ECOMMERCE
Opponent of E-Commerce Tax Floats 'Fast Track' Compromise (WSJ)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
The Concept of Copyright Fights for Internet Survival (NYT)
Judge Dismisses One of Sun's Claims Against Microsoft in
Ongoing Lawsuit (WSJ)
Intel Plans to Release Details Of Microprocessor Via
the Internet (WSJ)
EDTECH
Networking in the Woods: Summer Tech Camp for Teachers (CyberTimes)
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
House Commerce Mark-up Schedule (House)
Forum Connection (CRF)
CABLE
Speech: Lessons from the Front: When is Pulling the
Plug the Right Answer? (FCC)
INTERNATIONAL
Japanese Company to Acquire KPN Mobile (NYT)
World Radiocommunication Conference (NTIA)
ADVERTISING
Advertising: What Is a Dot-Com Brand Name Worth? (NYT)
ECOMMERCE
OPPONENT OF E-COMMERCE TAX FLOATS 'FAST TRACK' COMPROMISE
Issue: Ecommerce
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is circulating draft legislation that calls for future
"fast-track" congressional votes on the issue of taxes on Internet commerce.
Legislation to ban new taxes targeting the Internet for five years is
stalled in the Senate, where some members are demanding that Congress
address a perceived inequity between the treatment of online and offline
commerce. Sen. Wyden's legislation is an attempt to break the deadlock. It
calls for an up or down vote in five years on giving states and localities
new tax-collection powers, after they simplify their tax systems. States
currently lack the legal power to collect sales taxes on interstate Internet
transactions. "I believe this is a true olive branch," he said. Sen. Byron
Dorgan (D-SD) is also drafting a proposal to break the deadlock. His
proposal would allow for sales tax collections to begin automatically in a
few years, after states move to simplify their tax systems, unless Congress
votes to object. Sen Wyden and other Internet-friendly legislators are eager
to win renewal of the current moratorium on new Internet-related taxes,
which is set to expire next year.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: Staff Reporter]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB957915807241662338.htm)
See Also:
A DEMAGOGIC BILL
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A28), AUTHOR: WP Editorial Staff]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37372-2000May9.html)
CONGRESS TO BLOCK IMAGINARY INTERNET TAX BILL
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Peter Goodman]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35483-2000May9.html)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
THE CONCEPT OF COPYRIGHT FIGHTS FOR INTERNET SURVIVAL
Issue: Intellectual Property
"If this whole thing catches on, I think that people will look back in 20 to
40 years and look at the idea that you can own information in the same way
as gold or real estate in the same way we look at witch burning today."
'This' is computer software that could make it impossible to track the
swapping of digital data. The programmer, Ian Clarke of Ireland, hopes to
produce a world in which all information is freely shared. His work is set
for a collision course with the world's copyright laws. Mr Clarke and many
other programmers think that copyright protection is simply obsolete in the
Internet Age. Check out the debate at the URL below.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: John Markoff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/biztech/articles/10digital.html)
JUDGE DISMISSES ONE OF SUN'S CLAIMS AGAINST MICROSOFT IN ONGOING LAWSUIT
Issue: Intellectual Property
Judge Ronald Whyte of the U.S. District Court in San Jose (CA), dismissed
the claim that Microsoft had violated Sun Microsystems copyrights with its
version of Java. This ruling centers on a case that dates back to 1997, when
Sun charged that Microsoft violated the terms of a licensing agreement and
infringed Sun's copyrights when it modified its version of Java to include
elements that would only work with Windows. Java is a computer language
designed to build programs that can run on any computer without major
changes. But this ruling isn't necessarily a win for Microsoft. Microsoft
remains bound by a preliminary injunction that prohibits it from
distributing versions of Java that are incompatible with Sun's
prescriptions. And it's the Sun-standard Java that continues to make inroads
for use on Internet servers and in big data centers.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: David Hamilton]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB957874953919473783.htm)
INTEL PLANS TO RELEASE DETAILS OF MICROPROCESSOR VIA THE INTERNET
Issue: Intellectual Property
Intel plans to release this Wednesday, via the Internet, its "Itanium
Processor Microarchitecture Reference", which (for us lay people) means the
nitty-gritty details on how its Itanium chip manages data memory. Such
technical detail has usually been disclosed by Intel to only a select few
partners such as Microsoft and personal-computer makers, and only after they
had signed a nondisclosure agreement. So why is Intel putting this
information on the Internet for all to view? The answer is Linux. Linux is
an "open source" software that is used on many server computers that run Web
sites. In posting detailed information about the Itanium chip on the
Internet, Intel hopes to boost the use of Linux with its chips. While there
is a tradeoff in disclosing so much information about a chip well before its
release (Intel's competitors can find ways to position themselves against
the Itanium chip)there are also some industry upsides. Other companies are
now more apt to release software tools related to Itanium, such as Silicon
Graphics planned release of an open-source version of its Itanium compiler.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: David Hamilton]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB957908075498923116.htm)
EDTECH
NETWORKING IN THE WOODS: SUMMER TECH CAMP FOR TEACHERS
Issue: EdTech
A look at "Get Wired at the Lake." About 30 to 45 "campers" from around the
country spend a week in eight cabins at Camp Kiwanis, at a cost to the
participants' schools of about $400 each. The networking teams first wire
their cabin and network a handful of computers to learn how to set up a
classroom network. The concept then expands so that each cabin represents an
individual school building, and by the end of the week all eight cabins are
networked as if they were part of a school district. Caleb Schutz, vice
president and executive director of the MCI WorldCom Foundation, said there
are benefits and drawbacks to the summer programs. "During the school year,
the benefit is the teacher can leave the training session and go back into
the classroom and use it," Schutz said. "In the summer, there's more time
for the teacher to think about how to integrate the program into their
class, but they can't use it right away."
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Rebecca Weiner]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/cyber/education/10education.html)
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
HOUSE COMMERCE MARK-UP SCHEDULE
Issue: Legislation
Today at 11:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building The Full Committee
on Commerce markup of H.R. 1291, To prohibit the imposition of access
charges on Internet service providers, and for other purposes.
Immediately Following the Full Committee Markup in 2123 Rayburn House Office
Building The Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer
Protection will meet to markup H.R. 4201, the Noncommercial Broadcasting
Freedom of Expression Act of 2000, and H.R. 3489, the Wireless
Telecommunications Sourcing and Privacy Act.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://com-notes.house.gov/schedule.htm)
FORUM CONNECTION
Issue: Telecommunications Policy
This month's Forum Connection, a publication of the Civil Rights Forum on
Communications Policy, is available at the URL below. Stories include: House
Moves to Curtail Low-Power FM; Privacy and Telephony; Families of Inmates
Find Phone Bills Hard to Handle; E-Rate and Rural America; Sen John McCain's
record and an interview with the DoJ's Joel Klein [insert "The News Hour"
theme song here]
[SOURCE: Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy]
(http://www.civilrightsforum.org/connectionmay2000.html)
CABLE
SPEECH: LESSONS FROM THE FRONT: WHEN IS PULLING THE PLUG THE RIGHT ANSWER?
Issue: Cable
FCC Chairman Kennard's 5/9/2000 remarks before the National Cable Television
Association. From Press Release: The Chairman said, "I believe that in this
robust technological age, market-based solutions are the best and most
efficient ways to satisfy the demands of American consumers." He challenged
the cable industry to "police your own" before consumers demand governmental
action to prevent future program disruptions of the kind that resulted last
week from a retransmission dispute between Time Warner and Disney/ABC. He
added, "The dispute between Time Warner and Disney/ABC raised demons of
distrust among consumers." He warned the industry that consumers can and
will exercise their choices in a competitive marketplace. He said,
"Customers will turn more and more to the non-cable alternatives that are
increasingly available." Chairman Kennard called upon the industry to
acknowledge the critical public interest impact of its activities, and to be
bound by that responsibility. Noting that the essential business of the
cable industry is to promote "the free-flow of ideas," he said cable "can
maximize its good market position by using its systems as launching pads to
openness for its customers and for the American public."
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/Statements/2000/stwek037.html)
INTERNATIONAL
JAPANESE COMPANY TO ACQUIRE KPN MOBILE
Issue: Mergers
Japan's largest wireless phone carrier, NTT DoCoMo, has agreed to buy a 15%
stake in Dutch mobile phone operator KPN Mobile for $4.5 billion. The deal
is part of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone's expansion beyond Japan. NTT DoCoMo
and KPN may now team up to bid for Britain's 3rd-largest telephone operator,
Orange. Vodafone AirTouch is expected to sell off Orange as a condition of
its $183 billion acquisition of Mannesmann AG. Orange may sell for as much
as $50 billion.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Andrew Ross Sorkin]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/japan-phone.html)
WORLD RADIOCOMMUNICATION CONFERENCE
Issue: International
From Press Release: Development of new wireless communications technologies,
such as wireless Internet access, will be a major focus at the World
Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) on the allocation of radio frequency
spectrum, which has convened in Istanbul, Turkey. One of the key issues to
be discussed at the conference is the development of the next generation of
wireless services, referred to as "IMT-2000", which range from voice, data,
and video services, including Internet access. Representatives from over 150
countries are attending, including a U.S. delegation of government and
private sector experts. WRC is a major international conference convened
every 2 or 3 years by the International Telecommunications Union to discuss
radio spectrum allocation issues. The conference has become increasingly
important as the demand for wireless communications services has grown in
both private and public sectors of the U.S. and other nations.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/new.html)
ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING: WHAT IS A DOT-COM BRAND NAME WORTH?
Issue: Advertising
A study by Greenfield Online released last month tries to identify who is
winning the branding battle in the dot com world. Greenfield surveyed about
3,400 computer users. Among 100 Internet names placed before the
respondents, Microsoft.com has the highest "brand power," defined as a
combination of rankings in three categories: brand familiarity, the brand's
ability to effect the Internet landscape and the brand's perceived financial
strength. The software giant was followed by Amazon, Netscape, AOL and eBay.
"In terms of branding efforts, it's important to know if a site is having a
personal effect on an Internet user," said Mara Shelby, vice president for
client development at Greenfield, adding that sites perceived by computer
users as being fun and frequently updated are more likely to be visited
regularly. The idea, as Ms. Shelby puts it, is to "keep people coming back
for more." The top 5 brands respondents were likely to invest in were
Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, WalMart, and Intel and Coke tied for fifth. The top
5 in familiarity were Amazon, Microsoft, AOL, Netscape and eBay. Tying for
the lowest ranking of the 100 brands were Haggle.com, an online auction
site, and Hillspet.com, which offers nutritional advice and products for
dogs and cats. The rest of the finishers on the bottom were: Petopia.com;
Virgin.com; Wingspanbank.com; Sixdegrees.com; Furniture.com; Peapod.com;
Fatbrain.com; and PG.com, the Web site of Procter & Gamble.
"It's not enough to just be well known," said Mike Mulligan, chairman and
chief executive at Mapquest.com in New York, the Web site that ranked 20th
for overall brand power. "It's also important to have a brand that's readily
understandable. "To a large extent," he added, "your Web site is your brand."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C7), AUTHOR: Allison Fass]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/columns/051000computer-adcol.html)
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