NewsScan Daily, 16 May 2003 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 16 May 2003 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Gov't Officials Advocate Keeping Net Tax Ban
        13 States Sue over Pop-Up Ads
        U.S. Cracks Down on Internet Fraud
        FCC Votes to Allow Spectrum Swapping
        Microsoft Discounts Could Raise Eyebrows At EU
        Videogames Go from War Room to Living Room

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Worth Thinking About: Being Caesar Is No Easy Job

GOV'T OFFICIALS ADVOCATE KEEPING NET TAX BAN
Treasury Secretary John Snow and Commerce Secretary Don Evans are urging 
Congress to extend the current moratorium on Internet taxes that is set to 
expire in November. "Government must not slow the rollout or usage of 
Internet services by establishing administrative barriers or imposing new 
access taxes," said Snow and Evans in a letter to Rep. James Sensenbrenner 
(R-Wisc.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The ban on "multiple 
and discriminatory" taxes on Internet access fees and online traffic is 
separate from the controversial issue of sales taxes on goods and services 
sold over the Internet, which are currently prohibited under a 1992 Supreme 
Court decision. Cash-strapped states and other sales tax advocates have 
sought to link the two issues in an effort to boost support for online 
sales taxes. (Reuters/CNet 16 May 2003)
http://news.com.com/2100-1019_3-1003707.html?tag=fd_top

13 STATES SUE OVER POP-UP ADS
Thirteen states have sued a New Jersey company that allegedly billed 
Internet users who tried to close pop-up windows advertising p*rnographic 
Web sites. The lawsuit maintains that Alyon Technologies automatically 
connected users to its toll telephone number when they tried to close the 
ads, and then charged them $5 a minute, resulting in bills ranging from $14 
to more than $1,000. "The way this organization has allegedly been doing 
business is illegal, irresponsible and an outrageous misuse of Internet 
technology," said Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager. Joining 
Wisconsin in the suit are California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, 
Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina, Nebraska, Texas and 
West Virginia. (AP 16 May 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030516/D7R26TDG0.html

U.S. CRACKS DOWN ON INTERNET FRAUD
The Justice Department has charged more than 130 people with perpetrating a 
variety of Internet scams, as well as identity theft and failure to deliver 
goods purchased online. The crackdown, dubbed Operation E-Con, involved 
more than 90 investigations involving 89,000 victims whose losses totaled 
at least $176 million. In one case, the suspects used a Web site to sell 
more than $2 million worth of pharmaceutical drugs without any 
prescriptions or physician involvement with the purchasers. In another 
scam, about 400 men lost about $3,000 each when they sent money off in the 
hope of winning the hand a Russian bride. Other scams promoted fraudulent 
investment opportunities, Ponzi-type pyramid schemes and the illegal sale 
of copyright-protected software, games and movies. Officials say they've 
managed to recover about $17 million from alleged perpetrators. 
(AP/Siliconvalley.com 16 May 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/5876738.htm

FCC VOTES TO ALLOW SPECTRUM SWAPPING
The Federal Communications Commission has voted to allow U.S. wireless 
carriers to lease and trade radio spectrum licenses -- a decision aimed at 
improving cell phone service for millions of subscribers. Under the new 
rules, wireless operators will be able to use bits and pieces of spectrum 
currently owned by others to patch holes in their coverage that create 
"dead spots," without having to make big capital investments. More 
efficient use of spectrum should also help extend wireless services to 
underserved rural areas and make it easier to connect to the Internet via 
handheld devices in crowded areas, such as airports, where cell phone 
traffic is often congested. "Our decision signals a new day of increased 
spectrum access and improved services for consumers," said FCC Chairman 
Michael K. Powell in a joint statement with Commissioner Kevin J. Martin. 
The change eliminates a 40-year-old rule that required a spectrum license 
holder to also control all the physical infrastructure needed to use that 
spectrum, including equipment and personnel. (New York Times 16 May 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2003/05/16/technology/16SPEC.html

MICROSOFT DISCOUNTS COULD RAISE EYEBROWS AT EU
Microsoft is offering hefty discounts on its products in an apparent effort 
to undercut the cost advantage of Linux -- behavior that one European 
antitrust lawyer says appears to violate European law. "If it's true, the 
discounts would constitute an abuse," said competition law attorney Thomas 
Vinje. Microsoft is under investigation by European regulators for possibly 
abusing its dominance in the software market. The company said it had set 
aside two funds as part of its strategy to combat Linux. One is set aside 
for providing discounts to governments and the education sector, and the 
other is earmarked for enabling the sales force to undersell competitors 
peddling Linux software. "The primary objective is to make technology 
available to customers at low prices," says a Microsoft spokesman. 
(Reuters/Los Angeles Times 16 May 2003)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-micro16may16,1,3238795.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dtechnology

VIDEOGAMES GO FROM WAR ROOM TO LIVING ROOM
The U.S. Army has been using videogames as part of its recruiting efforts 
for the past year, but in coming months it will rely on a combat simulation 
game to train squad leaders in real-life combat tactics. The game, 
developed by Pandemic Studios, features lead characters heading up two 
light infantry teams locked in a running firefight in a city that looks 
vaguely Middle Eastern. Bad guys pop out from behind walls and zoom up in 
pickup trucks outfitted with automatic weapons. "If you enroll in the army 
of the future, you'll get your helmet, your gun and one of these discs," 
says a Pandemic game designer. "You have an Xbox -- they assume -- at 
home." And for game enthusiasts not inclined to sign on the dotted line, 
the commercial version of "Full Spectrum Warrior" is expected to be 
available in early 2004 for the Xbox console. (Reuters 15 May 2003)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=581&e=2&u=/nm/20030516/tc_nm/tech_army_dc

*****

FLASH CARD
      "Really and truly -- I've nothing to wear." (William Allen Butler)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: BEING CAESAR IS NO EASY JOB
      British professor and classics scholar Michael Grant thinks that 
America's leaders might benefit from studying how the Roman Caesars dealt 
with the problems of administering an empire comparable in magnitude and 
diversity to the United States today:
      "To be a Caesar was appallingly hard work. This is a prosaic fact not 
always sufficiently emphasized by their biographers, ancient or modern. The 
rulers of Rome had to work almost incessantly in order to survive. Yet the 
state did not provide the Caesars with any administrative assistance. The 
situation that resulted was anticipatory of the modern system in which, 
said President Woodrow Wilson, 'men of ordinary physique and discretion 
cannot be Presidents and live, if the strain be not somehow relieved.' It 
is relieved by presidential assistants and, although this system can, as 
recent events have shown, produce highly unsatisfactory results, at least, 
the assistants give the incumbent a sporting chance to stand the strain.
      "Roman emperors, too, were plainly compelled to lighten their burden 
of work by bringing in friends, counselors, or secretaries. The difficulty 
was to get hold of the right man. 'The chief need of the monarch,' said 
Seneca, 'is an honest adviser.' The whole history of the Caesars could be 
written in terms of the men in whom they wisely or unwisely placed their 
trust. But in any case the imperial secretaries and other advisers did not 
take on so much of the work as might nowadays be expected. The ancient 
tradition did not comprehend sophisticated arrangements for the delegation 
of work. When, for example, a letter arrived for one of the Caesars, it was 
brought directly in for his personal perusal, and after reading it he wrote 
out or dictated a reply. It was also regarded as proper that rulers should 
themselves compose their own public statements, written or verbal.
      "They were continually pestered, in person, with requests and 
petitions, in a manner which is unfamiliar in western countries today. The 
rulers had to listen to innumerable verbal pleas. Indeed, if they were 
conscientious, the receipt of a written petition often prompted them to 
demand supplementary explanations by word of mouth, summoning applicants 
from far off to provide them. The public considered that this sort of 
interview was very much the ruler's duty, all part of the grueling 
accessibility that greatly exceeded what is required of their counterparts 
today. Emperors had to give receptions and make social calls and attend 
anniversaries and dine out and advise their friends and listen to 
recitations. A Caesar also had to spend an immense amount of time 
displaying himself in public at the Games and other shows. The rulers not 
only had to attend the Games frequently to the detriment of their other 
occupations, but had to look as if they were enjoying the spectacles."
                      ***
See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140440720/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for Michael Grant's "The Twelve Caesars" -- or look for it in your favorite 
library. [We donate all revenues from our book recommendations to adult 
literacy programs.]

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