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Date: Friday, June 23, 2000, 1:55 PM -0400
From: Faulkner Information Services <mailserver@faulknerinfo.com>
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Subject: Faulkner's Cyberscape Digest 06/23/00 


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CyberScape Digest

CyberScape Digest is a weekly roundup of top internet stories. This issue
covers events from Monday 06/19/00 through Friday 06/23/00. 

Microsoft Wrangling, Revelations Make for Busy Week
The Justice Department vs. Microsoft antitrust trial continued to garner
attention, as both sides kept up their fight over the software giant's bid
for an appeal. The DoJ, for example, filed a brief to try to convince the
US Court of Appeals to back down from its eager beaver attitude about
taking on the appeal. In its brief, the government stated that Microsoft
was in error when it claimed that the states' case and the DoJ's case would
be split off from each other; additionally, the brief reiterated that the
appeals court should put off any action until US District Judge Thomas
Penfield Jackson rules on Microsoft's requested stay of conduct
restrictions. Microsoft fired back with a brief stating that taking its
appeal to the Supreme Court would only delay resolution of the issues
surrounding the case. In this case, the company may have a point, since the
court will recess for the summer shortly, after which it will not hear
cases again until October. Aside from this issue, the case itself is very
complex, and Microsoft argued in its brief that the justices of the Supreme
Court might not be able to adequately review the thousands of pages of
transcript comprising the written record of the trial. Meanwhile, the Court
of Appeals harrumphed at the DoJ and said that it would consider freezing
Judge Jackson's ruling--though it did agree that the states and the DoJ do
not have separate cases against the software giant. Judge Jackson ended the
jockeying by sending Microsoft's appeal to the Supreme Court--which,
incidentally, may still refuse to hear the appeal and send it back to the
appellate court. The convicted monopolist didn't completely ignore its
business, however. Bill Gates revealed the Microsoft .NET (pronounced
"dot-net") platform, a name which replaces the earlier Next Generation
Windows Services. The platform allows smart devices and Web sites to be
harnessed together with advanced software through Internet protocols and
formats. A number of new products will be made compatible with the .NET
platform, including Windows DNA servers, Microsoft Office, the MSN network,
and of course, later versions of Windows. The move is designed to bring the
company even more fully in tune with the Internet. Speaking of tunes,
Microsoft also unveiled C# (pronounced "C sharp"), a notable Java-like
programming language intended to simplify and speed up the development of
software for Internet services. C# is a hybrid of C and C++.

   

Privacy Issues Pop into Headlines
The World Wide Web Consortium unveiled the Platform for Privacy Preferences
Project (P3P), a technology designed to allow users to decide exactly how
much information they are willing to reveal when surfing a Web site that
supports the standard. This may be W3C's intention, but according to
privacy advocates Electronic Privacy Information Center and Junkbusters,
P3P's complexity, combined with the way browsers may implement P3P, will
actually cause users to reveal more private information, not less. The
White House, on the other hand, supports the initiative, and expressed hope
that the industry will not need to be regulated on privacy issues.
Ironically, the administration had to admit, mere hours later, that the
government's Office of National Drug Control Policy's Web site may have
violated federal policy by gathering personal information about its
visitors. Contractors to the Web site had used "cookies," which the office
ordered destroyed, along with any personal information they might have
collected. Privacy hit the top of the agenda at the National Association of
Attorneys General (NAAG) summer meeting, dominating the sessions and
sparking rumors that several states planned to band together to prosecute
companies which violated consumers' privacy rights. Michigan Attorney
General Jennifer Granholm took the lead on this issue back in February,
when she gave notice that she planned to take legal action against
DoubleClick. Finally, several companies introduced tools to afford
consumers more control over the information they reveal, using the
above-mentioned and controversial P3P standard. Microsoft said it would
support P3P in versions of  its OS and browsers released after the end of
December. America Online and IBM also reported their support for the
standard. 

  

And Now, Some Good News and Bad News Concerning AOL...
America Online reported the good news that it launched AOLTV, interactive
TV services that compete with Microsoft's WebTV. The service provides
subscribers with e-mail, instant messaging, chat, and a programming guide,
all usable from a TV set equipped with a set-top box from Philips
Electronics. The service premiered in Phoenix, Sacramento, and Baltimore.
Additionally, AOL Germany unveiled a flat rate (unmetered) pricing plan for
Internet access. The plan requires subscribers to commit to the service for
12 months, and costs DM 78 (US$55) per month--just one mark less than a
similar service from T-Online. AOL Germany's plan also offers 10 MB of
personal Web space and up to seven e-mail addresses per account. AOL's bad
news came in two flavors: regulatory and security-related. The European
Commission chose to continue its antitrust investigation of the ISP's
merger with Time Warner. The EC's decision tacks another four months onto a
probe that has already lasted for four months. The company's other headache
came in the form of a Trojan horse, sent as an attachment to an e-mail to
AOL customer service representatives. When clicked on, the attachment
allowed the hacker's PC to connect to the CSRs' PCs, which permitted the
hacker to access about 200 user accounts. 

  

Making Deals, Starting Ventures
Softbank Korea and Alibaba.com launched a Korean-language B2B marketplace.
Dubbed Alibaba Korea, the firm will target small- and medium-sized
businesses in 27 different fields, including agriculture, electronics,
computers and software, and industrial supplies. The venture's two parents
invested $2 million, with Alibaba holding a 55 percent stake. Elsewhere in
Asia, Excite@Home partnered with Jupiter Telecommunications to launch @Home
Japan. The service, which will roll out first in Tokyo, includes a high
speed Internet connection and a variety of broadband multimedia content.
J,D. Edwards revealed it is working on deals with IBM and Sun, the former
to resell IBM's WebSphere e-commerce software suite, and the latter to
jointly develop software for online trading exchanges. NBC Internet formed
a content partnership with Zagat.com under which Zagat's content will be
featured in NBCi's "Restaurant Center." Nortel Networks and Hewlett-Packard
agreed to combine the former's communications technology with the latter's
Internet networking expertise to develop mobile portal, wireless,
networking, and e-commerce services. Whew! 

  

Summertime Shopping Spree
What this week's mergers and acquisitions lack in quantity, they make up
for in quality--or at least in the amount of money/stock spent on the
transactions! Take Commerce One, for instance, which took AppNet for stock
valued at $1.3 billion. Commerce One expects the deal to help speed up
implementation of its B2B exchanges around the globe. AppNet provides
professional services over the Internet. That looks small when compared to
Texas Instruments' purchase of Burr-Brown for a whopping $7.6 billion in
stock. The acquisition grants TI the position of number one maker of
computer chips for mobile phones and Internet audio and data devices. Two
science fiction Web sites tied the knot--or at least combined operations.
USA Networks' SciFi.com merged with Centropolis Entertainment's
Mothership.com. The remaining Web site, SciFi.com, will instantly become
the top player in the field. 

  

New Services From Some Old Companies
Granted, AltaVista can only be said to be old in Internet years--and even
then it's not very old--but the company has leaped into a rather
controversial area: instant messaging. AltaVista Messenger uses Tribal
Voice's PowWow technology and is fully compatible with Microsoft's MSN
Messenger service. While AltaVista Messenger cannot interoperate with AOL's
Instant Messenger, an AltaVista spokesperson said that the company plans to
discuss the matter with AOL. Good luck. Online investment company
Ameritrade partnered with 1stUp.com to offer Ameritrade customers a nice
value-added service: free dial-up Internet access, voicemail, 100 MB of
online storage, and 24-hour customer support. In addition to being an
Ameritrade user, subscribers to the free service must constantly keep
Ameritrade's navigation bar on their screens. The bar features links back
to Ameritrade's Web site and--surprise, surprise--interactive
advertisements. Keeping to a financial theme, Chase Manhattan Bank reported
that it will set up a banking portal for its customers later this year. The
portal will allow the bank's customers to access all of their accounts,
regardless of institution. Yodlee.com will operate the portal, which will
also permit customers to make bill payments and perform other banking
transactions. Hewlett-Packard said it will release "new-media publishing
services" by the end of the year that will allow companies to publish
content targeted for use by handhelds, printers,  and other digital
devices. IBM revealed that it is investing $500 million in a package of
products and services to help European Internet companies become profitable
faster. The products include a bundle of consultancy and services for
Internet start-ups; a UNIX-based delivery platform for ISPs; and a
partnership community program to help start-ups network and make the right
contacts.  

  

Patently Absurd
British Telecom and TeleDynamics managed to top Amazon.com for patent
obnoxiousness this week. While trolling through its intellectual copyright
data bases, BT discovered a 14-year-old US patent on hyperlinks, a major
Web technology. The patent expires in late 2006. Since discovering the
patent, BT has sent letters to various US ISPs and hired QED, a firm that
helps companies generate money from patents they own. Meanwhile,
Florida-based TeleDynamics reported receiving a patent covering
"interactive lead generation" which the company claims applies to almost
any automated information gathering process in which one company collects
customer information and passes it on to a third party. If true, such a
patent would affect information services in the Internet, wireless, and
800-number industries. Whether the TeleDynamics patent--or the company's
interpretation of the patent--will hold water remains to be seen, since the
patent has not yet been published. 

  

On the Hot Seat
Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang courted controversy when he told a French
newspaper that "We are not going to change the content of our sites in the
United States just because someone in France is asking us to do so." The
statement goes directly against a French court order the company received
insisting that it prevent Web surfers in France form accessing auctions
featuring Nazi memorabilia. French law forbids the exhibition or sale of
objects with racist overtones. The court required the search engine to
report back in late July to state what steps it had taken to comply with
the court order. Yang said that he did not intend to comply with the court
order. Yahoo's lawyers argued in court that it was technically impossible
to do so. Worldcom and Sprint are facing unwelcome scrutiny over their
pending merger. The European Union has raised antitrust concerns; WorldCom
is expected to offer to sell Sprint's long-distance phone and Internet
businesses to make the merger more palatable to regulators. Wells Fargo
faces accusations of racism in its online home lending program. According
to a lawsuit filed in a Dallas federal court, Wells Fargo's "Community
Calculator" steers minorities towards other minority neighborhoods, and
whites towards white neighborhoods. It also includes racially stereotyped
descriptions of neighborhoods--for instance, for "low income" neighborhoods
with 86 percent black residents, the residents are characterized as "tend
to purchase fast food and takeout food from chicken restaurants." Wells
Fargo claims that it is only trying to help home buyers find the right
place to live. 

  

But Will the Meaning Get Lost in Translation?
Lotus Ireland and IBM unveiled Lotus Translation Services for Sametime.
LTSS translates Web chat and communications as typed in real time, making
it a boon to those who communicate internationally. The product will go on
sale in a little more than three months. It uses Java technologies and took
250 people to develop.  

  

NSI to Enter Domain Name Auction Business
Network Solutions reported plans to open an online market for people
looking to buy and/or sell previously owned domain names. NSI said it will
not charge commissions on sales of domain names; it intends to make its
money from such optional services as holding the buyer's money in escrow
until the seller delivers the name, or appraising the value of the name
based on what similar names sold for previously. NSI faces stiff
competition in this field from established players GreatDomains.com and
Afternic.com. 

  

PSINet, GTE Off Hook in Internet Photo Suit
US District Judge Charles Kocoras dismissed a suit against PSINet and GTE
brought by Illinois State University athletes. The players were secretly
videotaped in their locker rooms, and the videotapes were sold over the
Internet through various Web sites that gained their service from PSINet
and GTE. Judge Kocoras concluded that the ISPs could not be held liable as
service providers under the Communications Decency Act of 1996. The
students maintained that the ISPs were liable in their role as "Web site
hosts," which they equated with being "content providers;" the judge said
that there was no evidence that either ISP provided any content for the Web
sites selling the videotapes, however. The case against the companies that
made the tapes in the first place is still pending.  

  

Attention Kmart Shoppers...
Though brick-and-mortar retailing giant Kmart has had a Web site for some
time, the company finally opened a full-fledged online store. Dubbed
BlueLight, users can sign up for free Internet access through the site. It
also features home furnishings, toys, and electronics for sale. Kmart plans
to add many other features during the summer; travel and financial services
are among the offerings under consideration. 

  

This Week's Security Issues
A number of firms experienced security problems this week, not just America
Online (for that story, see above). Hacker activists grabbed Nike's Web
site for their soapbox and called for people to protest the World Economic
Forum 2000 to be held in September in Melbourne, Australia. The page
included such statements as "global justice is coming--prepare now," and
was signed by a group with the handle "S-11."  Nonprofit gun control group
Violence Policy Center was attacked by a possibly pro-gun hacktivist who
left images of bombs, a skull and crossbones, and the words "if you take my
guns, I still have my computer. VPC just got shot in the head." Worse, the
group's e-mail was temporarily rerouted to the hacker. The hacker changed
VPC's domain name information at Network Solutions, allowing him or her to
gain control of the organization's Web site. The VPC reported the matter to
the FBI, and told Network Solutions to restore its Web address.
Register.com distinguished itself from Network Solutions by going proactive
about a security problem it discovered in its system. The vulnerability let
a hacker gain unauthorized access to software used to manage Web site
information, including customer contact information. For the truly subtle,
the flaw could  also have permitted a malicious hacker to collect all of a
company's e-mail, hunt through it for information, and then send the e-mail
back to the company. Network Solutions has been blasted for at least the
past few weeks for failing to fix a similar problem with its registration
system. Trend Micro warned of a worm named VBS_Stages.A. The worm arrives
in an e-mail as a scrap file attachment named LIFE_STAGES.TXT.SHS. The .shs
extension is not shown, however, and the virus displays a text file icon in
the e-mail. Once clicked on, the malicious program renames and deletes
REGEDIT.EXE files and spreads itself via Microsoft Outlook e-mail, Pirch
and mIRC chat programs, and available mapped drives. The virus can thus
spread very quickly, overloading e-mail servers. "Zulu," a well-known
hacker believed to live in Argentina, claimed credit for the virus, posting
the source code on a virus Web site a good two to three weeks before the
virus was discovered in the wild. Finally, a bit more chillingly, a member
of the White House National Security Council warned that hostile countries
are probing US computer networks for weaknesses and possible routes of
hacker attacks in case of war. Richard Clarke, in a speech at a
cyber-security conference hosted by American Enterprise Institute, stated
that the civilian infrastructure computer networks were at risk, but would
not state which countries were engaged in the probing. 

  

IPOs and Money Woes for Internet Companies
HandSpring gladdened many a heart with its highly respectable initial
public offering of stock. Starting at $20 per share, the stock jumped as
high as more than $28 on its first day of trading. The offering raised $200
million for the company and gave it a market valuation of about $3 billion.
WebEx, a maker of software for Web-based teleconferencing, revealed more
modest aims. It planned to sell 3.5 million shares of stock at a range of
$12 to $14 per share, to raise $40 million with its IPO. No date has been
set for the offering. Elsewhere in cyberspace, companies saw their dreams
disintegrate. IT services provider Inacom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection and hired The Blackstone Group for financial advice. Online
delivery company Kozmo.com put off its plans for an IPO and laid off 24
employees at its New York headquarters. The South China Morning Post said
it would fire up to 18 employees of its Internet publishing arm and scale
back its Web site plans. Furniture.com said it would lay off up to 80
employees, more than 41 percent of its workforce, as part of its effort to
become profitable. Internet pharmacy PlanetRX.com stated that its second
quarter revenue will fall short of expectations by about $9 million, and
its remaining revenue for the year will also fail to reach estimates.
Somebody pass the aspirin. 

  

Cyberscape Delight: Bananas, Brains, Betrothals, and Bids on a Dream
Who would have thought that there exists such a thing as the Banana Museum?
Well, it does exist; it's the collection of one man, curator Ken Bannister.
The one-room suburban storefront contains posters. stuffed toys, photos,
magazine clippings, T-shirts, cereal boxes, and sculptures. But Bannister
wants to bow out gracefully--so he put the whole kit and kaboodle,
including the Web site connected to the museum, up for auction on eBay. The
starting bid is $900,000, but so far the auction has received no nibbles.
In a more thoughtful development, scientists from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs in New Jersey, and
the Institute of Neuroinformatics in Zurich reported the creation of an
electronic circuit that operates similar to the brain's neural system. The
circuit contains artificial neurons that communicate via synapses. The
scientists believe the circuit could lead to the creation of computers
which think more like humans. In a story that appeals more to the heart
than the head, Lycos reported that two people who met online in Lycos
Gamesville four years ago and became regular players on the Web site will
get married live online on Saturday, June 24. The bride will be given away
by Lycos Gamesville Prizemeister, Josh Yeager. Mike Richardson and Mary
Bucy met in person almost two years after starting their online romance,
and report that it was love at first sight. Finally, those who are still
young at heart may remember the old Speed Racer cartoon from the 1960s. A
full-sized, working replica of the cartoon's famous Mach 5 car is now for
sale on eBay. Make no mistake: the fiberglass-bodied car possesses a
standard transmission with a V-8 engine, a top speed of 185 mph, and--just
like the cartoon--retractable pneumatic saw blades, pneumatic auto jacks, a
periscope for the driver, and a remote-control homing pigeon. Community
Benefit Alliance ordered the car built on behalf of Child Safety Network,
an organization that promotes child safety and protection issues across the
US. The children's group will receive 20 percent of the winning bid. The
auction closes June 29, but the winning bidder won't claim the dream
machine until eight months later, when the car finishes its national safety
tour. As of Thursday afternoon, after 86 bids, the price had reached
$122,625.26--but the reserve had not yet been met. Go, Speed Racer, go!




*** Terri Wells, Faulkner Information Services *** 

  


CyberScape Digest, Copyright 2000, Faulkner Information Services. All
rights reserved. 

Should you have any questions, concerns or problems with your flash, please
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