Collection of Education/collectionofeducationcarat1997.iso/COMPUSCI/EDU0396.ZIP/EDU03176.DOC

Text File | 1996-05-01 | 10.4 KB | 195 lines

Subject: Edupage, 17 March 1996

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Edupage, 17 March 1996.  Edupage, a summary of news items on information
technology, is provided three times each week as a service by Educom,
a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities
seeking to transform education through the use of information technology.
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TOP STORIES
        FTC Targets Internet Fraud
        Iomega Stock Volatility Blamed On AOL Postings
        AT&T Free Internet Access Offer Is Big Hit
        Compaq Looks For Pennies From Heaven
        FSU Tests Internet Smart Cards

ALSO
        Videoconferencing In The Outback
        Software Lets Blind "Read" Newspapers
        Internet Radio
        TV Rating System Deadline Set
        AT&T Cutback Cutback
        Microsoft Is Tied To The Net
        Net Hate
        E.U.  Sees Universal Phone Service As A Civil Right

FTC TARGETS INTERNET FRAUD
The Federal Trade Commission is conducting a "wholesale crackdown" on
perpetrators of allegedly deceptive marketing schemes that are advertised in
Internet news groups or on the World Wide Web.  Charges were filed against
nine individuals or companies accused of misleading the public, and agency
officials say this is only the beginning:  "The Internet opens a world of
opportunities for consumers.  Unfortunately, it also presents opportunities
for scam artists.  We intend to monitor the Internet rigorously and act
decisively when we see deceptive and misleading marketing," says the
director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.  (Investor's Business
Daily 15 Mar 96 A4)

IOMEGA STOCK VOLATILITY BLAMED ON AOL POSTINGS
Iomega, maker of high-capacity removable disk drives, is the focus of
controversy on America Online's Motley Fool bulletin board.  Company
officials have complained to the SEC that postings on Motley Fool and other
BBSs have contained false information and may be contributing to the
volatility of its stock.  Online exposure has "raised the visibility of some
stocks as well as the interest in those stocks," says an outside spokesman
for Iomega.  "At the same time, we're very concerned about how online
services can be used to attempt to drive stock prices higher or lower
through misinformation."  Postings about Iomega escalated to flaming and
physical threats last month, causing Motley Fool to pull some of the more
offensive ones, but critics of online BBSs note Iomega's problems are a
result of the practice of using "screen names" and the lack of verification
of information that's posted.  "You don't know if the person is a Ph.D. or
in Sing Sing," says one critic.  (Wall Street Journal 15 Mar 96 A5C)

AT&T FREE INTERNET ACCESS OFFER IS BIG HIT
AT&T has been swamped with more than 200,000 requests for start-up software
that will allow its customers up to five hours of free Internet access.
AT&T said the number of requests so far for WorldNet Internet access is four
times what it had expected.  (New York Times 15 Mar 96 A1)

COMPAQ LOOKS FOR PENNIES FROM HEAVEN
Compaq is planning to work with others to eventually offer homeowners
videoconferencing and Internet access, as well as networking for any machine
in the home that has a computer chip.  One company executive says that
"consumers are looking for products that are ready to go, with services,
applications, and hardware ready to use every day.  Say we'll have an
appliance that connects to a network for 6 cents a day.  Compaq gets a piece
of that 6 cents."  And Compaq's chief strategist says:  "We have to do
something for the consumer until the phone companies can deliver bandwidth
access. We're going to do that using satellites."  (Fortune 1 Apr 96)

FSU TESTS INTERNET SMART CARDS
Florida State University plans to issue new I.D. cards that will enable FSU
students to access the Internet, check grades, request transcripts or use
online course materials.  The "smart cards" will debut next fall, and
business conducted with the cards will be encrypted to ensure secure
transactions.  (Chronicle of Higher Education 15 Mar 96 A23)

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VIDEOCONFERENCING IN THE OUTBACK
Since 1993, aborigine communities in Australia's Northern Territory have
been using videoconferencing as the primary medium for personal and business
communications among each other and other sites in Sidney, Darwin and Alice
Springs.  The Tanami Network, which uses PictureTel videoconferencing
equipment, is favored over the telephone or radio because it can convey the
extensive system of hand gestures used by aborigines while speaking.  Most
of the videoconferences held are personal or ceremonial in nature -- paid
for in large part by mineral royalties and community funds.  Other aborigine
videoconferencing networks include the Mungindi Project, which uses Cornell
University's CU-SeeMe software to link four remote schools.  (Technology
Review Apr 96 p17)

SOFTWARE LETS BLIND "READ" NEWSPAPERS
The National Federation for the Blind is sponsoring a computerized system
that translates newspaper stories and then "reads" them over the phone to
visually impaired people.  Stories are available from The New York Times,
USA Today and the Chicago Tribune; the program is running in Baltimore,
Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, and is slated for 100 more cities by next year.
(Tampa Tribune 16 Mar 96 A8)

INTERNET RADIO
Bell Canada announced a partnership with 3WB Corp. to create new commercial
services for the Internet that include radio networks that allow businesses
a multimedia presence on the Net.  Customers will receive the Internet radio
using software provided free by 3WB. < http://www.cfra.com/ > (Toronto
Financial Post 15 Mar 96 p6)

TV RATING SYSTEM DEADLINE SET
Canada's federal regulator has given broadcasters until September 1 to
develop a rating system to allow parents to screen programs using V-chip
technology.  Since it is unlikely Canada and the United States will ever
agree on a rating system, Canada's will be imposed on American cross-border
signals.  (Toronto Globe & Mail 15 Mar 96 A1)

AT&T CUTBACK CUTBACK
The number of AT&T workers involuntarily separated from the company may turn
out to be much lower than the 40,000 layoffs announced three months ago, as
part of AT&T's reorganization plan to divide into three separate companies.
Because more employees accepted the company's buyout offer than was
anticipated, and because some of the workers marked for termination were
able to find jobs in other parts of the organization, the company's "latest
best estimate of people who will have to be involuntarily let go is about
18,000."  (New York Times 16 Mar 96 p17)

MICROSOFT IS TIED TO THE NET
Dataquest analyst Chris LeTocq says Microsoft's Internet strategy will
include making its major application programs, Word and Excel, tie into the
Net (and into internal corporate intranets), and letting its customers use
all popular Internet technologies, even those from competitors, such as Sun
Microsystem's Java language.  ''They don't want to give people any reason to
move away from Windows,'' says Montgomery Securities analyst David
Readerman.  (San Jose Mercury News 16 Mar 96)

NET HATE
B'Nai Brith says anti-Semitic harassment in Canada is on the rise because of
an "exponential growth of cyberhate."  The Canadian Solicitor-General says
the problem is difficult to cope with because it crosses several public and
government jurisdictions. (Toronto Globe & Mail 15 Mar 96 A6)

E.U. SEES UNIVERSAL PHONE SERVICE AS A CIVIL RIGHT
The European Commission is proposing that all citizens to have the right of
access at affordable prices to phone, fax, and computer lines, with
"affordability" decided by the member states themselves.  The idea will be
supported by the French government, which is under pressure from public
sector unions to protect public services, and opposed by Germany and the
United Kingdom.  The Commission intends to allow the concept of universal
service to evolve with technological changes, but says that it is at this
moment premature to define the full scope of universal service, because
enlargement of the concept to include such things as Internet service might
cause many people to pay for service they neither need nor use.  (Financial
Times 15 Mar 96 p2)

Edupage is written by John Gehl ([e-mail]) & Suzanne Douglas
([e-mail]).  Voice:  404-371-1853, Fax: [phone].

Technical support is provided by the Office of Information Technology,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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