WORKFORCE
Race Issues Shake Tech World (USA)
More Than Advertisers Are Feeling the Effects of the Actors' Strike
(NYT)
MERGERS
Deutsche Telekom Agrees to Acquire VoiceStream Wireless for
$50.5 Billion (WSJ)
Deutsche Telekom Deal: Did Barriers Fall in Europe,
Just to Rise in the U.S.? (NYT)
RADIO/TELEVISION
Radio Host Appeals to Listeners as Protest Led by Gay Groups Cuts
Into Advertising (NYT)
FCC Requires TV Broadcasters to Offer Video Description for Visually
Impaired (WSJ)
High Definition Television (House)
ARTS
Stephen King Sows Dread in Publishers With Latest E-Tale (NYT)
Art, Culture, and the National Agenda (EPN)
INTERNET
FBI Faces More Pressure to Disclose Code for E-Mail
Surveillance System (WSJ)
New Economy: Contradictions Abound in Public Concerns Over
Net Privacy (NYT)
In the Age of Napster, We Face Copyright Gap (WSJ)
Rivals Complain About AOL's Plan To Open Instant Messaging Service (WSJ)
Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act (House)
Broadband Internet Regulatory Relief (Senate)
INTERNATIONAL
Telecom Giant Still Reigns in Japan (WP)
All the Iranian News, All the Time (NYT)
WORKFORCE
RACE ISSUES SHAKE TECH WORLD
Issue: Diversity/Workforce
A major study last year of 250 Silicon Valley firms employing 142,000
workers found that 4 percent were black and 8 percent were Hispanic, while
in the San Francisco Bay Area, blacks and Hispanics make up 8 and 14 percent
of the workforce. And in recent months, high-tech firms have been hit with
dozens of lawsuits and complaints alleging racial discrimination. "Silicon
Valley prides itself on being a unique meritocracy, but, of course, there's
discrimination there just as there is in every other industry," says Butch
Wing, a spokesman for the Rainbow/PUSH coalition. In the largest case, dozens
of current and former employees of Nextel Communications filed complaints
with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charging racial and
sexual discrimination. The National Urban League and other black leaders are
fighting the government's plans to double to 200,000
the number of H-1B visas for high-tech foreign workers. They argue that
technology firms seeking to hire immigrants are ignoring well-qualified
blacks and Hispanics at home.
[SOURCE: USAToday (1B), AUTHOR: Edward Iwata]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000724/2482422s.htm)
MORE THAN ADVERTISERS ARE FEELING THE EFFECTS OF THE ACTORS' STRIKE
Issue: Jobs
The long and bitter dispute between striking actors and the advertising
industry is hurting the small businesses that play a role in the production
of commercials. The central issue in the strike is how to pay actors for
performing in commercials. Negotiators for the advertising industry say they
want to eliminate obsolete residual rules from the 1950's, when only a few
channels existed. No one can pinpoint just how much the strike has cost, but
the Entertainment Industry Development Corporation, a quasi-public
organization, estimates that Los Angeles County is losing about $1 million a
day. "This has been very painful for us," said the president of one
postproduction house, who has had to lay off 31 employees out of a staff of
220. He requested anonymity because he did not want to publicize his
business problems. Even those not directly associated with television are
being hurt: Bert Berdis & Company, a commercial production house in
Hollywood, has furloughed 5 of its 20 employees and imposed a 20 percent pay
cut on everyone else. "What's really frustrating is that this stuff has
nothing to do with radio," said Mr. Berdis, referring to the issues in the
strike, "and yet all of us are being dragged along into this thing. This
makes no sense to me." Both sides say they are holding firm because an
important principle is at stake - how to fairly update the daily pay methods
for an industry that has increasingly broader reach. Many actors accuse the
advertising industry of trying to shortchange them at a time when revenues
are at an all-time high.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Terry Pristin]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/072400sag-strike.html)
MERGERS
DEUTSCHE TELEKOM AGREES TO ACQUIRE VOICESTREAM WIRELESS FOR $50.5 BILLION
Issue:Merger
The proposed deal between Deutsche Telekom and VoiceStream, valued at $50.7
billion has been approved by the boards of the two companies, although the
agreement faces growing opposition in Washington. The proposed transaction
would bring the booming wireless industry a step closer to a seamless
world-wide network. The new company would have
licenses to operate wireless networks that stretch from Europe to the
hottest markets in U.S. The deal also forges the first wireless competitor
that operates in both Europe and North America using a common digital
standard called Global System for Mobile Communications -- paving the way
for cell-phone customers to more easily use one phone all over the world.
But the proposed deal faces growing opposition in Washington [see below].
Should the VoiceStream deal be completed, the German government's stake in
the company would be diluted to 42% from 58%, and Deutsche Telekom hopes
this will help allay concerns in Washington.
[Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR: Nicole Harris, Nikhil Deogun And William
Boston]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB964385673718690690.htm)
See Also:
DEUTSCHE TELEKOM TO PAY $50 BILLION FOR U.S. COMPANY
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Sorkin & Romero]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/072400deutsche-voicestream.html)
GERMAN WIRELESS GIANT TO BUY U.S. CARRIER IN $56 BILLION DEAL
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A08), AUTHOR: Peter S. Goodman]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32359-2000Jul23.html)
DEUTSCHE TELEKOM DEAL: DID BARRIERS FALL IN EUROPE, JUST TO RISE IN THE U.S.?
Issue: Mergers/Regulation
Members of Congress, led by Sen Ernest Hollings (D-SC), and FCC Chairman
Bill Kennard have voiced opposition to Deutsche Telekom's purchase of an
American company, VoiceStream Wireless. But blocking a Deutsche Telekom deal
could invite retaliation against American communications companies active in
Germany and elsewhere in Europe, and might also run afoul of United States
commitments to the World Trade Organization. Sen Hollings has proposed
legislation that would block the FCC from transferring, for at least a year,
a radio license to a company in which a government owns a significant stake,
even if it is less than 50 percent. Separate legislation supported by Sen
Trent Lott (R-MS) would effectively block acquisitions by such companies on
a permanent basis. The German government owns 57% of DT and some fear that
the government could subsidize unfair competition or use its regulatory
power to favor DT in Germany over foreign rivals.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A8), AUTHOR: Edmund Andrews]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/072400deutsche-assess.html)
TELEVISION/RADIO
RADIO HOST APPEALS TO LISTENERS AS PROTEST LED BY GAY GROUPS CUTS INTO
ADVERTISING
Issue: Advertising
Dr Laura Schlessinger has lost ~10% of her national advertisers including
Toys "R" Us, United Airlines, AT&T, Kraft, General Foods and Xerox due to a
campaign led by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and a group
called Stopdrlaura. Dr. Schlessinger has described homosexuality as
"deviant" and derivative of "biological error." "We are letting all
advertisers for Dr. Laura know about the rhetoric," said John Aravosis,
co-founder of stopdrlaura.com, which keeps tabs on developments with her
radio and television programs. "If they think that Dr. Laura is bad for
business, it's their choice -- it's a free country and a free market."
Ultimately, he said, he would like to see Paramount cease production of the
Dr. Laura show. A Dr. Laura television show is planned for September 11.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C2), AUTHOR: Jim Rutenberg]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/072400dr-laura.html)
FCC REQUIRES TV BROADCASTERS TO OFFER VIDEO DESCRIPTION FOR VISUALLY
IMPAIRED
Issue: Disabilities
The FCC has voted to require broadcasters affiliated with the four major
networks in the top 25 television markets to offer video-description
services of television shows by April 2002. The vote has come 19 years after
technology to deliver the service was created. Broadcasters are unhappy and
say the process will cause
technical problems. The services will provide spoken descriptions of
scenery, costumes or key actions during television shows. Under the new
rules, video description would be provided for about four hours a week
during prime time or children's programming. To receive video descriptions,
a television has to be tuned to its secondary-audio-programming channel.
Most stereo TVs are already equipped to receive the SAP channel. The
National Association of Broadcasters and the National Cable Television
Association opposes the measure, citing technical difficulties and a lack of
FCC authority. The NAB pointed out in an FCC filing that the plan would
require expensive engineering upgrades of "soon-to-be-obsolete" analog
systems that are being phased out and replaced with digital technology. [For
more, see www.fcc.gov]
[Wall Street Journal (B12), AUTHOR: Jill Carroll]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB96439020930314962.htm)
HIGH DEFINITION TELEVISION
Issue: DTV
Tuesday, July 25, 2000 10:00 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection
oversight hearing on High Definition Television (HDTV) and related matters.
Witnesses will be by invitation only.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://com-notes.house.gov/schedule.htm)
ARTS
STEPHEN KING SOWS DREAD IN PUBLISHERS WITH LATEST E-TALE
Issue: pUBLISHING
Is Stephen King's journey into e-publishing a reflection of a new age, or an
author's celebrity? With today's release of "The Plant," King becomes the
first major author to self-publish on the Internet. King's decision to
forego publishing with his traditional publishing house has touched off a
debate as to whether the Web can liberate authors from their dependence
on publishers, or just make it easier for truly famous people to rally their
fans. Mr. King says he hopes to advance the cause of online publishing by
whetting readers' appetite for electronic books. Publishers and authors will
be watching closely. In March, Mr. King published his novella "Riding the
Bullet" in electronic form. More than 400,000 eager fans logged on to
download it as soon as it debuted. Since then, all the major publishers have
beefed up their output of electronic books. As one of the industry's
best-selling authors, King's decision to publish by himself is a
disappointment to his publishing house, Simon & Schuster. But it is also a
testament to his personal clout. Most authors, even those who do not work on
advances, still need the publisher's marketing and publicity clout. Now some
say the advent of the Web may change that. By self-publishing an author can
make far more than he or she would, if they have the right payment plan.
King's plans for "The Plant" is an honor-system payment plan: King is
trusting his readers to send him a dollar after each download.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: David Kirkpatrick]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/books/072400king-online.html)
ART, CULTURE, AND THE NATIONAL AGENDA
Issue: Arts
The Center for Arts and Culture announces a major initiative: Art, Culture,
and the National Agenda. This project -- a series of briefing papers, a
final volume, and public programs -- highlights key policy challenges in
arts and culture facing the next Presidential administration and Congress.
Coverage of issues is broad, ranging from historic preservation to arts
education, to intellectual property and cultural exchange. Release of
individual briefing papers will begin in the fall of 2000. See
(http://www.culturalpolicy.org/research/challeng.htm) for more info.
[SOURCE: Electronic Policy Network]
(http://www.epn.org/whatsnew/full_cite/189.html)
INTERNET
FBI FACES MORE PRESSURE TO DISCLOSE CODE FOR E-MAIL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM
Issue: Internet Privacy
The FBI is refusing to disclose the secret blueprints for its Carnivore
surveillance system in spite of increasing pressure from groups as diverse
as the ACLU to Congress. FBI officials maintain that disclosing the
software's source code would allow
hackers to find ways to defeat the system, and argues that such a disclosure
could violate copyright protections because Carnivore includes portions of
software code from a product licensed to the Government by an unidentified
vendor. Congress is expected to press senior FBI officials on the subject at
a hearing Monday before a House Judiciary Committee panel. One scheduled
witness for the hearing, Matthew Blaze, an AT&T researcher, says the FBI's
failure to fully disclose how Carnivore works has contributed to an
"atmosphere of mistrust and confusion." In attempting to assuage fears, the
FBI has tentatively agreed to an examination of Carnivore by university
researchers who would promise not to disclose its blueprints. The ACLU, one
of the groups that has requested the source code, said it might agree to
such an offer, if the FBI gives the blueprints to the ACLU and lets it
select the experts.
[Wall Street Journal (A6), AUTHOR: Ted Bridis]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB964386822942323349.htm)
NEW ECONOMY: CONTRADICTIONS ABOUND IN PUBLIC CONCERNS OVER NET PRIVACY
Issue: Privacy
Americans don't want anyone watching them, but they flock to look at others
as on the TV show "Big Brother." There's other contradictions, too. If
people are so concerned about privacy, why then are Napster and Gnutella so
popular when these programs give strangers access to a PC's hard drive? "In
the case of choosing to supply any service to the world, like Napster, it's
your own choice to do so, and you can calculate the risk and reward," said
Mark Seiden, chief consultant at Securify, a network security consulting
firm. "In the case of corporate spyware and the government, you are unaware
of what they're doing until some reverse-engineering whistle-blower
embarrasses the offenders. Meanwhile, they might have been watching you for
years." If "Big Brother" is a social psychology experiment about privacy and
group dynamics, so is that big, diverse group house known as the Internet.
"There probably are real differences among people in the extent to which
they are willing to entrust private information to others," writes Anthony
G. Greenwald, a social psychology professor the University of Washington,
who has used the Web to conduct experiments among volunteers. "Because some
are more trusting than others, there should be a segmentable market for
things that will attract the more trusting (online shopping, music via
Napster, opening messages that may contain viruses). And there is also a
market for things that appeal to the less trusting (alarm systems, unlisted
phone numbers, etc.). We have an unattractive name for those who seem to
live in excessive fear of attacks on their person or identity -- paranoid --
but I don't know of a name for the opposite."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Tim Rice]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/biztech/articles/24neco.html)
See Also:
COOKIES ARE STARTING TO CRUMBLE, MAKING ONLINE ADVERTISERS WORRY
[Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah Ellison]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB964377517769164648.htm)
IN THE AGE OF NAPSTER, WE FACE COPYRIGHT GAP
Issue: Intellectual Property
With concern about Napster and Gnutella running at a fever pitch, the
ability to protect intellectual property appears to be evaporating, now that
millions of users have access to technology that lets them swap songs,
movies or anything else that can be stuffed into a computer file. Although
Gnutella and Napster seem to have won the first rounds of battle over
copyright, there's still plenty of intellectual property that hasn't been
Napsterized -- not just popular fare like novels, but also high-value
content like textbooks and market research. Using the same kinds of
high-tech codes that protect your credit-card numbers from prying eyes on
the Net, Internet companies are developing ways to lock up digital content
so that only paying customers have the key to open a movie or song file,
dubbed Digital Rights Management (DRM). The goal of DRM systems is to make
digital content behave in a way that parallels a consumer's rights. When
someone buys a song in digital form, it should behave in a way that makes it
easy for the purchaser to listen to, and even lend to a friend, but highly
impractical to duplicate on a large scale. To do that, DRM systems seal up
content in a tamper-proof electronic box protected by mathematical codes
that are practically impossible to break. Legitimate users get the
appropriate cyber-keys. Those keys can be overt, like a password, or hidden
away on your computer or associated with a particular Internet address. If
DRM companies can get it right, their systems could open up new
possibilities -- and new ways for authors, artists and publishers to make
money. "You have so much flexibility here," says Ranjit Singh,president of
ContentGuard, a Xerox spinoff that develops DRM technology. Consumers could
buy a season-pass style subscription to all of a particular publisher's
books, or buy only the songs they want from an album.
[Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Tom Weber]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB964393135511242951.htm)
RIVALS COMPLAIN ABOUT AOL'S PLAN TO OPEN INSTANT MESSAGING SERVICE
Issue: Internet
More than a dozen Internet companies Friday criticized AOL's plan to open
its instant-messaging network to competitors, questioning the validity of
AOL's claims that existing approaches to interoperability compromise user
privacy. The companies, including Microsoft, are fighting to connect their
competing instant-messaging networks with AOL Instant Messenger, the most
popular person-to-person chatting service. AOL has said any
"interoperability" standard or common protocol that allows competing
instant-messaging systems to communicate with its own must protect the
privacy and security of AOL users. This assertion by AOL was questioned
Friday in a "white paper" submitted by the Internet companies to the FCC and
to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a technical standards group.
The paper also questioned why AOL didn't mention a timetable for the
development of an interoperability standard. An AOL spokeswoman said the
company is willing to work with its competitors. "AOL's submission to the
IETF is crystal clear about how the industry can get to true world-wide
interoperability while protecting users' privacy and security," said the AOL
spokeswoman.
[Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Staff Reporter
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB964396415866343389.htm)
INTERNET FREEDOM AND BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT ACT
Issue: Broadband
Thursday, July 27, 2000 11:00 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection has
scheduled a hearing focusing on H.R. 2420, the Internet Freedom and
Broadband Deployment Act of 1999. Witnesses will be by invitation only
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://com-notes.house.gov/schedule.htm)
BROADBAND INTERNET REGULATORY RELIEF
Issue: Broadband
Full Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday, July 26, at 9:30 a.m.
in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building. Senator Sam Brownback
(R-KS) will preside. Witnesses will be announced at a later time.
[SOURCE: US Senate]
(http://www.senate.gov/~commerce/press/106-195.htm)
INTERNATIONAL
TELECOM GIANT STILL REIGNS IN JAPAN
Issue: International
While U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky may have succeeded in
securing an agreement that requires Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. to
cut connection charges to American and other foreign carriers by $1 billion
a year, many experts wonder if there will ever be real competition in
Japan's information industries as long as NTT retains its stranglehold over
the nation's fixed-line phone network. NTT's fixed-phone-line business,
which was recently split into two regional phone giants--NTT East and NTT
West, controls access to more than 95 percent of the nation's fixed phone
lines. With annual revenue of nearly $100 billion, the company is the
world's largest telecommunications conglomerate. Some analysts assert that
nothing short of a complete breakup -- a la U.S.'s 1984 dissolution of AT&T
-- will enable Japan's information technology industry to become
globally competitive. However, even some of the most outspoken advocates of
liberalization in Japan's telecommunications industry say that a complete
breakup of NTT might not be necessary as long as the government can find
ways for rival carriers to connect Japanese businesses and households to the
Internet.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (H01), AUTHOR: Clay Chandler]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28243-2000Jul22.html)
ALL THE IRANIAN NEWS, ALL THE TIME
Issue: International
Last month National Iranian Television (NITV) began broadcasting out of a
North Hollywood, Calif. warehouse. NITV is a 24-hour satellite television
station. The station features Farsi-language news, lifestyle and cultural
programming, and is among several Iranian-American TV stations based in Los
Angeles where there are an estimated 600,000 Iranians. But NITV is the first
Iranian channel to broadcast to a worldwide audience. Programming runs on a
12-hour cycle; the broadcast is repeated during daytime hours in Tehran.
NITV's founder, Zia Atabay, says the station's purpose is to culturally
unite Iranian expatriates in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia
and elsewhere. Its other goal is to show Iranians what life is like in
America. The station - while not political - does have shows which address
such issues as religion, freedom and culture clash, which, Mr. Atabay
admitted, are inherently political. "We are not going to say who or what to
support, but we are going to promote change," he said. Especially prominent
are messages about liberated women. NITV's audience is difficult to measure,
particularly in Iran, where most viewers use illegal satellite dishes. "At
this stage, I don't think the quality of NITV is going to matter, because
they'll watch almost anything that comes from Los Angeles," Mr. Javid added,
noting that for most Iranians, Los Angeles typifies American culture. "But
in the long run, the station will have to prove itself with good programming."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C11), AUTHOR: Jordan Raphael]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/iran-tv.html)
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