October 2010

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2010

Student Owned Devices at School: Breakthrough Innovation or Major Pitfall? http://www.benton.org/node/42677

EDUCATION
   Gates Foundation launches $20M fund for tech ventures to improve education
   Too much screen time bad for kids' behavior

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
   Comcast and NBCU: Merger would further FCC project examining media
   FCC hush on Hawaii Now concerns media council

INTERNET
   Infrastructure Investment: New Report Shows Positive Economic Impact on States and Communities
   Wider Streets for Internet Traffic
   North Korea opens up Internet for national anniversary
   Scrapers' Dig Deep for Data on Web

WIRELESS
   LaHood Weighs Urging Ban on All Driver Phone Use in Cars
   The Zombie Network: Beware 'Free Public WiFi'
   Profs bring free "Super WiFi" to working-class Houston

BROADCASTING
   Pirate station faces closing

MEDIA AND ELECTIONS
   Offering Donors Secrecy, and Going on Attack
   Secret campaign money
   See also:Democrats' desperation tactics on campaign finance
   FEC gives Google OK
   FEC clears way for cell phone sales to go to candidates

CYBERSECURITY
   Officials say agency real-time surveillance not likely this year

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Free speech in a fishbowl
   Russia Asks Schwarzenegger to Help in a Tough Task
   Regulations and Security Concerns Hinder Asia's Move to Cloud Computing
   Pressure for Djezzy nationalization rising

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Why laptops in class are distracting America's future workforce

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EDUCATION

GATES EDUCATION FUND
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced on Monday a $20 million project to fund Internet and other high-tech ventures aimed at boosting the nation's troubling college graduation rates. Through the use of the Web, social networks, games and gadgets, the foundation said technology provides new opportunities to keep students engaged in their studies and provide more flexibility to attend classes online. At stake is a brewing educational and economic crisis, the foundation said. Only half of Americans at age 30 have a college degree. But in eight years, about 64 percent of all jobs will require more than a high school diploma. The Gates Foundation will accept applications for initial awards of $250,000 to $750,000 for the following:
Increasing the use of blended learning models, which combine face-to-face instruction with online learning activities.
Deepening students' learning and engagement through use of interactive applications, such as digital games, interactive video, immersive simulations and social media.
Supporting the availability of high-quality open courseware, particularly for high-enrollment introductory classes such as math, science, and English, which often have low rates of student success.
Helping institutions, instructors and students benefit from learning analytics, which can monitor student progress and customize proven supports and interventions.
benton.org/node/43407 | Washington Post
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TOO MUCH SCREEN TIME BAD FOR KIDS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Armstrong Moore]
The University of Bristol's Centre for Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences in the UK has found that more than two hours of screen time for youngsters is related to higher psychological difficulty scores. The researchers measured psychological well-being via a questionnaire that rated each child's emotional, peer, conduct, and hyperactivity issues. The kids had to respond to statements such as 'I am often unhappy, down-hearted or tearful' or 'I generally play alone or keep to myself' with one of three answers: true, somewhat true, or not true. So the results rely, at least in part, on the kids' abilities to accurately self-report. Perhaps most surprising is that these numbers were consistent regardless of physical activity levels. Lead author Angie Page says it is time to reconsider the belief that we can balance out screen time with other activities. "Whilst low levels of screen viewing may not be problematic, we cannot rely on physical activity to compensate for long hours of screen viewing," said Page. "Watching TV or playing computer games for more than two hours a day is related to greater psychological difficulties irrespective of how active children are." In other words, according to the results of these questionnaires, the kid who spends hours every day playing soccer and constructing tree forts and skipping over sidewalk cracks runs the same risk of behavioral problems as the kid who is couch-bound, so long as they're both dedicating more than two hours a day to watching a screen of some type.
benton.org/node/43409 | C-Net|News.com
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP

COMCAST, NBCU AND THE FUTURE OF MEDIA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Comcast and NBC Universal met with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials on Oct 8 to argue that their proposed merger would further the goals of the commission's Future of Media project. The Future of Media project is assessing whether Americans have access to an acceptable set of news sources. It will issue a report on that question. The report will examine issues ranging from news business models to the information needs of local communities. NBC Universal and Comcast representatives discussed how their merger will further the goals of this project. They focused on "both companies' historic and ongoing commitments to their local communities and the ways in which the transaction will benefit communities and citizens by allowing NBCU to expand its production and distribution of local news on multiple platforms." The companies also said their effort to "nurture the next generation of professional journalists" is also consistent with the Future of Media project.
benton.org/node/43406 | Hill, The
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HAWAII MEDIA OWNERSHIP CONSOLIDATION
[SOURCE: Honolulu Star Advertiser, AUTHOR: Erika Engle]
The trio of broadcast television stations known as Hawaii Now or, for newscast branding purposes, Hawaii News Now, will mark its first anniversary Oct. 26, two days before the Oct. 28 start of the November Nielsen ratings. Licensed to affiliates of Raycom Media and HITV License Subsidiary, the stations include two network affiliates that are among the four top-rated stations in the market. Media Council Hawaii took its opposition to the companies' so-called shared-services agreement to the Federal Communications Commission a year ago in the form of an emergency request to block the stations' consolidation. There has been a back-and-forth flurry of FCC filings but no definitive ruling. "Over the past year we have made progress by forcing Raycom and HITV to release copies of their agreements and to make some changes," said Angela Campbell, an attorney representing the media council. "But the fundamental problems -- the combined news operations and Raycom's control of two of the top-ranked stations in violation of the FCC's rules -- remain. We urge the FCC to take prompt action to ensure that these stations serve the public interest." Gerald Kato, UH journalism professor and MCH board member, said, "If allowed to continue, the shared-services agreement here and others across the country will render FCC regulation and rules involving the public interest meaningless. Our community, indeed, our nation, deserves better." The media council has invited FCC commissioners to come see the consolidation's impact firsthand.
benton.org/node/43405 | Honolulu Star Advertiser
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INTERNET

INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: President Barack Obama]
Building off his Labor Day announcement of a bold new plan for modernizing and rebuilding America's roads, railways, and runways, President Barack Obama held a meeting Oct 11 on the economic impact of infrastructure investment on our states and local communities at the White House. President Obama noted, "The Recovery Act included the most serious investment in our infrastructure since President Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s. And we're not just talking new and restored roads and bridges and dams and levees, but we're also talking a smart electric grid and the high-speed Internet and rail lines required for America to compete in the 21st century economy. We're talking about investments with impacts both immediate and lasting." He added, "We're moving forward with projects that connect communities across the country to broadband Internet, and connect 31 states via a true high-speed rail network. And what's more, a great many of these projects are coming in under budget."
benton.org/node/43408 | White House, The | President Obama | Background | CEA report | WH blog
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MORE DATA ALONG FIBER
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Anne Eisenberg]
Internet traffic is growing so fast that its transmission systems may soon be filled to capacity. But scientists are coping, finding ingenious ways to satisfy our deep bandwidth hunger. Of course, they can't accelerate the speed of light as it flies down the glass fibers of central networks carrying our Internet messages worldwide. The laws of nature limit that. Yet they can tap other characteristics of light to pack layers of information into each optical fiber in the network, so that far more data can flow simultaneously down those glass backbones. Old systems used light that was either on or off -- like flashlight signals -- to send information along the fibers in the binary language of zeros and ones. But light is an electromagnetic wave, so it has a whole electrical field that scientists are now putting to work to add to the information on each wavelength.
benton.org/node/43402 | New York Times
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NORTH KOREA ON THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Martyn Williams]
North Korea appears to have made its first full connection to the Internet. The connection, planning for which has been going on for at least nine months, came as the reclusive country prepares to mark the 65th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea with a massive celebration and military parade. A Web site for the country's official news agency was the first to appear from among a group of 1,024 Internet addresses that had been reserved for North Korea but never used. The Korea Central News Agency's new Web site is different from one operated by a group in Tokyo and carries news and photos a day ahead of the Japanese site. Other North Korea-linked Web sites and a recently launched Twitter feed operate from locations outside the country or via direct connections to China's national Internet.
benton.org/node/43396 | IDG News Service
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SCRAPING DATA OFF THE WEB
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin, Steve Stecklow]
The market for personal data about Internet users is booming, and in the vanguard is the practice of "scraping." Firms offer to harvest online conversations and collect personal details from social-networking sites, résumé sites and online forums where people might discuss their lives. The emerging business of web scraping provides some of the raw material for a rapidly expanding data economy. Marketers spent $7.8 billion on online and offline data in 2009, according to the New York management consulting firm Winterberry Group LLC. Spending on data from online sources is set to more than double, to $840 million in 2012 from $410 million in 2009. Some companies collect personal information for detailed background reports on individuals, such as email addresses, cell numbers, photographs and posts on social-network sites. Others offer what are known as listening services, which monitor in real time hundreds or thousands of news sources, blogs and websites to see what people are saying about specific products or topics.
benton.org/node/43417 | Wall Street Journal
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WIRELESS

CELL PHONE BAN?
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Angela Greiling Keane, Jeff Green]
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he believes motorists are distracted by any use of mobile phones while driving, including hands-free calls, as his department begins research that may lead him to push for a ban. Sec LaHood, whose campaign against texting and making calls while driving has led to restrictions in 30 states, says his concerns extend to vehicle information and entertainment systems such as Ford Motor's Sync and General Motors' OnStar. "I don't want people talking on phones, having them up to their ear or texting while they're driving," Sec LaHood said. "We need a lot better research on other distractions," including Bluetooth-enabled hands-free calls and the in-car systems, he said. Even without a ban, which would have to be implemented by individual states, LaHood's escalating campaign may limit the growth of vehicle features such as Sync, being added by automakers to attract younger buyers. His push also may reduce calls made from vehicles and the revenue of mobile-phone companies such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T.
benton.org/node/43399 | Bloomberg
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ZOMBIE WIFI NETWORK
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Travis Larchuk]
It's in your airports, your coffee shops and your libraries: "Free Public WiFi." Despite its enticing name, the network, available in thousands of locations across the United States, does not actually provide access to the Internet. But like a virus, it has spread — and may even be lurking on your computer right now. Wireless security expert Joshua Wright first noticed it about four years ago at an airport. "I went to connect to an available wireless network and I saw this option, Free Public WiFi," he remembers. "As I looked more and more, I saw this in more and more locations. And I was aware from my job and analysis in the field that this wasn't a sanctioned, provisioned wireless network, but it was actually something rogue." Free Public WiFi isn't set up like most wireless networks people use to get to the Internet. Instead, it's an "ad hoc" network — meaning when a user selects it, he or she isn't connecting to a router or hot spot, but rather directly to someone else's computer in the area. Though it doesn't actually provide Internet access, the network has spread across the country thanks to an old Windows XP bug.
benton.org/node/43404 | National Public Radio
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HOUSTON WI-FI
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
A couple dozen residents of the working-class Pecan Park neighborhood in Houston are about to do something few Americans have yet tried -- access the Internet through a wireless connection that uses the empty TV-band "white spaces." And the federal government is picking up the tab. Rice University professors Edward Knightly, Robert Stein, Lin Zhong, and William Reed won a $1.8 million grant this summer from the National Science Foundation. Their goal: expand Rice's free-to-use testbed network in east Houston from Wifi to white spaces. Since 2004, the university has partnered with local nonprofit Technology for All (TFA) to build and maintain a three square kilometer wireless network that serves 3,000 local users, free of charge. The network currently uses WiFi to deliver signal, but it's no off-the-shelf WiFi; Knightly and his graduate students have built custom WiFi nodes that run Rice-developed software. The TFA network is a free ISP for local residents, but it's also a testbed to work on issues related to urban WiFi, fair bandwidth distribution, capacity planning, and multi-antenna systems.
benton.org/node/43398 | Ars Technica
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BROADCASTING

PIRATE RADIO STATION SHUT DOWN
[SOURCE: Boston Globe, AUTHOR: Cara Bayles]
Datz Hits, a Massachusetts pirate radio station with community ties in Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury, is facing closing and a $30,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission. According to an Oct. 1 notice from the FCC, the station was discovered by federal agents a year ago, after the WGBH-owned classical station at 99.5 FM complained that Datz Hits was broadcasting gospel, hip-hop, and Caribbean music at 99.7 FM, and drowning out the licensed frequency for listeners in Dorchester and Mattapan. Enforcement agents tracked the signal to a multifamily home on Ormond Street in Mattapan, where they found an unlicensed station running out of the basement. Lloyd Morris and Robert Brown later admitted to being the station's owners and operators, and they agreed to shut off the transmitter. In February 2010, the station started up again, and agents found an illegal signal emanating from the same Ormond Street home.
benton.org/node/43403 | Boston Globe
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MEDIA AND ELECTIONS

SECRET CAMPAIGN CASH
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jim Ruttenberg, Don Van Natta Jr, Mike McIntire]
The American Future Fund, a conservative organization based in Iowa, has been one of the more active players in this fall's campaigns, spending millions of dollars on ads attacking Democrats across the country. It has not hesitated to take credit for its attacks, issuing press releases with headlines like "AFF Launches TV Ads in 13 States Targeting Liberal Politicians." Like many of the other groups with anodyne names engaged in the battle to control Congress, it does not have to identify its donors, keeping them -- and their possible motivations -- shrouded from the public. But interviews found that the group was started with seed money from at least one influential Iowa businessman: Bruce Rastetter, a co-founder and the chief executive of one of the nation's larger ethanol companies, Hawkeye Energy Holdings, and a rising force in state Republican politics. And hints of a possible agenda emerge from a look at the politicians on the American Future Fund's hit list. Most have seats on a handful of legislative committees with a direct say in the ethanol industry.
benton.org/node/43416 | New York Times
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SECRET CAMPAIGN MONEY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The gusher of secret money pouring into the coming election is alarming. It should be plugged for future campaigns -- and could be, with the switch of a Senate vote or two. But the rhetoric about this development, from President Obama on down, is irresponsibly alarmist. And the popular understanding of how this mess arose -- generated by the president and other Democrats and abetted in part by media reports -- is ill-informed. The fundamental problem is not the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, although that reflected wrongheaded judicial activism. The real problem lies in a tax code that permits too much political activity to take place in secrecy. Nonprofit advocacy groups, known as 501(c)(4)s, are permitted to engage in political advocacy as long as that is not their primary purpose. Meanwhile, these groups do not have to reveal the identities of their donors. IRS regulations bar such organizations from "direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office," but as a practical matter, these limits have not made much difference. One such Republican-leaning group, American Crossroads GPS, has touted its ability to keep donor names confidential even as it runs ads in key races. Similarly, trade associations such as the Chamber of Commerce, organized under section 501(c)(6) of the tax code, are not required to disclose donors and are permitted even greater leeway to engage in political activity. The Disclose Act would require that these groups reveal the funders of campaign ads; it would do so without intruding on the privacy of contributors to other efforts unrelated to campaigns. The 2010 flood of secret money can't be turned off. It's essential to act in time for 2012.
benton.org/node/43415 | Washington Post
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GOOGLE GETS FEC OK
[SOURCE: Federal Election Commission, AUTHOR: ]
In Advisory Opinion 2010-19 (Google), the Federal Election Commission concluded that Google's AdWords program, a program that generates text ads in conjunction with keywords chosen by the advertiser, does not violate the Federal Election Campaign Act and FEC regulations under the circumstances described in the request. Further explanation on this conclusion will be provided in the Commissioners' forthcoming opinions.
benton.org/node/43401 | Federal Election Commission
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FEC ALLOWS DONATION VIA USED CELL PHONES
[SOURCE: Federal Election Commission, AUTHOR: ]
In Advisory Opinion 2010-21 (ReCellular), the Federal Election Commission concluded that ReCellular, a corporation that recycles and resells used cell phones and accessories, may transmit to political committees contributions from consumers resulting from the sale of used cell phones. The FEC further concluded that ReCellular is not required to charge recipient political committees any costs reflected in the purchase prices paid to consumers. The FEC determined that in order to avoid making a corporate contribution to the recipient political committee, ReCellular must charge the committees for any incremental expense resulting from e-mailing the consumer's address, employer, and occupation information, as required by law, if this information is not paid by the consumer.
benton.org/node/43400 | Federal Election Commission
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CYBERSECURITY

CYBERSECURITY UPDATE
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
Many agencies will not be able to submit summaries of network threats based on real-time surveillance by the Nov. 15 deadline for reporting on security management to the White House, according to federal officials. The Obama administration in April announced that agencies this fall must use automated security monitoring tools for transmitting data on computer inventories, security incidents and other indicators to a secure online inbox called Cyberscope. Continuous reporting is expected to reduce the time and cost of complying with the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act, a law critics say concentrates too much on paperwork documenting protocols, and not enough on executing them. But many agencies are not there yet. "My bet is it won't be done in the next year," said James A. Lewis, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies who researches cybersecurity. He said the Office of Management and Budget eventually might have to issue new rules such as, "You can't spend any money on IT until you put this stuff in place," to enforce real-time monitoring
benton.org/node/43397 | nextgov
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

FREE SPEECH AND FREE LISTENING
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: John Yemma]
[Commentary] Free speech was swell when it was just a few early Americans talking amongst themselves, their flintlocks leaning in the corner as they debated the fine points of the Federalist Papers. Other than the threat of being hauled up for sedition, those were the days. Then along came Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Larry Flint, the ACLU, 24-hour cable, and the Circus Maximus of the Internet. Not only can anybody say and show anything - and you know what I mean by anything - but people all over the world are tuning in. Free listening is the flip side of free speech. It is about 200 years younger than the First Amendment. I'd date its birth to 1987, when Moscow stopped jamming the Voice of America and other external broadcasters. Free societies don't jam. They let the marketplace of ideas decide, as John Stuart Mill said they should. They trust their people, even when they say and do jerky things. North Korea, China, Iran, and a few other countries still don't allow unfettered access to the Internet, but most of the world is clicking, watching, and listening. Seconds after an article is published on the Web, it is picked up by search engines. Everyone can see it - the misquoted villager, the government official irked at how his country was portrayed. Everyone can be a fact-checker. That's good. It improves accuracy. It may also mean that a closed society that puts a Google watch on a reporter's name may not let that reporter back into the country. Such are the trade-offs in the era of the global conversation. Long live free speech. Here's hoping free speakers don't overdo it. Here's hoping all the new free listeners get used to it.
benton.org/node/43413 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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RUSSIA'S SILICON VALLEY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Schwirtz]
Perhaps frustrated by what at times can seem like his own one-man effort to bring his unwieldy country into the 21st century, President Dmitri A. Medvedev turned to a seasoned fighter of government bureaucracy and other dark forces. Arnold Schwarzenegger, terminator, governor and now, it seems, innovator, was in Skolkovo, a near suburb of Moscow, with a delegation of entrepreneurial heavyweights from Silicon Valley, vowing to do what he could to help pump up President Medvedev's efforts to modernize Russia. President Medvedev, an avid blogger, who sent Gov Schwarzenegger (R-CA) greetings via Twitter when he arrived in Moscow, has spoken often about the need to fight corruption, lessen government interference in business and allow greater political competition. This, he has said, will help improve Russia's business climate, though the project has been long on eloquent speeches and rather short on action, so far. Gov Schwarzenegger, joined by executives from Google and other technology companies, called Russia a "gold mine" for foreign investors and praised the Russian president as "a great visionary" and an "action president," who is on the road to transforming his country -- an effort that, of course, might profit from a little American know-how.
benton.org/node/43412 | New York Times
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CLOUD COMPUTING IN ASIA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Wayne Arnold]
The research firm IDC estimates that the market for cloud computing in Asia outside Japan will grow to about $1.3 billion this year and will continue expanding at a rate of about 40 percent a year until 2014. That figure is just a splash in the estimated $68.3 billion that cloud computing will bring in globally in 2010, according to the research firm Gartner. And for every case of avid adoption, as in Singapore, there are other countries where acceptance is hindered by regulations, concerns about data security and poor Internet connections. "What will drive adoption is broadband penetration," said Emilio Umeoka, president of Microsoft's Asian operations in Singapore. "If you don't have the pipe, you can't get onto the cloud." For potential customers, the savings from cloud computing are enticing. Like equipment leasing before it, cloud computing turns what once was a big-ticket capital expenditure into an operating expense for companies -- one that can be tuned up or down, depending on business conditions. What is giving Asian customers pause, though, is the same concern being voiced elsewhere: that a company's precious financial and customer data could be lost, stolen or even rendered temporarily inaccessible through no fault of its own. To many, the threat posed by hackers, possible government interference and even power failures justifies keeping their data housed on their own premises, in their own countries.
benton.org/node/43411 | New York Times
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NATIONALIZING DJEZZY
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Parker, Heba Saleh]
The Algerian government has intensified efforts to nationalize Djezzy, the country's largest mobile phone operator that is controlled by Naguib Sawiris, the Egyptian entrepreneur. Algiers' move to appoint financial advisers for Djezzy's nationalization is a setback for Vimpelcom, Russia's second-largest mobile operator, which last week announced plans to buy most of Mr Sawiris' telecoms assets, including the Algerian business. Vimpelcom is trying to persuade the Algerian government to drop its interest in taking ownership of Djezzy, which is part of Orascom Telecom, the Cairo-listed group founded by Mr Sawiris.
benton.org/node/43410 | Financial Times
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