Updata
The 1995 Paul Allen Dubious Achievement Index
Asymetrix Misfire, Latest in a Series: At its March 1995 stockholders meeting, Asymetrix, the company Paul Allen started 10 years ago as his first solo venture, was declared US$100 million in debt. Longtime employees who received significant chunks of stock in lieu of compensation were out of luck. A few months prior to the meeting, complex financial transactions - involving, among other things, the creation of a shell corporation - issued Allen new stock, giving him absolute control of the corporation while shielding him and his money from ex-employees seeking compensation. Because there are no easily accessible deep pockets, no law firm has been willing to take on the case of the employee stockholders.
And the George Santayana Award Goes to ...
Starwave!: It's déjà vu all over again at Starwave, Allen's content provider and second solo venture, where the ghost of Asymetrix's daffy business style still walks. According to former employees, overly ambitious projects are managed by folks with little experience in specific lines of business, and deadlines are missed by months and even years. These same ex-Starwavers claim that massive numbers of skilled staffers are exiting because a) they have nothing to show for the time they've spent on projects that fell through or were thought to be mismanaged, and b) personalities, politics, and fief building take precedence over creating quality products in a timely fashion.
The Wacky Conspiracy Theory That's Been Around for Years and Won't Die: Since the first Microsoft IPO, Gates has been trying to edge Allen out, encouraging him to invest in as many sexy-sounding, futuristic, badly thought-out, poorly managed failures as possible, thus getting Allen to fritter away his fortune - and lose his stake in Microsoft.
Latest Evidence for the Wacky Conspiracy Theory That Won't Die: When DreamWorks SKG was announced, Microsoft - as a company - made a $27 million investment in the interactive division. But Allen's approximately $500 million personal investment in the venture as a whole might be a ripe opportunity for his being had: Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen still retain two-thirds ownership of the company.
Are You Experienced?: After more than $5 million has been dumped into The Jimi Hendrix Museum project, the plug's been pulled. Allen backed a lawsuit for Hendrix's dad to reclaim all rights to his son's catalog; latest word is that Hendrix's père wouldn't sign a contract giving Allen global merchandising and marketing rights to the Jimi oeuvre. The museum is now said to be morphing into a venue dedicated to Northwest musicians.
Gossip, Rumor, Innuendo: Is Peter Gabriel's personal manager still Allen's girlfriend?
Coda: More than a year after publishing its profile of Paul Allen, Wired remains the vehicle of choice for unhappy Allen refugees seeking a public hearing. Even if concern for their livelihood means Wired has to keep them off the record.
Paulina Borsook
[Original story in Wired 2.08, page 94.]
Inslaw Revisited
More than 10 years after the Inslaw case broke in Washington, DC, the subject still kicks up controversy. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) moved to take the case a step closer to resolution earlier this year: Senate Resolution 114, sponsored by Hatch and passed without protest on May 3, will finally put the Inslaw case before the US Court of Federal Claims; a bill attached to the resolution will also provide for Inslaw's compensation if the court rules in the company's favor.
The DC-based start-up, allegedly bankrupted by the government's dishonesty, has been granted full subpoena power. Additionally, previous evidence proponing the Department of Justice's innocence cannot here be held valid, nor can it be used to dismiss the case from its current court standing. Court proceedings will begin late this year.
[Original story in Wired 1.1, page 76.]
Digital Diva
Artist Jenny Holzer has again expanded her medium. Though claiming she's computer illiterate, Holzer forays onto the World Wide Web with her current multimedia project, Please Change Beliefs.
Sponsored by Manhattan's äda 'web, the site offers a collection of Holzer's flashing truisms, video, and sound loops. Taking full advantage of the medium, it also begs participation by the viewer, thereby narrowing the gap that exists between life and art - one of Holzer's artistic goals.
"We've gotten incredibly good feedback on the exhibit," explains curator Benjamin Weil. "On average, the site is getting about 10,000 hits a day." And to think Holzer approached the Web with self-admitted trepidation.
Experience Holzer's digital vision at http:// adaweb.com/adaweb /project/one.html.
[Original story in Wired 2.02, page 76.]
At Odds in Oz?
The digital privacy debate is heating up down under. And Mark Carkeet, a lawyer with the prominent Sydney firm Minter Ellison, is rattling the cage.
The Australian government released a July report addressing regulation of online communities, calling for service providers to take "reasonable steps" in blocking "offensive" materials. Pressing the issue, Carkeet has publicly asked if these steps might also include the monitoring of private e-mail messages.
"Obscenity on the Net is strictly a perceived problem," claims Carkeet. "The government is responding to press reports that inflate the danger." Furthermore, any implementation of this kind of violatory regulation will prove a "nasty intersection of goods, services, and law."
Sean Howard, managing director of OzEmail, Australia's largest Internet provider, is confident that if such draconian measures as e-mail monitoring are legislated, there will be no cooperation. "We will resist, almost to the point of leveling the business," states Howard, who has faith that it will never come to such a struggle. "We have a sensible, forward-thinking government in this country." Too bad we can't say the same.
[Related Wired stories: 1.6, page 98; 2.04, page 40; 3.06, page 48.]
