INTERNET PRACTICE
Corporations Battling to Bar Use of E-Mail For Unions (NYT)
NetDestinations: Classes, Books, Teachers' Dirty Looks (SJM)
INTERNET
Multimedia Transmissions Are Driving Internet Toward Gridlock (NYT)
Internet Address Firm Receives 2 Loans But Says It Still Needs
$1 Million More (WSJ)
First Out of the Starting Gate (NYT)
INFRASTRUCTURE
Patents: Marrying Cellular Technology to Power Lines (NYT)
Digital Subscriber Lines Are the Latest Internet Wave, But Baby Bells
Aren't Making the Connection Quickly (WP)
MERGERS
PSINet to Acquire transaction Network (WSJ)
LIFESTYLES!
Internet Study Finds 6 Percent Of Users Are Addicts (SJM)
INTERNET PRACTICE
CORPORATIONS BATTLING TO BAR USE OF E-MAIL FOR UNIONS
Issue: Online Activism
A look at labor organizing and use of corporate email systems. Employees
using these systems have been suspended from their jobs as companies claim
mass mailings like this are personal business. The suspensions have made
other union officials wary of using corporate email systems. Cohen reports:
E-mail has become common in many workplaces that unions are eager to
organize, including those at software companies and in other high-technology
industries. And unions have found it an unusually effective organizing tool,
one that combines the intimacy of a conversation, the efficiency of
mass-produced leaflets and the precision of delivery by mail to work forces
that are often widely dispersed. "It saves time, it saves money," said
Michael Blain of the Washington Alliance of Technical Workers, or WASHTECH,
an affiliate of the Communication Workers of America that is trying to
organize software workers in the state of Washington. "We can reach 1,300
people by just hitting 'send.'" The corporate view of mass email from
outside the organization should be considered trespassing. And any
organizing email is likely to be read on company time, a practice they
believe labor law should prohibit. "E-mail from unions does interfere with
employers' expectation that work time is for work," said Frank Morris, a
lawyer who represents management in labor disputes. "The unions are trying
to make extraordinary use of a tool that didn't exist until recently for
their benefit."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Noam Cohen]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/biztech/articles/23unio.html)
NET DESTINATIONS: CLASSES, BOOKS, TEACHERS' DIRTY LOOKS
Issue: EdTech
As a American school children return to the classroom this fall, the U.S.
Department of Education is mounting an "America Goes Back to School"
campaign that includes a Web site (http://www.ed.gov/Family/agbts)
providing ideas for parents and communities to get more involved in
education. "It's a sort of a wake-up and get-involved message to business,
community groups, parents, religious organizations and arts groups,"
department spokeswoman Sarah Staley. "We all have a role to play in
education." Some companies, like Hewlett-Packard, have also developed
education focused Web sites that are aimed at parents, teachers and
students. In cooperation with Scholastic Inc. and American Education
Publishing, Hewlett-Packard's HP Digital Book Club site
(http://www.hpdbc.com), was designed to help boost literacy among
elementary school pupils. "What we're trying to do with this site is help
teachers and parents, and even kids understand how to integrate technology
with educational curriculum," said Jill Kramer, who oversees the site for H-P.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Jonathan Oatis (Reuters)]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/778132l.htm)
INTERNET
MULTIMEDIA TRANSMISSIONS ARE DRIVING INTERNET TOWARD GRIDLOCK
Issue: Internet Infrastructure
Streaming media is causing data traffic jams on the Internet. "People
writing software for that traffic -- they don't care," said Van Jacobson,
chief scientist for Cisco Systems of streaming media. "In the long term,
it's a problem." When computers sending conventional data encounter
congestion, they significantly slow their transmission rate. But computers
sending streaming data will only reduce their data flow slightly, assume
right of way and cause other data traffic to pile up. There's no incentive,
Jacobson says, for streaming media providers to comply with polite traffic
rules, "if Real Networks is polite and Microsoft isn't, then Real looks
crummy." Streaming media services today don't look so great anyway, mostly
because of slow modem speeds at the users' end. But as cable modems and DSL
services become more widely available and used, demand for streaming media
could cause Internet gridlock, called "congestion collapse."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Sara Robinson]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/biztech/articles/23tcp.html)
INTERNET ADDRESS FIRM RECEIVES 2 LOANS BUT SAYS IT STILL NEEDS $1 MILLION MORE
Issue: Internet
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) has more than
$800,000 in debt. ICANN is the nonprofit organization set up by the U.S.
government to introduce competition into the business of registering
Internet addresses and to help new companies compete against Network
Solutions, to which the government once gave control over the business of
registering all Internet addresses ending in ".com," ".net" and ".org.".
But ICANN receives no government funding. The Clinton administration left
it up to ICANN's board to determine how it would derive revenue to support
its $5.9 million annual budget. The board at ICANN decided to charge a $1
fee for each new domain name registered, but people complained it was an
Internet tax and Congress forced ICANN to scrap the plan. The organization
said it received unsecured loans of $500,000 from MCI Worldcom and $150,000
from Cisco Systems. ICANN also said it needs $1 million more to pay debts
and to operate through November. The organization's chief executive, Mike
Roberts, said the group is in discussions with at least four other major
high-tech companies for more funding to keep them running. [Mike Roberts?
The guy from NYPD Blue?]
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, B5, AUTHOR: John Simons]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB935361493313346182.htm)
FIRST OUT OF THE STARTING GATE
Issue: Internet Domain Names
Register.com is the first and most aggressive competitor for Network
Solutions (and the companies 6-year old monopoly on Internet address
registrations). Some 250 companies are expected to eventually to enter the
field, making it a risky venture even by the Internet's standards.
Register.com is already calling itself the 2nd largest Internet registrar in
the world and, because of delays caused by ICANN and Dept of
Commerce/Network Solutions negotiations, has a time advantage before many
more companies are allowed to compete. The company has partnerships with 20
companies, including Staples and Mastercard, giving Register.com links on
their Web sites and offering services related to building a Web site.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C3), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/biztech/articles/23net.html)
INFRASTRUCTURE
PATENTS: MARRYING CELLULAR TECHNOLOGY TO POWER LINES
Issue: Wireless/Infrastructure
In many nations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, phone service remains a
luxury. Governments in such nation's have given priority first to providing
electrical power to their citizens. This could, however, prove to be a
telecommunications solution. Maryland inventor Paul Kline has come up with a
system that takes advantage of the electrical power infrastructure. His
invention marries conventional power lines with cellular technology and
standard telephone equipment to bring phones, fax machines and computer
modems into homes and businesses that have no telecommunications wiring.
Kline calls it a wireless local loop distribution system. Kline has received
patent 5,937,342; patents can be viewed on the Web at (www.uspto.gov).
[SOURCE: New York Times (C2), AUTHOR: Sabra Chartrand]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/biztech/articles/23pate.html)
DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINES ARE THE LATEST INTERNET WAVE, BUT BABY BELLS
AREN'T MAKING THE CONNECTION QUICKLY
Issue: Infrastructure/Competition/Broadband
TeleChoice, a telecommunications consulting firm, released a study that
found that 81% of Covad Communications and NorthPoint Communications digital
subscriber line (DSL) subscribers are businesses. On the other hand, only
16% of the Baby Bells' DSL customers are businesses. The study shows that
Baby Bells must get on the DSL bandwagon or have that business lost to
DSL-specific companies that are already penetrating the market. For example,
Bell Atlantic offers DSL service in only six metropolitan areas on the East
Coast. UUNet's DSL service is available in more than 20 markets nationwide.
Another player in the broadband game is cable operators. While DSL service
is expanding five times faster than the cable modem option, TeleChoice
found, cable modem operators have more than 800,000 cable lines readied for
high-speed Internet delivery. DSL providers also must deal with signal fade
as transmission distances increase -- so customers must be located roughly
within three miles of a phone company's neighborhood central office, where
all the copper phone lines come together. Residential DSL charges range from
$40 to $60/month and business DSL subscription can range from as low as $130
a month to $600 monthly.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (F05), AUTHOR: Shu Shin Luh]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-08/23/027l-082399-idx.html)
MERGERS
PSINET TO ACQUIRE TRANSACTION NETWORK
Issue: Merger
PSINet, an Internet-service provider, agreed to
acquire Transactions Network Services for $705 million. This move could
give PSINet an important standing in the electronic-commerce arena. The
majority of Transaction Network's revenue comes from providing network
services at the point of sale, such as credit card and calling card
transactions. But the company is also becoming a significant player in
providing authorization services for Internet transactions, handling eight
million electronic-commerce purchases just in July. "Our intent is to
provide businesses everything they need for electronic-commerce
infrastructure for the 21st century," William L. Schrader, chairman and
chief executive officer. "This gives us a solution customers have been
crying out for." PSINet has focused on providing Internet access to
business customers and has expanded aggressively into overseas markets,
purchasing a number of smaller Internet-service providers in Latin America
and Europe.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, B5, AUTHOR: Nikhil Deogun and Thomas E. Weber]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB93537380940503806.htm)
LIFESTYLES
INTERNET STUDY FINDS 6 PERCENT OF USERS ARE ADDICTS
Issue: Internet Demographics
"Marriages are being disrupted, kids are getting into trouble, people are
committing illegal acts, people are spending too much money," said
therapist David Greenfield. What vice is he speaking of? It is nothing
other than the Internet that can cause such destruction. Almost 6% of
Internet uses are addicted to it, according to a study released at the
annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. The study,
carried out jointly with ABC News, involved the collection of 17,251
responses to an Internet use questionnaire distributed and returned through
the Web site ABCNEWS.com. The study "adds a layer of legitimacy to the
concern that Internet addiction is real," commented Kimberly Young, a
pioneer in this new field of research.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/002199.htm)
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