DIGITAL VIDEO
F.C.C. Responds to Its Digital-TV Critics (NYT)
Intel Agreement Indicates a Rift With Microsoft (NYT)
ED TECH
Once a Champion of Classroom Computers, Psychologist
Now Sees Failure (CyberTimes)
Kaplan Plans A Law School Via the Web (WSJ)
State's Filtering Effort Comes Under a Critical Eye (CyberTimes)
CONTENT
House Telecom Subcommittee to Mark Up Internet
Porn Law (TelecomAM)
By using Internet, House opened door to charge of
publishing smut (ChiTrib)
A Move to Childproof the Web (WP)
Former TV Executive to Provide Web Content for Women (NYT)
AOL, TV Executives Join Forces (WP)
Clinton Video Could Pose Problem For TV Networks (WP)
JOBS
SNET Reaches Contract Settlement with Striking Union (TelecomAM)
MERGERS
WorldCom Completes Merger with MCI (TelecomAM)
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DIGITAL VIDEO
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FCC RESPONDS TO ITS DIGITAL-TV CRITICS
Issue: Digital TV
FCC Chairman Bill Kennard is answering the criticism of television industry
executives who are faulting the Commission for not setting clear rules and
standards for digital broadcasts and related equipment. Chairman Kennard
called the criticisms self-serving efforts to "goad the Government by
playing the blame game." Most businesses ask his agency for help, Chairman
Kennard said, "only if they think Government will give them a regulatory
advantage." If not, he added, "They'll try to keep Government out." The
Government should get involved, he added, only "when arguments are distorted
by the prism of self-interest." He addressed concerns about the high cost of
the first digital television sets by comparing them to the first color
television sets: RCA put the first color television on the market in 1953,
and it cost $1,000 -- just over $6,000 in today's dollars. "The entire
history of the introduction and pricing of consumer-electronics equipment
tells us that soon enough, digital-television receivers will be increasingly
affordable. But let's not kid ourselves," Chairman Kennard continued. "The
digital television rollout will be complicated." He urged patience, "for the
transition to digital TV is inevitable." [See full remarks at
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/spwek827.html]
[SOURCE: New York Times (C2), AUTHOR: Joel Brinkley]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/16digital-tv....
INTEL AGREEMENT INDICATES A RIFT WITH MICROSOFT
Issue: InfoTech
Computer chip maker Intel will license its advanced video compression
software to Real Networks, developer of software that delivers audio and
video over the Internet. Intel's compression software squeezes more data
into smaller files allowing it to be transmitted faster over the Internet.
The result is fewer lost sounds and smoother videos. "You can use this
technology to scale up to full-screen video," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel's
vice president and general manager of desktop products. Rob Glaser, Real
Networks' chairman and founder and a former Microsoft employee, said of
Microsoft and Intel, "The two companies are becoming more independent as we
move more toward a consumer electronics world."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: John Markoff]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/16tech.html
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ED TECH
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ONCE A CHAMPION OF CLASSROOM COMPUTERS, PSYCHOLOGIST NOW SEES FAILURE
Issue: EdTech
Jane M. Healy, an educational psychologist, has written "Failure to Connect:
How Computers Affect Our Children's Minds -- For Better and Worse" (Simon &
Schuster) to encourage parents and educators to begin asking loud and tough
questions about whether the billions of dollars being spent on wiring
schools is a sound investment. "I thought computers would be better than
television," said Healy, who earlier wrote "Endangered Minds," a book about
television and its effects on children. "I had high hopes -- and I came back
with huge disillusionment. In fact, I was horrified with what I saw in
schools and people's homes. We have jumped into [educational technology] way
too soon. It's become an idea that has taken over the public consciousness
-- helped, of course, by the mass promoting of these products to kids as
young as a year-and-a-half." The problems: "constant classroom computer
breakdowns and little technical support; no thought given to arranging
children's computers in a way to reduce the possibility of vision problems,
repetitive motion injuries and other computer hazards; too ready acceptance
of software that is fun but of dubious educational value, and a lack of
research so deep that teachers are unable to agree on such basics as the
best age to teach a child keyboarding.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Pamela Mendels
mendels( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/cyber/education/16education.html
KAPLAN PLANS A LAW SCHOOL VIA THE WEB
Issue: EdTech
Kaplan, the standardized test instruction company, has unveiled plans to
open a new law school - online. Concord University School of Law will offer
video lectures, library materials, and exams all available via the Internet.
The school has authorization to grant Juris Doctor degrees and have students
sit the bar in California. Concord has yet to apply for accreditation from
other states or the American Bar Association. At Kaplan's arch rival in test
preparation, the Princeton Review, the news was met with a parody
announcement that proposed the world's first online medical degree program
"earned wholly by watching reruns of 'Quincy.'"
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: William Bulkeley]
http://wsj.com/
STATE'S FILTERING EFFORT COMES UNDER A CRITICAL EYE
Issue: Internet Regulation
The Censorware Project http://censorware.org/, a volunteer group of free
speech advocates, has won the right to examine the electronic files that
contain Internet filtering records. The group wants find out which Internet
destinations students and school employees were prevented from reaching by
SmartFilter, a software program used by many Utah schools to block access to
online pornography and other potentially objectionable material. "Is there
really a need for a program like this on a school computer, and are students
spending all their time looking at Playboy?" a volunteer asked. "Or is this
filter banning a lot of useful information, like safe sex information?" Most
filtering companies keep their lists of blocked sites a proprietary secret
so critics complain that there is no way for taxpayers to know what Internet
material is being censored when public institutions like schools and
libraries install the software. See Censorware Project's background on the
case at http://censorware.org/reports/utah/.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Pamela Mendels
mendels( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/cyber/articles/16filter.html
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INTERNET CONTENT
================
HOUSE TELECOM SUBCOMMITTEE TO MARK UP INTERNET PORN LAW
Issue: Internet Regulation
On September 17, the House Telecom Subcommittee will mark up HR-3783, a bill
sponsored by Reps. Michael Oxley (R-OH) and James Greenwood (R-PA) that is a
duplicate of the Senate version sponsored by Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN) that
passed as part of the Commerce appropriations bill. The Subcommittee may
also consider a alternative bill that would require schools and libraries to
install filtering software. The full House Commerce Committee has scheduled
a mark up session on the bill for Sept 24, so it is possible the bill could
be passed in this session.
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
BY USING INTERNET, HOUSE OPENED DOOR TO CHARGE OF PUBLISHING SMUT
Issue: Internet Content
(Maybe now they will grasp the concept) By releasing the unedited Starr
report on the Internet, the House is guilty of making sexual material
accessible for minors via the global computer network. "I was incensed that
the House of Representatives published an unsanitized version of this on the
Internet," said former Nebraska Senator James Exon, author of the
Communications Decency Act of 1996. "The House...should be reprimanded or
censured for" doing it. "This is raunchy pornography that I don't think
should be freely accessible to our kids. I worry as much about this kind of
activity by the House...as I do...about what the president has done to the
nation with his activity." Barry Steinhardt, director of the Electronic
Frontier Foundation said:" It's more than hypocritical. There's a total
disconnect here with many members of Congress. In their haste to get out
this report, they do not see the irony in their equal haste to control
speech on the Internet. It's predictable and sad...that Congress...would go
ahead and publish the most popular piece of sexually explicit material ever
published on the Internet...They themselves have become, in their terms, the
most successful pornographers on the Internet."
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.15), AUTHOR: Frank James]
http://chicagotribune.com/
A MOVE TO CHILDPROOF THE WEB
Issue: Internet Content
America Online, AT&T, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the U.S.
Department of Justice are among the more than 40 agencies involved in
America Links Up, a multimillion-dollar campaign to help parents protect
their children online. The educational campaign will include television and
Internet advertisements and over 250 events nationwide. As part of an
industry effort to avoid government regulation of online content, the
campaign offers tips and resources for parents who wish to keep the World
Wide Web Safe for kids though its Internet site at www.americalinksup.org.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (B9), AUTHOR: Leslie Walker]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-09/16/085l-091698-idx.html
FORMER TV EXECUTIVE TO PROVIDE WEB CONTENT FOR WOMEN
AOL, TV EXECUTIVES JOIN FORCES
Issue: Internet Content
Oxygen Media, a new venture headed by Geraldine Laybourne the former head of
cable television systems for Walt Disney/ABC, is buying the majority stake
of three women-orientated services from America Online. According to AOL,
51% of its users are women -- up from 16% in 1994. "The traditional media
have missed the boat with modern women," Ms. Laybourne said. "There is
nothing that serves women the way ESPN serves men or Nickelodeon serves
kids. We want to create a brand on both television and the Internet that
brings humor and playfulness and a voice that makes a women say, 'You really
understand me.'" "Eighty five percent of purchases are made by women," Ms.
Laybourne said. "We can be a real facilitator of commerce."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C5), AUTHOR: Saul Hansel]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/biztech/articles/16aol-advertisin
g.html
[SOURCE: Washington Post (B9), AUTHOR:Paul Farhi ]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-09/16/034l-091698-idx.html
CLINTON VIDEO COULD POSE PROBLEMS FOR NETWORKS
Issue: Television
If President Clinton's testimony to the grand jury regarding the Monica
Lewinsky investigation is released, TV networks are going to have to some
important questions to grapple with. While it would provide an unprecedented
opportunity to air grand-jury testimony, the videotapes would also raise
difficult issues of taste and appropriateness. "The deposition is historic,
yet there's obvious concerns about the content," said NBC spokeswoman Alex
Constantinople. The networks position is complicated by competitive
pressures. Since the testimony would be made available to all the network
though a simultaneous feed, it is unlikely that many stations will take the
time to review and edit and let the others be first with the story.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A32), AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-09/16/158l-091698-idx.html
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JOBS
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SNET REACHES CONTRACT SETTLEMENT WITH STRIKING UNION
Issue: Jobs
Southern New England Telephone (SNET) and the Connecticut Union of Telephone
Workers have reached a tentative agreement that may end the three-week
strike. SNET Chairman and CEO Dan Miglio said that the contract is a "good
compromise that is extremely fair. It addresses the union's
major issues and it satisfies the company's financial and operational
needs." The union went on strike August 23, demanding higher salaries and
better benefits.
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
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MERGERS
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WORLDCOM COMPLETES MERGER WITH MCI
Issue: Mergers
WorldCom and MCI completed their long-planned merger, hours after FCC
approval, creating MCI WorldCom. "We have the right network -- built for the
explosive demand for high-speed data and Internet services -- the right
talent, and the right strategy at the right time," said MCI WorldCom
President and CEO Bernard Ebbers. [Phew! Let's put this story to bed]
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
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