DIGITAL DIVIDE
Web Gender Gap Shrinking (SJM)
Q&A: Eric Benhamou On Building Online Communities
(SJM)
INTERNET
Internet Regulators Approve Creation Of at Least One More
Top-Level Domain (WSJ)
ACLU Requests More Information On FBI System to Monitor E-Mail (WSJ)
JDS Who? Fast Growth, Farflung Fold And Worries (NYT)
Public Lives: Cybersenator Defends the Net, Despite
Some Sour Notes (NYT)
Web Piracy Is Hitting Hollywood Sooner Than the
Studios Thought (WSJ)
Two New Web Sites Cover Political Races (NYT)
KIDS & MEDIA
Aether, Sylvan to Develop Wireless Devices for Students (WP)
More Teens Get Cellphones So They Can Phone Home (USA)
TELEVISION
TV Advertising Drives Fight Over Audience Size (NYT)
Your TV's Little Black Box Is Growing Up (USA)
RADIO
New Economy: Two Different Fronts of Growth in
Satellite Radio Industry (NYT)
OWNERSHIP
AOL-Time Warner Merger Triggers Disney Objections (WSJ)
Minority Media Ownership Roundtable (NTIA)
INFOTECH
Microsoft Sees Software 'Agent" as Way to Avoid Distractions (NYT)
INTERNET
WEB GENDER GAP SHRINKING
Issue: Digital Divide
Women now make up half the U.S. online population, according to researchers
at Jupiter Communications. That's up from about 40 percent in 1996. "Looking
back to 1995, I don't know anyone who predicted we would have made these
kinds of gains in five years," said Adam Powell, vice president for
technology and programs at the Freedom Forum. About one-fifth of the
increase comes from women over age 50, many of whom went online for health
research, according to a May study of adults by the Pew Internet and
American Life Project. "The Internet has begun to look a lot like the rest
of America," said Lee Rainie, who directs the Pew project. "In the early
days, it was a pretty unique, select group of folks." While women are making
online gains in industrialized countries, they still lag in many developing
nations. Men currently make up 59 percent of the online population
worldwide, according to a March survey of 34 countries by the Angus Reid Group.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Anick Jesdanun
(Associated Press)]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/199147l.htm)
Q&A: ERIC BENHAMOU ON BUILDING ONLINE COMMUNITIES
Issue: Digital Divide
Eric Benhamou, chairman and CEO of 3Com Corp., will this week lead a
discussion on the practical solutions to the digital divide. Benhahmou says
that there has been a lack of a strong voice on this topic coming from the
information technology industry. He disagrees with people who trivialize the
issue as just a luxury. "It is not a luxury," said Benhamou. "It is now the
foundation of the New Economy." The 3Com Chairman believes that in addition
to lowering cost and increasing speed, it is essential to focus on making
technology radically simpler. He said that this is an important step toward
increasing access. President Clinton has described it in terms of ABC:
access, basic skills and content. Benhamou suggest that the letter "D", for
desire, should be added to President equation. "People may have the access
and even the ability to develop skills -- and for whom the content is
available -- and yet not have the desire."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Tracy Seipel]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/front/docs/qa071700.htm)
INTERNET
INTERNET REGULATORS APPROVE CREATION OF AT LEAST ONE MORE TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN
Issue: Internet
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)has moved
forward on assigning at least one new top-level domain name (TLD) to join
the existing and more familiar .com, .net and .org. So which will it be?
.Nom? .Biz? .XXX? The board did not say how many or which names it would
add, citing the possibility of adding as many as ten new names or as few as
one. The body's decision comes as businesses and users resort to
increasingly arcane or longer Web addresses, as traditional addresses and
one-word addresses are increasingly rare, or priced exorbitantly high.
Whichever TLDs it adopts, ICANN will have to deal with corporations calling
for copyright protection. In particular they have been urging ICANN to allow
them to preregister their trademarks as Web addresses in any new domain
before the process is opened publicly. [So, now do you see how new TLDs will
open up it makes sense for the rest of us to have new TLDs?] ICANN has
indicated it ultimately intends to add a range of domains, including general
suffixes -- such as "shop," "web" or "biz" -- that will be available to
anyone, and specialized domains such as "union" or "bank" that would be
available as addresses only to appropriate organizations.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (), AUTHOR: TED BRIDIS]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB963587718347397126.htm)
See Also:
ICANN VOTES TO ADD MORE DOMAIN NAMES
[SOURCE: New York Times (C8), AUTHOR: Bloomberg News]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/biztech/articles/17name.html)
ACLU REQUESTS MORE INFORMATION ON FBI SYSTEM TO MONITOR E-MAIL
Issue: Privacy
ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FBI Friday, asking
the Bureau to release the computer "source code" for a controversial
surveillance system called Carnivore, as well as information related to
Omnivore and EtherPeek, two other surveillance systems used in the past by
the FBI. ACLU also requested that the FBI turn over "letters,
correspondence, tape recordings, notes, data, memoranda, e-mail" and other
information connected with Carnivore. The FBI is attempting to install
Carnivore on the networks of ISPs as part of specific criminal
investigations of online users, but ISPs are resisting it, citing intrusion
of privacy among its customers. The request of information by ACLU reflects
the growing concern among privacy groups and Internet companies about the
privacy implications of the surveillance system dubbed Carnivore, a hardware
device that contains a specialized program for tracking e-mail and other
forms of online communication. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a
Washington advocacy group, last week also filed a sweeping Freedom of
Information request for "all records" relating to Carnivore, though it
didn't explicitly request the system's source code.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (b7), AUTHOR: NICK WINGFIELD]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB96372677838623842.htm)
JDS WHO? FAST GROWTH, FARFLUNG FOLD AND WORRIES
Issue: Mergers
A look at the quick rise of JDS Uniphase which now has a market value of
$100 billion. The company makes fiber optic equipment and demand is sizzling
-- companies like Nortel and Lucent need these components to build Internet
infrastructure. But as the company acquires suppliers to fit holes in JDS
Uniphase's catalog of fittings and fixtures, there may not be enough time to
integrate new employees into the bigger company. "If you've gotten used to a
certain size of deal, you have a process in place," said Mark Sirower, a
merger adviser at the Boston Consulting Group. "When you go to
multibillion-dollar deals, it's a much bigger management challenge." The
quick growth through acquisition has also concerned the Department of
Justice which has required concessions on early deals.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Laura Holson]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/biztech/articles/17jds.html)
PUBLIC LIVES: CYBERSENATOR DEFENDS THE NET, DESPITE SOME SOUR NOTES
Issue: Policymakers
A profile of Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, know to collegues as the
cybersenator. A staunch First Amendment defender -- "Everybody is in favor
of the First Amendment, but we'd have a hell of a time ratifying it today"
-- the senator's first destination each morning is his computer, not his
coffee machine. He's currently considering whether Congress needed to
intervene to control Napster, Gnutella, mp3.com and other Internet sites
that allow music to be shared freely among millions of fans, without
copyright payments to artists and recording companies. Sen Leahy fought
against the Communications Decency Act and suggests that the responsibility
for policing the Internet has to rest largely with parents, who can buy
software that restricts access to Internet sites that feature pornography or
that promote racism and other forms of intolerance. "Maybe parents need to
spend some time with their kids on the computer, figuring out what they're
looking at."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A12), AUTHOR: Philip Shenon]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/071700lives-leahy.html)
WEB PIRACY IS HITTING HOLLYWOOD SOONER THAN THE STUDIOS THOUGHT
Issue: Intellectual Property
Hollywood's nightmare has arrived. Two technologies, - one hacked from
Microsoft - are enabling traditional read-writeable CD's to store high
quality video and audio that rivals DVD quality. And if that isn't bad
enough the video and audio can be stored in 10% to 20% of the space that
had been required just six months ago. This enables PC users with high-speed
DSL or cable-modem connections to download a full-length movie such as "The
Matrix" in an hour or two from a spreading network of illicit Internet
sites. In many ways this new technology, DivX - [no, not the old DivX
antipiracy technology. This version is intentionally mocking that DivX] - is
to the movie industry what Napster is to the recording industry. To date,
the large size of digital video files combined with slow home dial-up
Internet service has made video piracy a far-off proposition. But the
rapidly shrinking size of compressed video files, faster home connections
and an expanding network of illicit Web sites offering pirated DivX movies
is turning digital video piracy into an immediate concern for the movie
industry.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (), AUTHOR: LEE GOMES]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB963785272872501396.htm)
TWO NEW WEB SITES COVER POLITICAL RACES
Issue: Political Discourse
Two commercial Web sites, SpeakOut.com and Voter .com, are covering the
elections and political conventions while maintaining partnerships under
contract with the political parties. SpeakOut.com is providing technical
tools at no charge to both parties to create systems to manage the online
presentation of their party platforms. In exchange, the parties promote the
company's Web site, through linking and other means. Voter.com is charging
campaigns to post information in its candidate sections as well as
maintaining contracts with the major political parties in which party
representatives "advise Voter.com on ways to maintain 'balanced
partisanship' in the way the Voter.com Web site presents candidates, issues,
and procedures." The parties, under the contract, also agree to promote the
site. "Even as an information site," he said, "the content should be taken
with a large grain of salt if the site is beholden to the politicians and
the parties rather than to the citizens," said Bob Steele, director of the
ethics program at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies "It sounds like in
both of these sites that there are connective tissues between the
information content and the groups and individuals who are the subjects of
reporting that appear to be very problematic."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C12), AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/biztech/articles/17poli.html)
KIDS & MEDIA
AETHER, SYLVAN TO DEVELOP WIRELESS DEVICES FOR STUDENTS
Issue: EdTech
Aether Systems and Sylvan Learning Systems have announced plans to create a
new company, MindSurf, that will develop communication tools for teachers,
students and parents. MindSurf will develop and license the technology for
hand-held wireless units that students could use to communicate with each
other and with teachers. "It will help organize their schedule, their work
flow, and have instant messaging," said Douglas L. Becker, chairman of
Sylvan, one of the country's largest for-profit education companies. Parents
could use the communication network to check children's attendance and
grades, and teachers could transmit assignments and other documents to
students and parents. The devises, which may resemble a Palm Pilot or
graphics calculator, and would cost $150 to $200 each.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (F05), AUTHOR: Neil Irwin]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54627-2000Jul16.html)
MORE TEENS GET CELLPHONES SO THEY CAN PHONE HOME
Issue: Wireless
More than 25% of 13- to 18-year-olds in the USA regularly use wireless
phones, compared with 33% of the overall population, according to the Yankee
Group, an industry analyst firm. The percentage of teen users is expected to
hit 30% by 2001, even though most wireless companies won't let anyone under
age 18 sign a service contract. The Yankee Group estimates 72% of teen
wireless phone users' bills are paid by parents. Although parents usually
buy their children phones for safety reasons, many teens use them to talk to
their friends, often paying for the extra minutes themselves.
[SOURCE: USAToday (B1), AUTHOR: Michelle Kessler]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000717/2461763s.htm)
TELEVISION
TV ADVERTISING DRIVES FIGHT OVER AUDIENCE SIZE
Issue: Advertising
"As more and more Hispanics have come to the United States it has become
more complicated," said Harry R. Stecker, the Nielsen Media Research
executive who manages the ratings system for local television stations. "We
might have the right number of households that are Hispanic by origin in our
sample, but we do not have the right number of people who primarily speak
Spanish." Nielsen is attempting to correct its numbers -- now estimating
that Spanish speakers make up 8% of the television viewers in the New York
market. But English-language stations are not too happy with the number;
they fear thy could lose as much as $50 million in advertising each year.
Nielsen officials admit undercounting Spanish speakers in almost every major
market with a large Hispanic population. Naturally, Univision, the nation's
largest Spanish-language network, wanted action. "Ratings are the real
problem, because they are the real currency of the broadcast industry," said
Michael Wortsman, the president of Univision's national station group.
"Nielsen is discounting our currency because it is using an inaccurate
system." Hispanics are the fastest growing segment of the American
population and are close to overtaking blacks as the nation's largest
minority. There are more than 32 million Hispanics in the United States,
compared with 23 million 10 years ago.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Jayson Blair]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/regional/071700ny-univision.html)
YOUR TV'S LITTLE BLACK BOX IS GROWING UP
Issue: Television
Today, about half of U.S. homes have at least one set-top box, according to
Forrester research. Those black boxes are undergoing huge changes. In 1996,
the Congress pass a law requiring the industry to create a standard that
lets consumers buy their boxes at retail, which means that the devises will
be interoperable, allowing subscribers to use them with all cable systems.
The advent of broadband Internet services has lured some of the biggest
media players, including Microsoft, AOL and Sony, to get involved in mix.
Several companies are developing set-top boxes that function as personal
video recorders (PVRs). About 11% of U.S. households expect to purchase a
PVR within the next year, according to a recent random survey of 1,000 homes
conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association. Some experts envision
that consumers will eventually be buying a box that handles all forms of TV,
plus phone and Net services -- with an upgradeable hard drive.
[SOURCE: USAToday (3D), AUTHOR: Mike Snider]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000717/2461686s.htm)
RADIO
NEW ECONOMY: TWO DIFFERENT FRONTS OF GROWTH IN SATELLITE RADIO INDUSTRY
Issue: Radio
"The fundamental difference between one person and another, rich or poor, is
access to information," said Noah Samara, who was born in Ethiopia, raised
in Tanzania and educated at the University of California at Berkeley. Last
year, Mr Samara's company, WorldSpace, initiated satellite
radio-broadcasting service in a region stretching from Cairo to Cape Town,
providing Africa with 25 audio channels of news, music, entertainment and
educational programming. "It is kind of funny that our basic approach of
profiting from providing that access is ahead of what is happening in the
developed world," said Samara. Satellite radio is expected to grow in four
years from virtually nothing to a $2.4 billion industry. In the US,
subscribers will pay ~$10/month for 100 audio channels starting around this
time next year. Two large satellite radio companies could further
concentrate power in the radio industry, critics say. "Radio will become
more of a wasteland because satellite radio won't offer much space for
localism," said Robert McChesney, a mass media professor at the University
of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. "Remember the mom-and-pop radio stations?
They will all be gone."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Simon Romero]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/biztech/articles/17neco.html)
OWNERSHIP
AOL-TIME WARNER MERGER TRIGGERS DISNEY OBJECTIONS
Issue: Mergers
Reviving last spring's feud between Walt Disney and Time Warner, Disney last
week told the FCC that AOL's proposed acquisition of Time Warner should be
allowed to proceed only if ownership of the merged company's content is
separated from ownership of Time Warner's cable systems. Disney's proposal
would essentially require Time Warner to spin off its extensive group of
cable systems before being acquired by AOL. Time Warner's senior vice
president for global public policy, Timothy Boggs, called Disney's proposal
"absurd" and maintained that "there is absolutely no basis for any condition
of this sort on this merger." But Disney Executive Vice President Preston
Padden maintains that the proposed mega-merger is based on a "pattern of
abuse" showed by Time Warner in favoring its programming services on its
cable systems. He said "our fear" is that "AOL-Time Warner cable is going to
be a virtual monopoly on the conduit to the home for interactive
television." If Disney's proposed condition gets the ear of the FCC, it
could doom the AOL deal, although there is no indication regulators are
giving it serious consideration.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: MARTIN PEERS]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB963789667790824133.htm)
MINORITY MEDIA OWNERSHIP ROUNDTABLE
Issue: Ownership
From Media Advisory: Gregory L. Rohde, assistant secretary of commerce for
communications and information and administration of the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will host a
roundtable on Tuesday, July 18 on minority media ownership and how to
preserve diversity in the broadcast industry. The roundtable, "Media
Diversity: Minority Owners Conquering New Frontiers", will also consider the
impact of the landmark 1996 Telecommunications Act on minority media
ownership and discuss whether there is a continued need for policies that
help facilitate diverse media ownership. Participants will include broadcast
media owners, financiers, policymakers and members of the academic community.
Tuesday, July 18, 2000, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center (New Location)
Polaris Suite, Concourse Level
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2000/mrma71400.htm)
INFOTECH
MICROSOFT SEES SOFTWARE 'AGENT' AS WAY TO AVOID DISTRACTIONS
Issue: InfoTech
When is a new item of information worth distracting you from what you are
doing? [When its filtered by us, of course] Microsoft is working on software
that draw inferences from a user's behavior and could act as a combination
secretary and traffic cop to hold back the torrents of electronic and voice
mail, appointment requests and Internet information that increasingly
threaten to overwhelm today's office workers. But the system would not be
confined to the desktop computer. It would be a software cloak enveloping
the users wherever they might be, able to alert them via cell phone,
hand-held computer, pager or other digital means -- whenever and wherever
the software deemed something worthy of their attention. Read more at the
URL below. [Wow. A Microsoft story that's not about a merger or antitrust
violations...when's the last time that happened?]
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: John Markoff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/biztech/articles/17lab.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) and Rachel Anderson (rachel( 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)