TELEVISION
FCC Chief Prods Consumer Electronics Makers on DTV
Critics Claim PBS Has Gotten Too Close to Its Underwriters
INTERNET
Groups Defend Anonymous Online Critics
Canning Spam Without Eating Up Real Mail
COMPUTERS/ENVIRONMENT
European Recycling Law Could Mean Costly PCs
TELEVISION
FCC CHIEF PRODS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS MAKERS ON DTV
Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, chided
U.S. consumer electronics manufacturers for lagging behind when it comes to
creating a timetable for installing digital tuner equipment in all
television sets. Powell had proposed a timetable for including the tuner
equipment in April, but so far consumer electronics manufacturers have not
responded to it. "The missing piece of the DTV puzzle is the consumer
electronics industry," Powell said in a statement. "I hope they will join
their industry colleagues and come forward with real and tangible
commitments to advance the transition." The Consumer Electronics
Association, which had initially criticized Powell's five-year timetable,
replied that the FCC would receive a response to the proposal in the coming
days.
[Author: Jeremy Pelofsky; Source: Reuters/Yahoo News]
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020711/tv_nm/digital_1
CRITICS CLAIM PBS HAS GOTTEN TOO CLOSE TO ITS UNDERWRITERS
Until a few months ago, the character Elmo on PBS's Sesame Street had a
computer that would say the AOL slogan "You've got mail!" whenever the
popular character received email. Sesame Street's use of the slogan was
construed by many critics as a form of advertising, as AOL Time Warner is an
underwriter of Sesame Street. Sesame Street's producers claimed that the
connection between the catchphrase and the sponsorship was unintentional, as
it had been written into the show before AOL Time Warner became a sponsor.
Nonetheless, critics of PBS have cited this case as an example of how PBS
has crossed the line from underwriting to all-out advertising. "It used to
be 'the following program is brought to you with support from Mobil,' " says
Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular TV at
Syracuse University. "Now it is a moving video and some of it is pretty
substantial -- it's longer, it's a full-fledged commercial. It's no longer
just a mention. It's a commercial, pure and simple, and sometimes not so
pure and not so simple."
[Author: Sally Beatty; Source: Wall Street Journal]
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB102633683717045560,00.html
[requires subscription]
INTERNET
GROUPS DEFEND ANONYMOUS ONLINE CRITICS
In a letter sent to over 100 ISPs and online bulletin boards yesterday, a
coalition of civil liberties groups stated that ISPs should warn customers
that their privacy might not be protected when they anonymously criticize
companies online. The coalition specifically asked ISPs to pledge that they
would add to their privacy policies a pledge to inform customers if their
personal information has been subpoenaed. "You can't fight to protect your
privacy and anonymity when you don't even know that it's being attacked,"
said Paul Alan Levy of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, which signed the
letter along with the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for
Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the
Electronic Privacy Information Center.
[Source: WashingtonPost.com; Author: Brian Krebs]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56260-2002Jul11.html
CANNING SPAM WITHOUT EATING UP REAL MAIL
Audrie Krause, head of the political action group NetAction, was recently
shocked to find out that her members-only email list was being blacklisted
-- blocked by an ISP -- as if it were unsolicited commercial spam. "It's
ironic because the work we do as an organization includes helping get the
message out to other activists and nonprofits about how to use email and the
Net for outreach...without spamming," Krause said. The error, which was
fixed within a day, is just one of many examples of how the war against spam
is claiming more than a few innocent casualties. ISPs often subscribe to
services that create blacklists as a way of combating the hordes of
unsolicited junk mail emailed to Internet users on a daily basis.
Unfortunately, blacklists contain an increasing number of "false positives"
-- in other words, sources of legitimate email that are being blocked
indiscriminately and without warning. Recent complaints about blocklists
have come from companies and organizations, including British Telecom, the
Libertarian Party and News.com publisher CNET Networks, among others.
[Source: CNET; Author: Stefanie Olson]
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-943337.html
COMPUTERS/ENVIRONMENT
EUROPEAN RECYCLING LAW COULD MEAN COSTLY PCs
Soon-to-be-enforced European laws will hold computer manufacturers
responsible for what happens to old computers as customers upgrade them.
Critics worry that mandatory recycling of these computers will force
manufacturers to raise the price of computers as much as $50 per PC. "It's
certainly not going to help companies struggling out of the downturn," said
Hugh Peltor, director of consumer electronics at Intellect, a consumer trade
organization. "However, if we're going to save the planet, the bottom line
is we will have to share these costs. It can't all be down to industry."
Phil Reakes, director of the PC recycler Selway Moore, says that recycling
may not be as costly as some fear, but worries that PC manufacturers may
simply not be ready to handle the glut of computers they've already sold to
customers. "What will happen to the equipment that corporations are getting
rid of?" he asked. "Because they will be getting rid of thousands of
machines at a time."
[Source: BBC Online]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2121000/2121954.stm
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