INTERNET
Cable TV Privacy Law May Protect Web Surfers (CyberTimes)
Internet Taxation System is Mulled By the President (WSJ)
Sports Leagues Profit From Internet Rights (CyberTimes)
Posting of Starr Report May Bring Bottlenecks (CyberTimes)
Fast & Furious (WP)
SATELLITE
Loss of Satellites Hits Globalstar Project Hard (WP)
Loral Satellites for Globalstar Network Lost in Explosion After
Russian Launch (WSJ)
ARTS
NEA's New Initiative (WP)
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INTERNET
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CABLE TV PRIVACY LAW MAY PROTECT WEB SURFERS
Issue: Internet/Privacy
"Internet Over Cable: Defining the Future in Terms of the Past," a paper
recently released by the Federal Communications Commission, concludes that
the text and the history of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and other
laws support the view that some cable-based Internet access services could
be regarded as "cable service" -- a legal classification that has
significant consequences. If that is the case, cable Internet users will be
protected by the privacy provisions of the Cable TV Privacy Act of 1984.
"That would be a good thing for consumers," said Barbara Esbin, associate
bureau chief of the FCC's cable division and the author of the report,
"because [these rules] could provide a solution to a very sticky problem on
Net use, which is the ability of ISPs to collect data [about customers]
without user knowledge or user consent." [See the report at
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/OPP/working_papers/oppwp30.txt]
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Carl Kaplan]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/cyber/cyberlaw/11law.html
INTERNET TAXATION SYSTEM IS MULLED BY WHITE HOUSE
Ira Magaziner, the president's senior Internet adviser, is examining a
proposal to tax goods sold over the Internet. Governments have become
worried about the potential loss of revenue due the increasing amount of
money spent on the web, most of which is not taxed. The proposal includes
the use of electronic "resident cards" that would allow e-merchants to
identify a consumer's country of residence.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B4), AUTHOR: Wall Street Journal Staff]
http://wsj.com/
SPORTS LEAGUES PROFIT FROM INTERNET RIGHTS
Issue: Internet
With Americans large sports appetite, sports organizations are realizing the
great value of Internet rights to events. "All of a sudden there's a robust
flea market opening up, and these sports organizations have some of the more
popular items," said Mark Hardie, senior analyst at Forrester Research. "So
they're recognizing the increasing value in assets which are less important
to broadcasters, but are infinitely or enormously valuable on the Internet."
The National Football League, for example, received $10 million from ESPN
Internet Ventures for the right to produce NFL.Com for three years. "Now,
sports governing bodies are looking beyond such deals with single providers
and are selling content to multiple sites on the Internet. For example, many
leagues have struck licensing agreements with numerous sports sites to
distribute game scores, and analysts predict other innovative arrangements
in the future," Tedeschi reports.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Bob Tedeschi]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/cyber/articles/11sports.html
POSTING OF STARR REPORT MAY BRING BOTTLENECKS
Issue: Internet
OK, sorry, you can't escape this story even here. Computer experts are
expecting major delays on the Internet today due to the release via the
Internet of the Starr report. [And if my connection this morning is any
gauge, they are right] House officials said that in addition to posting the
445-page summary of Starr's report on three different servers -- the Library
of Congress http://thomas.loc.gov/icreport, the Government Printing Office
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/icreport, and the House Judiciary
Committee http://www.house.gov/judiciary -- they intended to work with
major news media outlets to ensure they had access to copies for posting on
their Web sites. [And is anyone still arguing that access to the Internet
has nothing to do with citizenship?]
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/cyber/articles/11starr.html
FAST & FURIOUS
Issue: Internet/Politics
While the 500-page summary of the independent counsel's report on President
Clinton is expected to appear on the Internet today, online newsgroups have
already been conducting "impeachment hearings" for months. "Regardless of
the outcome of Starr's report: The Internet has been a major factor in this
snowballing scandal," observes Weeks. Sherry Turkle, a sociologist at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, agrees that the Internet in having an
increasingly important impact on the political climate. "The Internet
increases the volatility of opinion," she says, "because not only can you
get the primary document