INTERNET
TOP Grantees (NTIA)
U.S. Regulators Open Inquiry Into Nature of Cable-Net Service (WSJ)
No Gift of Billions to the "Baby Bells" (CFA)
Modern Telecommunications Help Protesters Attain Goals (WSJ)
Suit Considers Computer Files (CyberTimes)
Americans Favor U.S. Web Services; Privacy a Concern (WP)
MERGERS
Europe Reported Ready to Block Time Warner's Deal With EMI (NYT)
ANTITRUST
Microsoft Judge says Ruling at Risk (WP)
JOBS
A Strike No One Can Win (NYT)
RADIO
LPFM Reconsideration Order (FCC)
INTERNET
TOP GRANTEES
Issue: Digital Divide
From Press Release: Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta announced the award of
$13.9 million in Federal grants to 35 organizations across the United States
to help move the U.S. to an era of digital inclusion by funding innovative
uses of advanced telecommunications technologies in underserved areas. The
grants, provided by the Department's Technology Opportunities Program (TOP),
will be matched by contributions from the private sector and state and local
organizations. "It's important to note that these awards are not "federal"
initiatives -- all of these projects come from the community," pointed out
Mineta. "They reflect a fundamental approach the program has always taken --
issue a broad challenge and then let local communities identify their own
needs and propose their own creative applications of technology." The
Federal funds will be matched by $18 million raised by the grant recipients
from their project partners and sponsors. See a full list of grantees at
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/top/grants/fy2000awards.html)
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2000/topre92800.htm)
U.S. REGULATORS OPEN INQUIRY INTO NATURE OF CABLE-NET SERVICE
Issue: Cable/Internet/OpenAccess
The Federal Communications Commission took the first step toward forming a
national policy on whether cable companies must open their lines to rival
Internet service providers, a move that could shape the future of high-speed
Internet access. The outcome will be the definitive word in the fierce
battle between Internet service providers, and cable companies that has been
raging for two years. It will also shape how millions of consumers receive
high-speed Internet service, which is expected to become a staple
technology. But FCC officials were careful to note that the proceeding is
separate from the AOL-Time Warner merger review and that one won't affect
the other. The action is the first the FCC has taken to intervene in the
deployment of high-speed Internet access. "The time is right to assess the
competitive development of this market," said FCC Chairman William Kennard.
"It is unclear, however, whether a marketplace solution will develop absent
some form of intervention." But a final decision in this preliminary step is
several months away, and any regulation, if needed, is at least a year away.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jill Carroll]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB97017114434038180.htm)
See the FCC press release at
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/News_Releases/2000/nrmc0041.html)
NO GIFT OF BILLIONS TO THE "BABY BELLS"
Issue: Internet/Telephony
From Press Release: In a letter to members of the House Committee on
Commerce, Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America urged
opposition to H.R. 4445, the Reciprocal Compensation Adjustment Act of 2000.
"H.R. 4445 would give incumbent telephone companies an annual gift of $2
billion to $4 billion, and American consumers would pick up the tab," stated
Dr. Mark N. Cooper, director of research of Consumer Federation of America.
According to the groups, the bill left the Subcommittee on
Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection providing an additional
free ride on the local telephone wires to the cellular phone industry,
"put[ting] billions in their pockets, too." The bill would work to eliminate
reciprocal compensation, which compensates local exchange carriers for
terminating telephone traffic that commenced on another carrier's lines.
Originally insisting upon reciprocal compensation, incumbent phone companies
now dislike such arrangements as more money has flowed to competitors than
the incumbents anticipated. The consumer groups raised concerns that such a
change could work to dramatically increase costs to Internet service
providers (ISPs)--estimated to be as much as 33%, which would be passed on
to consumers.
[SOURCE: Consumer Federation of America]
(http://www.consumerfed.org/)
MODERN TELECOMMUNICATIONS HELP PROTESTERS ATTAIN GOALS
Issue: Online Advocacy
Protesters at the World Bank/IMF annual meeting in Prague think
globe-shrinking modern communications are helping their cause. Anarchists,
antiglobalists and capitalist foes are using the Internet to organize
protests across continents, spread their credos far and wide, and
more-easily influence events around the world. They are global and are using
the same modern telecommunications that are creating in the "Global Village"
against which many of them rail. Many protesters in Prague found their way
to the Czech Republic this week with the aid of Web sites. Once in Prague,
the protesters plot actions using mobile phones and laptop computers. The
irony is that they're using the Internet to organize, which is seen as a
globalizing force. Meanwhile, Jim Wolfensohn, the president of the World
Bank, is staking out the same cyberterritory for the forces of global
interconnectedness. "Globalization is about technologies that have already
transformed our abilities to communicate in a way that would have been
unimaginable a few years ago," Mr. Wolfensohn said in a speech Monday. As
useful as the Internet was to protesters, its very nature makes others
uneasy. While talking about the emerging "digital divide" between
technological haves and have-nots, the antiglobalization forces are aware
that their dependence on the increasingly corporate-owned, border-defying
Internet opens them up to charges of hypocrisy.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Edward Harris]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB970171049699871243.htm)
SUIT CONSIDERS COMPUTER FILES
Issue: EdTech
A New Hampshire parent, concerned when he learned that his children's school
was not using filtering software, asked the school to let him inspect files
that would show what Web sites students were visiting. But the
superintendent for the two local districts refused, arguing that the schools
were duty bound to protect the privacy of their students. Sounds like a
lawsuit, and it is. determine whether a computer file that tracks Internet
use in a New Hampshire public school is a public document, similar in spirit
to school budgets and the minutes of school board meetings. The answer is
important because under the state's liberal Right-To-Know Law, public
documents are subject to disclosure upon request. "Parents have a right to
see which textbooks are being used in class and which books are on the
school library shelves," says the concerned parent. "If certain Internet Web
sites are also part of the curriculum, then it's the prerogative of parents
to see those as well."
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Carl Kaplan (kaplanc( at )nytimes.com)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/28/technology/29CYBERLAW.html)
(requires registration)
AMERICANS FAVOR U.S. WEB SERVICES; PRIVACY A CONCERN
Issue: Privacy
A survey by the Council for Excellence in Government concludes that
Americans have a positive outlook on government services moving to the
Internet but are very concerned about the privacy of their personal information
and have no desire to cast votes online. Fifty-four percent of Internet
users surveyed said they have visited a federal agency Web site. 71 percent
of that group described the site as either excellent or good. Fully 35% of
the 1,003 adults polled said online government services and information has
had a positive effect on the way government operates. But moving additional
operations online is not at the top of their lists of things government
should spend its time or money on. A majority said they have no interest in
casting votes online for federal candidates. Only 38 percent said they favor
a move to online balloting while 59 percent said they oppose such a change.
Of that group, 48 percent said they "strongly" oppose voting on the
Internet. Americans appear nearly split on how the transition to
e-government should be financed: 46 percent said it should be covered by tax
dollars, but 39 percent said users of online government sites should pay a
fee.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A31), AUTHOR: Ben White]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40872-2000Sep28.html)
MERGERS
EUROPE REPORTED READY TO BLOCK TIME WARNER'S DEAL WITH EMI
Issue: Mergers
European regulators may block the proposed Time Warner/EMI merger, but
approve the America Online/Time Warner deal. Mario Monti, the European
antitrust commissioner, made recommendations to antitrust regulators of
individual countries yesterday in a closed door meeting. The Time Warner/EMI
deal would reduce the number of worldwide music distributors to four from
five, and they are pushing for divestitures that the companies are loath to
offer. Regulators appear ready to approve the AOL/TW deal, however,
especially if TW abandons the EMI deal. "If the problems with the EMI deal
were resolved either way, then that would remove the major impediment" to
approval of the AOL merger, one regulator said.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Edmund Andrews]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/29/technology/29ONLI.html)
(requires registration)
See Also:
TIME WARNER, EMI OFFER TO SELL VIRGIN IN A LAST-DITCH BID TO SWAY REGULATORS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (), AUTHOR: Martin Peers & Philip Shiskin]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB970149845720666041.htm)
(Requires subscription)
EU PUTS A BIG 'IF' ON AOL MERGER
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A01), AUTHOR: William Drozdiak]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38915-2000Sep28.html)
FOR MUSIC FIRMS, A NEW TUNE
[SOURCE: USA TODAY (E01), AUTHOR: Christopher Stern]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39253-2000Sep28.html)
ANTITRUST
MICROSOFT JUDGE SAYS RULING AT RISK
Issue: Antitrust
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson said yesterday that "virtually
everything" he did in the antitrust case may be vulnerable on appeal, and
blamed the software giant's "intransigence" for his breakup decision.
Jackson said "public misperceptions" fueled by "public-relations campaigns"
have created the impression that he wants to regulate the software industry.
"I believed, and still believe, that it is vitally important to public
confidence in the judicial system that my role be fully understood," Jackson
said. "In particular, it should be clearly understood that I do not and have
never aspired to be a federal regulator of the software industry, nor for
that matter to enable the U.S. government to become one." Jackson also
explained that his decisions may be vulnerable on appeal: not only the
remedy but also his attempts to conduct the trial quickly by having written
direct testimony and curtailed discovery.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: James V. Grimaldi]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39357-2000Sep28.html)
JOBS
A STRIKE NO ONE CAN WIN
Issue: Jobs
[Op-Ed] As the Screen Actors Guild strike against advertisers continues,
testimony from a "scab," a nonunion actor who is getting work on
commercials. Before the strike, the only way to get this work would be to be
in the union, but the only way to get in the union is to already have a
union job or know someone with enough pull to get you in. Now, there's
easier ways in -- spend 80 hours manning picket lines or tell SAG where you
find scab work so it can set up a protest (if you refuse to cross the picket
line, you get a union card on the spot. While going to work recently, Saint
Bornstein was harassed and photographed -- strikers warned she'd never get
in the union after the strike is over. "This sounds like a Hollywood
blacklist to me," LSB concludes, "but maybe I'm letting my imagination run
away with me.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A29), AUTHOR: Leslie Saint Bornstein, actress]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/29/opinion/29BORN.html)
(requires registration)
RADIO
LPFM RECONSIDERATION ORDER
Issue: Radio
Recently adopted LPFM reconsideration order is now available online.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Orders/2000/fcc00349.pdf)
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...and we're outta here. We'll be back, fall TV schedule in hand, on Monday.