June 2010

FCC Holds Talks on Internet Rules

The Federal Communications Commission is holding talks with phone and cable companies about a compromise that would give the government authority over Internet lines without adopting controversial new rules the industry opposes.

Edward Lazarus, the chief of staff at the Federal Communications Commission, and other senior FCC staffers are holding closed-door meetings with a small group of lobbyists representing Internet providers, including AT&T, Verizon Communications, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and Internet services companies such as Google and Skype. The negotiations revolve around a possible compromise that would avoid wholesale changes in how the FCC regulates Internet lines but still give the agency the ability to enforce "net neutrality" rules, which would prevent Internet providers from deliberately slowing or blocking Internet traffic. During a two-and-a-half-hour meeting Monday, the lobbyists discussed issues that their companies might be able to agree on but reached no consensus, according to people with knowledge of the meeting. The group is scheduled to meet again Tuesday.

"It is stunning that the FCC would convene meetings between industry giants to allow them to determine how the agency should best protect the public interest," said Free Press CEO Josh Silver. "The Obama administration promised a new era of transparency, and to 'take a backseat to no one' on Net Neutrality, but these meetings seem to indicate that this FCC has no problem brokering backroom deals without any public input or scrutiny."

Intel and FTC seek antitrust settlement

Intel and the Federal Trade Commission indicated June 21 they may soon reach an out-of-court settlement of their antitrust case, filing a joint motion to suspend administrative trial proceedings until July 22.

The two parties said the suspension was needed while they considered potential settlement of the case originally brought by the FTC last December. They said this would create a month's window, till July 22, during which time they would review and discuss a proposed consent order. A consent order is an alternative to litigation, whereby the FTC can gain compliance from a company it has accused of unlawful conduct.

Connecticut to Lead Multistate Probe of Google

As many as 30 U.S. states are considering joining forces to look into how Google's Street View vehicles came to collect Internet users' personal data from unsecured wireless networks.

The joint investigation, led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, will seek additional information from Google and determine whether laws may have been broken when the company mistakenly collected information on people's Web usage. He said a "core group" of state attorneys general had agreed to combine their resources and expertise to look into the matter. He said more than 30 states had expressed interest in the matter, and he expected a "significant group" of states will ultimately join the investigation. He declined to be more specific.

Racing to Fill Gaps Left by Google

The race to build a successor to Web search is heating up as a number of young companies seek to fill gaps they see with Google.

One of the hopefuls, Quora, made its public launch Monday after months of private testing. The company, co-founded by two early Facebook Inc. engineers, wants to collect and organize information people have in their heads but that may not be available online, such as background on the inner workings of a company and advice on how to get a reservation at an exclusive restaurant.

Similar services such as Mahalo and Aardvark, recently acquired by Google, have developed improved ways to show the right questions to the people who can best answer them. Some are also encouraging users to use their real identities. Their efforts illustrate the continual evolution of Web search, which is constantly adapting to new content. Once capable of spitting out links to websites, search engines now directly yield results like photos and videos and maps. Yet even search leaders like Google acknowledge Web search falls far short of its goal of delivering any answer to any question. Google's main gateway is still a search box, which is most useful when people have a fairly specific search term in mind.

Google developing method to ease sale of news content

Google may soon introduce a one-click payment system for online content, dubbed Newspass, potentially providing a new revenue source for publishers struggling in the digital age. It would allow consumers to pay for full subscriptions or one-time access to articles.

Orszag to resign as White House budget director

Apparently, White House budget director Peter Orszag has decided to leave the Obama administration, likely in the next few weeks. His departure would make him the first member of President Obama's Cabinet to leave the White House.

As head of the Office of Management and Budget, Orszag has been one of Obama's top lieutenants on two of the president's signature legislative efforts: the stimulus bill, passed early in the administration, and the health care overhaul passed this year. An administration official suggested privately that Orszag might delay his departure until the OMB issues its "mid-session review," or the revised estimates of budget receipts, outlays and budget authority for fiscal 2010 to 2020. That review is due July 15.

Government devotes more brainpower and money to cybersecurity

Cybersecurity, fast becoming Washington's growth industry of choice, appears to be in line for a multibillion-dollar injection of federal research dollars, according to a senior intelligence official.

Delivering the keynote address at a recent cybersecurity summit sponsored by Defense Daily, Dawn Meyerriecks, deputy director of national intelligence for acquisition and technology, said that along with the White House Office of Science and Technology, her office is going to sponsor major research "where the government's about to spend multiple billions of dollars." This newest element of the federal cybersecurity initiative will not be looking for what Meyerriecks called "classic Beltway . . . commercial answers" to be applied to today's hacker problems at federal agencies. "I think we need to be really innovative, because I think we're going to run out of runway on our current approach," she said.

Three themes are to be stressed in this upcoming cybersecurity research agenda, she said. The first is called "tailored trustworthy spaces," which means creating different security levels for different government and non-government Internet activities. The second is called "moving targets," in which the search is for security systems that change constantly to increase uncertainty for hackers, recognizing that all systems inevitably become vulnerable. Finally, there will be research in "economic incentives," which, as it sounds, involves seeking to find ways to motivate users to adopt cybersecurity defenses, recognizing that convenience has caused consumers to ignore security pop-ups.

Russian leader to tour Silicon Valley companies

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev lands today in the Bay Area, where he will meet with political and high-tech leaders as part of larger efforts between Russia and the United States to foster economic ties and bolster an improving, but still tenuous, political relationship.

Medvedev, who will have dinner in San Francisco tonight with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Secretary of State George Shultz, will tour Silicon Valley businesses on Wednesday before giving a speech at Stanford University. Although Medvedev's itinerary has not been disclosed because of security reasons, he is scheduled to meet with leaders at companies including Twitter, Apple, Google and Cisco Systems, among others, according to his staff and news reports. On Thursday, he leaves the Bay Area to meet with President Obama in Washington.

Uncertain future looms at Venezuelan network

It was an unusual moment in television news broadcasting: a worried journalist grilling his fugitive boss about whether Globovision's 400 staffers would still be paid after the latest crackdown in Venezuela.

Authorities in the OPEC nation have turned up the heat on Globovision, the last major broadcaster to stick to its editorial stance opposing socialist President Hugo Chávez ahead of legislative elections in September. Critics say Chávez is taking the Latin American country down an increasingly authoritarian route, stifling dissent and nationalizing much of the economy. Supporters say he is the victim of propaganda and a U.S.-led campaign of vilification. Globovision boss Guillermo Zuloaga is a fugitive after an arrest warrant charging him with usury was issued June 18. Then on Monday, the government took control of a bank that is owned by another Globovision director and handles its payroll, citing liquidity problems and risk of fraud, and leaving the station's employees in fear for their livelihoods.

FCC asks: Do media ownership limits make sense?

Even the news industry's free fall probably will not be enough to wipe out complicated federal rules designed to restrain the power of media companies.

For decades, the Federal Communications Commission has imposed strict limits preventing any company from controlling too many media properties in the same market. These limits were established to ensure that communities have choices of newspapers and local TV and radio stations. Congress requires the FCC to take a hard look at the rules every four years to determine whether they still serve the public interest. If they don't, the FCC has to rewrite them. Now, as the FCC kicks off its latest review, it faces calls to pare the limits because traditional media companies are no longer the almighty players that they were when the ownership rules were first enacted.

Benton

Search