PRIVACY/ECOMMERCE
Some in Congress Say U.S. Government Could Use an
Information-Privacy Czar (WSJ)
Compressed Data: Consumers' Views Split on Internet Privacy (NYT)
Internet Users Seek Assurances Over Online Use of Personal Data (WP)
E-commerce: Marketers Get Help From E-Mail Experts (NYT)
JOBS
Accord Is Reached For Most Workers In Phone Walkout (NYT)
INTERNET
FTC Not Likely To Force AOL's Instant Messaging Open (USA)
Wireless Internet Casts Its Shadow, and Substance,
in New York (NYT)
Dictionary Publishers Going Digital (NYT)
Music Videos Enter the Digital Age (NYT)
TELEVISION
Reminder: People for better TV Rally in Detroit (PBTV)
Complaints to Spanish TV: Where are the Americans? (NYT)
Reality Television Strikes a Stark Note in a New Show (NYT)
INFRASTRUCTURE/TELEPHONY
Internet? Poo. It's Fiber Optics That's on Fire (WP)
Implementation of Slamming Liability Procedures (FCC)
The State of the Wireless Industry (FCC)
LIFESTYLES!
Tech's Tyranny Provokes Revolt (USA)
PRIVACY/ECOMMERCE
SOME IN CONGRESS SAY U.S. GOVERNMENT COULD USE AN INFORMATION-PRIVACY CZAR
Issue: Privacy
With many large corporations like Microsoft and AT&T hiring privacy officers
with broad authority to protect their customers' personal data released on
the Internet, the government also thinks it needs a privacy czar who would
coordinate information protection among federal agencies. Rep. Tom Davis
(R-VA) has introduced a bill in Congress that would create a federal
Office of Information Policy to be run by a chief information officer
appointed by the president. The officer would work with the director of Rep
Davis's proposed Office of Information Security and Technical Protection.
That office would coordinate federal agencies' information technology
efforts. "Right now there's a danger of too many cooks spoiling the soup,"
said Rep Davis's spokesman, David Marin. "A centralized leader will be able
to make information security one of the top priorities of the federal
government." Indeed, privacy is at the top of the agenda of industry and
government leaders attending the sixth annual technology policy summit which
runs through Monday in Aspen (CO) and also includes topics such as
telecommunications deregulation, the future of the Federal Communications
Commission and e-commerce.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B6), AUTHOR: Associated Press
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB966811382463874405.htm)
(requires subscription)
COMPRESSED DATA: CONSUMERS' VIEWS SPLIT ON INTERNET PRIVACY
Issue: Privacy
The Pew Research Center for People and the Press released results of a
survey of 2,117 American (1,017 of which were Internet users) with the
following results: 1) 86% of Internet users prefer "opt-in" privacy policies
which require Internet companies to obtain people's permission before using
their personal data; 2) 54 percent of Internet users in the survey said that
the tracking of users by a Web site was harmful because it invaded their
privacy, compared with 27 percent who described it as helpful because it
allowed sites to tailor information to specific consumers; 3) 94 percent of
the Internet users agreed that any company that violated its privacy policy
should be disciplined -- with 11 percent of the disciplinarians saying the
company's owners should be sent to prison. However, more than half of the
Internet users had provided personal information to a Web site and another
10% said they would under the right conditions. Only 27% said they would
never provide a Web site personal information.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C3), AUTHOR: Susan Stellin]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/082100pew-survey.html)
(requires registration)
See Also:
INTERNET USERS SEEK ASSURANCES OVER ONLINE USE OF PERSONAL DATA
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A8), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60984-2000Aug20.html)
IN THE INTERNET WE TRUST
[SOURCE: USAToday (3D), AUTHOR: Leslie Miller]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000821/2567661s.htm)
E-COMMERCE: MARKETERS GET HELP FROM E-MAIL EXPERTS
Issue: E-commerce/Advertising
According to Forrester Research, the market for email advertising services
will reach $4.8 billion/year by 2004. E-mail marketing is much cheaper than
direct mail ($0.01-$0.25 compared to $1-$2 per each piece of mail) and
offers much more measurable results: right down to the number of people who
opened the message, clicked on each link, made a purchase or forwarded the
e-mail to a friend. Other advantages include speed and customization. Find
out who's doing what -- and how it raises privacy concerns -- at the URL below.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C6), AUTHOR: Susan Stellin]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/cyber/commerce/21commerce.html)
(requires registration)
JOBS
ACCORD IS REACHED FOR MOST WORKERS IN PHONE STRIKE
Issue: Jobs
Striking Verizon workers will return to their jobs as early as this morning
as an agreement has been reached. In a new three-year contract, the
Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers secured a 12% wage increase over 3 years, stock options,
the right to more easily organize workers in the wireless division, and a
promise that union members would be given opportunity to more work in
fast-growing areas like Internet installations. "This contract is a
breakthrough not just for our members who work at Verizon but for workers
throughout the telecommunications industry," Larry Mancino, vice president
of the Communications Workers of America, which represents about 72,000 of
the striking employees, said yesterday.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Simon Romero]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/082100verizon-talks.html)
(requires registration)
See Also:
VERIZON REACHES TENTATIVE AGREEMENT WITH TWO OF THREE BARGAINING UNITS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/pages/techmain.htm)
(requires subscription)
INTERNET
FTC NOT LIKELY TO FORCE AOL'S INSTANT MESSAGING OPEN
Issue: Merger
The Federal Trade Commission probably won't force America Online to open its
dominant instant-messaging service to rival providers as a condition for
approving AOL's merger with Time Warner. Instant messaging is a popular
Internet service that lets people zap written missives to each other in real
time without opening e-mail programs. AOL has blocked repeated attempts by
rivals, such as MSN and AT&T, to let their instant-messaging customers
communicate with AOL's. The rivals say they were simply trying to break
AOL's stranglehold on the market. AOL says their efforts involved
"hacking" into its system. Opening AOL's service would allow users of
competing services to communicate with AOL's. Antitrust experts say legal
standards would make it tough for the FTC to label AOL's tactics as
anti-competitive. AIM, like other instant-messaging services, is free. As a
result, there is no business "market." However, AOL's AIM still could be
pried open by the Federal Communications Commission, which also must approve
the merger. But some government officials say it's unclear whether the FCC
has the authority to regulate a feature that might be deemed an
"information service" rather than "telecommunications service."
[SOURCE: USA TODAY (1B), AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000821/2567702s.htm
WIRELESS INTERNET CASTS ITS SHADOW, AND SUBSTANCE, IN NEW YORK
Issue: Internet
In New York, three questions are guiding the Wireless Web discussion:
"Where's the talent?"; "Where's the killer app?"; and "Why isn't this
discussion taking place in California?" The answer may lie in New York,
which is emerging as the nation's center for wireless Internet applications,
financing and advertising. More than two dozen New York wireless Internet
companies have been created in the last year or so. While the West Coast
remains the locus of wireless technology development, New York that has
become the fertile breeding ground for new uses and services through
wireless hand-held devices. New York's standing as a major financial center
is also helping the development of wireless here. A host of financiers with
operations in New York are focusing on the wireless Internet, with big
players including Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm that has had
ties with Chase Manhattan and Softbank of Japan. Others, like Nokia Venture
Partners, the investment arm of the Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia, are
preparing to set up New York offices. An online magazine has even been
created to cover it all: the magazine, Unstrung.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Simon Romero]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/21wireless-inter
net.html)
DICTIONARY PUBLISHERS GOING DIGITAL
Issue: Publishing
Publishers of dictionaries are seeing new opportunities to increase profits
by licensing their dictionary content for use online, in software and on
handhelds. Critics worry, however, that the business aspects of content
distribution may unnaturally shift the use of language. Example: At Houghton
Mifflin, digital dictionary licensing is expected to account for more than
$1 million in profit this year - more than 10 percent of the earnings from
the trade and reference division. Of course it is a double-edged sword. The
market will favor better positioned dictionaries - rather than necessarily
more authoritative ones. For example Microsoft's Encarta dictionary is
by no means the best prepared or authoritative work. But, the branding of the
product, and its ubiquitousness may someday mean "Encarta" will replace
"Webster" as the default dictionary preference. With much at stake and new
business models opening up, Merriam Webster, Houghton Mifflin and others are
staking out territory for the brave new world of online lexicography.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: David Kirkpatrick]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/21web-dictionary
.html)
MUSIC VIDEOS ENTER THE DIGITAL AGE
Issue: Arts Online
Music digitals, music videos made for distribution over the Internet, are
created by software that streamlines the files for fast downloading. "If
people will take the time to download an MP3, which is about three and a
half megabytes for a three-and-a-half-minute song, they'll download a
full-length music video that's a half or third that size," said Jeff
Ellermeyer, president of Fullerene Productions, the Los Angeles company that
made the Beck video. Music digitals include links to e-commerce sites on the
Web, so viewers can listen to a song and then go buy an album -- or a
T-shirt or a mouse pad, etc. "We've got a great platform for traditional
music videos, which is our television services," said Nicholas Butterworth,
president and chief executive of MTV's interactive group. "For the Web,
we're trying to come up with something that really uses the capabilities of
the medium." MTV will release five interactive "Webeos" on September 1.
Webeos are seen as a complement to the network's televised programming. The
ones scheduled for September release are being produced to promote this
year's Video Music Awards, and the company will introduce others in the
coming months. "Our audience is increasingly using two screens at once,
crossing back and forth from TV to the Web," Nicholas Butterworth said,
president and chief executive of MTV's interactive group.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C3), AUTHOR: Matthew Mirapaul]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/21tune.html)
(requires registration)
TELEVISION
REMINDER: PEOPLE FOR BETTER TV RALLY IN DETROIT
Issue: DTV
Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) will participate in a People for Better TV public
rally and press conference on Wednesday, August 23, from noon to 2PM at the
Southfield Performing Arts Center in Detroit. For more information, call
Richard Singleton at 313-962-0340.
[SOURCE: People for Better Television]
(http://www.bettertv.org/20000823dt.htm)
COMPLAINTS TO SPANISH TV: WHERE ARE THE AMERICANS?
Issue: Television/Minorities
Latinos in America, now estimated at 32 million, are the fastest growing
television audience in the country. As a viewing audience their viewership
primarily supports the two dominant Spanish-language television networks -
Telemundo and Univision - at times bringing in higher Nielsen ratings than
any of the English-language networks. But now those two stations are drawing
criticisms similar to those leveled at their English-language counterparts on
the areas of diversity and onscreen representation of Latinos. Some
Hispanic groups are pressuring Telemundo and Univision to address the
invisibility of dark-skinned Latinos on and off the air and the
preponderance of imported programming that all but ignores Latinos in the
United States. In many cases the content formats of Spanish-language
television is similar to that of English-language television. But newscasts
on Spanish-language television offer more coverage of Latin America and
Latinos in this country than anything available in English. Critics say that
Spanish television should play a larger role in familiarizing immigrants
with the American way of life. Further, the popular telenovellas are being
criticized for their often sexist, racist, or stereotypical portrayal of
women, gay men and black, indigenous or dark-skinned actors. The leads are
so white and blond, critics say, that they seem Eastern European rather than
Hispanic.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A23), AUTHOR: Mireya Navarron]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/regional/082100ny-univision.html)
(requires registration)
REALITY TELEVISION STRIKES A STARK NOTE IN A NEW SHOW
Issue: Television
"This can be a signature series for us," said Henry Schleiff, Court TV's
chairman and chief executive. The cable network, owned by Time Warner and
the Liberty Media Group plans to push "reality television" to the limits
with a new series called "Confessions." Edited mainly for brevity and
clarity, the show will feature actual videotaped confessions of murderers,
rapists and other offenders. "Everything changed one year ago, when 'Who
Wants to be a Millionaire' aired for the first time," said Robert Thompson,
founder of the Center of Popular Television at Syracuse University, where he
is a professor of television and film. "By February, we've got 'Who Wants to
Marry a Multi-Millionaire.' By summer, 'Survivor' and 'Big Brother.' And, as
we enter the fall, we've got 'True life confessions of rapists and
murderers: America's creepiest home videos.' "
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Jim Rutenberg]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/082100court-tv.html)
(requires registration)
INFRASTRUCTURE/TELEPHONY
INTERNET? POO. IT'S FIBER OPTICS THAT'S ON FIRE
Issue: Infrastructure
The optical-networking industry is poised to have a large impact the
Washington, DC region, perhaps even challenging the dominance of other
telecommunications and Internet industries that have remade the nation's
capitol into a technology hot-bed. As the drive grows to deliver information
faster and more efficiently, more and more of the pipes moving that data
will be made of glass threads, promising fiber-optic products and ideas.
Fiber optics is the science of carrying data via light signals along
micro-thin strands of glass. Fiber-optic companies are attracted to the
Washington region because of the high concentration of potential
clients--with major data carriers such as PSINet Inc., and WorldCom Inc.'s
UUNet--and less competition for workers than other popular tech areas. One
estimate of the worldwide optical transport market predicts it will grow
from $43 billion this year to $89 billion by 2003. But the young industry
will likely encounter some corrections that will bring fiber-optic firms'
valuations back down to earth as companies succumb to technological defeat,
or as investors move on to the next hot industry.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (F16), AUTHOR: Yuki Noguchi]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52896-2000Aug18.html)
IMPLEMENTATION OF SLAMMING LIABILITY PROCEDURES
Issue: Telephone Regulation
The Federal Communications Commission's Common Carrier Bureau and the
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' (NARUC) Committee
on Consumer Affairs will jointly host an industry forum to discuss
implementation of the Commission's new slamming liability rules and
procedures on Wednesday, August 23, 2000, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, in
the Commission Meeting Room, TW-C305, at 445 12th Street, SW, Washington,
DC. The Commission adopted these rules and procedures in the First Order on
Reconsideration in its slamming proceeding: Implementation of the Subscriber
Carrier Selection Changes Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996;
Policies and Rules Concerning Unauthorized Changes of Consumers' Long
Distance Carriers, CC Docket No. 94-129, First Order on Reconsideration, FCC
00-135 (rel. May 3, 2000).
Anyone wishing to attend this industry forum should contact Michele Walters,
Associate Chief, Accounting Policy Division, Common Carrier Bureau, (202)
418-7400, mwalters( at )fcc.gov; or Bev DeMello, Director, Division of Consumer
Affairs, Florida Public Service Commission, (850) 413-6107;
bdemello( at )psc.state.fl.us. For additional information, or to request
reasonable accommodations, please contact William Cox (202) 418-7400;
wcox( at )fcc.gov.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Public_Notices/2000/da001877.html)
THE STATE OF THE WIRELESS INDUSTRY
Issue: Wireless
FCC Releases Fifth Annual Report on State of Wireless Industry.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Wireless/Reports/fcc00289.pdf)
LIFESTYLES!
TECH'S TYRANNY PROVOKES REVOLT
Issue: Lifestyles!
As the new economy marches ahead into the 21st century, some are witnessing
a growing populist backlash against technology and the Internet. While 77
million U.S. adult consumers are active online users, 29 million U.S. adults
stopped using the Net this year. That's nearly double the number of those
who had dropped out by 1998. According to Cyber Dialogue, 108 million
American adults do not have any plans to go online. [wow, that changes our
predictions we gave those venture capitalists we thought would invest in
Headlines] Meanwhile, the public
also has a growing distaste for cellphones. Lawmakers in 27 states and 300
local governments are debating whether to forbid use of cellphones while
driving, according to policy analyst Matt Sundeen of the National
Conference of State Legislatures. All and all, at least 47% of American
consumers are "technology pessimists" who are "hostile or ambivalent" toward
high-tech products and the Net, according to Forrester Research, which
surveyed 90,000 households in the USA and Canada.
[SOURCE: USAToday (3D), AUTHOR: Leslie Miller]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000821/2567601s.htm)
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