Communications-related Headlines for 7/22/99

DIGITAL DIVIDE
Computer Void Limits Working Poor, Study Finds (WP)

MEDIA & SOCIETY
Let's Not Get Too Wired (NYT)
Public Appeal Targets Changes By Hollywood (USA)
FTC Urges Ban on TV, Radio Cigar Ads (WSJ)

BROADBAND
Speedier Internet Access On Tap (ChiTrib)

INTERNET
Masters of Internet Domains Go To War (WP)
Domain Name System Privatization: Is ICANN Out of Control? (House)
Instant Message System To Debut (SJM)
Nun Opens Vatican Doors to the Net (NYT)

ARTS
Art As A Game, and Games As Art (CyberTimes)

TELEPHONY/MERGERS
Cincinnati to Acquire IXC for 2.2 Billion (WSJ)
Speech: The Geology of Telecommunications (FCC)

DIGITAL DIVIDE

COMPUTER VOID LIMITS WORKING POOR, STUDY FINDS
Issue: Digital Divide
A survey by Rutgers University says only 39% of the working poor and unemployed
people they surveyed had access to the Internet, compared with 76% of other
employees. "It's another example of what's been called the 'digital divide' in
America," said Carl E. Van Horn, a professor of public policy at Rutgers.
"People without access to the Internet are cut off from many opportunities in
today's economy." He said companies are being short-sighted if they only look
for workers via electronic communications systems and should reach out to them
instead through church or community groups. The study, which surveyed 500
workers by phone who were defined as among the working poor, found that the
average working-poor individual is a middle-aged single white woman who holds a
full-time job but earns less than $25,000 a year. Most have dependent children.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Kirstin Downey Drimsley]
(www.washingtonpost.com)

MEDIA & SOCIETY

LET'S NOT GET TOO WIRED
Issue: Digital Divide
[Op-Ed] In response to the Commerce Department's recent report that
African-American and Hispanic households are much less likely to have
access to the Internet, Mr. Tenner questions whether Internet connections
are really all that important. He suggests that there would be many
downsides if Internet connections became as ubiquitous as telephones.
Tenner believes that universal Internet access would result in a
deterioration of cultural life, a surge in computer prices and harm to the
environment. He argues that the Internet is a better, cheaper place for
some, when there are not personal connections for all.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A21), AUTHOR: Edward Tenner (visiting researcher
in the geosciences department at Princeton)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/22tenn.html)

PUBLIC APPEAL TARGETS CHANGES BY HOLLYWOOD
Issue: Media & Society
Tuesday, lawmakers announced a campaign focusing on putting pressure on
Hollywood to clean up its act. Empower America's Bill Bennett along with
Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Sam Brownback, (R-KS), Kay
Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) met to announce the Appeal to
Hollywood Initiative. It is petition-based, so no legislation was announced. It
will be carried out through a site (www.media-appeal.org). Entertainers who
have signed on include Steve Allen, Naomi Judd, Carol Lawrence and Joan Van
Ark. Other people who have signed on are former Presidents Gerald Ford and
Jimmy Carter, as well as Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf and former-NY
governor Mario Cuomo. This campaign calls for people to call, e-mail or write
Hollywood executives to reduce the violence and sexual content.
[SOURCE: USA Today (1D), AUTHOR: Ann Oldenburg]
(http://usatoday.com/)
See Also:
PROMINENT SIGNERS URGE MEDIA TO CURB SEX, VIOLENCE
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.20), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-9907220414,F
F.html)

FTC URGES BAN ON TV, RADIO CIGAR ADS
Issue: Advertising
The Federal Trade Commission is urging Congress to put health warnings on cigar
labels and print ads as well as completely banning their radio and television
advertising. The FTC is relying on the 1998 National Cancer Institution Report,
which said cigar smoking has increased by 50% since 1993 and that use is
growing among teenagers. The ban would have little impact on their radio and
television advertising because in 1997 the top five cigar companies only spent
325,000 on both. Norman Sharp, a Washington Lobbyist for the Cigar Association
of America, said that the possible ban is insignificant and noted that
there are already warning labels on cigars because of a California Court
ruling.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, A4, AUTHOR: Bruce Ingersoll]
(http://wsj.com/)

BROADBAND

SPEEDIER INTERNET ACCESS ON TAP
Issue: Broadband
After testing and talking about DSL service for 3 years, Midwest phone giant
Ameritech will finally make high-speed Internet access available to
residential customers on a mass scale. In an alliance announced Wednesday,
America Online will aggressively market DSL to its customers when Ameritech
makes the service available. Ameritech will wire AOL customers' homes with
DSL and grant AOL wholesale rates. Ameritech is facing competition from
AT&T's cable arm -- TCI -- and, as part of SBC/Ameritech's efforts to win
regulatory approval for their merger, the companies have ben promising to
make DSL services widely available especially in low income and rural areas.
"We're basically in a land grab right now," said Dean Tucker, vice president
for marketing at Telocity Inc., a DSL Internet service provider that
launched service for Chicago residential customers two weeks ago. "The cable
companies are beginning to sign up customers, and so are the DSL providers.
Once you sign someone up, that customer is unlikely to change later, because
of the costs and hassles. Any large phone company that fails to recognize
this could see lots of its revenues evaporate." Over phone lines, Ameritech
will offer bundle packages will AOL or its own Internet service,
Ameritech.net. Over Ameritech's cable systems, it will over both AOL and
Ameritech.net as a way to tweak AT&T which only offers its own Internet
service, AtHome, over its cable systems.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Jon Van]
(http://chicagotribune.com/business/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-99072201
12,FF.html)
See Also:
AOL TO GET HIGH-SPEED LINES FROM AMERITECH
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/086118.htm)

INTERNET

MASTERS OF INTERNET DOMAINS GO TO WAR
Internet: Internet
Once Internet activists and businesses were content to see that ICANN was
formed to assumed technical control of the global computer network and the
break up of Network Solution's monopoly in registering electronic addresses.
Now they believe ICANN is stealthily morphing into a regulatory agency for the
traditionally unregulated Internet. Network Solutions is leading the charge
and will not participate in ICANN's plans for competition. This battle has
the potential to disrupt the flow of information and commerce on the
Internet. Jim Rutt, Network Solutions' chief executive says, "[ICANN] is not
really necessary." Esther Dyson, head of ICANN counters that Networks
Solution's opposition isn't based on principle but out of a desire to
"prolong its monopoly." Networks
Solutions says that if its stripped of its current tasks there would be
"serious security and stability issues" for the Internet and that ICANN and
the government could end up "disconnecting 5 million Internet addresses."
Dyson said, "I think we're all interested in making this work." Industry and
government sources both say the negotiations have not progressed significantly
in recent weeks. One source said, "The process is not moving forward the way
it should be."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Rajiv Chandrasekaran]
(www.washingtonpost.com)

DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM PRIVATIZATION: IS ICANN OUT OF CONTROL?
Issue: Internet
A live Webcast of today's oversight hearing is available at the URL below.
Also see: The Commerce Department and Network Solutions have agreed to
extend the shared registration test bed until August 6
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/07161999.htm).
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://com-notes.house.gov/cchear/hearings106.nsf/eeae8466ba03a2158525677f0
04b4d11/d9a7cdb563866c02852567af005ed58b?OpenDocument)

INSTANT MESSAGE SYSTEM TO DEBUT
Issue: Internet
Today Microsoft will unveil new software that competes with AOL's Internet
instant messaging program. Microsoft's Messenger Service will allow users to
exchange messages through AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM), and to communicate
with users of Microsoft's Hotmail free e-mail service. But today's announcement
marks the first time a major company such as Microsoft has launched a product
that is in direct competition with AOL. Some analysts believe instant
messaging has an important future because its possibility of being integrated
with other forms of communication -- with telephone voicemail, for example, or
with messages to cell phones and pagers. "I think instant messaging is the
future of all communications," said Jerry Michalski, president of Sociate, a
San Francisco technology consultancy. "It offers a sense of presence that no
other software, and not even the phone system, can offer."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/messag072299.htm)

NUN OPENS VATICAN DOORS TO THE NET
Issue: Internet
While people may not think of the Vatican as quick to adapt to social and
technological advances, one American nun has begun to prepare the Catholic
Church for the digital age. Sister Judith Zoebelein was put in charge of
developing a Web site for the Vatican. The site received over 300,000 visits in
the first 48 hours after its debut on Christmas Day of 1995. Some people may
have been surprised by the Church's decision to establish a Web presence,
Vatican officials explain that it is inline w/the mission of the Catholic
Church. Archbishop Claudio Celli a senior official overseeing the Web site,
said: "Today, technical means of communication offer broad possibilities to
disseminate knowledge at a global level. The Holy See considers it a challenge
to be present in this context." Sister Judith say that when "People ask, 'Why
is a sister doing this?' " she explains: "Well, technology has to have a
spiritual dimension."
[SOURCE: New York Times (E1), AUTHOR: John Tagiabue]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/circuits/articles/22nunn.html)

ARTS

ART AS A GAME, AND GAMES AS ART
Issue: Arts/Games
The market for "interactive entertainment software" is growing and, by some
estimates, may eventually generate more revenue than the domestic film industry.
Digital artists, on the one hand, are looking to add their voices to the debate
over the genre's aesthetic merits and cultural impact while exploring the
artistic possibilities of games. This week two artist-driven Web sites
explore the debate over games as art, "Re:Play" and "Cracking the Maze."
Eric Zimmerman, director of "Re:Play" says games can teach artists about
digital interaction; anything from representation and identity to
complex systems and artificial life. The game industry, however, can also
learn from artists. Natalie Bookchiln, a Los Angeles artist says, "Games are
still the most successful example of hooking a user into an interactive
narrative." Will games remain bubble-gum pop culture like comic books or
will it take the route of pop music, which is a diverse and dynamic cultural
form where experimentation feeds back to the center and keeps the medium
exciting? Digital artists will have to answer that one for themselves.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Matthew Mirapaul]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/cyber/artsatlarge/22artsatlarge.h
tml)

TELEPHONY/MERGERS

CINCINNATI TO ACQUIRE IXC FOR 2.2 BILLION
Issue: Merger
Cincinnati Bell agreed to buy IXC Communications, a Texas long-distance
company. The deal is valued at $2.2 billion and Cincinnati Bell will assume $1
billion dollars of IXC's debt. IXC is building a nationwide fiber optic network
competing with Qwest Communications International. Cincinnati Bell is a phone
company specifically in the Cincinnati market, but it is not a Bell operating
company. What Cincinnati has acquired is an 18,000-mile national network for
voice and data transmission to expand its services into business.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, B5, AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
(http://wsj.com/)
See Also:
TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEAL CARRIES PLENTY OF INTRIGUE
[SOURCE: New York Times (C2), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/ixc-bell-marketplace.html)

SPEECH: THE GEOLOGY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Issue: Phone Regulation
Commissioner Susan Ness Remarks before the Communications Committee National
Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), San Francisco.
Commissioner Ness speaks to the partnership between state and federal
telecommunications regulators -- especially concerning local competition and
unbundled network elements (UNEs) [sure, you know the lingo].
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Ness/spsn910.html)

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