Telephone Industry Seeks Aid In Wiretap Battle With FBI
House Approves Measure To Kill Arts Endowment
Finding Government Profit in Aid to the Arts
Software Piracy Suspected in Advertising Industry
You've Heard of Soundscan, Now Read About Bookscan
Wireless Warfare
Porn Does the Internet
Senators Defend Arts Agency
Telephone Market Probes Planned
Software Leaders Taking Ratings Plans to Clinton
Hundt Wants A task Force To Look At Local Competition Problems
MCI President Outlines "Fair Play Test" For Local-Service Market
Standards for Telehealth Equipment
Network Reliability and Interoperability
Action to Prevent Slamming
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Title: Telephone Industry Seeks Aid In Wiretap Battle With FBI
Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/(A13)
Author: John Markoff
Issue: Privacy
Description: In a dispute on "the limits of digital surveillance in the
information age," telephone executives are expected to petition the Federal
Communications Commission for a ruling on the development of wiretapping
equipment. According to the Communications for Law Enforcement Act (1994),
telephone companies must consult the Federal Bureau of Investigation in
setting standards to modify the nation's telephone network for wiretapping.
But the industry is saying that the FBI's requirements -- like being able to
listened in on a conference call after the person under investigation drops
the call -- will be too costly. Modifications must be made by October 1998.
Title: House Approves Measure To Kill Arts Endowment
Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/(A15)
Author: Jerry Gray
Issue: Arts
Description: The House of Representatives passed an Interior Department
spending bill that includes a provision to abolish the National Endowment of
the Arts. The Senate has approved $175 million for the NEA and President
Clinton has promised to veto a bill that kills the Endowment.
Title: Finding Government Profit in Aid to the Arts
Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/(B1)
Author: Rick Lyman
Issue: Arts
Description: McKinsey & Company will release a new report today called "You
Gotta Have Art." The study found that Federal, state, county and city
spending on the arts in New York in 1995 totaled $197 million. Tax revenues
generated by the arts raised $761 million. "The idea behind the report is to
offer a businessman's approach to this, something that you just could not
quarrel with. If its returning a great benefit to the state, then you can't
argue with it," said a member of New York State's art council. The report
was done at the request of the New York State Council on the Arts and the
City of New York's Department of Cultural Affairs. It is based, in part, on
a forthcoming report by the Alliance for the Arts.
Title: Software Piracy Suspected in Advertising Industry
Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/(D2)
Author: Andrew Ross Sorkin
Issue: Copyright
Description: "Piracy is pervasive in the advertising industry. This sector
should be a little more concerned," says the general counsel for Adobe. The
Business Software Alliance is expected to announce a settlement with an
outdoor advertising company for using unauthorized versions of Microsoft
Word and Adobe Pagemaker.
Title: You've Heard of Soundscan, Now Read About Bookscan
Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/(D5)
Author: Doreen Carvajal
Issue: Publishing
Description: Soundscan brought computerized sales tracking and order to the
nation's pop music charts. Now the same company is preparing a similar
system for books. If successful, it would be a welcome relief in an industry
struggling with declining sales and bloated print runs.
Title: Wireless Warfare
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/(A1)
Author: Jon Auerbach
Issue: Competition
Description: The US wireless telephone industry is learning lessons from
Europe. There, cell-phone users don't pay for incoming calls, phones last
for days without recharging, and people can be reached across the continent.
The US wireless industry is about roll out a new, $50 billion digital
cellular system -- the Federal Communications Commission calls it the
largest peacetime investment in any consumer technology in US history. US
companies are importing European rate plans, phone features, marketing
tricks, and executives. [In a related story from Telecom AM, The Cellular
Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) predicts that the number of
wireless phone subscribers will reach 50 million for the first time sometime
during the week of July 27 through Aug. 2, 1997 -- only 14 years after
introduction. By comparison, it took 77 years for 50 million landline phones
to reach consumers.]
Title: Porn Does the Internet
Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (A19)
Author: Daniel S. Greenberg, Editor of Science and Government Report
Issue: Internet Content
Description: For all the promises that computer and software companies
make about blocking software and ratings systems, cyberporn is here to
stay. Greenberg points out that it is the leading money maker on the
Internet, and that kids and hackers will always find a way to outwit the
authorities that try to control them.
Title: Senators Defend Arts Agency
Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (D1)
Author: Jaqueline Trescott
Issue: Arts
Description: The NEA, threaten with extinction since 1992, has been
promised a new lease on life by the Senate appropriations subcommittee.
The House voted yesterday to end federal support for the arts, but the
Senate plans to save the Arts organization, along
with the National Endowment for the Humanities. A proposal has been
made to reauthorize both the NEA and the NEH for five years and give
them a modest increase over the $99.5 million budget the NEA is
currently funded for. Sen. Slade Gorton, chairman of the Senate
appropriations subcommittee, feels confidant that the proposal will go
through. "I have polled the members of the subcommittee and I don't
find any sentiment on the committee to end the endowment," said
Gorton.
Title: Telephone Market Probes Planned
Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (C11)
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: Competition
Description: The lack of competition in telephone markets during the 18
months since the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 has
prompted both Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Senate Commerce Committee Chair, and the
FCC to launch investigations to find out what the impediments are and
how they can be overcome. Long distance companies who have been trying
to enter local markets complain that regional Bell companies are not
opening their local networks to competitors, who need to "piggyback" on
their lines to avoid the cost of building their own network. The
regional Bells, who have monopolies in many local markets, argue that
such excuses are made by long distance companies because they know that
if they enter the local markets, the Bells, which have "deeper pockets,"
will enter the long distance markets and eventually dominate.
Title: Software Leaders Taking Ratings Plans to Clinton
Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (C11)
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: Representatives from the high technology industry are
meeting President Clinton today to discuss strategies to use Internet
browsing software to allow parents to filter the material viewed by
their children. Two ratings systems will likely be discussed, but not
everyone believes that such systems are the answer. The American
library Association www.ala.org, for example, does not believe that
libraries should depend on filters to screen material for their
patrons. The ALA has posted "a list of more than 50 'great' sites for
children" at their home page. Other groups worry that such
ratings systems could be too restrictive or that they might not have
enough safe guards for children.
Title: Hundt Wants A task Force To Look At Local Competition Problems
Source: Telecom AM http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Competition
Description: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Reed E. Hundt
has convened a panel to investigate claims by MCI and AT&T that incumbent
local exchange carriers are blocking local competition. "The task force will
move quickly to investigate allegations that
certain carriers are impeding competition," Hundt. The panel will consist of
FCC staff and private sector representatives to be named later.
Title: MCI President Outlines "Fair Play Test" For Local-Service Market
Source: Telecom AM http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Competition
Description: In a speech to the Economic Strategy Institute, MCI President
Timothy Price called on the Federal Communications Commission to enact a
"Fair Play Test" that would "bring the benefits of competition to consumers
-- higher quality, lower prices, and greater choice." The five principles of
the test are: 1) First Things First: local markets must be open to
competition before local monopolies can sell in-region long distance; 2) The
Price Is Right: regulators must ensure fair pricing of local facilities; 3)
Order, Not Disorder: operation support systems must operate efficiently to
help customers; 4) Do Unto Others: local monopolies cannot discriminate in
favor of themselves and against competitors; and 5) Enforce, as a Matter of
Course: strong, swift and automatic mechanisms to ensure compliance with
regulations.
At the FCC http://www.fcc.gov
Forum to Promote Standards for Telehealth Equipment to be Held July 17
Opening & Closing Remarks of Chairman Reed Hundt at 7/15/97 FCC Meeting to
Receive the Final Report of the Network Reliability and Interoperability
Council. 7/15/97
FCC Proposes Further Action to Prevent Slamming (CC Docket No. 94-129)
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