BROADCASTING
Low-Powered Radio Station Goes On Air
The Case Against an ABC/CNN Merger
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
The Censor and the Artist: A Murky Border
INTERNET
Isp Download Caps To Slow Swapping?
How Unwanted E-Mails Are Taking Over Cyberspace
Online Campaign Fund Reports Prove Popular
BROADCASTING
LOW-POWERED RADIO STATION GOES ON AIR
A new radio station began broadcasting in Opelousas, LA this month. KOCZ, a
low-power FM station dedicated to community-related issues and locally
produced and performed music, was brought to town by the Southern
Development Foundation (SDF), the organization behind the Original Southwest
Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival. Prometheus Radio Project, a national
broadcast advocacy organization, help the station get off the ground "Low
Power Radio Barn Raising" conference held earlier this month. Although the
KCOZ is a low power, 100 watt station, it will have a world reach, said John
Freeman, SDF's chief operating officer, because it will be streaming the
Internet. "Our mission is to have the station help make a better Opelousas,"
Freeman said. "We want to be part of the growth and prosperity of our city,
and we want to help contribute to a better community."
[SOURCE: DailyWorld, AUTHOR: Alain A. de la Villesbret]
(http://www.dailyworld.com/html/05B27EBD-7F0B-440C-92A9-3914ABE27C61.shtml)
THE CASE AGAINST AN ABC/CNN MERGER
[COMMENTARY] Hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings is not a
compelling reason to allow the merger of ABC News and CNN, says author Tom
Lowry. In addition to the threat of further consolidation and homogeneity in
media voices, the clash of cultures and likelihood of soft, watered-down
coverage ought to be enough to convince executives at both companies to shy
away from the deal. Of course, consumers of news would also suffer. "There's
already a tendency to dumb down in TV news as you go for the bigger
audience," says Richard Wald, former head of editorial quality at ABC and
now a journalism professor at Columbia University. With the merger, "[y]ou
[would] see more of that."
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek Online, AUTHOR: Tom Lowry]
(http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_48/b3810105.htm)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
THE CENSOR AND THE ARTIST: A MURKY BORDER
Attendees at a conference on free expression and the arts at Columbia
University last week probed the limits of artistic freedom in a high-tech
culture. They grappled with questions like, "Does using software to remove
potentially offensive language, sex and violence from R-rated movies
constitute censorship?" While there was little consensus, many panelists
seemed to agree that artists are facing more resistance from private
companies than from the political and religious groups that have objected to
certain expressions in the past. Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public
Knowledge, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, said that measures like
the 1998 law that extended the copyright term by 20 years, along with more
aggressive enforcement by corporate copyright holders, were compelling some
artists to engage in self-censorship. Rather than risk a lawsuit, she said,
some hip-hop musicians have abandoned sampling, once the genre's signature
technique.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Emily Eakin]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/26/arts/26CENS.html)
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INTERNET
ISP DOWNLOAD CAPS TO SLOW SWAPPING?
In an attempt to minimize liability, broadband ISPs are considering placing
a cap on monthly bandwidth use, thereby limiting the amount of unauthorized
file swapping on their networks. Bell Canada has already implemented such a
program, under which users who exceed the monthly usage allowance are
charged roughly 80 cents per 100 megabytes. Critics worry that unintended
data such as pop-up ads, spam and ad-supported software use could eat into
subscribers' bandwidth allowance.
[SOURCE: CNET News, AUTHOR: John Borland]
(http://news.com.com/2100-1023-975320.html?tag=fd_lede1_img)
HOW UNWANTED E-MAILS ARE TAKING OVER CYBERSPACE
Junk e-mail, or "spam", has increased 25-fold in 2002 alone, making up
nearly 13% of all e-mail received in Britain. According to MessageLabs, an
e-mail security company, the problem is far worse in the US, where spam has
grown from just under 3% in January to an astonishing 33% today. What's
worse, spam is putting a strain on ISPs' as they try to sift through the 30
billion e-mails sent daily. "It's become more devious," said Neil Hammerton
of EMF Systems, which offers spam-filtering services to ISPs and users. "The
programs that spammers use can fake who they're from, and the subject line
and sender's name will be subtly different with each e-mail. That makes it
incredibly hard to block."
[SOURCE: The Independent, AUTHOR: Charles Arthur]
(http://news.independent.co.uk/digital/news/story.jsp?story=355621)
ONLINE CAMPAIGN FUND REPORTS PROVE POPULAR
Several states have found that political candidates and public inquirers
alike have embraced new electronic filing systems for campaign contribution
data. A study by the Center for Governmental Studies found that 46 states
and the federal government collect campaign finance disclosure statements
via computers, with most posting at least some of the information on the
Web. Some candidates see readily accessible public records as a
disadvantage, however, and are reluctant to file in states where online
filing is not mandatory. While opponents have voiced concern over the
privacy of contributors, supporters note that online accessibility of
information has made for more honest and reliable reporting.
[SOURCE: The New York Times, AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/25/politics/25DONA.html)
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