OWNERSHIP
FCC Recommends Steps to Facilitate Fair Competition (FCC)
F.T.C. Action on Big Merger Set for Today (NYT)
EDTECH
Secretary Riley to Release National Educational Technology (DOE)
PRIVACY/SECURITY
Study Finds That Caching by Browsers Creates a Threat to Surfers'
Privacy (NYT)
EU Plans to Issue Guidelines On Fighting Internet Crime (WSJ)
WIRELESS
Two Continents, Disconnected (NYT)
OWNERSHIP
FCC RECOMMENDS STEPS TO FACILITATE FAIR COMPETITION
Issue: Ownership
On Tuesday, FCC Chairman William E. Kennard, along with Commissioners Susan
Ness and Gloria Tristani, presided over a public forum at which five studies
on market entry barriers facing small, women- and minority-owned businesses
were released. The reports indicate that consolidation in the
telecommunications industry since the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications
Act has had a particularly harmful effect on the number of small,
women-owned and minority-owned businesses in that industry. At the forum,
Chairman Kennard recommended four action items: 1)Congress should
re-institute and reinvigorate the tax certificate program; 2) Congress
should substantially increase funding for the Telecommunications Development
Fund; 3) The Commission should reexamine the means by which it determines
minority ownership; and 4) The Commission, industry and public interest
organizations should collectively explore ways to promote opportunities for
small, women- and minority-owned businesses in new rather than old media.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Enforcement/News_Releases/2000/nren0034.html)
F.T.C. ACTION ON BIG MERGER SET FOR TODAY
Issue: Merger
The fate of America Online and Time Warner is on the line today. The Federal
Trade Commission will hold a meeting to decide whether to approve the
proposed merger, taking a vote that officials said today remained too close
to call. There have been reports that several FTC commissioners, including
Robert Pitofsky, the agency's chairman, were wrestling with the decision.
Mr. Pitofsky was described by some people who have seen him in recent days
as both troubled by the deal and not entirely satisfied by a proposed
consent decree that would seal the deal. To regulators, the biggest issue
presented by the merger of the world's largest online company with the
nation's biggest entertainment and news conglomerate has been the treatment
of rival Internet service providers and content producers. Last month, in an
effort to gain regulatory approval, Time Warner announced that it had
reached a deal with Earthlink, the nation's second-largest Internet service
provider after AOL, that would give the company access to customers of Time
Warner's large high-speed cable network. But small and midsize service
providers argue that such a deal would put them out of business.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Stephen Labaton]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/14/technology/14AOL.html)
(requires registration)
See Also:
AOL AND TIME WARNER PLEDGE CABLE ACCESS TO EASE FTC FEARS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR: JOHN R. WILKE]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB976749505314453933.htm)
(requires subscription)
FTC TO VOTE ON AOL DEAL TODAY
[SOURCE: USA Today (Interactive), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/invest/ina440.htm)
EDTECH
SECRETARY RILEY TO RELEASE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Issue: EdTech
On Friday, December 15, Secretary Riley will release the U.S. Department of
Education's new national educational technology plan, e-Learning: Putting a
World-Class Education at the Fingertips of All Children. The plan completes
an 18-month effort that involved educators, administrators, policy-makers
and the private sector to rethink and revise the national strategy for the
effective use of technology in elementary and secondary education.
e-Learning will be posted on the Department's web site.
[SOURCE: Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology (OET)]
(http://www.ed.gov/Technology)
PRIVACY/SECURITY
STUDY FINDS THAT CACHING BY BROWSERS CREATES A THREAT TO SURFERS' PRIVACY
Issue: Privacy
A study from Princeton University has found that one part of Web browsers
the caches might also allow unscrupulous Web site operators to spy on their
visitors' browsing habits. Edward W. Felten, co-director of Princeton's
Secure Internet Programming Laboratory and co-author of the paper with
Michael Schneider, said he was not aware of any actual snooping but that
this potential intrusion poses a significant threat to privacy. Browsers
speed up Web use by storing, or caching, recently viewed Web pages on their
user's hard drive (not all pages can be cached.) Felten found the technique
was effective even if the visitor had the fastest of high-speed connections
and that using so-called anonymizer programs designed to protect Web
surfers from online intruders makes cache attacks easier. Turning off the
browser's caching ability would eliminate the problem, but the extra demands
on Web servers and the extra traffic on networks would ultimately slow down
the entire Internet. Neither Microsoft nor Netscape disputes Felten's
finding.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ian Austen]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/14/technology/14PRIV.html)
(requires registration)
EU PLANS TO ISSUE GUIDELINES ON FIGHTING INTERNET CRIME
Issue: Security
Hoping to boost confidence on e-commerce, the European Commission will issue
recommendations for member states on how to battle Internet crime on Dec.
21. One of the recommendations aims to establish links among the 15 European
Union members to monitor and react swiftly to online crimes such as credit
card theft. Draft recommendations propose legislation that member countries
could enact to establish closer links among law enforcement agencies to
better spot and stop cybercrime. According to a report by
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, European consumers are more unwilling to disclose
their credit-card details and personal information over the Internet, as
opposed to Americans. "We have to raise awareness among industry and
consumers on protecting their systems against outside attacks or
infiltration," European Commission spokesman Per Haugaard said Tuesday.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB976721274416392080.htm)
(requires subscription)
WIRELESS
TWO CONTINENTS, DISCONNECTED
Issue: Wireless
Wireless communication in Finland is far ahead of the pace in New York City.
If the greatness of cities were measured in cellular units of Nokia,
Ericsson and Motorola, New Yorkers would not only finish well behind
Helsinkians, Romans and Tokyoites but would also come up short behind many
fellow Americans as well. In a recent Wireless Report Card issued by
Cellmania, a company in San Jose, Calif., New York ranked last among 16
major cities for affordability and convenience of wireless conditions.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Dean E. Murphy]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/14/nyregion/14WIRE.html)
(requires registration)
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