NewsScan Daily, 31 August 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 31 August 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       Must Cable Companies Accommodate Their ISP Rivals?
       iMac Redux
       German Police Accused of E-Mail Porn-Swapping
       Concern Over Australian E-Mail Law
       ACLU Denies Mischief in Posting of Delegate Data
       Microsoft Ready to Sing Along

FEATURES           
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: The Middle Class -- And All That Jazz

MUST CABLE COMPANIES ACCOMMODATE THEIR ISP RIVALS?
     The Department of Justice wants the Supreme Court to overturn a
decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit requiring cable
companies to open their high-speed Internet networks to Internet service
providers with whom they are in direct competition. The cable industry
maintains that the ruling would dramatically reduce its incentive to make
new investments in Internet services. FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell agrees
with the Justice Department and says: "A successful appeal of this case
would ultimately mean lower prices and better service for American
consumers."
But Earthlink vice president Dave Baker sees things differently: "Instead of
fighting to protect cable monopolies, the FCC should recognize that cable
modem and other broadband users deserve choice in high-speed Internet
providers." (Washington Post 30 Aug 2004)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47633-2004Aug30.html>

IMAC REDUX
     Apple has used the 2004 Expo in Paris to introduce its new iMac,
featuring the faster G5 processors currently used in Apple's top-end Power
Macs. The new iMac is packaged in an all-in-one unit that resembles a
flat-panel monitor but which has a processor and other components hidden
behind the screen. The side of the panel has slots for CDs or DVDs to be
loaded vertically. Apple executive Phil Schiller says, "A lot of people are
going to be asking where did the computer go? It's around here somewhere and
I just can't find it." The new iMac will be priced at $1,299 in the United
States. (AP/San Jose Mercury News 31 Aug 2004
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9544082.htm>

GERMAN POLICE ACCUSED OF E-MAIL PORN-SWAPPING
     Two dozen German police officers suspected of using office computers to
exchange pornographic messages. These activities were discovered by a
maintenance technician who then reported them to his superiors. The police
officers being investigated face possible disciplinary sanctions and could
be brought before a judge. (The Age 25 Aug 2004) Rec'd from J. Lamp
<http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/25/1093246580473.html>

PRIVACY CONCERN OVER AUSTRALIAN E-MAIL LAW
     Civil libertarians say that a proposed Australian law could allow
authorities easy access to private, stored e-mails without a warrant, giving
many new government bodies to access private e-mails, voicemail messages and
SMS messages. Under current laws, unopened e-mails can only be accessed if
they involve serious crime and only with a telecommunications intercept
warrant. If the bill is passed authorities would need only a search warrant,
or in some cases no warrant at all, according to online civil liberties
group Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA). (The Australian 30 Aug 2004)
Rec'd from J. Lamp
<http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,10613440%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5
E,00.html>

ACLU DENIES MISCHIEF IN POSTING OF DELEGATE DATA
     The Secret Service is investigating the posting on a Web site operated
by an organization called the Independent Media Center of the personal
information of delegates to the Republication National Convention in New
York. The Center describes its activities as "passionate tellings of the
truth." The Secret Service, however, is concerned that posting of the
delegate data could subject the delegates to harassment, acts of violence or
identity theft. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing the
Independent Media Center, and the ACLU's Ann Beeson says: "This type of
investigation is really a form of intimidation and a message to activists
that they will pay a price for speaking out. The posting of publicly
available information about people who are in the news should not trigger an
investigation."
(AP/USA Today 31 Aug 2004)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2004-08-31-indymedia-post
s-addys_x.htm> 

MICROSOFT READY TO SING ALONG
     Microsoft is getting ready to launch its own Web site for selling songs
over the Internet, squaring off against Apple and its popular iTunes music
store and the iPod music player. There are also smaller services in the
online music market -- such as RealNetworks' Rhapsody, Roxio's Napster and
offerings from Wal-Mart, Sony, and others -- but industry analyst Josh
Bernoff of Forrester Researcher says that the only competitor that counts
for Microsoft is Apple: "There's one company that matters here, and that's
Apple. ITunes is a big threat to them. They see how rapidly it's growing,
and the more iTunes and iPod gets out there, the more they feel like they're
losing an important part of that experience..." Bernoff adds: "Microsoft
tends to win in these areas by being persistent and making adjustments."
(AP/Los Angeles Times 31 Aug 2004)
<http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology10aug31,1,3693297.story?
coll=sns-ap-toptechnology>

*****

FLASH CARD
     "Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end. " (Igor
Stravinsky)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: THE MIDDLE CLASS -- AND ALL THAT JAZZ
     As part of his preparation for writing a biography of Louis Armstrong
music critic Terry Teachout visited the jazz musician's home in Queens, New
York and then wrote this entry in his blog:
     "Armstrong was a product of turn-of-the-century African American
ideology, especially that of Booker T. Washington. Like Washington,
Armstrong was an accommodationist, determined to play-and win-by the rules
of the white majority. This is true as far as it goes, but it overlooks the
fact that most jazz musicians, black and white alike, come from middle-class
backgrounds, while most of those who are born poor strive mightily -- and,
more often than not, successfully -- to join the ranks of the middle class.
Anyone who doubts that Armstrong filled the latter bill need only visit his
home, located some seven blocks from Shea Stadium in a shabby but
respectable part of Queens. It is a modest three-story frame house whose
elaborate interior is uncannily reminiscent of Graceland, Elvis Presley's
gaudy Memphis mansion. From the Jetsons-style kitchen-of-the-future to the
silver wallpaper and golden faucets of the master bathroom, the Armstrong
house looks exactly like what it is: the residence of a poor southern boy
who grew up and made good.
     "Unlike Graceland, though, it is neither oppressive nor embarrassing.
As one stands in Armstrong's smallish study (whose decorations include,
among other things, a portrait of the trumpeter painted by Tony Bennett), it
is impossible not to be touched to the heart by the aspiration that is
visible wherever you look. This, you sense, was the home of a 'working' man,
one bursting with a pride that came not from what he had but from what he
did. The American dream has had no more loyal exemplar. 'I never want to be
anything more than I am, what I don't have I don't need,' he wrote. 'My home
with Lucille [his fourth wife] is good, but you don't see me in no big
estates and yachts, that ain't gonna play your horn for you. When the guys
come from taking a walk around the estate they ain't got no breath to blow
that horn.'"
     [See <http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/archives20040815.shtml>
Terry Teachout's About "About Last Night" -- or look for it in your favorite
library.] 

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