WIRELESS
FCC Seeks Comment on New Generation of
Wireless Networks (TelecomAM)
PRIVACY
Consumer advocates hail ruling on credit data sales (ChiTrib)
MERGERS
Resist the Urge to Merge (NYT)
INTERNET
Talking Toasters (WSJ)
TELEVISION
So Different, Yet So Much The Same (NYT)
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WIRELESS
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FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON NEW GENERATION OF WIRELESS NETWORKS
Issue: Wireless
In a notice of inquiry (NOI), the Federal Communications Commission's
International Bureau has asked for comment on four broad issues related to
wireless services: 1) service types and traffic characteristics; 2) spectrum
requirements; 3) spectrum location; and 4) technological advances and
spectrum efficiencies. The FCC will use the responses to shape its initial
positions before an International Telecommunication Union meeting in
November. Richard Engleman, chief of the International Bureau's planning and
negotiations division, said the U.S. favors a process that gives consumers
access to the "best technologies," although he said the government is
"concerned when it looks like the standards process is not open." The FCC
has received requests for 499 MHZ of spectrum for terrestrial systems, about
309 MHZ more than used by personal communications services (PCS), cellular
and enhanced specialized mobile radio, and 136 MHZ more for satellite-based
systems beyond the allocation for mobile satellite systems. [The NOI is not
yet available on the FCC website. We will pass on that information when it
becomes available]
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
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PRIVACY
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CONSUMER ADVOCATES HAIL RULING ON CREDIT DATA SALES
Issue: Privacy
Administrative Law Judge James Timony has ordered a Chicago-based credit
bureau, Trans Union Corp, to stop selling detailed consumer credit
information to marketers. The Federal Trade Commission judge wrote that
Trans Union "invades consumers' privacy when it sells consumers' credit
histories to third-party marketers without consumers' knowledge or consent."
The Consumer Federation of America hailed the decision: "Personal financial
information in credit reports shouldn't be used for purposes other than
granting credit. It's a privacy invasion and a risk to consumers to have
financial information in hands where it doesn't belong. It helps to
encourage theft of identification and fraud, " said Jean Ann Fox, director
of consumer protection for the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit
organization. Trans Union plans to appeal the decision.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Kathy Bergen]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-13709,00.html
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MERGERS
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RESIST THE URGE TO MERGE
Issue: Mergers/Telephony (Op-Ed)
In recent months, the telecommunications industry has been plagued by merger
fever. AT&T plans to take over TCI; SBC has acquires both Pacific Telesis
and Ameritech; after buying Nynex, Bell Atlantic merges with GTE. According
to author David McCourt, chairman of the telecommunications company RCN
Corp., emerging mega-giants are likely to face great obstacles to competing
in this age of innovation. "If 100 years of business history has taught us
anything, it is that Godzilla can't marry King Kong and live happily ever
after," says McCourt. As these mega-giants scramble to compete in this
unprecedented transformation, he suggests that becoming bigger is not the
solution - being better is.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A27), AUTHOR: David McCourt ]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/27mcco.html
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INTERNET
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TALKING TOASTERS: COMPANIES GEAR UP FOR INTERNET BOOM IN THINGS THAT THINK
Issue: Internet/New Technologies
How would you like to send an e-mail message telling your coffee maker to
brew you a pot? Soon it may be possible to communicate with all sorts of
machines and appliances through the Internet. Sony already sells a stereo
that can download audio from the Web and GE uses the Internet to check
factory equipment thousands of miles away. One concern arising form Internet
linked appliances is security. "Who would want...their linked-up dishwasher
to catch some suds-erupting virus off the Internet?"
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A1,A6), AUTHOR: Thomas Weber ]
http://wsj.com/
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TELEVISION/CULTURE
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SO DIFFERENT, YET SO MUCH THE SAME
Issue: Television/Cultural Understanding
A television series starting tonight on PBS, focuses on bringing
together individuals from dissimilar and opposing cultures in civil
conversation via satellite dishes. The technical accomplishment of the
"Vis-a-Vis" series is an hour-long synthesis of four days of show and tell.
The series, that has already won audiences in Europe, will open tonight with
a program called "Beyond the Veil," where a high school teacher from Tehran,
Iran and one from Washington D.C. will chat and share home videos on
television monitors. Next week, the special will introduce two black police
sergeants, one from Soweto, South Africa and the other from Philadelphia.
"To judge by these two examples, 'Vis-a-Vis' is at its most illuminating
when it does not strain for either confrontation or reconciliation but
explores the professional and private concerns that make for surprising
connections."
[SOURCE: New York Times (B5), AUTHOR: Walter Goodman]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/arts/tv-veil-review.html
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