MERGERS
Microsoft Tries to Lob Monkey Wrench
Into AOL-Time Warner Deal (WSJ)
PRIVACY
Internet Firm Acts to Ease Sharing of Personal Data (WP)
INTERNET
FCC Hears Open-Access Debate (NYT)
Forcing Filters on Schools (WP)
NONPROFITS & TECHNOLOGY
Dot-Commers Go Where Profits Truly Don't Matter (WSJ)
INTERNATIONAL
Mexico Moves to Bar Televisa's Radio Deal (NYT)
Building New Crossroads for the Information Age (FCC)
MERGERS
MICROSOFT TRIES TO LOB MONKEY WRENCH INTO AOL-TIME WARNER DEAL
Issue: Mergers
Microsoft is raising questions with antitrust enforcers about the effect the
AOL-Time Warner merger on high-speed Internet access for consumers. The
issues raised by the software company could complicate the deal's approval
by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC has already won concessions from
AOL and Time Warner on high-speed Internet access, notably through a Time
Warner deal struck last month with rival EarthLink. The FTC is reviewing
whether that deal went far enough. Now Microsoft is claiming that in similar
cable access discussions, Time Warner is refusing to negotiate further,
preferring to deal with a weaker competitor like EarthLink. Microsoft is
also claiming that Time Warner, to ensure real competition, should offer
better terms than those in the EarthLink deal.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B01), AUTHOR: Wilke & Angwin]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB975973370801093522.htm)
(registration required)
PRIVACY
INTERNET FIRM ACTS TO EASE SHARING OF PERSONAL DATA
Issue: Privacy
Several dozen e-commerce specialists are creating a system designed improve
their ability to share names, identification numbers and behavioral data
about individual consumers. The group, which includes IBM, MicroStrategy and
First Union, hopes its Customer Profile Exchange standard aid in the
transfer of information across different business systems. Privacy
advocates, on the other hand are alarmed at the prospect, as the
difficulties that businesses encounter in exchanging information has
actually aided the protection of customer data. Proponents contend that
CPExchange will bolster privacy, because it will allow companies to attach
to every record details about how a customer wants personal information
gathered and shared. Jason Catlett, a privacy consultant who has advised the
standards group, said few individuals would have any idea how to tell
companies to limit the use of their data. He said companies will only have
to follow the promises they make, and those promises may do nothing to
protect an individual. "You could say they are building a machine gun with a
safety catch that no one will use," said Catlett, president of Junkbusters
Corp.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E01), AUTHOR: Robert O'Harrow Jr]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23676-2000Dec4.html)
INTERNET
FCC HEARS OPEN-ACCESS DEBATE
Issue: Broadband
Friday marked the opening day in the cable open access debate being
conducted by the FCC. A coalition of consumer groups--Consumers Union,
Consumer Federation of America, Center for Media Education, and Media Access
Project--in a joint filing said that the cable companies that are in the
position to violate the First Amendment rights of consumers by restricting
choice in high-speed providers and through technology that can favor the
transmission of one provider's content over that of another. However, the
National Cable Television Association (NCTA) filed a report stating, "Under
no circumstances is (cable modem service) a telecommunications service."
NCTA argued that under the law, a telecommunications service offered the
public a transport, such as carrying a phone call. Cable companies, by
contrast, enter private carriage agreements with ISPs for cable modem
service, NCTA said. Open-access advocates want consumers to have a choice
and are calling on the federal government to force cable operators to allow
other ISPs to operate on their networks. "Any further delay in establishing
and enforcing a national open-access policy will deprive consumers in this
fast-moving market of the basic choice of services and content that are the
hallmark of today's Internet," wrote Kristan Van Hook, co-director of the
OpenNet coalition, a group of nearly 1,000 ISPs and related companies.
However, there is no guarantee that an FCC inquiry will lead to a process
for drafting new regulations. And if Texas Gov. George W. Bush becomes the
next president, 2001 could see a new FCC with a new chairman and senior
staff. Bush campaigned on a platform of deregulation and market forces in
the new economy, exactly the arguments being made by open-access opponents,
which wouldn't bode well for those who hope this inquiry is the first step
toward opening up cable networks.
[Source: New York Times (online), Author: Patrick Ross]
(http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_0_4_3957311_00.html)
(registration required)
See Also:
MEDIA ACCESS PROJECT COMMENTS ON FCC'S OPEN ACCESS NOI
Issue: Broadband
On December 1, 2000 Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Center
for Media Education, and Media Access Project filed comments in the FCC's
Inquiry Concerning High-Speed Access to the Internet Over Cable and Other
Facilities, CS Docket #00-185.
[SOURCE: Media Access Project]
(http://www.mediaaccess.org/filings/index.html#oacomm)
FORCING FILTERS ON SCHOOLS
Issue: Ed-Tech
[Editorial] Part of Congress's unfinished business is a measure that could
impede Internet access for schools and libraries receiving support from the
"e-rate." A stalled Education Department appropriations bill would require
schools that take advantage of the government-discounted rates for Internet
connections to certify that they use some kind of software to block
obscenity, child pornography and "material harmful to minors." But Internet
"filtering" technologies are an unreliable solution that often block far
more or far less than intended. Currently, no product is capable of
precisely blocking the materials targeted by the legislation. Many school
districts have decided against using filters, preferring some form of
Internet-use policy combined with disciplinary measures. The legislation
puts Congress in the position of severely limiting the local autonomy of
school districts that it otherwise claims to support.
[SOURCE: Washington Post 12/4 (A26), AUTHOR: Editorial]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20069-2000Dec3.html)
NONPROFITS & TECHNOLOGY
DOT-COMMERS GO WHERE PROFITS TRULY DON'T MATTER
Issue: Internet & Society
Managers and professionals are leaving their for-profit dot-com jobs for
more personally rewarding -- but lower-salaried -- spots in the nonprofit
world. Those that are fleeing are split between the lucky, who have already
made enough money and the disenchanted, who are walking away from stock
options that may never pay off. With the apparent end of the Internet gold
rush, "nonprofit organizations will definitely benefit," predicts Gary
Kaplan, president of Gary Kaplan & Associates, a Pasadena, Calif., search
firm. In some cases, dot-commers' Internet experience is being put to good
use immediately. For many, community-oriented work offers a respite from the
constant focus on stock prices and profitability they experienced at other
Internet startups. But the nonprofit sector has risks of its own: uncertain
funding makes year-to-year survival a challenge for many organizations.
That's partly why not every nonprofit jumps at the chance to hire restless
Internet types. Jay Backstrand, chief executive of ImpactOnline Inc., which
owns VolunteerMatch.org (www.volunteermatch.org), scrutinizes candidates
carefully to ensure they're willing to work hard and will fit in well at his
organization. "I don't want those people who are like, 'I'm burned out, my
options are underwater. I want to hire people who truly believe in what
we're doing."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B01), AUTHOR: Kemba J. Dunham]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB975972369625599498.htm)
(registration required)
INTERNATIONAL
MEXICO MOVES TO BAR TELEVISA'S RADIO DEAL
Issue: Antitrust/International
Mexican antitrust authorities have plans to block the world's largest
Spanish-language broadcasting company, Televisa, from completing a merger
that would create Mexico's largest radio company. The Federal Antitrust
Commission ruled against Televisa in its attempt to buy a 27.8 percent stake
of Grupo Acir Communications, which would have given the media company 194
radio stations in addition to Televisa's 1,112 television stations. With
almost complete nationwide coverage, the commission was concerned that the
merger would push smaller competitors out of the advertising market.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Graham Gori]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/05/business/05TELE.html)
(registration required)
BUILDING NEW CROSSROADS FOR THE INFORMATION AGE
Issue: International
[Speech] Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, William E.
Kennard, spoke before the Budapest Business Journal Conference Budapest,
Hungary about encouraging telecommunication competition and universal access
to telecommunications services.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/2000/spwek027.html)
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