Note: Between August 20 and September 2, the CPP
News-Clipping Service may be whacky, inconsistent, and a bit too
serious. Kevin is on vacation and has assigned his minions
the responsibility to get the news out to youse. We'll do
our best.
In today's headlines:
Television:
WSJ: Hot to Get to (China's) Sesame Street
Telephone:
* Long Distance in Michigan:
FCC News Release: Commission Denies Ameritech's Application
to Provide L.D. in Michigan
Wash. Post: Leaving Long Distance Dangling
WSJ: FCC Rejects Ameritech Bid to Offer Michigan
Long-Distance Phone Service
NYT: FCC Rejects Ameritech's Long-Distance Bid
* Long Distance Slamming
FCC: Commissioner Ness calls for tougher actions against slamming
* Wireless
WSJ: Unfettered but in Touch, Phone Users Go All-Wireless
Telecommuting:
WSJ: Madison Avenue May Need to Alter Image of 90's Telecommuter
Computer Industry:
Wash. Post: Microsoft Aid to Apple is Examined
Internet Commerce:
WSJ: Bookselling's Goliath Taps Lycos to Help Quell Amazon.com
NYT: Bank Fraud on the Internet? Russians in Antigua Scandal
Campaigns & Elections
NYT: New Counsel Joins House Panel Investigating Campaign Finance
NYT: Magnum, G.O.P.
Privacy
NYT: Use of Recognition Technology in Everyday Transactions
************************* TELEVISION *******************************
Title: How to Get to (China's) Sesame Street
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Lily Tung
Issue: Children's Television, International Television
Description: Shanghai Television has decided that the Sesame Street
format won't corrupt Chinese children and has partnered with
Children's Television Workshop to adapt this educational children's
tv program to "Zhima Jie". "Da Niao" (Big Bird) will teach children
their Chinese characters, helped along by a new set of Jim Henson
Production "muppets" including a blue pig and a red monster girl.
Original muppet characters from Sesame Street archival footage will
make guest appearances. General Electric, the show's primary
sponsor, is contributing $3 million over a 3-year period.
************************* TELEPHONE ******************************
**** Long Distance in Michigan ****
Title: Commission Denies Ameritech's Application to Provide Long
Distance Services in Michigan
Source: FCC Headlines (press release)
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/1997/nrcc7064.html
Author: Rochelle Cohen
Issue: Telephone Regulation / Long Distance
Description: The FCC announced 8/19/97 that it denied the application
of Ameritech Michigan ("Ameritech") to provide long distance services
originating in the State of Michigan. The Commission concluded that
Ameritech has not met the requirements of the Communications Act for a
Bell Operating Company (BOC) to enter the long distance market in a
state within its local service region.
Title: Leaving Long Distance Dangling
Source: Washington Post (D9)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-08/20/039l-082097-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Telephone Regulation/Long Distance
Description: The FCC denied Ameritech's request to offer long distance
service to consumers in Michigan, where the company is the largest
provider of local telephone service. The reason? The Commission
concluded that Ameritech had not yet opened the local telephone market
to competition as required by the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
(Both the Justice Department and the Michigan Public Service Commission
had similarly concluded that the company has not yet met all 14 technical
requirements that the law set forth.) The ruling, while no surprise,
was the Commission's first substantive response to a Baby Bell seeking
to enter the long distance market according to the rules set forth in
last year's law. Ameritech, though disappointed, liked that the
Commission at least spelled out what the remaining steps are. And an
unnamed FCC official noted, "This order is not meant to suggest that
[Ameritech's] not trying."
Title: FCC Rejects Ameritech Bid to Offer Michigan Long-Distance Phone
Service
Source: Wall Street Journal (B10)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Bryan Gruley
Issue: Telephone Regulation / Long Distance
Description: The FCC rejected Ameritech's bid to enter the long distance
market in Michigan yesterday, but has made suggestions how they, and
other Baby Bells can get themselves "up to snuff" to enter the market.
According to the FCC, Ameritech failed to meet 3 of the 14 legal
requirements for competition. FCC Chairman Reed Hundt was quoted as
saying "I recognize and applaud the steps Ameritech and the state of
Michigan have taken to open the local market in Michigan to competition."
Many of the Baby Bells take exception to the fact that the agency's
decision says that they can only charge competitors based on the
"forward-looking" costs of operating the network rather than what it
would cost to build a new network. SBC Communications had filed
"weaker" application to compete earlier this year in Oklahoma, only to
have it rejected by the FCC. SBC is now fighting the long-distance
provision in federal court.
Title: FCC Rejects Ameritech's Long-Distance Bid
Source: New York Times (D3)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/y20bel.html
Author: Bloomberg News
Issue: Telecom Regulation
Description: Federal regulators rejected Ameritech's bid to become the
first Baby Bell to offer its customers long distance telephone service.
The F.C.C. agreed with Michigan regulators that Ameritech had not
adequately put in place a computer system that would allow competitors
to process customer service orders. "Clearly we will refile as soon as
we can," said Sara Snyder, spokesperson for Ameritech.
**** Long Distance Slamming ****
Title: Commissioner Ness Calls for Tougher Action Against Slamming
Source: FCC Headlines press release http://www.fcc.gov/
Author: Rochelle Cohen
Issue: Long distance telephone regulation
Description: FCC Commissioner Ness called for much more stringent
efforts to eliminate and punish slammers, telephone companies that
switch consumers' long distance services without their knowledge or
permission.
**** Wireless ****
Title: Unfettered but In Touch, Phone Users Go All-Wireless
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Stephanie N. Mehta
Issue: Telephone, wireless
Description: A small but growing number of consumers are canceling
their home phone service, embracing an exclusively wireless telephonic
existence. Wireless phone companies are bringing increased competition
and lower prices to many U.S. markets, especially now that regulations
have increased their numbers from 2 to 9 providers per market. But the
possible threat to land-line phone service could evaporate if wireless
becomes too popular since no one seems to know how well wireless networks
perform under fully loaded conditions.
******************* TELECOMMUTING *********************
Title: Madison Avenue May Need to Alter Image of '90s Telecommuter
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Sue Shellenbarger
Issue: Telecommuting, work and family
Description: Despite statistics to the contrary, advertising companies
continue to promote telecommuting as something done by unshowered women
in bunny slippers, with a bagel in one hand and a baby in the other.
Researcher FIND/SVP's studies indicate that telecommuters are 67% male
and only 46% have children at home. An informal survey by the author
indicates that 11 out of 12 had showered, none was wearing bunny slippers
or holding a baby's arm holding an apple.
************************ COMPUTER INDUSTRY **********************
Title: Microsoft Aid to Apple is Examined
Source: Washington Post (D9)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-08/20/038l-082097-idx.html
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Industry Competition/Antitrust
Description: Responding to concerns that Microsoft's much-publicized
bailout of Apple might be described as "this is going to help me a lot
more than it helps you," the Justice Department announced that it is
examining Microsoft's investment in the struggling computer-maker to
consider whether Microsoft could use the new arrangement to stifle
competition in the future. The DoJ is also reviewing three other
investments Microsoft has made recently in companies that are developing
software that allows users to send and receive audio and video over the
Internet.
************************ INTERNET COMMERCE **********************
Title: Bookselling's Goliath Taps Lycos to Help Quell Amazon.com
Source: Wall Street Journal (B9)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Jared Sandberg
Issue: Internet Commerce
Description: Barnes & Noble Inc. has formed an alliance with Lycos Inc.
to use their search engine as B & N's "electronic storefront." In an
attempt to compete with their new rival, Barnes & Noble has entered
into a three-year marketing agreement with the people at Lycos.
Even though Amazon.com is linked to two of the Internet's most visited
sights (America Online and Yahoo), Barnes & Noble remain undaunted
because they have plans to integrate Lycos' search technology into
the B & N Web site in order to distinguish it from it's rivals.
Title: Bank Fraud on the Internet? Russians in Antigua Scandal
Source: New York Times (A4)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/antigua-bankfraud.html
Author: Larry Rohter
Issue: Internet Commerce
Description: Three years ago the European Union Bank marketed itself
as the first offshore bank on the Internet. Now all of the bank's
directors and depositors' money have disappeared and Antigua has
issued a fraud alert. With lax banking regulations, Antigua has a
reputation as a haven for dubious businesses and money laundering.
At the European Union Banks now-dormant Internet site (www.eubank.ag),
the bank stated "since there are no government withholding or reporting
requirements on accounts, the burdensome and expensive accounting
requirements are reduced for you."
******************** CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS *******************
Title: New Counsel Joins House Panel Investigating Campaign Finance
Source: New York Times (A17)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/washpol/house-campaign-probe.html
Author: Stephen Labaton
Issue: Campaign Finance
Description: Dan Burton of Indiana and Chairman of the House Committee
investigating Democratic fund-raising selected Richard D. Bennett as
the new chief of counsel. Bennett was a United States Attorney in
Maryland during the Bush Administration, replaced by President Clinton
in 1993. He is a partner at the law firm Miles & Stockbridge.
Title: Magnum, G.O.P.
Source: New York Times (A33)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/20dowd.html
Author: Maureen Dowd
Issue: Op-Ed on Political Strategy
Description: Dowd contends that a Republican strategist was seen trying
to convince Tom Selleck to run against Barbara Boxer next year. She
states that Republicans are looking for another Ronald Reagan, a
Hollywood star from the West Coast. The strategist trying to recruit
Selleck states, "Selleck is kind of exactly where Ronald Reagan was in
1965. He's unsure about leaving the wold of entertainment for the world
of politics."
*********************** PRIVACY ****************************
Title: Use of Recognition Technology Grows in Everyday Transactions
Source: New York Times (D1)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/082097biometrics.html
Author: Saul Hansell
Issue: Technology Uses, Privacy
Description: New computers that cash payroll checks after recognizing
the face of the user. Article discusses the use of biometrics to verify
the identities of people in many ways. But what about privacy concerns?
*********