October 21, 2010 (BIP: 7 Million People Connected; 25,800 Jobs)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010
Today's agenda includes the FCC's spectrum summit and Testing Internet Service benton.org/calendar/2010-10-21
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Broadband Initiatives Program: 7 Million People Connected; 25,800 Jobs
US ISPs may be slow, but at least they're honest
State of the Internet: Mobile Web's Explosive Growth
TELEVISION/RADIO
FCC's Copps Responds to Fox-Cablevision Impasse
Pay-TV providers to FCC: 'Step up to the plate'
NFL Investigating ESPN Over 'Monday Night Football' Timeouts
Senate can't turn dial on radio bill
MEDIA AND ELECTIONS
Senate candidates Boxer, Fiorina on network neutrality
Hispanic Media's Role Grows in Election year
Candidates Often Decline Station Debates
The Fox News Factor
See also: Soros Donates $1 Million to Media Matters
Election will remake House Telecommunications Panel
Google is latest weapon against Republicans
Republicans' secret formula — 501(c)(4)
Large Donors to Rove Group Revealed
JOURNALISM
Public radio is enjoying boom times
Are Evening Newscasts Headed for Shift?
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
FCC wants broadcasters' unused spectrum to help meet growing wireless demand
White House: No Position on D Block
Four Action Items for 4G
Clearwire Just Showed Off its Giant Spectrum Advantage
4G public safety network to undergo first tests
SATELLITE
FCC Backs More Conditions For Sirius-XM
PRIVACY
Esther Dyson: Privacy Is a Marketing Problem
The importance of protecting consumer privacy
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Americans give low marks to Obama transparency effort at agencies
CONTENT
US working with China on intellectual property rights
Glenn Beck And His Fair Use Problem [Video]
Starbucks Digital Network Brews Up Curated Web Content
Netflix Accounts For 20% Of Peak U.S. Internet Bandwidth
Twitter Analysis Reads Investors' Minds, Can Predict Stock-Market Swings
CYBERSECURITY
Pentagon Will Help Homeland Security Department Fight Domestic Cyberattacks
STORIES FROM ABROAD
BBC cuts to help finance super-fast broadband
Golf fans show Axel how to make web pay
Former US official joins Huawei consultancy
Gulf telecoms set for calmer times
Google Says 2.89 Percent of German Households Opt Out of `Street View'
MORE ONLINE
Pentagon seeks tight ties with cyber contractors
California Releases Public Safety Communications Strategic Plan
Beacons test community health care strategies
In a Digital Age, Students Still Cling to Paper Textbooks
INTERNET/BROADBAND
BIP REPORT
[SOURCE: Department of Agriculture, AUTHOR: ]
A new report on how the Department of Agriculture's distribution of loan and grant funds provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) has helped the Nation's rural residents. The report estimates that millions of business owners and agricultural producers; Internet users, and thousands of homeowners will benefit and over 300,000 jobs are being created or saved. The job estimates contained in the report are derived from recipient reported data or program-based economic models. Of the $40.7 billion in Recovery Act funding obligated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development obligated more than half for projects ($21.2 billion in program-level funding) through seven programs. In all, 95,000 loans and 2,500 grants were provided to recipients in all 50 states, American territories, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This record level of Federal investment leveraged additional private investment in communities across the country, demonstrating the positive impact that public-private partnerships can have on rural communities and economies. The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) received $2.5 billion in funding to deploy high-speed broadband networks to the hardest-to-reach rural areas of the country. Working with partners at the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), RUS invested $3.5 billion in funding for 297 broadband infrastructure projects, four satellite awards, and 19 technical assistance grants to extend the benefits of broadband to rural communities, Native American and Alaska Native lands in 45 States and 1 territory. An estimated 7 million people, many of them located in extremely remote areas, will have access to improved broadband services. The projects will create or save 25,800 jobs. In Reedsburg, Wis., (located in Sauk County), the Reedsburg Utilities Commission used $5,239,168 in Recovery Act funds to bring broadband service to an area of southwestern Wisconsin that is deficient in broadband services due to hilly terrain. In addition to the USDA funds, more than $2.3 million in private investment was provided. It is estimated that 310 businesses and more than 2,400 homes will be able to access the utility's services, and an estimated 42 new jobs will be generated.
benton.org/node/43807 | Department of Agriculture | read the report
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US ISPS ARE SLOW, HONEST ABOUT IT
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
The cable industry is cheering new data suggesting that most Americans receive something close to the broadband speeds advertised by their Internet service providers. The Ookla broadband testing service's report compares "promised" versus "actual" broadband speeds around the world and concludes that Americans get 92.91 percent of their advertised throughput rate. "That sounds like pretty good news," the National Cable and Telecommunications Association's Cable Tech Talk blog notes. "Networks are performing by and large as they should and, as a result, consumers are happy." The global advertised versus actual ratio is 87.01 percent, according to Ookla, with the United States coming in eleventh among nations. When it comes to actual broadband speeds, Ookla ranks the US pretty low. We come in at number 30 on the download speed index, with a "rolling mean" (average over the last 30 days) of 10.13 Mbps... just below Russia, Slovakia, and Lichtenstein.
benton.org/node/43801 | Ars Technica
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STATE OF THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Om Malik]
In 1999, it was the rapid growth of wired web services that was the top story. Fast-forward to today, and it's the massive and seemingly unstoppable growth of the mobile Internet that's all the rage. The demand for mobile Internet (and its subset, mobile web) is upending all expectations and predictions. Between Apple and Google, about 500,000 new portable Internet devices are getting connected to the Internet. In its State of the Internet Report for the second quarter of 2010, content distribution network Akamai notes there are 19 mobile carriers around the world offering connections with average real world speeds of over 6.1 Mbps, while 29 carriers have an average speed of 1 Mbps. On the wired Internet side, the continuous deployment of fiber-based broadband networks and new DOCSIS 3.0-based cable broadband networks is causing a sharp increase in broadband speeds in some parts of the world. According to Akamai data, the average connection speed on a global basis was around 1.8 Mbps; up 6.1 percent from the second quarter of 2009, and up 3.8 percent from the second quarter of 2010.
benton.org/node/43798 | GigaOm
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TELEVISION/RADIO
COPPS ON FOX-CABLEVISION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Michael Copps]
Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps said: Retransmission consent developed in another world in a vastly different media environment. The idea was to ensure that consumers could receive broadcast programs on cable and to protect both small broadcasters and small cable companies from being run over by the big guys. Now, in too many instances, retransmission consent has degenerated into a fight between huge monied interests to see who can milk who the most—and consumers are left holding an empty pail. What we are dealing with here is a fast-changing media landscape with the big players maneuvering to see how they can create new business models that will give them the upper hand over their rivals going forward.
The FCC's role has been limited. That's partly due to the statute under which we operate, which generally confines our role to encouraging 'good faith' negotiations between the private parties. We have interpreted this charge very cautiously. But the FCC is a consumer protection agency and, if the Fox-Cablevision dispute proves anything, it is that consumers are clearly not being protected. I believe the Commission should take a very serious look at whether 'good faith' negotiations are indeed occurring. What, indeed, does 'good faith' mean in the dog-eat-dog world of big media? If such talks are not taking place, we should move promptly to protect consumers.
We must also understand that these seemingly 'old media' debates can be used against the new media of the digital age, too. For a broadcaster to pull programming from the Internet for a cable company's subscribers, as apparently happened here, directly threatens the open Internet. This was yet another instance revealing how vulnerable the Internet is to discrimination and gate-keeper control absent clear rules of the road.
benton.org/node/43784 | Federal Communications Commission | The Hill | B&C
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PAY-TV PROVIDERS WANT FCC IN DISPUTE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
An alliance of pay-TV providers has a message for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about its approach to an ongoing TV dispute: You're not doing enough. "The FCC needs to step up to the plate and create a real solution by reforming retransmission consent rules immediately," said the American Television Alliance (ATVA), which includes satellite and cable companies as well as consumer groups. "Instead of using its authority to protect Cablevision's customers from the [Fox] blackout, the FCC tweeted updates from the Phillies-Giants playoff game last night to fill in 'the baseball void for those without Fox-Cablevision,'" said a statement from ATVA. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has also called the companies to encourage a swift resolution. But those actions aren't enough, in ATVA's view. "And now this? Twitter updates of baseball games?" the group said. ATVA wants reform to retransmission consent rules that govern negotiations between broadcasters and paid TV providers, so broadcasters do not have the power to pull their content. The broadcasters say that situations such as the Cablevision dispute are rare, so an overhaul is unnecessary.
benton.org/node/43809 | Hill, The
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LPFM BILL STALLED
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
A bill that would allow the Federal Communications Commission to give licenses to more noncommercial, localized radio stations is caught in static. Despite support from both sides of the aisle, a group of Republican senators have successfully blocked the bill. Sen John Barrasso (R-WY) currently has a hold on the measure, which would create a new crop of radio stations — known as low-power FM stations — dedicated to hyperlocal community news, such as information about school boards, city councils and church groups, or spreading music by local artists. He wants to ensure it includes language that distinguishes full-power FM stations from low-power FM stations. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) previously held up the measure because New Jersey was given an exemption from the proposed changes. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) also moved to block the bill earlier this year.
benton.org/node/43821 | Politico
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MEDIA AND ELECTIONS
CANDIDATES AND NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: ]
For a sense of how Silicon Valley could be represented on the most contested tech policy issue in Washington, watch these two videos of the two Senate candidates laying out their views on network neutrality. Republican candidate Carly Fiorina is against, saying her background as an executive at AT&T and Lucent Alcatel before heading Hewlett Packard show that regulation of the telecom industry can be a disaster for business. She also said the Federal Communications Commission shouldn't re-assert its authority to regulate broadband. Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer has co-signed legislation to create rules prohibiting Internet service providers from blocking sites and prioritizing traffic unfairly. The FCC, without clear authority over broadband services has looked to Congress to create legislation.
benton.org/node/43806 | Washington Post
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HISPANIC MEDIA AND THE ELECTION
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Laura Wides-Munoz]
Spanish-language networks and publications are taking on a more prominent role this election season, nabbing debates with major candidates and increasingly seeing their political coverage spin out into mainstream English-language media. The attention highlights not only the growing influence of Hispanics, the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group, but also the power of the companies that provide much of their news. Take recent comments by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) during a Sunday morning talk show with Spanish-language Univision Network anchor Jorge Ramos. Rep Sanchez told viewers her Republican opponent Van Tran, who fled Vietnam as a child, was anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic. In previous years, those words might have gone unnoticed outside the Spanish-speaking community. This year they were picked up by a blogger, replayed on YouTube and seized upon by Republican Party leaders, demonstrating not just the increased influence of Spanish-language media but also how ever-more-powerful social media has made the information it provides easier to disseminate.
benton.org/node/43804 | Associated Press
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STATION DEBATES
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Kim McAvoy]
Flush with cash from political advertising, many broadcasters have been staging debates among competing candidates -- or at least trying to. Nobody keeps a running count of the broadcaster-sponsored debates, but C-SPAN says that it has aired around 100 debates this year and that most originated at TV stations. But whatever the number, it could have been considerably larger. Candidates, particularly incumbents, are not always eager to appear in uncontrolled forums where they feel they have far more to lose than gain. Often, they decline debate invitations from stations or opt for less risky alternatives. In some cases, candidates limit the number of debates, accepting some invitations and rejecting others for reasons that are not always clear. National Association of Broadcasters Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton, who monitors the debate opportunities and other free time that stations offer candidates, says it's fairly common for stations to face rejection by candidates. "If you're an established incumbent with 99% name recognition, the last thing your high-priced consultant is going to advise you to do is take a debate offer that puts your unknown opponent on TV and opens an opportunity for you to have your own 'macacca' moment," says Wharton referring to an incident involving former Virginia Senator George Allen who was expected to win re-election in 2006 until he was captured on video using a racist epithet. Other followers of political campaigning agree.
benton.org/node/43803 | TVNewsCheck
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THE FOX NEWS FACTOR
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress, AUTHOR: Faiz Shakir, Benjamin Armbruster, George Zornick, Zaid Jilani, Alex Seitz-Wald, Tanya Somanader]
At a strategy meeting earlier this month, Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell reportedly told party insiders skeptical about her campaign that she had Fox News' "Sean Hannity in my back pocket, and I can go on his show and raise money by attacking you guys." The fact that Fox News and its right-wing news personalities favor conservative candidates is not a secret to many people with a cable box, but amidst the current discussion over how big money is influencing this election cycle, Rupert Murdoch's highly rated "news" channel is rarely placed in the discussion. It should be: Fox News, part of the multi-billion dollar News Corporation, uses its $1.21 billion budget to provide a 24-hour propaganda and fundraising outlet for conservative candidates, many of whom confess the channel is their preferred method of "getting their voice out." The channel hosts or straight-out employs more conservative politicians than any other outlet, and provides a constant stream for their misinformation, which is often abetted by Fox News personalities, many of whom campaign for or advise GOP candidates off the air. The right-wing billionaires who are the financial backbone of the Tea Party movement have a partner in Fox News, which has been instrumental in propagating its message, even hosting live Tea Party rallies from outdoor Fox News studios. And in recent months, News Corp. has simply handed over millions of dollars to conservative campaign outfits like the Republican Governors Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
benton.org/node/43793 | Center for American Progress
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ELECTION WILL REMAKE HOUSE PANEL
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
The House Communications Subcommittee could look far different in 2011 than it does today -- even if Democrats ultimately retain control of the chamber. An election night that leaves House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's majority intact -- if only barely -- could still change the ratio of Democrats to Republicans on the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, guaranteeing Chairman Rick Boucher (D-Va.) -- currently in the GOP's cross hairs -- fewer votes to tackle the tough disputes that rest in the hands of his panel. Conversely, a landslide loss for the party in November would bring the subcommittee its first new leader since Democrats took the reins in 2006. And given the jockeying among hopeful Republicans for plum committee assignments, the subcommittee could wind up with a chairman who isn't even sitting on the panel today, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR.).
benton.org/node/43794 | Politico
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GOOGLE AND THE ELECTION
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Sarah Lai Stirland]
How many clicks does it take to soil a candidate's online reputation? A prominent liberal activist would like to find out. Chris Bowers, campaign director for the Daily Kos, is launching a behind-the-scenes campaign against 98 House Republican candidates that attempts to capitalize on voters' Google search habits in the hopes of influencing midterm races. Bowers wants the Daily Kos' thousands of participants to dig up little-noted or controversial news stories about the candidates that could hurt their chances with undecided voters. Users would click on the links and blog about the stories with the goal of boosting their rankings on search engines, so that undecided voters will discover them more easily. He sees the campaign as a 21st century version of pamphleteering: Daily Kos readers are simply providing informational materials that are already out there in the same way that volunteers would hand out information to voters on the street. The use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is standard practice for companies and campaigns managing their reputations online or news organizations attempting to drive Internet traffic but Bowers' focus on promoting strategically damaging stories is unique.
benton.org/node/43791 | Politico
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JOURNALISM
PUBLIC RADIO BOOM
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: James Rainey]
[Commentary] More listeners continue to find public radio and, as evidenced by a couple of developments in recent days, the network and some of its executives want to make the footprint even larger. Public radio executives join the growing push by new media to fill the local news void. AOL's Patch.com has websites in nearly 300 communities and is growing steadily. EveryBlock, owned by MSNBC.com, aggregates property, crime, education and other public records to help people better understand their neighborhoods. Don't count on any clarity in the local news space any time soon as newspapers tenaciously cling to their incumbent advantages -- including staffs still larger than most of the upstarts -- and upstarts continue to crowd the space. I'm doubtful of the few who have been suggesting that public radio stations and their websites will become the primary sources of local news. I expect we're looking at a more cacophonous future -- with the radio news sources just one of many voices in the room.
benton.org/node/43805 | Los Angeles Times
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CHANGE FOR NEWSCASTS?
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: David Bauder]
CBS Corp. Chairman Leslie Moonves recently predicted a fast-changing newscast format because viewers now keep on top of the news through cable channels, the Internet and mobile technology. He said it's too expensive to support the newscasts as they are now. "People are getting the news elsewhere," he said. "When there were only three networks, you did have that public service component, where we were informing America. Now, there is nothing that Katie Couric is saying that everybody doesn't know already." He said the programs could become like "Nightline," focusing on a couple of different stories, or the Sunday morning political talk shows. Viewership is flat or down at all three broadcasts this year compared to last -- 1 percent at the ratings leader, NBC's "Nightly News," 3 percent at "World News" and 6 percent at the "CBS Evening News." During one last week in August, the newscasts collectively had their smallest audiences on record. Shrinking audiences have been a fact of life at the news shows, and for broadcast television in general, as viewers have more entertainment choices. Cable news ratings are down from last year, too. Still, broadcast news divisions point out that more than 21 million people watch one of the three shows each night on average. "The public is still expressing a need and a desire for a program like the one we're producing every night," said Bob Epstein, "Nightly News" executive producer. People may hear headlines during the day, but are still looking for a broadcast that sorts out the news, he said.
benton.org/node/43816 | Associated Press
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
FREEING UP SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said he plans to encourage broadcasters to give up unused spectrum for auction to wireless carriers, an initial step toward achieving an agency goal of making networks faster for mobile phones and tablet computers. Chairman Genachowski plans to introduce a proposal at the agency's Nov. 30 meeting that would lay the groundwork for broadcasters to voluntarily release airwaves for sale to mobile carriers, which have been struggling to keep up with consumer demand for Internet-capable wireless devices. Specifically, Chairman Genachowski said he would propose granting broadcasters the ability to share digital channels, giving them leeway to relinquish unused airwaves that could then be auctioned by the government. The FCC would also seek to free spectrum by improving reception on other airwaves and attracting broadcasters to those channels. Chairman Genachowski said some spectrum would be available for experimentation by universities and researchers. The proposal also would explore whether broadcasters could re-lease their spectrum that isn't being used. Analysts called the auction proposal incremental and said it would not provide immediate relief to users struggling to keep their smartphones from grinding to a halt in congested metropolitan areas such as New York. "I think it's best viewed as setting the table in the event that Congress approves incentive auction authority," said Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus.
benton.org/node/43823 | Washington Post | B&C
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NO POSITION ON D BLOCK
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Phil Weiser, a senior White House aide for technology and innovation, said that the Obama Administration has not taken a position on whether a valuable and controversial band of airwaves, known as the D block, should be auctioned for commercial use or handed over to public safety officials. The administration favors an "integrated" approach to the challenge of creating an interoperable public safety communications network, Weiser said. The FCC, members of Congress, industry, and first responders are divided about what should happen to the D block of spectrum. Weiser said it's unclear whether the nation's ability to meet spectrum demand is hindered more by red tape or actual scarcity. Part of the issue, Weiser noted, is that nobody knows how technology will evolve. Adele Morris, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that government control of spectrum has created "a mismatch between supply and demand."
benton.org/node/43822 | CongressDaily
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SPEEDING 4G DEPLOYMENT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker]
Speaking about National Broadband Plan Implementation at the Law Seminars International Conference on spectrum and broadband, Federal Communications Commission member Meredith Baker focused her remarks on encouraging more 4G deployments. She offered four ideas for FCC action: 1) completing our proceedings on repurposing the MSS bands for terrestrial use; 2) enhancing our spectrum trading and leasing rules to get more spectrum into the hands of those who are ready to deploy 4G; 3) reviewing and revising our current technical requirements and service rules to ensure they can accommodate 4G deployments; and 4) developing a targeted strategy to promote 4G deployments in rural areas.
benton.org/node/43802 | Federal Communications Commission
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CLEARWIRE SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Clearwire has achieved speeds of 90 Mbps down during its LTE trials according to an executive at the company speaking at the 4G World event happening this week in Chicago. Fierce Wireless covered Mike Sievert, the chief commercial officer at Clearwire, who said Clearwire achieved the 90 Mbps down while driving around Phoenix in a "real-world" setting, although on a network that has no actual customers. Has Clearwire, which currently offers a WiMAX network, delivered a pitch for the potential superiority of its future LTE network, or has it created a test network as a sales tool in order to pump up the value of the spectrum it holds, and will likely need to sell? For a wireless provider, the spectrum is like the land on which the network is built. The airwaves are a finite resource that dictate how much capacity a mobile operator has. Capacity determines the number of users a network can have on a specific area, how fast the network can go and how profitably a carrier can deliver mobile bits. Technologies like LTE and the next generation LTE standard, known as LTE Advanced, will improve the number of bits traveling over each megahertz of spectrum, while technologies such as femotcells can reuse spectrum, but the airwaves are the glass ceiling that operators eventually bump up against as mobile demand skyrockets.
benton.org/node/43782 | GigaOm
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4G PUBLIC SAFETY TESTS
[SOURCE: Government Computer News, AUTHOR: William Jackson]
Partners from the telecom industry are being signed up to participate in a demonstration network being established by the Commerce Department to test next-generation communications technology for a nationwide public safety network. The first vendor, Alcatel-Lucent, signed on in September to provide Long Term Evolution equipment for wireless testing in a controlled environment under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. Other companies are in talks with the Public Safety Communications Research program, said Dereck Orr, PSCR program manager for the National Institute of Standards and Technology. "We want to have multiple manufacturers because the nationwide network is likely to include equipment from multiple vendors," Orr said. The demo network will fill a need for facilities to test and demonstrate behaviors of emerging LTE technologies on the yet-to-be-deployed 700 MHz network. LTE has been identified as the technology that will be used on the proposed network and the lab will provide a neutral site for vendors to work out interoperability issues in a multiple-vendor environment and a learning environment for public safety officials who will be using the equipment.
benton.org/node/43792 | Government Computer News
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SATELLITE
CONDITIONS FOR SIRIUS-XM
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The Federal Communications Commission approved an order this week requiring the satellite radio provider Sirius-XM to set aside at least 4 percent of its channels on the company's Sirius and XM services for independent programming. The order is part of the ongoing conditions set by the FCC when it approved the merger of the nation's only satellite radio providers in 2008. The independent programming provision was added at the time to address concerns from critics of the merger that it would "harm viewpoint and program diversity." As part of the order, the commission reversed a previous decision and will now allow Sirius XM to choose the independent programming, which is defined as having no financial tie to Sirius XM, that will make up this 4 percent requirement but does not allow the satellite radio provider to have editorial control over the programming. In addition, the company must submit the independent channels it plans to add to its XM and Sirius lineups to the FCC's Media Bureau for review before signing agreements with those channels. The company also must establish a transparent selection process that involves the creation of a public website detailing the criteria for proposed channels. The Media Access Project praised the order, saying it included some of the recommendations it made to the FCC aimed at addressing concerns with the merger. "The requirements set by the commission allow people to access more content addressing the needs of minority communities, independent artists, and other niche audiences," MAP Senior Vice President Andrew Jay Schwartzmann said.
benton.org/node/43800 | CongressDaily
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PRIVACY
PRIVACY IS A MARKETING PROBLEM
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Liz Gannes]
In light of the recent outcry about social networking privacy lapses and the potential misuse of users' personal information, long-time web thought leader Esther Dyson had this to say at the Pivot marketing conference: Online privacy is a marketing problem. The disclosure of personal information is a complicated subject, one that young people are starting to understand pretty well, but adults are catching onto a little more slowly, said Dyson. While Facebook is often targeted for obfuscating and breaching user privacy, Dyson contended that the company is actually doing a reasonably good job of pushing forward its users' understanding of privacy, with a few exceptions. But the issue is more practical than all that, according to Dyson. "It's not about privacy; it's about transparency, disclosure and control," she said. "I don't know what privacy is, and you as marketers don't know what privacy means to each of the individuals you market to. What you can do is you can disclose your own practices, you can make them intelligible and you can give your users control."
benton.org/node/43799 | GigaOm
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PROTECTING CONSUMER PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Richard Waters]
[Commentary] Facebook admitted this week that it inadvertently passed some information to the "apps" - things like games you play with friends, or family trees - that can be accessed through the site. Some apps, in turn, handed the information over to advertisers who, under Facebook's rules, had no right to see it. A system that is supposed to be sealed, keeping data in the hands of Facebook and the apps personally selected by its users, turned out to have a leak. Facebook's explanation of this glitch was somewhat disingenuous. It blamed a basic flaw in the design of web browsers for the problem. But if that was the case, then why, by its own estimate, did only a handful of app developers fall foul of its rules? In the overall scheme of things, this is not a big deal. The information at issue - the personal identification numbers of Facebook users - probably has little value unless it can be combined with other types of personal information, and Facebook says it does not believe the data were collected. But the slip was instructive. The architecture of the new world of social networks and smartphones is starting to throw up some vexing questions of control. Unless they are resolved, a potentially highly profitable way of delivering services to consumers will fail to reach its full potential, as users shy away and regulators start to interfere. The encouraging news is that the new platform companies have every incentive to improve the policing of their systems and reassure users. Shortly before its latest slip, for instance, Facebook took an important step by giving its users a way to see what data their apps had accessed. Ultimately, proving they have mastered their powerful new machines - and are prepared to hand more of the control to their users - will be the surest way for companies like this to make sure no one tries to take the keys away.
benton.org/node/43817 | Financial Times
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
AMERICANS GIVE OBAMA LOW TRANSPARENCY MARKS
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
The public isn't convinced that the Obama administration is being fully open with Americans, more than a year and a half after the president launched a governmentwide transparency effort, according to a new survey. But compared to regulated industries in the United States, the White House is doing a lot better. The White House earned a score of 46 out of a possible 100 on its attempts to be transparent about what the West Wing is doing; federal agencies came in with an aggregate score of 40; Congress rated 37; and the banking and health care sectors both were at 32. At the bottom of the list: the energy industry, with a 30 rating. To measure perceptions of transparency, ForeSee Results, a market research firm, conducted an online survey asking participants to evaluate the thoroughness of the information various federal organizations and industries disclosed; the speed with which that information was released; and the ease of accessing it.
benton.org/node/43795 | nextgov
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CONTENT
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND CHINA
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Michael Kan]
Attorney General Eric Holder is visiting Beijing this week to discuss how China -- a hotbed for counterfeit goods and piracy -- can better coordinate its efforts with the U.S. to stop intellectual property rights violations. On Oct 20, AG Holder held talks on the issue with senior Chinese officials in the country's capital, according to China's state-controlled media. Earlier in the week, the Attorney General spoke in Hong Kong, stressing the need for countries to prevent violations of intellectual property rights. Such abuses have caused businesses to lose billions at the expense of piracy, while consumers have been put at risk by unknowingly using shoddy counterfeit goods, AG Holder said. "For too long, these illegal activities have been perceived as 'business as usual.' But not any more," AG Holder said. Tech product manufacturers are a major victim of these intellectual property rights offenses. Piracy of music, movies and software is rampant in China, where bootleg copies can be easily found and sold on street corners. Coinciding with Holder's visit, China announced it will launch a new national campaign to crack down on intellectual property rights violations. The campaign will take aim at the production and distribution of pirated goods such as DVDs and software products. Violations relating to registered trademarks and patents will also be targeted. The campaign will last for half a year.
benton.org/node/43789 | IDG News Service | Attorney General Holder
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NETFLIX AND BANDWIDTH
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
Netflix represents more than 20% of downstream Internet traffic during peak times in the U.S. -- and is heaviest in the primetime hours of 8 to 10 p.m., according to a new report from bandwidth management equipment vendor Sandvine. Overall, Internet users in North America still trail other regions in consumption: North American households use a median of 4 Gigabytes per month of Internet bandwidth, whereas in Asia-Pacific region the median is 12 Gigabytes. According to Sandvine's 2009 report, the worldwide monthly median usage last year was 3 Gigabytes. In North America the average time a fixed connection is active is 3 hours, whereas in Asia-Pacific it's closer to 5.5 hours.
benton.org/node/43783 | Multichannel News
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CYBERSECURITY
DOD AND DHS FIGHT CYBERATTACKS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Thom Shanker]
The Obama Administration has adopted new procedures for using the Defense Department's vast array of cyberwarfare capabilities in case of an attack on vital computer networks inside the United States, delicately navigating historic rules that restrict military action on American soil. The system would mirror that used when the military is called on in natural disasters like hurricanes or wildfires. A presidential order dispatches the military forces, working under the control of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Under the new rules, the president would approve the use of the military's expertise in computer-network warfare, and the Department of Homeland Security would direct the work. Officials involved in drafting the rules said the goal was to ensure a rapid response to a cyberthreat while balancing concerns that civil liberties might be at risk should the military take over such domestic operations. The rules were deemed essential because most of the government's computer-network capabilities reside within the Pentagon -- while most of the important targets are on domestic soil, whether within the government or in critical private operations like financial networks or a regional power grid.
benton.org/node/43818 | New York Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
BBC CUTS AND BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Parker]
Up to £830m will be taken from the BBC licence fee over the next seven years to help finance the expensive task of building superfast broadband networks in rural areas. George Osborne, chancellor, announced in his comprehensive spending review the location of four pilot projects that ministers hope will serve as models for how the public and private sectors should collaborate to build high-speed broadband networks in rural Britain. The projects will be in the Highlands and Islands, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Herefordshire. Broadband infrastructure is widely seen as a key driver of competitiveness and innovation, and Mr Osborne said the government's plans should help nurture creative industries such as advertising and media. Ministers are particularly anxious to avoid superfast broadband networks being confined to towns and cities, and are hoping that companies including BT can be persuaded to expand their high-speed infrastructure to rural areas by tapping public money. BT, the UK's leading fixed-line phone company, has repeatedly insisted it cannot cover the cost of extending its urban-focused high-speed network to rural areas without some public funds.
benton.org/node/43814 | Financial Times
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