Headlines czar Kevin "universal service is a problem at Camden
Yard and I can't rest until I investigate further" Taglang liked
his last vacation so much he decided to take another. As a result,
the usual pithy analysis and sly barbs will be replaced by
whatever poor substitutes we minions can muster. This morning,
we were helped by the fact that the New York Times wasn't
delivered, so, unfortunately, there's no review of the Times'
usually voluminous Monday coverage of info-tech happenings.
Try the online version directly at www.nytimes.com, where it
looks like there's a good story on HDTV ("Did Broadcasters
Hoodwink Congress With False HDTV Promises?" at
www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/091597hdtv.html)
In today's headlines:
** Intellectual Property:
WSJ: Invisible Trademarks on the Web Raise Novel Issue of
Infringement
** Internet Industry:
WSJ: AOL Hits Top of On-Line Hill with Compuserve Deal
WP: Cyberspace Tectonics (editorial)
WSJ: Survey Says Companies Are Slow to Adopt Internet
** Education:
WSJ: Channel One Taps Principals as Promoters
** WebTV:
WSJ: Microsoft's WebTV Unit to Introduce Process that Uses Web to Enhance TV
** Regulation:
WP: People on the Move/In the Loop
FCC: Hundt Speaks at Annenberg
******************* Intellectual Property *********************
Title: Invisible Trademarks on the Web Raise Novel Issue of Infringement
Source: Wall Street Journal (B10)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Ann Davis
Issue: Intellectual Property
Description: A San Francisco federal court ruled that a company using
another company's name in hidden code of a website to gain more traffic is a
trademark infringement. The judge ordered that the website operator of
Calvin Designer remove all references to Playboy magazine in its website's
hidden code. Many legal experts believe that most courts will view this
"word stuffing" technique as an infringement. Thomas McCarthy, a professor
at the University of San Francisco law school states, "Intercepting people
on the information superhighway is like putting up a big sign on a freeway
that says Exxon, but that's not what you find once you get there."
******************* Internet Industry **********************
Title: AOL Hits Top of On-Line Hill with Compuserve Deal
Source: Wall Street Journal (B4)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Thomas E. Weber and Jared Sandberg
Issue: Internet Industry / Mergers
Description: AOL once again gains status as the number one ISP because of
its recent absorbtion of Compuserve subscribers. AOL has also broadened its
cooperation with its rival Microsoft to help promote each other's services.
As part of the new "friendship" Microsoft will include original AOL content
on its Active Desktop and will allow users to subscribe to AOL. While
skeptics predicted that AOL would become irrelevant as the Internet grew,
the more the Internet has grown and audiences have been fragmented, AOL has
become more valuable to advertisers and marketers as an audience gatherer.
AOL still has the challenge that big-name advertisers are not committed to
online marketing. Also, only approximately 400,000 users can log on directly
at once because of the limitations AOL's network.
Title: Cyberspace Tectonics
Source: Washington Post (A22)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/15/007l-091597-idx.html
Author: N/A (editorial)
Issue: Internet Industry
Description: With the three-way deal last week in which AOL bought the
number two online service provider, CompuServe, and sold its underlying
network transport business to WorldCom, the editorial board of the Post
says "a couple of very big plates are shifting in the underpinning of
cyberspace." In particular, the Post says that by focusing on providing
content and spinning off its conduits, "AOL is sending the message that the
real future of the Internet lies not in its technical magic -- connecting
you to everyone -- but in the old cultural service of connecting you to
someone."
Title: Survey Says Companies Are Slow to Adopt Internet
Source: Wall Street Journal (B2)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: WSJ staff reporter
Issue: Internet Industry
Description: Diamond Technology, a Chicago-based technology consulting
firm, will release a survey today of over 400 mid-sized to large companies
that suggests that executives remain optimistic about the revenue potential
of the web. Although 30% of those surveyed said their company did not yet
have a web site, 60% said they "expect Internet-based businesses to produce
significant earnings by the end of the year 2000," and 54% said their
"primary goal for technology in the future will be to support revenue growth."
********************** Education ************************
Title: Channel One Taps Principals as Promoters
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: William M. Bulkeley
Issue: Advertising / Education Technology
Description: Channel One, the controversial venture that beams 10 minute of
current events programming and two minutes of ads to an estimated 8 million
high-school students every school day, is expanding its marketing efforts by
enlisting teachers and administrators in marketing campaigns. Schools
distributed "savings cards" for Subway(c) sandwiches and discount coupons
for JCPenney, while Snapple, Pepsi, and Reebok developed other marketing
tie-ins. William Ruckeyser, a consultant to the Center for Commercial-Free
Public Education, notes that Channel One is "pursuing a strategy of
increasing sophistication that turns the entire school system into an
advertising system."
*********************** WebTV ************************
Title: Microsoft's WebTV Unit to Introduce Process that Uses
Web to Enhance TV
Source: Wall Street Journal (B2)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: David Bank
Issue: WebTV / Convergence
Description: The next generation of WebTV technology will allow TV shows to
be viewed from within web pages and enable WebTV users to receive data over
cable or through broadcast TV signals. The latter feature is designed to
speed the flow of data to subscribers, although upstream signals from the
home still must be sent over phone lines. It is also designed to help
position Microsoft as the industry standard for delivering data to the home
for mass markets.
*********************** Regulation ****************************
Title: People on the Move/In the Loop
Source: Washington Post (A21)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/15/069l-091597-idx.html
Author: Al Kamen
Issue: Regulation
Description: Does this strike anyone else as odd? Lawrence Strickling,
vice president for public policy at Ameritech, the Chicago-based Baby Bell,
will chair the Federal Communications Commission's local competition
enforcement task force.
At the FCC http://www.fcc.gov :
Chairman Hundt Speaks at the Annenberg Public Policy Center on Democracy in
a Digital Age. Speech available at
www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Hundt/spreh745.html
*********