From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Apr 6 14:28:51 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i36ISpA16507; Tue, 6 Apr 2004 14:28:51 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 14:28:51 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200404061828.i36ISpA16507@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #164 TELECOM Digest Tue, 6 Apr 2004 14:28:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 164 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cell Phones Exceed Land Lines in Maine (VOIP News) Full Text of TIA Press Release and Link to CPUC Filing (VOIP News) TIA Supports VOIP Bills (VOIP News) The Internet Surveillance Cash Cow (VOIP News) U.S. Player Offers Phone Service Over Internet [in Canada] (VOIP News) Michigan Public Service Commission Grants Time Extension (VOIP News) PRIMUS Canada Enhances TalkBroadband Internet Phone Service (VOIP News) Cox Implements VeriSign for VoIP CALEA Compliance (VOIP News) Skype is Not Hype (VOIP News) Small Players Team Up In Big VoIP Play (VOIP News) How the Government Helped Build America's Media Might (Monty Solomon) Planned Nielsen Changes Criticized (Monty Solomon) Broadband Legal Limbo Lingers (Monty Solomon) Putting 40,000 Readers, One by One, on a Cover (Monty Solomon) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 12:53:45 -0400 Subject: Cell Phones Exceed Land Lines in Maine Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com Even though this probably off-topic a bit, I think it is very illustrative of how fast things are changing in the telephone industry. A lot of people are sick to death of being gouged by the ILEC's, and they are "voting with their feet." I'm sure that VoIP companies will pick up a good percentage of the remaining wireline customers as the industry matures. http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.cfm/ID/420003 Cell phones exceed land lines in Maine LEWISTON - While the number of wireless phone subscribers continues its climb in Maine to 519,000 in January, the number of land-based phones is dropping.Cell phone subscribers in the state now exceed the number of Verizon telephone lines running into Maine homes, according to spokesman Peter Reilly. "Prior to the late '90s, all we saw for decades was positive line access growth," Reilly said. "It's safe to say traditional telephony is on the decline." Cell phone use in Maine is increasing rapidly even though it is one of the least-covered states for cell phone use. Only Alaska, Vermont and North and South Dakota had less mobile phone coverage, according to a Federal Communications Commission checkup at the end of 2002. Full story at: http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.cfm/ID/420003 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 10:33:44 -0400 Subject: Full Text of TIA Press Release and Link to CPUC Filing Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.tiaonline.org/media/press_releases/index.cfm?parelease=04-35 Press Release TIA Supports Legislative Efforts to Preempt State Regulation of VoIP; Files Comments with California PUC Contact: Sharon Grace (703) 907-7721 sgrace@tiaonline.org Arlington, Va. -- The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is encouraged by the introduction of federal legislation aimed at protecting voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) from unnecessary and piecemeal regulation. On April 2, 2004, U.S. Senator John Sununu (R-N.H.) and House Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) each introduced similar companion versions of the VoIP Regulatory Freedom Act of 2004. The bills would establish federal jurisdiction over VoIP and would free VoIP from much of the regulation currently applied to legacy telephone services. At the same time, they seek to safeguard or not disturb important national policy objectives such as universal service and law enforcement access. They also restrict state or local taxation of VoIP. The legislation defines a VoIP application as the use of hardware, software or network equipment for real-time two-way or multidirectional voice communications over the public Internet or a private network utilizing Internet protocol. It excludes VoIP applications that both originate and terminate on the public switched telephone network. Meanwhile, TIA today filed comments with the California Public Utilities Commission, which has initiated an investigation into VoIP regulatory requirements. In the comments, TIA argues that the State of California lacks authority to regulate VoIP applications, because the inherent interstate nature of such communications makes it impossible to classify them as intrastate telecommunications or telephone services. Furthermore, the comments note the efforts under way at the federal level to determine the appropriate national regulatory framework for IP-enabled applications, including VoIP. TIA President Matthew J. Flanigan observed, "As a nation, we are at a critical crossroads for the future of communications. IP-enabled applications and broadband connectivity offer exciting opportunities and are poised to dominate the future of communications. The question we face in this country, however, is whether we will saddle emerging technologies with the regulatory baggage of the past or liberate them and afford them the opportunity to soar to new heights. "It also is an issue of national competitiveness," continued Flanigan, "as the U.S. fights to maintain a leadership role in developing and deploying new technologies. It is imperative that we have one national policy on VoIP, and that such a policy not stifle the nascent and competitive IP communications market. TIA looks forward to working with the Congress, the Administration and the FCC to work towards this end." View TIA's California PUC Comment Filing http://www.tiaonline.org/media/press_releases/uploads/TIACalifPUCApr04.pdf ### The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is the leading trade organization serving the communications and IT industry, with proven strengths in standards development, domestic and international public policy, and trade shows. Through its worldwide activities, TIA facilitates business development opportunities and a competitive market environment. The association provides a forum for its member companies, the manufacturers and suppliers of products and services used in global communications. TIA represents the communications sector of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA). Visit us at http://www.tiaonline.org. P.A. Release 04-35/04.05.04 2004 Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) 2500 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: (703) 907-7700 | Fax: (703) 907-7727 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 08:53:16 -0400 Subject: TIA Supports VOIP Bills Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=50589 ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is encouraged by the introduction of federal legislation aimed at protecting voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) from unnecessary and piecemeal regulation. On April 2, 2004, U.S. Senator John Sununu (R-N.H.) and House Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) each introduced similar companion versions of the VoIP Regulatory Freedom Act of 2004. The bills would establish federal jurisdiction over VoIP and would free VoIP from much of the regulation currently applied to legacy telephone services. At the same time, they seek to safeguard or not disturb important national policy objectives such as universal service and law enforcement access. They also restrict state or local taxation of VoIP. The legislation defines a VoIP application as the use of hardware, software or network equipment for real-time two-way or multidirectional voice communications over the public Internet or a private network utilizing Internet protocol. It excludes VoIP applications that both originate and terminate on the public switched telephone network. Meanwhile, TIA today filed comments with the California Public Utilities Commission, which has initiated an investigation into VoIP regulatory requirements. In the comments, TIA argues that the State of California lacks authority to regulate VoIP applications, because the inherent interstate nature of such communications makes it impossible to classify them as intrastate telecommunications or telephone services. Furthermore, the comments note the efforts under way at the federal level to determine the appropriate national regulatory framework for IP-enabled applications, including VoIP. Full story at: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=50589 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 23:31:46 -0400 Subject: The Internet Surveillance Cash Cow Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.securityfocus.com/news/8394 A few large companies and entrepreneurs stand to profit from the FBI's bid for a wiretap-friendly Internet. By Annalee Newitz , SecurityFocus Apr 5 2004 9:21AM Pundits and policy-makers are arguing over the legal implications of the FBI's recent petition to the FCC about how to implement the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. But the Bureau's push to get broadband providers covered under CALEA, which currently applies only to telecom carriers, stands to benefit more than just government spies: a domestic eavesdropping industry stands waiting to sell Internet wiretapping tools and services to cable and DSL companies. John Morris, an attorney with the Center for Democracy and Technology, worries that the FBI's petition will mean that "any new technology that might substitute for phone calls needs to be cleared and approved by the FBI before it can be deployed." These new technologies include VOIP and IM, which are often difficult to wiretap. Former federal agents like Warren will have a leg up on the competition in a tech marketplace regulated by law enforcement's needs. Full story at: http://www.securityfocus.com/news/8394 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 03:18:38 -0400 Subject: U.S. Player Offers Phone Service Over the Internet [in Canada] Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1081203009120&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851 U.S. player offers phone service over the Internet Vonage VoIP service challenges Primus Prices falling with competition in market TYLER HAMILTON TECHNOLOGY REPORTER Prices are already starting to fall as competition takes hold in Canada's budding voice-over-Internet phone market. The Star has learned that Edison, N.J.-based Vonage Holdings Corp., which has been talking about entering the Canadian market for nearly a year, has quietly launched Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, phone service in six provinces, including five cities in Southern Ontario. Vonage is the second company to launch a residential VoIP service on a national scale. In January, Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. announced its TalkBroadband Internet phone service, with prices ranging from $19.95 to $34.95 for second-line local service bundled with calling features. Long-distance packages are charged on top. Full story at: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1081203009120&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 03:20:21 -0400 Subject: Michigan Public Service Commission Grants Time Extension Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://cis.state.mi.us/cgi-bin/mpsc/vieworder.cgi?filename=/mpsc/orders/comm/2004/u-14073_04-05-2004.htm S T A T E O F M I C H I G A N BEFORE THE MICHIGAN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION * * * * * In the matter, on the Commission's own motion, to commence an investigation into voice over Internet protocol issues in Michigan. Case U-14073 At the April 5, 2004 meeting of the Michigan Public Service Commission in Lansing, Michigan. PRESENT:Hon. J. Peter Lark, Chair Hon. Laura Chappelle, Commissioner ORDER GRANTING EXTENSION On March 16, 2004, the Commission issued an order requesting comments on a number of important issues regarding voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) activity in Michigan. Telecommunications service providers subject to Commission jurisdiction were instructed to file their comments by April 2, 2004. All other interested parties were encouraged to voluntarily file comments by the same date. On March 29, 2004, McLeodUSA Telecommunications Services, Inc. (McLeodUSA), filed a motion for extension of time in which to file its comments in this proceeding. McLeodUSA expressed its strong desire to participate in this proceeding, but cited a number of factors, including several large Commission proceedings currently underway, that are impeding its ability to fully participate. Consequently, the company requested a two-week extension. The Commission finds that McLeodUSA's motion should be granted. The Commission is interested in obtaining a full discussion of the important issues identified in its March 16, 2004 order and finds that it is in the public interest to extend the deadline. Because a number of interested parties, however, may be subject to the same resource and time constraints cited by McLeodUSA, the Commission will grant the motion for all interested parties. All parties who have not already done so, may now file their comments in this proceeding by April 21, 2004. The Commission FINDS that: a. Jurisdiction is pursuant to 1986 PA 32, as amended, MCL 484.1101 et seq.; 1991 PA 179, as amended, MCL 484.2101 et seq.; 1969 PA 306, as amended, MCL 24.201 et seq.; and the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, as amended, 1999 AC, R 460.17101 et seq. b. McLeodUSA's motion for extension of time in which to file comments is granted. c. Providers of telecommunications services subject to the Commission's jurisdiction should file comments in regard to the VOIP issues identified in the Commission's March 16, 2004 order by April 21, 2004. d. Other interested persons should voluntarily file comments regarding the VOIP issues identified in the Commission's March 16, 2004 order by April 21, 2004. THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that: A. McLeodUSA Telecommunications Services, Inc.'s, motion for extension of time in which to file comments is granted. B. Providers of telecommunications services subject to the Commission's jurisdiction shall file comments regarding the voice over Internet protocol issues identified in the Commission's March 16, 2004 order by April 21, 2004. C. Other interested persons shall voluntarily file comments regarding the voice over Internet protocol issues identified in the Commission's March 16, 2004 order by April 21, 2004. The Commission reserves jurisdiction and may issue further orders as necessary. MICHIGAN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION [..... signature block omitted.....] Suggested Minute: 'Adopt and issue order dated April 5, 2004 granting an extension of time to file comments in this investigation of voice over Internet protocol issues, as set forth in the order.' ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 23:40:14 -0400 Subject: PRIMUS Canada Enhances TalkBroadband(R) Internet Phone Service Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com I was tipped off to this via an item in Patrick Townson's "Telecom Digest": http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2004/05/c7804.html PRIMUS Canada enhances TalkBroadband(R) internet phone service with 911, expands local competition to 8 more cities - PRIMUS Canada extends TalkBroadband (TM) service for consumers and businesses to include local numbers in Victoria, Winnipeg, Quebec City, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Halifax, Mississauga (Cooksville) and St. Catharines. - 911 emergency service to be provided in all TalkBroadband local calling areas - Now more Canadian consumers have a true alternative to traditional local service, starting at $15.95 per month with purchase of voice gateway hardware - New TalkBroadband long distance package allows calling to 20 overseas countries including China, Hong Kong, France, Germany and the UK for as low as 2.5 cents per minute - New Unlimited Bundle introduced for $45.95 per month, including all local features and unlimited calling within Canada and to the U.S. Full press release at: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2004/05/c7804.html TELECOM Digest & Archives at: http://telecom-digest.org ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 23:24:06 -0400 Subject: Cox Implements VeriSign for VoIP CALEA Compliance Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=10715 Cox Communications has implemented VeriSign's NetDiscovery Service to help ensure compliance of its VoIP-based cable telephony services with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). CALEA requires carriers to assist Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in lawfully authorized surveillance. To comply, carriers often have to purchase dedicated hardware, have trained operation staff and are called upon to maintain connectivity with a variety of LEAs. Full story at: http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=10715 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 12:05:07 -0400 Subject: Skype is Not Hype Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8357609.htm San Jose Mercury News, Calif., Mike Langberg Column By Mike Langberg, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News This new Internet service really does let you make computer-to-computer phone calls anywhere in the world absolutely free, and the audio quality is outstanding. There are some significant drawbacks, however, that will keep Skype from becoming hugely popular in the United States. If you've already heard about Skype (www.skype.com), it's probably because its two European founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, previously created the peer-to-peer file-sharing service Kazaa, which has emerged as the single biggest facilitator of global music piracy. Skype, in contrast, is strictly legitimate and is already attracting the kind of serious supporters -- venture capitalists with big bucks, equipment suppliers offering partnership deals -- who would never have gotten within a mile of the outlaw Kazaa. Launched in a pre-release beta Aug. 23, 2003, the official 1.0 release of Skype isn't expected for several months. But I decided last week was a good time to take a look because many of the early bugs have been ironed out and there's been a lot of news lately about Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. Most notably, AT&T launched a VoIP service last week; I'm planning to review AT&T's CallVantage once it reaches California, which should be in about a month. [Comment: Above and beyond the problems with Skype described in this article, my opinion is that any service that relies on the computer's audio circuitry will not be around for long. The reason is that for optimal sound quality, both ends really need to use a headset - otherwise you get audio feedback loops from speakers to microphone. But in order to use a headset, you have to disconnect your speakers and standalone microphone (if any) from your computer's sound system. And even if you somehow work around that, if you let your computer play streaming audio or background music while you work, you have to shut that down every time you take a call. So, any form of VoIP that uses the computer's audio circuitry becomes doggone inconvenient to use after a while. I'll bet a lot of people install it, play with it for a little while, and then abandon it. The USB VoIP handsets are a much better idea, but until the pricing comes down to the level of, say, a mouse or a keyboard (which is to say, free after rebate on the day after Thanksgiving), there won't be wide adoption of those. $59.99 (the price of the USB handset on the Skype web site) is way too much to pay just to try out a service (consider that in contrast, OfficeMax is offering a fully functional 13-memory speakerphone, for use with traditional phone service or with a hardware VoIP adapter, for $10 or FREE after rebate this week. Why is the USB phone so high in comparison?). The thing that made instant messaging (ICQ) a killer app was precisely that you could send a friend to their download site and five minutes later they'd be fully functional, with NO added expense or great amount of effort required. The reason something like Skype won't be as successful is that people will be reluctant to buy USB handsets (and perhaps a USB hub to make room for the handset on an older system), and in any case, they'll have to go somewhere to buy them, so the convenience factor just isn't there. And I suspect that a lot of people won't tolerate that kind of application taking over the functionality of their computer's sound system for very long.] Full story at: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8357609.htm ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 10:53:47 -0400 Subject: Small Players Team Up In Big VoIP Play Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/news/article.php/3335601 By Michael Singer Several smaller companies that specialize in making voice over Internet protocol networks are banding together to provide an alternative to the larger carriers like AT&T and Vonage. The wild growth in the VoIP (define) sector has seen the Baby Bells and cable firms hopping aboard the bandwagon. The likes of SBC, Verizon, BellSouth and Qwest are all planning VoIP offerings and, according to the Synergy Research Group, the boom has created a 50 percent growth rate in the worldwide market for enterprise IP telephony, generating almost $864 million in vendor revenue last year. Forrester Research statistics also paint a rosy picture. The analyst firm says VoIP's Internet Protocol-PBX (define) will continue to grow through 2007 to 1.7 million lines from 100,000 lines today. Similarly, a report from research firm Stratecast Partners, says by 2007, the U.S. VoIP market is forecast to grow to more than five million subscribers, a five-fold increase over 2002 levels. Full story at: http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/news/article.php/3335601 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 01:18:25 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: How the Government Helped Build America's Media Might In the two decades since President Reagan named Mark Fowler chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the government has been steadily moving away from the role that Starr thinks it should play By Nicholas Lemann When did the press become the media? It seems to have happened sometime during the last generation-long enough ago, anyway, for us to have forgotten that "media" is plural. But people who use "the media" as a more encompassing term for "the press" (because it includes broadcast journalism, too) may find it hard to get used to the even more encompassing way it's used by scholars of communications: for them, it takes in just about any channel through which information is transmitted. As you're reading this, you are probably near a telephone, a television set, a computer hooked up to the Internet, a radio, a pager, a mailbox. Some of those things receive and some can also send; some are meant for person-to-person communication and some for interacting with institutions. They're all forms of media. In order to overcome ingrained habits of thought, suppose we remove all ideas about journalism from our minds - don't worry, we'll reinstall them later - and then contemplate the media. We immediately start to think about those machines whose wondrous inventors - Samuel F. B. Morse and Alexander Graham Bell and Guglielmo Marconi - we all learned about as schoolchildren. But the technology picture is still too simple, so let's delete the machines from our minds, too. What's left? The media start to look like an array of political, economic, and social arrangements, each of which, in a different way, turns people into a public. http://www.freepress.net/news/article.php?id=3016 http://newyorker.com/critics/books/?040412crbo_books ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 01:33:40 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Planned Nielsen Changes Criticized Planned Nielsen Changes Criticized By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ and STUART ELLIOTT Washington THE N.A.A.C.P. and leading members of Congress from both parties, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, have added their voices to the growing number complaining that the proposed changes in how Nielsen gathers local television ratings will drastically undercount the number of black and Hispanic viewers. But Nielsen Media Research, whose ratings have been used for decades to help set TV advertising rates, takes issue with the critics, asserting that the number of households sampled with African-American and Hispanic viewers will actually increase under the proposed changes. Senator Clinton, Democrat of New York, in a letter yesterday to Susan D. Whiting, president and chief executive of Nielsen, urged a delay in plans to adopt, effective April 8, the new methodology in New York. The change involves adopting locally the so-called people meters Nielsen has used since 1986 to gather national ratings data. The people meters would replace the paper diaries Nielsen has provided to viewers in local markets since 1950, as well as set-top boxes that are not as technically sophisticated. Nielsen intends to switch New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to local people meters as part of plans to have all the 10 largest local markets using them by next year. One big market, Boston, shifted to people meters in 2002. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/31/business/media/31adco.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 01:39:40 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Broadband Legal Limbo Lingers From Multichannel News, April 5, 2004 By Ted Hearn Federal broadband policy took another hit last Wednesday, less than a week after President Bush called for affordable nationwide broadband access by 2007. The setback came in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which refused to allow the Federal Communications Commission to use certain legal standards to shield cable-modem service from potentially intrusive regulation. The 9th Circuit's decision had the effect of perpetuating the legal limbo hanging over cable-modem service since 1999, and probably introduced more uncertainty over whether FCC chairman Michael Powell can graft his cable policies onto digital subscriber line (DSL) services provided by the Baby Bell phone giants. Legal clarity is nowhere within sight. The current litigation could putter along for a few more years, at the conclusion of which the FCC might find it necessary to modify its policies. Those new policies would undoubtedly trigger a new round of litigation. Somewhere along the line, Congress could always step in with a new law. One more factor to weigh: a victory by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in the November presidential election could lead to the installation of a committed pro-regulatory FCC majority that could force cable to share its broadband facilities with the competition. The legal jockeying is expected to continue by this Wednesday, as the FCC or National Cable & Telecommunications Association is expected to ask the 9th Circuit to stay its decision while the case makes its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. http://www.freepress.net/news/article.php?id=3010 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 01:53:27 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Putting 40,000 Readers, One by One, on a Cover DAVID CARR When the 40,000 subscribers to Reason, the monthly libertarian magazine, receive a copy of the June issue, they will see on the cover a satellite photo of a neighborhood -- their own neighborhood. And their house will be graphically circled. On one level, the project, sort of the ultimate in customized publishing, is unsurprising: of course a magazine knows where its subscribers live. But it is still a remarkable demonstration of the growing number of ways databases can be harnessed. Apart from the cover image, several advertisements are customized to reflect the recipient's particulars. The cover article, written by Declan McCullagh, suggests that while databases can lead to breaches in privacy, it allows Dell to provide instant credit to computer buyers, grocery stores to stock goods that their customers want, and mortgage lenders to keep their rates down. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/05/business/05reason.html ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. 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