Johan "Julf" Helsingius has implemented a new anonymous server. Send a message to help@anon.penet.fi (or deutsch @anon.penet.fi or italiano@anon.penet.fi) for info. Julf warns that messages are not anonymous until they reach him, and mailer problems could return your original message to your postmaster or to the addressee. [julf@penet.fi. Bill Park, 5/19/93.] Anonymous postings within a company can be very useful. They can also be vindictive and disruptive, but systems people can easily capture or block repeated postings.

There was a bit of excitement on the net when C.B. Hayden, Supervisor of Online Information Systems at ABC News, requested that leads on Medicare fraud be sent to the ABC News Research Center at abcnews@class.org. It seems there are a lot of people on the net who would love to send their views to ABC News. Class.org is a library research organization, though -- probably not a direct wire to ABC. [David S.A. Stine (dstine@cisco.com), info.firearms.politics. CARR-L, 4/29/93.] (Can you maintain an unlisted net address? Even the anon server wouldn't keep ABC from a flood of return mail. I suppose they could just bounce incoming mail from unapproved hosts, as some IBM/VNET sites do.)

A debate recently broke out on com-priv@psi.com about whether the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) represents "the people" or "industry." EFF's advocated national policies are aimed at empowering the people through cheap electronic communication, and more than half of its support comes from Mitch Kapor, the Kapor Family Foundation, and John Gilmore. Mitch hasn't sold out in order to raise funds. On the other hand, EFF does have $10K-$50K contributions (each) from Dunn & Bradstreet, National Cable Television, MCI, American Newspaper Publishers, Apple, Sun, Adobe, IBM, Prodigy, Electronic Mail Associates, Microsoft, and others. Sometimes their interests coincide. To stay current on EFF, send a message to eff@eff.org asking for the new EFF Networks and Policy newsletter. [Dave Farber (farber@central.cis.upenn.edu), com-priv, 4/13/93.]

One EFF position is that we should proceed with ISDN as a step toward optical fiber to homes. ISDN is available in a few areas at about $70 installation and $30 per month; federal pressure would speed general availability and reduce costs. (With ISDN, one ordinary phone line can carry simultaneous voice and data channels totaling 144Kbps, or nearly 1Mbps with 8-to-1 compression. Most of the technology is already in place. [Andrew Blau (blau@eff.org, com-priv, 4/19/93.]) Meanwhile, Tele-Communications Inc. is planning to spend $2B by 1996 to link more than 400 communities via optical fiber. NTT will spend some $400B over the next 22 years to link every piece of communications equipment in Japan via fiber. [NYT, 4/12-13/93. EDUPAGE, 4/15/93.]

Another com-priv debate concerns asynchronous vs. symmetric bandwidth in home services delivery. One group says that return bandwidth can be low (e.g., 64Kbps) in order to reduce cost and permit the widest-possible delivery of information services. Information suppliers who need greater bandwidth should have to pay for it themselves. An opposing group claims that fiber bandwidth is cheap and should be provided equally in both directions. That would encourage individuals to start BBSs, exchange images and data, or sell information to each other. Asymmetry suits the broadcast and information industries; symmetry is better if millions of people are to become knowledge workers, filtering and repackaging information from their home offices. Videophone services also favor the symmetric model, but phone companies are loathe to install cheap digital bandwidth that could replace lucrative voice-circuit pricing. Government regulation and policy influence are almost a given, so free-market economics won't necessarily settle the issue. The decisions made now may affect our grandchildren. [5/25/93.]

The 85-minute film "WAX, or the discovery of television among the bees" was broadcast on the Internet multimedia backbone (MBONE) on 4/22. Current technology permits 350 x 200 pixels, black and white, 3-5 frames per second. [artist1@rdrc.rpi.edu, comp.multimedia. DESIGN-L.] A FAQ file about the MBONE can be FTP'd from faq.txt in mbone on venera.isi.edu. The editor is Steve Casner (casner@isi.edu). [Paul Brown (brown @erc.msstate.edu), Arachnet, 5/20/93.]

Oracle Corp. and US West are working on a low-cost multimedia server that will let information suppliers focus on content rather than storage or user-access issues. The first service, multimedia messaging, may be ready late this year. [HPCwire, 5/15/93.]

Low-cost, nation-wide, full-service internet connections were surveyed recently by the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries' Internet Committee. Fees vary from city to city, so there can be no universally cheapest service. On balance, MAALL recommends The Well and Delphi for those who can't get courtesy accounts through universities. Rates were also tabulated for CLASS, Dial n' Cerf, Holonet, HSLC, Portal, PSIlink, and WLN for several usage assumptions. Communication costs are the biggest variable. The Well (Sausalito) charges $15/month, $2/hour, and $4/hour for national access through CompuServe's packet network. Call (415) 332-4335. Delphi (Cambridge, MA) charges $10/month and $4/hour beyond 4 hours (or $20/month and $1.80/hour beyond 20 hours). Internet access is another $3/month. Sprintnet access to Delphi is $9/hour in prime time, but local numbers or other communications options may be available. Call (617) 491-3393. [Jim Miles (millesjg@sluvca.slu.edu), PACS-L, 7/6/93.]

America Online is now just $9.95/month, which includes the first five hours of usage. Additional hours will be $3.50 starting 7/1/93. 9,600bps access should be available soon, possibly at the same price. [TidBITS, 4/26/93. comp.sys.mac.digest. Bill Park.]

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has filed to sell shares worth $112M. He said that he might buy controlling interest in America Online. [SJM, 5/22/92.]