Communications-related Headlines for 6/27/97

Court Protects Speech On Internet

HaperCollins Cancels Books In Unusual Step for Industry

For Parents, a New and Vexing Burden

Clinton Readies New Approach on Smut

In talks Over TV Ratings, Neither Side Expects a Deal Soon

Money for Arts and Land Purchase Rejected

AT&T-SBC Merger Plans Are Crumbling

High Court Strikes Down Internet Smut Law

1st Amendment Applies To Internet, Justices Say

Smut Ruling Ratifies the Internet's Founding Principles

Statute "Silences Some Speakers...Entitled to Constitutional Protection"

Yes, the Net is Speech

Long-Distance Field Barred To Bell Firm

GTE FILES UNIVERSAL SERVICE CASE IN 8TH CIRCUIT

Commission Adopts FY 1997 Regulatory Fee Schedule.

Commission Denies SBC Application to Provide Long Distance Telephone Service
in the State of Oklahoma
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Title: Court Protects Speech On Internet
Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/(A1)
Author: Linda Greenhouse
Issue: First Amendment/Free Speech
Description: "Content on the Internet is as diverse as human thought,"
Justice Paul Stevens said yesterday as the Supreme Court ruled that speech
on the world wide computer system is entitled to the highest level of First
Amendment protection similar to that of books and newspapers. [for more info
see URL http://www.ciec.org] [The NYT also published excerpts from the
ruling on page A20]

Title: HaperCollins Cancels Books In Unusual Step for Industry
Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/(A1)
Author: Doreen Carvajal
Issue: Publishing
Description: HarperCollins has begun an effort to downsize its book lists,
canceling at least 100 titles. "it's a way of trying to make sense out of
the business," said chief executive Anthea Disney. "In all honesty, I don't
want to publish books we won't get behind and publish well." HaperCollins is
the publishing unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Title: For Parents, a New and Vexing Burden
Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/(A21)
Author: Amy Harmon
Issue: Content/Internet
Description: The Supreme Court's ruling on the Communications Decency Act
places the responsibility of children's online activities on parents. "And
while that may square with the First Amendment and free speech, it leaves
many already beleaguered parents uneasily sizing up a new and unfamiliar
burden." Article suggests that parents 1) sit with children when they are
online, 2) install filtering software, or 3) use one of the major online
services providers -- they all offer parental control options for no
additional cost.

Title: Clinton Readies New Approach on Smut
Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/(A21)
Author: John Broder
Issue: Content/Internet
Description: President Clinton will convene a meeting on July 1 to seek a
solution to the problem of online pornography. The meeting will include
industry executives, teachers, librarians, and groups representing parents.
President Clinton supports new filtering technology, parental supervision of
online use, and stronger self-regulation by the online industry.

Title: In talks Over TV Ratings, Neither Side Expects a Deal Soon
Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/ (A22)
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: V-Chip
Description: Negotiators from the broadcast industry and parents' groups
have reached an impasse they probably wouldn't be solved until after
Congress' 4th of July recess, if at all. The broadcast industry has conceded
to add content warnings to the current TV ratings system, but, in return,
broadcasters want a three year moratorium on legislation regarding the
ratings system.

Title: Money for Arts and Land Purchase Rejected
Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/(A23)
Author: Jerry Gray
Issue: Arts/Budget Issues
Description: Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee voted to kill
the National Endowment of the Arts. "For some of the hard-core and
right-wing conservatives, the shutdown of the NEA has become a litmus test
as to whether the Republican leaders in the House are still devotees to some
of the conservative causes," said Rep Michael Forbes (R-NY) who joined
Democrats in an attempt to restore full money for the arts endowment. The
Appropriations Committee Chairman, Rep Robert Livingston (R-LA), said "This
is the expropriation of taxpayers' dollars to be used for elitist purposes.
The arts should be financed, but they should be financed privately."

Title: AT&T-SBC Merger Plans Are Crumbling
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/ (A3)
Author: John J. Keller and Leslie Cauley
Issue: Mergers
Description: Talks between SBC Communications and AT&T about
merging are falling apart because of concerns about opposition from
Washington, potential legal problems getting SBC into the
long-distance business, disarray at AT&T, and irreconcilable differences
in the crunchy vs creamy peanut butter debate. Yesterday, the FCC said that
SBC was not allowed to enter the long distance market in Oklahoma because it
had not sufficiently opened its local market to competition.

Title: High Court Strikes Down Internet Smut Law
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: Edward Felsenthal and Jared Sandberg
Issue: First Amendment/Free Speech
Description: The Supreme Court struck down the Communications Decency Act
yesterday in a 7-2 decision and praised the "democratic potential of
cyberspace." Jerry Berman of the Center for Democracy and Technology said
"The Supreme Court has written the First Amendment for the 21st Century."
The Communications Decency Act, a provision in the 1996 Telecommunications
Act, declared it illegal to transmit "indecent" material to minors.
Internet service providers were concerned that they would be held
responsible for what their subscribers were sending around on the Internet.
A big issue in the case was whether the Internet would be treated like print
materials or broadcast television. Courts have not allowed many
restrictions on print materials on First Amendment grounds. Greater
regulation is allowed with broadcasting since spectrum is a limited public
asset that must be divided up to prevent chaos. Chief Justice Rehnquist
and Justice O'Connor agreed with most of the court's decision, but wanted
to uphold the part of the CDA that prohibits adults from knowingly sending
electronic indecent materials to a "specific" youth.

Title: 1st Amendment Applies To Internet, Justices Say
Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (A1)
Author: John Schwartz and Joan Biskupic
Issue: First Amendment/Free Speech
Description: Yesterday the Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision found the
Communications Decency Act to be unconstitutional and that "constitutional
free speech protections apply just as much to online systems as they do to
books and newspapers." Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that, "The law
threatens to torch a large segment of the Internet community." Stevens also
wrote that "It is true that we have repeatedly recognized the governmental
interest in protecting children from harmful materials...But that interest
does not justify an unnecessarily broad suppression of speech addressed to
adults."

Title: Smut Ruling Ratifies the Internet's Founding Principles
Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (A20)
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: First Amendment/Free Speech
Description: The Supreme Court's decision confirms the Internet's
"anything goes tradition. From its earliest days, those who built it saw it
as a new frontier of ideas, one in which they could explore new thoughts and
theories on a strong base of individual and academic freedom, without fear
of censorship from Washington." Now, the Internet community is a lot bigger
and more diverse than the original core groups of users. "In many new
information formats, sex has proved to be a powerful stimulant of expansion.
Not long after the first cameras were invented in the mid-19th century,
secret studios were photographing nudes. And the videocassette recorder got
a boost in sales in the mid-1980s from its ability to let people view sexual
films at home. It was the same with the Internet. Not too long after it
began, people were placing digital versions of sexual pictures on Internet
computers for others to see."

Title: Statute "Silences Some Speakers...Entitled to Constitutional
Protection"
Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (A20)
Author: Supreme Court
Issue: First Amendment/Free Speech
Description: Excerpts from Supreme Court decision written by Justice John
Paul Stevens.

Title: Yes, the Net is Speech
Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (A24)
Author: WP Editorial Staff
Issue: First Amendment/Free Speech
Description: Less than an hour after the Supreme Court decision, Internet
users could read the full text of the decision online. "Such is the reach
of the medium that now, thanks to the court's decision, has been freed to
grow and develop as buoyantly in the future as it has up till now -- freed,
that is, from the threatened constraints of the so-called decency law."
The CDA, if upheld, would have seriously hobbled free speech on the net. The
Court made clear that protecting kids from online smut is important, but
can't be used "as an excuse to muzzle this potential for vastly increased
communication and interaction."

Title: Long-Distance Field Barred To Bell Firm
Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (G2)
Author: Reuter
Issue: Phone Regulation
Description: Yesterday, the FCC rejected SBC's application to enter the long
distance market in Oklahoma. The Federal phone regulators decided that
SBC, based in San Antonio, TX, hadn't met one of the requirements to enter
the long distance market -- opening its local phone market to competition.
Since the break up of AT&T's monopoly in 1984, Baby Bells have not been
allowed into the long distance market, but the Telecommunications Act of
1996 made it ok as long as the Baby Bells met requirements outlined in a
14-point checklist. Last month the Justice Department recommended that SBC's
bid be rejected.

Title: GTE FILES UNIVERSAL SERVICE CASE IN 8TH CIRCUIT
Source: Telecom AM http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: "GTE is challenging the FCC's universal service order because
that order fails to ensure that quality services will be provided at
affordable prices to customers in rural and poor areas," said William Barr,
GTE's executive vice president and general counsel. GTE believes that the
FCC's order does not provide sufficient support in high-cost areas."Far from
being competitively neutral, the FCC order invites cherry-picking and
threatens to undermine affordable phone service," Barr said.

At the FCC http://www.fcc.gov
Commission Adopts FY 1997 Regulatory Fee Schedule.

Commission Denies SBC Application to Provide Long Distance Telephone Service
in the State of Oklahoma (CC Docket No. 97-121).
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Happy sweltering and have a good weekend.