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Sat-ND, 11.7.96

Sat-ND 96-07-11 - Satellite and Media News

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"(c) Copyright 1996 by Sat-ND, http://www.sat-net.com/pck/"
Please send any contributions and comments regarding Sat-ND to
Peter C. Klanowski, Fax +49-451-5820055, pck@LyNet.De

This issue is sponsored by TELE-satellite, Europe's Satellite Magazine 
Have a look at their homepage! >> http://www.TELE-satellit.com/ <<


Hot Bird 2 to be launched October 15
EUTELSAT has confirmed its Hot Bird 2 satellite will be launched on
October 15.
Besides, the German Eutelsat agency has issued a detailed list of digital
services on EUTELSATs. I really don't feel like typing that right now, but
I have scanned the list. Anybody interested in downloading it (GIF format,
20 KB) should point their browser at
http://www.sat-net.com/pck/digital.gif
Or contact the German Eutelsat agency directly: Phone +49- 4204-913232,
Fax +49-4204-913222.

Intelsat won't give up 33°E
I just received confirmation from Intelsat that they are still planning to
redeploy INTELSAT 510 at 33°E. The satellite is due to arrive at its new
position around July 13th. The Intelsat web page is not a very reliable
source of information!
Juergen Stichler <just0000@stud.uni-sb.de>
Well, thanks a bundle then, Intelsat. Should anybody have an explanation
why satellite operators usually are the last to know what's going to
happen with their birds, please tell me. – Ed.

Lockheed builds new Chinese satellite
According to Chinese news agency Xinhua, Lockheed-Martin International
will provide China's first US-built satellite in September 1997. The
spacecraft called ZHONGWEI 1 will be handed over to the company China
Orient Telecom Satellite Company and later launched with a Long March
rocket.
The satellite has 48 transponders on board, each with a bandwidth of 36
MHz. It covers China and most parts of Asia.
The co-operation became possible after the USA abandoned its policy of
banning the export of telecommunications satellites to China. The
satellite will meet China's growing demand for more telecommunications
satellites, as one of the main aims is to link every Chinese village to
the country's telephone system.

Lovely Rita
If you use electric energy at your home, chances are good that from time
to time somebody will knock at your door, wishing to have a look at the
device that measures your power consumption. This may change.
A company galled GEMS, Global Energy Metering Service Inc., has introduced
a system that uses Low Earth Orbiting Satellites (LEOs) for automated
meter reading applications. Field trials of the commercial system are
expected to be conducted during the fourth quarter of 1996. It uses LEOs
to remotely collect energy data from hard-to-access and high-cost metering
sites, processes the collected data, performs consolidated billing, and
even delivers it electronically to the utility customer.
GEMS is currently exploring other opportunities for remote data collection
applications via LEO. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of
DBSIndustries which has interests in direct broadcast satellite licenses.


Japan's H-2A has a new customer
Japan has clinched a second deal for its ambitious commercial satellite
launch programme set up by the consortium Rocket Systems Corp., which
comprises more than 70 Japanese firms. Their H-2A launcher will put the
European communications satellite ARTEMIS into orbit, originally slated to
be launched with an Ariane 5 in 2000. 
About a week ago, Hughes Space and Communications International announced
it will book ten launches with the H-2A between 2000 and 2004.

Empty Islamic talks
Today, the closing session of the third ministerial meeting on posts and
telecommunications of the member states of the Organisation of the Islamic
 Conference (OIC) was held in Tehran. A resolution was passed that,
amongst other issues, declares the Islamic countries stand opposed against
the activities of Israeli spy satellites which endanger peace and security
in the region.
Our favourite news agency, China's Xinhua, however quotes an official from
the Turkish delegation as saying "Iran put the stuff into the document at
last minute." Speaking under the condition of staying unnamed, he also
gave his view on the conference: "The meeting has not made any real
results, only wishes and empty talks."


RupertWatch
By Dr Sarmaz (Ministry of Truth, Tierra Abajo)

Recently, Rupert Murdoch was in India, talking to the Prime Minister.
According to newspapers Business Standard, Mr Murdoch presented a
blueprint of a TV production and satellite uplink facility he wanted to
establish in India. Mr Murdoch's Star TV later denied the reports, whereas
News Corp official are reported to have confirmed them. Anyway, this could
have been the last meeting of both for a long time. An Indian court today
has issued an arrest warrant for the media baron. Should he appear in
India again, he's very likely to end up in jail unless he pays a bail of
10,000 rupees (US$280.)
Mr Murdoch was sued by Tushar Gandhi last year because a guest on the Star
TV chat show "Nikki Tonight" described Mahatma Gandhi as a "bastard
bania." Star TV apologised and took the show off the air, but Mr Murdoch
himself so far has been reluctant to appear in court. 


Golden Words
"The culture of television today seems to be trying to escape any control
[...] the choices man has made have been of a purely practical and
commercial nature."
Veronica Berlusconi, wife of Italian media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi


WebWatch
By Grandpa Zheng

Anonymous surfing
Finally, it's available world-wide – the Anonymizer, a venture that lets
you browse the web without leaving footsteps. On their homepage, thew
service is explained like this: "Every time you visit a site, you leave a
calling card that reveals where you're coming from, what kind of computer
you have, and other details. Most sites keep logs of all your visits. Our
'anonymizer' service allows you to surf the web without revealing any
personal information. It is fast, it is easy, and it is free."
Okay, let's try it out. Is it fast? No, at least not when I tried it a few
minutes ago. That doesn't mean too much, except that quite a few people
are interested in this kind of service. 
Is it easy? Yes. Just go to the Anonymizer's site and click "BEGIN SURFING
ANONYMOUSLY." Or, when you want to access http://xxx.com/ directly, just
enter http://www.anonymizer.com:8080/http://xxx.com/. The Anonymizer also
handles ftp, news, and gopher protocols.
Is it free? Sort of. You don't have to pay anything, but in addition to
the advertisements often to be found at Web sites, the Anonymizer inserts
some of its own. Okay, somebody's go to pay for it.
In my view, the service does not provide complete privacy. Of course, it
promises to "forget about your hostname right away, so your identity isn't
included in the anonymizer's logs. We strip out all references to your
email address, computer type, and previous page visited before forwarding
your request."
That, however, applies just to the server site. The usual data collection
performed there is mostly harmless, as most services just want an overview
on who's visiting their site. On the other hand, your Internet provider
will very likely still be able to trace your moves, especially when your
Internet access is routed via proxies.
http://www.anonymizer.com/

Even more privacy
An unlikely alliance has emerged on the World Wide Web. An ad hoc group of
Internet and electronic commerce pioneers yesterday announced the
formation of an online transactional security and privacy project, dubbed
eTRUST. "The eTRUST project is an effort to increase the level of trust
between merchants and consumers in public networks, and especially on the
Internet," said Lori Fena, executive director of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation. "We are not making a judgement about the need or desire to
collect information. Rather, we are promoting full disclosure to
individuals about how and where that information will be used."
http://www.etrust.org/

========================================================
Copyright 1996 by Peter C. Klanowski, pck@LyNet.De. All rights reserved.

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