ACCESS & EQUITY
NTIA Study Finds Continuing Technology Disparities (TelecomAM)
LEGISLATION
Senate Fiance Committee Approves Internet Tax Freedom Act
(TelecomAM)
MERGERS
Bell Atlantic to Acquire GTE in $52.9-Billion Stock Deal
(TelecomAM)
Merger to reshape cell phone market (ChiTrib)
Bell Atlantic and GTE Get Static on Merger (WP)
Questions Arise on Bell Atlantic's Acquisition of GTE (NYT)
OWNERSHIP
Puerto Rican Phone Workers Vote to End Strike,
With Goal Unmet (NYT)(WST)(WP)
ED TECH
Universities Embrace Distance Learning for Busy Professionals
(CyberTimes)
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Flaw Could Let Hackers Deliver Devastating E-Mail (ChiTrib)
Software Flaw Allows Viruses Within E-Mail (NYT)
Congress Lax on Privacy Issue, Report Says (ChiTrib)
===============
ACCESS & EQUITY
===============
NTIA STUDY FINDS CONTINUING TECHNOLOGY DISPARITIES
ISSUE:
Falling Through the Net II, a new study by the National Telecom and
Information Administration (NTIA), finds that although more people own
computers and access online services than did three years ago, there's still
a disparity by race and income. NTIA's Larry Irving said the problem "is not
going to be solved by government alone," but programs such as the e-rate can
help bridge the "digital divide." Vice President Al Gore called the study
findings "troubling," saying they "underscore the absolute necessity for
programs such as the e-rate that reach out to communities that otherwise
lack electronic resources." Households earning more than $75,000 a year were
7 times more likely to own a computer than those earning $5,000-$10,000, and
white households were twice as likely to own computer as black households.
[See Falling Through the Net II
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/net2/falling.html]
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
===========
LEGISLATION
===========
SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE APPROVES INTERNET TAX FREEDOM ACT
ISSUE: Internet Regulation/Legislation
In a 19-1 vote, the Senate Finance Committee July 28 approved a new version
of the Internet Tax Freedom Act. The measure would place a two-year ban on
new and existing state and local Internet taxes. The House version of the
bill (HR-4105) calls for three-year ban.
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
=======
MERGERS
=======
BELL ATLANTIC TO ACQUIRE GTE IN $52.9-BILLION STOCK DEAL
ISSUE: Mergers
Bell Atlantic and GTE have agreed to merge and form a 39-state carrier --
covering the Northeast, Sunbelt and California -- with $53 billion in annual
revenues and 63 million access lines, more than 40 percent of all lines in
the US. The merger must show advantages for consumers and competition for
the marketplace, FCC Chairman William Kennard said. He said he looked
forward to reviewing the deal and hopes "the parties will demonstrate how
this merger advances the pro-competitive thrust of the Telecommunications
Act." "The combined
enterprise will have the financial, operational and technological resources to
compete effectively against the strategies of AT&T/TCI, SBC/Ameritech,
WorldCom/MCI and others, both current and future," said Bell Atlantic CEO
Ivan Seidenberg.
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
[See also "Merger to reshape cell phone market"
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-12531,00.html
Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1) by Jon Van]
BELL ATLANTIC AND GTE GET STATIC ON MERGER
ISSUE: Mergers/Telephony
Following yesterday's announcement that Bell Atlantic and GTE are planing a
$53 billion dollar merger, critics have begun to question the effect the
deal will have on competition. FCC chairman William Kennard said he plans
take a hard look at the merger to determine weather the deal promotes
competition or harms it , "I hope the parties will demonstrate how this
merger advances the pro-competitive thrust of the Telecommunications Act".
If all currently planed mergers are approved, the seven original Bell
companies would become just four separate companies. "This is the opposite
of what Congress promised people with telecommunications deregulation," says
Gene Kimmelman, Washington co-director of Consumers Union. Sen. Patrick
Leahy (D-Vt.) suggest that "we should go back and look at the telecom act
again." He has introduced legislation that would subject the Bell mergers to
a more rigorous approval process. "To my view, despite the promise of
competition and lower rates, we've only had consolidation."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C9), AUTHOR: Mike Mills]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/29/148l-072998-idx.html
QUESTIONS ARISE ON BELL ATLANTIC'S ACQUISITION OF GTE
ISSUE: Mergers/Telecom Act
The Bell Atlantic Corporation's announced $52.9 billion acquisition of the
GTE Corporation yesterday has left some Washington politicians expressing
wariness, fearing that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 had not produced
the broad competition that its backers promised. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI),
the Senate antitrust committee's ranking Democrat, said that since the act
became law, "we have had lots of consolidation but not a whole lot of
competition. If this trend continues unabated, you can be sure that next
year Congress will consider cracking open the Telecom Act like a raw egg --
that is, if the Telecom Act still matters."
[SOURCE: New York Times (D4), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/biztech/articles/29gte-bellatlant
ic.html
=========
OWNERSHIP
=========
PUERTO RICAN PHONE WORKERS VOTE TO END STRIKE, WITH GOAL UNMET
ISSUE: Telephony/Privatization
Two Puerto Rican telephone unions voted to end their 41-day-old strike in
protest of Gov. Pedro Rossello's decision to sell Puerto Rico Telephone Co.
to investors lead by GTE Corp. The unions agreed to return to work - without
achieving their ultimate goal of blocking privatization -- in exchange for
protection form government action against most strikers. Union officials
pledge to continue the fight, despite the agreement. Jose Juan Hernandez,
president of the Independent Telephone Workers Union, says "This ended the
strike, but the struggle against the sale continues."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A9), AUTHOR: WP Staff Writer]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/29/054l-072998-idx.html
[SOURCE: New York Times (A12), AUTHOR: NYT Staff Writer]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/puertorico-phones.html
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B2) AUTHOR:WTJ Staff Writer]
http://wsj.com/
=======
ED TECH
=======
UNIVERSITIES EMBRACE DISTANCE LEARNING FOR BUSY PROFESSIONALS
ISSUE: Ed Tech
Top universities are slowly beginning to introduce a virtual academic
experience into their curriculum for a subset of their student population:
working adults. Prestigious universities such as Oxford, Duke, Stanford,
McGill and Harvard are starting to conduct a few courses and degree programs
over the Internet. What they all have in common is an attempt to appeal to
busy adults who really want to take courses but find traveling to
traditional classes a major restraint. Students like Dean A. Butchers, a
37-year-old father of two and a marketing manager at IBM who often travels
for business, agree that online courses offer options that may not otherwise
have been possible. "Any other type of more traditional course would have
necessitated my putting my career on hold," said Butchers. "As long as I
have a telephone line and my Think Pad, I can do my coursework."
Spokespeople for these institutions say they have no plans to offer
undergraduate courses over the Internet as they believe a real campus
experience is an essential part of academic life for the young student
seeking a bachelor's degree. Some worry however that after trying online
education in one setting, universities will be tempted to also use it in
others. James L. Turk, executive secretary of the Canadian Association of
University Teachers, is concerned that some community colleges in Canada may
begin using Internet-based courses to replace faculty and worries that elite
institutions may follow suit, seeing computers as a way to cut teaching costs.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Pamela Mendels]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/cyber/education/29education.html
================
SECURITY/PRIVACY
================
FLAW COULD LET HACKERS DELIVER DEVASTATING E-MAIL
ISSUE: Security
Finnish researchers have found flaws in Microsoft's and Netscape's email
programs that allow any outsider to send an email message capable of
executing commands such as erasing a computer's hard drive. George Meng, a
group product manager for Microsoft, said: "We're definitely not taking this
lightly. There definitely is a scenario in which someone could do damage to
people's systems." A fix is available at Microsoft's website
http://www.microsoft.com/ie/security and one is expected soon on
Netscape's site http://www.netscape.com.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.3), AUTHOR: David Wilson]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9807290172,00.html
SOFTWARE FLAW ALLOWS VIRUSES WITHIN E-MAIL
ISSUE: E-Mail
A major security flaw has been identified in popular email programs
published by Microsoft Corp. and Netscape Communications Corp. that would
permit a malicious person to send a message containing a virus that could
crash a computer, destroy or even steal data. To date, security tests have
shown that the "flaw exists in three of the four most popular, email
programs: Microsoft's Outlook Express and Outlook 98 and Netscape's Web
browser, Navigator, which is part of its Communicator suite of Internet
programs." Both companies are currently working on solutions to this problem
and Microsoft is already providing fixes on the company's Web site. While
security experts said they were astounded that both companies had
distributed software containing a well-known type of program-design error,
several security specialists attributed the flaw to a heated competition
between Microsoft and Netscape for domination of the Internet market.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1,D20), AUTHOR: John Markoff]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/biztech/articles/29email-flaw....
CONGRESS LAX ON PRIVACY ISSUE, REPORT SAYS
ISSUE: Privacy
The Center for Public Integrity, in a new report titled Nothing Sacred: The
Politics of Privacy, finds that Congress does not protect the privacy of
Americans as well as it could and often sides with commercial interests. [Go
figure] In recent years Congress has passed legislation with anti-privacy
elements while letting pro-privacy legislation languish. The first hearings
on abuses of medical information were held 27 years ago, but Congress has
never acted on the issue. "Time and again . . . Congress has put the
economic interests of various privacy invaders ahead of the privacy interests of
the American public," said Charles Lewis, chairman and executive director of
the Washington-based research organization. "When it comes to privacy, in
fact, the agenda in Congress today seems to be set mostly by commercial
interests."
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.10), AUTHOR: Frank James]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9807290176,00.html
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