UNIVERSAL SERVICE
Fishman to Resign as SLC Head in Reorganization (TelecomAM)
MERGERS
AFL-CIO, Church Groups, Urge FCC Reject WorldCom-MCI Merger
(TelecomAM)
TELEPHONY/REGULATION
Phone Wars Leave FCC in a Political Combat Zone (NYT)
FCC Audit Cites Bell's Lost Items (WP)
FIRST AMENDMENT
Home Web Sites Thrust Students Into Censorship Disputes (Circuits)
E-COMMERCE
Movie Retailer Offers Personalized Catalog on Web (WSJ)
OWNERSHIP/MERGERS
MCI to Sell Concert Stake to Partner (WSJ)
British Telecom to Acquire MCI's Stake in Joint Venture (NYT)
LIFESTYLE
A Tour of Tourist Traps Without a "How Far Is It?'
=================
UNIVERSAL SERVICE
=================
FISHMAN TO RESIGN AS SLC HEAD IN REORGANIZATION
Issue: Universal Service
Schools and Library Corp CEO Ira Fishman is expected to announce his
resignation effective August 28. Mr. Fishman said that he's leaving with
some regret at not seeing the program through, but with pride in having set
up operations from scratch. Since he accepted the position, Mr. Fishman has
been the target of congressional critics who had attacked his salary level
($200,000) and his administration of the program. The overarching issue, he
said, is that the program will survive to allow schools and libraries to
have access to technology and telecom at a relatively early stage of its
development -- contrary to the history of education in which the classroom
usually lags behind. The Internet as we know it today is only four years
old, Mr. Fishman said: "People know that over the long run this will have a
huge beneficial impact." [For more info on the SLC see
http://www.slcfund.org/]
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
=======
MERGERS
=======
AFL-CIO, CHURCH GROUPS, URGE FCC REJECT WORLDCOM-MCI MERGER
Issue: Mergers
A coalition led by the AFL-CIO, the National Council of Senior Citizens
(NCSC) and the National Council of Churches (NCC) is urging the Federal
Communications Commission to reject the proposed WorldCom merger with MCI.
The coalition said the merger would reduce rather than expand competition
and raised fears that the new company would "redline" minority communities.
MCI has rejected arguments that the merger would reduce its local market
presence: "MCI's commitment to the residential market is unwavering," said
spokeswoman Jamie DePeau who cited the letter from MCI Chairman Bert Roberts
and WorldCom President Bernard Ebbers to FCC Chairman Kennard in which
executives said: "Local market entry is a driving force behind our merger."
Executives at the two companies are working hard to close the deal by September.
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
====================
TELEPHONY/REGULATION
====================
PHONE WARS LEAVE FCC IN A POLITICAL COMBAT ZONE
Issue: FCC/ Local Telephone
After an adversarial relationship with former Federal Communication Chairman
Reed Hunt, the local Bells are beginning to win some battles at the FCC.
Last week, under current chairman William Kennard, the FCC threw a huge bone
in the Bell's direction by allowing them to compete in the provision of data
services without having to resell their local data networks. The Bells
visible lobbying presence in Washington and Chairman Kennard's political
vulnerability may be factors influencing this recent victory. William
Kennard was appointed to the commission's top post without strong backing
from either Congress or the White House. As a result, Congress seems to have
greater influence now at the FCC than in recent years.
[SOURCE: New York Times (D1,D5), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/08/biztech/articles/13data.html
FCC AUDIT CITES BELL'S LOST ITEMS
Issue: Local Telephone
Preliminary findings of an Federal Communications Commission audit shows
that the regional Bell companies cannot locate almost $5 billion worth of
equipment that is claimed on their books. The audit, which was the largest
of it's type since the 1984 AT&T divestiture, found that 10 percent of
reported equipment could not be located in random spot checks of Bell
facilities in each state. These results fuel long-time allegations that the
Baby Bells report inflated costs in order to justify higher prices for
consumers and access charges for long-distance carriers. If the final audit
report supports these original findings, it could have an effect on local
rates. According to one congressional source, "we would argue there ought
to be dollar-for-dollar reductions" in the local charges. [Let me see, just
where did we leave that central office, anyway?]
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Mike Mills]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-08/13/161l-081398-idx.html
===============
FIRST AMENDMENT
===============
HOME WEB SITES THRUST STUDENTS INTO CENSORSHIP DISPUTES
Issue: First Amendment
Sean O'Brian is a 17-year-old baritone horn player from Westlake High
School, near Cleveland, that had a beef with a high-school band instructor,
Raymond Walczuk. So last spring, O'Brian set up a home-based Web site that
insulted Walczuk. When word of the site got around, school administrators
suspended O'Brian for 10 days, told him to remove the Web site and
threatened to expel him. O'Brian and his parents took action, accusing the
school of violating his right to free speech and suing the school district
for $550,000. Legal experts say that school censorship of student Web sites
created outside schools is increasing. Ann Beeson, an American Civil
Liberties Union lawyer in New York, said, "These Web cases have become
somewhat analogous to the student newspaper cases of the past, where the
schools try to say, 'You can't talk about condoms in the school newspaper.'
Except that with Web sites, people tend to become more alarmed because
people outside the school can find out about them." While the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled in 1988 that schools could control a school newspaper but
students that published outside school were covered by the First Amendment
right to free speech, it has yet to rule on a case involving school
censorship of a Web site set up outside school. Civil libertarians say that
if such a case ever does go to court, they expect students, and the First
Amendment, to prevail.
[SOURCE: New York Times (E9), AUTHOR: Terry McManus]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/08/circuits/articles/13cens.html
=================
OWNERSHIP/MERGERS
=================
MCI TO SELL CONCERT STAKE TO PARTNER (WSJ)
BRITISH TELECOM TO ACQUIRE MCI'S STAKE IN JOINT VENTURE (NYT)
Issue: Ownership/Mergers
British Telecommunications PLC announced yesterday that it has agreed to
purchase MCI Communications Corp.'s 24.9% stake in their Concert
Communications Services joint international venture for $1 billion in cash.
The move will effectively server all ties between the one-time merging
partners. With BT's agreement to buy Concert, the British communications
giant will be free to move forward with plans to for a $10 billion joint
venture with AT&T Corp.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3,A8), AUTHOR: Stephanie N. Mehta]
http://wsj.com/
[SOURCE: New York Times (D4), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/mci-british-telecom.html
==========
E-COMMERCE
==========
MOVIE RETAILER OFFERS PERSONALIZED CATALOG ON WEB
Issue: E-Commerce
Big Star [we're not talking about the band or store baby, we're talking...]
Entertainment Inc., a new videotape retailer on the Web is personalizing
video information to each users taste. The Big Star catalog highlights those
movies you're likely to buy and doesn't waste time on those titles that
wouldn't be of interest. Some direct marketers call this the perfect
catalog, one that knows who you are. "When you come to our site, you can see
it customize itself," says David Friedensohn, one of the co-founders of Big
Star. "We're getting one-to-one with people." Friedensohn and David
Levitsky, the other co-founder, are confident that their site can't be
matched. Big Star, which went online in May of this year, wrote its own
system focusing the end product on the consumer by weaving together several
different databases -- ones that draw from a multitude of information on the
user in order to deliver the best possible product. "For e-commerce, the
core competency is systems integration," says Friedensohn. If this on-line
movie catalog approach works, Big Star could become the new Amazon.com of
videos.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B7), AUTHOR: Thomas E. Weber]
http://wsj.com/
=========
LIFESTYLE
=========
A TOUR OF TOURIST TRAPS WITHOUT A 'HOW FAR IS IT?'
Issue: Lifestyles [of the not so famous]
Still contemplating how to spend your vacation while staring at the pile of
papers overflowing from your in-box? Well get ready for the World's Largest
Replica Cheese while gnawing on a Stuckey's pecan log? Just "steer your Web
browser to the Roadside America Web site and enjoy a fun-filled trip that
may take you not only down memory lane [uh,ummm, not to allude to age here
or anything], but to more than 6,000 of the most popular highway attractions
from all 50 states." This site is an interactive multimedia companion guide
to the books "Roadside America," published in 1986 and "New Roadside
America," in 1992 (both Simon & Schuster). "The authors, Doug Kirdy, Ken
Smith and Mike Wilkins, continue to add new attractions to their database,
which also includes pages on tourism news and travel tips." Now, you can
finally see Rock City and America's largest bovine statues from the comfort
of your own desktop.
[SOURCE: New York Times (E11), AUTHOR: J.D. Biersdorfer]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/08/circuits/articles/13road.html
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*