June 2010

911 Technology Problems Plague First Line of Response

Recordings of 911 calls gone awry have been played repeatedly by broadcast media and published verbatim by print media. Sometimes blamed on outdated technology, other times on the call-taker, these phone calls highlight two of the common problems associated with 911.

Technology and call-taker standards and training vary by state and locality, where counties and cities, even those next to one another, sometimes have varying requirements. To make matters worse, the current fiscal environment, where governments at all levels are feeling pain, is forcing some states to raid surcharges collected to pay for new 911 technologies in order to fund other initiatives. Other states are stifled by companies that provide emergency call center equipment that doesn't connect with other vendors, therefore impeding the move toward next-generation 911.

HHS tailors EHRs for children

Electronic health record (EHR) systems should be enhanced to deal with the needs of people such as children and victims of domestic violence, officials said June 4 at a meeting of a Health and Human Services Department advisory workgroup.

For pediatrics patients, HHS is developing a model EHR with features tailored for their health needs, speakers said. For example, a pediatric record system is likely to have growth charts and vaccination charts. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) along with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are creating the pediatric record template for children enrolled in Medicaid or in the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Dr. Carolyn Clancy, AHRQ's director, said at a meeting of the HHS Health IT Policy Committee's meaningful use workgroup. The workgroup is advising the HHS National Coordinator for Health IT on distributing $17 billion in economic stimulus funds to providers who buy and "meaningfully use" EHR systems.

Consumer privacy groups petition Congress

A newly released draft of a consumer privacy bill has prompted privacy-advocacy groups to call for the inclusion of more-stringent requirements that they view as necessary for adequate consumer-data protection.

In a June 4 letter to Reps. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL), 10 groups, including the Center for Digital Democracy, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Consumer Watchdog and the World Privacy Forum, responded in detail to a draft version of the bill, which is under consideration by the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet. The letter acknowledged that the bill was a step in the right direction toward ensuring data security but said it must be "considerably revised to provide the protection that consumers truly need and garner the support of consumer and privacy groups."

Specifically, the groups called for the term "sensitive information" to be expanded to include more types of health-related information. They also urged the committee to require "opt-in" procedures for the collection and use of data. Additionally, they said the bill should incorporate the Federal Trade Commission's Fair Information Practice Principles.

New breed of newspaper owners writing a different story

The newspaper industry is starting to meet its new bosses -- the hedge funds and banks that are moving in as rich family owners and button-down executives move out.

While the objectives of these new owners remain unclear, insiders say the transition period promises more upheaval at newspapers just as they begin to emerge from bankruptcy. Over the past year, stealthy distressed-debt hedge funds like Angelo, Gordon & Co., Alden Global Capital and Oaktree Capital Management have taken major positions in bankrupt newspaper companies such as Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, and Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Their basic strategy: Quietly buy up as much cheap, delinquent debt as possible and then fight it out in bankruptcy court for a lucrative settlement that transforms the debt into a large share of company stock.

Experts say it is unlikely that any single fund has amassed enough of a stake to take outright control of one or more publishers. And they are hardly acting in concert. But alliances of like-minded funds and big banks like JPMorgan Chase, which have also received significant chunks of equity through restructurings, could give nontraditional investors like Angelo Gordon and Alden unusual clout over a wide swath of the newspaper industry.

Dear AT&T: Soon We'll All Be Data Hogs

By now you've read all about the pros and cons of AT&T's new tiered data plans. The demise of the wireless carrier's all-you-can-eat unlimited offering is bad news for the small percentage of bandwidth hogs who, with their piggish downloading and streaming, are slowing Ma Bell's robust network to a crawl. OK, laugh -- but just a little. Because it's true, even on wired broadband networks, that a tiny portion of subscribers gobble up most of the bandwidth. But with the expected surge in video applications for wireless devices, we'll all be data hogs soon enough.

First, consider the 3G iPad, an entertainment device tailored for video-viewing (among other things). Then there's the likely addition of a video camera to the fourth-generation iPhone, a feature that opens the door to a new generation of smartphone video apps. And don't forget that Apple isn't the only player in this market. Additional tablets and dual-camera handsets will undoubtedly join the AT&T network too, making most subscribers pretty piggish in the carrier's eyes.

Australian Police Probe Google's Street View Service

Australian police are probing Google Inc.'s Street View mapping service for possible breaches of data-security laws, two weeks after the nation's communications minister criticized the company's methods.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland yesterday said complaints by members of the public raised issues that "required a police investigation." Google last month halted operation of Street View vehicles, which gather images by driving through neighborhoods in a truck with a camera and equipment for locating wireless data hubs.

Canada May Relax Foreign-Investor Limits on BCE, Rogers

On June 7, the Canadian government said that the country's large telephone companies such as Bell Canada and Rogers Communications may be covered by new rules that will make it easier for foreigners to invest in Canada.

"Having it as closed as it is now is starting to impede the ability of the players to compete, to innovate, to sustain the capital investment that is required for a modern, digital economy," Industry Minister Tony Clement said. Clement said he plans to introduce legislation to liberalize Canada's C$40 billion ($37.9 billion) telecommunications industry. That would move the country a step closer to allowing foreign investors to acquire companies like BCE, the country's largest phone company with a market value of about C$24 billion, and the biggest wireless carrier, Rogers. Clement said that he will offer three options for reducing restrictions on foreign ownership. BCE, Rogers and other large phone companies may have to change their corporate structures to tap foreign capital, because the government doesn't plan to change broadcasting rules that prevent foreign control of a Canadian company, Clement said.

FTC Corrects Misinformation on Journalism Initiative

On May 24, the Federal Trade Commission released a staff discussion draft in advance of the next workshop on the future of journalism. The discussion draft collects proposals and public comments articulated during previous panel conversations and in reports and articles about the future of journalism. The staff discussion draft states:

"[T]hrough this document, we seek to prompt discussion of whether to recommend policy changes to support the ongoing reinvention of journalism, and, if so, which specific proposals appear most useful, feasible, platform-neutral, resistant to bias, and unlikely to cause unintended consequences in addressing emerging gaps in news coverage."

The FTC has not endorsed the idea of making any policy recommendation or recommended any of the proposals in the discussion draft. Recent press reports have erroneously stated that the FTC is supporting and proposing some of the public comments (for example, taxes on electronic devices, favoring one medium over another).

FTC Draft Plan to "Save Journalism" Drawing Scrutiny; Raising Concern

[Commentary] Some of those raising a stink about the Federal Trade Commission future of journalism draft include: Jeff Jarvis ("FTC Protects Journalism's Past"); Rob Port ("Federal Government Considering "iPad Tax" To Subsidize Journalism"); Mark Tapscott: "(Will Journalists Wake up in Time to Save Journalism from Obama's FTC?"); and Andrew Malcolm of the Los Angeles Times ("Obama's FTC Plan to Reinvent America's News Media"), who says, "this FTC study is rated R for anyone who thinks the federal government, the object of copious news coverage itself, has no business deciding which sectors of the private media business survive and thrive through its support, subsidies and encouragement with things like tax incentives. Yet that's what this Obama administration paper is suggesting as another of the ex-community organizer's galactic reform plans." Ouch!

The FTC Confuses Newspapers With Journalism as it Seeks New Media Tax

[Commentary] The Federal Trade Commission "discussion draft paper" on the future of journalism suggests that online advances must be hobbled, taxed and maybe even reversed -- because they hurt the newspaper industry.

Dead-tree media's salvation, it seems, lies in nobbling social media and making search engines as user-unfriendly as possible. Oh, and newspapers will need one more thing: government subsidies. That's why we need the tax hikes -- especially on Internet and 3G phone users. Turns out, the way we bought our car is killing newspapers. As James Fallows observes in this month's Atlantic, newspapers never made money on hard news. The FTC is making several tragic mistakes. The first is to confuse the delivery method with the goods delivered. To use the oft-repeated analogy, they assume the horse and buggy is essential to providing transportation.

Benton

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