February 2, 2012 (Facebook Files for an Initial Public Offering)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012
Tribal Telecom 2012 http://benton.org/calendar/2012-02-02/
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Louisiana city blazes high-speed Web trail
House action on DHS cyber oversight conflicts with Senate proposal
Cybersecurity Disaster Seen in US Survey Citing Spending Gaps
Political borders don't stop cyberattacks, but they prevent defense, study finds
Net Sales Tax Supporters Hope For More GOP Support
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Verizon’s wireless, marketing deal with cable firms to be considered at Senate hearing
Verizon, Comcast double team AT&T in Bay Area battle
AT&T Responds to Reed Hundt - press release
Enjoy the Silence - op-ed [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Facebook Files for an Initial Public Offering
See also: Facebook execs pump cash into PAC [links to web]
RADIO/TELEVISION
New on Benton blog: American Hate Radio - op-ed
Broadcasters Must Wise Up About Smart TV - analysis [links to web]
CONTENT
Google to allow censorship of Blogger content [links to web]
Record industry tells Congress to oppose Issa piracy bill
Google’s new search services and privacy policy have some calling for a boycott - op-ed
Who Is RayWJ? YouTube's Top Star [links to web]
EDUCATION
Digital Learning Day Town Hall - press release
Education 2.0: Can Digital Learning Day begin a classroom revolution?
Education is a big hit on YouTube
DIGITAL LITERACY
Advanced Digital Literacy – Opportunities for All Skill Levels - press release
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS/LOBBYING
Obama Favors Interviews Over Impromptu Q&A’s, Study Finds
White House: No comment on call to investigate MPAA for SOPA bribery
LightSquared owner: Grassley twisted facts in bribe charge
Social media’s role in politics - analysis
Silicon Valley Coalition Faces New Challenge [links to web]
Facebook execs pump cash into PAC [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
Chairman Upton Names New House Commerce Committee General Counsel [links to web]
TELEVISION
Broadcasters: America’s ‘First Informers’ - press release
In Networks’ Race for Ratings, Chicanery Is on the Schedule
A Smooth Operator in the Name of Soul
STORIES FROM ABROAD
E-Mail on ‘Rife’ Hacking Deleted From James Murdoch Computer, Lawyers Say
Press regulator needs ‘investigatory arm’
India cancels 2G licenses
INTERNET/BROADBAND
LAFAYETTE
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Rick Jervis]
Lafayette, Louisiana. In this tradition-rich city known for its crawfish etouffee and Zydeco stomps, high-speed Internet rules. Web videos upload in a few quick seconds. Surgeons review online pathology reports from their living rooms. University students share bulky research files with one another electronically at lightning speeds. More than 800 miles of fiber-optic cable hum invisibly underground in Lafayette, a city of 120,000, delivering Internet speeds of up to 100 megabytes per second — rare for even major cities. The cutting-edge connectivity in the heart of Cajun country is due not to a private telecom giant but to a public municipal service that offers higher speeds and often lower rates than the private sector. It hasn't come without a fight. From the time the cyber network was just a far-fetched concept, the city's two main private providers, Cox Communications and BellSouth (now AT&T), have fought the initiative every step of the way — from an information campaign against the project to civil lawsuits. LUS Fiber, a subsidiary of Lafayette Utilities System, the city-owned power company, offers the speedy Internet service along with cable television and phone service. The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city in 2007, allowing the project to proceed.
benton.org/node/112167 | USAToday
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HOUSE PANEL APPROVES CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity approved a bipartisan bill that would make the Homeland Security Department responsible for gauging the security of private networks. In a concession to industry, the measure would not give DHS permission to penalize companies or network operators who fail to comply with the department's protection guidelines. A forthcoming Senate package appears to have more teeth than the one the House panel passed. Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA), the author of the House measure, called his legislation, H.R. 3674, the "least intrusive" of the cyber bills under consideration. The White House last spring presented Congress with a legislative proposal that calls for propping up "an auditing regime to ensure compliance with their cyber standards," Rep Lungren said. Under the committee's bill, DHS would not have the power to fine or otherwise punish covered critical infrastructure companies that fail to follow the standards, according to a committee aide. The House committee's legislation also would set up a nonprofit organization to mediate the sharing of cyber threat information between federal agencies and critical U.S. industries, such as the power, banking and health-care sectors. The proposed National Information Sharing Organization strives to address privacy concerns about Internet service providers being forced to share customer communications with the government.
benton.org/node/112165 | nextgov | National Journal
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CYBERSECURITY SPENDING
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Eric Engleman, Chris Strohm]
Companies including utilities, banks and phone carriers would have to spend almost nine times more on cybersecurity to prevent a digital Pearl Harbor from plunging millions into darkness, paralyzing the financial system or cutting communications, a Bloomberg Government study found. Spies, criminals and hacker-activists are stepping up assaults on U.S. government and corporate systems, spurring efforts by Congress and President Barack Obama to shield infrastructure essential to U.S. national and economic security, such as power grids and water-treatment plants. Hardening those systems would require a significant investment given the increasing stealth and sophistication of hackers, according to Lawrence Ponemon, chairman of the Ponemon Institute.
benton.org/node/112126 | Bloomberg
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CYBERATTACKS AND BORDERS
[SOURCE: Government Computer News , AUTHOR: William Jackson]
Cyberspace is a global commons without international boundaries, but the political divisions of the real world hamper the defense of this shared resource, according to a new study of government and private sector IT officials. There is a lack of common standards of behavior, goals and even language in discussing the challenges faced in cyberspace, according to the Cyber Defense Report released Jan. 30 by McAfee. As a result, threats are growing faster than the ability to counter them because of barriers to information sharing and cooperation that do not constrain our adversaries. “We are really up against a formidable enemy that can execute,” said Phyllis Schneck, chief technology officer of McAfee’s Global Public Sector and a contributor to the report. “We’ve made a lot of progress, but our enemies are a lot better and faster than we are.”
benton.org/node/112123 | Government Computer News
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NET SALES TAX BILL
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) says he's working with other supporters to attract more Republican co-sponsors for legislation that would require online retailers to collect sales taxes in states where they have no store or other facility. Sen Durbin said that he would like to see more GOP backers for the bill to help attract the 60 votes needed on the Senate floor to overcome a likely filibuster of the legislation. Sen Durbin is the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the legislation offered with Sens. Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN). The bill aims to close a loophole left by a 1992 Supreme Court decision that found states cannot require retailers to collect sales taxes from customers in states where the companies do not have a physical presence. At the time, the case applied to catalog retailers but has since been exploited by Internet retailers.
benton.org/node/112117 | National Journal
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
VERIZON HEARING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
A key Senate Judiciary Committee member said he is planning a hearing on Verizon’s spectrum purchase deal with cable companies that includes a controversial marketing arrangement. Sen Herb Kohl (D-WI) -- chairman of the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights subcommittee -- said the hearing will include a review of a cross-marketing agreement between Verizon Wireless and cable firms including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House. “Plans are well underway for a hearing to examine the impact of Verizon’s spectrum purchase from a number of cable companies and a separate marketing agreement to cross-sell each other’s products,” Chairman Kohl said. “The subcommittee carefully examines questions about competition in the wireless and video markets, with the ultimate goal of protecting consumers and reducing their cable and cell phone bills, and these deals are no exception.”
The hearing will likely take place after Feb. 23, the end of the Presidents’ Day recess. The panel hasn’t yet decided on witnesses.
benton.org/node/112136 | Washington Post | The Hill | National Journal
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VERIZON AND COMCAST DOUBLE TEAM AT&T
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
Regulators haven’t yet approved Comcast’s spectrum sale to Verizon Wireless, but the two aren’t waiting to cement their newfound friendship. The country’s largest mobile operator and largest cable provider are bringing their “quadruple play” service to San Francisco and the Bay Area. In its early stages the partnership is more a co-marketing arrangement than a full-bore integration of services. Verizon and Comcast will try to entice Bay Area residents to simultaneously sign up for a mobile phone plan and a combination of Xfinity home broadband, TV and voice services. In exchange, they’re offering those customers a free smartphone — or at least a $100 to $300 Visa prepaid card with which to buy one. But Verizon and Comcast plan to get much closer in the future.
benton.org/node/112132 | GigaOm
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AT&T RESPONDS
[SOURCE: AT&T, AUTHOR: Jim Cicconi]
Despite Reed Hundt’s recollection, the [Federal Communications Commission]’s track record on auctions is not an unbroken string of successes. In fact, Hundt’s tenure saw perhaps the biggest single fiasco of this sort, the PCS C Block auction. In that situation, the FCC used its discretion in a way that set aside valuable spectrum for ‘designated entities’, and excluded otherwise qualified companies from bidding. Over half of the 493 licenses from that auction were later returned to the government for non-payment, and the licenses of the largest winner, NextWave, were tied up in bankruptcy litigation for years. In that case, the FCC’s use of its ‘discretion’ ended up costing the U.S. Treasury billions, and left vitally needed spectrum unused for years. No one is suggesting the FCC’s conduct of auctions be micro-managed. But Congress – not the FCC – sets policy, especially when it directly impacts revenue needed for deficit reduction. And there is no more fundamental policy point than whether a spectrum auction should be open or closed. Congress has every right to tell the FCC it should not be picking winners and losers in the wireless market, or using its ‘discretion’ to tilt the playing field. We need open auctions where every competitor has a fair chance to participate, and that is what the House bill provides.”
benton.org/node/112112 | AT&T | The Hill
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OWNERSHIP
FACEBOOK IPO
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Evelyn Rusli]
Facebook, the vast online social network, took its first step toward becoming a publicly traded company as it filed to sell shares on the stock market. The service, hatched in a Harvard dormitory room nearly eight years ago, is on track to be the largest Internet initial public offering ever — trumping Google’s in 2004 or Netscape’s nearly a decade before that. In its filing, Facebook, which has more than 845 million users worldwide, said it was seeking to raise $5 billion, according to a figure used to calculate the registration fee. The company will seek to have the ticker “FB” for its shares, but did not list an exchange. But many close to the company say that Facebook is aiming for a far greater offering that would value it near $100 billion. At that lofty valuation, Facebook would be much bigger than many longer-established American companies, including Abbott Labs, Caterpillar, Kraft Foods, Goldman Sachs and Ford Motor.
Facebook, unlike any other site, has come to define the social era of the Web. More than a portal, its value lies in its dynamic network of social connections and the massive amount of information shared by its users. Facebook, in many ways, is a data processor, archiving and analyzing every shred of information, from our interests, to our locations, to every article and link that we “like.” The collection of data is a potential goldmine for advertisers, keen to better understand and target consumers.
benton.org/node/112147 | New York Times | Facebook | NYTimes - The Highlights | Bloomberg | LATimes
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RADIO/TELEVISION
AMERICAN HATE RADIO
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Alex Nogales]
[Commentary] For over a century we have used the radio waves to communicate with our neighbors. Even today radio remains the primary way that Americans consume media, reaching 93% of the American population on a weekly basis. Radio can be an excellent outlet for news, democratic discourse, community engagement and even life-saving emergency information, and, in many instances, it is just that. However, something sinister is happening over many of our public airwaves. Something that many would like to ignore: hate, racism and extremism. And as mega media companies have consolidated over the past decade, this hate has grown even more prevalent, and is often syndicated through nationwide station clusters. NHMC’s latest report, American Hate Radio, sheds light on the prevalence and the dangers of American hate radio, chronicling how hate groups and hate crimes have spiked while hate radio’s popularity and reach have risen.
http://benton.org/node/112143
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CONTENT
RIAA LETTER
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) pressed lawmakers to oppose an online piracy bill offered by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) as an alternative to controversial legislation shelved by Congress last month. The recording industry argues the Issa-Wyden bill should be scrapped because it would do nothing to stop online piracy and could even make the problem worse. RIAA's document outlines a number of concerns about the bill, labeling its standards "impossibly high" and "useless." "Even a site that openly acknowledges it is entirely composed of illegal material is exempt, as long as the material is added or used by others and not the site owner or operator," states the document. "This excuses willful blindness and outright complicity in illegal activity. In addition, anyone who takes down one illegal file is immune, even if it’s simply reposted minutes later."
benton.org/node/112129 | Hill, The
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COULD YOU BOYCOTT GOOGLE?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Joshua Topolsky]
[Commentary] What are the alternatives to Google if you’re trying to get some serious searching done? Microsoft’s Bing; DuckDuckGo; Blekko; and WolframAlpha.
These services can’t fully replace what Google does. For better or worse, Google has created a mountain of knowledge and incredible tools for sorting through that mountain. Even if you adopt one (or all) of the engines above, I bet you will still feel a longing to return to the big, comprehensive world of Google when you just need to get the job done. At the end of the day, you may not agree with Google’s policies, but it’s hard to argue with the (search) results.
benton.org/node/112178 | Washington Post
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EDUCATION
DIGITAL LEARNING DAY TOWN HALL
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Genachowski joined Secretary of Education Duncan to discuss the state of digital learning in American schools. At the first-ever Digital Learning Day Town Hall in Washington, D.C., the Digital Textbook Collaborative presented them with the “Digital Textbook Playbook,” a plan to help K-12 schools transition to digital textbooks. The Collaborative also helped the FCC and the Department of Education update the School 2.0 bandwidth planner to help schools plan for their connectivity needs. Chairman Genachowski also challenged state leaders and the digital textbook industry ecosystem to make national adoption of digital textbook a reality; he announced a meeting in March 2012 with CEOs of companies in the digital learning space to drive national adoption of digital textbooks in the next five years.
benton.org/node/112122 | Federal Communications Commission
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EDUCATION 2.0
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Stacy Teicher Khadaroo]
With iPads making their way into kindergarten classrooms from Maine to Tennessee, it may seem like a given that American education is embracing technology for the rising generation. But technology’s presence – and effectiveness – varies widely. Just 40 percent of teachers reported that they or their students use computers often during instructional time in a 2010 report by the National Center for Education Statistics. Organizers of the first-ever national Digital Learning Day hope it will inspire more educators, students, and parents to harness new technologies to enhance young people’s enthusiasm for learning and help them master key 21st-century skills.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2012/0201/Education-2.0-Can-Digit...
benton.org/node/112176 | Christian Science Monitor, The |
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EDUCATION AND YOUTUBE
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Janko Roettgers]
Science may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you are thinking about YouTube, but the video site has seen a boom of educational content. YouTube is expected to announce that views of educational videos have doubled on its site in 2011, with close to 80 percent of these views coming from outside the US. A significant part of this has been driven by the smashing success of the Khan Academy. Salman Khan’s no-frills biology, calculus and physics lessons have clocked close to 120 million views on YouTube since he started uploading them in 2006. However, there is a growing movement toward more entertaining and visually appealing lessons that speak the language of the YouTube generation.
benton.org/node/112116 | GigaOm
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DIGITAL LITERACY
ADVANCED DIGITAL LITERACY
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Angela Simpson]
When discussing digital literacy, most conversations center around people’s initial contact with computers and learning how the Internet is relevant to their lives; the basics on how to obtain information, goods, and services online; and developing the threshold skills necessary to succeed in the digital economy. These basic skills are building blocks for success, and are the focus of many of our Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP) projects.
Digital literacy is an ongoing process, however, and “advanced” digital literacy can have tremendous economic impacts – both from the perspective of the person learning marketable computer skills necessary to compete in today’s digital economy, and from the macroeconomic perspective in helping to realize the President’s vision of a more competitive America built to last.
Codecademy is taking advanced digital literacy to the next level by offering free interactive programming lessons for those interested in learning the basics of computer programming online. Codecademy’s Code Year initiative offers free weekly coding lessons only for a time investment of approximately five hours per week. Students will learn extremely marketable skills such as how to build apps and websites. These skills foster entrepreneurship and enhance employability. Codecademy is also participating in the Administration’s Summer Jobs+ program, where it will offer a course called Code Summer+, which is an abbreviated version of Code Year tailored to teaching low-income youth how to build innovative apps online and helping to connect students with tech companies.
benton.org/node/112120 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS/LOBBYING
OBAMA INTERVIEWS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
President Barack Obama grants many more media interviews than his predecessors, but holds far fewer impromptu question-and-answer sessions, according to data compiled by a professor who studies presidential interactions with the press. By doing so, President Obama and his administration have more control over who asks questions and where they are answered. President Obama has been interviewed a total of 408 times in his first three years as president, according to Martha Kumar, a professor at Towson University who works alongside reporters at the White House. President George W. Bush had given 136 interviews at the same period in his presidency, and President Bill Clinton had given 166. However, President Obama has comparatively avoided Q&As with scrums of reporters, according to Kumar, answering questions at 94 photo opportunities and other such sessions in his first three years. President Bush had spoken at 307 such sessions after three years in office, and President Clinton, 493. He has held 17 solo news conferences, more than President Bush (11) in the same period, but fewer than President Clinton (31) and far fewer than President George H.W. Bush (56).
benton.org/node/112138 | New York Times
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CALL FOR DODD INVESTIGATION
[SOURCE: ComputerWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
The White House has declined to respond to a petition calling for authorities to investigate the head of the Motion Picture Association of America for bribery related to comments he made following successful online protests against two controversial copyright enforcement bills. A day after the massive online protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), MPAA Chairman and CEO Chris Dodd seemed to threaten the dozens of lawmakers voicing opposition to the bills. "This industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake," Dodd told Fox News on Jan. 19. "Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake." Those comments prompted a petition at WhiteHouse.gov asking President Barack Obama's administration to investigate Dodd "after he publicly admitted to bribing politicians to pass legislation."
"Consistent with the We the People Terms of Participation and our responses to similar petitions in the past, the White House declines to comment on this petition because it requests a specific law enforcement action," the White House said.
benton.org/node/112164 | ComputerWorld
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LIGHTSQUARED ANSWERS GRASSLEY
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Eliza Krigman]
LightSquared's owner fired back at Sen. Chuck Grassley’s suggestion that an associate of the broadband company tried — if ever so clumsily — to bribe the senator. Time and again, a LightSquared attorney wrote, Sen Grassley (R-Iowa) twisted or misstated the facts to leave an impression of impropriety where none exists. Sen Grassley has been a leading Capitol Hill critic of LightSquared and its billionaire investor Philip Falcone’s plans to build a new nationwide wireless network. “We are deeply concerned about various unsupported allegations,” wrote Mark Paoletta of Dickstein Shapiro, who represents both LightSquared and Harbinger Capital, the hedge fund operated by Falcone that is the majority owner of LightSquared.
benton.org/node/112114 | Politico
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SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Vivek Wadhwa]
[Commentary] You’ve read how Facebook and Twitter fueled the Arab Spring uprising. You are watching the videos coming out of Syria on Facebook. But most likely you have not witnessed the power of social media impacting politics in near real time right here at home in America. Sure, activism groups and politicians have tapped social media to raise money. But to date, no flash mob has ever stopped a bill in its tracks or beaten down in less than 48-hours legislation pushed by some of the most well-funded, well-connected lobbies on K Street. But that’s exactly what happened on Jan. 20 when a loosely organized campaign to stop PIPA and SOPA swept the Internet and shook the power structure of Washington DC. As a result, we have entered an entirely new and exciting era of politics.
First, a countervailing force may finally be at play to balance the impact of the Supreme Court decision making it easy for multi-million dollar SuperPACs to anonymously raise funds and lob attack ads in campaigns. The public can now use social media to have its say.
Second, this was the first time we have seen a widely executed collective action by Silicon Valley.
Lastly, although social media has been widely adopted, social media as a protest tools remains lodged squarely among the early adopters.
benton.org/node/112130 | Washington Post
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TELEVISION
BROADCASTERS AS FIRST INFORMERS
[SOURCE: National Association of Broadcasters, AUTHOR: Ann Marie Cumming]
Every day across America, local radio and television broadcasters serve communities in extraordinary ways: raising millions of dollars for charity, rescuing kidnapped children with AMBER Alerts, and creating awareness about important health and safety issues through public affairs programming. Regardless of individual broadcasters’ level of commitment to public service, there is no role stations embrace more seriously than that of “first informer.” Indeed, during times of crisis, no technology can replicate broadcasting’s reliability in reaching mass audiences. It is also during these times when an ethos prevails among broadcasters — an ethos that compels stations to go “the extra mile” for the safety and well-being of viewers and listeners.
benton.org/node/112175 | National Association of Broadcasters
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RATINGS TRICKS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Bill Carter]
A look at the programming sleight of hand that television executives seize on as they seek to gain every possible edge in the television ratings game, at a time when each tenth of a point or two enhances their standing in the nightly ratings and the ability to pitch to advertisers who spend billions of dollars a year. But these tactics are more about bragging rights than money. The tricks themselves are familiar to most in the business: smart commercial buyers know when the ratings are being spun for a better story in the media or a claim in a print ad, and they insist on paying for the real ratings, not the artificially enhanced versions. Labeling a program a special is just one technique. Networks typically “special out” a show when they expect it to fare poorly, against the Super Bowl, for example. Other strategies include front-loading national commercials early in a show and extending the program lengths for hit shows a minute or two into the following hour.
benton.org/node/112180 | New York Times
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DON CORNELIUS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jon Pareles]
With his deep voice, his sharp suits, his aviator glasses and the stage presence of a grown-up music fan, Don Cornelius was every bit the smooth TV personality on “Soul Train,” the nationally syndicated Saturday-morning show he created, produced, wrote and hosted from 1971 to 1993. Behind his blend of suavity and enthusiasm, and what he called “the hippest trip in America,” was a cultural mission. Cornelius, who died on Wednesday at 75, had been a journalist and a disc jockey in Chicago, and in 1970 he took the next step for many a D.J. on local television: hosting an after-school dance party, with guests from a fertile Chicago soul scene. But he quickly went national, with a low-budget format straight out of “American Bandstand”: stars performing in a small TV studio while dancers showed off their moves. He’d do brief interviews with the musicians and, between guests, records would play while pairs of dancers strutted their latest moves down the railroad tracks painted onstage. Of course there was a crucial difference between “Soul Train” and “American Bandstand”: most of the performers were African-Americans and the music was soul, R&B and eventually hip-hop.
benton.org/node/112182 | New York Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
E-MAIL DELETED
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Sarah Lyall]
An e-mail to Rupert Murdoch’s son James that referred to “a nightmare scenario” of legal repercussions from widespread phone hacking at the News of the World tabloid was deleted from his computer less than two weeks before the police opened their current investigation into phone hacking, lawyers said. The deletion was part of an “e-mail stabilization and modernization program” in which accounts were “being prepared for the migration to a new e-mail system,” said Linklaters, a law firm representing News International, the British newspaper arm of the Murdoch media empire. The e-mail was a chain of messages sent June 7, 2008, to James Murdoch, head of News Corporation’s European and Asian operations, warning that the potential legal fallout from hacking at The News of the World was “as bad as we feared.”
benton.org/node/112174 | New York Times | WSJ
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OFCOM AND THE PRESS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Ben Fenton]
Any new regulator of the press must have power to fine its members and should have an investigatory arm, the Leveson inquiry into press standards heard. Colette Bowe, the chairman of Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, told the inquiry that its statutory power to impose fines was very useful in maintaining the respect of broadcasters and other communications businesses. She said: ”The financial penalty is something that will probably gain the undivided attention of those who are responsible for the management of the business, as distinct from those who are responsible for the editorial side of the business, and that is another issue to bear in mind in thinking about how one constructs the appropriate sanction.”
benton.org/node/112172 | Financial Times
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INDIA CANCELS 2G LICENSES
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: James Lamont, James Fontanella-Khan, James Crabtree]
India’s Supreme Court cancelled 122 mobile telephone licences awarded in 2008 by Andimuthu Raja, the country’s jailed former telecoms minister, a move expected to trigger a radical shakeout of the industry. The top court ruled that the licences, which are the subject of a high-profile corruption trial in New Delhi, be cancelled on the grounds that their award by the government was “totally arbitrary and unconstitutional.” It has requested that the Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India prepare for a fresh auction of 2G mobile telephone licences within four months. Analysts said that the ruling could have significant implications for India’s ailing mobile operators, who have been struggling to boost margins amid a price war among the country’s 15 operators. The judgment could force smaller companies affected by the ruling to exit the Indian market, benefiting bigger players such as Vodafone and Bharti Airtel.
benton.org/node/112171 | Financial Times
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