INTERNET
Charities Find a Gray Area on the Net (NYT)
Fate of Napster's Music-Sharing Service Could Be Settled in Court
Ruling Monday (WSJ)
COMPETITION
Wireless Giants Won F.C.C. Auction Unfairly, Critics Say (NYT)
Tauzin Anxious To Finish Work On '96 Telecom Act (House)
INTERNET
CHARITIES FIND A GRAY AREA ON THE NET
Issue: Internet
The I.R.S. has been soliciting public comments in response to questions from
charities about several issues, including whether certain types of linking
and online fund-raising violate the law. The agency is considering issuing
formal guidelines on applying tax laws to the Internet. At issue is whether
charities, through certain online activities, could violate prohibitions
against electioneering and serving as tax havens for business income. Though
I.R.S. officials said they had made no decision on whether to issue guidance
on Internet
activities, representatives of many groups expressed fear that the questions
could lead to excessive regulation, discouraging small organizations, which
often cannot afford lawyers, from using the Internet.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/12/technology/12IRS.html)
(requires registration)
FATE OF NAPSTER'S MUSIC-SHARING SERVICE COULD BE SETTLED IN COURT RULING
MONDAY
Issue: Internet
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is set to issue a
long-awaited ruling on a record-industry suit against Napster, the
music-sharing site. The court said it will post the decision on its Web site
(www.ce9.uscourts.gov), in the "opinions" section. The record industry is
arguing that Napster is essentially a huge copyright-infringement system,
and wants the company to stop offering music without the permission of the
copyright holders. Napster says the action would force it to shut down, and
has responded with a variety of legal arguments. Some are technical,
involving such issues as the sort of notice that an Internet company needs
to be given about the illegal actions of its users. Even if the court allows
Napster to stay open, the days of the service's being a musical free-for-all
are numbered. In November, Napster sold a major stake in itself to
Bertelsmann AG, the German media giant, and announced that it would
eventually evolve into an unspecified form of fee-based downloading service.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: Lee Gomes]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB981758476792508366.htm)
(requires subscription)
See Also:
SONG-SWAPPING ACCELERATES AS NAPSTER RULING NEARS
[USA Today (Interactive), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/review/2001-02-09-napster.htm)
COMPETITION
WIRELESS GIANTS WON F.C.C. AUCTION UNFAIRLY, CRITICS SAY
Issue: FCC
The Federal Communications Commission's auction in December of wireless
airwave frequencies may be challenged in court because many of the licenses
that were being set aside for small companies went to the nation's largest
wireless companies. Many of the biggest telephone companies struck alliances
with small companies that were able to take advantage of the F.C.C.'s
small-business preferences. Some of the losing bidders assert that the large
wireless businesses took unfair advantage of the F.C.C. rules to win more
than 90 percent of the licenses meant for small businesses. Three of those
companies also benefited from hundreds of millions of dollars in government
subsidies that were supposed to promote competition by helping tiny
entrepreneurs, the critics say. "What these companies did is wrong and they
know it," said Paul Posner, the founder of a small mobile paging and
telecommunications company in Texas. He hoped to buy a license to begin a
new type of local telephone service to compete with the Bell company in San
Antonio, but was outbid by one of the two small companies that had alliances
with AT&T Wireless.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Stephen Labaton And Simon Romero]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/12/technology/12AUCT.html)
TAUZIN ANXIOUS TO FINISH WORK ON '96 TELECOM ACT
Issue: Competition
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA) issued a
statement concerning the fifth anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of
1996. Rep. Tauzin said that "a lack of high-speed broadband services in this
country is now threatening to stifle e-commerce and our New Age economy." He
suggested further deregulation would help clear the roadblocks to
competition in both the telephone and broadband markets.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://www.house.gov/commerce/news107/02072001a.htm)
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