EDTECH
New Survey Lauds Midwestern States For Use of Technology
in Schools (CyberTimes)
LEGAL ISSUES
Public Citizen, ACLU File Briefs To Restrict Cybersmear Suits (WSJ)
Judge in DVD Case Asks for Briefs About Software Code, Free Speech (WSJ)
MERGERS
Deutsche Telekom's Sideshow (NYT)
GE's NBC Joins Effort Opposing AOL-Time Warner Merger Plan (WSJ)
AOL-Time Warner Merger (FCC)
MEDIA & SOCIETY
TV, Films Blamed For Child Violence (USA)
Internet Has Role In STDs Spread (USA)
Telephony Revives Rural Life in Iceland (WSJ)
PRIVACY
High-Tech Sleuth Joins Center Looking at New Privacy Issues (NYT)
BROADBAND HEARINGS
Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act (House)
Broadband Internet Relief (Senate)
FCC
What We're All About (FCC)
EDTECH
NEW SURVEY LAUDS MIDWESTERN STATES FOR USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOLS
Issue: EdTech
Market Data Retrieval, an educational research company, surveyed 30,000
public and private schools to create the "Technology Sophistication Index."
The index gauges a school's "technology sophistication" on several factors
that included its type of computer networking, its Internet connection
speed, how many high-end and multimedia computers a school had, the location
of the computers and the number of computers per student. Nebraska, South
Dakota, North Dakota and several other largely rural Midwestern states were
rated among the top 10 in the nation in terms of technology sophistication.
"Smaller communities aren't overwhelmed," said Wayne Fisher, Internet
program specialist for the Nebraska Department of Education's Education
Technology Center. "Many of our K-12 schools have less than 1,000 students
and many have less than 500. When you start about the task of connecting
everyone, you can do it in a bite-sized chunk." The other states ranked in
the top ten were Alaska, Wyoming, Delaware, Idaho, Montana, Kansas and Iowa.
School size contributed significantly to the states' successful efforts, but
so did coordinated technology planning by lawmakers and teachers.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Rebecca Weiner (rweiner( at )nytimes.com)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/cyber/education/26education.html)
LEGAL ISSUES
PUBLIC CITIZEN, ACLU FILE BRIEFS TO RESTRICT CYBERSMEAR SUITS
Issue: Free Speech
Public Citizen, a Washington consumer group founded by Ralph Nader, and the
American Civil Liberties Union are attempting to raise the bar for the
growing number of companies that file lawsuits against anonymous online
critics and try to unmask their identities. The two public-interest groups
say companies should be required to demonstrate economic harm from the
online postings before courts allow them to use legal measures to find out
the identities of their critics. At present, companies can easily
subpoena online message-boards for "cybersmear." Once a lawsuit is filed,
the message boards usually comply with court orders to turn over information
that identifies posters. "A company should not be able to deny members of
the public the right to speak anonymously simply by filing a complaint and
making vague allegations of wrongdoing," Public Citizen said in a
friend-of-the-court brief filed last week. For their part, lawyers who help
companies fend off online critics resent the involvement of Public Citizen
and the ACLU. "It certainly appears the free-speech zealots are getting more
involved," says Bruce Fischman, a Miami lawyer who has represented about a
dozen companies in cybersmear cases. "The Internet has become a milieu for
torching reputations of even the most respected companies," according to his
firm's Web site.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (WSJ.COM), AUTHOR: Aaron Elstein]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB964469643814135787.htm)
JUDGE IN DVD CASE ASKS FOR BRIEFS ABOUT SOFTWARE CODE, FREE SPEECH
Issue: Intellectual Property
On the last day of witness testimony, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan
ordered attorneys representing eight major Hollywood studios and defendant
Eric Corley to submit briefs outlining whether software code can be
considered a legally protected form of speech. The studios argue that by
providing a free software program that unscrambles the coding on DVDs on his
Web site, Mr. Corley is providing bootleggers with the means to make free
copies of copyrighted movies. To date, the judge has sided with the movie
industry, issuing a preliminary injunction earlier this year barring Mr.
Corley form posting the code. But the comments made Tuesday indicated he
wanted to further analyze First Amendment issues related to the case.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Colleen Debaise (Dow
Jones) colleen.debase( at )dowjones.com]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB964561572946534939.htm)
MERGERS
DEUTSCHE TELEKOM'S SIDESHOW
Issue: International/Competition
As Deutsche Telekom tries to make the big leap into the US market, it is
selling off portions of its cable properties in Germany. Callahan Associates
International is buying German cable properties, planning on upgrading the
systems to offer telephone service, high-speed access to the Internet and
interactive television. But DT, which has retained a 45% stake in each cable
system sold, may not let the cable systems compete with the larger phone
company. In fact, Callahan's bid was lower than that other potential buyers
and may have won by allowing DT to retain th most control.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Edmund Andrews]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/072600deutsche-telekom.html)
See Also
EUROPE WARNS U.S. ON PHONE PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: New York Times (C3), Reuters]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/072600deutsche-warn.html)
GE'S NBC JOINS EFFORT OPPOSING AOL-TIME WARNER MERGER PLAN
Issue: Mergers
NBC has joined other big entertainment companies in the lobbying effort
against America Online Inc.'s proposed merger with Time Warner Inc. The
network, a subsidiary of General Electric, has filed comments with the
Federal Communications Commission, asking it to impose "clear safeguards"
on the deal to ensure the combined company doesn't discriminate against
rival content companies. NBC also expressed support for proposal from Walt
Disney Co. that Time Warner should be required to separate its cable systems
from its content business before it is allowed to proceed with the deal. In
addition to Disney and NBC's comments before the FCC, Seagram Co., owner of
Universal Studios, has also raised similar concerns about AOL-Time Warner
with European regulators. The FCC is expected hold a public hearing on the
AOL-Time Warner deal this week.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Martin Peers]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB964544161407318713.htm)
AOL-TIME WARNER MERGER
Issue: Mergers
The Federal Communications Commission announces the agenda and speakers who
will appear at the America Online Time Warner en banc hearing on July 27,
2000. The purpose of this hearing is to assist the Commission in its review
of the joint applications of America Online, Inc. (AOL) and Time Warner,
Inc. (Time Warner) for approval of the transfer of Commission licenses and
authorizations to a new entity, AOL Time Warner, in connection with the
merger of AOL and Time Warner.
The en banc will be held on July 27, 2000, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at
the Federal Communications Commission in the Commission Meeting Room, 445
12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554. The en banc will be open to the
public, and seating will be available on a first come, first served basis.
Cable Services Bureau Contact: Linda Senecal (202) 418-7044
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/News_Releases/2000/nrcb0018.html)
MEDIA & SOCIETY
TV, FILMS BLAMED FOR CHILD VIOLENCE
Issue: Media and Society/ Health
Leaders of the public health community have concluded that viewing violent
entertainment can result in increased aggressive attitudes, values and
behavior, particularly in children. Their findings will be announced at a
public health summit today in Washington (DC) hosted by Sen. Sam Brownback
(R-KS). After review of more than 1,000 studies, a panel of experts
concluded that the evidence points "overwhelmingly to a causal connection
between media violence and aggressive behavior" in kids. Specifically, the
report suggests that viewing violent entertainment can have several negative
effects, including: making children more likely to see violence as an
effective way of settling conflicts; emotionally desensitizing children
toward violence in real life; and feeding a perception that the world is a
violent and mean place and increases the fear of becoming a victim of violence.
[SOURCE: USAToday (9D), AUTHOR: Ann Oldenburg]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000726/2489756s.htm)
INTERNET HAS ROLE IN STDS' SPREAD
Issue: Health/Internet
Public health experts have identified the Internet as both a new risk factor
for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and as a new weapon in the fight
against them. Two studies out today in the Journal of the American Medical
Association confirm what many already knew: Internet chat rooms are the
latest meeting place for people looking for sex partners. One of the studies
describes how the San Francisco Department of Public Health traced a
syphilis outbreak to an Internet chat room. In this case, the health
department was able to work with the site that hosted the chat room,
PlanetOut.com, in order to inform visitors of the cluster of syphilis cases
linked to the site and encourage anyone who met sex partners on it to seek
medical attention. So while the Internet could pose a bigger threat of STD
transmission than more conventional venues for meeting sex partners -
because it is easier to access and reaches a far wider audience - its very
reach is a reason to believe it can also be a promising public health tool.
[SOURCE: USAToday (7D), AUTHOR: Rita Rubin]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000726/2489770s.htm)
TELEPHONY REVIVES RURAL LIFE IN ICELAND
Issue: International
In Iceland's rural northern coast town of Hrisey, Gudmunder Gislason used to
pack frozen fish for a living. But with the help of Islensk Midlun, a small
telephone-marketing center in Reykjavik founded by Svavar Kristinsson and
his wife Karolina, Gudmunder Grislason now runs a calling center. In the
evening, six people there conduct opinion polls in Iceland for clients such
as PricewaterhouseCoopers using Internet-protocol technology from Cisco
Systems. Thanks to Internet telephony companies can now be vastly
decentralized. Workers can do business from their homes at the ends of the
earth but linked to a central server. The people they are calling will never
know the difference, but the companies with which they work could see phone
and real-estate expenses drop. The Hrisey calling center also appears to be
a free-market solution to governments' past social-engineering efforts.
Internet-protocol technology -- as well as other technologies, such as
high-speed Internet links -- may, by offering opportunities where people
live, brake the migration to urban areas brought on by industrialization.
"Now we have 120 or 130 employees in the villages. Since we began the
program, only two have left for Reykjavik and they went back to school, not
to a competitor. Our employee turnover is ever-lower and the knowledge among
the employees needed to sell our service is always higher and higher," says
Mr. Kristinsson.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Almar Latour & Edward Harris]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB964559353268141720.htm)
PRIVACY
HIGH-TECH SLEUTH JOINS CENTER LOOKING AT NEW PRIVACY ISSUES
Issue: Privacy
High-tech sleuth Richard Smith, the person who helped track the "Melissa"
and "I Love You" viruses, will join the Privacy Center today. The center
will investigate privacy concerns in the information age. Mr. Smith said the
center would focus initially on whether personal privacy was jeopardized by
the use of wireless phones with Web access, digital television set-top
boxes, software that can send user information back to its maker over the
Internet and other such new technologies. "We'll look at anything to do with
a computer, and stuff that is networked together," said Mr. Smith. The
effort is funded by Peter Barton, a Denver entrepreneur and former chief
executive of the Liberty Media Corporation.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Matt Richtel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/biztech/articles/26cyber.html)
BROADBAND
INTERNET FREEDOM AND BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT ACT
Issue: Broadband
Thursday, July 27, 2000 11:00 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection has
scheduled a hearing focusing on H.R. 2420, the Internet Freedom and
Broadband Deployment Act of 1999. Witnesses will be by invitation only
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://www.house.gov/commerce/)
BROADBAND INTERNET RELIEF
Issue: Broadband
Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation, and Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) announced the witness
list for the hearing on S. 2902, the Broadband Internet Regulatory Relief
Act of 2000. The Full Committee hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, July
26, at 9:30 a.m. in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building. Senator
Brownback will preside. Following is the tentative witness list (not
necessarily in order of appearance):
Panel I: Mr. John Shelby Bryan, Chairman and CEO, ICG Communications; Mr.
James D. Ellis, Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel, SBC
Telecommunications, Inc.; Mr. Arne L. Haynes, President, The Rainer Group;
Mr. Robert Taylor, President and CEO, Focal Communications
Panel II: Ms. Sue Ashdown, Co-owner, Xmission; Mr. Tom Duesterberg,
President and Chief Executive Officer, Manufacturers Alliance; Mr. James K.
Glassman, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and Host,
TechCentralStation.com; Mr. Peter Pitsch, Communications Policy Director,
For Information Technology Industry Council; Mr. Eric Strumingher, Managing
Director, Paine Webber
[SOURCE: US Senate]
(http://www.senate.gov/~commerce/press/106-200.htm)
FCC
WHAT WE'RE ALL ABOUT
Issue: FCC
The Consumer's Guide to the Federal Communications Commission.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/)
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