INTERNET
Site Sparks Campaign Dispute (NYT)
Life in the Slow Lane (NYT)
E-Power to the People (WP)
ANTITRUST
Justice Department Recommends Blocking Worldcom-Sprint Deal On
Antitrust Issues (WSJ)
Response by U.S. Faults Microsoft Alternative to Breakup Plan (WSJ)
CABLE
Walt Disney Campaigns Against AOL-Time Warner (WSJ)
CENSORSHIP
Belgrade Shuts TV Station and Paper(WP)
WIRELESS
At&T Wireless Offers Free Net Access (NYT)
INTERNET
LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE
Issue: Internet/Rural
High-speed broadband Internet access such as cable modem service and DSL is
becoming more common in America's densely populated urban areas, but in
rural communities the deployment of such high speed services has been slow
and limited. Internet service providers of rural America rely, primarily,
upon local telephone carriers to transmit data, with a resulting
connectivity speed limit of 33.3 bps. A report released last month by the
Department of Commerce finds that less than one percent of residents in
towns with fewer than 10,000 people have access to DSL, while this number
increases to 86 percent for cities with populations above 100,000.
Approximately one percent of residents in towns with less than 10,000 people
have access to cable modem service, while 72 percent of residents in cities
with populations above 250,000 have such access. However, the slow speed of
connectivity is not the only problem rural America is facing. Because of
crowded phone, customers attempting dial-up access are often greeted with a
busy signal. Additionally, in many rural communities, customers of national
ISP's such as AOL and EarthLink have to pay toll charges due to the lack of
local access points. And news and information specific to these communities
is sparse or non-existent.
[SOURCE: New York Times (E1) AUTHOR: Peter Lewis]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/circuits/articles/18rura.htm)
SITE SPARKS CAMPAIGN DISPUTE
Issue: Political Discourse
An Internet start-up company's request to federal regulators to clarify
rules regarding political campaign information on commercial Web sites like
its own, has pitted the company against both major political parties.
Officials for both parties said Wednesday that they plan to file a joint
statement with federal regulators opposing changes in current
interpretations of election law. Voter.com, a company founded last year,
asked the Federal Election Commission for an opinion on whether commercial
sites that allow campaigns to post information for free, or that link to
campaign sites, are making illegal campaign contributions. Richard W. Hess,
spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, explained his party's
concern: "If there were to be a recommendation that a political party would
have to count links as contributions, that would interfere with the party's
attempt to spread information." Tracy Westen, chairman of Grassroots.com --
Voter.com's major competitors -- which does not charge campaigns to post
information, said that if Voter.com gets its way with the commission, the
ruling could diminish the potential power of the Internet to reduce the
influence of money in campaigns. "To try and require that this be for pay is
completely in the wrong direction," Westen said. "Free speech also means
speech you don't have to pay for."
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/cyber/articles/18campaign.html)
E-POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Issue: Internet
Two months ago, Justin Frankel created software that allows users to bypass
Internet service providers and communicate directly among themselves,
essentially making each computer both server and host to other computers
using the software. Within 24 hours, Frankel's employer, AOL, had removed
the tool, GNUTELLA, from its development house labeling it an "unauthorized
freelance project." For some, Gnutella is a step closer to gatekeeper-free
exchange of information on the Internet, a way of allowing Net users to
communicate peer-to-peer without intermediary ISPs or content service
providers. The software will also allow its users to search the Internet by
passing a request to a computer that asks 10 computers, which will then ask
ten each, and so on. Within ten seconds a Gnutella user can search millions
of computers without having relied on an ISP or a search engine
intermediary. This, of course, subverts the work devoted to constructing
corporate search engines or content repositories like AOL service. Some see
this software as a step in shifting the power of Web publishing from an
elite set of corporations to anyone who has a computer. Before Gnutella was
removed from the Web, there were nearly 10,000 downloads of the software.
Currently it is being refined by about 50 developers hoping to encourage its
open platform potential.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Ariana Eunjung Cha]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21559-2000May17.html?GXHC_gx
_session_id_FutureTenseContentServer=91bc85e324cc4f65)
ANTITRUST
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDS BLOCKING WORLDCOM-SPRINT DEAL ON ANTITRUST
ISSUES
Issue: Mergers/Antitrust
Federal antitrust enforcers have recommended that the Justice Department
block WorldCom Inc.'s $115 billion buyout of Sprint on the grounds that it
would violate antitrust law, lawyers and industry executives said.
Concluding a six month investigation, Justice Department staff forwarded a
formal recommendation to the department's antitrust chief, Joel Klein, who
has not yet taken a position on the transaction, say sources. The
recommendation is based on the fact that the deal would combine the second
largest and third largest long distance carriers and would result in a
company that could dominate Internet switching services. The two companies
argue that changes in the communications industry are bringing about plenty
of new competition. "We believe that the market and the technology today are
changing so fast that no one company can monopolize the Internet," said one
Sprint official said. WorldCom's plans to buy Sprint, which were announced
on Oct. 5, would create a telecommunications giant with revenue of more than
$50 billion, making it one of the world's largest companies.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR: John R. Wilke and Rebecca
Blumenstein]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/article1.htm)
RESPONSE BY U.S. FAULTS MICROSOFT ALTERNATIVE TO BREAKUP PLAN
Issue: Antitrust
The government filed documents with a federal judge on Wednesday that
criticized Microsoft's alternative proposal to the governments plan to break
up the company. Microsoft filed a brief last week, in which the company
proposed several narrow restrictions on its conduct that it said would be
more appropriate penalties than breaking up the company. In the brief,
Microsoft denounced the idea of a breakup and said that "cross-pollination
between engineers working on different products such as Windows and Office
has led to numerous innovations." The government's brief said that
Microsoft's proposal would be no more than "a cosmetic remedy that would
have virtually no competitive significance," and "...does not address some
of the most important violations found by the court," including a
declaration that the company had illegally linked its Web browser to the
Windows operating system. Under the government's plan, Microsoft would be
split in two, with one company holding the Windows operating system and the
other with everything else, including the Office package of applications
programs that includes Word and the spreadsheet program Excel.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Joel Brinkley]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/biztech/articles/18soft.html)
CABLE
WALT DISNEY CAMPAIGNS AGAINST AOL-TIME WARNER
Issue: Cable/Mergers
Walt Disney is going local with its vocal critique of America Online's
planned buyout of Time Warner. Disney executives have visited several cities
in California and other parts of the country that are scheduled to make
decisions on Time Warner's applications to transfer its cable franchises to
AOL-Time Warner. Disney has taken these speaking to local governments to
warn against the impending merger -- and it found a receptive audience among
many local officials. Mary Morales, executive director of Public Cable
Television Authority, which represents several cities in Orange County,
Calif., says Disney executives painted AOL-Time Warner as a "Big
Brother-type" of company. "They said, 'If they can do this to Disney, what
will they do to other [Internet service providers]?'" she says. Disney's
campaign highlights the damage caused by the spat with Time Warner earlier
this month that left 3.5 million cable subscribers without ABC network
shows. "You see the power of the cable companies; people finally get it,"
says Mark Cooper, director of research for Consumer Federation of America.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B14), AUTHOR: Kathy Chen]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB958600752493763518.htm)
CENSORSHIP
BELGRADE SHUTS TV STATION AND PAPER
Issue: Censorship
Yugoslav police shut down the last major independent television station and
newspaper yesterday for its criticism of President Slobodan Milosevic. The
closure of Studio B and the daily newspaper BLIC came on the heels of a call
by Vuk Draskovic to those in the judiciary, police and military to "become
disobedient" to a government filled with murders and terrorists. Draskovic
is a member of the controlling political party of Belgrade city that owns
Studio B.
[Source: Washington Post (A18), R. Jeffrey Smith]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22013-2000May17.html)
WIRELESS
AT&T WIRELESS OFFERS FREE NET ACCESS
Issue: Wireless
AT&T Wireless has announced a plan that will customers who use its digital
wireless service and buy one of two new phones will get access to 40 Web
sites at no extra charge. For $6.99 a month, customers can buy wireless
e-mail and fax service on either Ericsson A.B. or Mitsubishi phones designed
for the AT&T Wireless service. Mohan Gyani, president and chief executive of
AT&T Wireless Services said he sees an opportunity to increase revenue even
from the free service because AT&T will get a share of any Web transaction
its customers complete with their phones. A recent study by the Strategis
Group found that most cellular customers are willing to pay an extra $13 a
month to get Web access on their phones.
[SOURCE: New York Times(Online), AUTHOR: Bloomberg News]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/biztech/articles/18wireless.html)
--------------------------------------------------------------
(c)Benton Foundation 2000. Redistribution of this email publication -- both
internally and externally -- is encouraged if it includes this message.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Benton Foundation's Communications Policy Program (CPP)
(www.benton.org/cpphome.html) Communications-related Headline
Service is posted Monday through Friday. The Headlines are highlights
of news articles summarized by staff at the Benton Foundation. They
describe articles of interest to the work of the Foundation -- primarily
those covering long term trends and developments in communications,
technology, journalism, public service media, regulation and philanthropy.
While the summaries are factually accurate, their often informal tone does
not represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by
Kevin Taglang (kevint( at )benton.org), Rachel Anderson (rachel( at )benton.org), and
Nancy Gillis (nancy( at )benton.org) -- we welcome your comments.
The Benton Foundation works to realize the social benefits made possible by
the public interest use of communications. Bridging the worlds of
philanthropy, public policy, and community action, Benton seeks to shape the
emerging communications environment and to demonstrate the value of
communications for solving social problems.
Other projects at Benton include:
Connect for Kids (www.connectforkids.org)
Debate America (www.debateamerica.org)
Oneworld US (www.oneworldus.org)
Open Studio: The Arts Online (www.openstudio.org)
Sound Partners for Community Health (www.soundpartners.org)