DIGITAL DIVIDE
Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide (NTIA)
U.S. Cites Race Gap In Use of Internet (WP)
Clinton Trumpets Plan for Centers to Impart
Information-Age Skills (WSJ)
[links to many more stories on the Digital Divide]
DEVELOPMENT
Malaysian Cybercity (SJM)
Historic to High-Tech: Old Plant to Blossom (ChiTrib)
INTERNET
In Courts View, MP3 Player Is Just A
'Space Shifter' (CyberTimes)
GOP unveils online TV (SJM)
CBS is Acquiring 35% of Medscape in Exchange for Ads (WSJ)
Electronic Commerce: Current Status of Privacy
Protections for Online Consumers (House)
Bitter Cyberspace Foes Make Nice at Convention (Cyber)
TELEVISION
Disney to Join Operations of Studio and ABC Units (NYT)
The Rise of Narrowcasting (ChiTrib)
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Authorization
Act of 1999 (House)
TELEPHONY
Latest Urban Legend? Cell Phones Igniting Fumes at
Gasoline Stations (WSJ)
Calling Party Pays (FCC)
Competition Gives Headaches to Brazilian
Phone Customers (NYT)
FCC
Open Meeting Agenda (FCC)
ANTITRUST
FCC Licenses Undersea-Cable Group, And Decides to
Investigate the Industry (WSJ)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
FALLING THROUGH THE NET: DEFINING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Issue: Digital Divide
From the Press Release: More Americans than ever have access to telephones,
computers and the Internet -- tools critical to economic success and
advancement -- but a digital divide between the information "haves" and
"have nots" persists, and, in some cases, has widened significantly,
according to a new Commerce Department report President Clinton released
today as part of his New Markets Tour. Access to computers and the Internet
for Americans in all demographic groups and geographic locations soared at
the end of 1998, due, in part, to the success of pro-competition policies,
the report said. Over 40 percent of U.S. households owned computers, one
quarter of all households had Internet access and 94.1 percent of American
households were connected by telephone at the end of 1998. But the bright
picture is clouded by data that show significant disparities continue
between certain demographic groups and regions and, in many cases, the gap
between these groups has grown over time, the report said. "While we are
encouraged by the dramatic growth in the access Americans have to the
nation's information technologies, the growing disparity in access between
certain groups and regions is alarming," Commerce Secretary William M. Daley
said. "We must ensure that all Americans have the information tools and
skills that are critical for their participation in the emerging digital
economy," Sec Daley said. "America's digital divide is fast becoming a
'racial ravine'," Larry Irving, assistant secretary of Commerce for
Telecommunications said, citing the report's data identifying certain
minorities, low-income groups and residents in rural areas and central
cities as among those lacking in access to the nation's information
resources. It is now one of America's leading economic and civil rights
issues and we have to take concrete steps to redress the gap between the
information haves and have nots."
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/digitaldivide/)
U.S. CITES RACE GAP IN USE OF INTERNET
Issue: Digital Divide
"There is a growing digital divide between those who have access to the
digital economy and the Internet and those who don't, and that divide exists
along the lines of education, income, region and race....If we want to
unlock the potential of our workers, we have to close that gap," said
President Clinton yesterday when releasing Falling Through the Net, the new
report from the Department of Commerce. Despite plummeting computer prices
and billions of dollars spent wiring public schools and libraries, white,
high-income Americans continue to predominate in the online world. "We've
got a new technology spreading more rapidly than any new technology has
spread in history," said David Boaz, executive vice president of the
libertarian Cato Institute. "And of course it doesn't spread absolutely
evenly. Richer people always adopt new technology first -- and that's not
news," Mr. Boaz said. He dismissed the report as a snapshot view that misses
a general trend toward increasing Internet access across the board. "There's
no such thing as information haves and information have-nots," Mr. Boaz
said. "There are have-nows and have-laters. The families that don't have
computers now are going to have them in a few years."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: John Schwartz]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/july99/divide9.htm)
CLINTON TRUMPETS PLAN FOR CENTERS TO IMPART INFORMATION-AGE SKILLS
Issue: Digital Divide
On his four-day "poverty tour," President Clinton called attention to the
Academy of Information Technology, an $8 million private initiative that was
launched to prepare high-school students for information technology careers.
The academy is being designed by Lucent Technologies with help from Citigroup.
Clinton's tour was aimed at encouraging private investment in chronically poor
areas and improving training --such as technology training-- of the nation's
future labor pool. The academy will operate programs largely in urban areas. On
Thursday, Clinton said, "[There is a] growing digital divide between those who
have access to the digital economy and the Internet and those who don't." He
stressed the need for more projects like the Lucen/Citigroup initiative. "The
very information technology driving this new economy gives us the tools to
ensure that no one gets left behind," he said.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B2), AUTHOR: Jeanne Cummings and John Simons]
(www.wsj.com)
See Also:
REPORT SHOWS INCREASE IN 'DIGITAL DIVIDE'
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/cyber/articles/09divide.html)
INTERNET GAP WIDENING
[SOURCE: USA Today (A1), AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
(www.usatoday.com)
NET HANGS OUT OF REACH OF HAVE-NOTS
[SOURCE: USA Today (B1), AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
(www.usatoday.com)
COMPUTER AGE LEAVING MANY BLACKS, HISPANICS OUT OF TOUCH
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (p.1), AUTHOR: Karen Brandon]
(http://chicagotribune.com/tech/news/article/0,2669,ART-31389,FF.html)
DIGITAL ECONOMY HAS 'RACIAL RAVINE'
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1,p.6), AUTHOR: Paul McKibben]
(http://chicagotribune.com/tech/news/article/0,2669,2-31388,FF.html)
DEVELOPMENT
MALAYSIAN CYBERCITY
Issue: Development
Yesterday, Malaysia cut the ribbon on its version of Silicon Valley. It is a
high-tech cityscape in a giant clearing where wetlands and rubber trees once
stood. Unveiled by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad the futuristic city is
named Cyberjaya (jaya means success in Malay). The project expected to
eventually cost $5.3 billion and push Malaysia into the information age. The
city sits in the center of the so-called Super Corridor, a suburb of Kuala
Lumpur. One end has the Petronas Towers, the world's tallest buildings and
the other is
the $2.3 billion international airport. The futuristic city is wired with
high-speed fiber optics and spans 300 square miles -- an area roughly the
size of New York City. A railway line has been stalled until 2001 and a
network of three expressways is under construction. Cyberjaya is due for
completion in 2011. Over two hundred companies have applied to set up shop
in the Super Corridor -- 78 are foreign firms including giants like
Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Oracle and Fujitsu. So far, 21 companies have
moved in including Japan's telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone and
British Aerospace.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/msv070999.htm)
HISTORIC TO HIGH-TECH: OLD PLANT TO BLOSSOM
Issue: Development
A historic building where millions of magazines, catalogs, telephone
directories and books once rolled off huge presses will be converted into a
"center for cyberspace" under a $250 million plan that Mayor Richard Daley
contends will help make Chicago competitive with California's Silicon Valley
and North Carolina's Research Triangle. It will be the largest planned
Internet and telecommunications facility in America," Mayor Daley said.
"Instead of housing printing presses, it will house telecommunications
equipment and Internet servers....This building, a center of the printing
industry in the 20th Century, will be transformed into a center of
cyberspace in the 21st." The anchor tenant will be Frontier Communications
which provides content distribution for clients that run Web sires.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Gary Washburn]
(http://chicagotribune.com/business/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-99070900
35,FF.html)
INTERNET
IN COURT'S VIEW, MP3 PLAYER IS JUST A 'SPACE SHIFTER'
Issue: Intellectual Property
A Federal appeals court for the ninth circuit in Pasadena, CA recently ruled
that consumers can use their computers to make personal copies of digital works
they have already purchased or legitimately downloaded to listen to them in
different places. In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled in the landmark "Betamax"
case that television viewers could make video copies of television programs to
watch later. The practice, known as "time-shifting" is now being modified for
computers and called "space-shifting." The court case, RIAA v. Diamond
Multimedia, was deciding the fate of the _Rio_ portable gadget that stores
music in digital form (in digitally compressed MP3 files) and plays it back
through headphones. The Recording Industry Association of America has long been
frightened of Rio, saying it encourages music piracy.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Carl S. Kaplan)
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/cyber/cyberlaw/09law.html)
GOP UNVEILS ONLINE TV
Issue: Internet/Politics
Yesterday, the Republican National Committee launched what might be called
GOP-TV, an Internet-based broadcast outlet with a global reach that requires
no federal license. It is a new video streaming technology, which will allow
Republicans to air news conferences and special political events live over
the Internet during the 2000 campaign. RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson said this
is only one tool in a budding "e.GOP Project" that he described as "a
comprehensive cutting-edge commitment by the Republican Party to harness the
Web's power for its communications, organizing and fund raising." Their
first broadcast was a caustic put-down of Vice President Gore called "The
World According to Gore."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Cox News Service]
http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/049072.htm)
CBS IS ACQUIRING 35% OF MEDSCAPE IN EXCHANGE FOR ADS
Issue: Internet/Advertising
CBS has been expanding its online business by exchanging advertising on its
television, radio and outdoor advertising holdings for stakes in small
Internet companies. Yesterday, it announced that it would acquire a 35%
stake in Medscape, an online provider of medical information, in exchange
for $150 million worth of promotion over the next seven years.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (C4), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(www.wsj.com)
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE: CURRENT STATUS OF PRIVACY PROTECTIONS FOR ONLINE CUSTOMERS
Issue: Ecommerce/Privacy
Tuesday, July 13, 1999 10:00 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building.
Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection hearing
on Electronic Commerce: Current Status of Privacy Protections for Online
Consumers.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://www.house.gov/commerce/schedule.htm)
BITTER CYBERSPACE FOES MAKE NICE AT CONVENTION
Issue: Security
This weekend in Las Vegas, Defcon, the annual gathering of computer hackers,
will take place. Once a small gathering of a fringe element in American
culture, Defcon, now in its seventh year, brings together forces that are
increasingly in the public eye and influencing the nation's high-tech
economy. Defcon is expected to draw 2,000 people and will feature
presentations by a number of security consultants, hacker groups, academics
and government officials, including Nevada's attorney general. The hackers
say it just gives them a chance to meet their online friends.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Matt Richtel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/cyber/articles/09hacker.html)
TELEVISION
DISNEY TO JOIN OPERATIONS OF STUDIO AND ABC UNITS
Issue: Ownership
The ABC Entertainment Television Group is a new unit at Disney that will
consolidate the functions of the Walt Disney Television Studio and the ABC
television network. Disney and ABC executives said the move will cut costs.
The main goal is to "establish a vertically integrated entity that would
guarantee that more programs owned by Disney [are] placed on ABC's
prime-time schedule." All of the television networks have been trying to own
as much programming as possible to generate new revenue sources -- and to
offset declining audiences and rising costs.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C6), AUTHOR: Bill Carter]
(http://www.nytimes.com/)
See Also:
Disney is Slated to Merge ABC Unit With TV Studio
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B4), AUTHOR: Kyle Pope]
(www.wsj.com)
THE RISE OF NARROWCASTING
Issue: Television
If you want to know what the future of television will be like, turn on your
radio. Each medium was once dominated by large outlets that dominated the
market. Now, the number 1 radio station in a given market may only reach 7%
of the audience -- many stations make money by reaching just 3% of the
audience. It works because advertisers, in this new economic model, are able
to get a fairly precise idea of who will hear their pitch; they don't waste
money trying to sell scouring pads to college guys, Johnson writes. The idea
of broadcasting is dead in radio and TV is following the path to
narrowcasting: " little pop-culture cubbyholes where each viewer gets his
own kind of fare." This is the first in a series of articles the Tribune
will run on the changing television industry sparked by these questions: Who
is hurt and how badly when television ceases to depict a diverse
population? What will be the fallout from the explosion of new,
television-related technologies, many of them designed to serve narrower
audience niches? And is the tradeoff in the more idiosyncratic programming
that can now make it to air worth the loss of an inclusive programming model?
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 5, p.1), AUTHOR: Steve Johnson]
(http://chicagotribune.com/leisure/television/article/0,2669,SAV-9907090160,
FF.html)
THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1999
Issue: Public Broadcasting
Wednesday, July 14, 1999 10:00 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building.
Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection markup of
H.R. 2384, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Authorization Act of
1999. Also see
(http://com-notes.house.gov/cchear/hearings106.nsf/eeae8466ba03a2158525677f0
04b4d11/5d95c67bd4e619028525679a004ff292?OpenDocument) for June 30 hearing.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://www.house.gov/commerce/schedule.htm)
TELEPHONY
LATEST URBAN LEGEND? CELL PHONES IGNITING FUMES AT GASOLINE STATIONS
Issue: Wireless
Cellular phones are now being blamed for explosions at gas stations and Exxon
stations are not taking any chances. They are asking customers to turn off
their engines, extinguish cigarettes and switch off their cellular phones. The
idea was sparked when reports came out that a man in Indonesia had caught fire
at a gas station while filling his tank at the same time. Oil and
cellular-phone associations in the U.S. have not been able to verify the story,
but Exxon has gone ahead and printed new warnings at its stations and says the
likelihood of it happening is "remote." Other urban legends surrounding
cellular phones have emerged in the past, like the idea that they give brain
tumors, headaches, memory loss or cause disasters and disease. Motorola has
dismissed these as "urban legends" Regardless, the warnings haven't discouraged
many consumers from continuing to buy cellular phones.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B2), AUTHOR: Kathy Chen]
(www.wsj.com)
CALLING PARTY PAYS
Issue: Wireless
Calling party pays (CPP) is part mobile (wireless) phone subscription
packages in which the party placing the call to a wireless customer pays at
least some of the charges for terminating the call, if not all. This service
is widely available abroad but only in limited areas in the U.S. The
Federal Communications Commission believes that wider availability for
calling party pays in the U.S. will help local phone competition and provide
alternatives to consumers who have not used mobile services extensively. In
the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), the FCC proposes solutions to
obstacles to the providers for offer such a service.
[Source: Federal Communications Commission]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Wireless/Notices/1999/fcc99137.pdf)
COMPETITION GIVES HEADACHES TO BRAZILIAN PHONE CUSTOMERS
Issue: Telephony/International
The long-distance network in Brazil nearly collapsed in confusion and
technical problems last weekend after competition was allowed in several
regions. MCI Worldcom and Telefonica of Spain have purchased pieces of
Brazil's national phone system. Only about 20%-30% of long-distance calls
have been completed successfully since the companies began vying for
clients, about half the call-completion rate under the old system, according
to Anatel, the Government's telecommunications regulatory agency. During
some peak hours, only a fifth of long-distance calls were completed.
Companies scrambled to repair glitches (the President gave them 72 hours to
fix the problems and companies said they could meet the deadline) but the
service breakdown has raised questions about how the Government has handled
privatization in general. Criticism has been acute in Sao Paolo, where 40%
of phone calls are made. Meanwhile, companies have been blaming each other
for the problems. Deregulation is expected to bring substantial benefits,
but Brazilians are learning that such expansion does not happen flawlessly.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Simon Romero]
(www.nytimes.com)
FCC
OPEN MEETING AGENDA
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an Open Meeting on
Wednesday, July 14, 1999 at 9:30 a.m. in Room C305, at 445 12th Street,
S.W., Washington, D.C. Some of the items to be discussed: local number
portability, Universal Service support mechanisms, a review of FCC
accounting and reporting requirements, Amendment of the Commission's Rules
regarding the 37.0-38.6 GHz and 38.6-40.0 GHz bands, licensing and service
rules in the 39 GHz service, creating a Wireless Medical Telemetry Service,
standards for the reception and display of closed captioning information on
digital television (DTV) receivers, and access to equipment by persons with
disabilities. (And of course the best reason to go, Benton's amazingly
brilliant intern, Veronica, will be attending.)
[Source: Federal Communications Commission]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/Public_Notices/Agenda/1999/agenda.
html)
ANTITRUST
FCC LICENSES UNDERSEA-CABLE GROUP, AND DECIDES TO INVESTIGATE THE INDUSTRY
Issue: Antitrust
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will investigate a consortium that
is building an undersea cable between the U.S. and Japan. The FCC granted a
license to the group, which includes AT&T, MCI Worldcom, Sprint and three big
Japanese telephone companies, but now is going to inquire about how various
consortia build and operate undersea cables. Also, the Justice Department is
investigating the group for antitrust operations. In light of soaring demand
for global pipelines to carry voice, video and data, start-up companies are now
challenging the consortia with lower prices. Traditionally, AT&T and other big
international companies have led the development of undersea cables. Companies
like Global Crossings, are challenging the consortia for not allowing global
phone rates to fall faster, calling its practices "collusive."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B2), AUTHOR: Kathy Chen]
(www.wsj.com)
--------------------------------------------------------------
...and we are outta here. Have a great weekend. See you at the Tigers game
on Saturday.