The first month of the New Year focused on some old topics for new media. Year 2000 issues continued to harangue big business and public policy, both domestically and globally. The Child Online Protection Act and the ongoing Microsoft trial filled courthouses in Philadelphia and Washington, respectively. Privacy protection issues ran rampant this week, with privacy advocates butting heads with industry players and policy-makers. And the White House offered to dip into the nation’s coffers in an effort to bolster information technology and to secure the nation’s electronic systems.
    Perhaps because the New Year is still fresh, Y2K dominated the week. Reports crept out of the White House that the administration is mulling over a Y2K media strategy to assuage any related fears that may be roiling in the public. And David Dreier R-CA showed up on the scene this week with a cameo as Father Time. With prompting from the Building Owners and Managers Association, he’s co-sponsoring a bill with Rep. John Linder R-GA to move the New Year’s holiday to Jan. 3, 2000.
    George W. Bush R-TX addressed Y2K in his State of the State speech, saying Texas should adopt legislation that would restrict lawsuits over potential Y2K damage. Sen. Kit Bond R-MO is twisting the arms of his House colleagues to make sure funding is available for small businesses to correct their Y2K problems. The Senate Small Business Committee chairman plans to hold a vote on S. 314, which would give small businesses favorable loan rates through the Small Business Administration to work on Y2K fixes.
    A new report from the Media Studies Center says Americans want to know more about the Y2K glitch and how it could affect their lives, and less about the reactionary fears it’s causing. The No.1 Y2K issue for America’s cities is ensuring they can provide emergency response services, according to a study released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors at its winter meeting.
    On a more global level, the World Bank disclosed this week that many developing countries risk endangering their nations’ health, security and economic well-being by failing to squash the Y2K bug. And the bank noted that systems failure could have repercussions across the globe, because so many industrialized nations rely on less developed countries for resources.
    Things are going a little smoother between the U.S. and the European Union. Officials from both camps set a target deadline of June for concluding discussions over the union’s privacy directive, which would ban the flow of data to countries that the EU deem do not have adequate privacy protections.
    The industry got a boost at the beginning of the week from the second in command. Vice President Gore’s favorite IT girl, information technology, was in the spotlight thanks to a new proposal to invest $366 million into bolstering the nation’s computer capabilities and studying the effects of IT on the economy. Though the funds made some industry goers hearts beat faster, to put things in perspective, News.com’s Bill Gates wealth clock reports that the software chief’s personal wealth is now at about $88 billion, slightly more than Singapore’s economy.
    The other Bill intends to unveil in early March a national center for warning of, and responding to, attacks on computers that control Wall Street, banking, utilities and air traffic. The plan is separate from Clinton’s FY 2000 budget request for $1.4 billion to combat cyberterrorism. The White House also announced a three-part $965 million initiative aimed at helping Americans get the skills needed to compete in an economy becoming increasingly dependent on high-skilled jobs.
    Educating future teachers is another top priority, says a study released by the Department of Education. Researchers found that only 20% of full-time teachers fell comfortable using the technology they have in their classrooms. Upcoming programs will focus on expanding the e-rate Internet connection subsidy to more communities. In other matters of higher education, Cisco Systems CEO and Internet evangelist John Chambers rode into town this week to talk about his favorite subjects –- improving the nation’s education system and the tech industry’s lobbying strategy. Chambers is pushing for Congress to pass national education standards to help businesses better evaluate potential employees.
    And now that most of Congress has been educated about the Net, Internet Caucus co-chair Sen. Patrick Leahy D-VT says it’s time to move on to getting Caucus members to join hands on supporting technology legislation.
    Sen. Conrad Burns R-MT found technology legislation is cheaper by the dozen. The Chairman of the Senate Communications Subcommittee outlined his 12 tech priorities for the next year: including encryption, high-speed data services, e-rate funds, e-mail spam, digital signatures, FCC reauthorization and Internet privacy. While the Clinton administration has been inclined to let the industry develop privacy policies, Burns is "somewhat concerned that that’s not working," a spokesman said.
    This week’s hot industry lawsuits were the Microsoft trial, which is giving the Energizer Bunny a run for its money, and the Child Online Protection Act. The latest installment of the Microsoft antitrust trial brought in the software giant’s first witness, MIT economist Richard Schmalensee. He was called upon to counter the main economic arguments made by the Justice Department and 19 states. Microsoft’s most senior executive to take the stand had his day in the sun. Platforms and applications group veep Paul Maritz testified that while he did not recall saying he wanted to "embrace and smother" Netscape, he could have said it about Sun Microsystems. Microsoft exec James Allchin claimed in written testimony that Web browsing could not be removed from Win98.
    In Philadelphia, tempers ran hot at the COPA cabana. A computer professor testified that age-verification systems designed to keep youngsters away from online pornography would be inexpensive, secure and easy to run. His testimony contradicted last week’s witnesses. The judge is expected to rule Monday on whether to enforce a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act. Also this week, civil rights charges were filed against Kingman Quon, a 22-year-old Asian-American man accused of sending e-mailed death threats to 100 Hispanics in the United States' second Internet hate crime.
    The nascent and booming business of online auctioning was called into question this week, when it was reported that New York City’s Consumer Affairs Department was investigating eBay. The online auction house, which acts as an intermediary between buyer and seller, receiving a cut of their deal, is being investigated for selling non-authentic sports memorabilia. And in other online shopping news, Sen. Bob Smith R-NH introduced legislation to keep the Net tax moratorium in place beyond its current three-year limit.
    What’s in a name? A lot of money, apparently. Domain name disputes continue, with the People for Ethical Treatment for Animals finding itself in a catfight. PETA complained to domain name registrar Network Solutions that the tongue-in-cheek People for Eating Tasty Animals possessed the domain peta.org. And Estee Lauder has sued search engine Excite for selling keywords related to its cosmetics business to other companies.
    And it was chips ahoy for Intel; the company unveiled a processor that includes technology for tracking Internet users’ whereabouts as they traverse the Web. The Pentium III was about as well received as "Jaws III." Privacy advocates the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Junkbusters quickly took the wind out of the company’s sails when they initiated a boycott of the microprocessor, and a mere four hours later Intel recanted. The chip now will include the identifying device, but a computer’s user would have to active it. Intel’s party line was that its decision to switch off the feature was unrelated to the boycott. Privacy groups then turned up the pressure on Intel, by going to the FTC to seek a recall of the chips, a move that was rejected by Intel spokesman Chuck Molloy. And Arizona state Rep. Steve May proposed to ban the production or sale of the microprocessor in the state.
    And in other privacy issues, Sun Microsystems’ chief, Scott McNealy, sent the high-tech community abuzz with his comment to reporters on online privacy: "You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it." Long-time FTC spokeswoman Jodie Bernstein said his comments were out of line. In related news, the FTC announced it would rely on an upcoming industry-funded survey of commercial Web sites to determine whether or not to recommend privacy protections to Congress.
    Say cheese, and then buy some. Privacy advocates also warned of a rash of identity theft after Florida and South Carolina sold their databases of drivers’ license photos to Image Data of Nashua NH, which plans to market them to supermarkets and other retailers seeking to prevent identity fraud. The opposition argues that the plan is unfair because individuals have not consented to have their pictures sold or posted at the stores.
    Goings on at the FCC caused a flurry of breakfast meetings in Washington this week. It all started when the Supremes kicked off the week by ruling that the FCC is within its bounds to set pricing rules for long distance companies wanting to enter local phone markets. Two controversial proposals that the FCC was slated to address Thursday now will have to be tweaked to comply with the High Court’s ruling, postponing decisions eagerly awaited by telecoms and Internet service providers. The agency yanked a proposal that would allow local phone firms to create separate subsidiaries to offer data services and another proposal that would have determined compensation to local phone companies and their competitors for calls made to ISPs.