August 2011

Verizon Wireless submitted its response to Free Press’ complaint about the carrier's decision to block subscribers from accessing "tethering" applications on their 4G phones. Verizon Wireless called for dismissal of the complaint, as it tried to avoid responsibility for its decision to restrict customers' ability to use the applications and devices of their choosing on its LTE network.

In June, Free Press filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission alleging that Verizon Wireless's actions to remove tethering applications from the Android Market were a violation of the license conditions for the spectrum on which Verizon operates its network.

Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood said, "Verizon Wireless's arguments in favor of blocking don't hold water. Its decision to block tethering applications is an anti-consumer practice that chills innovation and punishes subscribers who already pay a lot for data. It also violates specific license obligations that Verizon Wireless agreed to when it used the public airwaves to build its 4G mobile broadband business."

When asked to name a scientist, Americans are stumped. In one recent survey, the top choice, at 47 percent, was Einstein, who has been dead since 1955, and the next, at 23 percent, was “I don't know.” In another survey, only 4 percent of respondents could name a living scientist.

While these may not have been statistically rigorous exercises, they do point to something real: In American public life, researchers are largely absent. Trained to stick to the purity of the laboratory, they tend to avoid the sometimes irrational hurly-burly of politics. For example, according to the Congressional Research Service, the technically trained among the 435 members of the House include one physicist, 22 people with medical training (including 2 psychologists and a veterinarian), a chemist, a microbiologist and 6 engineers. Now several groups are trying to change that. They want to encourage scientists and engineers to speak out in public debates and even run for public office.

When it comes to global warming and a host of other technical issues, “there is a disconnect between what science says and how people perceive what science says,” said Barbara A. Schaal, a biologist and vice president of the National Academy of Sciences. “We need to interact with the public for our good and the public good.”

Spanish-language broadcasters raked in a record $2.15 billion in 2011-12 upfront commitments, but executives at Univision and Telemundo believe that many marketers are still guilty of undervaluing the Hispanic TV marketplace.

Despite earning bragging rights as the only broadcasters to post ratings gains this year, the two rivals are all but segregated from the English-language broadcasters. Not only are Univision and Telemundo’s respective upfront presentations pushed to the margins of the mid-May schedule, but both nets are obliged to wait for the Big Five to wrap up their business before they can begin engaging with buyers. (The Hispanic nets nailed down the last of their upfront deals in late July, a good seven weeks after ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and The CW finished writing deals.) Univision hauled in $1.75 billion in early commitments for the upcoming TV season, and while that’s nothing to sneeze at -- to put the number in perspective, it’s more or less the same amount NBC took in during its upfront sellathon -- media spend on Hispanic TV remains disproportionately slight.

Britain plans to legalize something that many of its citizens have been doing already, perhaps unaware that they were breaking the law: copying music or movies from compact discs or DVDs onto other storage devices, like iPods.

The government said that it planned to legalize so-called format-shifting as part of a broad overhaul of the country’s copyright laws aimed at bringing them up to speed with digital technology and the fight against piracy. Across much of the rest of Europe, format-shifting has long been permitted. “We can’t carry on saying that businesses should embrace technology but then not allow consumers to use everyday technology to play works they’ve paid for,” said Vince Cable, the business secretary.