Internet

Between an appearance by a television personality and discussion of a new stadium, the school board approved a project that could revolutionize life for Abington students. After a long presentation decipherable only by those familiar with computerese, the board voted to give the district a dedicated high-speed connection to the Internet, which would enable the district to become its own Internet provider. Eventually, the district would be able to defray the cost by sharing the connection with other districts, and businesses and organizations would be able to use the Internet through the schools' connection.

"Let me get this straight," stock analyst David Farina told the panel of Internet millionaires and would-be millionaires. "You have no payment system that works. [Internet] advertising is failing. And customer acquisition is too expensive," said Farina, of Chicago's William Blair & Co. "What am I missing here?" The casually-dressed executives of 4anything.com, iMedium, Opus360, US Interactive and Who?Vision explained the "land rush" to acquire Internet turf, and how even such household names as Amazon.

As the explicit report on Kenneth W. Starr's investigation of President Clinton went lurching across the Internet Friday, its online dissemination - though bogged down by Net traffic - was hailed as a milestone for the digital medium. "This is what the Internet is supposed to be all about - instantaneous, unmediated access to information of public interest," said James X. Dempsey, senior staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, an online advocacy group in Washington.

Paul Baran, 84, whose work with packaging data in the 1960s is credited with playing a role in the later development of the Internet, died of complications from lung cancer Saturday at his home in Palo Alto, Calif. Mr. Baran, who was raised in West Philadelphia and earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Drexel University, is best known for the idea of "packet-switching," in which data are bundled into small packages and sent through a network. He outlined the concept while working on Cold War issues for the Rand Corp.

In 1948, the last year Philadelphia hosted a political convention, there was a curious new feature on the floor of Convention Hall: For the first time, a television camera recorded the event. Of course, at the time, very few Americans owned TVs. Within four years, however, there were three national television networks and thousands watching from home. By 1980, networks started broadcasting via satellite. And by 1984, CNN offered 24-hour coverage. But no convention since the early days of television has demonstrated a changing media landscape as dramatically as the one planned for Philadelphia next summer.

Parents can get up to speed with their children with the help of a class on "Everything a Parent Needs to Know About the Internet" at libraries throughout the county. The classes will be led by James Emert, an Internet enthusiast and computer science professor at East Stroudsburg University. The courses will offer basic survival skills for parents on why and how to use the Internet and Web browsers, what is available on-line, and steps to protect children. The lectures will be held from 9:30 to 11 a.m. April 29 at the Northampton Township Library (215-357-3050)

Learn how the Internet was developed and discover some of its uses in a course, "Saying Hello to the Internet," from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Temple University's Ambler Campus, Meetinghouse Road, Upper Dublin. Instructor Katherine Vitale is an independent computer consultant. There is a $75 fee for the course. For more information, contact the Office of Special Programs at 215-283-1308. DOCTORS' ORCHESTRA CONCERT The Philadelphia Doctors Chamber Orchestra will present a benefit concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Julia Ball Auditorium at Gwynedd-Mercy College, Sumneytown Pike, Lower Gwynedd.

In a filthy - quite literally - twist on Internet matchmaking, two entrepreneurs from Minnesota are now offering the Philadelphia region the services of DirtFill.com. The online site helps homeowners and contractors in need of dirt find those looking to get rid of it. "It's kind of like [finding] a date - with dirt," Kelby Bailey said of the Web site business he operates with his father, Ron. DirtFill.com is not the only Internet-based service of its kind, but it was the first and is among the busiest, the Baileys said.

The democratic openness of the Internet - where pretty much anyone can open a laptop and reach a wide audience - is a key to its world-changing power. Here's the irony: The Internet may need the U.S. Congress to pass a law to preserve its freewheeling nature. On Thursday, sadly, the U.S. House missed a chance to do the right thing. It rejected a proposal to prevent cable and phone companies from levying extra fees on large Internet users. A sizable, bipartisan majority decided to leave cable firms such as local heavyweight Comcast and Bell successors such as Verizon free to exact a tariff or toll on Internet users who pump out high-volume content.

CHIEF JUDGE DOLORES K. SLOVITER I conclude inexorably from the foregoing that the [Communications Decency Act] reaches speech subject to the full protection of the First Amendment, at least for adults. In questions of the witnesses and in colloquy with the government attorneys, it became evident that even if "indecent" is read as parallel to "patently offensive," the terms would cover a broad range of material from contemporary films, plays and books showing or describing sexual activities to controversial contemporary art and photographs.