Despite privacy concerns, free PC's attract many consumers and schools

Article Abstract:

Personal computers are inexpensive enough that companies can use them as premiums. One company, Free-PC, allowed more than one million people to sign up for a chance to receive a computer in return for supplying personal information that can be used for marketing products. The 10,000 people chosen to be recipients of computers agree to let Free-PC post advertising on their monitors. Another company, Zap Me, offers schools computers in return for the right to advertise. Information concerning the grade level, sex and zip code of each student who logs on to the computers is made available to the company. This enables them to target each student with advertising corresponding to their demographic profile. Privacy advocates are concerned that subscribers are forced to give up personal information in order to qualify for the arrangements. Some schools have turned down Zap Me's offer, reasoning it is a violation of their mission to subject students to advertising. A few customers who have signed up for Free-PC have expressed concerns about how closely they will be monitored.

United States, On-Line Information Services, Marketing procedures, Videotex & Teletext, Market Research, Social aspects, Methods, Usage, Computers, Digital computers, Marketing, Online services, Privacy, Advertising, Marketing industry, Customer service, Target marketing, Social issue, Social conditions, Premiums (Retail), Free PC Inc., Zap Me! Corp.

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For fanatics, sports Webcasts

Article Abstract:

Sports fans now can access Web-based operations and follow games in real time, through animation or text updates. ESPN Sportszone and CBS Sportsline are among the few offerings for thousands of enthusiasts who are outside of a game's broadcasting signals and otherwise cannot follow results as they unfold. CBS is about to start its second season of CBS Sportsline's Baseball Live, which the network said drew hundreds of thousands of viewers each game in 1997. ESPN, which will roll out its own Web-based baseball coverage in 1998, recently began Gamecast for the National Basketball Association. Both offered on-line coverage of football games last season. Total Sports' Total College Sports Network received at least several hundred thousand viewers during the first week of the 1998 NCAA tournament. Convergence may eventually reach Webcasts, which would allow fans to locate broadcasts and statistics. Radio broadcasts already are available over the Internet for owners of a connection, speakers and a copy of audio-streaming software.

Television Broadcasting, Television broadcasting stations, Television broadcasting industry, Internet/Web technology application, Technology application, Information services, Sports, Mass media, World Wide Web, Television broadcasting of sports, Sports television programs, Mass media and sports

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You can't always judge a domain by its name

Article Abstract:

Large commercial interests are flexing their muscles and dominating the Internet domain name game. Many individuals and organizations who registered domain names that contain corporate trademarks are facing pressures from the courts and regulators. They are being forced to relinquish the domain names so that they can be reassigned to the corporations that own the trademarks. The trend is an indication that the Internet is making the transition from a wondrous new mass communication medium to a crass commercial medium. Some organizations and individuals are combating the trend, claiming the foundation of the Internet is communication, not commerce. Some legal observers claim that courts and companies are using trademark law in a non-commercial dispute. The companies contend that people who are surfing the Web to find information on a company or product should be able to find it easily through the domain name.

Analysis, Laws, regulations and rules, Internet/Web overview, Domain names, Internet address/domain name

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