October 2010

New Web Code Draws Concern Over Risks to Privacy

Worries over Internet privacy have spurred lawsuits, conspiracy theories and consumer anxiety as marketers and others invent new ways to track computer users on the Internet. But the alarmists have not seen anything yet. In the next few years, a powerful new suite of capabilities will become available to Web developers that could give marketers and advertisers access to many more details about computer users' online activities. Nearly everyone who uses the Internet will face the privacy risks that come with those capabilities, which are an integral part of the Web language that will soon power the Internet: HTML 5.

The new Web code, the fifth version of Hypertext Markup Language used to create Web pages, is already in limited use, and it promises to usher in a new era of Internet browsing within the next few years. It will make it easier for users to view multimedia content without downloading extra software; check e-mail offline; or find a favorite restaurant or shop on a smartphone. The new Web language and its additional features present more tracking opportunities because the technology uses a process in which large amounts of data can be collected and stored on the user's hard drive while online. Because of that process, advertisers and others could, experts say, see weeks or even months of personal data. That could include a user's location, time zone, photographs, text from blogs, shopping cart contents, e-mails and a history of the Web pages visited.

Bloomberg Plans a Data Service on the Business of Government

Bloomberg is taking its entrepreneurial ethos and making an aggressive push into the Washington media terrain long dominated by trade publications and news outlets like Congressional Quarterly and National Journal, which charge high subscription fees to provide lobbyists and Capitol Hill insiders with information on the nuts-and-bolts of lawmaking and government regulation.

In the same way that Bloomberg terminals have become a ubiquitous presence on the desks of Wall Street traders, Bloomberg executives aim to make their new service an indispensable tool for lobbyists, Capitol Hill staff members and government contractors. The service, called Bloomberg Government, is based on the same guiding principle that spawned the original Bloomberg financial data machine: people need an aggregator and filter for information, and they will pay a lot of money for that convenience. Bloomberg Government is an information behemoth — a news aggregator, government contract database, Congressional staff directory and source for policy research and analysis all in one Web site. Unlike the Bloomberg financial information service, Bloomberg Government will not require separate hardware to operate. For $5,700 a year for each user (a discount will be available for government users), subscribers will be able to gain access to the system through their personal computers.

In Higher Education, a Focus on Technology

The education gap facing the nation's work force is evident in the numbers. Most new jobs will require more than a high school education, yet fewer than half of Americans under 30 have a postsecondary degree of any kind.

Recent state budget cuts, education experts agree, promise to make closing that gap even more difficult. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and four nonprofit education organizations are beginning an ambitious initiative to address that challenge by accelerating the development and use of online learning tools. An initial $20 million round of money, from the Gates Foundation, will be for postsecondary online courses, particularly ones tailored for community colleges and low-income young people. Another round of grants, for high school programs, is scheduled for next year. Just how effective technology can be in improving education -- by making students more effective, more engaged learners -- is a subject of debate.

Service From Start-Up Lets Users Set Aside Web Promotions With 'Keeper' Button

Kraft Foods, Unilever and 19 other major marketers have signed up with a new effort to get users to store and revisit ads they see on the Web, rather than ignore them.

The new service -- from start-up AdKeeper -- bills its technology as "bookmarks for banner ads" or "TiVo for advertisements." Advertisers drop a small button into the corner of their ads that shows up wherever the ad appears. The button, a small k, expands when users mouse over it, telling them to "keep this ad." Users can click on it to save the ad to a separate webpage and continue browsing. Later, they can return to that ad-collection page and scroll through, filter and click on the ads.

Cable chatter narrows electoral landscape

The increasing polarization of cable news is transforming, and in some ways shrinking, the electoral landscape. What has emerged is a form of narrowcasting, allowing candidates a welcoming platform that helps them avoid hostile press questioning and, in some cases, minimize the slog and the slip-ups of retail campaigning.

"There's no question it's contributing to the splintering of the political system and the means by which people get information about that system," said Robert Thompson, who runs the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. "If there's no standard base line of fact and reporting, where can the conversation go?" Each party's message is amplified by former officeholders and strategists who sign exclusive agreements with the cable networks as soon as they leave the public payroll. And their celebrity - magnified by their constant screen presence - gives them more influence than most members of Congress.

Expanding access in a wireless world

A brief profile of Kelley Dunne, the Chief executive of One Economy, a DC-based global nonprofit that delivers technology and information to low-income people.

Forbidding cellphone calls on airplanes might protect sanity more than safety

Although a handful of airlines in the Middle East and Europe allow cellphone calls during flights, federal regulators in the U.S. prohibit the practice, saying the calls may interfere with an aircraft's navigation systems. But the problem may not be the technology.

After all, Emirates airline has allowed cellphone calls since 2008. Cathay Pacific announced plans in July to let use their cellphones in the plane by 2012. A bigger issue may be that passengers and airline crews hate the idea of turning a crowded, airborne cabin into a flying phone booth. The Federal Communication Commission considered lifting the ban in 2004, but it stopped looking into the idea after being inundated with letters, e-mails and calls in opposition. The pending reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration includes a proposal to ban all cellphone calls on U.S. commercial planes — except by airline crews and law enforcement.

Why cell phones may be more dangerous than we think

[Commentary] No one knows for sure whether cell phones are a health hazard. Several players at the heart of this debate converged on San Francisco last week. CTIA-The Wireless Association had its annual trade show, which it promised would be the last in the city because of the new disclosure law. There were several protests outside the event. And noted epidemiologist Devra Davis, a visiting professor at Harvard University, arrived for several speaking engagements about her recently published book, "Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How To Protect Your Family." For many years it was believed the low levels of radiation generated by cell phones and towers had no effect on human biology. Now a small but growing number of scientists and health activists are challenging those findings.

Television Blackouts in U.S. Reach Decade-High Over Fee Fights

TV blackouts in the U.S. have reached the highest level in a decade and may climb as pay-TV operators fight higher fees sought by content providers.

Disputes over fees have caused five blackouts this year, the most since 2000. They have affected about 19 million pay-TV subscribers, leaving some viewers without access to the Oscars and New York Knicks games. Dish Network Corp., Cablevision Systems Corp. and AT&T Inc. all lost programming while haggling over costs. Feuds will escalate as pay-TV companies resist the increased fees they typically try to pass on to subscribers in the form of higher cable bills, said Rich Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG LLC in New York. "There is increasing pressure for distributors to push back on rate hikes in a tough economy where the consumer is struggling," Greenfield said in an interview. "As programming costs continue to rise, these battles are becoming bigger and higher profile." Content expenses, which total about half of pay-TV companies' operating costs, have increased about 10 percent in the past year, putting pressure on profit margins. Cable bills climbed about 8 percent on average for the year ended in June, according to researcher SNL Kagan.

South Bay officials suggest conflicts of interest in regional communications project

The $50 million-plus federally funded project was hyped as a major public safety telecommunications coup for the Bay Area, intended to weave together a state-of-the-art broadband network so that police, fire and rescue personnel could communicate easily and securely during a terror attack or major earthquake. But now the ambitious project is facing shock waves of its own.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith are charging that the agency administering the project has potential conflicts of interest involving the company supplying the technology. Reed is also upset that San Jose -- the Bay Area's largest city -- will not initially be part of the project, and he wants to know why. "Sunshine, fiscal responsibility, open government, none of that was employed here," Reed said. "Maybe this is the best deal in the world, but I rather doubt it."

Benton

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