August 16, 2011 (Google Buying Motorola Mobility)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2011
Find all the coverage we've seen of Google's purchase of Motorola http://benton.org/headlines/google-motorola
GOOGLE/MOTOROLA
Google Buying Motorola Mobility For $12.5 Billion
The Truth About Google-Motorola: It Could End Up Being A Disaster - analysis
Where does Google-Motorola rank? [links to web]
Google/Motorola: Expect “No Change” In Android; Top Five Partners OK’d Deal - analysis
With Motorola, Google TV just got a huge shot in the arm
Google’s Motorola Deal Will Spur Antitrust Regulators to Action
Google-Motorola and Handset Makers, Carriers - analysis
Mobility's Benefits for Google Not Patently Obvious - analysis
Google’s Coup Shifts Mobile Alliances - analysis [links to web]
Is Google Turning Into a Mobile Phone Company? No, It Says
Google’s Motorola deal a boon for Asia [links to web]
Guess who else wanted to buy Motorola?
MORE WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Americans and Their Cell Phones - research
AT&T Sues in Federal Court to Stop Merger-Blocking Arbitration Effort
AT&T/T-Mobile: is the merger in peril? - analysis
See also: AFL-CIO asks Sen Franken to reconsider opposition to AT&T/T-Mobile deal [links to web]
Should Apple buy a carrier, or just go around them? - analysis
Global Wireless Broadband in Public Safety Market Worth $22.3 Billion in 2015 - press release [links to web]
LightSquared lands new partner [links to web]
California Governor to decide bill to raise cell phone fines [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
USDA Farm Computer Usage and Ownership Report - research
Expanding Internet Access: Broadband’s Role in Creating Jobs and Closing the Digital Divide - speech
In Defense of the Internet Craftsman - op-ed
North Carolina broadband initiative kicks off new, $104 million phase [links to web]
Detroit can win by using genius of the Internet - op-ed/Eric Schmidt [links to web]
What Is Cyberwar? [links to web]
CONTENT
Drug companies lose protections on Facebook, some decide to close pages
Could Those Hours Online Be Making Kids Nicer? [links to web]
ACLU sues Missouri school district for blocking gay advocacy sites [links to web]
HEALTH
New Jobs Initiatives for Rural America - press release
Reps Eshoo, Markey request wireless healthcare study
Rural ERs lag in electronic prescribing: study
OWNERSHIP
Why Time Warner Cable is buying Insight for $3B - analysis
Interpublic Sells Half Its Stake in Facebook
Record Industry Braces for Artists’ Battles Over Song Rights [links to web]
NEWS FROM THE FTC
Mobile Apps Developer W3 Innovations Settles FTC Charges It Violated Children's Privacy Rule - press release
FTC Staff: No of Challenging Program for Online Behavioral Advertising as Anticompetitive - press release
Living Life Online - press release
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
FCC Probing Wireless Blocking by San Francisco Authorities
Denial of Service: Is Wireless Access Always a Right? - analysis
STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:
Uncertainty plagues RIM in India
South Korea's "real names" debacle and the virtues of online anonymity
Slim Near Victory as Mexico’s Biggest Antitrust Case Loses Steam
Superfast broadband gets ready to go UK-wide [links to web]
FBI widens its US inquiry into News Corp beyond 9/11 hacking [links to web]
Mobile Phones Blocked in Kashmir Valley [links to web]
Libya Threatens Death Penalty for People Caught Using Satellite Phones [links to web]
North Korea denies South Korean hacking claims [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Sides in Verizon Strike Trade More Accusations [links to web]
Mad about metered billing? They were in 1886, too [links to web]
Local News Lost in Digital Translation [links to web]
Nat Allbright, Voice of the Dodgers [links to web]
GOOGLE/MOTOROLA
GOOGLE-MOTOROLA
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Google is buying cell phone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.5 billion in cash. It's by far Google's biggest acquisition to date and a sign the online search leader is serious about expanding beyond its core Internet business. Google will pay $40.00 per share, a 63 percent premium to Motorola's closing price on August 12. Motorola Mobility was separated from the rest of Motorola in January. The company has remade itself as a maker of smartphones based on Google's Android software, but has struggled against Apple Inc. and Asian smartphone makers. The acquisition has the approval of both companies' boards and is expected to close by the end of this year or early 2012.
Google agreed to pay Motorola Mobility $2.5 billion if it fails to close the purchase under certain circumstances, a fee more than six times the typical amount. On a percentage basis, the fee is more than triple the $3 billion AT&T is offering as part of its $39 billion bid for Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA, the largest deal this year. Both AT&T and Google face increasing scrutiny as regulators examine whether their acquisitions are stifling competition in the telecommunications and Internet industries. Motorola Mobility would pay a $375 million breakup fee if it decides not to sell to Google
benton.org/node/87041 | Associated Press | WSJ | Politico | NYTimes | WashPost | LATimes | Bloomberg | ars technica | paidContent.org | Connected Planet | Bloomberg - breakup fee
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FIGURING OUT THE DEAL
[SOURCE: Business Insider, AUTHOR: Henry Blodget]
This deal could end up being a disaster. How? For starters, the deal creates major channel conflict: Google is now competing with its partners. And hardware manufacturing is an entirely different kind of business than Google's core business. And hardware manufacturing is a crappy, low-margin commodity business. And Motorola is massive -- Google has just increased the size of its company by 60%. And the deal appears to be purely a defensive move, not an offensive one. And so on.
Larry Dignan, on the other hand, says six reasons the deal makes sense:
Integration may be all that matters in the wireless industry;
Google lands its patent treasure trove; Google gets a TV play;
There’s a good chance that Google can keep hardware partners in the fold -- for now;
The deal forces Microsoft’s hand: there’s no money in third party operating systems in the mobile space. The upshot: Mobile software players need a hardware component. As a result, Microsoft may be forced to acquire a hardware player.
With Motorola, which has some enterprise credibility and Android innovations, Google can enter the enterprise easier. As a result, RIM increasingly looks like the odd man out. Nokia is already under fire as it waits for Windows Phone 7 to gain traction.
benton.org/node/87040 | Business Insider | ZDNet | GigaOm | paidContent | Fast Company
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GOOGLE-MOTOROLA ANALYST CALL
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Ingrid Lunden]
The brief analyst call held by Google and Motorola Mobility around the acquisition gave little away in how the two companies would integrate operations, but Google CEO Larry Page and Motorola’s CEO Sanjay Jha were quick to point a few key details out: the patents form a big part of the deal. Android remains as it was. And Motorola’s Android competitors? They love the idea.
Google will be buying 15,000 patents as part of the deal; and Motorola has another 7,000 pending. The basic message was that the patents will help “protect” Android.
Patents may be why Page also noted that the top five Android licensees showed “enthusiastic support” for the deal. Google was quick to put out a release with quotes from four of them to support that.
Google will run Motorola as a separate business and provide separate reporting. And that separation, too, might be something Google was keen to emphasize in the frame of regulatory approval of the deal. Unsurprisingly, for now, the companies are “confident” the deal will get approved by regulators in the U.S., Europe and possible other jurisdictions.
benton.org/node/87037 | paidContent.org | Connected Planet
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WHAT THE DEAL MEANS FOR GOOGLE TV
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Ryan Lawler, Ryan Kim]
Google’s acquisition of Motorola isn't just about the Android mobile market. In addition to giving Google some mobile hardware capabilities and patent coverage, the purchase could also be a big boost to Google TV. But to make that happen, Google TV will need to shift its positioning from an operating system that is sold to consumers to one that will be used by a number of pay TV operators instead. Motorola is a very strong player in the set-top box and home devices market. According to Infonetics, Motorola Mobility was the leader in set-top box revenues last year, and was also tops in hybrid IP/QAM set-top boxes — that is, the boxes used by operators like Verizon that combine broadcast TV and over-the-top applications. By leveraging Motorola’s position with carriers, Google can better solidify its bid to expand Google TV and Android into the living room.
benton.org/node/87035 | GigaOm
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ANTITRUST REVIEW
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Arik Hesseldahl]
To say that Google is going to face some opposition to its proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility is what you might call a bit of an understatement.
First of all, the deal will give a lot of fresh meat to the Federal Trade Commission, which is already investigating several aspects of Google’s business, including its Android mobile operating system business. The offices of several state attorneys general will also want to weigh in. The AGs in New York, California, Ohio and Texas have all ramped up inquiries into Google’s dominance of the search business. Also in the mix is the European Commission. Google is clearly sharpening its arguments for the coming fight. In the company’s official blog post announcing the deal, CEO Larry Page said Google will continue to work with other hardware companies on Android. The company says it works with 39 different manufacturers that build Android devices. But he also renewed a recent Google complaint that other companies are banding together to hurt Android by accumulating a pool of patents owned by Novell. The biggest question will focus on whether or not a Google-owned Motorola will get preferential access to new versions of Android before other manufacturers. Whatever happens, it’s going to take Google some time to get this deal done, and if it does get approved, you can expect some significant regulatory concessions.
benton.org/node/87068 | Wall Street Journal | Bloomberg | AdWeek | Politico
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GOOGLE AND PARTNERS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Dina Bass, Brian Womack]
HTC, Samsung Electronics and a host of smaller handset makers are at risk of losing their cachet after Google buys Motorola Mobility. The rival handset manufacturers, which have been building devices with Google’s Android software since 2008, may have a harder time cranking out bestselling devices because Motorola Mobility may get earlier access to the newest Android technology, said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at research firm Gartner Inc. The acquisition gives Google an incentive to favor Motorola Mobility, and association with the Internet company will give Motorola handsets a leg up in competing for consumers. Samsung and HTC may be more inclined to forge closer ties to Microsoft or ally with Hewlett-Packard, said James Faucette, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities. Microsoft can sweeten the deal by offering incentives to partners, Faucette said. Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker has said he plans to license WebOS software to hardware makers. ZTE Corp, China’s second largest maker of phone equipment, said it plans to keep working closely with Google and Microsoft. Microsoft is already taking steps to convince partners that Google will treat them as second-class citizens.
Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry smartphone and PlayBook tablet computer, may have the most to lose. The deal would leave RIM a smaller player relative to rivals, which may force it to strike an alliance with another company or sell itself to remain competitive, said Will Stofega, a program director at consultant IDC. With Google’s cash and software expertise, Motorola may present a direct challenge to RIM in its traditional stronghold, the corporate market, he said.
Matt Rosoff writes that the only way that the WebOS mobile platform will survive is if HP licenses it to the big handset makers who are suddenly stuck between Microsoft-Nokia and Google-Motorola.
The major U.S. carriers have been silent in the wake of the deal's announcement, but one major carrier — France Telecom’s Orange — said that it supports the deal, with Senior Vice President Yves Maitre calling it “great news” for the industry. Maitre sees Google’s Motorola deal as a continuation of a trend toward a tighter tie between phones and the operating systems that power them.
"We're going to review the deal to understand the impact on the cable set-top box market, which has been a frustrating one for small cable operators long beholden to the Motorola-Cisco duopoly," American Cable Association President and CEO Matt Polka said. "ACA members will want assurances from Google that it is both committed to the cable business model and won't use its market power to run roughshod over smaller cable operators." Polka also called on Google to continue developing IP-based solutions for delivering video to subscribers across a range of devices. "Prior to today's Motorola Mobility announcement, Google has had its own interests in all of these areas, and it will be important that Google's other business interests do not unduly harm the growth of these new competitive market opportunities," he said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-15/google-undermines-samsung-led-h...
benton.org/node/87128 | Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Business Insider | | Broadcasting&Cable
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MOBILITY'S BENEFITS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Rolfe Winkler, Martin Peers]
Google is hoping to secure the long term future of its business -- by turning that business on its head. With its proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, Google is jumping into a lower-margin, cut-throat hardware business. Even for a company with as varied ambitions as Google, this is a risky deal. Google's willingness to buy Mobility highlights how much it needs to protect its Android mobile operating system, now caught up in a raging patent fight. Along with other Android-powered handset makers such as Samsung and HTC, Mobility has been sued for patent infringement by Apple and Microsoft. Google, until now largely on the sidelines of that fight, has good reason to get directly involved. As an increasing portion of people's Web surfing shifts to mobile devices, Android gives Google a vital position in mobile advertising. Having snared 47.7% of global smartphone shipments by operating system in the second quarter, according to Strategy Analytics, it is clear why Android threatens rivals like Apple and Microsoft. Google's deep cash resources should strengthen Android's legal defenses. Moreover, Google will inherit Mobility's portfolio of 17,000 patents, a critical intellectual property weapon. But the risks are significant. Google's ownership of Mobility could undermine what has been Android's big advantage: namely, the support it gets from multiple handset makers.
benton.org/node/87126 | Wall Street Journal
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IS GOOGLE A PHONE COMPANY?
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Ross Sorkin]
Back in 2004, Eric E. Schmidt, then Google’s chief executive, proclaimed, “We’re not going into the phone business, but we’re going to make sure Google is on those phones.” Less than a year later, however, Google did the opposite. Google soon acquired Android, the mobile phone operating system, and began building a phone business that it has since developed into a juggernaut. Even after Google acquired Android in 2005, it continued to play down plans to enter the phone business for several more years. It wasn't until the summer of 2008 that Steven P. Jobs at Apple actually took notice and went to Google’s headquarters to inspect one of its prototype handsets. Google’s diversionary tactics made sense: by 2006, Mr. Schmidt, now Google’s chairman, was an Apple board member and Google was considered an important partner to Apple. But when Mr. Jobs finally saw Google’s phone he was “furious” and “concluded he was a victim of deceit." That history may be instructive to consider when judging Google’s $12.5 billion deal for Motorola Mobility, which makes Android phone handsets and TV set-top boxes. If there’s any question about Google’s motivation to own a handset maker rather than just a portfolio of patents, consider this: InterDigital, a licensing company that owns some 8,000 wireless patents and has another 10,000 patent applications being processed, has been up for auction. Many industry insiders were sure that if Google were serious about acquiring a portfolio of patents, InterDigital would be its target. The company’s market value is only about $3 billion and it doesn't come with all the baggage of Motorola’s handset business.
benton.org/node/87123 | New York Times
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MICROSOFT WAS LOOKING AT MOTOROLA, TOO
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Om Malik]
Google may not have had much of a choice when it came to buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. If it didn't, someone else would have and that would have put the company in an even bigger patent hole. Sources say that Motorola was in acquisition talks with several parties, including Microsoft for quite some time. Microsoft was interested in acquiring Motorola’s patent portfolio that would have allowed it to torpedo Android even further. The possibility of that deal brought Google to the negotiation table, resulting in the blockbuster sale. Motorola found a Google deal more digestible because Microsoft had no interest in running a hardware business and was essentially interested in Motorola’s vast collection of patents.
benton.org/node/87070 | GigaOm | CNNMoney
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MORE WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
AMERICANS AND THEIR CELL PHONES
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Aaron Smith]
Mobile phones have become a near-ubiquitous tool for information seeking and communicating--83% of American adults own some kind of cell phone--and these devices have an impact on many aspects of their owners’ daily lives.
Cell phones are useful for quick information retrieval (so much so that their absence can cause problems) – Half of all adult cell owners (51%) had used their phone at least once to get information they needed right away. One quarter (27%) said that they experienced a situation in the previous month in which they had trouble doing something because they did not have their phone at hand.
Cell phones are an important tool in emergency situations – 40% of cell owners said they found themselves in an emergency situation in which having their phone with them helped.
Cell phones can help stave off boredom – 42% of cell owners used their phone for entertainment when they were bored.
Despite their advantages, some cell phone owners just need an occasional break – 29% of cell owners turned their phone off for a period of time just to get a break from using it.
With advantages comes frustration – 20% of cell owners experienced frustration because their phone was taking too long to download something; 16% had difficulty reading something on their phone because the screen was too small; and 10% had difficulty entering a lot of text on their phone.
Cell phones can help prevent unwanted personal interactions – 13% of cell owners pretended to be using their phone in order to avoid interacting with the people around them.
Text messaging and picture taking continue to top the list of ways that Americans use their mobile phones—three quarters of all cell owners (73%) use their phones for each of these purposes. Other relatively common activities include sending photos or videos to others (54% of cell owners do this) as well as accessing the Internet (44%).
One third of American adults (35%) own a smartphone of some kind , and these users take advantage of a wide range of their phones’ capabilities. Fully nine in ten smartphone owners use text messaging or take pictures with their phones, while eight in ten use their phone to go online or send photos or videos to others. Many activities—such as downloading apps, watching videos, accessing social networking sites or posting multimedia content online—are almost entirely confined to the smartphone population.
benton.org/node/87075 | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project
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AT&T COUNTER-SUIT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ina Fried]
Aiming to keep its T-Mobile acquisition on track, AT&T said that it has filed eight federal suits aimed at thwarting a law firm’s attempt to block the deal via arbitration. The suits were filed in eight jurisdictions across the U.S. where the Bursor & Fisher law firm has filed arbitration cases. The law firm has been seeking to attack AT&T’s planned T-Mobile acquisition by bringing arbitration cases on behalf of individual AT&T customers. The firm recently said that it had signed up more than 1,000 customers looking to attack the deal. AT&T has maintained that the arbitration clause in its contract with customers cannot be used for such efforts. AT&T said: "The bottom line here is an arbitrator has no authority to block the merger or affect the merger process in any way. AT&T’s arbitration agreement with our customers — recently upheld by the Supreme Court — allows individual relief for individual claims. Bursor & Fisher is seeking class-wide relief wrapped in the guise of individual arbitration proceedings, which is specifically prohibited by AT&T’s arbitration agreement. Accordingly, the claims are completely without merit. We have filed suit in order to stop this abusive action.”
benton.org/node/87033 | Wall Street Journal
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AT&T/T-MOBILE IN PERIL?
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Reports of a new poll released by the Stifel Nicolaus research group have got to be worrying AT&T about the prospects of its proposed $39 billion merger with T-Mobile. Less than half (49.5 percent) of the polled telecom experts—described as "wise men and women"—now expect the relevant federal agencies to bless the marriage. This is almost a five point drop in optimism from July, when a similar survey found 54.7 percent of analysts sanguine about the merger's future. The departments considering AT&T's request are the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice. Among the possible reasons why the merger's chances seem dimmer: Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI)'s letter to the FCC asking the agency to turn down the request. Do these indicators mean that the FCC and DoJ are going to nix this deal? If the recent history of merger reviews means anything, probably not. AT&T received the green light to swallow up BellSouth in 2006. Verizon got to snarf down Alltel in 2008. Comcast just acquired NBC Universal, and one of the Commissioners who approved the deal went to work for the cable company shortly thereafter. But even telecom regulators have limits.
benton.org/node/87119 | Ars Technica
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SHOULD APPLE BUY A CARRIER?
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Erica Ogg]
Apple is famous for its “own and control” philosophy where it controls the operating system and hardware of its devices, and more recently, its heavily guarded gates to its app stores, both iOS and Mac. When it comes to the iPhone, the main element that’s still much beyond Apple’s reach is the carriers. Jean-Louis Gassee proposed Apple solve this problem by just scooping up a carrier, like Deutsche Telekom. It’s certainly got the cash and clout to do so, but Apple has been reported for months to be working on this from a totally different angle. And more recently, the company is continuing to rack up patents on methods that could allow it to do an end-run around carriers.
benton.org/node/87091 | GigaOm
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FARM COMPUTER USE
[SOURCE: Department of Agriculture, AUTHOR: ]
A total of 62 percent of U.S. farms now have Internet access, compared with 59 percent in 2009. Sixty-five percent of farms have access to a computer in 2011, up 1 percentage point from 2009. The proportion of U.S. farms owning or leasing a computer in 2011, at 63 percent, was up 2 percentage points from 2009. Farms using computers for their farm business remained virtually stable at 37 percent in 2011 compared to 36 percent in 2009.
DSL was the most common method of accessing the Internet, with 38 percent of U.S. farms using it, up from 36 percent in 2009. Dialup access dropped from 23 percent in 2009 to 12 percent in 2011. Satellite and wireless were each reported as the primary Internet access methods on 15 and 20 percent of those U.S. farms with Internet access, respectively. Cable was reported as the primary access method on 11 percent of the farms, the same level as 2009.
In 2011, 84 percent of U.S. farms with sales and government payments of $250,000 or more have access to a computer, 83 percent own or lease a computer, 72 percent are using a computer for their farm business, and 82 percent have Internet access. For farms with sales and government payments between $100,000 and $249,999, the figures are: 68 percent have access to a computer, 68 percent own or lease a computer, 52 percent are using a computer for their farm business, and 67 percent have Internet access. Of the farms with sales and government payments between $10,000 and $99,999, 63 percent reported having computer access, 62 percent own or lease a computer, 41 percent use a computer for their farm business, and 60 percent have Internet access.
For crop farms, 67 percent have computer access and 41 percent use a computer for their farm business in 2011, up 2 and 1 percentage points from 2009, respectively. Internet access for crop farms has increased to 64 percent in 2011, compared with 60 percent in 2009. In 2011, a total of 63 percent of livestock farms have computer access and 61 percent have Internet access.
benton.org/node/87082 | Department of Agriculture
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EXPANDING INTERNET ACCESS
[SOURCE: Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, AUTHOR: Henry Rivera]
The role of broadband in creating jobs and closing the digital divide is an issue that is critical to all of us. In the few minutes I have with you, I would like to give you an overview of what’s at stake in this debate, why we need to care, and why now is the time to act. We, the Latino community, have many pressing challenges as we look for ways to grow the economy, grow jobs, make health care more affordable and accessible, and increase the quality of our educational system. While jobs are a priority for everyone, they are particularly critical for our community because unemployment among Latinos is above 11 percent, significantly higher than the national average. We are a community in crisis. And as we work on solutions, we need to keep in mind that broadband can help with each of these areas. Unfortunately, a gap exists between those who have access to information technology and the resources and skills necessary to effectively participate as digital citizens and those who do not. This is known in Washington as the “digital divide.” In a series of landmark studies beginning in 1995, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) first identified the Digital Divide and found that minority and low-income households were adopting computers and dial-up Internet access at much slower rates than other demographic groups. Unfortunately, this dynamic has not changed. [Rivera is a partner at Wiley Rein, a law firm serving as counsel to Deutsche Telekom on the proposed sale of T-Mobile USA. He is also chairman of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, chairman of the FCC’s Advisory Committee on Diversity in the Digital Age, and General Counsel of the Benton Foundation]
benton.org/node/87020 | Minority Media and Telecommunications Council
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THE INTERNET CRAFTSMAN
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: James Losey, Sascha Meinrath]
[Commentary] To save the Internet as a platform for innovation, we need to see concerted intervention to protect the rights of users to create. Most importantly, we must fight for the Internet craftsman -- the individual who is free to develop networks, services, and applications and who shapes networking technologies better to meet her own needs and those of her community. The democratic potential of the Internet is not predicated on a subscription to an Internet connection but on the idea that the Internet is a platform for free speech -- a space to access and share ideas and innovations. Policies addressing the digital divide must embrace the Internet Craftsman and confront the deep and growing chasm between users of restrictive technologies and those free to innovate without gatekeepers. The Internet's potential to empower is strongest when users are free to turn their imaginations into reality, not when innovation is confined by increasingly restrictive policies of network operators. The future of democratic communications depends on the ability of network participants to have control over the technologies we use every day.
benton.org/node/87073 | Slate
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CONTENT
DRUG COMPANIES ON FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Christian Torres]
Facebook and the pharmaceutical industry have had an uneasy partnership in recent years. Many drug companies didn't join the site until Facebook gave them a privilege that others do not have — blocking the public’s ability to openly comment on a page Wall. But that’s about to change. In a reversal by Facebook, most drug company pages will have to have open Walls starting August 15. Companies are worried that open Walls mean risks, and many are reconsidering their engagement on Facebook. On Friday, AstraZeneca, which sells the antidepressant Seroquel, shut down a page devoted to depression. Johnson & Johnson said it will close four of its pages Monday. Other companies said they will monitor their pages more closely once the changes take effect. The industry is concerned that users might write about bad side effects, promote off-label use or make inappropriate statements about a product, and that the comments could raise concerns from government regulators.
benton.org/node/87087 | Washington Post
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HEALTH
RURAL JOBS INITIATES
[SOURCE: The White House]
On August 16, at the White House Rural Economic Forum, President Obama will announce new jobs initiatives recommended by the White House Rural Council for growing the economy and creating jobs in rural America. The Council’s recommendations focus on key areas of need in rural communities, including helping rural small businesses access capital, expanding rural job search and training services, and increasing rural access to health care workers and technology.
Expanding Health Information Technology (IT) in Rural America:The Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services will sign an agreement linking rural hospitals and clinicians to existing capital loan programs that enable them to purchase software and hardware needed to implement health information technology (HIT). Under current conditions, rural health care providers face challenges in harnessing the benefits of HIT due to limited access to capital and workforce challenges. Rural hospitals tend to have lower financial operating margins and limited capital to make the investments needed to purchase hardware, software and other equipment.
benton.org/node/87130 | White House, The
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WIRELESS HEALTHCARE STUDY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA) asked the General Accountability Office to study the safety, reliability and compatibility of wireless healthcare technologies. The lawmakers wrote that wireless medical devices hold “significant promise for enhancing health and reducing the costs of healthcare for all Americans,” but they expressed concern over whether the Federal Communications Commission is doing enough to address the challenges and risks the devices pose.
benton.org/node/87086 | Hill, The
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RURAL ELECTRONIC PRESCRIBING
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: ]
Emergency departments in rural hospitals may be behind their urban counterparts in switching to computerized drug prescriptions, a new study finds. Researchers found that in 2008, 30 percent of ERs surveyed in four U.S. states had "fully implemented" electronic prescribing. But there was a large gap between urban and rural hospitals; 40 percent of urban ERs had electronic prescribing, versus only 6 percent of rural ones. Rural ERs that were relatively close to cities fared better -- with 21 percent having taken up electronic prescribing. The study, reported in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, also found wide variation among the four states -- Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts and Oregon.
benton.org/node/87084 | Reuters
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OWNERSHIP
TWC-INSIGHT DEAL
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Time Warner Cable's purchase of Insight Communications for $3 billion will offer TWC greater scale as well as about $100 million in annual cost efficiencies. While not earth-shattering, it does hint at consolidation in the cable sector as a variety of factors — from the trend toward cord cutting to the looming dominance of cable as a broadband provider in DSL areas — change the business of providing cable. Insight serves about 537,000 high-speed data subscribers, 679,000 video subscribers and 297,000 voice subscribers. It’s also providing its customers faster broadband via DOCSIS 3.0, which gives Time Warner Cable a boost in adding so-called wideband services that can deliver speeds of up to 100 Mbps or more on the downlink side. Time Warner has lagged behind Comcast and Cablevision when it comes to the relatively inexpensive D3 upgrades, but it’s beginning to offer it in certain markets. This upgrade will become more important to Time Warner Cable as a bludgeon to beat off rival telecommunications providers that offer DSL services. In most markets, cable is beating DSL providers handily; but in providing broadband services, scale can benefit the ISP as it contemplates deals with regulators as well as when it comes to delivering services.
benton.org/node/87021 | GigaOm
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INTERPUBLIC SELLS FACEBOOK SHARES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott]
The Interpublic Group of Companies, which has owned a tiny stake in Facebook since the days the social networking Web site was just for college students, is selling half its holdings for a hefty profit. Interpublic, which owns advertising and communications agencies like Deutsch, Initiative, McCann Erickson, Mullen and R/GA, acquired its ownership interest in Facebook in 2006. The interest, amounting to about 0.5 percent of Facebook’s total shares, was bought for less than $5 million. Facebook agreed to sell the shares to Interpublic in exchange for Interpublic’s agreeing to spend $10 million with Facebook for clients of its agencies. Michael I. Roth, chairman and chief executive at Interpublic, said the shares that are being sold would bring in “approximately $130 million.”
benton.org/node/87116 | New York Times | FT
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NEWS FROM THE FTC
W3 INNOVATIONS AND FTC
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
A developer of mobile applications, including children’s games for the iPhone and iPod touch, will pay $50,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the FTC’s COPPA Rule by illegally collecting and disclosing personal information from tens of thousands of children under age 13 without their parents’ prior consent. This is the Commission’s first case involving mobile applications, known as apps. The FTC’s complaint charged that W3 Innovations, LLC, doing business as Broken Thumbs Apps, and company president and owner Justin Maples, develop and distribute mobile apps for the iPhone and iPod touch that allow users to play games and share information online. According to the FTC, several of the apps, including the Emily’s Girl World, Emily’s Dress Up, Emily’s Dress Up & Shop, and Emily’s Runway High Fashion, were directed to children and were listed in the Games-Kids section of Apple, Inc.’s App Store. There have been more than 50,000 downloads of these apps, which allowed children to play classic games such as Cootie Catcher and Truth or Dare, and to create virtual models and design outfits. The Emily apps encouraged children to email “Emily” their comments and submit blogs to “Emily’s Blog” via email, such as “shout-outs” to friends and requests for advice. The FTC alleges that the defendants collected and maintained thousands of email addresses from users of the Emily apps. In addition to collecting and maintaining children’s email addresses, the FTC alleges that the defendants also allowed children to publicly post information, including personal information, on message boards. These interactive apps send and receive information via the Internet, and are online services covered by the COPPA Rule, according to the FTC complaint
benton.org/node/87027 | Federal Trade Commission | Politico
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LIVING LIFE ONLINE
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Trade Commission has a new publication that talks to tweens and teens about what they do online, and how the choices they make matter. Living Life Online offers short articles, activities, quizzes, and an ask-the-expert column, all to help kids learn how to be good digital citizens. Kids find out how to stay safer online, how to use critical thinking skills - and how to apply them to the advertising they see all around them. Parents will find worksheets and information to encourage discussion with their kids, and kids can go online to find out their tech personality. With topics as varied as how to handle bullying and cell phone bill shock, Living Life Online helps kids learn to make good decisions as they live their lives, whether online or off
benton.org/node/87026 | Federal Trade Commission
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ACCOUNTABILITY PROGRAM
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition has issued an advisory opinion letter stating that it has no present intention to challenge the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ (CBBB) proposed “accountability program,” which would hold companies engaged in online behavioral advertising accountable for compliance with the “Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising.” These principles were released in July 2009 by a coalition of industry associations, and are administered by the Digital Advertising Alliance. According to the staff letter, the CBBB’s proposed accountability program has the potential to benefit consumers by increasing transparency of, and consumer control over, certain aspects of online behavioral advertising, and there appears to be little or no potential for competitive harm associated with the proposed program. Although companies will conform their online behavioral advertising practices to a specific standard under the CBBB program, that conformity likely will enhance consumer autonomy without limiting choice of competitively offered goods and services that consumers may desire, the letter states.
benton.org/node/87024 | Federal Trade Commission
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
FCC INVESTIGATES BART BLACKOUT
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
The Federal Communications Commission is investigating actions by the transportation authority in San Francisco which interrupted wireless service in commuter stations in an effort to foil protesters who had planned demonstrations. FCC spokesman Neil Grace said that the agency is "continuing to collect information" about the actions by the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and "and will be taking [steps] to hear from stakeholders about the important issues those actions raised." In particular, Grace alluded to potential public safety problems that could arise when the authorities interrupted service, an action that has caused a national outcry over whether BART exceeded its authority. "Anytime communications services are interrupted, we seek to assess the situation," Grace said.
benton.org/node/87077 | National Journal
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IS WIRELESS ACCESS A RIGHT
[SOURCE: Brookings, AUTHOR: John Villasenor]
It is broadly understood that wireless service may be absent altogether in a given public space, that it may be present but unavailable due to factors such as maintenance or insufficient capacity during periods of high demand, and that its utilization may be subject to various terms of use restrictions. Intentional shutdowns to thwart free expression, however, are a different matter, and the criticisms that have been directed at BART are generally reasoned and accurate. But it is also important to recognize that those criticisms are made from the safety of hindsight. We know now that there was no protest, that there was no rogue breakaway flash mob inside a station that exploited an otherwise peaceful event by using wireless messaging to single out the passengers of a specific subway car for a spree of robbery and assault. In a week that has also seen widespread rioting in the United Kingdom, some of it facilitated through wireless communications, and the imposition of a curfew in Philadelphia specifically in response to a spate of violent flash mob attacks, the question of when a wireless network owner has a right to impede its use in the alleged interest of the greater public good – or when a government can compel a network owner to take such a step – is more relevant than ever.
benton.org/node/87076 | Brookings | GigaOm
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
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UNCERTAINTY PLAGUES RIM IN INDIA
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: James Fontanella-Khan]
Multinationals hate unpleasant surprises and operating in a permanent state of uncertainty. But that is exactly what Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry mobile handsets, has experienced in India. In July last year the Indian government warned that it would block BlackBerry services, unless RIM gave the security authorities full access to data transferred by the messaging system. Indian authorities said they were concerned that encrypted messages could be used by terrorists to stage strikes such as the attack in Mumbai in 2008, which killed 166 people.
benton.org/node/87103 | Financial Times
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SOUTH KOREA'S "REAL NAMES" DEBACLE AND THE VIRTUES OF ONLINE ANONYMITY
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
Is Internet anonymity a problem? Germany's Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich thinks so. In comments to the German magazine Spiegel, he argued that the recent attacks in Norway illustrate the need to force political commentators to identify themselves online. The shooter, Anders Breivik, cited a pseudonymous anti-Muslim blogger in his manifesto. Meanwhile, Google has decided to adopt a policy for Google+ modeled on Facebook's "real names" rule. This has sparked a fierce debate, with some arguing that the shift to using real names improves the quality of public discussion, while others insist that forcing people to use their real names represents an abuse of power. There's been a tendency to conflate these two issues, but they're actually quite separate. There are good reasons for some websites to require their users to use their real names, but this policy won't make sense for all websites, and it's foolish and counterproductive for governments to mandate it. The right to free speech includes the right to speak anonymously, and fears of terrorism or other crimes shouldn't be used as a pretext for abridging those rights. Most importantly, there's no reason to think that banning anonymous speech online will deter terrorism or other crimes.
benton.org/node/87102 | Ars Technica
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VICTORY FOR SLIM?
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR:Crayton Harrison]
Billionaire Carlos Slim’s Mexican wireless carrier is close to prevailing in the country’s biggest antitrust case, a victory over a government seeking to crack down on monopolistic behavior. Only a reversal by one of the nation’s five antitrust commissioners, an unprecedented last-minute political maneuver or a judge’s intervention can salvage the government’s record $1 billion fine against America Movil SAB. Otherwise, the fine under review by the antitrust commission will be overturned or cut when the decision comes around at the end of September. The antitrust agency issued the fine in April, saying America Movil had committed anticompetitive practices in the market for fees charged to rivals to connect calls. America Movil asked the agency to review the fine, the first step in the appeals process for antitrust cases, and won a victory in June when the commission recused its own chairman from the case.
benton.org/node/87029 | Bloomberg
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