CABLE TV DECISION: COMMUNITY-ACCESS CHANNELS LEFT FREE
Striking down parts of a Federal law intended to protect children from
"patently offensive" programming on cable television, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that cable TV operators may ban such programming on commercial
television but must not place the restriction on community-access channels
used by local governments and community groups. Some legal analysts, arguing
that the Internet is analogous to community-access cable TV, think this
decision means that the Court will find the Communications Decency Act
unconstitutional, when it comes to consider it in the next term. (New York
Times 29 Jun 96 p1)
56-BIT ENCRYPTION IS VULNERABLE, SAYS ZIMMERMANN
Philip Zimmermann, creator of Pretty Good Privacy encryption software,
testified before a Senate subcommittee that, based on a 1993 presentation by
Michael Wiener of Northern Telecom, it would be possible to build a machine
for $1 million that could crack a message encrypted with the Data Encryption
Standard and a 56-bit key in an average of 3.5 hours. A more powerful
machine, costing about $10 million, could do it in 21 minutes, and a $100
million machine could bring the time down to two minutes. Zimmermann's
testimony contradicted a recent statement by U.S. Attorney General Janet
Reno that even with a "top of the line supercomputer, decoding a 56-bit key
would take over a year and the evidence would be long gone." At issue is
whether the U.S. should permit the general-license export of 56-bit
encryption products. (BNA Daily Report for Executives 27 Jun 96 A5)
MORE "NET DAYS" ON THE WAY
In the wake of California's NetDay, a one-day blitz to wire 4,000 classrooms
for the Internet, 35 other states have announced plans for their own NetDays
this fall. Mississippi, Connecticut, North Carolina and Maine are among the
states involved in planning their schools' participation. In support of
bringing the Information Superhighway to all classrooms, Vice President Gore
is advocating free -- not merely discounted -- Internet access for schools
and libraries. (Tampa Tribune 30 Jun 96 A16)
PENTIUM PRO SERVERS INVADE RISC MARKET
Intel's Pentium Pro microprocessor is fueling an invasion of the higher end
server market, as Compaq, Dell and other computer makers try their hand at
low-cost, high-performance servers. On the lower end of the market, where
desktop computer makers have already made great inroads, Compaq's
200-megahertz, single-processor Pentium Pro server with 64 megabytes of
memory goes for $11,900, compared with Digital's $16,000 32-bit,
266-megahertz server with 64 megabytes of memory. Compaq's top-of-the-line
Pentium Pro server is priced at $200,000, still cheaper than Digital's RISC
(reduced instruction set computer) servers that go for $250,000 and up.
"The price-performance ratio is a lot better with the new Pentium Pro," says
an analyst for Technology Business Research. "All of a sudden, the RISC
makers are saying, `We've got to reduce prices.'" (Investor's Business
Daily 1 Jul 96 A6)
COREL VS MICROSOFT
Corel CEO Mike Cowpland says a Canadian government bidding process for
millions of dollars in software is rigged in favor of Microsoft, and that
government officials canceled a $1.75-million WordPerfect order even though
it was chosen as the best product in departmental comparisons. (Ottawa Sun
28 Jun 96 p5)
HE/SHE SALARIES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Computerworld reports a 1995 survey of information systems professionals
showing that the IS population was 70% male and 30% female, with men's
salaries ranging from less than $45,000 (29%), $45-55,000 (30%), and more
than $55,000 (41%), compared to a distribution for women's salaries: less
than $45,000 (62%), $45-55,000 (25%), and more than $55,000 (13%).
(Computerworld 24 Jun 96 p84)
SATELLITE PHONE SYSTEM FOR AFRICA
Harlem businessman Percy Sutton has created a venture called AfriCom
Telecommunications Ltd, to build a $650 million satellite-based system for
providing phone service throughout Africa via handheld wireless phones.
Although "there are a lot of wealthy people in Africa," Sutton says that "in
many places in Africa you have to wait seven hours to make a telephone call
at a postal telegraph office. Our system would allow entrepreneurs all
across the continent to open their own telephone businesses." (Atlanta
Journal-Constitution 30 Jun 96 H2)
"ORAL HISTORY" OF THE INTERNET
Journalist David Bennahum has taken on the task of oral history archivist of
the Internet, through his "Community Memory" list. His goal is to collect
first-hand accounts by early users, and to document the origin of terms such
as "hypertext" and "hackers." To put your two cents' worth in, send a
message to listserv@cpsr.org, and in the body of the message type: subscribe
cpsr-history your name. (Chronicle of Higher Education 28 Jun 96 A14)
Bennahum will also be appearing in the next issue of Educom Review, writing
on a different subject.