Legislation Update
Cities fight Web sales tax break (ChiTrib)
Senators Praise E-Rate Internet Filtering Bill (TelecomAM)
House Appropriations Committee Does Not Change
FCC Funding (TelecomAM)
Mergers
Justice Clears MCI Acquisition (WP)
Justice Department Clears MCI-WorldCom Merger
After Internet Sale (TelecomAM)
Illinois Group Opposes Whitacre's Arguments for
Ameritech-SBC (TelecomAM)
International
U.S., Mexico closing In on a Telephone Deal (WSJ)
InfoTech
Integrated system separates Sprint from
competitors (ChiTrib)
Sprint Is Laying Out Details Of Plan to Revamp Network (NYT)
Smart Devices Peep Into Your Grocery Cart (NYT)
Record and CD's? How Quaint (NYT)
Radio
On the Pulse of a People: Dr. Elmer Huerta Preaches What He
Practices, Dispensing On-Air Health Advice to
Latino Communities (WP)
Disabilities
Pictures come to their senses (ChiTrib)
Lifestyles
Survey Finds TV Is Major Casualty of Net Surfing (NYT)
www.How Smart Are You.quiz (NYT)
** Legislation Update **
Title: Cities fight Web sales tax break
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1)
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-11643,00.html
Author: Matt Berger (Washington Bureau)
Issue: Electronic Commerce
Description: The Internet Tax Freedom Act, if passed, would grant a three to
six-year moratorium on state and local taxes on products sold over the
Internet. The measure is designed to encourage electronic commerce, but
local and state governments fear that lost store-front sales could cost them
million of dollars. The National League of Cities (NLC) estimates as much
as $15 billion in lost sales tax revenues by 2002. "The federal government
is taking away the power of local government to get revenue," said the
executive director of NLC.
Title: Senators Praise E-Rate Internet Filtering Bill
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Legislation
Description: Amid rumors of a website that will show two 18-year-olds having
sex August 4, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ), Sens.
Pat Murray (D-WA), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and Dan Coats (R-IN) spoke on the
Senate floor in favor of S.1619, a bill that would require schools and
libraries receiving e-rate discounts to have Internet blocking and filtering
software.
Title: House Appropriations Committee Does Not Change FCC Funding
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Budget Issues/Legislation
Description: House Appropriations Committee July 15 approved a bill for
fiscal year 1999 funding for the FCC, National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA) and other agencies. The bill will cut FCC
funding by $5 million. Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston
(R-LA) is not concerned about House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas
Biley's (R-VA) to Internet filtering language in a Dept of Labor & Dept of
Health and Human Services spending bill. Rep Livingston believes his
Committee has overlapping jurisdiction with the Commerce Committee.
** Mergers **
Title: Justice Clears MCI Acquisition
Source: Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/16/179l-071698-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Mergers/Telephony
Description: Yesterday the Justice Department approved the $37 billion
acquisition of MCI Communications Corp. by WorldCom Inc. The Federal
Communications Commission will now rule on weather the "public interest"
will be served by the merger. Consumer groups worry about the merger's
effect on MCI and WorldCom's commitment to residential service. While
WorldCom has pledged to "not abandon MCI's residential long-distance
customers," senior official have expressed the company's desire to
exclusively focus on the more lucrative business market.
Title: Justice Department Clears MCI-WorldCom Merger After Internet Sale
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Merger
Description: The US Department of Justice has approved the merger of long
distance companies MCI and WorldCom. MCI, in the biggest merger divestiture
ever, sold its remaining Internet business to gain the approval. "The merger
as it was originally proposed would have given WorldCom/MCI a significant
proportion of the nation's Internet traffic, giving the company the ability
to cut off or reduce the quality of Internet services that it provided to
its rivals," said Justice Department Antitrust Chief Joel Klein. "The
divestiture benefits anyone who relies on the Internet because it preserves
competition among major Internet service providers." The Federal
Communications Commission must still approve the deal; that approval is
expected later this month.
Title: Illinois Group Opposes Whitacre's Arguments for Ameritech-SBC
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Mergers
Description: The Illinois Partnership for Fair Telecommunications Policy
(IPFTP) cited a June complaint filed with the California utility regulatory
commission by the state's Office of Ratepayer Advocacy alleging Pacific Bell
(a subsidiary of SBC) is engaging in major and systematic residential
service marketing abuses. IPFTP says the effect of the SBC-PacTel merger is
evidence of why the Ameritech merger should be denied. Also, former Illinois
Commerce Commission Chairman Ellen Craig, now regulatory affairs vice
president for USN Communications, is suggesting that the ICC direct
Ameritech, SBC and new entrants to come to competition agreements as part of
the merger review. The ICC's rules allow for up to 11 months to review the
merger. [See more SBC-Ameritech stories at
http://www.benton.org/Library/State/media.html]
** International **
Title: U.S., Mexico closing In on a Telephone Deal
Source: Wall Street Journal (A12)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Jonathan Friedland
Issue: Long-Distance/International
Description: Javier Lozano, Mexico's new telecommunications czar, says he
has figured out a way to solve the dispute among Mexican and U.S.
long-distance carriers. In an interview. Lozano said that Telefonos de Mexico
SA (Telmex), Mexico's dominant carrier, and companies controlled by AT&T and
MCI, Avantel SA and Alestra SA, are in basic agreement on the terms of the
accord that will assure "clean and efficient competition." The accord, in a
nutshell, would substantially reduce the charges other carriers pay to
interconnect with Telmex and would largely do away with a 58 percent
surcharge embedded in those charges that was designed to help the former
monopoly meet obligations to provide service to Mexicans living in rural
areas." In exchange, Avantel and Alestra would partly reimburse Telmex for
the $422 million cost of improving its infrastructure which the new carriers
use to provide their services on a nationwide basis. Mr. Lozano hopes to
formally announce the accord by next month.
** InfoTech **
Title: Integrated system separates Sprint from competitors
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.3)
http://chicago.tribune.com
Author: Jon Van
Issue: Telephone
Description: At Internet World 98, in Chicago this week, Sprint is touting
its new Integrated On-demand Network (ION) which will provide voice, video,
and data services over one line. ION will be available to large businesses
in Chicago, New York and five other cities by the end of the year; smaller
businesses and some homes could enjoy the service as soon as late 1999. "The
other guys pay too much attention to the `last mile' problem of connecting
their networks to customers," said William T. Esrey, chairman of Sprint.
"But they haven't thought enough about what happens on their network. That's
where we're focused."
Title: Sprint Is Laying Out Details Of Plan to Revamp Network
Source: New York Times (D7)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/biztech/articles/16sprint.html
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: Telephony
Description: Last month Sprint Corp. announced a program to revamp its
communications to provide integrated data and video information at high
speeds. Since that time it has made deals with Ameritech, BellSouth GTE and
SBC Communications to use those local companies' fiber optic networks within
cities. Sprint is continuing to try and negotiate deals with other large
competitive local phone providers, like AT&T's Teleport unit and WorldCom's
MFS operation, and the remaining Bell local phone companies. Sprint's
Chairman, William Esrey, said in an interview last week that the deals with
existing local phone companies could allow Sprint to reach 70 percent of its
target business customers. Sprint plans to begin offering large companies
access to the integrated network later this year and make the service
generally available to business customers near the middle of next year and
to consumers late in 1999.
Title: Smart Devices Peep Into Your Grocery Cart
Source: New York Times (E3)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/circuits/articles/16geek.html
Author: Steven E. Brier
Issue: New Technology
Description: By using a combination of so-called loyalty cards, radio
frequency identification, smart cards and smart shopping carts, grocery
stores are working to personalize the shopping experience and provide the
shopper with more information while increasing sales. Some stores are using
electronic shelf cards to display price information. Others are using kiosks
with scanners so a customer can check on the price of an item of which they
are unsure. Shelf tags can be programmed to offer nutritional information
along with the price. And shopping carts are being developed that can scan
items placed in the cart so the shopper can keep a running tab, and the cart
can offer suggestions for other items, based on selections already made.
"This is all about providing more customer service in order for retailers to
gain a competitive advantage," said Ralph Martino, an IBM executive helping
the supermarkets with the technology. "Stores want to capture more of the
wallet share by being more knowledgeable about the customer." (What would
Mr. Whipple say now?)
Title: Record and CD's? How Quaint
Source: New York Times (B1,B6)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/cyber/articles/16downloading-musi
c.html
Author: Jon Pareles
Issue: E-Commerce
Description: Electronic distribution is a big topic at Plug In '98, a
conference on music in the digital era taking place in NYC this weekend. If
transferring music over the Internet continues to increase in popularity,
eventually, home music collections could become obsolete and stores could
see their role reduced as consumers are able bypass the middlemen and access
music from central archives upon demand. Mark Mooradian, group director of
consumer content for Jupitor Communications, one of the groups organizing
the conference, says that Jupitor thinks record labels should aggressively
pursue digitally downloaded music. "He said digital distribution should be
important for its marketing value, to combat piracy and to reposition labels
as retail outlets." Individual musicians and independent labels see this
form of distribution as a way to deliver music directly to the listener.
"Record companies have a lock right now on how an artist can get music out
to a global audience," said Larry Rosen, the chairman of N2K, which owns the
online retail site of Music Boulevard as well as its own N2K label, which
makes some of its songs available for digital downloading. "With electronic
distribution of music, there's a break in that kind of power structure."
Title: Videophones, Evolve, Slowly
Source: New York Times (E1,E7)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/circuits/articles/16vide.html
Author: Ian Austen
Issue: Telephony
Description: While the world's fist videophone was introduced by AT&T over
1964, companies are just begriming to realize that there are serious limits
to the market ably of this "Star Treck" technology. Today's videophone
technologies include both television-based and computer-based systems. "We
are very realistic: it's not a mass-market product," says Dainel Flohr of
C-Phone, a videophone manufacturer. "Everyone's not going to run out and get
one." Psychological barriers appear to be an important deferent to
mass-market success. "People who don't use videophones are worried about
having their privacy invaded", says Professor Mantei Tremaine who has
studied videophones for more than nine years, "People who did use them
feared they were invading someone else's privacy."
** Radio **
Title: On the Pulse of a People: Dr. Elmer Huerta Preaches What He
Practices, Dispensing On-Air Health Advice to Latino Communities
Source: Washington Post (C1, C10)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/16/232l-071698-idx.html
Author: Nicholas Day
Issue: Health/Minorities/Radio
Description: Dr. Elmer Huerta, founder and director of the Cancer Risk
Assessment and Screening Center at the Washington Hospital Center, is
probably sole carrier of the title 'national latino heath celebrity'.
Huerta's daily 2 minute health announcements, which air on radio stations
across the US and in 21 Latin American countries, attempt to provide the
latino community with simple prevention techniques that can help people
avoid or detect cancer and other serious deceases. The idea of using
broadcast media to disseminate his message came to Dr. Huerta is his native
Peru when he noticed that people knew little about health, but a lot about
soap operas and Top 40 music,"They were exposed to the media," he
says,"that's what clicked in my mind."
** Disabilities **
Title: Pictures come to their senses
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1)
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-11921,00.html
Author: Jeff Coen
Issue: Disabilities
Description: Captioning and video description -- services available to some
disabled people watching television -- is coming to General Cinema movie
theaters. "With this system, I got everything and had the same rich
experience as anyone else," said one user. "This means independence for me."
The technology was developed by Boston public television station WGBH in
cooperation with California's Digital Theater Systems. For now, Genera
Cinema is viewing the deployment of the technology "the right thing to do"
rather than a money-making venture. The DuPage Center for Independent Living
estimates that 2% of the population in the Chicago area suffer from vision
or hearing impairments.
** Lifestyles **
Title: Survey Finds TV Is Major Casualty of Net Surfing
Source: New York Times (E3)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/circuits/articles/16ugee.html
Author: Matt Richtel
Issue: Internet Use
Description: A recent survey by Strategis Group, a Washington-based research
firm that studies patterns in telecommunications use, has found that
cyberspace is stealing time from watching TV, working, sleeping and
exercise. But the activity being most effected is television- and
VCR-watching. Of 500 Net users surveyed, nearly 65 percent said they had
sacrificed time in front of the television for time in front of the
computer. Forty-eight percent reported they spent less time reading and 29
percent said they slept less. What does this mean? According to John
Zahurancik, director of Internet and telephony at Strategis Group, said the
findings show that "The Net is becoming a mainstream medium. It is a
competition to all these other traditional sources of entertainment." Allen
Goldberg, vice president for business development at Relevant Knowledge, a
research company based in Atlanta, points out that it took 40 years for
radio to gain 50 million domestic listeners and 13 years for television and
cable TV to acquire the same number of viewers. While Goldberg acknowledges
that the population is larger now, he said it is noteworthy that it has
taken only four years for the Web to reach the same plateau.
Title: www.How Smart Are You.quiz
Source: New York Times (E1,E7)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/circuits/articles/16quiz.html
Author: Katie Hafner
Issue: Internet Use/Lifestyle
Description: The Internet has become a breeding ground for thousands of
tests you can administer to yourself. These tests range in everything from
questions purported to test your intelligence and emotional stability, to
your predisposition towards hypochondria, alcoholism, attention deficit
disorder, etc. The interesting thing is that many people seem to enjoy
taking these tests "created by psychometricians, professional and
otherwise." But there is something (how's that for an ambiguous word?)
alluring about these optional tests that will rank you in terms of your
genius or lovability. There are already a number of quizzes available in
magazines, on the radio and television. And with such tests now available on
the Web, there are "no visible proctors or stopwatches, and no one to raise
an eyebrow at your response to a question on sexual habits. For instance,
you might scoff a Mensa, the organization of self-anointed geniuses, but it
is hard to turn down the chance to spend three minutes on a test to see if
you would be admitted."
*********