DIGITAL TV
Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of
Digital Television Broadcasters (NTIA)
INTERNET
Internet Child Porn Ring Raided (WP)
Internet Child Pornography Ring is Raided in the U.S. and
Abroad(NYT)
U.S., 13 Countries Launch Crackdown on Alleged Internet
Pedophile Group (WSJ)
Child porn fighters bust Internet ring (ChiTrib)
Don't Unleash the Cyber-Censors on Libraries (ChiTrib)
Desperately Seeking Susan OR Suzie NOT Sushi
ARTS
Seeking Revolutionaries at Digital Art Conference (CyberTimes)
MERGERS
Connecticut Regulators Approve SBC's Purchase of SNET (TelecomAM)
NEWSPAPERS
Newspapers in Detroit are Ordered to Rehire Workers From
Strike (WSJ)
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DIGITAL TV
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ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INTEREST OBLIGATIONS OF
DIGITAL TELEVISION BROADCASTERS
Issue: Digital TV
The location and a preliminary agenda for the September 9 meeting of the
Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television
Broadcasters are now available. The meeting will be broadcast via the Internet.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/pubintadvcom/sepmtg/
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INTERNET
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INTERNET CHILD PORN RING RAIDED (WP)
INTERNET CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OPERATION IS RAIDED IN U.S. AND ABROAD (NYT)
U.S., 13 COUNTRIES LAUNCH CRACKDOWN ON ALLEGED INTERNET PEDOPHILE GROUP (WSJ)
CHILD PORN FIGHTERS BUST INTERNET RING (ChiTrib)
Issue: Internet/Content
Yesterday, law enforcement agents in the U.S. and 13 other countries
launched a massive crackdown on an alleged international Internet pedophile
ring. U.S. custom officials served warrants to 32 of the 200 suspected
members of "Wonderland", an online club where pornographic material is
distributed and traded. Agents say that the "digital age has made it much
easier to commit crimes like child pornography, money-laundering and
intellectual property theft, while erasing traditional borders between
nations."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Michael Grunwald ]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1998-09/03/071r-090398-idx.html
[SOURCE: New York Times (A21), AUTHOR: David Stout]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/biztech/articles/03porn.html
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: John Simons ]
http://wsj.com/
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec1, p.3), AUTHOR: Naftali Bendavid]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-14077,00.html
DON'T UNLEASH THE CYBER-CENSORS ON LIBRARIES
Issue: Libraries/Internet Regulation
The successful politician knows how to pick enemies. Senators voting for the
Internet School Filtering Act might have thought they were picking a fight
with Larry Flint or Bob Guccione -- what they're getting is Carolyn Anthony,
director of the Skokie Public Library and president-elect of the Illinois
Library Association. The bill requires schools and libraries receiving
federal Internet subsidies to install filtering software to block children's
access to inappropriate material. But lawmakers seem unaware that librarians
have been dealing with this problem for years. ALA opposes the legislation
because it will censor material that is constitutionally protected. Chapman
writes in his column that the rise of the Internet does not diminish the
wisdom of local control. "What gives [Sen] John McCain [the bill's chief
sponsor] the idea that he's better able to handle this problem than Carolyn
Anthony? And why would anyone
believe him?"
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.25), AUTHOR: Steve Chapman]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9809030094,00.html
DESPERATELY SEEKING SUDAN *OR* SUZIE *NOT* SUSHI
Issue: InfoTech
Of Internet search engines Danny Sullivan, editor of the Search Engine Watch
newsletter www.searchenginewatch.com, says "They've gotten better, faster
and easier to use, but search engines have got a long way to go. They're
poor for people who are doing really basic searches. Enter 'Disney' or
'travel,' and it's a crapshoot whether they'll get the Disney site or any
good travel sites." No two search engines are the same. There are three
components to each one: the index of Web sites it searches, how often that
index is updated and the algorithm used to sort results. The article
examines 11 search sites and provides tips for getting the best results for
searches. [Try searching "Taglang" and see if you find the 1999 CRH-staff
calendar]
[SOURCE: New York Times (D1), AUTHOR: Matt Lake]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/circuits/articles/03sear.html
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ARTS
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Seeking Revolutionaries at Digital Art Conference
Issue: Arts
At a time when electronic art is struggling to penetrate the fortress of the
cultural establishment, the theme of the International Symposium on
Electronic Art is "Revolution." (Well, you know, everyone wants to paint the
world) About 700 artists and academics, plus the occasional capitalist tool,
are expected to attend the ninth ISEA, where they will hear dozens of
lectures on topics such as "Computer-Generated Photography and the
Neoclassical Sensibility," "Why Bring the Virtual World Onto the Classical
Stage?" and "Things That Go Ping." "If there is a revolution happening, it's
a much less visible and celebrated revolution" than the social revolutions
of the 60's, Eddie Berg, director of Liverpool's Foundation for Art &
Creative Technology said. "I think we're living through a period of
self-doubt and questioning and uncertainty, which is reflected by artists as
well. People say this is pre-millennial tension, but it's been there for a
while." Some related URLs: http://www.isea98.org/,
http://www.fact.co.uk/, http://www.net-art.org/, and
http://www.isea.qc.ca/
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Matthew Mirapaul
mirapaul( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/cyber/artsatlarge/03artsatlarg...
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MERGERS
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CONNECTICUT REGULATORS APPROVE SBC'S PURCHASE OF SNET
Issue: Mergers
On September 2, the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control (PUC)
unanimously approved SBC's $4-billion purchase of Southern New England
Telephone (SNET). The agency said SBC meets the criteria to run a utility in
the state and accepted promises the company made to "serve the interests of
its customers, it employees and its community." Regulators rejected
objections by the state's attorney general. Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal urged regulators to require SBC to
reduce rates to reflect merger synergies. But regulators said they "can find no
requirement that rates must be a consideration." AG Blumenthal had told the
PUC that requiring the companies to pass on the merger's synergies to
consumers would decrease basic local phone rates by $4 per month.
Connecticut is the only state in the country whose consumers will not share
the cost savings associated with an SBC takeover of a local phone company,
he said.
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
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NEWSPAPERS
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NEWSPAPERS IN DETROIT ARE ORDERED TO REHIRE WORKERS FROM STRIKE
Issue: Labor/Newspapers
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered the Detroit News and
Detroit Free Press to rehire hundreds of striking workers and pay them back
wages. In the ruling announced on Tuesday, the NLRB found that the papers
had not bargained in good faith and helped cause the walkout. Nearly 2,500
workers, belonging to six different unions, walked off the job in July after
the break down of negotiations about company plans to reduce the number of
union jobs at the two papers.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A6), AUTHOR: Wall Street Journal Staff
Reporter ] September 2
http://wsj.com/
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