Meetings
Meeting: Advisory Committee on Public Interest
Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters (NTIA)
Meeting of Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service (FCC)
Telephony
Bell Atlantic Asks FCC for Special Approval of Interstate
Data Links (WP)
Privacy
Bill Would Allow Sale of Patient Data
Copyright
Protecting Digital Copyrights (NYT)
Internet
Children and the Net (WP)
Senate votes to ban gambling on Internet (ChiTrib)
Senate Approves Ban on Internet Gambling (WP)
Mergers
Approval of AT&T-Teleport Merger (FCC)
AT&T Completes Takeover of Teleport (NYT)
** Meetings **
Title: Meeting: Advisory Committee on Public Interest
Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/pubintadvcom/augmtg/fedregister.htm
Issue: Digital Television
Description: The next meeting of the Advisory Committee on Public Interest
Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters is scheduled for August 10,
1998, in Washington DC; the Federal Register notice
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/pubintadvcom/augmtg/fedregister.htm has additional
information.
Title: Meeting of Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Public_Notices/1998/da981394.html
Issue: Universal Service
Description: The Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service will hold an
open meeting on Wednesday, July 29, 1998, from 12:30 to 3:00 pm, at the
Westin Seattle Hotel, 1900 Fifth Ave., Seattle, Washington 98101. At the
meeting, the Federal-State Joint Board will address issues contained in the
Commission's Joint Board Referral Order.(1) In the Joint Board Referral
Order, the Commission requests that the Joint Board provide a recommended
decision on issues pertaining to the appropriate methodology for determining
high cost support for non-rural local exchange carriers. This meeting will
be open to the public.
** Telephony **
Title: Bell Atlantic Asks FCC for Special Approval of Interstate Data Links
Source: Washington Post (F3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/24/048l-072498-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Telephony/DSL Services
Description: Bell Atlantic has filed a request for the FCC to make an
exception to the rules prohibiting Bells from carrying voice or data traffic
across state lines. Bell Atlantic claims that they have heavily wired West
Virginia with high-speed DSL service but are prevented from further
development because their digital links must stop at the border. "What we
have here are six-lane superhighways in West Virginia leading into two-lane
country roads leading in and out of the state," describes Dennis Bone,
President and chief executive of Bell Atlantic-West Virginia. Critics of the
Bells argue that they should be required to sell of their data service
affiliates, including any DSL services, before they can enter the long
distance the market.
** Privacy **
Title: Bill Would Allow Sale of Patient Data
Source: Washington Post (F1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/24/174l-072498-idx.html
Author: John Schwartz
Issue: Health/Privacy
Description: The Patient Protection Act of 1998 will likely reach the House
floor as soon as today. The Republican sponsored measure would allow
hospitals, insurance companies, HMOs, doctors, and pharmacies to sell or
disclose patient data. Privacy advocates are worried that the bill would
result in patients' reluctance to speak openly with their health care
providers. The Director of the Health Privacy Project at Georgetown
University Medical Center, Janlori Gold, says: "It's a serious interference
with the doctor-patient relationship."
** Copyright **
Title: Protecting Digital Copyrights
Source: New York Times (A24)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/24fri1.html
Author: NYT Editorial Staff
Issue: Copyright
Description: "Traditional copyright concepts that have served this nation
well for centuries should guide the debate on copyright in the digital
universe." This past spring, digital copyright legislation passed the Senate
and House Judiciary Committee that would protect movies, music and other
intellectual property from piracy. But there continues to be controversy
surrounding a provision in the legislation that would make it a crime to
"circumvent encryption used to control access to digital material or to
manufacture or sell devices that could be used to circumvent protection
measures." Music and movie producers argue that making circumvention illegal
is the only way to prevent consumer theft of their products. But libraries
and schools fear that the prohibition is so broad that their access to
electronic information would be greatly limited in comparison to what the
copyright law would otherwise allow. The existing law ensures producers of
artistic material the right to profit from their creative works, but it does
not allow a creator to control who looks at the material or prevent it from
being lent or circulated to others. Thus a library can purchase a book
patrons can borrow it or a teacher can copy material from it for classroom
use. "Preserving these user rights is important in the digital world where
copyright owners, with the right technology, could limit or prevent access
to information. The content producers dismiss fears that the Internet could
become a strictly pay-for-use world as unrealistic, but neither they nor
Congress can predict how the Internet will develop. That is why legislation
needs to be flexible enough to deal with rapid evolution in technology and
electronic commerce."
** Internet **
Title: Children and the Net
Source: Washington Post (A18)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/24/179l-072498-idx.html
Author: WP Editorial Staff
Issue: Internet/Free Speech
Description: While both of the Internet measures passed by the Senate this
week are intended to protect children, they also possess a "threat to free
speech and to the Net's potential as an educational tool." One measure will
require schools and libraries to install filtering software in order to
receive the 'e-rate' subsidy for Internet access. The existing commercial
software has the potential to "use key words and/or political bias to screen
out innumerable sites, often without indication which or why." In addition,
the Senate passed a revised form of the Communications Decency act which
will require commercial sites to block access to sites containing material
deemed to be harmful to minors. "Both show how easy it is to erode the once
unquestioned claims that the Internet would open up the world to kids and
adults alike."
Title: Senate votes to ban gambling on Internet
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.6)
http://chicago.tribune.com
Author: Associated Press
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: In a 90-10 vote, the Senate passed a bill that would shut down
the billion-dollar Internet gambling business. Said Sen Jon Kyl (R-AZ),
"More than a billion dollars will be gambled over the Internet. Internet
gambling is unregulated, accessible to minors, addictive, subject to abuse
for fraudulent purposes like money laundering, evasive of state gambling
laws -- and already illegal at the federal level in many cases." The bill
will extend to the Internet -- and other emerging technologies -- the
current federal ban on interstate gambling on sports by telephone or wire.
Title: Senate Approves Ban on Internet Gambling
Source: Washington Post (A5)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/24/084l-072498-idx.html
Author: News Services
Issue: Internet/Gambling
Description: Yesterday, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a law to prohibit
gambling on the Internet. The measure is an extension of an existing ban on
gambling by telephone or wire. States will still be allowed to use the
Internet for lotteries and off-track-betting. A similar measure is pending
in the House.
** Mergers **
Title: Approval of AT&T-Teleport Merger
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/1998/nrcc8051.html
Issue: Mergers
Description: The Commission has approved the transfer of communications
licenses and authorizations from Teleport Communications Group, Inc. to AT&T
Corp., thereby granting the companies' merger application. In so doing, the
Commission noted that the merger will likely produce a competitor that can
more quickly provide business and residential consumers with a choice of
local telephone service providers.
Title: AT&T Completes Takeover of Teleport
Source: New York Times (AP-Business Index)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/f/AP-ATT-Teleport.html
Author: The Associated Press
Issue: Mergers
Description: The Federal Communications Commission yesterday approved AT&T's
takeover of Teleport Communications valued at $11.3 billion. "The commission
concluded that the merger is unlikely to have any anti competitive effects,"
the FCC said in a statement. AT&T has said that the merger will allow it to
participate in the most lucrative part of the telecommunications industry by
selling all-in-one packages of long-distance, local and data communications
services to businesses. "We're giving customers simplicity, convenience and
choice," said AT&T Chairman Michael Armstrong. "It's one-stop shopping for
local and long-distance services, just for starters." In addition to its
focus on business customers, AT&T says it still plans to expand into the
residential side of local service.
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...and we're outta here. Have a great weekend; we'll be back Monday.