Universal Service
Bliley Asks Appropriations Panel to Pull Filtering Bill
(TelecomAM)
Education/Gender
Computer Classes Show Gender Gap (WP)
Campaign Reform
Not a Danger to Free Speech (WP)
Email
Various Firms, Groups to Offer Ways To Curb Unsolicited E-Mail
on Internet (WSJ)
Merger
MCI Reported To Be Near Full Internet Sale (NYT)
Cable & Wireless, MCI Reach Deal (WP)
Lifestyles
On the Heels of Soccer's World Cup and Baseball's All-Star Game,
A Big Pitch Begins for the N.F.L. (NYT)
** Universal Service **
Title: Bliley Asks Appropriations Panel to Pull Filtering Bill
Source: Telecom AM
http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: E-Rate/Censorship
Description: "House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-VA) asked
the House Appropriations Committee yesterday not to consider Internet
filtering language at its mark-up of Labor-HHS funding legislation today,
saying 'constitutional and administrative' issues have been raised. The
amendment, by Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK), would require recipients of e-rate
funds to block out 'obscene' online material and set up mechanisms for
revolking funding if schools or libraries failed to do so. The
Appropriations Labor-HHS Subcommittee approved the measure late last month."
In a letter to the House Appropriations Committee Chairman, Bob Livingsont
(R-LA), Bliley said that such policy questions are "outside of the
appropriations process." He also said that Istook's proposed solution
"raises several difficult constitutional and administrative questions, all
of which the Commerce Committee is presently reviewing."
** Education/Gender **
Title: Computer Classes Show Gender Gap
Source: Washington Post (B1,B5)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/digest/local1.htm/
Author: Victoria Bening
Issue: Education/Gender
Description: A recent report, prepared by the Fairfax School Board's Human
Relations Advisory Committee, shows that girls only make up 26 percent of
the students in computer science classes at Fairfax County high schools. The
alarming gender gap in Fairfax mirrors a national trend of young female
underepresentation in high-tech classes. The Fairfax study found that
minorities also are underepresented in computer science classes. School
officials are very concerned about these findings and are working to
develop strategies to reverse this trend. According to the report, "the
effects of these course choices, which often become career choices, can be
seen in a lifetime of lower earnings and lower retirement benefits for a
majority of women." Fairfax School Superintendent Daniel A. Domenech said
that "We need to expose more girls and minorities to these kinds of courses
and the benefits of pursuing these kinds of studies."
** Campaign Reform **
Title: Not a Danger to Free Speech
Source: Washington Post (Op-Ed, A15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/14/013l-071498-idx.htm
Author: Thomas E. Mann(Brookings Institution) and Norman J.Ornstein(American
Enterprise Institute)
Issue: Campaign Reform
Description: In disagreement with the ACLU's position on
McCain-Feingold/Shays-Meehan legislation, the authors assert that regulation
of "issue advocacy" ads will not pose a threat to the free speech of any
individual or group. In response to ACLU charges that the bill would
"establish limits that effectively bar any individual or organization from
explicitly criticizing a public official -- perhaps the single most
important type of free speech in our democracy -- when the official is up
for reelection within 60 days," the authors claim that the bill would do no
such thing. "At most, under certain circumstances, it will have to disclose
its expenditures for communications and the source of financing and refrain
from serving as a conduit for corporate or union funds. In other words if
they engage in electioneering near the election, they will have to play by
the same rules governing independent expenditures as everyone else".
** Email **
Title: Various Firms, Groups to Offer Ways To Curb Unsolicited E-Mail on
Internet
Source: Wall Street Journal (B6)
http://wsj.com/
Author: John Simons
Issue: Email
Description: A group of technology companies and consumer groups will
recommend ways to stem the flow of unsolicited commercial email on the
Internet to the Federal trade Commission today. The proposal represents the
"first broad agreement of the issue between Internet service providers and
companies that distribute the global network's nagging junk-mail
equivalent." The companies and groups, which include, America Online Inc.,
International Business Machines Corp., Microsoft Corp., and the Center for
Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based technology advocacy group, will
recommend "a program of industry self-regulation to control commercial email
combined with some oversight by the FTC."
** Merger **
Title: MCI Reported To Be Near Full Internet Sale
Source: New York Times (D1,D4)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/biztech/articles/14mci-interne...
Author: Seth Schiesel
Title: Cable & Wireless, MCI Reach Deal
Source: Washington Post (C1,C2)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/14/063l-071498-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Mergers
Description: MCI Communications Sorp. is close to reaching an agreement to
sell its entire Internet business to Cable and Wireless PLC for about
$1.5-$2 billion is cash, said executives close to the negotiations
yesterday. A deal between the two companies is expected to be announced
later this week. MCI is selling all of its Internet assets, valued at $2
billion, as a result of the European Union's concerns that the two companies
combined would have unfair control of Internet traffic. The deal would clear
the way for the Justice Dept. to approve the $37 billion acquisition of MCI
by WorldCom Inc.
** Lifestyles **
Title: On the Heels of Soccer's World Cup and Baseball's All-Star Game,
A Big Pitch Begins for the N.F.L.
Source: New York Times (D6)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/nfl-ad-column.html
Author: Stuart Elliott
Issue: Sports Lifestyles
Description: Since our nation definitely needs more advertising to stimulate
its appetite for National Football League games, the annual advertising
offensive will begin almost two months earlier than usual and involve almost
four times as many promotional commercials as before. The increased exposure
for the NFL's sales pitch are a result of the league's super-lucrative
contract with the broadcast and cable television networks for the 1998-99
season. "Our network partners are giving us a significant amount of
additional time" to help "manage an ongoing dialogue with our fan base,"
said Howard Handler senior vice president for marketing and fan development
at NFL Properties in NY. "The message we want to send through everything is
that the NFL provides a thrill ride," Handler said, "an adrenaline-charged
roller coaster ride." [KAPOW...BLAM...SPLAT...ZAP...SWACK (add your favorite
font) -- ahhhhh, the American dream]
*********