PART I
PRIVACY
An Upfront Approach to Internet Privacy (NYT)
Formation Of Net Fraud Council To Be Announced (SJ Merc)
Targeted Marketing Confronts Privacy Concerns (CyberTimes)
MERGERS
Why Laissez Faire Is The Washington Line On Telecom Mergers (WSJ)
...Or The Wave Of The Future? (WSJ)
INTERNET TECHNOLOGY
Lucent Unveils Single Chip For Internet Phones (SJ Merc)
U S West To Introduce Web-Phone Internet Access (SJMerc)
Microsoft Agrees to Experiment With Nortel's Optical Network (NYT)
INTERNET
Five-Day Test Of Survival Planned On Internet (SJ Merc)
Chinese Log On To Vent Anti-U.S. Protest (SJ Merc)
Microsoft Plans Virtual Clinic (WP)
BROADCASTING
Mitsubishi Eletric Sets Pact With CBS To Aid Digital (WSJ)
Microsoft Hunts Its Whale, The Digital Set-Top Box (NYT)
MEDIA AND SOCIETY
Cybertalk: The Tools of Protection (WP)
Washington Memo: Searching For Causes of Youthful Angst (NYT)
Time Warner To Appeal Award Of $25 Million In Jenny Jones Case
(WSJ)
PRIVACY
AN UPFRONT APPROACH TO INTERNET PRIVACY
Issue: Privacy
Free PC may have clumsily created the model for handling personal data --one
that privacy advocates have been championing for years, and that also may be
acceptable to free-marketers. In a contest for free PCs and network
access for 10,000 households this year, more than a million people have
revealed virtually everything. The survey was required so that, if they were
chosen, Free PC could create their household's custom advertising profile
and provide them with customized continuous on-screen advertising. Called
the "permission model" the Free PC effort may have forced open the door to a
marketing model that puts control of personal information in the hands of
consumers, and even gives them something in return. Seth Godin, an online
marketer, said, that what does bother people is not giving information, but that
the possessors of such personal information do something unexpected with it.
A recent Vanderbilt University survey reported 72% of Web users would
relinquish data if they were assured of "a cooperative relationship
built on trust" -- specifically, if the sites would provide statements about
how the data were going to be used.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Denise Caruso]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/05/biztech/articles/10digi.html)
FORMATION OF NET FRAUD COUNCIL TO BE ANNOUNCED
Issue: Internet
Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National White Collar Crime
Center, and the National Fraud Center will announce the formation of the
Internet Fraud Council and a complaint center to take complaints from
consumers about alleged Internet fraud. The council is to devise ways to
fight crimes in cyberspace, from credit card frauds, to stock manipulation to
get-rich-quick schemes. The council -- which will sell memberships to
corporations, colleges and universities, government agencie, and the media --
will provide legal and legislative information relating to the Internet, and
access to education and training. The center, based in West Virginia, will
open by late summer. Its data is seen as an important step in tracking
cybercrime trends, since the Justice Department has not tracked Internet
crimes specifically.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: USA Today]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/055510.htm)
TARGETED MARKETING CONFRONTS PRIVACY CONCERNS
Issues: Privacy
These days, Internet retailers are focused on "conversion" -- the rate at which
visitors become buyers. The latest e-commerce software, like Vignette,
recognizes visitors to a site and changes product offerings based on the
shopper's behavior. Onsale.com, an auction retail site, tracks visitor's
movements from page to page and sends email messages with news about items
the user may be interested in. However, executives and analysts say these
"one-to-one marketing" techniques are expensive ("in the low six figures") to
implement, and are often a lot more hype than reality. Stev Podradchik of
Marketwave, brings up another obstacle to personalized marketing. Checking
customers' data could slow the system down, sacrificing a much-valued asset on
the Internet -- speed. Other obstacles include the difficulty of programming
software to keep up with the fickle customers. While executives and analysts
agree that consumers would embrace such software if it made for a more
efficient shopping experience, a recent survey shows Internet users are
increasingly uncomfortable with releasing personal information as companies are
becoming more aggressive in their tactics. A spokesperson for Jupiter
Communications says this is understandable, given that one third of Web sites do
not post privacy policies. Kaplan of Onsale.com, which posts its
privacy statement, says, hovever, that Internet companies are being held to
such a high standard, that an individual's privacy is better protected
online than with a
local mom and pop store. This may be true, says James McQuivey of Forrester
Research, but; "In the old days, a customer's information stayed in the head of
the local merchant. There was never a mechanism like the Internet to exploit
it."
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Bob Tedeshci]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/05/cyber/commerce/10commerce.html)
MERGERS
WHY LAISSEZ FAIRE IS THE WASHINGTON LINE ON TELECOM MERGERS
Issue: Mergers
In the last few years, telecommunication companies have been coupling, or
eating each other up, at an increasingly feverish pace. As a result,
regulators have become more vocal with their concerns about industry
consolidation and waning competition in the market for phone and
entertainment services. They have, however, taken little action to curb the
growing merger mania. Perhaps policymakers still hope that 1996
Telecommunications Act can achieve its goals of lower prices and better
service. Author Bryan Gruley gives additional reasons to explain the current
"hands off" approach of Washington towards recent telecommunications deals:
*Regulators believe that convergence will result in new competition between
industries that previously served different markets. As Steve Sunshine, a
former Justice department lawyer, explained; "It's no longer local, long
distance, and wireless or even cable; the market boundaries are eroding."
*The Justice Department has had a hard time blocking mergers on the grounds
that they would stifle competition, because most of the mergers have
involved companies that are not currently direct competitors.
*As in the case of the AT&T/MediaOne deal, policymakers are forced to make
arguments about areas that have yet to develop. It will be difficult to
block this merger on grounds that AT&T will dominate the broadband market
when the cable-broadband is not even available in many places.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A1), AUTHOR: Bryan Gruley]
(http://wsj.com/)
...OR THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE?
Issue: Mergers
(Op-Ed) With AT&T poised to gain access to 60% of all American cable
households once it acquires MediaOne, there is little question that it will
it will play a powerful role in the future of the Internet. By controlling
key elements of the Internet's infrastructure, namely the wires though which
customers access the Internet, AT&T will be able to influence the success or
failure of the various technologies vying to offer high-speed services. AT&T
is one of few companies with the size and cash flow necessary to convert
cable-TV lines into two way telecommunications lines - a job requiring
billions in additional investment. And while consumers might see short run
benefits from heighten competition to deploy broadband services, there is
question as to whether anyone but AT&T will benefit in the long run.
Companies like AT&T and Microsoft have proven themselves capable of
dominating industries, leaving consumers with limited choices. With the
future of broadband still subject to conjecture, there is little
policymakers can do at this juncture to prevent AT&T from moving ahead with
its high-speed plans. The authors suggest that; "Regulating on Internet time
has to become more like competing on Internet time: Regulators must learn to
respond quickly and flexibility, and not assume that any advantage is secure."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A23), AUTHOR: David Yoffe and Michael Cusumano]
(http://wsj.com/)
INTERNET TECHNOLOGY
U S WEST TO INTRODUCE WEB-PHONE INTERNET ACCESS
Issue: Internet/Telephony
US west has plans to be fist in offering a hybrid telephone-computer
technology that will allow customers to access the Internet in just one
step. The WebTouch phones, made by Alcatel, will be easier and lighter than
traditional computers. The technology will offer touch sensitive screens and
programmable buttons for simplified Web navigation. "This is the Internet
for the rest of us, " said Solomon Trujillo, CEO of US West. The new phones
will also be less expensive than other types of computers, but the exact
price is still unknown.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/050071.htm)
LUCENT UNVEILS SINGLE CHIP FOR INTERNET PHONES
Issue: Internet/Telephony
Lucent Technologies has created "Phone-On-A-Chip," a computer chip that
distills the functions of five chips into a single chip for telephones that
carry voice on Internet networks. The chip, which will be available sometime
next year, will cut the costs of the specialized phones by 30%. Initial
interest is expected from small and medium-sized businesses that want to
use networked Internet technology for both voice and data. That technology
requires the use of specialized phones, currently costing $250 or more and
are different from mobile "Web phones."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/029405.htm)
MICROSOFT AGREES TO EXPERIMENT WITH NORTEL'S OPTICAL NETWORK
Issue: Merger
Microsoft has agreed to try a new sort of communications technology from
Nortel Networks of Canada for its internal communications system used for
e-mail and for testing software. Microsoft plans to revamp its network next
year and will take the next six months or so to determine which
communications companies will get the lion's share of its business. The
agreement with Microsoft could give Nortel an advantage in the battle to
become the leader in wave division multiplexing. WDM transmits multiple
wavelengths, or colors, of light through a single strand of optical fiber.
The Microsoft connection is considered a good testing ground for the new
technology because the company says it demands more from its internal data
network that perhaps any other company in the nation. Its internal data load
quadruples about every 18 months.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C10), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/05/biztech/articles/10net.html)
INTERNET
FIVE-DAY TEST OF SURVIVAL PLANNED ON INTERNET
Issue: Internet/International
Four volunteers -- men and women aged 30 to 67 -- each will spend 100 hours
this week in separate cells at a secret location in London in a test of
their ability to feed, clothe and entertain themselves using only the Net.
Apart from the Internet -- and deliveries ordered though it -- the four will
have no other contact with the outside world. Interested Internet
users will be able to check on how they are faring via a Web site
(http://www.MSN.co.uk). The four, selected from hundreds who repplied to an
ad in a national newspaper, were promised their own PCs and $800 to spend
via the Internet on items such as food, clothes, CDs, and even microwave ovens.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: London Observer Service]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/019617.htm)
CHINESE LOG ON TO VENT ANTI-U.S. PROTEST
Issue: Internet/Politics
Protesting the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy compound in Belgrade
Friday night, Chinese computer buffs flooded cyberspace with anti-US
rhetoric, hacking into a US embassy Web site and overloading chat rooms with
condemnations. Many students said they first heard on the Web about the
bombing and about the Beijing street protests that followed. More than 24,000
protest messages have been posted on one popular chatroomat
(http://www.netease.com). Most of the postings were one-line invectives
against President Clinton or the NATO bombing campaign. Many of China's
most popular sites added additional servers to keep up with demand. In
addition to the Web postings, Chinese hackers twice assailed the US embassy
Web site, replacing the home page with text reading "down with barbarians,"
reported the state-run China Daily. More than two million Chinese use the
Internet.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Christiaan Virant (Reuters)]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/425771l.htm)
MICROSOFT PLANS VIRTUAL CLINIC
Issue: Internet/Health
Imagine a "virtual" treatment using a small camera atop your computer monitor
instead of driving across town to a see a doctor. Welcome to the "virtual
clinic," futuristic employee health care that may soon be available to
13,800 Microsoft employees at company headquarters in Redmond, Washington,
and to16,000 others around the country and the world using Microsoft
NETMeeting software. The concept is so new the American Medical Association
has never heard of it. Even Microsoft has no idea when it will become
reality. Persons familiar with the virtual-clinic concept said they could
not guess at the costs. Also insurance issues have yet to arise. And not
everyone thinks it is a good idea. Jamie Court of Consumers for Quality Care
said practicing medicine via computer to cut costs is a slippery slope that
could lead to poor patient care and litigation. Some medical centers already
use two-way conferencing -- called telemedicine -- to provide consultation
services and collegial help. Microsoft already has an "Ask the doctor" link
on the benefits Web site of the company's Intranet.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (Online), AUTHOR: Laurence M. Cruz (Associated Press)]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990509/V000724-050999-idx.html)
BROADCASTING
MICROSOFT HUNTS ITS WHALE, THE DIGITAL SET-TOP BOX
Issue: Digital TV/Media Strategies
With Microsoft's $5 billion stake in AT&T to develop set-top boxes, the
company has gotten closer to its goal of melding the PC, the Internet, and TV
into a "leviathan living-room entertainment and information machine," Markoff
reports. The intersection of the nation's most vibrant industries -- media,
computing, entertainment, and telecommunications motivate the quest for this
trio. So far, Microsoft's quest into digital television has included WebTV,
Time Warner's Road Runner, four European interactive cable TV investments,
and now AT&T. Whereas TV sets are in 98% of US homes, PC's are only in 50%.
A Windows operating system monopoly on set-top boxes could limit sales in
the PC industry even more. However, Gates may be ignoring challenges, such
as consumer indifference to interactive TV and alternative technologies for
delivering the Internet. PC companies, digital videocassette recorder
manufacturers, as well as video game makers will continue to fragment the
cable-TV market. Distancing the company from Time Warner's investment in
interactive TV that failed in 1997, Microsoft executives say there is currently
a business rationale for investing in interactive TV. "Deregulation is allowing
a single supplier and pipe into the home to provide digital television,
telephony, and high-speed Internet access," said Hank Vigil, vice president for
consumer strategy at Microsoft.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: John Markoff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/05/biztech/articles/10box.html)
MITSUBISHI ELETRIC SETS PACT WITH CBS TO AID DIGITAL
Issue: DTV
Mitsubishi, a manufacture of digital TV equipment, has pledged to pay CBS's
extra production costs in airing prime-time series in high-definition for
the 1999-2000 television season. In this, the first deal in which a
manufacture will pay to stimulate demand for digital TVs, Mitsubishi had
agreed to spend over $10 million to help translate 12 to 14 hours of
prime-time shows into digital code. Since digital television receivers
became available last August, only 20,000 have been purchased, while 15
million analog TVs have been bought within the same time period. Mitsubishi
is hoping that CBS deal will enhance the manufacture's reputation in the DTV
arena.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B12), AUTHOR: Evan Ramstad]
(http://wsj.com/)
MEDIA AND SOCIETY
CYBERTALK: THE TOOLS OF PROTECTION
Issue: Internet
Last week, many big players in the online world announced what
they portrayed as a bold new initiative to help parents make the Internet
safer for their children. "Parents Protection Pages," which are supposed to
show up on major sites beginning in July, offer links to makers of
filtering software and information on how to keep kids safe online. Most of
this information is already available in cyberspace, but many parents don't
know about these programs and resources, or don't know how to find them.
Meanwhile, industry officials worry that politicians on all sides are simply
"trying
to play games with" the issue of child-online protection. One of the
problems for parents is that none of the available programs can do the job
alone. Programs like CyberPatrol and SurfWatch let parents block, not just
sexually explicit material, but also sites that feature violence, gambling,
bigotry, and drugs in any
combination. Most filter programs work by blocking a defined list. Others,
like newcomer Web Chaperone, rely on software to scan content on the fly.
Programs such as Cyber Snoop and Disk Tracy record Internet explorations
permit parents to review the sites their kids have been visiting. Programs
such as CyperPatrol offer a clock function that can set the times of day
that kids are allowed to surf or set a time limit on individual sessions.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (F26), AUTHOR: John Schwartz (schwartzj( at )washpost.com)]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/feed/business926331615892.htm)
WASHINGTON MEMO: SEARCHING FOR CAUSES OF YOUTHFUL ANGST
Issue: Content/Legislation
At a meeting today, convened by the White House, President Clinton will look
beyond blaming the media or gunmakers for youth violence. Instead, the focus is
on "society's responsibilities, including the role of school, family and
faith-based institutions," Broder and Seelye report. The President will attempt
to find a solution between the space of the First Amendment, protecting free
speech and the Second Amendment's guarantee of the right to bear arms. The
session today will be attended by entertainment executives, representatives of
hunting groups, gun manufacturers, clergy, education official, non-profit
leaders, law enforcement officials, and students. Meeting planners say the
answer cannot be found in controlling media or restricting gun sales. Violence
needs to be defined as "public health problem," planners say. The White
House conference was initially planned to explore the link between media and
violence and was shifted to a broader approach after the President received
sharp criticism from Hollywood donors. Next week, Clinton will be the
featured speaker at a $1.5 million Democratic fundraiser in Beverly Hills,
held by David Geffen, co-founder of Dreamworks studio. Last week Clinton
proposed modest gun control measures, but also announced he wanted to "bury
the hatchet" in his feud with the NRA.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A16), AUTHOR: John M. Broder and Katharine Q. Seelye]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/washpol/youth-violence conference.html)
TIME WARNER TO APPEAL AWARD OF $25 MILLION IN JENNY JONES CASE
Issue: TV
A Michigan jury has decided that Time Warner should pay $25 million to the
family of Scott Amdure for negligence leading to his death. Mr. Amdure was
shot and killed within days of revealing, on the Jenny Jones show, that he
had a crush on a Jonathan Schmitz, who appeared on the show as well. Lawyers
for the Amdure family claimed that Jenny Jones' producers had used dishonest
tactics to lure Mr.Schmitz onto the show, and caused him humiliation that
lead to his crime. "...That type of human exploitation needs to be
corralled," said Geoffrey Fieger, attorney for the Amdure family. Warner
Brother has plans to appeal the verdict. This decision comes in the wake of
the recent high-school massacre in Littleton (CO), which has lead to an
increased focus on the role that the media plays in social violence.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B12), AUTHOR: John Lippman]
(http://wsj.com/)
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