As a
librarian, it's not my business what you are reading at a table. But if you
lift up a [sex] magazine and hold it up for everyone to see, then you are
starting to intrude on other people's rights of privacy."
Title: Vigilantes to Let Spam Flow to Prove a Point
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/03usenet.html
Author: Matt Richtel
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: A "behind-the-scenes" vigilante group that regulates and
cancels spam messages from Internet discussion groups planned Friday to
"temporarily cease its policing activities. The action may be felt far and
wide: The vigilantes predict discussion groups will fill with advertisements
-- largely sex-related -- and that specialized servers that carry discussion
groups may crash the world over. The group says it hopes to force Internet
service companies to start policing themselves, to begin using anti-spam
software filters on their own news servers, and to demonstrate to them 'in
inarguable terms what Usenet is facing.'" "A lot of servers that aren't well
cared for are just going to melt down," said Rick Buchanan, a member of the
group that is like and online version of the Guardian Angels. "Hard drives
will crash and burn."
Title: Web's Vastness Foils Even Best Search Engines
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Thomas E. Weber
Issue: Search Engines
Description: Even the most thorough search engine manages to find only about
a third of the pages on the Web, according to a study published in the
journal of Science. C. Lee Giles, co-author of the study and a scientist at
NEC, said, "I don't think people realize how little coverage of the Web the
search engines provide...I was quite surprised." Search engines are best
known for turning up too much info. Now the study raises the sobering
prospect that the one page you need might not be among those thousands and
there may be no way to find it. And, as millions of pages are added to the
Web each year, it could call into question the business of search engines
and the continued prominence of the Web itself. Hot emerged as the most
comprehensive search engine among the six in the study. The worst of the six
was Lycos. Rajive Mathur, senior product manager at Lycos, said, "Quite
frankly, I don't give these kinds of reports a lot of credence. Our focus is
not on quantity, it's on quality."
** Telephony **
Title: Tristani Says FCC Won't Break 'Deal' With Rural Phone Companies
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Telephony
Description: FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani told rural phone companies
that she doesn't want the FCC to adopt policies that "strike the right
balance for large LECs [local exchange carriers] but overlook the unique
nature of rural LECs." Tristani said that the rural companies and the FCC
entered into a "deal" whereby rural companies agreed to serve all customers,
even though they would "lose money every month," and the FCC would allow
them to subsidize those high-cost customers. "That was the deal," she said,
and "while competition is the reason we are revising that deal, it must not
be an excuse for breaking the deal."
Title: Sprint Executive Sees 'Misinformation' On Long Distance Bills
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Long Distance
Description: A Sprint exec said there's been "confusion and misinformation"
about new charges on long distance bills. VP of Gov't Affairs James Lewin
said in a letter to House Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-VA) that bills
now include surcharges for the new schools and libraries program and
subscriber line charges to reflect changes in the way local companies bill
Sprint for access.
** Disabilities **
Title: Access to Telecommunications Services and Equipment to
Americans with Disabilities
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Wireless/News_Releases/1998/nrwl8012.html
Issue: Disabilities
Description: The FCC "adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NPRM") to
implement Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 ("the Act").
Section 255 represents the most significant governmental action for people
with disabilities since the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act
of 1990 ("ADA"). It is one of the key provisions of the Act promoting the
goal of universal access and seeks to increase the accessibility of
telecommunications services and equipment to the 54 million Americans with
disabilities."
Title: FCC Proposes Rules to Ensure Disabled Access to Phones
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Disabilities
Description: The FCC proposed rules that make it easier for the disabled to
get access to phones and pagers that they can use. The commissioners
proposed requiring phone companies to design and manufacture equipment that
can be more easily used by the disabled, such as phones that have enlarged
keypads or are voice-activated. Sec. 255 of the Telecom Act requires the FCC
to set rules to endure that the 54 million disabled Americans can use
telecom equipment. Under the proposed rules, when the FCC is contacted with
a complaint, it will give the company five days to provide the equipment if
it is available or find a substitute. Companies that don't respond can be
penalized or fined.
** Digital TV **
Title: TV Plans to Use New Digital Capacity To Improve Picture, Not Add
Channels
Source: Wall Street Journal (A3)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Kyle Pope
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Network execs said that they still believe an expansion of
channels, or "multicasting," is the real promise of digital TV. But they
have also acknowledged that it has become politically impossible. Critics in
Congress have objected to using the free digital spectrum to make money, and
have even threatened the networks with new public-service requirements if
they don't broadcast full-scale, "high-definition" TV. CBS and ABC both
pledged a small portion of their primetime schedule in HDTV, starting this
fall. Preston Padden, president of ABC, said, "The government made it quite
clear to us that they wanted us to get about the business of HDTV, and
that's what we're doing."
** Computer Industry **
Title: Committee Clears Bill to Allow More Immigrant High-Tech Workers
Source: New York Times (Cybertimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/03visa.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Jobs
Description: The Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill yesterday that
will allow computer and software companies to bring in thousands more
foreign workers. The panel approved a bill by Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-MI)
that would increase the number of visas available this year under the
so-called H1-B visa program from 65,000 to 95,000. That limit will increase
to 115,000 for the years 1999 through 2002. Sen. Abraham added a provision
to the bill at the request of Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), that "the National
Science Foundation conduct a study of high-tech labor needs for the next
decade." The study will be due to Congress in two years.
Title: Digital Diaper Set Is Next Gleam in Software Industry's Eye
Source: New York Times (C1,C3)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/biztech/articles/03tots.html
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Computer Literacy
Description: Over the past year, sales of software for children ages 5 and
younger has more than doubled to $41 million, according to PC Data Inc., a
research company that tracks the industry. However, introducing children at
such a young age is a heated topic of debate among educators and
child-development experts. "Computers are transforming our society in both
good ways and silly ways," said Judah Schwartz, co-director of the
Educational Technology Center at Harvard Univ. "And this seems to be one of
the sillier ways." Yet child-development specialists think there is nothing
silly about it and insist personal computers will soon be as natural a
fixture in the nursery or playroom as Dr. Seuss. "Just as books are adapted
in both form and content to meet the needs of babies and toddlers, computers
and software can be adapted to delight and educate even the very young,"
said Corinne Rupert, a child psychologist. If the software is properly made
and easy to use, she declared, "There is no minimum age level to computer
introduction."
*********
And we are outta here ... Have a great weekend and don't forget to "spring
forward" on Sunday!