INTERNET
Area Systems Slowed by Telecommuters (WP)
eToys Drops Lawsuit Against Artist Group (CyberTimes)
MERGERS/BROADBAND
Music Mergers Herald a Shift to the Web (NYT)
The Case Against Steve: AOL's About-Face on Open Access (CME)
Open Access: The Campaign Continues (CME)
POLITICAL DISCOURSE
Senate Lobbying Data Is Going Online (CyberTimes)
Far-Flung Volunteers Gave Forbes A Boost in Iowa Via the Internet (WSJ)
TV Spots Give Surrogates a Starring Role (WP)
On MTV, Candidates' Moments of Youth (WP)
ADVERTISING
Panel Leaves Untouched Rule Letting Firms Book Revenue
From Bartered Ads (WSJ)
Surfer Beware: Advertiser's on Your Trail (USA)
TELEVISION
Inquiry For Local-Into-Local Technology (NTIA)
INTERNET
AREA SYSTEMS SLOWED BY TELECOMMUTERS
Issue: Internet
While it's nice to work from home on a very snowy day, sometimes the
telecommunication system can't keep up. Bell Atlantic reported heavy network
congestion in the DC area yesterday, as people used their phone lines for
Web surfing, faxing and long distance telephone calls. Some workers at home
reported that DSL service was a lifesaver, while those trying to log on to
their ISPs had trouble getting through, sometimes having to wait 30 minutes
or more for technical assistance. "In the old days, it was not uncommon for
a family to have one telephone in their home. Now they have three or four
lines. It's putting a strain on the system because many of these lines are
in use simultaneously," said a Bell Atlantic spokesman.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Amy Joyce]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/business/A27734-2000Jan25.html)
eTOYS DROPS LAWSUIT AGAINST ARTIST GROUP
Issue: E-Commerce/Arts Online
It's eToy vs etoy. A clash of e-commerce vs the arts online. eToy, the
Internet's leading toy retailer, has agreed to drop a suit against etoy, a
group of online conceptual artists in Europe. The artists will get to use
www.etoy.com, will receive a $40,000 reimbursement for legal fees, and will
drop its countersuit against eToys. In September, eToys sued the artists
after hearing from customers who went to the art site by mistake, including
some who complained about its profane language. On Nov. 29, a Los Angeles
Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction against etoy,
threatening the artists with fines of as much as $10,000 a day unless they
stopped using the www.etoy.com address.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Matt Mirapaul (mirapaul( at )nytimes.com)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/01/cyber/articles/26toy.html)
MERGERS
MUSIC MERGERS HERALD A SHIFT TO THE WEB
Issue: Mergers
When Seagram-owned Universal Music purchased Polygram Music in 1998 (then
the biggest merger in music history), Seagram was interested in "product":
it wanted to expand its physical reach through Polygram's international
distribution network. As Time Warner buys EMI, the key word is "content."
The difference? Strauss writes, Product is something physical that can be
packed in a box and shipped to stores. Content is something intangible,
converted into digital code, and posted on an Internet site. The EMI deal
could hasten the public's acceptance of the music computer file as an
alternative to the CD. The music industry is consolidating -- the
traditional six record labels are now four -- "cocooning" as a vast Web
spins around it. Strauss writes, Emerging from this cocoon will be either a
world in which artists have more autonomy, a new media oligopoly with an
even heavier hand over music consumption, or, more likely, the same creeping
caterpillar that spun the cocoon in the first place.
[SOURCE: New York Times (B1), AUTHOR: Neil Strauss]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/26time-emi.html)
THE CASE AGAINST STEVE: AOL'S ABOUT FACE ON OPEN ACCESS
Issue: Mergers/Broadband
[Excerpt] Never one to let details stand in the way of a major transaction,
AOL's dealmakers are suddenly singing a new tune in the open-access debate.
The one-time champions of competitive access to broadband networks -- "an
open playing field," as they liked to call it -- and advocates of a federal
role in ensuring those open conditions, have abruptly changed their
position. Let the market decide, AOL's Steve Case and his new Time Warner
colleagues declared in the process of announcing the merger of the two
companies, in which the world's largest Internet service provider acquired
the world's largest media conglomerate, which just happens to be the second
largest cable operator in the country, too. With the potential of offering
broadband Internet access to some 13 million captive cable households, the
new partners wasted little time in dismissing the need for a federal policy
on open access. "Essentially," explained Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin,
"...we're going to take the open access issue out of Washington and out of
City Hall, and put it into the marketplace and into the commercial
arrangements that should occur to provide the kind of access for...multiple
ISPs."
[SOURCE: Center For Media Education]
(http://www.cme.org/broadband/revCase.html)
OPEN ACCESS: THE CAMPAIGN CONTINUES
Issue: Mergers/Broadband
[Excerpt] OPEN ACCESS -- the principle that the Internet should remain a
freely flowing source of information and ideas, regardless of who owns the
pipes through which such material flows -- remains a critical issue. The
open-access debate did not begin with AT&T's acquisition of TCI, and it
won't end with AOL's acquisition of Time Warner. Indeed, these high-stakes
corporate maneuverings are illustrative of the premium that has been placed
on staking a claim in the evolving telecommunications landscape. And they
suggest as well the need to ensure that the public interest also finds a
secure place, amidst all of the dot-coms and their aggressive marketing
tactics, in the new online environment.
That's why a formal FCC rulemaking on Open Access -- rather than the good
intentions of the media conglomerates -- is needed to address the three
fundamental issues of the broadband era:
* Competition: ISPs should be granted equal access to the new cable
networks, under the same terms and conditions that the cable companies
extend to their own or affiliated ISPs.
*Nondiscriminatory Transport: Network providers should be prohibited from
employing transmission protocols (beyond those necessary to basic traffic
maintenance) that place certain kinds of material at a competitive disadvantage.
* Freedom of Expression/Exploration: The basic rights that Internet users
have long enjoyed -- the freedom to exchange ideas openly and to view
material of one's own choosing -- should not be compromised in the broadband
environment.
[SOURCE: Center For Media Education]
(http://www.cme.org/broadband/campaigncontinues.html)
POLITICAL DISCOURSE
SENATE LOBBYING DATA IS GOING ONLINE
Issue: Political Discourse
"In reality, the lobbyists are the key people in Washington when it comes to
money and politics," said Tony Raymond, creator of FECinfo
(http://www.tray.com/fecinfo), a database of campaign contributions, and the
designer of the Senate's system. "They decide who the money is going to go
to. These are the guys who need a little bit more exposure." The Secretary
of the Unites States Senate
(http://www.senate.gov/learning/learn_leaders_officers_secretary.html) is
introducing a system that will let lobbyists file their reports
electronically. The information would be available on the Internet
immediately. "They're using 1953 technology to record what lobbyists spend
in Washington," said Larry Makinson, executive director of the Center for
Responsive Politics (http://www.opensecrets.org), a nonprofit research group
that tracks money in politics. With the new program, he said, "in one step
this agency is going to move forward from 1953 technology to 2001." The
system is expected to go online in mid-February.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney (rfr( at )nytimes.com)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/01/cyber/articles/26lobby.html)
FAR-FLUNG VOLUNTEERS GAVE FORBES A BOOST IN IOWA VIA THE INTERNET
Issue: Political Discourse
"I think the Internet is the future of political campaigns," said Steve
Forbes supporter Joe Burns who used his computer to rally potential voters
in Iowa from his home in New York. Presidential candidates are using Web
sites to discuss issues, provide biographies, offer campaign schedules and
solicit funds, volunteers and voting support -- everything, in fact, that
conventionally gets done by chopping down acres of trees and spending a
small fortune on postage in direct-mail drives. The Web has proved
surprisingly good at raising funds for former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley
and Arizona Sen. John McCain. Mr. McCain and Texas Gov. George W. Bush have
plastered banner ads on popular Web sites. Steve Forbes has placed the
biggest bet on the Internet in this year's election; he announced his
candidacy on the World Wide Web and vowed to pursue the first full-scale
Internet campaign. He has spent loads of money and time using the Internet
to organize supporters and prod them to the polls. Mr. Forbes praises the
Internet as "a way of reaching people easily who are not traditionally
involved. ... It's not something that's thrust in their face such as
watching television or looking at a newspaper. They're in charge. If they
want to spend two minutes, they can. If they want to spend two hours, they can."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (), AUTHOR: Glenn Simpson & Bryan Gruley]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB948844504331377006.htm)
TV SPOTS GIVE SURROGATES A STARRING ROLE
Issue: Political Discourse
Vice President Gore, George W. Bush, John McCain and Bill Bradley have more
in common than just being contenders in the race for the presidency. All
have used endorsements as a way to win votes. "Endorsements matter because
some people have such a high degree of credibility that voters find them
very persuasive," said Darrell West, a Brown University political scientist.
It's called the "cueing effect," when voters take cues from local figures
they trust. But, as Greg Stevens, John McCain's media advisor explains, "it
depends on who you're using as a surrogate. The mere fact that one
politician endorses another isn't particularly potent these days." Some
candidates use endorsements because their surrogate can say harsher things
about an opponent than the actual candidate would, allowing the candidate to
stay on the high road.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A4), AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28922-2000Jan25.html)
ON MTV, CANDIDATES' MOMENTS OF YOUTH
Issue: Political Discourse
MTV's is running a special devoted to what the presidential candidates
should be about. The show reveals nothing about the candidates' stance on
current policy issues, instead it focuses on humanizing the candidates and
providing a hint of the personalities behind the carefully constructed
facades. VP Gore talks about smoking pot, Sen McCain admits to having a
temper, Bradley's sports history is discussed, and Forbes maintains that
although he was raised amid great wealth, he was not privileged. All of the
leading candidates provided interviews except for Gov George W. Bush.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C1), AUTHOR: Robin Givhan]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/feed/a29642-2000jan26.htm)
ADVERTISING
PANEL LEAVES UNTOUCHED RULE LETTING FIRMS BOOK REVENUE FROM BARTERED ADS
Issue: Advertising
The Financial Accounting Standards Board has continued a standard that lets
companies book revenue from advertising barter transactions, a popular
practice with Internet businesses. But to end an accounting abuse in which
cash-strapped Internet companies "gross up," or increase, the revenue they
earn from these deals, an abuse the Securities and Exchange Commission
wanted stopped, the FASB said companies can only include revenue from
advertising barter transactions so long as they have a history of receiving
cash for "similar advertising transactions," and those deals didn't take
place more than six months prior to when the barter actually occurred. "That
could stop the practice of grossing up revenue, since companies will now
have to shell out cash in order for these revenue amounts to pass muster,"
says Robert Willens, a managing director at Lehman Brothers. And if the
abuse was curbed, says Henry Blodget, a senior Internet analyst at Merrill
Lynch, it "would certainly change the valuations for some companies
considerably."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (), AUTHOR: Elizabeth MacDonald
(elizabeth.macdonald( at )wsj.com)]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB948844036590194782.htm)
SURFER BEWARE: ADVERTISER'S ON YOUR TRAIL
Issue: Advertising
Doubleclick, the Internet's leading advertising company, has begun tracking
users' online movements by their names and addresses. Doubleclick has 100
million files of individual online behavior, often collected without a Web
surfers knowledge. The company is linking those files with the 90 million US
household files held by the direct-marketing company Abacus Direct, a
company that Doubleclick bought in June 1999. Doubleclick says that
consumers will be allowed to opt out of being tracked, "that person will
receive notice that their personal information is being gathered." But the
opt out language is frequently buried in the text of privacy policies of
participating Web sites and difficult to locate. "That is not permission.
That is fraudulent on its face," said David Banisar, deputy director of
Privacy International.
[SOURCE: USA Today (1B), AUTHOR: Will Rodger]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000126/1876141s.htm)
TELEVISION
INQUIRY FOR LOCAL-INTO-LOCAL TECHNOLOGY
Issue: Television/Satellite
The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information
Administration
(NTIA) will soon start a wide-ranging public inquiry to help make certain
that television viewers in small, rural and underserved markets aren't left
behind, Gregory L. Rohde, assistant secretary of commerce for communications
and information and head of NTIA announced. The purpose of the NTIA request
for public comment is to explore whether there are additional options to
ensure that viewers in unserved and under-served communities can receive the
benefit of local news and information through new technologies. The notice
will seek suggestions from the public on how to ensure that rural and small
local broadcast programming can be delivered over technologies, including
satellite. The specific comment date will be provided when the Federal
Register notice is published, which is expected by mid-February. Comments
and reactions will be posted to the NTIA Web site. NTIA also is planning to
hold a roundtable discussion in March, mid-way through the comment period.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/shviapr012400.htm)
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