August 20, 2008 (Martin wants broadband across USA)
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BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY AUGUST 20, 2008
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Georgia cuts access to Russian websites, TV news
Capturing The Bush Legacy Online
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Obama's Wide Web
Obama's Ads in Key States Go on Attack
Right Venue, Wrong Message
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC's Martin wants broadband across USA
Verizon: Network Neutrality fans suffer from 'paranoia'
Oklahoma on wrong side of digital divide
BROADCASTING
FCC to warn TV viewers: 'This is only a test'
TELECOM
US consumers buying fewer cell phones
POLICYMAKERS
FTC Commissioner Tackles Ads for Kids
Dempsey Nominated for Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
Implementing the America COMPETES Act
QUICKLY -- Groups Challenge FCC Wireless Auctions; $2 Million Digital Media & Learning Competition Focuses on Participatory Learning; $500K Grant for Common Sense Media; Virtual Worlds Get Real About Punishment
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
GEORGIA CUTS ACCESS TO RUSSIAN WEBSITES, TV NEWS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Niko Mchedlishvili]
Georgian authorities have blocked most access to Russian news broadcasters and websites since the outbreak of the conflict with Moscow. Russia's television news is tightly controlled by the Kremlin. Coverage of the war has heavily emphasized official statements from Moscow and the suffering of ordinary people in South Ossetia, with little coverage from Georgia proper. Georgia's Interior Ministry said his country's action was not anti-democratic, but Russian broadcasts could not be allowed to "scare our population." Georgian media, private and state-owned, are generally under the sway of President Mikheil Saakashvili, who promotes his country as a Western-style democracy. However, the country's main opposition television station was shut by the Interior Ministry at gunpoint in November and some of its equipment was smashed up. Human rights groups have criticized Saakashvili's approach to media freedom.
http://benton.org/node/16256
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CAPTURING THE BUSH LEGACY ONLINE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Christopher Lee]
The Bush administration will soon be packed and gone, but part of its legacy will live on in cyberspace. A consortium of government and nonprofit agencies plans to capture snapshots of every federal government Web site before Jan. 20, when the next president moves into the White House and starts remaking the federal bureaucracy to fit his agenda. The goal of the 2008 "end-of-term harvest" is to preserve millions of agency records in an online archive that librarians hope will provide a valuable trove for historians, government scholars and the public. The need for such an archive is greater than ever, librarians say. Many federal agency records exist only in digital form and are in danger of disappearing when the administration changes. Digital records are telling, they say, because an administration's policy priorities are often reflected in the face it presents to the world online.
http://benton.org/node/16261
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
OBAMA'S WIDE WEB
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jose Antonio Vargas]
With less than three months to go before the election, Triple O -- Obama's online operation -- is the envy of strategists in both parties, redefining the role that an online team can play within a campaign. If Triple O had a motto, it would be: "Meet the voters where they're at." Andrew Rasiej, founder of Personal Democracy Forum, an online hub of how politics and technology intersect, said: "Obama's success online is as much about how our society has changed, how our media ecology has changed, just in the past four years."
http://benton.org/node/16265
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OBAMA'S ADS IN KEY STATES GO ON ATTACK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jim Rutenberg]
Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) has started a sustained and hard-hitting advertising campaign against Sen John McCain (R-AZ) in states that will be vital this fall, painting Sen McCain in a series of commercials as disconnected from the economic struggles of the middle class. Sen Obama has begun the drive with little fanfare, often eschewing the modern campaign technique of unveiling new spots for the news media before they run in an effort to win added (free) attention. Sen Obama, whose candidacy has been built in part on a promise to transcend traditional politics, is running the negative commercials on local stations even as he runs generally positive spots nationally, during prime-time coverage of the Olympics. The negative spots reflect the sharper tone Sen Obama has struck in recent days on the stump as he heads into his party's nominating convention in Denver next week, and seem to address the anxiety among some Democrats that Sen Obama has not answered a volley of attacks by Sen McCain with enough force.
http://benton.org/node/16264
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RIGHT VENUE, WRONG MESSAGE
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Barbara Lippert]
[Commentary] At a time when the country desperately needed the boost, the Olympics have turned out to be a regular festival of uplift. Given the context, the largely negative political work is downright depressing. Using the venue to run upsetting and negative messages is a waste.
http://benton.org/node/16245
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC'S MARTIN WANTS BROADBAND ACROSS USA
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
High-speed Internet access is so important to the welfare of people in the US that America can't afford not to offer it -- free of charge -- to anybody who wants it, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin says. "There's a social obligation in making sure everybody can participate in the next generation of broadband services because, increasingly, that's what people want," he says. Chairman Martin hopes to use a chunk of wireless airwaves due to hit the auction block next year to help turn his vision into reality. Some cellphone operators are objecting. As FCC chairman, Martin is responsible for protecting the interests of US consumers. "More and more people expect and demand to have access to the Internet and new wireless technologies," Martin says. "It is important that the (FCC) try to find new ways to address" those needs. The way Martin sees it, broadband is quickly becoming what copper phone lines were for decades: the main means of communication for millions of Americans.
http://benton.org/node/16263
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VERIZON: NETWORK NEUTRALITY FANS SUFFER FROM 'PARANOIA'
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Verizon Chief Technology Officer Dick Lynch spoke at the Progress and Freedom Foundation's annual summit in Aspen (CO) Tuesday. He urged a "change in mindset on the part of policymakers to acknowledge the realities of the 100-megabit world" and suggested that other industry participants be pragmatic as well. "The public interest can best be served by getting as much broadband in front of as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, and ensuring that investment keeps up with demand," Lynch said. "To a large extent, this is a matter of taking down the barriers to investment and refraining from erecting new ones." He said, "We need to guard against turning technical and business decisions into political decisions." He said that for economic reasons, Verizon may need to slow down some Internet traffic that is not time-sensitive -- like file-sharing or e-mail. Some people hearing this "get all incensed and they accuse me of violating things I didn't even know that I could violate," he said. Customers who are "doing a P2P download or e-mail, they aren't going to see that 22-millisecond delay. And yet that's the kind of thing that seems to (cause) paranoia."
http://benton.org/node/16254
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OKLAHOMA ON WRONG SIDE OF DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: Oklahoman, The, AUTHOR: Jim Stafford]
According to the Communication Workers of America, Oklahoma lags behind other regions with average broadband download speeds of 1.86 mpbs. That's 40th among all the states and the District of Columbia, although an official with Cox Communications pointed to a survey that showed Oklahoma ranked fifth among the states for Internet connections of 5 megabits or more. However, Cox only serves consumers in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas, which leaves much of the state to rely on a patchwork of service providers that includes dialup, wireless, DSL, satellite and smaller cable operators.
http://benton.org/node/16253
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BROADCASTING
FCC TO WARN TV VIEWERS: 'THIS IS ONLY A TEST'
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, AUTHOR: Wailin Wong]
If you watch an older TV hooked up to rabbit-ear antennas and your screen goes snowy for a moment this November, replaced by a message telling you to call a toll-free number, do not be alarmed. It's not Martians. One of the options to test local households' readiness is what's known as a "soft test," or temporarily turning off analog signals. In a soft test, the signal is shut down for 30 to 60 seconds. Viewers who are watching an older TV with rabbit ears or a rooftop antenna will get a snowy screen and a message telling them to call a toll-free number or visit DTVanswers.com, a Web site run by the National Association of Broadcasters.
http://benton.org/node/16250
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TELECOM
US CONSUMERS BUYING FEWER CELL PHONES
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Peter Svensson]
US consumers have been buying significantly fewer cell phones but paying higher prices for them, says NPD Group, a research firm. 28 million cell phones were sold in the United States in the second quarter, a decline of 13 percent from the same period a year ago. It was the third quarter in a row with a year-over-year decline, and the lowest number of phones sold since NPD began tracking the category in 2005. However, the phones that were sold tended to have more features and be more expensive, and the total value of the market was down only 2 percent from a year ago, at $2.4 billion.
http://benton.org/node/16249
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POLICYMAKERS
FTC COMMISSIONER TACKLES ADS FOR KIDS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ross Kenneth Urken]
A Q&A with Federal Trade Commission commissioner Jon Leibowitz who was particularly outspoken in a recent FTC study on marketing to children by food and beverage companies. He urged marketers to do more to regulate themselves and saying that if they don't, the FTC could step in and do it for them. That has made him something of a lightning rod for people on both sides of the issue.
http://benton.org/node/16262
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DEMPSEY NOMINATED FOR PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD
[SOURCE: Center for Democracy and Technology]
President Bush announced his intention to nominate Center for Democracy and Technology Vice President for Public Policy James X. Dempsey to serve a five year term on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. The board is an independent agency within the executive branch that will review the civil liberties impact of anti-terrorism policies and programs, providing advice on policy development and implementation and oversight of government actions relating to terrorism. The position is subject to Senate confirmation. In March, President Bush named the Republicans that he wants to serve on the panel: Homeland Security Department civil liberties officer Daniel Sutherland, constitutional law professor Ronald Rotunda and General Electric Chief Security Officer Francis Taylor. The terms of its original members expired in January and the President has not announced the name of the candidate who would fill the remaining Democratic slot.
http://benton.org/node/16248
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IMPLEMENTING THE AMERICA COMPETES ACT
[SOURCE: White House]
President George Bush has assigned John H. Marburger III, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, to convene a National Science and Technology Summit and submit a report to the Congress detailing the results of the summit, as mandated by the America COMPETES Act. The summit is to examine the health and direction of the United States' science, technology, engineering, and mathematics enterprises. The report shall identify key research and technology challenges and recommendations to increase diversity in science, engineering, and technology enterprises, for areas of investment for Federal research and technology programs to be carried out during the 5-year period beginning on the date the report is issued.
http://benton.org/node/16247
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QUICKLY
GROUPS CHALLENGE FCC WIRELESS AUCTIONS
[SOURCE: Amici Coalition]
Ten prominent national civil rights, public interest, and women and minority groups joined forces with six small wireless businesses, including minority-owned businesses (the "Amici Coalition"), to file an Amicus Curiae Brief last Friday, August 15, in a case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that has profound implications for the future of diversity in the United States wireless communications industry. The Amici Coalition supports Council Tree Communications, Inc., Bethel Native Corporation and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council in their court challenge to the rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. The challenged rules make it difficult for small businesses, including minority- and women-owned businesses, commonly known as "Designated Entities" or "DEs," to bid and compete for spectrum.
http://benton.org/node/16260
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$2 MILLION DIGITAL MEDIA & LEARNING COMPETITION FOCUSES ON PARTICIPATORY LEARNING
[SOURCE: MacArthur Foundation]
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with the University of California, Irvine, Duke University and the virtual network HASTAC, announced today a second annual open-call competition that will provide $2 million in awards to innovators shaping the field of digital media and learning. The Digital Media and Learning Competition has been expanded to pilot international submissions and introduce a new category focusing on young innovators aged 18-25.
http://benton.org/node/16259
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$500K GRANT FOR COMMON SENSE MEDIA
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: ]
Common Sense Media received a $500,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation for digital-media education. That is on top of a $250,000 grant the group got from MacArthur last year, all of which is being used to plan and execute a media-education campaign to help kids deal with both consuming and producing an increasing range of digital media.
http://benton.org/node/16258
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VIRTUAL WORLDS GET REAL ABOUT PUNISHMENT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
Virtual worlds have often been called the digital equivalent of the Wild West, where animated alter egos can live in a fantasy frontier. But in some of these universes, a sheriff has come to town.
http://benton.org/node/16257
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