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Date: Friday, March 31, 2000, 2:49 PM -0500
From: Faulkner Mail Server <mailserver@faulknerinfo.com>
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Subject: Faulkner's Cyberscape Digest 03/31/2000

                                 CYBERSCAPE DIGEST

Welcome to CyberScape Digest, a roundup of top internet stories delivered
weekly to Faulkner Information Services subscribers.

This issue of CyberScape Digest covers events from Monday 03/27 through
Friday 03/31. Here's what you should know...

Acquisitions Stretch Reach for Internet Companies 
Cisco put up stock valued at $800 million to purchase Internet content
delivery firm SightPath. SightPath's technology will allow Cisco to offer
products that route Internet traffic more efficiently. Meanwhile, two
players in the interactive TV market went shopping. OpenTV put up stock
valued at $2.5 billion to purchase Spyglass, maker of the Spyglass Mosaic
browser and wireless Internet technologies. Spyglass shareholders stand to
gain 0.7 OpenTV share for every Spyglass share they own. Liberate spent
little in comparison: stock valued at $561 million reeled in MoreCom,
another interactive TV company with significant patents in digital TV and
Internet integration. Finally, proving after all that like attracts like,
Belgian speech recognition company Lernout & Hauspie swallowed its major US
rival, Dragon Systems. This Dragon cost stock valued at $593 million; the
purchase is seen by some observers as a pre-emptive strike to keep other
competitors from acquiring the speech recognition pioneer. With so many
users connecting to the Internet via mobile phones, speech recognition is
expected to take off in the near future. 
[ http://www.cisco.com/ ], [ http://www.sightpath.com/ ], [
http://www.spyglass.com/ ], [ http://www.opentv.com/ ], [
http://www.liberate.com/ ], [ http://www.morecom.com/ ], [
http://www.lernoutandhauspie.com/ ], [ http://www.dragonsys.com/ ]

Big Deals Promise Fewer Internet Hassles
Companies tired of struggling to maintain their own Web sites can take heart
from this week's biggest deal. IBM and Qwest agreed to invest $2.5 billion
each to create 28 computer centers dedicated to maintaining company Web
sites. The seven-year deal calls for IBM to set up and manage the Web sites,
while Qwest will own and maintain the fiber-optic network; both will work
together to market the service. Those with a need for speed need look no
further than the agreement between two companies dedicated to a faster
Internet: Akamai Technologies and CacheFlow. The companies use two different
caching technology to speed up Internet access; by combining Akamai's
caching service with CacheFlow's servers, and jointly developing products,
they hope to reach a wider audience. In a research and development
agreement, BT, AT&T, and Microsoft will collaborate on wireless Internet
applications. Their goal is to provide users with improved multimedia
capability while using mobile devices. To ease transactions between online
auction users, eBay and Visa made a two-year agreement to promote the
Billpoint payment system, which lets users complete transactions online
using a Visa card--even if the seller is not authorized to accept credit
cards. Finally, for those who want their Internet just about everywhere,
PanAmSat, RealNetworks, and US WEST agreed to team up to deliver the
Internet worldwide. The satellite-based system will be tested in the second
quarter of this year with transmissions to a high-speed Web site. The
service itself will be rolled out in the third quarter.
[ http://www.ibm.com/ ], [ http://www.qwest.com/ ], [ http://www.akamai.com/
], [ http://www.cacheflow.com/ ], [ http://www.bt.com/ ], [
http://www.att.com/ ], [ http://www.microsoft.com/ ], [ http://www.ebay.com/
], [ http://www.visa.com/ ], [ http://www.billpoint.com/ ], [
http://www.panamsat.com/ ], [ http://www.realnetworks.com/ ], [
http://www.uswest.com/ ]

Big Buzz in B2B Biz
The B2B business grew over the past few weeks to the point of becoming
nearly impossible to keep up with. This week brought a mixed bag of
highlights. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and British Aerospace soared
into the B2B space by setting up an online marketplace for the aerospace
industry. Commerce One climbed aboard to build the site. Those who get
airsick might find an online health care information and commerce exchange
to be a healthier deal. Johnson and Johnson, GE Medical Systems, Baxter
International, Abbott Laboratories, and Medtronic teamed up to create such a
joint venture, which will ease the trade of information about purchasing and
distributing medical equipment, health care products, and related services.
Some companies prefer to just take stakes rather than start brand-new
ventures. Grocery chain Kroger, for instance, reveals plans to take an
equity stake in GlobalNetXchange, the online retail B2B marketplace started
by Sears, Carrefour, and Oracle. BP Amoco took a three percent stake in
Altra's online energy trading system, dubbed Altrade--and, putting its money
where its mouth is, agreed to trade energy through the system. Europe caught
the B2B bug in a big way, with Zurich-based ABB and Stockholm-based Investor
AB agreeing to set up a European venture capital company, b-business
partners, to invest in European B2B e-commerce companies and to strengthen
ties between Internet-based and traditional enterprises. The VC will be
worth US$975 million--more than one billion euros.
[ http://www.boeing.com/ ], [ http://www.lockheedmartin.com/ ], [
http://www.raytheon.com/ ], [ http://www.baesystems.com/ ], [
http://www.commerceone.com/ ], [ http://www.johnsonandjohnson.com/ ], [
http://www.ge.com/medical/ ], [ http://www.baxter.com/ ], [
http://www.medtronic.com/ ], [ http://www.kroger.com/ ], [
http://www.globalnetxchange.com/ ], [ http://www.sears.com/ ], [
http://www.carrefour.fr/ ], [ http://www.oracle.com/ ], [
http://www.bpamoco.com/ ], [ http://www.altrade.com/ ], [
http://www.abb.com/ ], [ http://www.investorab.com/ ]

Regulatory Issues and the Internet
China's concern over the Internet touches on more than stock IPOs (see
below). The country's Ministry of Culture banned online sales of music and
videos made outside of China and forbade Internet companies with non-Chinese
investors from selling such products. All companies selling these items
online to Chinese citizens will be required to obtain a license no later
than May 1. MP3 downloads were also forbidden, on threat of an unspecified
punishment. Electronic Frontiers Australia came up against a monetary
roadblock in its attempt to obtain information on Web sites that people have
complained about--sites which, incidently, can be taken down under the
Broadcasting Services Act. The Australian Broadcasting Association replied
that it would cost more than A$4600 (US$2816) to deliver the requested
material. The EFA protested the estimate, and wants the fee waived on the
grounds that the public needs the same access to online censorship decisions
that it has to offline decisions. In a statement with wide-ranging
implications, the US Patent and Trademark Office said it will change its
procedures. The PTO will require a more thorough search of past practices
and inventions before granting patents for online practices, and also use a
second examiner to go over such requests. Finally, the Securities and
Exchange Commission revealed a plan to electronically monitor Web sites and
message boards in an effort to fight investment fraud. Though the monitoring
will not extend to e-mail or chat rooms, the plan evoked criticism from
privacy advocates; Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) described the plan as
constitutionally questionable.
[ http://www.aba.gov.au/ ], [ http://www.efa.org.au/ ], [
http://www.uspto.gov/ ], [ http://www.sec.gov/ ]

News of Joint Ventures and Partnerships
After Bertelsmann backed out of AOL Australia, America Online found a new
partner: number three Australian telecom company AAPT. The companies will
split ownership 50-50, and AOL Australia will use AAPT's telecommunications
infrastructure. The joint venture will also go live with a wireless Internet
portal. America Online also closed a deal with Myplay to integrate its
digital music application into AOL's Winamp player and Spinner radio. AT&T,
meanwhile, reasserted its control over Excite@Home. Since AT&T owns 58
percent of the company's voting stock, it argued, it has a right to elect a
majority of the Internet portal's board members. AT&T said it will also
consolidate Excite@Home's financial results with its own. Carsdirect and
Autoweb engaged in a more equal pairing. Realizing that their
services--car-buying referral and direct car buying--complement each other,
the two set up cross-referenced Web sites. Dealers from each network will be
permitted to join the other network. Consumers will be able to access tolls
from both sites easily. The two companies took equity stakes in each other
to cement the deal. Another agreement that may make life easier for
consumers involves a joint venture between six large health insurers. Aetna
US Healthcare, Cigna, WellPoint Health Networks, Oxford Health Plans,
Foundation Health Systems, and PacifiCare Health Systems are talking with
IBM and Oracle about creating MedUnite, an online company that will help
consumers choose doctors and hospitals, and eliminate paperwork and phone
calls. Speaking of healthy ventures, PSINet Ventures invested in online
medical equipment marketplace TradeMD. PSINet will also manage the Web
site's servers.
[ http://www.aol.com/ ], [ http://www.aapt.com.au/ ], [
http://www.aol.com.au/ ], [ http://www.myplay.com/ ], [
http://www.winamp.com/ ], [ http://www.spinner.com/ ], [ http://www.att.com/
], [ http://www.excite.com/ ], [ http://www.autoweb.com/ ], [
http://www.carsdirect.com/ ], [ http://www.aetna.com/ ], [
http://www.cigna.com/ ], [ http://www.wellpoint.com/ ], [
http://www.oxhp.com/ ], [ http://www.fhs.com/ ], [
http://www.pacificare.com/ ], [ http://www.ibm.com/ ], [
http://www.oracle.com/ ], [ http://www.trademd.com/ ], [
http://www.psi.net/ ]

Day Trader Tries to Tweak Market Illegally
Law enforcement officials arrested Houston resident Fred Moldofsky and
charged him with violating securities laws. According to the charge,
Moldofsky posted messages last week on the Yahoo Finance bulletin board that
linked to a phony press release. The press release posed as a statement from
Lucent warning that its second quarter earnings would be lower than
analysts' estimates. For that fine touch of verisimilitude, the wording in
the release mimicked the wording from a January Lucent press release that
warned first quarter earnings would be lower than expected. As one would
expect, Lucent's stock took a beating as the phony release was promulgated,
costing the company's value on Wall Street to drop by more than $7 billion.
Moldofsky is being held without bail. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years
in prison and a fine of up to $1 million, or twice the gross gain or loss
resulting from his criminal action.
[ http://www.yahoo.com/ ] 

IPO News...And Not All of it is Good
AT&T's wireless tracking stock takes the first spot for topic of discussion.
The company plans to issue at least 360 million shares, and plans to price
the offering in a range of $26 to $32 a share. Let's see, 360 million times
$26 comes to a minimum price of more than $9 billion--much more than half
again as much as the present record-holder for largest IPO, United Parcel
Service at $5.5 billion. The maximum price, $13.2 billion, more than doubles
the record. Appropriately, the stock is expected to trade under the symbol
AWE on the NYSE. Somewhat more down to earth, Artistdirect, a musicians' Web
site network, hopes to raise $60 million with its IPO, priced at $12 per
share. Websense raised the price of its IPO, to $18 a share, up from a range
of $12 to $14 per share. The stock opened on Tuesday at more than $38 per
share; it soared to more than $52 per share before closing at $40 per share.
The company makes Internet filtering software for use in businesses.
Speaking of filtering the Internet, China enacted yet another in its series
of regulations designed to put the brakes on Internet growth. Aimed at
Chinese dot-com companies trying to raise capital, the new rule prohibits
such companies from listing in another country unless they spin off their
content business first. Popular Chinese portals Sina.com and Netease.com
restructured before the rules took effect; many other firms will be
affected.   [ http://www.att.com/ ], [ http://www.artistdirect.com/ ], [
http://www.websense.com/ ], [ http://www.sina.com/ ], [
http://www.netease.com/ ]

Legal Matters and the Internet
Microsoft headed the list of this week's legal news, even though it seemed
like "plenty of nothing" happened. Negotiations between the software and the
government continued, with a Tuesday deadline looming. Judge Thomas Penfield
Jackson told both parties that unless some progress was made, he would issue
his conclusions of law in the antitrust case against Microsoft that day. A
conduct-based offer made by Microsoft over the weekend was rejected by
Department of Justice lawyers as inadequate; however, enough progress was
made that Judge Jackson put off ruling on the case until next week.
Microsystems Software, maker of the Cyber Patrol Web filtering product,
settled with the hackers who created (and posted on the Internet) the
"cphack" program. The program lets users bypass Cyber Patrol and shows which
Web sites the filter blocks. The hackers signed over "cphack" to
Microsystems and promised not to reverse-engineer the program again. The
Recording Industry Association of America found itself caught between two
suits. On the one hand, the judge in its copyright infringement case against
Napster postponed ruling on a motion by Napster's lawyers. The motion, which
asked the judge to decide the case based on the present facts, would have
avoided a trial. On the other hand, the RIAA found itself the subject of a
lawsuit filed by the National Association of Broadcasters. The NAB is
concerned that the RIAA will try to force radio stations which stream their
signals over the Internet to pay special royalties. In its filing in a US
District Court in New York, it requested the judge to rule that such
streaming is not a violation of a 1998 copyright law pertaining to "digital
performance" rights. Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and Sega teamed up to slap
Yahoo! with a lawsuit alleging the portal company's auction and stores sites
sell illegal video games and devices for copying video games. The three
video game companies may seek an injunction on the sales and damages of up
to $100,000 per offense. Finally, updates on two hackers: Raphael Gray was
arrested by the FBI on charges of hacking into nine e-commerce Web sites and
stealing information related to more than 26,000 credit card information.
Alleged to be "Curador," the 18-year-old Wales resident claims he did it to
prove the insecurity of the Web sites he broke into. He also claims to have
stolen credit card information on Bill Gates. Meanwhile, Patrick W. Gregory,
aka "MostHateD" and a founding member of the hacking group Global Hell, is
expected to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy for teleconferencing
fraud and computer cracking. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in
prison and $2.5 million in restitution. The case is being tried in the US
District Court for the Northern District of Texas. 
[ http://www.microsoft.com/ ], [ http://www.usdoj.gov/ ], [
http://www.cyberpatrol.com/ ], [ http://www.riaa.org/ ], [
http://www.napster.com/ ], [ http://www.nab.org/ ], [
http://www.nintendo.com/ ], [ http://www.ea.com/ ], [ http://www.sega.com/
], [ http://www.yahoo.com/ ],  [ http://www.txnd.uscourts.gov/ ]

Will CDNow Become CDNever?
Online music seller CDNow reported that it is taking measures to trim
expenses by nearly 33 percent. The company says that it has enough money to
continue to operate through September, despite reports to the contrary.
After its merger plans with Sony's Columbia House and Time Warner's online
music operations fell through, the company has been looking for another
investor or partner. CDNow's Chief Financial Officer Joel Sussman stated his
belief that such an investor or partner could be found in less than six
months. [ http://www.cdnow.com/ ], [ http://www.columbiahouse.com/ ], [
http://www.timewarner.com/ ]

Lycos Wants to Play Kingmaker
Perhaps established Internet company Lycos now waxes nostalgic for the
excitement of an Internet start-up. Perhaps it's just interested in the
money. Whatever the case, the company revealed plans to launch LycosLabs, a
business incubator unit targeting fledgling Internet firms. The unit will
offer guidance, business services, and investment--up to 20 percent of a
company's funding--to Net-based companies. Plans call for starting small,
with no more than a dozen businesses in the first year, then doubling that
number in the second year. LycosLabs particularly hopes to help companies
involved with next-generation wireless; ASPs serving small businesses; viral
e-commerce; and e-commerce infrastructure. Lycos did not rule out the
possibility of an IPO for its new unit.
[ http://www.lycos.com/ ], [ http://www.lycoslabs.com/ ]
  
Companies Offer New Products, Services
Caldera Systems took its version of the Linux OS and added a bundle of
e-commerce applications to the package. The applications use Java and XML,
run on a variety of hardware platforms, and cost a pretty penny given
Linux's open source pedigree. Cisco unveiled 10 products that bring Web
technology to the office telephone system. The products use Cisco's
Architecture for Voice, Video, and Integrated Data (AVVID), and include
second generation IP phones. For those who prefer wireless phones, Oracle is
enabling its mobile phone portal, OracleMobile.com, with voice. Users will
be able to call the portal, talk directly to it, and listen to content read
to them by the portal. Newly launched online bank Claritybank.com is also
aiming its services at those who wirelessly access the Internet; most of its
services, including banking, lending, B2B services, and stock trading will
be accessible from two-way pagers, Palm-based devices, and smart phones. For
those really into Web-enabled devices, start-up company eDevice offers
inexpensive Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chips to Web-enable just about
anything. Go2Net, meanwhile, is into Web-enabling businesses. The company is
adding tools to HyperMart, its free Web hosting service, to encourage more
small businesses to create storefronts and sell goods online. For those
who'd like to get an "advantage" in business, InsiderAdvantage.com plans to
launch next week. The company offers inside information from former
politicians on legislation, political trends and government contracts
expected to come up for bidding soon. Such information doesn't come cheap:
subscriptions run from $1500 to more than $12,000 per year, depending on how
many states the subscriber is interested in.
[ http://www.calderasystems.com/ ], [ http://www.cisco.com/ ], [
http://www.oraclemobile.com/ ] [ http://www.claritybank.com/ ], [
http://www.edevice.com/ ], [ http://www.go2net.com/ ], [
http://www.insideradvantage.com/ ]

Pitney Bowes Gets Stamp of Approval
Joining E-Stamp and Stamps.com, longtime mail and messaging company Pitney
Bowes received approval from the US Postal Service to start selling postage
over the Internet using its ClickStamp feature. The service will be rolled
out to registered customers first, then to the general public. ClickStamp
allows users to print out postage for First Class Mail, Priority Mail,
Express Mail, and Parcel Post. Perhaps now the companies will fight each
other in the marketplace rather than in the courts. Last June, Pitney Bowes
alleged that both E-Stamp and Stamps.com were infringing its patents.
[ http://www.pitneybowes.com/ ], [ http://www.estamp.com/ ], [
http://www.stamps.com/ ]

F-Secure Warns of More Worms
Just what everyone needs to worry about--more worms. F-Secure issued a
statement about two e-mail worms, Irok and Kak. The worms spread themselves
as e-mail, similar to the way the Melissa virus spread last year. Both use
Microsoft Outlook. Irok arrives in an attachment, IROK.EXE, and works under
Windows 95, 98, NT, and 2000. It spreads itself to 60 e-mail addresses via
Microsoft Outlook--but not Outlook Express. It will also try to spread via
chat channels. Eventually, it will try to overwrite files on a victim's hard
drive. The Kak worm, on the other hand, only works under English and French
versions of Windows 95/98. This worm works only with Outlook Express--not
normal Outlook. E-mail containing it does not appear to carry an attachment,
but the worm is automatically enabled when the e-mail is viewed in the
preview pane. The Kak worm then attaches itself to every e-mail message the
victim sends, infecting every recipient's machine when it is opened in
Outlook Express. The virus shuts down Windows on the first day of every
month, if the computer is restarted after 5 PM, but otherwise does no
permanent damage.
[ http://www.f-secure.com/ ]  

Outage Ticker: Busy Week for Service Losses
Sprint experienced a plague of outages this week. The problems actually
started last week, on March 24, when Sprinted needed to perform emergency
maintenance on three routers in Relay, Maryland, between 8:45 PM and 10:45
PM EST. Then, Monday morning, two routers went down: one in Anaheim
(sl-gw15), and one in Pennsauken (sl-gw24). On Tuesday, around noon,
Sprint's sl-gw2 router in New York City went down. As with the two outages
the previous day, the company did not provide a cause or an ETR. Meanwhile,
tornadoes battered Forth Worth on Tuesday night, leaving death and
destruction in their wake. Some reports stated that Arlington lost telephone
service; others said that the area experienced network congestion, but did
not lose phone service. TXU reportedly stated that 30,000 customers lost
power. It is believed that the tornadoes also damaged the local FBI and ATF
offices. Finally, also on Tuesday, online brokerage Datek experienced
intermittent outages, making it difficult for customers to conduct trades
online.
[ http://www.sprint.com/ ], [ http://www.txu.com/ ], [
http://www.datek.com/ ]
  
Cyberscape Dee-Lite: For Those Tired of Marketing Lingo...
The Internet economy produces buzz phrases at a rate reminiscent of the
Scott Adams' "Dilbert" comic strip, which featured workers playing buzzword
bingo at a meeting with upper management. For those fed up with all the
hype--or possibly required to produce more--there's the Web Economy BS
Generator. Click on the button, and it combines a verb, adjective, and noun
from lists of appropriate words. Users can even submit their favorite
buzzwords to the Web site. Recent clicks produced "strategize magnetic
e-services," "reinvent killer vortals," "mesh bleeding-edge models,"
"deliver intuitive partnerships," and others which upper management may be
uttering in boardrooms even now. With such a laudatory mission-critical
service, can an IPO be far behind?
[ http://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html ]       


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---------- End Forwarded Message ----------



Missy Harvey
Computer Science Librarian
Engineering & Science Library
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA  15213

http://www.library.cmu.edu/usr/missy/

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