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THE INDUSTRY STANDARD'S
M E D I A  G R O K
A Review of Press Coverage of the Internet Economy
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| http://www.thestandard.com |

Tuesday, December 12, 2000

TOP GROKS:
* Economists: Relax, This Won't Hurt a Bit
* Sun Hears It Through the Grapevine
* Courts Taming the Wild, Wild Web

MORE NEWS:
* Go West, Young Wharton Students


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CORRECTION:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Friday's Media Grok we referred to reporter P.J. Huffstutter as
"he." Ms. Huffstutter is a "she." We regret the error.


TOP GROKS
~~~~~~~~~
Economists: Relax, This Won't Hurt a Bit

Most of us like recession speculation about as much as we like tetanus
shots. A business forecast from UCLA brought out the big needle on
Monday and predicted a 60 percent chance of the r-word in 2001. Like
your doctor, the UCLA economists said it would only pinch a little,
and then it would all be over.

CBS MarketWatch, Newsbytes and MSNBC provided good summaries of the
report, which insisted everything would be peachy again in 2002.
Newsbytes' Michael Bartlett led with some encouragement for deflated
techie egos: "The stimulus of the Internet-led 'New Economy' was
enough to keep the current economic expansion in the United States
driving forward for four years longer than it might have," he said,
paraphrasing the report. Funny how everyone's putting "new economy" in
quotes these days - it used to seem so real.

The San Jose Mercury News called the predicted downturn "recession
lite" and noted that local California readers "will escape the worst
of it." (A separate UCLA report on California put the odds of a
statewide recession at 40 percent; report author Tom Lieser prefers
the term "deceleration.") Many experts expect 3 percent growth next
year, so the Merc's Jennifer Bjorhus called other economist to compare
notes. One Bay Area econ professor agreed that we may be in trouble,
but the UCLA report "has other economists scratching their heads,"
said Bjorhus. "I don't know of anybody else that's out there that
far," said economist Richard Carlson.

We do. CBS MarketWatch columnist Paul Farrell wondered if the slump
has already arrived, citing Ken Kurson's article "Nine Signs We're
Already in a Recession" in Esquire's December issue. Kurson's thesis
made sense and "was worth the price of the magazine," but in the end,
Farrell shrugged it off. "Neither Esquire's Grinch nor the U.S.
Supreme Court is going to steal my Christmas," he wrote. If only we
could face the doctor with such self-assurance. - Jen Muehlbauer

UCLA Report's Economic Forecast: Recession Lite
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730130

UCLA's Anderson School Predicts 'Mild Recession' in 2001
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730131

UCLA Economists See U.S. Recession
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730132

U.S. Recession Looming, Study Says
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730133

Recession in 2001? It's Already Here!
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730134

Nine Signs We're Already in a Recession
Esquire (Not available online.)


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Sun Hears It Through the Grapevine

Didja hear the one about Sun's irregular accounting practices? Sun CFO
Michael Lehman did, but by the time he denied it, the stock had
already taken a hit. "These rumors have no basis in fact and are
false," said Lehman in an indignant (and redundant) statement released
on Monday.

The rumor said "a short-seller had published a compelling report
charging accounting irregularities," explained TheStreet.com. Finer
points were scarce, and that's probably just the way Sun spokesperson
Mark Paisley liked it. Since the gossip had no source or details,
"That should tell you about the quality of the rumor," he told
Reuters. After Lehman's official denial, Sun shares rebounded a bit in
after-hours trading, showing that some traders who believe rumors also
believe prepared corporate statements.

Accounting scuttlebutt may have been the catalyst for Friday's Sun
selloff, said TheStreet.com, "But more notable was what the
book-cooking rumor obscured: a survey from small, Chicago research
shop Off The Record Research showing slowing sales of Sun servers to
its distributors." The Financial Times also noted analyst's worries
about Sun sales, and Wall Street's concerns about Sun's ability to
spar with HP, Compaq and IBM. Suddenly, everyone's in the server biz,
and Sun's not looking so invincible anymore.

Sun did get a bit of good press this week, by helping to form an
industry group to develop online audio and video standards. Then
again, the group "is sure to create a battle for market control with
(media player companies) RealNetworks Inc. and Microsoft Corp," said
the San Jose Mercury News. We'll have to wait and see whether Sun
shares rise or set on this new development. - Jen Muehlbauer

Sun's Shares Plunge
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730135

Sun Micro Denies Accounting Rumor on Stock Slide
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730136

Sun Dims as Investors Doubt Blue-Sky Growth Projections
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730137

Sun Shares Slide on Sales Growth Concerns (Bloomberg)
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730138

Cisco and Sun Teaming Up on Better Streaming Standards
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730139


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Courts Taming the Wild, Wild Web

This morning's news was peppered with court cases that collectively
reined in profane names, spam and anonymous libel on the Net.

USA Today ran an Associated Press story on a case that time and
competition have rendered moot. Adult Web-site operators had sued
Network Solutions because NSI, at the time the sole registrar of
domain names, refused to issue names the AP characterized as
"www.(pickanyobscenity).com." (Last year, competing registries began
accepting registrations for such names.) The judge ruled that domain
names are mainly about navigation, not about communicative speech. The
AP carried what amounted to a lively debate among lawyers and Internet
experts on possible reverberations from the case.

The Washington Post and CNET covered the first libel judgement won by
an individual against an anonymous online poster. The Post's story, by
Brian Krebs of Newsbytes, disentangled the complicated tale more
clearly than did CNET's AP copy. A U.S. District judge awarded
$675,000 to an Emory University professor after an anonymous poster
accused him of taking kickbacks. The poster, unmasked in the
investigation, was a former employee of the company he accused of
making the payoff. The Post provided the critical detail that that
company had fired the libeler. Krebs quoted Ari Schwartz, a policy
analyst with the Center for Democracy and Technology, for the bottom
line: "There's not much difference between saying slanderous things
online or offline. ... In terms of anonymity, it's probably much
easier to send letters in the mail."

Two different court cases recently struck blows against unsolicited
commercial e-mail. The Los Angeles Times ran an unsigned piece on a
rather typical spammer who had hijacked a company's computer to spread
millions of spams offering porn and get-rich-quick schemes. What
wasn't typical about this case is that the spammer was tracked down
and arrested. He pleaded guilty to second-degree forgery and faces up
to seven years in prison.

Wired News and InternetNews assigned reporters to the other spam case,
this one involving Web host Verio's use of "whois" customer
information from Register.com in violation of the registrar's
acceptable-use policy. The case has not yet gone to trial, but a
federal judge ordered Verio to stop using the whois data to barrage
Register.com's customers by e-mail, phone and mail. Writing for
InternetNews, Clint Boulton detailed the judge's order and talked to
outside experts on the possible effects of the judge's order. Boulton
quoted a Washington lawyer who emphasized the b-to-b aspect of the
tussle: "What this case does is go further in protecting the
relationships a business has with its customers." - Keith Dawson

Judge Rules Against Profane Web Domains (AP)
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730141

Professor Wins Net Libel Suit
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730142

Doctor Awarded $675,000 in Net Libel Case (AP)
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730143

Computer Hijacker Pleads Guilty
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730144

Verio's Alleged Spam Is Temporarily Canned
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730145

Judge Blocks Whois Spam
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730146


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MORE NEWS AT THESTANDARD.COM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Go West, Young Wharton Students
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Online Grocery Fails in Hong Kong
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Signs of Telecom Life
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CEOs Who Got Rich on a Niche
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DoubleClick Will Miss the Mark
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MORE LINKS
~~~~~~~~~~
New Jersey Probes Toysrus.com (AP)
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730153

Federal Probe of Commissions Focuses on 1999 VA Linux Deal
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730154
(Paid subscription required.)

Police Investigating Alleged PlayStation 2 Supplier Scam
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(Registration required.)

Movement to Impeach Philippine President Accelerated by New Technology
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Ellison Insists Oracle Remains Strong Despite Defections
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730157

EBay's Half.com to Buy Deja.com's Technology
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730158
(Paid subscription required.)

Sixdegrees Separates Itself From Web
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730159

Amazon, Employees Joust Over Union Effort
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730160

Google Product Tracker Could Raise Privacy Concerns
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730161

Net Monitoring Service Pays Users
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730162

NASA-Led Coalition Aims to Create Crash-Free Computers
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730163

Design for Quantum Computer Proposed
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730164

High-Tech Solutions to a Low-Tech Problem: Catching the Bus
http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284481&d=730165


STAFF
~~~~~
Written by Deborah Asbrand (dasbrand@world.std.com), Keith Dawson
(dawson@world.std.com), Michelle Goldberg (michelle@shift.com), Jen
Muehlbauer (jen@englishmajor.com) and David Sims (davesims@sonic.net).

Edited by Jimmy Guterman (guterman@vineyard.com).

Copyedited by Jim Duffy (jduffy@thestandard.com).

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