Communications-related Headlines for 12/4/97

Internet
NYT: Reno to Convene Meeting On High-Tech Crime
WSJ: U.S. Campaign to Focus on Internet's Criminals
WP: Maryland Goes Boldly on the Internet

Arts
WP: Smoker's Withdrawal in Hollywood
NYT: 2 CDs Retell Canadian Fiction

Radio
WP: Radio Days in Maryland: Time to Squelch the Static

InfoTech
WP: Is Intel's Ties To Microsoft Loosening?
NYT: Smithsonian Honors the Original Bug in the System

Corporate News
WP: Eisner Gets A Payday of $565 Million
WSJ: Eisner Exercises 7.3 Million Disney Stock Option

** Internet **

Title: Reno to Convene Meeting On High-Tech Crime
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/120497crime.html
Author: The Associated Press
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: Attorney General Janet Reno announced a two-day conference of
international authorities "to devise interagency measures to locate
criminals that use the Internet and other new technologies." Their aim is
to ensure that cybercriminals will not be able to locate any safe havens.
"One of the greatest challenges we face in this area of law enforcement is
to identify online predators...in child pornography," Reno said yesterday at
the Internet/Online Summit: Focus on Children conference. "Current
technology often allows these criminals to mask their location and their
identity. The rapid and global growth of the Internet raises a host of
complex issues involving criminal law enforcement that expand beyond
national boundaries." The meeting will be held next week.

Title: U.S. Campaign to Focus on Internet's Criminals
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A24)
Author: WSJ Staff Reporter
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: The White House and the Department of Justice will host a
meeting of foreign law-enforcement officials next week to coordinate a
global campaign to crack down on the use of the Internet by criminals. The
meeting will include interior ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia and the UK (and they're dancing in the streets, yeah).
Attorney General Janet Reno said, "When we meet, we will be talking about
methods to locate and identify computer criminals so we can bring them to
justice."

Title: Maryland Goes Boldly on the Internet
Source: Washington Post (B4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/04/209l-120497-idx.html
Author: Amy Argetsinger
Issue: Access to Gov Info/Internet Content
Description: In the next few months, Maryland residents will be able to look
up the value of their neighbor's houses and update their state licenses
through the Internet. These, and other, new services are part of an
ambitious effort by the Maryland state government to utilize information
technology to open up more services to the public and help government run
more efficiently. The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a think tank in DC
that follows digital technology issues, recently ranked Maryland as fifth
among all states for technological savvy.

** Arts **

Title: Smoker's Withdrawal in Hollywood
Source: Washington Post (D15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/04/177l-120497-idx.html
Author: The Associated Press
Issue: Health
Description: A group of television producers and moviemakers agreed
yesterday that their industry needs to be more aware of how it portrays
cigarette smoking. Appearing at the White House with Vice President Al
Gore, representatives from the Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, Writers
Guild, and a speaker for supermodels, pledged to use peer pressure to keep
their colleagues from portraying cigarette smoking as cool. A recent study
found 77 percent of all movies contained scenes that showed tobacco use and they
often glamorized smoking. "The cause and effect relationship is very, very
clear," Gore said. He added that impressionable moviegoers "don't see the
victim of lung cancer drowning in the fluid that builds up in their lungs."

Title: 2 CDs Retell Canadian Fiction
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/mirapaul/120497mirapaul.html
Author: Matthew Mirapaul
Issue: Arts
Description: Two new CD-ROM adaptations of books by Canadian authors
demonstrate the different ways in which multimedia developers can illuminate
literary text. In 'Anne of Green Gables,' by L.M. Montgomery, "each page
contains a hand-drawn depiction of a scene from the book, as well as
highlighted words that are linked to an illustrated glossary of people and
places. There is a musical accompaniments throughout, and non- or near-
readers can choose to have the story spoken aloud by a narrator." If you
click on one of the illustrations the scene springs to life moving around
within the space delivering lines from the text. In 'Le Desert Mauve,' by
Nicole Brossard, the video artist Adriene Jenik has translated the story
into an interactive medium. Her interpretation is presented through
scenarios where the reader drives through a desert landscape discovering
video clips, ominous animation, and intriguing bits of speech in three
languages, as well as a encountering a variety of secrets that begin to
reveal themselves throughout the journey. (Consumer information about these
two CD-ROMs can be accessed at the end of the above link.)

** Radio **

Title: Radio Days in Maryland: Time to Squelch the Static
Source: Washington Post (E3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/04/149l-120497-idx.html
Author: Rudolph A. Pyatt Jr.
Issue: Radio
Description: Ten years ago, Maryland set up a fund, generally referred to as
the Sunny Day Fund, designed to support "extraordinary" economic development
proposals in conjunction with the state's Economic Development Opportunities
Program. While loans from the Sunny Day fund are usually not disputed,
detractors of Md.'s Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) are attempting to make one
proposed loan from this fund a big issue in the next gubernatorial race. The
loan in mention is a $500,000 loan, supported by Gov. Glendening, to Radio
One Inc., a minority-owned media company based in Lanham. Critics say that
Glendening is expecting Radio One Inc. to endorse him in exchange for the
loan. While Radio One's application was initially withheld by the
Department of Fiscal Services pending the clarification of several technical
issues, there was never a concern within the Fiscal Services staff that
their application was part of a scheme cooked up by Cathy Hughes, Radio
One's chief executive and Glendening.

** InfoTech **

Title: Is Intel's Ties To Microsoft Loosening?
Source: Washington Post (E1, E2)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/04/137l-120497-idx.html
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Info Tech
Description: Intel, which creates about 85 percent of the computer chips
used inside personal computers, announced yesterday that it is creating a
new design that will be a low-cost alternative to the PC. The company won't
finish its blueprints until Feb. or Mar., but Intel has made it clear that
it will support a variety of software operating systems - not just those
offered by Microsoft. This announcement is the latest sign that the era of
a single, dominant device in the world of high-technology is fading.

Title: Smithsonian Honors the Original Bug in the System
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/120497bug.html
Author: Peter Wayner
Issue: InfoTech
Description: The Smithsonian Institute is commemorating the 50th anniversary
of the discovery of one of the first "computer bugs" (actually, a moth that
shorted out the Mark II computer in 1947 at Harvard). The exhibit discusses
the use of the word and traces its history through modern times. The
exhibit, which also includes other error creating mechanisms in computer
history, runs through March at the National Museum of American History.

** Corporate News **

Title: Eisner Gets A Payday of $565 Million
Source: Washington Post (E1, E3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/04/130l-120497-idx.html
Author: James Bates
Issue: Winning the Lottery
Description: Yesterday, Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael D. Eisner
exercised stock options at a profit of about $565 million dollars. This
pretax payout is the second one Eisner has taken in five years. In 1992, he
reaped $202 million, an action that triggered an intense debate over
lucrative stock option packages designed for executives. Although Eisner's
pay package is huge, his net worth runs far behind that of other executives
who own large chunks of the companies they run. Some experts believe that
Eisner's move will bring about debates similar to those voiced in '92. [Also
see WSJ (A3) "Eisner Exercises 7.3 Million Disney Stock Option" by Bruce Orwall]
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