The company with the Death Star logo is striking back at the competition beginning this week. AT&T has officially entered the Internet arena with a mind-bogglingly simple marketing hook: It plans to offer customers one entire year of free Internet access.

The service, called “WorldNet,” will be available March 14, but the company began taking orders last week. This is the first foray into the online world for AT&T. Up until a few weeks ago—when the mammoth Telecommunications Reform Act loosened restrictions on phone companies—it was not allowed to offer information services. “Obviously, we want to open up the Internet to as many people as possible—making it less technical and more like telephone service,” says AT&T spokesman Mike Miller.

Initially, AT&T plans to offer a one-year-free trial to get consumers interested in the Internet. Then it plans to offer AT&T long-distance customers unlimited service for $19.95 per month; non-AT&T customers can also subscribe for $24.95 per month. As part of its initial marketing push, the company plans to target nearly 80 million (!) residential customers.

AT&T’s low prices and blitzkrieg marketing strategy have caused some of its biggest competitors to get more than a little frightened. In fact, several larger providers are expected to drop their prices.

Will the company that once held the telephone industry in a stranglehold now clamp down a firm hand on the Internet? Competitors say they can fight off any challenge simply because they were there first. But if you’re wondering whether you’ll succumb to AT&T’s marketing strategy, consider the corporate monolith’s claim in its own advertising campaign: “You will.”

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♦ In local news, Edge Internet Services has arrived in Maury County, bringing locally owned Internet service to residents of Columbia for the first time. Columbia has long been in need of a good local provider, because connection charges there have been extremely high in the past. The company is expecting a high demand, and they likely won’t be disappointed. For more information, call 726-8700, or find the Edge on the Web at http://www.edge.net/.

♦ In a huge legal push against the Communications Decency Act, a team of Internet companies, trade groups, and civil libertarians has filed suit against the provision of the act that makes it illegal to furnish so-called “indecent” material to minors via the Internet. Among those associated with the team: Apple Computer, the American Library Association, Internet provider Netcom, and the Association of American Publishers. All told, there are nearly 40 plaintiffs to the suit. Actually, two separate lawsuits were filed to block the law, but the judge will likely combine the two to ensure a faster decision.

One of the plaintiffs—the Center for Democracy and Technology—has a long history of filing such suits. “We are mounting this suit to educate the courts about the Internet, a communication medium unlike any that has come before,” claims CDT spokesman Jerry Berman.

Some opinions still refuse to be changed: Shortly after learning of the suit, one of the architects of the Communications Decency Act, Sen. James Exon, told reporters that “these companies are more interested in profits from pornography than protecting our children.” It’s worth pointing out, however, that none of the plaintiffs in the suit has any vested interest in pornography. Most are professional media organizations and computer companies that focus on technology.

No date has been set for a hearing on the suits. Stay tuned, because with Pat Buchanan on the rise and the religious right gaining power in Congress, this could be a nasty, brutish fight.

♦ Pack ’em up and ship ’em out...Internet style.

Memphis’ own Federal Express is launching an addition to its World Wide Web site that will allow customers to fill in shipping orders online. Previously, only package tracking could be done from the Web.

Although FedEx has had shipping software available to business customers for nearly a year now, this is its first foray into taking orders via the Internet. The old software required a modem.

The new method, dubbed interNetShip, will allow businesses that have access to the Internet to place shipping requests via a Web page. A company spokesman says the service should speed the processing of packages.

Beginning last week, it is being made available on a limited basis in the United States. More features should come by about mid-year. Check out the FedEx web site at http://www.fedex.com/.

♦ Speaking of doing business on the Internet, a new study by a California research group says people around the world could be doing that to the tune of $255 billion this year alone. That’s a 400 percent increase over last year.

According to Steve Young, director of the study, the research also shows some users continue to fear using the Internet to buy goods and services because of a perception that the Internet is not secure.

Such perceptions are essentially correct. However, new standards on the horizon can provide this much-needed security. Once these standards are put into practice, the Internet community will most likely need to be educated about the changes.

♦ Now for today’s diversion.

Most of you are familiar with a nonsensical little game called “All Roads Lead to Kevin Bacon.” If you aren’t, it’s quite elementary: Name an actor or actress, and then try to connect him or her to Kevin Bacon in some way. For instance, Richard Gere was in Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts, who was in Flatliners with Kevin Bacon.

Thinking up the names of obscure actors can be tough, but now, with a small utility on the World Wide Web, you can stump even the most avid film nerds. It’s called the Oracle of Bacon (http://www.cs.virginia.edu/ ~bct7m/bacon.html), and it works like this: Type in the name of an actor or actress, and you’ll find out in seconds how they’re connected to Bacon. With a database of thousands of actors, it’s nearly impossible to stump—you could call it the ultimate opponent.

With the Kasparov-vs.-computer chess match fresh in my mind, I decided to pit our own movie expert, Jim Ridley, against the silicon brain on the other end of the wire. It was a hard-fought game, with the computer easily turning back each challenge. Our man Ridley tossed his all into the ring, recalling silent movie actors, foreign actors, everyone from A to Z. The computer impassively responded.

But soon, nearly at the edge of his sanity, Jim had the computer backed into a corner. The Oracle of Bacon didn’t, it seems, know who Lenny Bruce was—and yet he was in a 1953 picture called Dance Hall Racket with Timothy Farrell. It was only a moment before Jim had Bruce’s lineage traced up to our man Bacon.

In the end, humankind won out, protected by the Scene’s Jim Ridley. We thought about giving him $400,000—the amount of Kasparov’s winnings—but in the end, he settled for a firm handshake and a pat on the back in return for his brilliant defense of humanity. “It’s one small step for man,” Ridley proclaimed shortly after the win, “but one giant leap for people with too much time on their hands.”

Joel Moses can be reached via e-mail at joel@moses.com.