INTERNET
Administration Announces New Concessions on Encryption Policy
(CyberTimes)
Restrictions are Relaxed on Encryption Exports (WSJ)
U.S. to Relax Encryption Limits (WP)
FCC Allows More Network Power for Modems (TelecomAM)
Netscape and Qwest Plan To Announce Web Alliance (NYT)
COMPETITION
Cutting the Cord (NYT)
ARTS
New Chief of NEA Vows to Support Individual Artists (CyberTimes)
ADVERTISING
Hearst to Promote Mother-Child Literacy (NYT)
JOURNALISM
Washington Events Fuel Disdain for Media, Politics (WSJ)
TELEVISION
NBC is Expected To Unveil Cuts of Up to 250 Jobs (WSJ)
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INTERNET
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ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES NEW CONCESSIONS ON ENCRYPTION POLICY
Issue: Encryption
Vice President Al Gore announced that the Administration will abandon its
demand that the export of strong data scrambling technology be accompanied
by a system that guarantees law enforcement agencies access to the keys
needed to unscramble encrypted communications. The Administration will back
the creation of a "Net Center" to boost the technical expertise of law
officers so they can fight technology with technology. "We must ensure that
new technology does not mean new and sophisticated criminal and terrorist
activity which leaves law enforcement outmatched," Vice President Gore said.
"And we must ensure that the sensitive financial and business transactions
that now cruise along the information superhighway are 100 percent safe."
"This does not resolve the issue of encryption policy," said Barry
Steinhardt, president of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit
civil liberties organization. "It's a nod to the corporate community but it
does very little to enhance the capacity of individuals to increase access
to strong encryption to protect our private communications."
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing jeri( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/cyber/articles/17encrypt.html
RESTRICTIONS ARE RELAXED ON ENCRYPTION EXPORTS (WSJ)
U.S. TO RELAX ENCRYPTION LIMITS (WP)
Issue: Encryption
Yesterday, Vice President Al Gore announced plans to loose restrictions on
the export of data-scrambling technologies. The Administration also plans to
drop requirements that companies keep a "spare key"- that allows government
officials to read scrambled data -- for more sophisticated software.
Although new regulations have yet to be drafted, both industry executives
and privacy advocates were pleased by the announced changes. "for many
computer users, there is likely to be a significantly higher level of
computer online security than ever before," said Robert Hollyeman, head of
the Business Software Alliance and long time critic of government encryption
policies.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A2), AUTHOR: John Simon and David Bank]
http://wsj.com/
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C4), AUTHOR: Elizabeth Corcoran]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-09/17/162l-091798-idx.html
FCC ALLOWS MORE NETWORK POWER FOR MODEMS
Issue: Infrastructure
To improve modem speeds and help end "the worldwide wait," the Federal
Communications Commission is proposing to change its rules and allow digital
56 kbps modems to use more network power. If adopted, the new rules would
allow true 56 kbps speeds on the Internet instead of the current 53.6 kbps.
The action is the latest in the Commission's biennial review campaign.
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
NETSCAPE AND QWEST PLAN TO ANNOUNCE WEB ALLIANCE
Issue: Convergence
In a deal that may allow consumers to manage voice mail, e-mail, and fax
communications through a single site on the Web, Netscape and Qwest
Communications plan to announce a strategic alliance today. Qwest is a start
up company that is building one of the most advanced fiber optic
communications networks. Qwest's network is based on Internet technology
rather than phone technology.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C2), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
http://www.nytimes.com/
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COMPETITION
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CUTTING THE CORD
Issue: Competition
More and more telephone customers are trading in their wired phones for
wireless phones. Competition in the cellular phone industry have lowered
prices and improved service. Approximately one million customers sign up for
cellular phone service each month. Some analysts believe that wireless will
displace 25-35% of wired phones in 5-7 years.
[SOURCE: New York Times (D1), AUTHOR: Roy Furchgott]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/circuits/articles/17cell.html
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ARTS
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NEW CHIEF OF NEA VOWS TO SUPPORT INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS
Issue: Arts
"One of my goals as chairman is to work with Congress and other interested
parties to move the agency back into funding individual artists more
completely than we do now," Bill Ivey, new chairman of the National
Endowment of the Arts http://arts.endow.gov/ said. "We certainly need to
find a way to get back into supporting individual visual artists. And I
think that, in supporting the individual artist, you tend to get a quicker
handle on new technologies because the individual artist tends to take on
these things more quickly than organizations do." In 1996 NEA grants to
individual artists were curtailed as controversial works had some in
Congress calling for the end of the agency. The NEA's guidelines have been
changed so that most grants now go to arts institutions, not-for-profit
organizations and regional arts agencies. Mirapaul reports: The NEA does
subsidize Open Studio http://www.openstudio.org/, a national program to
provide technology tools and Internet access to nonprofit arts organizations
and the artists they serve. Last Friday, [Chairman] Ivey visited Space One
Eleven http://www.bham.net/soe/, an arts center in Birmingham, Ala., that
has received Open Studio grants. While there, he viewed Piotr Szyhalski's
Web-based Ding an sich project, commissioned by the Walker Art Center in
Minneapolis. [Chairman] Ivey described the work as "pretty interesting and
pretty exciting." [Open Studio is a joint project of the NEA and the Benton
Foundation]
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Matthew Mirapaul
mirapaul( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/cyber/artsatlarge/17artsatlarg...
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ADVERTISING
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HEARST TO PROMOTE MOTHER-CHILD LITERACY
Issue: Advertising
Hearst Magazines and the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board are
teaming up on a campaign to encourage children to read -- and to encourage
their mothers to buy milk. It's an example of cause-related campaigns,
"sponsored by advertisers seeking to do well by doing good."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C6), AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/hearst-milk-adcolumn.html
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JOURNALISM
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WASHINGTON EVENTS FUEL DISDAIN FOR MEDIA, POLITICS
Issue: Journalism
A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll reported that by almost a 2-to-1
margin, respondents had a negative view of the news media. While there has
been much negative attention paid to the media's coverage of the recent
Presidential scandal, the Brooking Institution's Stephen Hess notes that
criticism of the press is not a new phenomenon. "In 1878, satirist Ambrose
Bierce observed that 'nobody in the United States has ever been hanged for
killing a journalist. Public opinion will not permit it."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A12), AUTHOR: Albert Hunt]
http://wsj.com/
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TELEVISION
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NBC IS EXPECTED TO UNVEIL CUTS OF UP TO 250 JOBS
Issue: Television
The nation's most watched television network, NBC, is expected to announce
that it will cut as many as 250 jobs in an effort to combat soaring costs.
Like the other top networks, NBC is spending record amounts in programming,
while viewership continues to slip. Despite the fact that NBC is the only
one of the top four broadcasters expected to turn a profit this year, this
has been one of the most difficult years in recent history for the network.
As a result, there is speculation that the network likely will be sold or
spun off as separate company.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B22), AUTHOR: Kyle Pope]
http://wsj.com/
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