In the news:
The FEC has ruled that Compuserve cannot offer free online time to candidates for federal office in the upcoming elections. It seems the Commission feels this would be a gift, different than the free air time being offered by some television networks. --- The U.S. State Department has sent a letter warning a software company not to include hooks to PGP in its export version of their software --- The Clinton administration is pushing for support of its Clipper III proposal, which still mandates putting a "back door" into encryption programs --- But, the White House does approve of internet telephony, much to the chagrin of many long distance companies --- Pac Bell is enetering the Internet access buisness in a big way. How will this affect AT&T's own attempt, Worldnet, with all the problems it's been having getting started? Hmmmm --- HTML 3.2 is the latest standard, but what that means to the likes of Netscape and Microsoft is unclear --- And speaking of standards, there is now a standard for the as yet to be seen Network Computer. But would you pay a thousand dollars for a computer without a monitor and hard drive? Running a brand new, untested Java operating system? Oh, and by the way, since it doesn't have a hard drive, you can't run your existing software, but instead will use software that has yet to be written with the nascent Java programming language. Sounds great? I didn't think so, at least not yet.

We also had a short report on the happenings at MacFair this year. There was a lot of talk about the future of Apple. Curiously, Apple was the only company whose representative refused to talk to me on tape (physically backing away from the mike, she said "the P.R. people wouldn't like it"). That said, there is still lots of interest in the Mac platform, especially in light of the increasing number of Mac Clones. It's also very popular among web page designers.

In the news:
Pro-CODE Act of 1996 has been introduced to the Senate. --- There will be a series of rock concerts this summer to benifit the Electronic Frontier Foundation --- MFS Communications is going to buy UUNET and there is going to be an investigation to see if insider trading occured before the merger was announced --- Pointcast is now going to be a Plug-In for Netscape --- McAfee withdraws aquisition proposal for Cheyenne---

In the news:
Spyglass is aquiring Surfwatch, the famed filtering software --- Kevin Mitnick pleads guilty --- A new Digital Video Disc (DVD) standard is having problems gaining final acceptance --- Navigator 3.0 beta coming soon --- McAfee wants to buy Cheyenne --- A new "Slate" from Microsoft due this summer --- New speech software for OS/2 is out from IBM

In the news:
We talked about Judge Marilyn Hall Patel's 4/15/96 ruling in the Bernstein case that computer source code (in this case for an encryption program) is speech that is protected by The U.S. Constitution. --- Then there's Georgia's new law which makes it illegal for email users to have addresses that don't include their own names. --- The Library of Congress is getting a $2 million grant from Ameritech to boost the library's digital archives to include sound recordings, photographs and other documents. --- Compuserve had an IPO. --- D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. will be offering Juno, a program that gives you free internet e-mail, if you're willing to put up with commercials. --- It look's like NYNEX and Bell Atlantic are going to merge. --- Apple's problems/reorganization continue with the announcement of $740 million loss during the second quarter and a cut of 2,800 jobs over the 12 months. Also, David C. Nagel, senior vice president of worldwide research and development for Apple will resign to go to AT&T Labs.

In the news:
We mentioned the Initial Public Offering of Yahoo and Lucent --- There are more bugs in Netscape but that's not stoping the agreements they are entering into --- We mentioned the importance of good virus software --- Microsoft is coming out with less expensive video production software --- Pacific Bell has reconsidered and is now asking for a flat fee rate hike for ISDN service --- Finally, the CDA lawsuit is drawing to a close.

We spoke about government's role in regulating the Internet and how governments around the world are only now beginning to come to terms with the 'net. She stressed that people want, and should have, control over what comes into their home and computer. Parents should be able to control what their children see. But these people should also be very concerned when a government tries to regulate what can be posted and what a person can say.

In the news:
At the top of the show we mentioned that the lawsuit by the ACLU & EPIC against provisions of the Communications Decency Act is scheduled to continue on Monday April 1st and last through the month. Legislation which would lift many restrictions on encryption technology (such as PGP) is being introduced in Congress. Twenty members of Congress have joined the Internet Caucus which has just been launched by Rep. Rick White (R-Washington). For people seeking virus protection, we mentioned that McAfee has shareware (try before you buy) virus software available online. ADSL is becoming a hot topic that might be cool if it really happens. There's been yet another security bug found with Java. Apple Computers carries on with $700,000,000 less change in its pockets. And finally, the IRS now has a Web site where you get any of their forms online!

In the second half, we spoke with Brock Meeks, one of the contributors to Hotwired's Netizen project. He spoke about the absurdity of the Communications Decency Act and about the latest developments in the lawsuits to repeal its unconstitutional provisions. If you want to find out more about the fight against the CDA, check out the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Then, in the second have of the show, we took your calls. But this time there was a twist: We asked the questions and you gave the answers. Among the things we learned was that WinZip is a favorite utility with our listeners who need to manage zipped files from within Windows.

In the second half, we spoke with Laurie Kretchmar, the Managing Editor of Women's Wire. Over the years, Women's Wire has evolved from a small BBS to a major online presence, including lots of discussion groups on Compuserve and the Microsoft Network.

There was mention of the Second Annual International Summit on Service to the Citizen, taking place next week in Denver Colorado. Participants include V.P Gore, plus lots of Governors and CEO's.

The non-debate regarding Mac vs. P.C. goes on. We continue to say the Mac is a terrific machine, especially for some applications. Some listeners want us to give higher praise. It was a big week for Apple, with Motorola licensing the Mac-OS.

The U.S. Federal Election Commision is now online. Find out where some of the money is coming from, now that it's Election Season once again.

In tech news we mentioned Caldera's new, inexpensive Web operating system, new VRML Standards and even Bill Gate's House!

In the second part of the show, we spoke with Dale Montague, the Vice President and Co-Founder of Envirogen, a Southern California Company which makes popular ergonomically designed products such as the SoftSpot, which not only provide a place to rest your wrist, but also promote good posture and encourage regular breaks and exercises. Remember, Netsurfing shouldn't hurt!

It should also be noted that Pac-Bell is looking to raise the ISDN tariff (rates) and that isn't making everybody happy. Check out Dan Kegel's ISDN Page to find out more about ISDN and the proposed tariff increase.

We then spoke with John Gage, the director of the science at Sun Microsystems. He is the leading force behind Netday96. If you've listened to Digital Village for any length of time, you know that this is an event not to be missed!

Finally, we spoke with Dr. Chuck Wooters whose a specialist in voice recognition. We talked about some of the real-world applications of voice recognition that we may be seeing in the coming months and years.

In addition to general fund raising, we were joined in-studio by Garry S. Howard, author of The Introduction to Internet Security, From Basics to Beyond, published by Prima (and himself a supporter of KPFK). We spoke about how issues surrounding personal security in today's society are fundemental to the quality of life, now and into the future. Also, it's particularly important for people to begin considering these issues now, before it's too late...

During the second half of the show, we spoke to Jim Warren about his proposal to hold presidential debates online. There is a growing interest in this way to learn about the candidates views and Jim is (once again) leading the fight.

We also spoke with Chris Boyce who was in San Francisco for the just-completed MacWorld Convention. The Internet was all-pervasive (just like it was at parts of Comdex '95). Mac clones were also visible, as were recordable CD machines for under $1200 and IOmega's popular Jaz & Zip drives. But the big question, "What's going to happen to Apple?", went largely unanswered because nobody seems to be real sure what's happening.

Also in the news is that the Commerce Department is going to recommend that the U.S. Government should revise its rules regarding encryption technologies. Apparently Commerce has finally realized that the strange U.S. laws which equate secure communication with bomb making aren't all that great for U.S. companies trying to do buisness overseas.

In a related story, the Federal Government is not going to prosecute Phil Zimmerman in connection with the release of his product, PGP. We spoke to Phil by phone to find out his views ("I've had worse days") and find out where things go from here. We also talked to him briefly about PGPFONE which (running on a Mac) allows two people to privatly talk to one another over phone lines or a network by digitizing & encrypting the voice before sending it down the wire. And best of all, it's free!

In the second half of the show we were joined in studio by James Liggins, founder of the Inner City Computer Society. Since August 7th, 1994 ICCS has been helping to bring computer technology into the inner city. Lately, ICCS has formed special interest groups in areas such as LAN's and VRML and has (along with Software Creations) published the online magazine, Turning Point. They are also working with local buisnesses on ways to provide training.

At the end of the show we mentioned the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rememberance at NetNoir which, among other things, has a number of wonderful images of African art and culture.

We also mentioned the Online Career Center.

We took a look at the year ahead, first speaking with Brock Meeks, the Washington correspondent for Wired & Hotwired, about the curious way so many polititians proclaim a hated of government, yet so often are willing to impose such extreme restrictions on our freedom.

During the second half we spoke with columnist Larry Magid. He talked about our growing dependance on computers. He also talked about Compuserve's giving into Germany and its threat to the Net.

We also talked about some of the things Larry writes about in his latest book, The Little PC Book. For example, the importance of your chair and desk, or how a modem and CD are pretty much required equipment today.