September 8, 2010 (Obama and Open Government)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2010
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OPEN GOVERNMENT
Watchdog Group Gives Obama Mixed Grade On Government Openness
FCC Releases Data Tools
Obama On Government: Results Bigger Than Size
Prize Platform Invites Citizens to Solve Nation's Challenges
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC Order on Universal Service Reform
President Obama: New infrastructure will benefit the spread of high-speed Internet
Two ARRA Broadband Grants for Virginia
RUS rescinds stimulus award to TierOne Converged Networks
St. Paul gets top ranking for speedy Internet
UCAN taps Infinera for stimulus-funded network
Bohemian neutrality
OWNERSHIP
Obama antitrust enforcement looking like more of the same
JOURNALISM
Some Newspapers, Tracking Readers Online, Shift Coverage
ABC/Bloomberg, CBS/CNN?
A Near-Miss Hurricane Tops the News
CYBERSECURITY
NSA chief: "Internet is fragile"
PRIVACY
How Websites Make You Spill Your Secrets
Slow-Going for Web-Privacy Software
DIGITAL CONTENT
Google's Schmidt: Autonomous, Fast Search Is 'Our New Definition'
HEALTH
Markle Foundation's recommendations for 'blue button' backed by 46 organizations
Health IT attracts new students on campus
TELEVISION
TV stations running ahead as Illinois political campaigns make big advertising buys
Television: An Obit
The Revolution Still Isn't Televised
BBC Quietly Leading the Net TV Revolution
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Genachowski, Strickling Talk Net Freedom With Chinese
Australian Election result a win for IT, e-health
São Paulo advertising goes underground
For the poor, cellphones can offer lifeline
MORE ONLINE
Crowell Launches Consulting Firm
On-location filming slows to a crawl in LA
OPEN GOVERNMENT
MIXED GRADE ON OBAMA OPEN GOVERNMENT EFFORTS
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Stenstein]
An annual report card on secrecy in the federal government indicates the Obama administration has taken promising steps toward becoming the most open White House ever, while still criticizing the new president for spending billions of dollars creating and securing classified material, according to the authors of the study. "The elections of 2008 were viewed by many as a referendum on the secrecy and unaccountability of the Bush administration, and the country elected a president who has promised the most open, transparent and accountable federal executive branch in history. The record to date is mixed, but some indicators are trending in the right direction," said Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment. The study's authors noted agency reported statistics on compliance with the Freedom of Information Act should become easier to compare because departments now are submitting their results in file formats that Web tools can analyze. The Obama administration also changed the way agencies count secrets that are exchanged via e-mail to more accurately reflect the amount of classified material produced. Tallies now must also include messages that forward classified content to additional parties or reply to senders of classified material. Previously, agencies were not asked to measure what are called derivative classification actions. McDermott said by not including classified e-mail messages in past reports, the Bush administration greatly understated the amount of classified material in the federal government. Still, the Obama administration spent a substantially larger amount of money on securing secrets than declassifying them, according to the report card.
benton.org/node/41479 | nextgov | read the report
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FCC UNLOCKS GOVERNMENT DATA WITH NEW ONLINE TOOLS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Managing Director Steven VanRoekel announced a suite of new tools designed to unlock FCC data and drive innovation across the public and private sectors. The suite of tools released by the FCC includes a number of APIs (Application Programming Interface) -- interfaces that enable communication between independent databases -- for use by developers across a broad range of industries, including federal, state, and local government. The FCC also announced the creation of a developer community designed to help drive future releases through feedback and collaboration. The datasets and tools released by the agency include the results of the FCC Consumer Broadband Speed Test, which has tallied more than 1 million tests taken since the release of the tool in March. The FCC developed and released an API that unlocks the results of those tests and enables citizen developers to re-purpose the data in innovative ways. The agency also released a tool that can match geographic location with government data aggregated at the census block level, the first tool of its kind developed by a federal agency.
benton.org/node/41492 | Federal Communications Commission | B&C | nextgov | CongressDaily
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RESULTS BIGGER THAN SIZE
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Ari Shapiro]
President Obama is trying to change the political debate in Washington. The standard tension is between big government and small. Obama has spent the past two years urging people to ask not how large their government has grown, but whether it is effective. "Government is the roads you drove in on and the speed limits that keep you safe," he told graduating seniors at the University of Michigan in May. "Government is what ensures that mines adhere to safety standards and that oil spills are cleaned up by the companies that caused them." The Obama administration has tried using technology to improve accountability. On the Web site Recovery.gov, people can type in a ZIP code and see the exact projects that recovery act money has funded in any neighborhood. Those who judge government by its size may not like the amount of money being spent on the Recovery Act, but people who evaluate government by its effectiveness see this as a step forward.
benton.org/node/41490 | National Public Radio
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CHALLENGE.GOV
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Tom Kalil]
Citizen solvers are at the heart of the Obama Administration's commitment to increase the use of prizes and challenges to solve tough problems. Prizes allow the government to articulate bold goals -- such as building a super-fuel-efficient car, developing a low-cost launch technology for small satellites, or solving the risks to human health that come with space flight -- without having to predict which team or approach is most likely to succeed. With a strict focus on results, prizes empower new, untapped talent to deliver novel solutions that accelerate innovation. As of today, it is easier than ever for Federal agencies to mobilize American ingenuity to solve our Nation's most pressing problems. In a joint keynote presentation at the Gov 2.0 Summit in Washington, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra unveiled Challenge.gov, a one-stop-shop where entrepreneurs, innovators, and citizen solvers can compete for prestige and prizes by providing novel solutions to tough problems, large and small. Challenge.gov features over 35 challenges posed by more than 15 government agencies. They range from the Environmental Protection Agency's Game Day Challenge for the university that best reduces and recycles waste at college football games to a $15 million Department of Energy prize for the lighting manufacturer that meets stringent requirements for the next generation of high-quality, high-efficiency light bulbs. [Tom Kalil is Deputy Director for Policy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy]
benton.org/node/41491 | White House, The | nextgov
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC ORDER ON USF REFORM
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
On Sept 3, the Federal Communications Commission undertook steps for fiscally responsible universal service fund reform. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, in separate transactions in 2008, each committed to surrender their high-cost universal service support over five years, but those commitments have yet to be implemented. Corr Wireless has asked that any support reclaimed from Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel be redistributed to other competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs). In this Order, the FCC a) provides clear instructions for implementing Verizon Wireless's and Sprint Nextel's commitments; (b) holds that the surrendered support need not be redistributed to other competitive ETCs in all cases; and (c) directs that the surrendered support be reserved as a potential down payment on proposed broadband universal service reforms as recommended by the National Broadband Plan, including to index the E-rate funding cap to inflation to enhance broadband opportunities for children, teachers, schools, and libraries; support a Mobility Fund to provide wireless broadband service in areas that lack coverage; improve utilization of the Rural Health Care program to advance telemedicine in rural areas across the country, including Tribal lands; and, in the long term, directly support broadband Internet services for all Americans. In addition to accelerating universal access to broadband, this approach to implementing Verizon Wireless's and Sprint Nextel's commitments also reduces payments that support potentially duplicative legacy voice services and stabilizes consumer contributions to the universal service fund.
In the NPRM that accompanies this order, the FCC seeks comment on permanently amending its rules to facilitate efficient use of reclaimed excess high-cost support. In addition, the FCC seeks comment on a proposal to modify its rules to reclaim legacy support surrendered by a competitive ETC when it relinquishes ETC status in a particular state.
benton.org/node/41495 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Genachowski | Statement (Commissioner Copps
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NEW INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING PLAN
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome, Gautham Nagesh]
In a Labor Day address in Milwaukee, President Barack Obama touted his proposed $50 billion in new infrastructure spending, indicating that while road and highways will see cash, so will advanced infrastructure projects. That includes building an electric grid that relies on communications technology to be more efficient, and building out and upgrading the infrastructure people rely on to access the Internet. "We're talking about the smart grid..and broadband Internet," President Obama said, arguing that the US should have the best infrastructure "in the world." Obama's announcement Sept 6 precedes a speech promoting business tax relief he will make near Cleveland on Sept 8. This is expected to include expanding a research and development tax credit by about 20 percent, or $100 billion, over the next 10 years, simplifying it, and making the credit permanent. The technology sector has rallied around the measure. The president wants Congress to approve this first-year $50 billion "as soon as possible" and pay for it by scaling back oil and gas industry tax incentives.
benton.org/node/41484 | Hill, The
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BROADBAND STIMULUS FUNDING FOR VIRGINIA
[SOURCE: Department of Agriculture, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Rural Utilities Programs will fund two broadband infrastructure projects that will create jobs and provide rural residents in southwestern Virginia access to improved service. In all, $45 million will be invested in the two broadband infrastructure projects with funding made available through the Recovery Act. Broadband access plays a critical role in expanding economic, health care, educational and public safety services in underserved rural communities. Today's announcement is part of the second round of USDA broadband funding through the Recovery Act. Scott County Telephone Cooperative will receive a $7.45 million loan and a $17.4 million grant to deploy Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure to bring advanced broadband service to the rural communities of southwest Virginia. This project will provide broadband access to about12,000 residents, 80 businesses and 16 community institutions. The company estimates this project will save or create approximately 150 jobs. The Lenowisco Planning District Commission will receive a $6.06 million loan and a $14.16 million grant to build a fiber-optic network to one of the most economically challenged regions of Virginia. Over 42,000 residents will be given broadband access, along with an estimated 1,550 businesses and 100 community institutions. The company estimates this project will save or create approximately 70 jobs.
benton.org/node/41483 | Department of Agriculture
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RUS RESCINDS STIMULUS AWARD
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The Rural Utilities Service has rescinded a $19 million broadband stimulus award made on August 18 to TierOne Converged Networks, a Dallas-based Internet service provider. The move apparently was made after a news report questioned the award, noting that TierOne had been charged with alleged security violations in April. The award to TierOne was made as a combination of a loan and grant. It is unlikely that the company has actually been able to draw against any of those funds, as the award was made in the second funding round of the RUS broadband stimulus program. Organizations awarded funding more than six months ago in the first funding round only received authorization to draw against those funds within the last few weeks. Privately held TierOne has pursued an aggressive strategy of network expansion through acquisition. The suit filed against the company by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges, among other things, that TierOne made certain misrepresentations in materials used to solicit potential investors. These included failing to disclose CEO Kevin Mark Weaver's disciplinary history with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or loans made to senior management.
benton.org/node/41482 | Connected Planet
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SPEEDY ST PAUL
[SOURCE: Star Tribune, AUTHOR: Steve Alexander]
Ookla says St. Paul has recently become No. 1 in the nation in residential Internet download speeds. Minneapolis is no slouch either, coming in seventh in the current Net Index report. But some local experts say Ookla's numbers are questionable. They point out that 18 months ago the state-sponsored Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force found that average residential broadband speeds in Ramsey and Hennepin counties averaged 6 million to 10 million bits per second, also called megabits. But Ookla's average speeds -- 14.5 megabits in St. Paul and 12.3 in Minneapolis -- were significantly higher. Its statewide average was 12.5 megabits, significantly higher than the national average of 10.5. The local experts suspect that Ookla's survey of residential Internet speeds is flawed because it accidentally included some high-capacity corporate Internet connections, whose speeds far exceed anything available to consumers. In response, Ookla, which makes a living providing speed test information to corporations, questioned the low speeds found by the state task force. Those numbers came from another Internet firm, Connected Nation.
benton.org/node/41473 | Star Tribune
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OWNERSHIP
OBAMA ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jia Lynn Yang]
When President Obama took office, he promised to undo eight years of what he called the weakest antitrust enforcement in half a century. Consumer advocates held their breath for a dramatic shift that would hark back to the 1990s, when the last Democratic administration pursued a landmark case against Microsoft. A year and a half later, they're still waiting. The Justice Department's antitrust division has yet to exercise its signature power: to bring a case against a corporate titan suspected of abusing its dominance. In its other central role, as a merger cop, the division challenged in court fewer than half as many deals in 2009 as the Bush administration did in its last year in office, though the number of mergers also declined by about half. Instead, federal antitrust lawyers have eschewed aggressive litigation against big business in favor of a less-risky approach that works with companies to resolve anti-competitive concerns. The antitrust division has shown itself more likely to use a scalpel than a blunt instrument when a merger has crossed its desk. When faced with mergers it worries will hurt competition, the Justice Department has forced companies to make some changes, such as spinning off a business line. But with one exception involving dairy processors, it has not gone to court to block deals, including the controversial marriage of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the recent United-Continental airline merger and the union of the two biggest makers of voting machines in the nation. Now, all eyes are on the proposed merger of NBC and Comcast, a case with echoes of the Ticketmaster deal because the two companies will combine businesses - in this instance, cable and media properties - that typically sit on opposite sites of the negotiating table but that if combined could help each other.
benton.org/node/41502 | Washington Post
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JOURNALISM
NEWSPAPERS TRACKING READERS, SHIFTING COVERAGE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeremy Peters]
In most businesses, not knowing how well a particular product is performing would be almost unthinkable. But newspapers have always been a peculiar business, one that has stubbornly, proudly clung to a sense that focusing too much on the bottom line can lead nowhere good. Some Newspapers, Tracking Readers Online, Shift Coverage Now, because of technology that can pinpoint what people online are viewing and commenting on, how much time they spend with an article and even how much money an article makes in advertising revenue, newspapers can make more scientific decisions about allocating their ever scarcer resources. Such data has never been available with such specificity and timeliness. The reader surveys that newspapers relied on for decades took months to produce, often leaving editors with stale data. Looking to the public for insight on how to cover a topic is never comfortable for newsrooms, which have the deeply held belief that readers come to a newspaper not only for its information but also for its editorial judgment. But many newsrooms now seem to be re-examining that idea and embracing, albeit cautiously, a more democratic approach to serving up the news, particularly online.
benton.org/node/41494 | New York Times
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ABC/BLOOMBERG, CBS/CNN?
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Marisa Guthrie]
There's a lot of juicy gossip swirling in media circles these days regarding who may be getting into bed with whom -- and the potential players involved are big. The question of "how big" leads right to ABC News. Deep cuts earlier this year ginned up the rumor mill that the division was being readied for a sale or merger with cash-rich Bloomberg TV. At the same time, persistent speculation about a CBS News deal with CNN bobbed to the surface once again. While those two networks have a history of sharing talent, Katie Couric and her lucrative CBS News contract have been an added, tangential aspect of the merger speculation this time around. It's all understandable: With the news industry battered by a still-foundering economy and splintered media landscape, questions of whether such marriages of convenience and economic viability are the future for broadcast news become inevitable. Meanwhile, NBC Universal and cable provider Comcast await the blessing of regulators on a $28 billion deal that will most certainly have an impact on NBC's news division. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has heaped vociferous praise on NBC News, calling it the "single most awesome asset" of the deal. But NBC staffers remain curious as to exactly what a Comcast-owned NBC News will look like.
benton.org/node/41480 | Broadcasting&Cable
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CYBERSECURITY
INTERNET IS FRAGILE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
The United States' increasing reliance on the Internet makes securing our networks from online threats more crucial than ever, according to National Security Agency director and U.S. Cyber Command commander Keith Alexander. Speaking at the Gov 2.0, Director Alexander warned against the growing threat from hackers and enemy states seeking to penetrate American networks, which are more vital to the nation's security and economy than ever before. "The Internet is fragile. Our economic and national security, privacy and civil liberties are fully dependent on the Internet," Alexander said. "It is critical we improve our security posture. The threats are real. Malicious actors a continent away can exploit our networks. They're becoming better organized and sophisticated at exploiting weaknesses in our technologies."
benton.org/node/41493 | Hill, The
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PRIVACY
HOW WEBSITES MAKE YOU SPILL YOUR SECRETS
[SOURCE: Technology Review, AUTHOR: Erica Naone]
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have found that the appearance of website has a big effect on how honestly people answer personal questions put to them by the site. But paradoxically, it turns out we're more likely to spill our secrets on websites that appear less reputable. The way a website phrases questions also affects our willingness to disclose revealing information, the researchers found. The findings could have implications for privacy online--affecting how marketers approach consumers, and how policymakers try to protect consumers from privacy abuses. Companies are constantly collecting information about people online: Google stores billions of search queries every day, and Facebook tracks the interests and social habits of millions of users. Much of the information collected online comes from tracking how people behave, but some is volunteered willingly.
benton.org/node/41474 | Technology Review
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WEB PRIVACY START UPS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Cari Tuna]
Looking to tap into Web surfers' privacy concerns, new companies are popping up to help people browse the Internet and send messages anonymously. But these companies face a major challenge: getting people to pay for Web-privacy software. The majority of Internet users remain unaware of how visible their Web behavior can be to marketers, identity thieves and others, say executives at Web-privacy companies. And those who are concerned about privacy are often reluctant to trust an unfamiliar company with their information, they say.
benton.org/node/41499 | Wall Street Journal
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DIGITAL CONTENT
GOOGLE'S NEW DEFINITION
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Robert Andrews]
Google CEO Eric Schmidt: "Our new definition of Google, we're trying to get you something fast - never underestimate the importance of fast. Ultimately, search is not just the web but literally all of your information - your email, the things you care about, with your permission - this is personal search, for you and only for you. The next step of search is doing this automatically. When I walk down the street, I want my smartphone to be doing searches constantly - 'did you know?', 'did you know?', 'did you know?', 'did you know?'. This notion of autonomous search -- to tell me things I didn't know but am probably interested in, is the next great stage - in my view - of search." Two thoughts occur -- 1) Android is already a considerable power hog without searches being performed at every footstep; 2) if Google can increase searches to this incredible frequency, can it also ramp up search advertising in lockstep.
benton.org/node/41469 | paidContent.org
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HEALTH
BLUE BUTTON
[SOURCE: HealthcareITNews, AUTHOR: Molly Merrill]
Forty-six organizations have showed their support for the Markle Foundation's recommendations for privacy and security practices for the "blue button," which would allow patients to have instant access to their healthcare records. Markle is calling on the Department of Health and Human Services to make patients' access to their records a priority in all health IT efforts, including:
Specifying the download capability as an allowable means for providers to deliver electronic copies of health information to individual patients consistent with the policy and technology recommendations of the Markle Connecting for Health Common Framework.
Making the download capability and our policy recommendations a requirement of qualified health IT so that providers using qualified systems will have this capability.
Making the download capability a core requirement for federal- and state-sponsored health IT grants and projects.
benton.org/node/41489 | HealthcareITNews
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HEALTH IT ATTRACTS NEW STUDENTS
[SOURCE: GovernemntHealthIT, AUTHOR: Mary Mosquera]
Among the waves of students heading to college this fall are a number of students and information technology workers who have signed up for new courses and certificates that will train them to become health information technology professionals working for healthcare providers. They are the vanguard of a campaign to begin to turn around the shortfall of 50,000 skilled IT workers that the Office of the National Coordinator has estimated is needed to assist healthcare providers over the hurdles of adopting and maintaining electronic health records. To take advantage of the demand, community colleges and universities have inaugurated non-degree programs designed to prepare students to be practice workflow redesign specialists, clinician consultants, software support and other IT roles considered most critical to support physicians and small hospitals.
benton.org/node/41477 | GovernemntHealthIT
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TELEVISION
POLITICAL ADS IN ILLINOIS
[SOURCE: Crain's Chicago Business, AUTHOR: Paul Merrion]
The election may still be eight weeks away, but there's already one clear winner: Chicago television outlets expecting a 100-year flood of campaign ads from the large number of big races that are too close to call. A tight gubernatorial contest, the state's first truly competitive U.S. Senate race in more than a decade, and a slew of hotly contested U.S. House races will drive political ad spending in Chicago to new heights this fall, industry executives predict. "The pace of this marketplace is very strong," says Vincent Sollecito, vice-president and general sales manager at WLS-TV/Channel 7. "I do think it will be a windfall." Broadcasters and cable outlets could see a 20% increase in the roughly $40 million spent on political TV ads in Chicago in 2008, according to Comcast Cable's estimates. "You will see all political all the time from mid-September to Nov. 2," says Richard Brehm, Comcast's political sales manager in Chicago. That could make a good year even better for local television outlets, which have seen a pickup in spending by their regular commercial advertisers. But huge demand for airtime will drive up rates and make it more expensive for political and non-political advertisers to get their messages out.
benton.org/node/41470 | Crain's Chicago Business
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TV: AN OBIT
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Frank Beacham]
It has taken 50 years for the power of television to begin the shift from a few large media companies to empowered individuals throughout the world. Now that transition has begun. It will surely be marked with fits and starts, as old media companies fight to hold onto the past while a new generation takes control of the future. The time is rapidly coming when television producers will sell their programs directly to individual viewers online. With the middlemen diminished, the consumer wins: The price for programming will drop dramatically. Viewers will pay for only the shows they choose to watch. Pay providers will finally lose their immense power as bundlers and aggregators of programming. In an equally dramatic shift, ordinary people and businesses will make their own video for use on the Internet. Of course, it's already happening to some extent. However, higher-quality video made by individuals will arrive as the skill sets are acquired to do professional productions. Already, YouTube and streaming media sites offer a free distribution system for video. This video interconnects with blogs and Web sites. All that's holding most enterprises back today is the lack of skill and expertise in producing and distributing professional-quality video. With the roadblocks mostly gone and the democratization of video nearly complete, the future rests with the skill and talent of empowered individuals and small groups to make compelling programming. As always, most of this video from the masses will be pure drek. Unfortunately, that's a price we pay for ending the era of tight corporate control.
benton.org/node/41476 | MediaPost
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THE REVOLUTION STILL ISN'T TELEVISED
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Holman Jenkins Jr]
[Commentary] Apple to Comcast: You win (for now). The latest version of Apple TV, a $99 box providing pay-per-view access to a limited selection of TV shows and movies, is like any number of Internet-connected boxes you can hook up to your TV. What we really want Apple isn't offering, and nobody knows this better than Steve Jobs: What we want is to watch anything we want whenever we want, for a single monthly price. Comcast doesn't have it either, but the MSOs (lingo for multisystem operators, aka the cable giants) come closest, with their endless offerings of linear channels and growing on-demand libraries. Google could help you organize your programming apps in a guide substantially more useful and intuitive than you get from your cable operator. Even so, the Comcasts might still come out on top because they can provide you with a single bill, and (if you use their networks) they can prioritize your bits to guarantee trouble-free viewing. If so, Apple to Comcast: Play your cards right, and the future is still yours, not ours. But wait. Before declaring a winner, let's doubt for a moment the case for broadband TV, at least the idea that individualized streams for every viewer are always the way to go. Such an approach will require massive investment in delivery capacity, not to mention spectrum if viewers want their streams wirelessly. Does this make economic sense? [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/41500 | Wall Street Journal
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BBC BRINGS TV ONLINE
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Kit Eaton]
The BBC's iPlayer Web TV portal is hugely popular in Britain but can't be viewed overseas. No matter: With today's revamp, and planned updates, it looks like the BBC is setting a high bar for competition in the coming Net TV revolution. There's only one question: When the BBC's global iPlayer arrives, will the Beeb make its code compatible with other people's set-top boxes -- are we going to see it inside Google TV or a dedicated App on Apple's new TV set-top box?
benton.org/node/41475 | Fast Company
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
INTERNET TALKS WITH CHINA
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
According to the State Department, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) head Lawrence Strickling talked with officials from China about Internet freedom. They were part of a U.S. delegation to the fourth U.S.-China Information and Communications Technology Consultations. The meeting, which was held in Washington with Vice Minister Xi Guohua of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other Chinese officials, also dealt with the International Telecommunications Union and China's telecom and Internet markets.
benton.org/node/41501 | Broadcasting&Cable | State Dept
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AUSTRALIAN ELECTION A WIN FOR IT, E-HEALTH
[SOURCE: Australian IT, AUTHOR: Karen Dearne]
The Australian Computer Society has renewed calls for a minister dedicated to an information technology portfolio as industry awaits a new Finance Minister. The call was made as key rural independents Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor decided to back Labor, giving Julia Gillard the numbers to form the next government. ACS chief executive Bruce Lakin hopes the Gillard government will consider consolidating IT into a single portfolio. He lamented the fact that in the past there have been instances where the ACS had to deal with several ministers to resolve a single IT issue. Regional health resources are bound to get a boost, including through health IT investments. In particular, the Gillard government will be under pressure to deliver on its $467m promise to deliver personally controlled e-health records to all Australians in less than two years.
benton.org/node/41471 | Australian IT
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SAO PAULO BILLBOARD LAW
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Vincent Bevins]
Four years ago, the streets of São Paulo, South America's biggest city, were strewn with advertising. Messages on the surfaces of buildings, buses, shops, taxis and even private homes competed with billboards to create a chaotic and dizzying corporate assault on the senses. So, Gilberto Kassab, the center-right mayor of the city with the continent's biggest consumer market, came up with a radical solution: a blanket ban on outdoor advertising. In late 2006, in spite of legal wrangles and business lobbying, he announced that, almost without exception, outdoor advertising would have to be removed within months. Three years after the new law came in, it is extremely difficult to find outdoor advertising in the city no billboards, no ads on buses or taxis or in shop windows. But equally remarkable is how quickly big advertisers and the industry itself have adapted and, in fact, thrived. Today, it is hard to find anyone including among advertising and marketing professionals who still has big complaints about the Lei Cidade Limpa, or "Clean City Law". The city feels cleaner, they say, and the law forced creative innovations into other, newer, advertising methods that have often been more effective.
benton.org/node/41472 | Financial Times
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CELLPHONES CAN BE A LIFELINE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
For the world's poorest, cellphone technology carries opportunity, aid groups say, as text messages and other mobile applications have created a new platform to reach the most remote farms and crowded urban slums of Africa, Asia and Latin America. In all, 5 billion cellphones are in use globally, and the most aggressive adoption is coming from low-income and poor communities, where the low cost of phones and the availability of cell networks even in remote areas has fueled the rapid growth. The innovations in development programs are relatively new, and it's too early to predict their success. Political instability and dictatorships make it hard to work with telecom service providers, and some central banks are reluctant to cooperate with companies that could take away their control over their citizens' finances. Even so, cellphones have broken through bureaucracies and are reaching many who traditionally have been isolated from help.
benton.org/node/41498 | Washington Post
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