BROADCASTING
F.C.C. Acts to Assist Blind TV Audience (NYT)
INTERNET
Used-Bookseller Alibris to Plead Guilty to Intercepting
Amazon.com's E-Mail (WSJ)
The New Interview Etiquette (USA)
Email Epidemic: Get Paid For Sending Ads to Your Friends (USA)
Internet Taking Advertising Into New Dimensions (SJM)
BROADBAND
Some DSL service slowed (SJM)
POLICYMAKERS
Greg Rohde Assumes Duties as DOC Assistant Secretary and NTIA
Administrator (NTIA)
Republican Leader Hands Out Tech Homework (CyberTimes)
ANTITRUST
7 Suits So Far As Pressure On Microsoft Is Escalating (NYT)
BROADCASTING
F.C.C. ACTS TO ASSIST BLIND TV AUDIENCE
Issue: Broadcasting/Access
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed that broadcasters be
required to adopt video description technology to help the blind follow
the action on television. The technology works by allowing users to turn
on a secondary audio programming channel, where a narrator describes the
action during pauses in the dialogue. The video description rules were
unanimously approved by the commission's chairman last Thursday but will
not become final until after the public-comment period, lasting several
months. "Television is the most important cultural medium in our society,"
said commission Chairman William Kennard. "It is a shared experience
that connects people. And we must do all that we can to break down
the barriers to it."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A16), AUTHOR: New York Times Staff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/blind-fcc.html)
INTERNET
USED-BOOKSELLER ALIBRIS TO PLEAD GUILTY TO INTERCEPTING AMAZON.COM'S E-MAIL
Issue: E-commerce
Alibris (www.alibris.com), a rare-book dealer based in Emeryville,
California, said it will plead guilty to intercepting e-mail messages
from Amazon.com, the Seattle-based industry leader. According to court
documents filed by federal prosecutors in U.S. District Court in Boston
yesterday, Alibris captured and stored more than 4,000 e-mail messages
in an attempt to collect intelligence on the market. The interceptions
were possible because Alibris provided e-mail service for the book dealers.
Marty Manley, Alibris' chief operating officer, expects to pay a $250,000
fine to end the case. Manley admits his firm violated the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act, but denied that the information was taken for
a devious purpose or was ever misused. Amazon says they will still use
Alibris, as they need its services.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Glenn R. Simpson]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB943305134720688183.htm)
THE NEW INTERVIEW ETIQUETTE
Issue: Employment
The hiring process has morphed as job seekers head online in pursuit
of offers. Job seekers now head to bid4geeks.com where they auction
themselves to employers. The site has amassed 1,600 job seekers and
employers registered as users in just months. At Monster.com's talent
market, free-lancers and consultants bargain online. There are now
98,000 contractors using the site and about 26,000 auctions going on at
any given time. Technology and a tight labor market have resulted in an
age of virtual interviews, legal contracts, psychological testing and
hiring by committee. Offers are made faster; and interviews are short
and intense. New trends include e-recruiting, in which job candidates
are screened by phone, video interview or computer; more casual dress
interviewing; and the use of e-mail in place of thank you notes and
follow up phone calls.
[SOURCE: USA Today (1B), AUTHOR: Stephanie Armour]
(http://www.usatoday.com/money/bcovtue.htm)
EMAIL EPIDEMIC: GET PAID FOR SENDING ADS TO YOUR FRIENDS
Issue: Advertising
Epidemic Marketing plans to pay people to send ads with their email.
If a recipient clicks on an ad and makes a purchase, the sender and
Epidemic each get a cut. This process is based on the concept of virtual
marketing, where customers spread the word to each other about a site or
product. "This empowers individual email users to share in advertising
and direct-marketing revenue," Kelley Wanser, the CEO of Epidemic said.
Users will be able to form groups, known as "epiGroups," in which they
can decide as a group to carry specific ads. The money they make will
go to a designated fund. Users who sign up will have to provide Epidemic
with demographic information so ads can be targeted to them.
[SOURCE: USA Today (3B), AUTHOR: Janet Kornblum]
(http://www.usatoday.com)
INTERNET TAKING ADVERTISING INTO NEW DIMENSIONS
Issue: Advertising
Within Web advertising, technology can create a three-dimensional
cyber-shopping trip, while Net ads can go beyond the limits of real
life, advertising and marketing executives told a specialist seminar
in California recently. "It is a rich media. Banners can use of sound
and video. And you can change a campaign while it is running if it is
not working," said Jaki Ellenby, European Marketing Manager at Disney
Online. Interactivity can be used as a marketing tool for audience
targeting and monitoring, giving advertisers better value for money.
Consumers can be targeted via key words in searches and the pages they
download. Many advertisers say that timing is vitally important in virtual
communities where people may get extremely upset by advertising during
intense conversations.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Sue Landau]
(http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/1112649l.htm)
BROADBAND
SOME DSL SERVICE SLOWED
Issue: Broadband
PacBell has decided that in some cases it is wiser to provide less speed
on customers' digital subscriber lines, leaving a greater margin for error
to prevent problems and avoid costly service calls. Digital subscriber lines
generally encounter more problems the farther they are from the phone
company's
switching office, and the faster the data is transmitted, the less reliable
the connection will be. "I think this is a fairly intelligent move for
PacBell," said analyst Nancy Kaplan of Renaissance Worldwide Inc.,
a communications consulting firm. "What they're saying is, we're going
to deliver what we're promising. . . . By slowing it down a little, they
can get their arms around their own offer far more effectively."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Jon Healey]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/dsl112399.htm)
POLICYMAKERS
GREG ROHDE ASSUMES DUTIES AS DOC ASSISTANT SECRETARY AND NTIA ADMINISTRATOR
Issue: NTIA
From Press Release: Gregory L. Rohde was sworn-in by Commerce Secretary
William M. Daley as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and
Information, the chief advisor on telecommunications and information policy
in the Clinton/Gore Administration. As Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Communications and Administrator of National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA), Rohde will be responsible for formulating
policies supporting the development and growth of telecommunications,
information and related industries. In addition, his responsibilities will
include enhancing the efficiency and use of telecommunications and
informational services as well as providing policy for federal use of the
electromagnetic spectrum and the providing of telecommunications grants
to public users.
Rohde is the designated Sector Liaison Official for the Communications
and Information sector in the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection
initiative. He will work with the private sector in addressing problems
related
to critical infrastructure protection and implement a vulnerability
awareness
program for the sector. Rohde served as a senior aide to Senator Dorgan and
was
the Senator's Chief Policy Advisor in all matters, including
telecommunications
and technology issues relating to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation - of which Senator Dorgan is a member. He played a key
role
in many important legislative initiatives, including the landmark
Telecommunications Act of 1996 which represented sweeping reform of the
telecommunications and media industries, and other significant
telecommunications
legislation.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/rohde112299.htm)
REPUBLICAN LEADER HANDS OUT TECH HOMEWORK
Issue: Policymakers
Representative J.C. Watts, chairman of the House Republican Conference,
has distributed an 800-page "High-Tech Action Kit" to help his colleagues
better communicate with their constituents and to raise their profiles in
the fast-growing high-tech business community. "As the vibrant industry
continues to grow, its importance to every aspect of modern life including
public policy will only increase," he said in a cover letter for the kit.
The kit urges the Republicans to study and push the party's high-tech
agenda,
to hold town meetings to better explain technology issues to constituents
and to begin using the Internet for everything from e-mail newsletters
to polls to chat room discussions.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/11/cyber/articles/23donate.html)
ANTITRUST
7 SUITS SO FAR AS PRESSURE ON MICROSOFT IS ESCALATING
Issue: Anti-Trust
Seven suits, including, Alabama, California, Louisiana and New York,
have been filed against Microsoft so far. They all seek class-action
status on behalf of millions of consumers. The suits in Alabama and
Louisiana are federal cases, while the ones in New York and California
are in state courts. The suits could likely put pressure on Microsoft
to reach an out-of-court settlement with the Justice Department,
particularly after the judge in the trial appointed a mediator to
oversee voluntary negotiations. A settlement would make it far more
difficult for private plaintiffs to use the judge's findings to build
a foundation for a case against Microsoft. Microsoft is viewed as rich
enough and legally savvy enough to deal with the private actions, which
may be consolidated into a federal suit.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/11/biztech/articles/23soft.html)
See Also:
CONSUMER GROUP SAYS MICROSOFT MUST DIVEST BROWSERS
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: David Lawsky]
(http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/1112604l.htm)
MICROSOFT JUDGE FEARED SPLIT IN CASE
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Rajiv Chandrasekaran]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/business/A34681-1999Nov22.html)
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