DIGITAL DIVIDE
Gilmore Lays Out a 'Digital Dominion'(WP)
ANTITRUST
EU May Stop the Music On Time Warner Deals (WSJ)
A Harsh Court Ruling Could Open New Antitrust Front Against
Microsoft (WSJ)
INTERNET
California Passes Bill to Force E-Tailers To Collect State Sales
Tax on Web Sales (WSJ)
MSN Seeks To Overtake Rival AOL (WP)
JOURNALISM
Friction Grows As Bush Sheds Media Pool Precedent (USA)
SPECTRUM
F.C.C. Widens Radio Spectrum for Wireless Networks (NYT)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
GILMORE LAYS OUT A 'DIGITAL DOMINION'
Issue: Digital Divide
Virginia governor, James S. Gilmore III (R), called on the technology
"haves" of Northern Virginia to work with the "have-nots" to create a
"Digital Dominion" that will "make the opportunities of the Internet
available to every citizen." The occasion marked the disbanding of a 2-year
special commission that has assessed the impact of technology on Virginia
and the creation of two new commissions. The first will teach businesses of
all sizes how to use the Internet, the other will work with big cities,
small towns and other parts of the state to transform them into wired
"e-communities." With a nod to Northern Virginia's role in driving Va.'s
economy, Gilmore added that "rather than focus on the development of a
single region, we want all regions to share in the promise and prosperity
that technology can bring to every corner of the commonwealth." Kenneth
Johnson, the Northern Virginia business executive who will co-chair
Gilmore's new business assistance panel, said the state's effort "is not so
much about creating jobs." "It's much more difficult than that--it's
creating jobs and getting them to the areas that need jobs, creating
economic engines," said Johnson.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A17), AUTHOR: R.H. Melton]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59454-2000Aug31.html)
ANTITRUST
EU MAY STOP THE MUSIC ON TIME WARNER DEALS
Issue: Merger
European antitrust enforcers object to Time Warner's plans to link up with
EMI Group PLC and America Online over fears that the combined entity would
squelch competition in the global music industry. The objections contained
in a 45 page long document, set the stage for a confrontation between
European Commission officials and senior executives of the companies next
week in a closed session in Brussels. The commission's greatest concern is
that the combined companies will dominate the global music business, both
offline and online. EMI/Time Warner would be big enough to raise prices
unilaterally without fear of losing market share and generally "lead to a
substantial increase in the ability and incentive of the majors to proceed
to anticompetitive parallel behavior in the market for recorded music,"
according to the EU document. The commission's worries with regard to
existing music markets are compounded by Time Warner's plans to merge with
AOL, primarily because of the latter's potential to become an "essential
facility" for the distribution of music via the Internet.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Brandon Mitchener And
John R. Wilke]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB967751432331910717.htm)
(Requires subscription)
HARSH COURT RULING COULD OPEN NEW ANTITRUST FRONT AGAINST MICROSOFT
Issue: Antitrust
A Connecticut judge ordered Microsoft to pay punitive damages of $1 million
to Bristol Technology Inc., in the highest award ever imposed under the
state's fair-trade statute. Last year, a federal judge had found that
Microsoft had engaged in deceptive business practices against Bristol
Technology Inc, a Connecticut software maker, but ruled in the company's
favor on nearly every claim except the unfair-business-practices charge.
Microsoft hailed the jury's July 16, 1999 verdict, as a vindication by
Microsoft, which had argued in the trial that it simply engaged in tough
negotiations with Bristol over the terms of a license for Windows software,
which Bristol needed to build its products. But Thursday's ruling makes it
clear that the case isn't over, and that it could even become a new legal
battleground for Microsoft. The decision offers strong support for
reconsidering the jury's earlier rejection of antitrust claims, and the
company already plans to seek a new trial, said Bristol's lawyer, Patrick
Lynch of O'Melveny & Myers.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR: John R. Wilke]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB96776455356906081.htm)
(Requires subscription)
INTERNET
CALIFORNIA PASSES BILL TO FORCE E-TAILERS TO COLLECT STATE SALES TAX ON WEB
SALES
Issue: E-Commerce
California has passed a bill to force online retailers that have physical
stores in the state to collect sales tax on online transactions. Supporters
of the bill passed Wednesday in Sacramento hailed the measure's passage as a
victory that will help "level the playing field" between traditional
retailers and online competitors that haven't collected sales taxes. The
bill, which seeks to clarify that online and catalog merchants with a
physical presence in California are obligated to collect a tax on Internet
sales to California residents has stirred powerful emotions among
traditional retailers, Internet merchants and public-policy experts. Chances
of the bill becoming law are uncertain. California Governor, Gray Davis
opposes Internet taxation, and has until end of September to sign it. Even
legislative aides close to supporters of the bill conceded there probably
isn't enough support for the measure to override a veto. The debate over
Internet taxation continues at the federal level, where Congress is
considering a five-year extension of an existing federal e-commerce tax
moratorium.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B7), AUTHOR: Nick Wingfield]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB967770993502922825.htm)
(Requires subscription)
See Also:
CALIFORNIA BILL WOULD MAKE ONLINE COMPANIES PAY SALES TAX
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: The Associated Press]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/09/biztech/articles/01online-tax.htm
l)
(requires registration)
MSN SEEKS TO OVERTAKE RIVAL AOL
Issue: Internet
Microsoft Corp. officials yesterday have declared a new mission: to beat AOL
at its own game. Microsoft is taking direct aim at AOL, the market leader in
Internet service providers, by revamping its rival service, MSN. The new MSN
Explorer software is colorful, comes with new features, and, according to
Bob Visse, MSN's lead product manager, is "AOL's worst nightmare." "We're
actually going to beat them at their own game," he said in an interview,
"which is ease of use." Time will tell if MSN has the ability to live up to
its ambitions. Both services are similar in look and feel and monthly
service costs. But MSN claims its software is easier to install, offers more
customizable features, and comes with better bells and whistles. AOL, with
26 million subscribers worldwide is obviously number 1, but MSN is growing
faster than AOL. Since last year MSN has grown by 89 percent compared to AOL
36 percent growth. Additionally, MSN claims to be the leading Web portal
with 201 million users in June.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E03), AUTHOR: Alec Klein]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57837-2000Aug31.html)
JOURNALISM
FRICTION GROWS AS BUSH SHEDS MEDIA POOL PRECEDENT
Issue: Journalism/Political Discourse
News organizations have begun complaining to the Bush campaign about the
candidate's refusal to provide reporters with around the clock access. While
Bush has a reputation for spending plenty of time with reporters covering
his presidential campaign, he will also disappear from the media's sight for
hours at a time almost every day, especially when he is at fundraisers in
private homes, goes running or goes to restaurants with his family. Bush's
communications director Karen Hughes points out that he "is a candidate; he
is not the president. He believes at this point that when he is making
public appearances and making news, the press is with him. That's an
appropriate balance between being a candidate and being a private citizen."
But the press has a different view of the situation. "At a time of 24-hour
news, and at a time when there's a certain accepted extent to which those
running for office turn their lives over to public interest, that requires
physical proximity pretty much around the clock," says Mark Halperin, ABC
News political director.
[SOURCE: USAToday (6A), AUTHOR: Martha T. Moore]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000901/2606469s.htm)
(requires registration)
SPECTRUM
F.C.C. WIDENS RADIO SPECTRUM FOR WIRELESS NETWORKS
Issue: Spectrum
In an effort to stimulate the development of wireless products for the home,
the Federal Communications Commission announced yesterday that it had eased
restrictions on part of the radio spectrum. The rule change affects the
2.4-gigahertz band, an area used by companies that produce wireless
local-area networks, or LAN's. Such networks enable people to transmit data
from a desktop computer to a printer without wires. They have been adopted
by office complexes, college campuses and, to a lesser extent, consumers at
home. "The rule change has given us everything we need to develop these
next-generation wireless devices," said Ben Manny, chairman of the HomeRF
Working Group, a coalition of technology companies that asked the F.C.C. two
years ago to relax its restrictions. Among the members of the Home RF group
are Compaq; Intel; Proxim, a wireless LAN company in Sunnyvale, Calif.; and
Siemens, which has developed cordless phones that use the 2.4-gigahertz
band. The rule change widens the terrain for frequency hopping by allowing
signals to be sent across channels that each span 5 megahertz -- up from the
1 megahertz a channel allowed previously. With the added space, engineers
say, HomeRF systems will be able to offer data speeds equal to those of
systems based on direct-sequence technology.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C2), AUTHOR: Lisa Guernsey]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/09/biztech/articles/01spectrum.html)
(requires registration)
--------------------------------------------------------------
...and we're outta here. Happy Labor Day! See ya Tuesday.
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The Benton Foundation's Communications Policy Program (CPP)
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Service is posted Monday through Friday. The Headlines are highlights
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describe articles of interest to the work of the Foundation -- primarily
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