Benton RSS Feed

Headlines czar Kevin "universal service is a problem at Camden
Yard and I can't rest until I investigate further" Taglang liked
his last vacation so much he decided to take another. As a result,
the usual pithy analysis and sly barbs will be replaced by
whatever poor substitutes we minions can muster. This morning,
we were helped by the fact that the New York Times wasn't
delivered, so, unfortunately, there's no review of the Times'
usually voluminous Monday coverage of info-tech happenings.
Try the online version directly at www.nytimes.com, where it
looks like there's a good story on HDTV ("Did Broadcasters
Hoodwink Congress With False HDTV Promises?" at
www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/091597hdtv.html)

In today's headlines:

** Intellectual Property:
WSJ: Invisible Trademarks on the Web Raise Novel Issue of
Infringement

** Internet Industry:
WSJ: AOL Hits Top of On-Line Hill with Compuserve Deal
WP: Cyberspace Tectonics (editorial)
WSJ: Survey Says Companies Are Slow to Adopt Internet

** Education:
WSJ: Channel One Taps Principals as Promoters

** WebTV:
WSJ: Microsoft's WebTV Unit to Introduce Process that Uses Web to Enhance TV

** Regulation:
WP: People on the Move/In the Loop
FCC: Hundt Speaks at Annenberg

******************* Intellectual Property *********************

Title: Invisible Trademarks on the Web Raise Novel Issue of Infringement
Source: Wall Street Journal (B10)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Ann Davis
Issue: Intellectual Property
Description: A San Francisco federal court ruled that a company using
another company's name in hidden code of a website to gain more traffic is a
trademark infringement. The judge ordered that the website operator of
Calvin Designer remove all references to Playboy magazine in its website's
hidden code. Many legal experts believe that most courts will view this
"word stuffing" technique as an infringement. Thomas McCarthy, a professor
at the University of San Francisco law school states, "Intercepting people
on the information superhighway is like putting up a big sign on a freeway
that says Exxon, but that's not what you find once you get there."

******************* Internet Industry **********************

Title: AOL Hits Top of On-Line Hill with Compuserve Deal
Source: Wall Street Journal (B4)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Thomas E. Weber and Jared Sandberg
Issue: Internet Industry / Mergers
Description: AOL once again gains status as the number one ISP because of
its recent absorbtion of Compuserve subscribers. AOL has also broadened its
cooperation with its rival Microsoft to help promote each other's services.
As part of the new "friendship" Microsoft will include original AOL content
on its Active Desktop and will allow users to subscribe to AOL. While
skeptics predicted that AOL would become irrelevant as the Internet grew,
the more the Internet has grown and audiences have been fragmented, AOL has
become more valuable to advertisers and marketers as an audience gatherer.
AOL still has the challenge that big-name advertisers are not committed to
online marketing. Also, only approximately 400,000 users can log on directly
at once because of the limitations AOL's network.

Title: Cyberspace Tectonics
Source: Washington Post (A22)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/15/007l-091597-idx.html
Author: N/A (editorial)
Issue: Internet Industry
Description: With the three-way deal last week in which AOL bought the
number two online service provider, CompuServe, and sold its underlying
network transport business to WorldCom, the editorial board of the Post
says "a couple of very big plates are shifting in the underpinning of
cyberspace." In particular, the Post says that by focusing on providing
content and spinning off its conduits, "AOL is sending the message that the
real future of the Internet lies not in its technical magic -- connecting
you to everyone -- but in the old cultural service of connecting you to
someone."

Title: Survey Says Companies Are Slow to Adopt Internet
Source: Wall Street Journal (B2)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: WSJ staff reporter
Issue: Internet Industry
Description: Diamond Technology, a Chicago-based technology consulting
firm, will release a survey today of over 400 mid-sized to large companies
that suggests that executives remain optimistic about the revenue potential
of the web. Although 30% of those surveyed said their company did not yet
have a web site, 60% said they "expect Internet-based businesses to produce
significant earnings by the end of the year 2000," and 54% said their
"primary goal for technology in the future will be to support revenue growth."

********************** Education ************************

Title: Channel One Taps Principals as Promoters
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: William M. Bulkeley
Issue: Advertising / Education Technology
Description: Channel One, the controversial venture that beams 10 minute of
current events programming and two minutes of ads to an estimated 8 million
high-school students every school day, is expanding its marketing efforts by
enlisting teachers and administrators in marketing campaigns. Schools
distributed "savings cards" for Subway(c) sandwiches and discount coupons
for JCPenney, while Snapple, Pepsi, and Reebok developed other marketing
tie-ins. William Ruckeyser, a consultant to the Center for Commercial-Free
Public Education, notes that Channel One is "pursuing a strategy of
increasing sophistication that turns the entire school system into an
advertising system."

*********************** WebTV ************************

Title: Microsoft's WebTV Unit to Introduce Process that Uses
Web to Enhance TV
Source: Wall Street Journal (B2)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: David Bank
Issue: WebTV / Convergence
Description: The next generation of WebTV technology will allow TV shows to
be viewed from within web pages and enable WebTV users to receive data over
cable or through broadcast TV signals. The latter feature is designed to
speed the flow of data to subscribers, although upstream signals from the
home still must be sent over phone lines. It is also designed to help
position Microsoft as the industry standard for delivering data to the home
for mass markets.

*********************** Regulation ****************************

Title: People on the Move/In the Loop
Source: Washington Post (A21)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/15/069l-091597-idx.html
Author: Al Kamen
Issue: Regulation
Description: Does this strike anyone else as odd? Lawrence Strickling,
vice president for public policy at Ameritech, the Chicago-based Baby Bell,
will chair the Federal Communications Commission's local competition
enforcement task force.

At the FCC http://www.fcc.gov :

Chairman Hundt Speaks at the Annenberg Public Policy Center on Democracy in
a Digital Age. Speech available at
www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Hundt/spreh745.html

*********

Telephone Regulation
NYT: States Plan to Sue F.C.C. On Jurisdiction Over Bells

Television
NYT: Microsoft Facing a Challenge Over Internet-Cable TV Link
NYT: Can You Spell "Compliance," Boys and Girls?
FCC: Unsolved Mysteries in Law, Communications, and Cyberspace
FCC: Commission Seeks Comment on
Revised Industry Proposal for Rating Video Programming

Wireless Telephony
WSJ: FCC Wireless Auction May Reap $7 Billion Less
WSJ: SPECIAL SECTION: Telecommunications

Privacy
NYT: Trifling With Medical Privacy

Arts
NYT: A Showdown In Texas On Money For the Arts

*********************************************
* Telephone Regulation *
*********************************************
Title: States Plan to Sue F.C.C. On Jurisdiction Over Bells
Source: New York Times (D2)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/fcc-phone-suit.html
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: Another court battle for the Federal Communications Commission.
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, regulators
from California, Iowa, and Florida, and possibly Bell South and other Baby
Bells will file suit -- perhaps as soon as tomorrow -- accusing the FCC of
violating its jurisdiction by setting the terms by which local phone
companies must open their networks to new rivals. The FCC has been
attempting to pry open to competition the $100 billion local telephone
service market leveraged by its authority to allow local phone companies to
enter into long-distance service. "This could be a regulatory Pearl Harbor,"
said one senior Government official.

*********************************************
* Television *
*********************************************
Title: Microsoft Facing a Challenge Over Internet-Cable TV Link
Source: New York Times (A1)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/091197television.html
Author: John Markoff
Issue: Convergence
Description: A small start-up company, Worldgate Communications of Bensalem,
PA, is developing the cable industry's strategy to thwart Microsoft's bid to
blend the Internet and cable TV. The cable industry's plan may bring the
Internet to TV households much quicker than Microsoft envisions. Worldgate
plans to begin offering in the next few weeks Internet service through
set-top convertor boxes, existing TVs, remote control, and optional
keyboards. The suggested retail price is $12/month. The service data rate
would be four times faster than the fastest connections over conventional
phone lines. "Worldgate is Web TV and Microsoft's worst nightmare," says an
industry consultant.

Title: Can You Spell "Compliance," Boys and Girls?
Source: New York Times (B1)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/arts/tv-networks.html
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: Children's Television
Description: The fall television schedule begins this week and broadcasters
must provide three hours of educational programming for children. The
programming to fulfill this federal requirement is a mixed bag. CBS will
offer "The Weird Al Show" with Weird Al Yankovic who says an educational
message never entered his mind when he set out to do the show. ABC has
retooled "101 Dalmations" with sentimental lessons on friendship and
responsibility. Fox has no new programming for kids. And NBC, the most
watched network, continues to argue that "NBA Inside Stuff" doesn't just
promote basketball, its designed to teach "life lessons." "My concern is
that they'll use these little formulas and will not really try to improve
anything or try new things," says the Center for Media Education's Kathryn
Montgomery [see http://tap.epn.org/cme/]. "I'm worried that they'll do the
bare minimum and hope the public complaints will eventually go away." [See a
summary of the FCC's new rules on kidvid
http://www.benton.org/Policy/TV/kidstv-sum.html]

At the FCC http://www.fcc.gov
Chairman Hundt Speaks at George Washington University Law School on Unsolved
Mysteries in Law, Communications, and Cyberspace: "I love TV; doesn't
everyone?" http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Hundt/spreh744.html

Commission Seeks Comment on Revised Industry Proposal for Rating Video
Programming (FCC 97-321, CS Docket No. 97-55) Comments are due on October 6,
1997, and reply comments are due on October 20, 1997. Interested parties
should send comments and reply comments to: Office of the Secretary, Federal
Communications Commission, 1919 M Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20554.
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/Public_Notices/1997/fcc97321.html

*********************************************
* Wireless Telephony *
*********************************************
Title: FCC Wireless Auction May Reap $7 Billion Less
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A3)
Author: Bryan Gruley
Issue: Spectrum/Auctions
Description: Bidders in FCC spectrum auctions committed $10 billion to win,
but now say they cannot afford to pay for the licenses and build their
networks. The FCC and Congress are trying to figure out how to save the
licenses from being tied up in bankruptcy court for years to come by giving
the bidders some sort of relief. "Either these loans are marked to market
[price] by the FCC, or they will be marked to market by bankruptcy courts,"
says FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. Estimates have the FCC collecting only $3 to
$5 billion for the licenses now.

Title: Telecommunications
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (R1)
Issue: Cellular Phones
Description: A special section in the Wall Street Journal examines the
present and future of wireless communication. Includes tips for consumers,
concerns over privacy, and a look at the technology.

*********************************************
* Privacy *
*********************************************
Title: Trifling With Medical Privacy
Source: New York Times (A34)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/11thu3.html
Author: NYT Editorial Staff
Issue: Privacy
Description: As part of a 1996 law making health care coverage more
accessible for millions of Americans, the Congress required the Department
of Health and Human Services to develop a plan on medical records privacy.
Secretary Donna Shalala will unveil that plan today at a Senate hearing. The
Administration's plan will place new safeguards to limit access to medical
records by employers, drug manufacturers, and direct-marketing companies.
But there is an exemption for law-enforcement agencies who would not have to
get court orders or to notify patients when they are seeking medical
records. Although there is a need to investigate fraud in the nation's
trillion dollar health-care industry, it should not come by making health
records less private than bank records, e-mail messages, or cable and movie
rental records.

*********************************************
* Arts *
*********************************************
Title: A Showdown In Texas On Money For the Arts
Source: New York Times (B1)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/arts/sanantonio-arts-funds.html
Author: Judith Dobrzynski
Issue: Arts
Description: Following similar battles in Charlotte and Greensboro, NC,
Anchorage AK, and Jackson Hole, WY, the San Antonio City Council will decide
the fate of the city's Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs (DACA) today.
DACA provides ~$2.7 million in grants annually to 39 cultural organizations,
from the San Antonio Symphony to urban mural projects. "It's an attack on
arts funding overall, the trickling down of the controversy surrounding the
National Endowment for the Arts," says DACA's director, Eduardo Diaz. "These
issues have been festering." Grass roots movements on both sides of the
battle have organized to decide San Antonio's arts funding.
*********

Let the Spin Begin: WorldCom/AOL/CompuServe Deal
WSJ: How One Company Is Quietly Buying Up the Internet
NYT: Latest Cyberdeal Seems to Have Room for Two Winners
WP: AOL Shifts Its Strategic Direction
NYT: America Online to maintain 2 Services
WSJ: Some Compuserve Members Fret Over AOL Deal
WP: Next AOL Test: Holding On to Compuserve Loyalists

Internet Sales and Service
WSJ: Start-Ups Are Putting Internet to Work for the Big Guys

Telecommunications Act of 1996
WSJ: The FCC vs. the Constitution

Philanthropy
WSJ: Gift Rift

Access to Government Info
NYT: Now Available: City Hall at Your Fingertips

International
NYT: France to Sell Large Stake In Telcom

****************************************************
* Let the Spin Begin: WorldCom/AOL/CompuServe Deal *
****************************************************
Title: How One Company Is Quietly Buying Up the Internet
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: Jared Sandberg
Issue: Mergers
Description: The AT&T of the Internet isn't AT&T -- it's WorldCom which in
the past year has purchased Compuserves high-speed networking division and
UUNet. Like Theodore Vail purchased small telephone networks to form AT&T a
century ago and Craig McCaw bought up small cellular phone carriers in the
past decade to build McCaw Cellular (now AT&T Wireless), Bernard Ebbers and
WorldCom have strung 50 purchases together over the past ten years. UUNet is
the Internet gateway for the Microsoft network and AOL and WorldCom entered
into a five year agreement with yesterday's deal -- so WorldCom now claims
the two largest commercial online services as its customers.

Title: Latest Cyberdeal Seems to Have Room for Two Winners
Source: New York Times (D1)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/090997compuserve-marketplace.html
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Mergers
Description: If you follow the money in yesterday's stories about the
WorldCom, Compuserve, AOL deal, you'll see that the real value lies in the
dull plumbing of cyberspace, not the glamour of new media. WorldCom
purchased Compuserve for ~$1.2 billion, held onto the data networks and sold
the online service for $250 million -- which means Compuserve's plumbing was
worth nearly $1 billion. Shares of WorldCom rose $2.25 yesterday; shares of
AOL closed +$6.125. A Forrester Research analyst says, "The next stage of
the Internet economy is that the media companies will start to make money,
not just the infrastructure suppliers as has been the case until now.
America Online is taking a leading role in that development....You assemble
an audience of more than 10 million subscribers, and madison Avenue has to
pay attention."

Title: AOL Shifts Its Strategic Direction
Source: Washington Post (C1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/09/148l-090997-idx.html
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Mergers/Online Services
Description: America Online announced a strategy changed yesterday: it will
now focus solely on content and let someone else -- WorldCom -- worry about
the infrastructure that delivers that content to computer screens. AOL sold
its national data network -- ANS -- to WorldCom and will now concentrate on
its core business: creating an online community. Critics say that the need
for cash and the zeal for more subscribers lead AOL to sell a major part of
its house just to have to rent it back.

Title: America Online to maintain 2 Services
Source: New York Times (D11)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/090997compuserve.html
Author: Laurie Flynn
Issue: Mergers
Description: America Online executives insist that they will keep AOL
focused on the consumer market and families and keep Compuserve focused on
small business and technical users. AOL's chief executive, Steve Case, said
"The expectation is we will continue to manage Compuserve with its own
technologies and brand forever." Analysts believe that Compuserve has lost
most of its resonance in the market and that AOL will eventually fold the
service into AOL.

Title: Some Compuserve Members Fret Over AOL Deal
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B4)
Author: Thomas Weber
Issue: Mergers
Description: "I use Compuserve because it's fast and purposeful, and AOL is
just the opposite," says one concerned Compuserve subscriber. Included in
subscribers concerns are: 1) will e-mail addresses change? 2) will the price
of Compuserve go up?, and 3) will Compuserve subscribers start getting more
busy signals when trying to connect?

Title: Next AOL Test: Holding On to Compuserve Loyalists
Source: Washington Post (C1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/09/020l-090997-idx.html
Author: Beth Berselli
Issue: Mergers
Description: The billion dollar question for America Online: Can it hold on
to Compuserve customers? "I hope the purchase of Compuserve by AOL does not
mean an end to the Compuserve forums, threaded messages, etc., with the
adaptation of AOL's Mickey Mouse mentality," says one subscriber. If this
happens, I will seek another ISP." Many Compuserve subscribers are ex-AOLers
who will refuse to subscribe again to the largest online serve provider.

*********************************************
* Internet Sales and Service *
*********************************************
Title: Start-Ups Are Putting Internet to Work for the Big Guys
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B2)
Author: Rodney Ho
Issue: Internet Sales and Services
Description: Small specialized entrepreneurs are beating bigger competitors
in efforts to train large corporations how to profit from the Internet.
Applications include better communications between central offices and
distributors, Websites, and growing demand for broader services. These big
companies appreciate the "small company mentality" that every customer counts.

*********************************************
* Telecommunications Act of 1996 *
*********************************************
Title: The FCC vs. the Constitution
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A18)
Author: Laurence Tribe
Harvard Professor and lawyer for SBC Communications
Issue: Telecommunications Act of 1996
Description: The lawyer leading SBC's lawsuit challenging the
constitutionality of the telecommunications Act of 1996 outlines his
problems with the legislation [not with the federal Communications
Commission]. Tribe says the Act unfairly targets the Baby Bells and prevents
them from offering long distance service in their home [monopoly] local
markets. [For more on the Telecommunications Act of 1996 see
http://www.benton.org/Policy/96act/]

*********************************************
* Philanthropy *
*********************************************
Title: Gift Rift
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A1)
Author: Monica Langley
Issue: Philanthropy
Description: Corporate Giving Watch had named Microsoft Corp. the nation's
top giver last year with contribution of $73.2 million. But Microsoft -- and
Corporate Giving Watch -- based the value of its contributions -- mostly
software -- on the retail prices of the packages. IBM -- which placed #2 in
the ranking -- based its contributions on wholesale prices. If calculated on
retail prices, IBM's contributions were worth $92.7 million. But there are a
number of critics of these valuations of gifts -- values that don't mean
much more than bragging rights for large corporations. "Inflated software
gifts are the junk bonds of the new philanthropy," says Josef Woodman,
founder of Lightworks Technology Foundation
http://arcana.catalogue.com/geninfo/qanda.htm.

*********************************************
* Access to Government Info *
*********************************************
Title: Now Available: City Hall at Your Fingertips
Source: New York Times (A1)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/090997kiosk.html
Author: David Halbfinger
Issue: Access to Government Info
Description: New York City is attempting to make government information more
available by installing 37 ATM-like kiosks in public areas that allow
residents to pay parking tickets and property taxes with credit and banking
cards, check building inspection records, and print out applications for
jobs, permits and licenses. Tourists can tell the machines where they are
from so they can update the old "I Love New York" ad campaign. After
experimenting with the 37 kiosks, the City now plans to expand the system to
hundreds of terminals throughout the five boroughs.

*********************************************
* International *
*********************************************
Title: France to Sell Large Stake In Telcom
Source: New York Times (D3)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/09france.html
Author: Bloomberg News
Issue: International
Description: The French Government will sell 38% of France Telecom S.A. for
76 billion frncs ($12.5 billion). The sale will help the Government meet
financial qualifications for joining the European Union currency. It will
also add France Telecom in international expansion.
*********

Merger: Fox Buys the Dodgers
NYT: Fox Group Agrees to Buy the Dodgers
WP: Murdoch Agrees to Buy Dodgers

Privacy
WP: Social Security Urged to Delay Internet Access

Campaign Finance Reform
WP: "Hard" and "Soft" Money: A Crucial, Sometimes Fine Line

*********************************************
* Merger: Fox and Dodgers *
*********************************************
Title: Fox Group Agrees to Buy the Dodgers
Source: New York Times (A1/C21)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/sports/bbn-dodgers-sale.html
Author: Richard Sandomir
Issue: Mergers
Description: Peter O'Malley has agreed in principle to sell the Los Angeles
Dodgers to Fox Group. The price tag has been reported at $350 million -- the
highest ever paid for an American sports franchise. The sale must be
approved by three-quarters of the National League and a majority of American
League owners. Fox competes with the Chicago Tribune Company, owner of the
Chicago Cubs, and Time Warner's Ted Turner, owner of the braves. The Dodgers
already provide programming for Fox Sports West and this deal would mean
that Fox will never lose TV rights to a competitor.

Title: Murdoch Agrees to Buy Dodgers
Source: Washington Post (C1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/05/183l-090597-idx.html
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: Mergers
Description: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp will purchase the Los Angeles
Dodgers, Dodger Stadium and surrounding land in downtown LA for $350
million. The Dodgers will become part of News Corps corporate empire which
includes cable and broadcast TV properties and other sports holdings. This
sale dwarfs other sports purchases like Peter Angelos' $173 million deal for
the Baltimore Orioles in 1993 and Jerry Jones' $130 million deal for the
Dallas Cowboys in 1989. Baseball owners will vote on approval of the sale at
meetings Sept 16-18 in Atlanta.

*********************************************
* Privacy *
*********************************************
Title: Social Security Urged to Delay Internet Access
Source: Washington Post (A15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/05/132l-090597-idx.html
Author: Judith Havemann
Issue: Privacy
Description: Members of Congress are asking the Social Service
Administration to delay opening its revised website until after a new,
permanent commissioner is named and hearings are held so that Congress can
be involved and "this program can earn the support of the American people."
Although the new site will require computer users to email the SSA to
"unlock" data before it is accessible on the Web, Rep Jim Bunning (R-KY) and
others are not convinced that their are enough safeguards.

*********************************************
* Campaign Finance Reform *
*********************************************
Title: "Hard" and "Soft" Money: A Crucial, Sometimes Fine Line
Source: Washington Post (A16)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/05/100l-090597-idx.html
Author: Ruth Marcus
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: If someone is not familiar with the terms "hard" and "soft"
money, discussions over their differences may seem like "the most niggling
of technicalities." But the distinction made a big difference to the
Democratic Party in the 1996 election -- and it could make a big difference
in the political future of Al Gore. Hard up for cash, the Democratic Party
split some large donations into soft and hard money donations without
notifying donors or (possibly) Vice President Gore. If the money Vice
President Gore had raised remained "soft," everything was legal. But if he
used federal offices to raise "hard" money, there could be trouble. [To help
chart the campaign finance maze, visit Destination Democracy
http://www.destinationdemocracy.org/intro.html]
*********