Telephony
Consumer Groups Ask FCC for Consumer-Oriented Section 271 Review
(TelecomAM)
Administration Denounces Bell Company 706 Petitions (TelecomAM)
Firms Told To Release 847 Data -- or Else (ChiTrib)
In Brazil, Sell-Off of Monopoly a Good Call (ChiTrib)
Internet
Group Proposes Voluntary Guidelines for Internet Privacy (NYT)
FTC To Suggest Privacy Guidelines (WSJ)
FTC to Back Warning Over Online Privacy (WP)
Silicon Valley Lobs Populist Ads in Encryption Battle (WSJ)
Television
Whose 1st Amendment Is It Anyway? (ChiTrib)
Employment
Help From Afar (WP)
** Telephony **
Title: Consumer Groups Ask FCC for Consumer-Oriented Section 271 Review
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Competition
Description: The American Association of Retired Persons, Competition Policy
Institute (CPI), Consumers Action Network of San Diego, Iowa Office of
Consumer Advocate, Maine Office of Public Advocate and the South Carolina
Department of Consumer Affairs filed a petition at the FCC yesterday asking
for a "consumer-oriented" definition of the public interest when the
Commission rules on Baby Bell applications to enter the in-region long
distance market. CPI Executive Director Debra Berlyn said the emphasis since
passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 has been on balancing the
interests of competing industry players. The petitioners are asking the FCC
to use a "realistic choice" definition of the public interest that looks at
whether consumers have a selection -- or reasonable choice -- of competitors
for local telephone service.
Title: Administration Denounces Bell Company 706 Petitions
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: In a letter to FCC Chairman William Kennard last week, National
Telecom & Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Larry Irving asked
the Commission to deny Baby Bell petitions that ask that they be allowed to
block competitors from sharing space on their high-speed networks. The Bells
should make local loops and collocation space available before the FCC
relaxes any rules. According to the 1996 Telecom Act, the FCC must rule by
August 8 on how to promote the growth of advanced data networks. [See
Assist. Sec Irving's letter -- posted to this listserv yesterday -- at
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fccfilings/sec706.htm]
Title: Firms Told To Release 847 Data -- or Else
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec1,p1)
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-12151,00.html
Author: Cornelia Grumman
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) had ordered telephone
and paging companies doing business in Chicago's north and northwest suburbs
to turn in lists of their unused numbers by last week. Fifteen of 34
companies have missed the deadline and failed to share the information with
the ICC and the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) which will also analyze the
numbers. The ICC is threatening to revoke the operating licenses of
companies that do not comply by the end of this week. Big carriers like
Ameritech are claiming that the area needs a new overlay area code. Consumer
groups like CUB believe that only half of the numbers in the present 847
code are being used. We have an industry crying wolf here," said CUB's
associate director Seamus Glynn. "There are, in fact, more (blocks of 10,000
numbers) being returned now than there are new carriers entering the market
who need them. When the commission looks at these numbers and sees there are
100 blocks there, the math is going to add up to a situation in which
exhaust is not imminent."
Title: In Brazil, Sell-Off of Monopoly a Good Call
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec3,p1)
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9807210044,00.html
Author: Laurie Goering
Issue: International/Ownership
Description: Telebras, Brazil's state-owned telephone network, will be sold
off this month in Latin America's largest-ever privatization. Only 1 in 10
people have a phone in Brazil while nearly 15 million people wait for
installation of a phone. In a process similar to the 1984 break up of AT&T,
Brazil plans to split the network into 12 holdings -- 3 regional local
service providers, 8 regional cellular phone providers, and one long
distance company. The sale will raise at least $11.7 billion and as much as
$30 billion, analysts say.
** Internet **
Title: Group Proposes Voluntary Guidelines for Internet Privacy
Source: New York Times (D4)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/cyber/articles/21privacy.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Privacy
Description: The Online Privacy Alliance, an industry coalition, proposed a
voluntary enforcement program on Monday to certify Web sites that comply
with privacy guidelines. Under the offered plan, Web sites that comply with
the group's guidelines could display a seal of approval. While some privacy
advocates said that the measure fell far short of what is needed, Ira C.
Magaziner, President Clinton's top adviser on electronic commerce, said: "I
think the enforcement mechanisms that they are putting in place are what we
have been calling for. Now what we need to do is monitor it to see that it
really happens." The proposal will be publicly unveiled today at a
Congressional hearing on online privacy.
Title: FTC To Suggest Privacy Guidelines
Source: Wall Street Journal (B17)
http://wsj.com/
Author: John Simons
Issue: Privacy
Description: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is expected today to offer
Congress guidelines for legislation governing Internet privacy. FTC Chairman
Robert Pitofsky will recommend that Congress should consider legislation
that would protect the privacy of consumers visiting any U.S.-based
commercial Web sites. Chairman Pitofsky will suggest guidelines to cover
four basic areas. They would "require Web sites to alert consumers about the
information they collect and use, and give consumers choices on how their
information is used - if at all. Web sites also would be required to offer
consumers "reasonable access" to the data and a chance to correct
inaccuracies; and to protect the data's security and integrity." In
addition, the commission will ask that sites obtain parental consent before
collecting information on children ages 12 and younger. Chairman Pitofsky
said that unless the industry acts by year's end, "additional governmental
authority...would be appropriate and necessary."
Title: FTC to Back Warning Over Online Privacy
Source: Washington Post (C2)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/21/095l-072198-idx.html
Author: David Segal
Issue: Privacy
Description: Online merchants have been given one last chance to prove that
they themselves can protect consumers' privacy online. Today, the Federal
Trade Commission will advise lawmakers to pass online privacy rules if the
industry fails to engage in effective self-regulation. Internet related
companies are advocating a privacy "seal-of-approval" system instead of
government regulation.
Title: Silicon Valley Lobs Populist Ads in Encryption Battle
Source: Wall Street Journal (A16)
http://wsj.com/
Author: John Simons
Issue: Encryption
Description: Several TV ads, created to aid some of the nation's largest
high-tech companies, will begin tomorrow and continue into the fall. The
30-second spots' mission is to enlist the average citizen in the technology
industry's fight against the federal government's restrictions on computer
encryption. The ads, sponsored by a coalition of 90 companies, such as Intel
Corp., Microsoft Corp and Sun Microsystems Inc., that have joined together
as Americans for Computer Privacy (ACP), represent a major tactical shift in
the computer industry's battle. The grassroots effort will feature a couple
from the baby boomer generation discussing encryption in their living room.
After discussing how encryption can lock away private information, the woman
points out that the government wants "access to any information that's
protected by encryption." She then concludes, "Should we trust Washington
bureaucrats with the key to our private lives?" The advertisements will be
accompanied by print ads and a Web campaign.
** Television **
Title: Whose 1st Amendment Is It Anyway?
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec1,p11)
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9807210264,00.html
Author: Jerry Landay, University of Illinois
Issue: Television
Description: The "fairness doctrine" was abolished in 1987 because the
"Reaganized FCC" argued that the requirement to air public voices on matters
of public importance violated the free speech rights of broadcasters. "Whose
1st Amendment is it anyhow? This seminal right, conceived by James Madison
as the core freedom of democratic citizens, has been turned into legal cover
for liars. It was written to protect individuals from the gag of tyrannical
government. The Founders could not anticipate that content of the primary
"speaker's platform" would someday be altered to further--without
challenge--the interests of aggregations of assets called corporations." A
1976 court case afforded commercial speech the same rights as that of the
press of individuals. Professor Landay argues that courts should re-examine
this decision and base rulings on other decisions that limit advertising and
other forms of commercial speech. "Beware of those conservative warnings
against "big government" with its "nanny-knows-best thinking," as a
columnist wrote on these pages. We customarily accept government oversight
of nuclear power, airline and railroad safety, and air quality. Why is
pro-public FCC regulation of corporate dominion over the public mind more to
be feared than self-serving editorial edicts by Fox's Murdoch, TCI's Malone,
GE/NBC's Welch or Disney's Eisner? They are not accountable to the
democratic process. The FCC is. And so, indirectly, is the federal bench."
** Employment **
Title: Help From Afar
Source: Washington Post (D4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/21/051l-072198-idx.html
Author: Susanne Lazanov
Issue: Employment
Description: Stacy Brice works in the new and growing field of virtual
assistants. She makes arrangements, writes, and does research for an
employer whom she has never met. The client base for most personal
assistants includes home-based business owners and other professionals who
work from the home. Working from home allows for more flexibility and
family time for both the assisted and assistant. According to one virtual
assistant, Edwina Adams, "Virtual assisting is a wonderful opportunity for
those individuals who want to work at home and enjoy working alone."
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