The eagerly awaited news this week was Judge Lowell A. Reed Jr.'s issuance of a preliminary injunction to block the Child Online Protection Act. Reed said the law, introduced by Rep. Michael Oxley R-OH and passed last year, would hinder constitutionally protected speech. The American Civil Liberties Union, along with 17 other organizations, praised Reed's move, but a sponsor of the bill, Rep. James Greenwood R-PA, said he hoped the Act will prevail in Appeals Court.
    In other free speech issues, a federal jury ruled that the "Nuremberg Trials" Web site amounted to a threat against abortion providers. In the largest judgment ever imposed on militant abortion activists, the creators of the Web site, which included Old West-style "wanted" posters that lists the names of abortion providers, were ordered to pay $107 million to Planned Parenthood and a group of doctors who said the material amounted to deadly threats. Some analysts say the verdict may redefine constitutionally protected political speech, since the on-site documents contained no explicit threats of violence, only veiled messages, such as crossing out the names of abortion doctors who were murdered.
    And the data privacy arena, Image Data's effort to buy drivers license photos and place them in an electronic database raised enough constituent concerns that South Carolina, Colorado and Florida reversed their decision to sell the data.
    This week's loudest buzz emanated from the D.C. District Courthouse where the government's antitrust trial against Microsoft continues. The trial is becoming a staple of consumers' morning diet, with lengthy pieces in the media dishing out the latest episode of "As the Harddrive Turns." The brouhaha surrounded what began as a lowly technical video. In what one newspaper pegged as "a Perry Mason moment," Justice Department lawyer David Boies accused Microsoft of falsifying a video that allegedly demonstrated that Microsoft's Internet browser was so integrated into the Win98 that it could not be removed.
    The press had a field day -- saying Microsoft "threw in the white towel," "was put on red alert" and acted "desperately." The trial's judge, Thomas Penfield Jackson, called the situation "very troubling." The fallout continued all week, with Jackson agreeing to let Microsoft re-shoot the video. But further bollixing the show, Microsoft senior v.p. James Allchin was unable to repeat part of the earlier computer test, leaving doubt in some minds as to the validity of the first demo. A Microsoft spokesman later acknowledged that the prior tape was an "illustration," not an actual event. The company may be attempting to polish up its tarnished image by stepping up its contributions to Republican candidates, an analysis of Federal Election Commission records shows.
    Online trading continues to rustle up interest. Thousands of E-Trade Group customers were shut out of the stock market during peak trading hours when the startup trading house was frozen by a software glitch. A group of U.S. representatives -- Tom Bliley R-VA, John Dingell D-MI, Ron Klink D-PA, Edward Markey D-MA, Michael Oxley R-OH, Billy Tauzin R-LA, Edolphus Towns D-NY and Fred Upton R-MI -- sent SEC chair Arthur Levitt a letter that asked for a briefing on online trading issues. New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said he intends to launch an inquiry into the online brokerage industry because of the numerous complaints his office has received.
    Business was bustling on Capitol Hill, K Street and the White House, Rep. Rick Boucher D-VA expanded on his plans for his "foundation law for the Internet," that he's preparing to introduce in Congress. His law is being crafted to provide for the deployment of broadband data communications capabilities, ensure competition on a network and establish a set of basic privacy rules. And President Clinton released his FY 2000 budget, which included provisions for high-skilled jobs of the future and an increase in funding for information technology research. And the Commerce Department said it will request an additional $98 million for programs focusing on technology and economic growth in the FY2000 budget, said Deputy Secretary of Commerce Robert Mallett.
    The White House extended a long arm across the Atlantic at the beginning of the week with an agreement between V.P. Al Gore and British P.M. Tony Blair. The plan would extend the Net tax moratorium, expanding on the 1997 Net framework for e-commerce guidelines. The Clinton Administration also said it is likely to issue a new encryption rule this spring in response to an agreement adopted by the Wassenaar Arrangement, the international body established to coordinate policies on dual-use products, such as supercomputers.
    Sen. Patrick Leahy D-VT plans to introduce legislation next week to re-open the 1996 Telecommunications Act on the third anniversary of its becoming law. Leahy says the "American consumer was given a raw deal."
    Some infotech companies feel they have been given the short end of the legislative stick as well. OpenNET sprouted up this week, hoping its roots will soon run far and deep through Washington. The group, comprised of MindSpring, Prodigy, Netscape, MCI WorldCom, America Online and Cable & Wireless, intend to force AT&T to open its system to Internet competitors. OpenNET has hired some big guns to push its agenda -- Rich Bond, former chair of the Republican National Committee, Greg Simon, former chief domestic policy adviser to second-in-command Gore, Kristan Van Hook, former director of congressional affairs at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and Michael Boland, former chief counsel to Sen. Majority Leader Trent Lott R-MS. But House Telcommunicaitons Subcommittee chair Billy Tauzin R-LA said he will ignore OpenNet's call for Congress to regulate Net high-speed services. "Billy will turn a deaf ear toward any new regulation of the Internet," said Tauzin spokesman Ken Johnson. This comes despite OpenNet announcing late in the week that nine more organizations have jumped on their bandwagon.
    Six Internet companies -- Amazon.com, Yahoo, Lycos, eBay, GeoCities and Inktomi -- made the rounds on K Street and on the Hill, talking to Washington-based law firm Wiley, Rein and Fielding and others about lobbying their agenda on Capitol Hill and at regulatory agencies. The companies have yet to decide on whether to become a formal association, alliance or hire a lobbying firm, but do know that their main focus would be to lobby copyright and content laws.
    Meanwhile, Silicon Valley lobbying group TechNet has congressional Republicans lining up to meet with it. Among its visitors were House Rules Committee Chair David Dreier R-CA and Rep. Tom Davis R-VA. Sen. Slade Gorton R-WA is scheduled for a visit next month, as is Rep. Tom Campbell R-CA.
    The Senate's special Y2K committee met this week to assess whether the food supply, from farm to fork, can withstand the 2000 date change. The Grocery Manufacturers of America, which represents large food companies such as Nestle and Kraft, worry people's perception of a shortage may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. But Anne Reed, CIO for the Agriculture Department, said 98 percent of USDA's mission critical computer systems would be Y2K ready by the government's Mar. 31 deadline. And Scott McNealy, head of Sun Microsystems, didn't shy away from a little gloom and doom on the Y2K issue. McNealy recommends that people stockpile PCs as Asia lags behind in dealing with Y2K issues that a scenario is possible that would drain the country's vendors of their supply of components.
    China was in the news throughout the week. The Clinton Administration said that it does not favor some proposals for placing new controls on the export of supercomputers to China as recommended in a special report headed by Rep. Christopher Cox R-CA. Whether Congress goes along with the Cox report may depend on whether or not lawmakers are still focused on Cold War concerns. The National Security Council released a declassified version of the panel's report, which recommends that Congress pass legislation that would lower the performance levels of supercomputers that can be exported to China.
    Avon ladies and lawyers called on China's Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that ordered the cosmetic firm to pay $12 million to two Chinese corporations for violating computer software copyrights. Beijing also said it is considering ways of cutting the high cost of Net access in the country. Concurrently, news out of China says the country is strengthening its crackdown on domestic users of the Internet for political purposes. And four Asian carriers asked American Internet companies to pay their way, marking the first time state-run China Telecom has weighed in on the issue.
    In the business world, AOL saw the ticket to success in Moviefone. The online service provider bought the provider of online movie schedules via the phone and Internet for $388 million in stock. AOL's maneuver pushes it into the world of electronic commerce. Up to this point, AOL had served as an advertising medium for other online businesses. Meanwhile, South Korean automaker Daewoo said it would be the first company to sell cars directly to U.S. customers via the Internet. Also in the world of transportation, the United States' top three airlines -- United, American and Delta -- announced that they have experienced no Y2K problem in reserving flights for Jan. 1, 2000.