Benton RSS Feed

Universal Service
NYT: F.C.C.: Needy Should Get Internet First
TelecomAM: Kennard Defends Subsidies for Schools and Libraries

Internet
WSJ: Internet Contains a Racial Divide On Access and Use,
Study Shows
NYT: Racial Divide Found on Information Highway

Telephony
WSJ: Tough Calls: It's Hard Not to Notice Phone Service
Leaves a Lot to Be Desired

Television
NYT: Increase Seen in Number Of Violent TV Programs
NTIA: Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital
Television Broadcasters

Spectrum
NTIA: 16th Annual International Spectrum Management Seminar

InfoTech
NYT: Year 2000 Council Holds Their First Meeting

** Universal Service **

Title: F.C.C.: Needy Should Get Internet First
Source: New York Times (Breaking News)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Internet-Subsidies.html
Author: The Associated Press
Issue: Universal Service
Description: In response to pressure from Congress, Federal Communications
Commission Chairman Bill Kennard yesterday expressed that the nation's
poorest libraries and schools should be the first to receive cheap hookups
to the Internet. "The discount must -- let me repeat -- must go first and
foremost to those places where it is most desperately needed," he said in a
speech. As it currently stands, "the discounts, to be given out soon, would
go to qualified schools and libraries on a first-come, first-served basis."
But FCC officials said that schools and libraries that filed during a 75-day
period that ended on April 15, would all be treated as if they filed at the
same time. Legislation in the Senate would require that the schools and
libraries most in need receive the first discounts. Senate legislation would
also direct the FCC to "restructure" the programs, which provide up to $2.65
billion a year in Internet subsidies for schools, libraries and rural health
care facilities. "I intend in the next few weeks to propose ways to further
consolidate and streamline universal service administration so that we have
the most effective, efficient and accountable universal service
administrative process possible," Chairman Kennard said.

Title: Kennard Defends Subsidies for Schools and Libraries
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: Speaking before 200 school administrators meeting in Washington
DC, Federal Communications Chairman Bill Kennard responded to critics of the
new schools and libraries program. Chairman Kennard said the FCC will not
overfund the program nor will the program undermine the high-cost fund which
keeps rates affordable for rural customers. The Chairman has promised to
suggest changes to how the Schools and Libraries Corporation is run, but he
praised the "small but diligent" staff of 13 that has processed *45,000*
applications in a few months [emphasis added]. Republican FCC Commissioners
Powell and Furchtgott-Roth have said the FCC is endangering the high-cost
fund by giving too high a priority to the schools and libraries program.

** Internet **

Title: Internet Contains a Racial Divide On Access and Use, Study Shows
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B10)
Author: Rebecca Quik
Issue: Internet
Description: An article published in Science today quantifies what has long
been suspected: there's a racial divide on the Internet. Among high-school
and college students, 73% of white students interviewed in a new study had a
computer at home -- just 32% of black students had one. Even when just
looking at households with incomes below $40,000/yr, whites are still twice
as likely as blacks to own a computer. Nielsen Media Research interviewed
5,813 randomly selected people from December 1996 through January 1997.
White students are six times as likely to find alternative ways to access
the Internet if they do not own a computer. "That's astonishing," said
co-author Prof Donna Hoffman of Vanderbilt University. "This shows that not
only do we have a problem with the status of technology in schools, but it's
also a problem in our communities."

Title: Racial Divide Found on Information Highway
Source: New York Times (A1,A22)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/041798race.html
Author: Amy Harmon
Issue: Internet/Minorities
Description: A study to be published today in the journal Science has found
that black Americans are less likely to use the Internet than white
Americans. The "sharp" racial divide is particularly evident "among
households below the median income." The study, authored by Donna L.
Hoffman, a professor of management at the Vanderbilt Univ., and Thomas P.
Novak, found that "in households with annual incomes below $40,000, whites
were six times as likely as blacks to have used the World Wide Web in the
past week. Lower-income white households were also twice as likely to own a
home computer as were black households." The study is "significant" because
it documents concerns that the recent growth of the Internet "might further
exacerbate the gap between the nation's rich and poor. And while it is no
surprise that Americans with lower incomes are less likely to own a
computer, the study highlights for the first time what may be the more
disturbing role of race in determining who has access to digital
technology." "As we move into the information age, you need more than
reading, writing and arithmetic to participate in our society. You need
information literacy, and if African-Americans don't have it, that's a
serious problem," said B. Keith Fulton, director of programs and policy for
the National Urban League. "One of the things it looks like we have here are
some solid, up-to-date statistics that paint a more comprehensive picture
than we've understood in the past," said Andrew Blau, director of
communications policy at the Benton Foundation which studies the impact of
technology and signs my paycheck. "It's not one that offers anybody easy
relief, but having a better understanding of the nature of the problem is
the first step toward devising a solution." The study's results
were based on data collected in a telephone survey conducted by Nielsen
Media Research from Dec 1996 through Jan 1997.

** Telephony **

Title: Tough Calls: It's Hard Not to Notice Phone Service Leaves a Lot to
Be Desired
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A1)
Author: John Keller
Issue: Telephone/Competition
Description: "I'm sick of competition," says one New York state Bell
Atlantic and Sprint customer. "I just want to make a simple phone call and
not worry about it." It seems everyone has at least one horror story to tell
about being "slammed" and receiving bills from a phone company you did not
choose or "crammed" and paying for services you did not choose. The source
of these hassles, Keller reports, is competition. And regulators and phone
executives say this is just all part of the march of progress.
Telecommunications companies are spending big money on mergers and trying to
save money on existing services. To reduce costs, companies are cutting tens
of thousands of jobs, are becoming lax about verifying orders, and are
farming out marketing altogether -- losing supervision of how their service
is sold. Consumer complaints at the FCC have raised 14%

** Television **

Title: Increase Seen in Number Of Violent TV Programs
Source: New York Times (A16)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/tv-violence.html
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: Television
Description: A study financed by the cable television industry has found
that the level of violence on television has remained constant over the past
three years. However, the final report also showed that the number of
violent programs appearing in prime time has increased on both broadcast and
cable networks. The three-year study, conducted at the Univ. of Calif. at
Los Angeles and financed by ABC,CBS,NBC and FOX, "examined all broadcast
network prime-time series and children's shows and reported, show by show,
whether they raised 'frequent,' 'occasional' or no concerns about excessive
or gratuitous use of violence." The study said that overall, 61 percent of
programs contain some violence, the same figure as last year and up from 58
percent in 1994-95. It also said that nearly 75 percent of violent scenes on
TV showed no "remorse, criticism or penalty" for the violence within the
scene. "Children under age 7 lack the cognitive ability to consider
punishments that occur later in the program and link them to the earlier
crime," said Barbara Wilson, a senior researcher on the study and professor
of communications at the Univ. of Calif. at Santa Barabara. "So in the short
run, at least, they get the message that violence is condoned." "My reaction
is, 'There they go again,'" said Martin Franks, senior vice president of CBS
who is that network's expert of content and ratings. "Once again, they're
just counting incidents, and if you just count, you don't distinguish
between 'Schindler's List' and 'Die Hard.'" Wilson pointed out that, "We're
not just counting violence, we're looking at how it's portrayed." She also
said that in 40 percent of programs, the perpetrator of violence was not
punished at all, "anywhere in the plot." The study was coordinated at the
Center for Communication and Social Policy at the Univ. of Calif. at Santa
Barabara, and included researchers at the Univ. of North Carolina, the Univ.
of Texas and the Univ. of Wisconsin.

Title: Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital
Television Broadcasters
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/pubintadvcom/aprmtg/transcript-am.htm
Issue: Digital TV
Description: A transcript of the April 14, 1998 meeting of the Advisory
Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters
is now available, as well as a RealAudio archive of the meeting
http://play.rbn.com/?rn/piac/demand/piac980414-85.rm [and a summary of the
meeting at http://www.benton.org/Policy/TV/meeting5.html].

** Spectrum **

Title: 16th Annual International Spectrum Management Seminar
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/ustti98.htm
Issue: Spectrum
Description: "For the 16th consecutive year, the U.S. Commerce Department's
National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA) and the United States Telecommunications
Training Institute (USTTI) will provide extensive radio spectrum management
training to leading regulators and communications professionals from diverse
parts of the world. The course, to be held April 20 -May 1, 1998 in
Washington, DC, involves participants from 20 developing countries,
including Albania, Cyprus, Moldova, Belarus, Thailand and Uganda."

** InfoTech **

Title: Year 2000 Council Holds Their First Meeting
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/17millennium.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: InfoTech
Description: With less than two years left before its deadline, President
Clinton's Year 2000 Conversion Council held its first meeting yesterday to
begin coordinating efforts of how to protect the country from this turn of
the century technological glitch. The council, headed by James Koskinen, the
so called Y2K czar, is compiled of 34 executive and regulatory government
agency representatives. "The big focus is on coordinating the outreach by
federal agencies with organizations and entities outside the federal
government," said Koskinen. "The challenges we have will be medium and
smaller operation in the private sector," he said. "Similarly medium and
smaller operations at the local government level, and I think even some
large operations at the international level." When asked if the government
isn't running a bit behind schedule on confronting this "monumental" task.
Koskinen replies: "If it's any measure of comparison, we are ahead of 95
percent of the world. The federal government has been working on this for
two to three years. And there's no indication that the energy and
telecommunications sectors have not been working just as hard. So now is the
appropriate time for people to pull together and compare notes."
*********

Jobs/Minorities
WSJ: TV Jobs Rules On Minorities Are Overturned
NYT: Appeals Court Voids F.C.C. Requirement on Minority Hiring
FCC: Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod v. FCC

Universal Service
TelecomAM: FCC Report Criticized and Praised by Both Sides

Internet
WSJ: Web Publishers Wage War for Music Scoops
NYT: Houston High School Students Take Time-Honored
Exam Cram to the Net
NYT: Technology Companies Push For Standards on Web Images

Long Distance
TelecomAM: Pennsylvania Considering Following New York's "Road Map" Example

Cable
WSJ: Big cable-TV Operators Are Up in Arms Over ESPN
Move to Raise Rates Sharply

Electronic Commerce
WSJ: IBM Blitz to Introduce "E-Business Tools"
NYT: AT&T Data Network Fails and Commerce Takes a Hit
WP: AT&T Gets Network Running Again

Journalism & Arts
WSJ: Grand Forks, ND, Newspaper Wins A Pulitzer Prize
NYT: Gershwin, Graham and Roth Among Pulitzer Winners
WP: Katharine Graham, Philip Roth Win Pulitzers
NYT: Guggenheim Announces Record Gift, $50 Million
NYT: A Night at the Computer-Generated Opera

** Jobs/Minorities **

Title: TV Jobs Rules On Minorities Are Overturned
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B9)
Author: Scott Ritter
Issue: Jobs/Minorities
Description: "A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia yesterday said the [Federal Communications Commission]
failed to show how its equal employment opportunities rules serve the public
interest." The ruling is a setback for the FCC's efforts to bring diversity
to the nation's airwaves. The FCC adopted the rules in 1968 to foster more
diverse programming. In 1971, about 9% of all full-time employees in radio
and television were minorities; today they comprise 20%. "It means that the
steady progress of minorities in broadcast employment may lessen," said
Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project. "Most troublesome is the
narrow, crimped understanding of what the FCC's diversity objectives are."
[See reaction from FCC below]

Title: Appeals Court Voids F.C.C. Requirement on Minority Hiring
Source: New York Times (A1)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Steven Holmes
Issue: Jobs/Minorities
Description: "We do not think it matters whether a government hiring program
imposes hard quotas, soft quotas, or goals," Judge Laurence Silberman said,
who was appointed to the appeals court in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan.
"Any one of these techniques induces an employer to hire with an eye toward
meeting the numerical target. As such, they can and surely will result in
individuals being granted a preference because of their race." The
three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
ruled that the FCC had failed to prove that the affirmative action program
imposed on broadcasters served the public interest. "The broadcasting
industry has been much more effective in hiring and promoting minorities
than the print media, which is the only comparable industry," said Andrew
Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project, a non-profit public
interest law firm that promotes affirmative action programs. "The main
reason for that has been this program."

Title: Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod v. FCC
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/Statements/stwek823.html
Author: Chairman Kennard
Issue: Jobs/Minorities
Description: Statement from Chairman William E. Kennard on the D.C. Circuit
Opinion in Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod v. FCC: "Our nation is diminished
by today's D.C. Circuit opinion in Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod v. FCC.
In this opinion, a panel of the D.C. Circuit held unconstitutional the FCC's
rules requiring broadcasters to cast a wide net in their recruitment
efforts. I am confident that our rules are constitutional and that they
embody the best American principles of fostering opportunity. We are
reviewing the D.C. Circuit's decision and our options for judicial appeal.
The unfortunate reality in our nation today is that race and gender still
matter. We all benefit when broadcasting, our nation's most influential
medium, reflects the rich cultural diversity of our country. Over the last
several decades, the broadcast industry and the FCC have worked in
partnership to encourage opportunity in the broadcast industry. Our rules
have opened doors for minorities and women and have led to more minorities
and women in front of and behind the television camera and inside and
outside of the radio booth. In 1971, three years after the FCC's EEO rules
began, women constituted only 23.3% of full-time broadcast employees, and
minorities constituted only 9.1%. Last year women constituted 40.8% of
broadcast employees and minorities constituted 19.9%."

** Universal Service **

Title: FCC Report Criticized and Praised by Both Sides
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Internet/Universal Service
Description: Members of Congress are beginning to react to the Federal
Communications Commission's report Internet service providers (ISPs)
contributions to the universal service fund. The agency didn't propose the
type of systematic approach that's needed to "solve the problem," said Mitch
Rose, chief of staff for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), but what they ended up
with "at least showed some understanding of the issues." On the other hand,
Rep Rick White (R-WA) praised the Commission for acknowledging "that it
doesn't have enough facts to act now." But he added that when a government
agency says it will consider something, "that means it wants to do it but
hasn't figured out how." The Internet Access Coalition says, "The FCC has
once again shown itself to be the Internet consumer's friend. The executive
director of the Commercial Internet eXchange Association said the report
isn't "something we need to fight or be unhappy about." But she warned that
Internet companies would be "naive to think that [regulation] ends here."

** Internet **

Title: Web Publishers Wage War for Music Scoops
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: Patrick Reilly
Issue: Internet Content
Description: Music giants are waging a war for the dollars of teenagers in
cyberspace. Competing music news sites are competing for the next generation
of music fans by reporting recording-industry news and gossip. "The question
is which will be the one or two default destinations for people," says an
executive at the Rolling Stones site. "Our goal is to own the mind share for
music."

Title: Houston High School Students Take Time-Honored Exam Cram to the Net
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Pamela Mendels
Issue: EdTech
Description: Ten days before this year's round of Advanced Placement exams
for high school students, The Great American Cram
http://www.cy-fair.net/great/ will be launched. The site will be an online
study group aimed at helping students cram for the exams. "The idea came to
us last year after our A.P. history teacher suggested study groups," said
one founder. "We had been involved in the Internet for a while, so we
figured there was no way not to merge the benefits of the Internet with the
benefits of a study group." Last year the same two Houston high school
students launched a similar site http://library.advanced.org/10335/ on the
AP History exam that ended up attracting over 1,000 hits per day. "Robert O.
McClintock, director of the Institute for Learning Technologies
http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/ at Teachers College of Columbia University,
took a quick look at last year's site, and praised the idea, but said he
thought the students' outline contributions could have been stronger and
more cohesive."

Title: Technology Companies Push For Standards on Web Images
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/15graphics.html
Author: Peter Wayner
Issue: Technology
Description: Several major technology companies announced this week plans to
support a new plan called Precision Graphics Markup Language (PGML) for
distributing "vector-based" artistic content in an effort to unify the
"disparate" worlds of print media and the World Wide Web. Their hope is that
digital designers will create works that look great when displayed on a
computer screen and "when printed in much higher resolution upon paper."
Halle Winkler, a San-Francisco-based designer said, "HTML text is really a
catastrophe. It's perfect for information delivery, but for actual design
it's terrible for designers." She points to the fact that the vector-based
formats take up less space and give designers the freedom to specify exactly
where and how letters and lines will appear. Richard Cohen, a senior
designer at Adobe who helped develop the PGML standard, points out that
printing is just as important as the display on the computer screen.
"Everyone's gone off and created nice looking Web pages and they look lousy
when they're printed." PGML would solve this problem by providing higher
level descriptions of the artwork to the printer so the work could be
recreated at a higher resolution.

** Long Distance **

Title: Pennsylvania Considering Following New York's "Road Map" Example
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Long Distance
Description: PA Public Utility Commission Chairman David Rolka said that the
state may follow New York's lead and adopt Bell Atlantic's New York
commitments for PA at its April 23 meeting. The PUC wants to "build upon"
New York's review that resulted in a Bell Atlantic's agreement to open New
York's local phone market in exchange for the NY PUC and the Department of
Justice's approval of BA's long distance application.

** Cable **

Title: Big cable-TV Operators Are Up in Arms Over ESPN Move to Raise Rates
Sharply
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B6)
Author: Leslie Cauley
Issue: Cable
Description: Cable industry executives are howling over a proposal being
pushed by Walt Disney's ESPN. The plan would raise rates 20% annually
through 2006 for cable operators to show the sports programming channel.
ESPN's rates would quadruple over that time. Cable operators will have to
decide to eat those costs or to pass them on to customers and face their
wrath. "For ESPN, this is a license to print money," said a Cox
Communications executive. ESPN is raising rates because of its decision to
spend a record $600 million per year for the cable rights to National
Football league games -- 225% the rate paid for the games before. Starting
August 1, ESPN will cost cable operators more than $1 per subscriber.

** Electronic Commerce **

Title: IBM Blitz to Introduce "E-Business Tools"
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/
Author: Raju Narisetti
Issue: Advertising/Electronic Commerce
Description: IBM has been running ads touting electronic commerce for
months, but the ads didn't make clear what the computer giant was selling.
Now IBM will clarify: the exciting new e-business tools are laptops,
personal computers, and other computers the company has been selling for
years. In the start of a year-long $100 million global ad blitz, look for
the eight-page newspaper insert next week that states: "The Work Matters.
The People Matter. The Tools Matter." IBM spends $750 million annually on
advertising.

Title: AT&T Data Network Fails and Commerce Takes a Hit
Source: New York Times (D2)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/15phone.html
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Electronic Commerce
Description: From Monday afternoon until yesterday afternoon, consumers and
companies across the nation were exposed to the reality of just how
dependent we are upon vast computer networks. Several million people found
their credit cards were useless and automated bank teller machines were
unable to function because a high-speed data network of the AT&T Corp. had
broken down. The crash did not affect the phone service of AT&T customers,
nor did it affect Internet access. But "the flow of data for transactions
involving credit cards, bank accounts, travel reservations, and the like
were seriously disrupted." Industry experts agree that AT&T's collapse was
the worst such failure ever. "This sort of thing is going to happen
infrequently, but more and more in the future," said Howard Anderson,
managing director of the Yankee Group, a technology research firm. "And it
makes you realize how vital to the lifeblood of the economy these complex
computer networks have become." The AT&T network that crashed is known as a
frame relay network. Until the company finds and solves the problem, C.
Michael Armstrong, chairman of AT&T, said that customers that use AT&T frame
relay will not be charged.

Title: AT&T Gets Network Running Again
Source: Washington Post (C11)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/15/115l-041598-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Electronic Commerce
Description: Engineers worked throughout the night Monday to fix the AT&T
system crash that "crippled much of the nation's credit card authorization
system and thousands of bank machines and computer terminals" on Monday and
Tuesday. C. Michael Armstrong issued an apology to everyone affected and
said that AT&T was working hard to "identify, isolate and fix" the cause of
the collapse. The system that crashed was AT&T's "frame-relay" system.
Governments and businesses use this system to send computerized information
across state lines. "The nature of the frame-relay is such that an outage at
a couple of switches can spread like a contagion everywhere else," said
Melanie Posey, a senior analyst with International Data Corp. in New York.
"It just shows you that no matter how great and wonderful a certain
technology is, you have to have a backup plan.

** Journalism & Arts**

Title: Grand Forks, ND, Newspaper Wins A Pulitzer Prize
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B10)
Author: WSJ Staff Reporter
Title: Gershwin, Graham and Roth Among Pulitzer Winners
Source: New York Times (A1,A23)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/041598pulitzers.html
Author: Felicity Barringer
Title: Katharine Graham, Philip Roth Win Pulitzers
Source: Washington Post (A1,A10)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/15/035l-041598-idx.html
Author: David Streitfeld
Issue: Arts/Journalism
Description: The Pulitzer Board announced its annual awards Tuesday.
Katharine Graham, former chairwoman for the Washington Post, won the
biography prize for her book "Personal History." "I have to say bluntly at
80 to suddenly have this kind of award is pretty unbelievable -- and pretty
fun," said Mrs. Graham. Novelist Philip Roth, who has been a finalist for
the prize three times in the past, received his first Pulitzer for "American
Pastoral." Charles Wright, a professor at the Univ. of VA, won the poetry
prize for "Black Zodiac" and Paula Vogel won the drama prize for "How I
Learned to Drive." "A special citation was given posthumously to George
Gershwin, the composer of "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris," on
the centennial of his birth 'for distinguished and enduring contributions to
American music.'" The Pulitzers are presented by Columbia Univ. and include
an award of $5,000. For a complete list of all of the prizes awarded please
see the above links or newspapers. The winner for public service was Knight
Ridder's Grand Forks, North Dakota Herald for its coverage of flood and fire
in the city.

Title: Guggenheim Announces Record Gift, $50 Million
Source: New York Times (B1,B8)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/arts/guggenheim-gift.html
Author: Carol Vogel
Issue: Arts
Description: The Solomon Guggenheim Museum announced yesterday that it had
received "a cash pledge" of $50 million from Peter Lewis, chairman and chief
executive of Progressive Corp., a Cleveland-based insurance company. This
gift is one of the largest ever made to any visual arts institution and the
largest gift that the Guggenheim has ever received since its founding in 1937.

Title: A Night at the Computer-Generated Opera
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/15opera.html
Author: Matthew Mirapaul
Issue: Arts
Description: The first opera with computer-generated scenery, characters and
action, will appear Wednesday night in Los Angeles. The opera, "Monsters of
Grace," is a collaboration between director Robert Wilson and composer
Philip Glass. It is a 68-minute opera which presents many of its visual
effects in "three dimensions through overlapping stereoscopic images
projected onto a movie screen 17 feet high and 42 feet wide." Members of the
audience who wear special polarized lenses "will see realistic renderings
of an undulating snake, a severed hand coursing with blood, birds that
appear to fly overhead and other dramatic accompaniments to Glass's
pulsating score." Following its two-week engagement at the UCLA Center for
the Performing Arts, the opera will begin a year-long world tour. Jedediah
Wheeler, the opera's producer, said the new technology allowed Wilson to
expand his ideas in fresh directions. "He is realizing a vision he's never
realized before," Wheeler said. "He's able to put things on stage that he
could not do in a conventional form...For the first time, other than building
devices in the center of a house [theater], you can bring the objects to the
audience. The parameters of the four walls of the theater box are expanded."
*********

Telephony/Universal Service
Telecom AM: Bear Stearns Analyst Says Access Charges For IP Telephony Still
Possible
Telecom AM: Internet Phone Companies May Pay Universal Service Fee
Telecom AM: Two Commissioners Say FCC Shouldn't Prioritized Fund For Schools

Libraries/Minorities
NYT: Queens Library Links the Multilingual World

Technology
NYT: Studies Explore the Possibilities of E-Mail for Everyone
NYT: Researchers Crack Code In Cell Phones
WP: AT&T High-Speed Data Network Fails

Corporate Philanthropy
WP: Firm to Give Research Schools Super-Fast Computer Services

Microsoft
WSJ: Clearing Microsoft's Path to Digital TV
WSJ: Microsoft Confirms June 25 Release Of Windows 98

Antitrust
NYT: Judge Rules Against Intel in Antitrust Case

International
NYT: Dutch Law Goes Beyond Enabling Wiretapping to Make It a Requirement

** Telephony/Universal Service **

Title: Bear Stearns Analyst Says Access Charges For IP Telephony Still Possible
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Internet Telephony/Universal Service
Description: The FCC has made no decision in its recent Universal Service
Report, but IP telephony providers may have to pay access charges. "We
believe that the FCC might ultimately decide to levy access charges on IP
telephony since it is our view that in the long run it is impossible to have
two services that offer the same functionality that are under different
regulatory cost structures," said James Henry, VP of telecommunications
analysis for Bear Stearns & Company.

Title: Internet Phone Companies May Pay Universal Service Fee
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: The FCC is considering requiring companies that carry "Net
phone calls" to contribute to the universal service fund. The FCC reported
to Congress that Internet protocol networks could be considered telecom
services, but the FCC will make those decisions on a case-by-case basis. The
FCC's report also emphasized its commitment to ensuring that consumers in
rural and other high-cost areas have affordable phone service.

Title: Two Commissioners Say FCC Shouldn't Prioritized Fund For Schools
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: Republican Commissioners, Powell and Furchtgott-Roth, said
they're concerned that the FCC has given too high a priority to hooking
schools and libraries to the Internet, at the expense of the high-cost
universal service fund to subsidize phone service for rural consumers. In
the FCC's report to Congress on Internet telephony, Furchtgott-Roth and
Powell said the schools fund is dangerously out of balance. Furchtgott, who
didn't approve of the report, also said the FCC missed a chance to scale
back the schools program and concentrate on the high-cost fund.

** Libraries/Minorities **

Title: Queens Library Links the Multilingual World
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/12library.html
Author: Pamela Mendels
Issue: Libraries/Minorities
Description: At the Queens Borough Public Library, 15 multilingual
librarians spend five hours a week "combing" through the Internet for
possible sites of interest to immigrants. Their efforts are part of
WorldlinQ, a project launched two years ago, designed to provide speakers of
foreign languages "in this heavily immigrant community with extensive access
to electronic resources." There are almost 2 million people in Queens and
more than 100 languages are spoken. "English is the primary language still
spoken in the borough," said Gary E. Strong, library director. "But Spanish
is not too far behind and not too far behind that is Chinese, and not too
far behind that is Korean." The result of this diversity, Strong said, is
the library's determination to provide members of the community with what he
called an "equity of access" not just to print but to electronic
information. Xuemao Wang, a systems analyst for the Queens library, said,
"Providing multilingual resources is something all libraries should do. They
have a long history of providing multilingual books, why not electronic
resources?"

** Technology **

Title: Studies Explore the Possibilities of E-Mail for Everyone
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/11email.html
Author: Rebecca Fairley Raney
Issue: E-Mail
Description: The John & Mary R. Markle Foundation, a philanthropic
organization in New York, is investing millions to explore the possibilities
of a society that provides email for everyone. Since 1994, the foundation
has explored related issues by funding major studies at Rand, Bellcore,
Carnegie Mellon Univ., and the Brookings Institute, and through the use of
surveys and roundtable discussions. Some of the issues explored include: the
foundation of friendships in cyberspace, community development online, and
the obstacles and benefits of computer literacy becoming part of the school
curriculum. "The objective is to create a national dialogue about universal
email access, an idea predicted by findings of a Rand study that said
universal access will not happen without social intervention." "The goal is
not to predict what will happen, but to encourage uses to enhance a
democratic society. Why be passive? We're hoping to have people thoughtfully
inspire uses," said Zoe Baird, the president of the Markle Foundation. The
thinking behind the Markle Foundation's initiative goes "that if the
government and corporate sectors provide better services online, the gap
between 'haves' and 'have-nots' will be more likely to close." Catherine
Gay, a principal in the International Advisory Group in New York, a
publishing company that is coordinating roundtables and publicity for the
foundation's thinking, said, "They're trying to prevent a society with an
underclass."

Title: Researchers Crack Code In Cell Phones
Source: New York Times (D1,D5)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/biztech/articles/14phone.html
Author: John Markoff
Issue: Encryption
Description: A group of Univ. of California computer researchers announced
Monday that they had successfully cracked the world's most widely used
encryption code that is designed to prevent the cloning of digital cellular
phones. The researchers believe that the system, known as Group Speciale
Mobile standard, or GSM, was deliberately weakened to permit government
surveillance. GSM is used in about 80 million cellular phones around the
world and in about 2 million phones in the U.S. The researchers broke the
code by "using a computer to determine a secret identity number stored in
the Subscriber Identity Module, or SIM, a credit cardlike device inside the
phone." But what was even more interesting than the security threat, was
that "the cracking code yielded a tantalizing hint that a digital key used
by GSM may have been intentionally weakened
during the design process to permit government agencies to eavesdrop on
cellular telephone conversations." Both the researchers and officials from
cellular phone companies said yesterday that the threat of cloning was
"extremely remote" in comparison to the vulnerability of analog cellular phones.

Title: AT&T High-Speed Data Network Fails
Source: Washington Post (C1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/14/120l-041498-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Technology
Description: AT&T's "frame relay" network crashed yesterday at 3 p.m. and
sent banks, stores, and gov't. agencies scrambling to backup systems. Most
managed the changeover with minor disruption, but the American Red Cross
experienced significant slowdowns because their backup data system was
designed for only regional outages, according to Greg Hamil, senior director
of wide-area networking and computer operations. The failure underlined a
risk of the emerging information age: as society becomes more linked by
low-cost communication systems it becomes more vulnerable when they fail.
AT&T officials could not explain the shut down. AT&T spokeswoman Ruth Lynn
Newell, said, "We are working aggressively to identify, isolate, and fix the
problem."

** Corporate Philanthropy **

Title: Firm to Give Research Schools Super-Fast Computer Services
Source: Washington Post (C5)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/14/078l-041498-idx.html
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Corporate Philanthropy
Description: Qwest Communications will provide $500 million worth of
transmission services to a computer network that is to connect a consortium
of research universities working on a project called "Internet2" at 1,000
times faster than commercial Internet, according to senior White House and
academic officials familiar with the plan. The consortium's project is a
component of the Clinton administration's Next Generation Internet
Initiative, which aims to connect several national labs and universities
with a super-fast network by the year 2000. Qwest said it has completed a
third of a $1.8 billion, 16,000-mile national data network on which it will
carry
commercial customers and Internet2.

** Microsoft **

Title: Clearing Microsoft's Path to Digital TV
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://wsj.com/
Author: David Bank
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Craig Mundie is Microsoft's "digital TV point man" for the
company's vision of digital broadcasting. The software giant has in mind a
technology in which the 'Net would meld with TV to form one interactive
information and entertainment medium. But, about a year ago, Mr. Mundie's
crusade seemed stalled when he announced a $425 million acquisition for
Microsoft's digital-TV strategy that conventioneers at the National Assoc.
of Broadcasters dismissed as a latecomer's move. This year, however, Mundie
gained an ally in Tele-Communications Inc. when they adopted Microsoft
software for its digital set-top boxes that it plans to distribute to cable
customers later this year. Mundie also recently got Sony to work with
Microsoft even though they have backed different digital-TV formats. Some of
Microsoft's new allies are trying to keep their distance, though ABC refused
to formalize the alliance with financing for production of
programming in Microsoft's favored format.

Title: Microsoft Confirms June 25 Release Of Windows 98
Source: Wall Street Journal (B8)
http://wsj.com/
Author: David Bank
Issue: Microsoft
Description: Windows 98 will be available June 25, at a retail list price of
$109, the same price of Windows 95. This release has been closely watched,
of course, due to the antitrust case the Justice Dept. has against the
company. The Dept. is considering a requirement that the company release a
version of the program without IE 4.0.Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's director of
Windows marketing, estimated that there are 35 million home and
small-business computers equipped to run Windows 98. Windows 98 will also be
marketed more to home and small business users by stressing its
entertainment features. The new OS more tightly integrate Internet-style
features into its basic functions. Mr. Mehdi also demonstrated that it is
possible to delete the icon for IE 4.0 and run another Web browser, like
Netscape, in its place.

** Antitrust **

Title: Judge Rules Against Intel in Antitrust Case
Source: New York Times (D2)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/biztech/articles/14intel.html
Author: Lawrence M. Fisher
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Federal Judge Edwin L. Nelson, of the U.S. District Court in
Birmingham, AL, found in a preliminary ruling that the Intel Corp. "likely"
violated antitrust law in its enforcement of nondisclosure agreements with
customers. The case arose after Intergraph, a maker of computer work
stations and technical software, based in Huntsville, AL, "asserted patent
rights with a number of computer makers using Intel chips, which then sought
indemnification from Intel." Jim Meadlock, Intergraph's chief executive,
said in a statement, "We believe the court is sending an unmistakable clear
and far-reaching message to Intel that there's no place for coercive,
monopolistic conduct in the computer industry." Chuck Mulloy, an Intel
spokesman, said the ruling would have little impact on the company because
Intel had not discontinued or threatened to discontinue shipping chips to
Intergraph. "We're disappointed," he said. "We're in the process of
evaluating all of our options, up to and including appeal."

** International **

Title: Dutch Law Goes Beyond Enabling Wiretapping to Make It a Requirement
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/eurobytes/14euro.html
Author: Bruno Giussani
Issue: International
Description: With the continued liberalization of the European
telecommunications market, gov'ts are beginning to feel that they're "losing
a grip" on telecommunications. Their response to this lack of control is
more and extended wiretapping. The Netherlands set a controversial benchmark
for "snooping" on all forms of communication on April 2, when the Second
Chamber of the Dutch Parliament approved a new Telecommunications Act. The
act includes a chapter which, among other things, is intended to force cable
operators ("many of which are preparing to sell phone services") and
Internet service providers (ISPs) "to make their networks tappable by the
police and intelligence services." The act was designed to mainly implement
"recent decisions by the European Union concerning market deregulation and
interconnection of telecommunication networks. Legal experts and privacy
watchdogs have warned that the new law provides insufficient guarantees for
the protection of privacy; they also point out the already generous use of
telephone taps in this country." Henrik Kaspersen, a professor at the
Institute for Informatics and Law of the Free Univ. in Amsterdam, questions
whether simply expanding the principle of "lawful interception" to cover the
new services and networks without a close evaluation is the correct way to
go. Guikje Roethof, a liberal member of the Parliament, said, "There are
numerous differences between the old phone networks and the information
highways...The authorities are oversimplifying the question when they argue
that since they've always tapped the phone, extending this practice to the
new networks and services is a no-brainer." The Telecommunications Act has
been approved by 121 of the 150 members of the Second Chamber, opposed only
by the D-66 and Green Party. The dissenting parties could obtain "a separate
resolution giving ISPs an additional delay in setting up the technical
facilities that make the tapping of Internet protocol traffic possible."
*********

Campaigns & Television
WP: Candidates, Cash, California
WSJ: No Such Thing as a Free Ad

Television Regulation
FCC: New Regulatory Thinking
FCC: The Public Interest Standard:
A New Regulator's Search for Enlightenment

Internet
WP: No Right to Filter Libraries
TelecomAM: Virginia Judge Rejects Dismissal Of ACLU
Challenge to Filtering
NYT: Bill Would Put Net Filters in California Libraries
NYT: Different Rulings on Child Porn Law Set Up
Potential Supreme Court Case
NYT: Technology Extends Reach of Aid for the Troubled
WP: Domain Name Tax Illegal, Judge Rules
NYT: Judge Calls Internet Registration Fee Illegal
WSJ: Hitting Up the Internet
TelecomAM: Another Congressman Opposes Universal Service
Charges On Internet
TelecomAM: Administration Opposes Internet Telephony Changes

Access to Government Info
NYT: Federal Government Clings to Paper Records

Microsoft
WP: Microsoft Again Makes Concession on Browsers
WSJ: Microsoft Corp. To Buy Pioneer Of 'Agent' Software
NYT: Microsoft Steps Into Debate Over On-Line Privacy
by Buying Firefly
NYT: U.S. and Microsoft to Talk Before Possible Showdown

Lifestyles!
NYT: Robot Headed for Rendezvous With Chernobyl
NYT: A Sly Lens on Corporate America

** Campaigns & Television **

Title: Candidates, Cash, California
Source: Washington Post (4/9, A3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/09/115l-040998-idx.html
Author: William Booth
Issue: Media&Politics
Description: California voters are now on the receiving end of what has been
dubbed the "Couch Potato Election." This is because, with two millionaires
running for governor and another two in statewide elections, unprecedented
amounts of cash are pouring forth to purchase TV time for spots designed to
introduce viewer-voters to unknown, but rich candidates. Two Democratic
candidates for governor have spent almost $20 million on ad time. This
governor's race
has demonstrated that almost any amount can be spent, despite attempts in
Calif. and Washington to limit campaign spending. The amounts being spent could
push the spending spree beyond the level reached by Republican
multimillionaire Michael Huffington, who spent $30 million in an
unsuccessful bid to unseat Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). The specter of
so much money buying so much TV time has led some politicians and
strategists to worry that candidates in minor races might not be able to
find primetime airspace.

Title: No Such Thing as a Free Ad
Source: Wall Street Journal (Op-eds, A10)
http://wsj.com/
Author: FCC Commissioner Harold Furchgott-Roth
Issue: Free Air Time for Candidates/Campaign Finance Reform
Description: "Pres. Clinton has called on the FCC to mandate that
broadcasters offer free air time for political candidates. But does the FCC
have the legal authority to enact campaign finance reform? No law governing
the FCC gives it the power to command that broadcasters charge politicians
nothing for advertising spots. In fact, federal statutes define
broadcasters' obligations to political candidates, and they stop far short
of guaranteeing free air time. Given all this, my fellow commissioners and I
might do better to focus on what we are required by law to do rather than
searching for extracurricular activities. The FCC is not strictly limited to
those areas listed in our governing statutes. Under the Communications Act,
the FCC has discretionary authority to regulate broadcasting in the 'public
interest'. But the authority has its limits... the relevant legal issue is
whether the free air time proposal bears a real connection to the efficient
management of broadcast licensing."

** Television Regulation **

Title: New Regulatory Thinking
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Powell/spmkp807.html
Author: Commissioner Powell
Issue: Digital TV
Description: "There are a few truths about regulating in the era of digital
convergence that we must take to heart: First, it is futile to attempt to
preserve the balkanized regulatory framework that presently
exists....Second, we have to accept that the changes ushered in by the
digital revolution are inevitable....Third, we must acknowledge that we
cannot accurately predict what technologies and services will ultimately
prevail in the marketplace....In large measure because of these truths,
regulatory policy in the next century must be marked by (1) regulators
yielding to competitive markets as the means for allocating communications
resources; (2) a greater focus on policies that promote innovation; (3)
deconstruction of the categorical regulatory scheme in which what law you
are subject to is dependent upon how you send your message; and (4)
regulatory efficiency."

Title: The Public Interest Standard: A New Regulator's Search for Enlightenment
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Powell/spmkp806.html
Author: Commissioner Powell
Issue: Television Regulation
Description: "When a question is raised about the need for broadcast
regulation in the public interest, I ask myself five questions: (1) Does the
Commission have the authority to do what is asked; (2) Even if it does, is
it nonetheless better to leave the matter to Congress or await more specific
instruction; (3) Is the issue best addressed by a State agency or another
Federal agency; (4) Should we address the matter at all; and (5) Would any
action we take violate the Constitution."

** Internet **

Title: No Right to Filter Libraries
Source: Washington Post (Op-eds, A22)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/10/001l-041098-idx.html
Issue: Filtering/Libraries
Description: In Alexandria, VA, Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that a suit
could go forward that had been brought in Loudon County by a group of
library patrons against a policy that made blocking software mandatory on
all machines. The order draws heavily on the reasoning laid out when the
Supreme Court overturned the Communications Decency Act. As in that case,
the judge wrote, the Loudon policy "unconstitutionally chills plaintiffs'
receipt of constitutionally protected materials" since, unlike in libraries
that have filters on only some machines, adults are forced to the level of
what's acceptable for children. Since access to the Internet is a single
package, the practical rationale for choosing books doesn't apply; rather,
content restriction is the sole motive, and blocking requires more effort
than not doing so.

Title: Virginia Judge Rejects Dismissal Of ACLU Challenge to Filtering
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Filtering
Description: A challenge led by the ACLU to the use of Internet filtering
software on public library computers in Loudon County, VA, got a boost April
7 when the U.S. District Court rejected a gov't. motion to dismiss the case.
Judge Leonie Brinkema cited 3 factual issues: 1) Whether there's a
compelling need for some sort of blocking, 2) how effective the blocking
software is at distinguishing acceptable sites from pornographic sites, and
3) how much control the library has over the standards used by the software.
The ACLU said the library board can't impose coherent criteria for what
material to block when it doesn't know how the software is programmed.

Title: Bill Would Put Net Filters in California Libraries
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/10california.html
Author: Rebecca Fairley Raney
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: Assemblyman Peter Frusetta (R-CA) has introduced a bill that
would require all public libraries in Calif. to install filtering software
on any public computers providing Internet access. Frusetta said that the
interests of protecting children from pornography and obscene material
outweigh the First Amendment. "I don't think First Amendment issues apply to
children of these tender years," said Frusetta. He said that using filtering
software would be like providing a "wrapper" that hides adult magazines from
children's view in stores. The California Library Assoc. and the American
Civil Liberties Union are "lining up" free speech arguments against the
bill. "Filters block out information people need," said Linda Crowe,
chairwoman of the California Library Assoc. legislative committee, referring
to issues that are filtered out like breast cancer and sexuality. "Libraries
are there to give information to folks, and if the information is filtered,
we can't do our job."

Title: Different Rulings on Child Porn Law Set Up Potential Supreme Court Case
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/cyberlaw/10law.html
Author: Carl S. Kaplan
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: Federal Judge Gene Carter, of the Federal District Court in
Portland, ME, declared on March 30 that key sections of the Child
Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 are unconstitutional because they contain
vague and overly broad language. Judge Carter's ruling "struck the first
judicial blow" against the "controversial" federal law designed to help
fight child pornography in the age of the Internet. Judge Carter found in
examining the law that the key term "appears to be" minor, which is too
vague because a viewers determination of age of the image depicted would be
highly subjective. He also said that the law's definition of child
pornography "creates substantial uncertainty" for viewers presented with
sexual content depicting adults. The court suggested that adult actors may
appear over 18 to some but under 18 to others. Some civil libertarians fear
"that this legal slight-of-hand on the part of the judge, if approved by
other courts, could result in all-too-easy regulation of the content of
speech on the Internet." Judge Carter's decision will almost certainly be
appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit of Boston.

Title: Technology Extends Reach of Aid for the Troubled
Source: New York Times (4/9/98-Circuits)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/circuits/articles/09psych.html
Author: Sandeep Junnarkar
Issue: Health
Description: More hospitals across the nation are starting telepsychiatry
programs to help serve people in rural areas who seek psychiatric help but
don't have access to a psychologist or social worker. In this type of
therapy, the patient and therapist uses computers, medical equipment and
closed-circuit and video tele-conferences to hold treatment sessions at a
distance. There are currently about 70 telepsychiatry programs around the United
States, up from about 46 in 1996, said Dr. Ellen Rothchild, a clinical
professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve Univ. in Cleveland and
chairwoman of telemedicine services for the American Psychiatric
Association. Experts caution against using telepsychiatry as a replacement
for face-to-face treatment. "It really doesn't provide the kind of hands-on
care one may want," said John O'Laughlen, administrator of the consolidated
department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "It really augments care
and provides the opportunity to care for a wider variety of people who may
not have gotten help otherwise."

Title: Domain Name Tax Illegal, Judge Rules
Source: Washington Post (F4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/10/065l-041098-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Internet Domains
Description: U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan held that a $30 fee
assessed on Internet address holders was an illegal tax because it was
devised by the Nat'l Science Foundation and Network Solutions instead of by
Congress. Judge Hogan wrote that "unless Congress acts to ratify the
collection of
the [fee], plaintiffs may be entitled to a refund of the taxes that they
have paid." The $30 has gone into a gov't. "Intellectual Infrastructure
Fund" for the Internet and is part of a $100 fee charged by Network
Solutions to those who want to register Internet domain names. Judge Hogan ruled
that Network Solutions didn't violate the law in charging the other part of
the fee, saying the company is merely being compensated for the service of
providing domain names to customers.

Title: Judge Calls Internet Registration Fee Illegal
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/10domain.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Internet Domains
Description: Federal Judge Thomas F. Hogan, of Federal District Court in
Washington, ruled yesterday that a $30 fee collected on millions of Internet
domain registrations is an illegal tax. This decision puts in limbo a $50
million federal fund that was designated in part to help fund research on
the Next Generation Internet. William Bode, the lawyer who brought the suit,
said he hoped this ruling would translate into millions of refunded dollars
for people who registered domains over the past two years. Beth Gaston, a
spokeswoman for the National Science Foundation, said it was unclear what
would happen to the fund. "Obviously we are disappointed with the district
court decision," she said. "Right now we are reviewing it to see what our
options are." Judge Hogan said the tax was illegal because it had never been
specifically authorized by Congress. "Congress may have intended to grant the
NSF the authority to collect the assessment, but it has not done so yet,"
Hogan wrote. "It still retains the power to ratify the collection even at
this late date," he added. "However, if it wishes to effect such a
ratification and permit NSF to use the Intellectual Infrastructure Fund,
Congress must pass legislation that more explicitly conveys its intentions."

Title: Hitting Up the Internet
Source: Wall Street Journal (Op-eds, A10)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Internet/Universal Service
Description: Now, as it has in other ways, the Internet is changing things.
In lieu of MCI, people could place a call using an Internet long distance
service. The call is routed through his local phone service to a computer,
which puts the call on the Internet. Once there, the call travels to the
desired destination, where it is transferred to the receiver's local phone
service. The main difference between the two methods is cost. By using the
Internet, a caller spends half of what they would using the traditional
method. In part, this is because ISPs don't pay access fees to local phone
companies. In addition, all phone companies pay subsidies to the
government's "universal service fund," which has existed since the 1930s,
and which helps underwrite phone use for low income inner-city residents,
and rural areas, where service is more expensive to provide. At the urging
of Sen. Ted Stevens (R.-Alaska), the FCC will send a report to Congress
asking for permission to burden Internet phone companies with universal
service fees. Leveling stiff fees on Internet telephony providers will
result in costlier Internet service for consumers. Worse, the technological
development of a new medium will suffer due to regulatory efforts to
preserve a clearly outdated business model.

Title: Another Congressman Opposes Universal Service Charges On Internet
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: Rep. Rick White (R-WA) told the FCC he opposes regulating
Internet telephony -- including removing its exemption from universal
service charges. In a letter to Chairman Kennard, White said the Telecom Act
defines IT as an information service, not a telecom service.

Title: Administration Opposes Internet Telephony Changes
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service/Internet Telephony
Description: The Administration's top telecom official urged the FCC not to
regulate Internet telephony as a "telecommunication service," warning that
to do so would "raise contentious issues" with international as well as
domestic implications. In a letter to Chairman Kennard, Nat'l
Telecommunications and Information Administrator (NTIA) Larry Irving also
told the Commission not to "be wedded" to its proposed mechanism for funding
high-cost universal service, under which states would fund 75%. [See
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fccfilings/96_45reportltr.htm]

** Access to Government Info **

Title: Federal Government Clings to Paper Records
Source: New York Times (4/9/98)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/circuits/articles/09archives.html
Author: Michael Cooper
Issue: Access to Government Info
Description: The Nat'l Archives and Records Administration is advising
Gov't. agencies that they could delete and destroy their e-mail and other
electronic records as long as they printed out copies and saved the reams of
paper. Researchers, librarians, historians and journalists are crying foul
and struggling to save the electronic records. They sued the archives
administration in Dec. 1996, charging that vital data could be lost in the
metamorphosis from byte to backup and arguing that the Gov't. was missing an
opportunity to make its records more accessible and searchable. A Federal
District Court judge agreed with them in October, declaring the paper policy
"null and void." The Gov't. has no system capable of storing
the voluminous electronic output of a bureaucracy in the computer age.
Michael Tankersley, a lawyer with Public Citizen, said paper copies are just
not the same as the electronic originals and are far less valuable to
researchers and the public. "You can search and sort and do research with
the electronic version in ways that you can't with voluminous paper
records," he said.

** Microsoft **

Title: Microsoft Again Makes Concession on Browsers
Source: Washington Post (F1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/10/066l-041098-idx.html
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Microsoft said it would allow news and entertainment companies
that advertise their Internet sites on the "desktop" of Microsoft's Windows
software to promote Internet-browsing software made by other firms,
specifically rival Netscape. The companies' Internet sites are listed in a
"Channel Bar" that is added to a user's desktop when they install version
4.0 of Microsoft's IE Browser. Under contracts Microsoft has with the
"content provider" companies, they have had to tout Microsoft's browser
exclusively on the Internet sites. The software giant's competitors have
criticized the agreements, saying that Microsoft was using its dominance
with Windows to improperly get a leg up in the browser market. A Microsoft
exec said that the company believes that the contracts are legal but that
the controversy over them was becoming a "distraction."

Title: Microsoft Corp. To Buy Pioneer Of 'Agent' Software
Source: Wall Street Journal (B6)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Nick Wingfield
Issue: Online Services
Description: Microsoft will pay about $40 million for the Firefly Network,
including stock, cash, and assumed debt, according to people familiar with
the transaction. Firefly is a pioneer of the so-called "agent" software that
searches the World Wide Web for goods and services based on computer users'
interests, making the results more personalized. The technology can be used
to tailor information, shopping and other Internet services based on a
digital profile that includes a user's preferences and biographical data.
Supporters say this personalization capability makes life easier for
Internet users. Bob Herbold, Microsoft's COO, said the deal will help it
develop software and services that meet the P3P standards. But Firefly's
technology remains unpopular among some privacy advocates, who fear personal
data may still be exploited by unscrupulous direct marketers.

Title: Microsoft Steps Into Debate Over On-Line Privacy by Buying Firefly
Source: New York Times (C1,C4)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/10microsoft.html
Author: John Markoff
Issue: Privacy
Description: Microsoft's announced yesterday its purchase of a small
software developer, Firefly Network Inc., based in Cambridge. While
Microsoft's purchase did not cause much of a stir on Wall Street, it
highlights an ongoing debate over the issue of privacy and the Internet.
Firefly's technology allows computer users to better control their personal
information on the Internet. Some are concerned that Microsoft will begin to
integrate this technology into its Web browser, thus making the gathering of
personal information about individuals an integral part of the Internet. At
the very least it would make it much easier for companies to gather personal
and behavioral information about people for marketing purposes. However,
Firefly also "embraces and champions a new set of Internet standards," which
helps a person choose how much personal information is transmitted when they
visit a Web site. The privacy advocates' debate stems from the fact that
"Firefly's standard represent a compromise between those who want to unleash
the power of the Internet to aim individualized advertising in a way never
before possible and those who want to curb potential abuses by corporations
and government agencies."

Title: U.S. and Microsoft to Talk Before Possible Showdown
Source: New York Times (C4)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/10microsoft-side
.html
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Antitrust
Description: The Justice Department's top antitrust official is scheduled to
meet with Microsoft Corp's general council this Thursday in Washington in an
effort to find common ground instead of returning to court. The government
is expected to voice some of its concerns about "Microsoft's contracts with
personal computer makers and others." And Microsoft is expected to "try to
explain that practices the government finds questionable are, in fact,
entirely legal if fully understood."

** Lifestyles! **

Title: Robot Headed for Rendezvous With Chernobyl
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/10robot.html
Author: Matt Richtel
Issue: Technology
Description: The same space agencies and scientists that helped Pathfinder
explore Mars are using similar "cutting-edge" technology to explore the
contaminated site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor this November. The robot,
called Pioneer, is a miniature bulldozer that will not only scout the
location but will also shoot video and help create a virtual model of the
inside of the 198-foot concrete tomb that encases the reactor. Scientists
hope that Pioneer's findings will help the consortium of G-7 governments
cooperating on the Chernobyl cleanup, decide how they should mend the tomb
that is decaying so severely that nuclear waste may begin to seep into the
outside water and air. "The high exposure to radiation kills the on board
computer and freezes the joints," dais Daryl Rasmussen, Telepresence
Researcher for the Intelligent Mechanisms Group at the NASA Ames Research
Center. "So far, nobody has built a robot that can survive in there - let
alone accomplish the work."

Title: A Sly Lens on Corporate America
Source: New York Times (B1,B27)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/041098bigone-film-review.html
Author: Janet Maslin
Issue: Arts
Description: Michael Moore is back again with a new movie titled, "The Big
One," depicting a promotional book tour. Moving onward from Flint, Mich. and
the rabbit lady, Moore's latest movie is the "rare mainstream American film
about real issues, and the too-rare documentary with a reasonable commercial
future." The film gets its name from a radio interview "in which Moore
suggested changing the name of the United States of America into something
more dynamic ('The Big One'), honoring bald men because they are more common
than bald eagles, and turning "We Will Rock You" into the national anthem."
Moore, known for his passion on the issue of downsizing, often uses
"guerilla tactics" when approaching top-level corporate employees about
their more questionable activities. ("The deal is, you never turn the camera
off," he instructs his cinematopgrapher.") But what do these methods bring
to the problems of displaced American workers? "Provocation and attention,
certainly. But far more lingering than Moore's surprise showdowns with
various plant managers seen here is the glimmer of hope that his
high-profile crusading can prompt thought or even get some jobs back." The
kinds of labor issues he discusses are those that often don't make it to the
multiplex -- at least it's a start.
*********
...and we are outta here. Have a great weekend. We'll be back Monday.