PUBLISHING
A Magazine at the Crossroads of Entertainment and Technology (NYT)
INTERNET
A Short Life For Ads at Top Of Web Pages (NYT)
Loudoun's AOL Detective Finds Clues in E-Mail (WP)
Internet Users Find Relief With Lifetime Addresses (WP)
Napster Draws Support From Online Groups (USA)
WIRELESS
FCC Delays Wireless-Spectrum Auction To Allow Larger Firms
to Prepare Bids (WSJ)
New Economy: Wireless Auction Uncovers Fissures in European
Telecommunications (NYT)
BROADBAND
Comcast Makes Its Play (WP)
MERGERS
VoiceStream Seeks to Buy Wireless Player (NYT)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Patent Application Could Evolve Into Trouble for E-Commerce (WSJ)
Code Name: Mainstream (NYT)
INTERNATIONAL
China Seizure Halts Delivery Of U.S. Book (NYT)
In China, Offering Data Services Opens
Competition With Telecom Monopoly (WSJ)
PUBLISHING
A MAGAZINE AT THE CROSSROADS OF ENTERTAINMENT AND TECHNOLOGY
Issue: Publishing
Inside.com and The Industry Standard have announced they will collaborate on
a new publication, Inside: The Business of Entertainment, Media and
Technology. The magazine, a debut is planned by year's end, will focus on
the impact of digital technology on the media and entertainment industries.
Michael Hirschorn, the editor in chief of Inside.com, said last week that
the Internet economy and digital technology were about to undergo the
long-predicted melding and transformation that would make the magazine
necessary reading across several industries. "Don't think I'm a geek, but
for example I consider Napster to be an epochal event," Mr. Hirschorn said,
referring to the service that lets people swap digital music files online
with little regard to copyrights. "It is one of the things that will change
the Internet profoundly, forever. You have to accept the idea that digital
technology is going to transform each of the industries we cover -- film,
television, music, book publishing, magazines and newspapers, and that is
why this magazine is right, right now." But Kuczynski raises some questions:
1) Why would Inside.com, which initially introduced a mediacentric Web site
with high hopes for its solo success, now introduce a print magazine, which
is costly to produce and distribute? 2) What does The Standard, which is a
unit of the International Data Group and is already busy with the ad-rich
Industry Standard and the introduction of a European edition, get from the
deal? 3) Perhaps most significantly, is the crunched magazine field ready
for a weekly title about the way that digital technology is affecting the
entertainment industry?
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Alex Kuczynski]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/28mag.html)
(requires registration)
INTERNET
A SHORT LIFE FOR ADS AT TOP OF WEB PAGES
Issue: Advertising
A study to be released today finds that a majority of online advertisements
had short life spans, running three weeks or less. 23.7 percent of all
online advertisements run one week, 16 percent run two weeks, and 11.9
percent run three weeks, the study found. Moreover, the advertiser reach a
very small office, with a huge majority getting less than a 0.01 percent
share among all online advertisements running at a particular time.
AdRelevance, a unit of the Internet measuring service Media Metrix, analyzed
standard ad banners on the top 500 Web sites between July 1999 and June
2000. Other findings: Online ads were used for short-term direct marketing
rather than the brand awareness; length of online campaigns run by various
industries; financial services and travel companies tended to run longer
campaigns; the average online ad campaign in the second quarter of 2000
registered 7,265,000 impressions, a measure of the number of times an ad is
viewed.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C11), AUTHOR: Susan Stellin]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/28surv.html)
(requires registration)
LOUDON'S AOL DETECTIVE FINDS CLUES IN E-MAIL
Issue: Internet
Ron Horak, a detective in Loudoun County spends his entire day reading other
people's email -- sort of. Horak is Loudoun's AOL detective. It is his
full-time job to handle the warrants needed to peer into the online
communications of AOL users. From his quiet Leesburg office, he has one of
the most far-reaching views into the seedy side of cyberspace. As the
gatekeeper for police seeking clues in the online missives of AOL's 23
million subscribers, Horak has worked with police from all 50 states. When
AOL moved to Loudoun in 1996, Loudoun sheriff's official knew that they
would be required to handle requests for AOL account information. But they
never thought it would be so many. In 1998, they handled 152 Internet
searches. Last year, there were 299 AOL searches. This year, there already
are 245. And there's no reason for them to believe the requests will level
off anytime soon. Mark Marshall, a detective with the Worthington, Ohio,
police department, said Horak helped him put a child predator behind bars.
"He got us the information. He said, 'If you need me call.' You can't ask
for better than that." Horak rejects the requests that don't reflect
"probable cause." Said Horak: "If they just want a 'look-see,' I reject it
outright. Big Brother does not do that. If you have broken the law and used
AOL to do it, you have reason to worry." AOL spokesman Rich D'Amato said the
company, to protect its subscribers, requires a legal order by a judge or
magistrate. "We work with law enforcement to get them the information as
quickly as possible," he said, adding that AOL also has one person devoted
to processing such requests.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Maria Glod]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34143-2000Aug27.html)
INTERNET USERS FIND RELIEF WITH LIFETIME ADDRESSES
Issue:
Unlike a telephone number that is retained when a customer switches
carriers, e-mail addresses do change when you change carriers... uh,
Internet Service Providers. And unlike the Postal Service that will at least
forward your mail for six months, most ISPs again will not forward mail. The
hassles associated with switching are what economists call "switching
costs." High switching costs lock customers into long-time service relations
with businesses. But even as they guarantee a single company a customer
base, the flip side of high switching costs are they discourage competition.
After all if you can't take "anyone( at )benton.org" to another ISP, how can an
ISP effectively compete for your business? The solution: lifetime email
addresses. First offered by elite business schools such as Harvard, MIT and
Wharton in 1997, they are now popping up on college campuses across the
country. Internet start-ups such as Pobox.com and Mail.com are also trying
to tap this market with offers ranging from free forwarding to charging $40
per year. YAHOO! OFFERS free e-mail and forwarding. The U.S. Postal Service
also is planning to offer free lifetime e-mail addresses with forwarding
capabilities.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Julia Angwin
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB967413381408330025.htm)
(Requires subscription)
NAPSTER DRAWS SUPPORT FROM ONLINE GROUPS
Issue: Internet
A number of consumer and industry organizations are supporting Napster in
its lawsuit against the Recording Industry Association of America. However,
these organizations are not attempting to defend the right to share
copyrighted music files; they are attempting to defend the future of
Napster's technology. "Just because something is used for a bad purpose
doesn't mean the product is wrong," says Gary Shapiro, President of the
Consumer Electronics Association, which filed a friend of the court brief
along with several other groups, including Digital Future Coalition and the
NetCoalition -- which includes members such as AOL, Amazon.com and Yahoo!.
Napster was temporarily shut down by a judge who sided with RIAA. An Appeals
court is expected make a ruling on this matter next month.
[USA Today (3D), Author: Mike Snider]
WIRELESS
FCC DELAYS WIRELESS-SPECTRUM AUCTION TO ALLOW LARGER FIRMS TO PREPARE BIDS
Issue: Wireless
The Federal Communications Commission said Friday that it will allow large
wireless companies to bid on some of the spectrum that was to go on the
auction block Nov. 29 and had been reserved for smaller firms. This is part
of a larger FCC effort to alleviate a spectrum shortage caused by the rapid
development of new wireless technologies and services. According to a
spokesman for Verizon Wireless, the rules change was good news because some
smaller companies aren't so small anymore and shouldn't get privileges in
the auction. "There are household names competing that are getting an unfair
advantage." The Personal Communications Industry Association, which had
urged keeping the larger companies out of the auction, was pleased smaller
firms didn't lose their bidding privileges completely.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: Jill Carroll]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB967415596314090083.htm)
(Requires subscription)
NEW ECONOMY: WIRELESS AUCTION UNCOVERS FISSURES IN EUROPEAN
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Issue: International/Auctions/Wireless
Investors and analysts are getting nervous that European wireless carriers
paid too much for third generation spectrum licenses in Germany; six
companies will pay a total of $46 billion for one license each -- and still
have to pay another $4 billion to actually build their networks. But even
though Germany and Great Britain have auctioned licenses, other countries do
not. Spain and Finland simply awarded licenses to the companies deemed most
worthy. France is charging a flat $4 billion fee. Some executives complain
that companies from countries with very low license costs can save billions
at home and then plow the money into auctions elsewhere. "We don't have a
level playing field in Europe," said Hans Ehnert, a spokesman for Deutsche
Telekom. "We had to compete in the bidding against companies like Telef