Digital TV
Mitsubishi's New Digital TV's Are Split Into Separate Tuner and
Screen Units (WSJ)
Journalism
The Blah, Blah, Blah Campaign (NYT)
Reporters, Book Deals and Conflicts (NYT)
Human Rights Site Posts Banned Material Online (CyberTimes)
Privacy
The Public Humbling Of a Privacy Bill (NYT)
First Amendment
Student's Violent Prose Pits Free Speech Against Safety (NYT)
Antitrust/Microsoft
Suit Against Microsoft By Justice Department Now Seems Imminent (WSJ)
Microsoft Might Soon Face Suits (WP)
Microsoft Made Own Problems, U.S. Contends (NYT)
States are close to filing lawsuit against Microsoft (ChicagoTrib)
Wireless Services
AT&T to Offer New Nationwide Cut-Rate Wireless Service (NYT)
AT&T Unveils Flat Rates for Cell Phones (WSJ)
** Digital TV **
Title: Mitsubishi's New Digital TV's Are Split Into Separate Tuner and
Screen Units
Source: Wall Street Journal (B12)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Evan Ramstad
Issue: DTV
Description: Mitsubishi Consumer Electronics America Inc. is planning to
introduce its first digital televisions today. The new sets will come in two
parts: a projector screen for viewing and a receiver, or tuner, which will
translate digital signals into images. By offering separate components,
manufacturers and users will be able to quickly add new features.
Mitsubishi's decision highlights how much more complex digital TV will be
for consumers -- making shopping for one more similar to buying a personal
computer or a high-end stereo system.
** Journalism **
Title: The Blah, Blah, Blah Campaign
Source: New York Times (A19)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/08nach.html
Author: Jerry Nachman, Staff Writer "Politically Incorrect"
Issue: Journalism
Description: Politicians and civic boosters are upset because television
stations in California are hardly covering the race for governor of the
state. "The problem is that today's politicians, who have all the money in
the world to spend on commercials, have nothing to say." Nachman argues that
Californian politicians are less powerful than they once were because of
term limits and the referendum process. Elected officials do less and are
noticed less.
Title: Reporters, Book Deals and Conflicts
Source: New York Times (A15)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Felicity Barringer
Issue: Journalism
Description: The day after an article describing a new drug therapy for
cancer, two reporters started circulating book proposals on the subject to
New York publishers. The reporter that wrote the initial story withdrew her
proposal the next day and the second reporter has accepted an offer from
Random House that industry sources say will bring him $1 million. This
incident is crystallizing concerns about journalists' financial stake in the
stories they cover.
Title: Human Rights Site Posts Banned Material Online
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/05/cyber/cyberlaw/08law.html
Author: Carl S. Kaplan
Issue: Internet/Journalism
Description: A new human rights Web site was unveiled in New York this week.
The site called Digital Freedom Network is devoted to collecting and posting
banned literature and news reports from around the world. Leonard R.
Sussman, a senior scholar at Freedom House, a NY not-for-profit corporation
that campaigns for freedom, said that banned writings posted on the Internet
become available to "people smothered by censorship." Even in countries
where access to the Internet is restricted, he said, "it's useful to have
the material out there. You never know what gets through and what doesn't."
J. Paul Martin, executive director of Columbia Univ.'s Center for the Study
of Human Rights said, "I'm delighted that dictators can't control
information" in the age of the Internet. You can access the DFN site at:
http://www.dfn.org/
** Privacy **
Title: The Public Humbling Of a Privacy Bill
Source: New York Times (A10)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/political-briefs.html
Author: B. Drummond Ayres, Jr.
Issue: Privacy
Description: Colorado State Senator Ken Chlouber, a Republican from
Leadville, offered what he thought was a simple bill that would guarantee
all Coloradans the right to privacy. He argued that the bill was a simple
restatement of an ol'West code: that a person has the right to be left
alone. But Focus on the Family, a conservative religious organization based
in Colorado Springs, sent letters to every state senator saying the bill
could be interpreted to sanction abortion, gay rights, physician-assisted
suicide, and even kids putting locks on their bedroom doors without their
parents consent. State Sen Chlouber withdrew the bill saying, "It's not as
simple as I thought."
** First Amendment **
Title: Student's Violent Prose Pits Free Speech Against Safety
Source: New York Times (A10)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/calif-suspend-educ.html
Author: Frank Bruni
Issue: First Amendment
Description: A new California law allows school officials to suspend any
student that threatens violence. The law is being put to the test by the
family of the first student to be suspended for two compositions -- one
envisioned a student riot that destroys the school library and science lab,
the second depicts the killing of the school principal. The American Civil
Liberties Union of Northern California is representing the family in a law
suit which seeks to unspecified damages and expunging the student's 5-day
suspension from the school record. The school district says there is
additional information that it can not share at this time because of privacy
rules. "Schools are going to come into the possession of information they
feel they need to act on, and the question is, how should they act on it?"
asked Ann Brick, a lawyer for the ACLU of Northern California.
** Antitrust/Microsoft **
Title: Suit Against Microsoft By Justice Department Now Seems Imminent
Source: Wall Street Journal (A1,A10)
http://wsj.com/
Author: John R. Wilke
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Joel Klein, chief of the Justice Dept.'s antitrust division, is
expected to file a historic antitrust action against Microsoft Corp. within
days. The department is expected to allege that Microsoft "engaged in a
pattern of predatory conduct to protect its Windows personal-computing
operating system's dominant market position and to extend that dominance to
Internet software."
Title: Microsoft Might Soon Face Suits
Source: Washington Post (D1,D4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-05/08/071l-050898-idx.html
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran & Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Antitrust
Description: More than a dozen state attorneys general and the Justice Dept.
are in the final stages of preparing broad antitrust lawsuits against
Microsoft Corp. Unless a last-minute settlement is reached, the lawsuits
will be filed early next week. The "legal assault" could set gov't policy
toward the computer industry for years to come. "Ultimately, this is about
consumer choice," said Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarge.
"Consumers should be able to make their own choices in a competitive
marketplace, not have their choices made for them by some monolithic entity."
Title: Microsoft Made Own Problems, U.S. Contends
Source: New York Times (C1)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/05/biztech/articles/08microsoft.html
Author: Joel Brinkley
Issue: Antitrust
Description: In a brief filed May 7, the Justice Department contends that
Microsoft has known for months that its antitrust problems might delay
release of the Windows 98 operating system. But the software giant has
waited to the last minute to ask for court protection. In short, the
Government says the company is making "a self-generated claim of hardship."
Microsoft argues that the Justice Department's argument has "no legal
basis." In Window 98, Internet Explorer is even more closely integrated into
the operating system -- making it harder for manufacturers to ship their
computers without the Internet browser software.
Title: States are close to filing lawsuit against Microsoft
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3 p.1)
http://www.chicago.tribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,1051,ART-829
0,00.html
Author: Andrew Zajac
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Attorneys general from some 13 states are expected to file an
antitrust suit against Microsoft next week. Representatives from 42 states
have participated in the plans. At the same time, the Seattle Times reports
that the Department of Justice will file a broader antitrust suit against
the software giant. Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan said, "There is the
possibility of some [state] action. Obviously, our office is looking at
whether any state or federal antitrust laws have been violated."
** Wireless Services **
Title: AT&T to Offer New Nationwide Cut-Rate Wireless Service
Source: New York Times (C6)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/08cellphones....
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: Telephone/Competition
Description: AT&T announced yesterday that it will offer a new low-cost,
nation-wide wireless telephone service. Using a new phone made by Nokia of
Finland that can run for a week at a time, AT&T's new service will allow
calling from just about anywhere in the country to anywhere else in the
country for about $0.11 per minute. "This is exactly the sort of thing that
someone needed to say to make wireless a service you use rather than avoid,"
said an industry analyst. They should have done it two years ago, but now
that they've done it, it's great." AT&T is by far the largest wireless
provider in the US, but has been losing ground of late to Sprint PCS and
Nextel Communications. [See also Chicago Tribune Sec 3, p.1 "AT&T launches
flat-rate plan for users of wireless service" by Jon Van
http://www.chicago.tribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,1051,SAV-980
5080025,00.html]
Title: AT&T Unveils Flat Rates for Cell Phones
Source: Wall Street Journal (B10)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Gordon Fairclough
Issue: Wireless
Description: AT&T announced a flat-rate monthly pricing plan for frequent
cell-phone users that has drawn a heated response from its rivals. The
pricing plan could intensify the competition for high-end cell-phone users.
The new rate plan offers large "bundles" of airtime for as low as $89.99 a
month.
*********
Phfeww! Boy, that was a long week. Happy to be back. We're outta here, but
we'll be back Monday.