April 2014

Jerk.com Jerked Around Consumers, FTC Says

How’s this for an online racket? Surreptitiously grab information from Facebook to create tens of millions of profiles labeling people a "jerk" or "not a jerk" and then charge people $30 to revise their online profiles.

The deceptive scheme didn't sit well with the Federal Trade Commission, which filed an administrative complaint against Jerk, LLC and the operator of the website, John Fanning, for misleading consumers that the content on the site had been created by other Jerk.com users when in reality it had been harvested from Facebook without their permission.

Between 2009 and 2013, Jerk.com operated a social networking website that invited users to "post a jerk." Although the site claimed it contained only user-generated content, in fact the vast majority of the 73 million profiles were created by Jerk using information from Facebook. What's even more troubling, some of the profiles of children were designated as private on Facebook.

The FTC is seeking an order barring Jerk.com from using the personal information improperly obtained and requiring Jerk.com to delete the information.

Gender attitudes to social media poles apart

While women are more likely to post images of their dinner, and share the recipe on social media - men are more likely to be reading the news or watching video on their device, according to the research from FinancesOnline.com.

It is domesticity, digitized. And the differences don't stop there. Attitudes to brand relationships and social advertising are also poles apart. Men want quick and easy access to coupons or promotion details, and are more likely to scan QR codes or coupons (56%) than women (39%).

Women, on the other hand, prefer a social media relationship and are much more likely to follow or 'Like' a brand to keep abreast of deals and promotions (71%) than men (18%). Furthermore, women are likely to ignore ads in social media (48%) more often than men (42%) as well as mobile text ads (59% vs. 52%).

How Much Ideological Segregation Is There in Online News Consumption?

How does the Internet affect the likelihood of citizens being exposed to information that may contradict their existing views? To address this question, we measured the degree of ideological segregation in the market for online news and compare it with other news sources.

Analyzing data on the news consumption habits of a panel of Internet users, we define for each news outlet the share of users who report their political outlook as ‘conservative’ among those who report being either ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’.

Our results indicate that the degree to which liberals and conservatives are isolated from each other’s opinions is low in absolute terms. The average Internet news consumer’s exposure to conservatives is 57%. The average conservative’s exposure is 60.6%, similar to a person who gets all her news from USA Today. The average liberal’s exposure is 53.1%, similar to a person who gets all her news from CNN. News consumers with extremely high or low exposure are rare.

Although many people go to sites with ideologically tilted audiences, such as Fox News or the Huffington Post, these are typically part of a news diet with heavy doses of more moderate sites. Nevertheless, the segregation of online news is higher than for some other media: the isolation index for the Internet is 7.5 percentage points, which compares with 1.8 for broadcast television news, 3.3 for cable television news, 4.7 for magazines and 4.8 for local newspapers. But the segregation of online news is lower than national newspapers, for which the index is 10.4.

We estimate that eliminating the Internet would reduce the ideological segregation of news and opinion consumption across all media from 5.1 to 4.1.

Twitter Q&A on Children’s Online Privacy with Reps. Markey and Barton

Senator Edward Markey and Rep Joe Barton hosted a Twitter Q&A April 9, 2014 on children’s online privacy.

Using the hashtag #AskKidsPriv, the lawmakers will answer questions on Twitter about how parents can protect their children online, what tools are available to prevent online tracking of children, and their legislation The Do Not Track Kids Act.

The Do Not Track Kids Act, co-sponsored by Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) in the Senate and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) in the House, amends the historic Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), will extend, enhance and update the provisions relating to the collection, use and disclosure of children’s personal information and establishes new protections for personal information of children and teens.

Remarks of FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai Before The 2014 Spring Meeting Of WTA -- Advocates For Rural Broadband

On April 9, 2014, Commissioner Ajit Pai of the FCC delivered remarks at the Spring Conference of WTA -- Advocates for Rural Broadband. During his address, he emphasized that the Federal Communications Commission must take seriously the promise of the Communications Act to “make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States . . . a rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wide and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges.”

He then offered a number of proposals for doing just that:

Rate Floor. Freeze the FCC-imposed rate floor indefinitely and reexamine the underlying policy.
QRA Benchmarks. Strike the QRA benchmarks from the books.
Helping Small Carriers Gain Scale. Streamline FCC review of transactions involving geographically adjacent rural carriers seeking to merge.
Reducing Paperwork Burdens. Small carriers are facing death by 1,000 paper cuts.

FCC's O'Rielly: Careful What You Wish For

A National Association of Broadcasters request for the Federal Communications Commission to launch a National Broadcast Plan may not be in the industry’s best interests -- at least not according to Commissioner Michael O’Rielly.

“I worry what could be in parts of such a plan for your business,” said O’Rielly, one of the two Republican FCC commissioners. Commissioner O’Rielly suggested that broadcasters think twice before opening the door for a review by the same commissioners who recently voted to crack down on joint sales agreements, “the same people who just decided things that were against your interests.”

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the agency would conduct such a review, if Congress mandated and funded it. That was a sentiment his two Democratic colleagues -- Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel -- subsequently shared.

Tech Giants Are Making A Huge Play For Online TV

Following the success of Netflix and a fresh push by Amazon in online video, the battle of the tech giants is now moving into television with Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL, among some of the latest players.

These moves come as a growing number of consumers are turning away from traditional television to online services such as Netflix, and with those providers looking to draw viewers by offering new, and not just recycled programs. Inspired by Netflix's "House of Cards," a blockbuster with a reported investment of $100 million, Yahoo is seeking writers and producers for four comedy programs with per episode budgets of at least $700,000, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Amazon, which has already seen some success with its "Alpha House," program, is now making an all-out push to expand its original offerings to ramp up its challenge to Netflix and Hulu, which also produces original programs. Sony is getting in on the act as well, in a move that seems to undercut its Hollywood studio operations. The company's PlayStation Network is commissioning its first original drama series called "Powers," based on a comic book of the same name, combining the genres of superhero fantasy, crime noir and police drama. AOL, looking to find a new niche, is extending four original programs, including one on the world of ballet in New York produced by actress Sarah Jessica Parker.

"The success these series have seen is on par with top-tier cable programs reaching sizable audiences who are highly engaged, making them incredibly attractive for advertisers and establishing a viable alternative to place dollars," says Charles Gabriel, an AOL executive for global video sales. "We have seen a strong response from top brands looking to reach consumers they may be missing on TV." Analysts say the potential ad revenues are also being eyed by Yahoo.

Hearst Stations Go Dark on Dish

Hearst Television stations went dark to Dish Network subscribers after the parties failed to reach a retransmission consent agreement by the 9 p.m. Central Time deadline.

But the parties appear to differ on the reason for the blackout -- Hearst says it’s not over money (which is typically at the heart of these disputes.) "It appears that Dish does not have a problem with the rates we are seeking," said Dan Joerres, president and general manager of Hearst’s Baltimore station WBAL-TV, in a statement.

"But the Dish negotiating team is seeking other terms that we don't have in our deals with any other cable or satellite distributor or telco, nor do we have them in our current deal with Dish. Frankly, we are scratching our heads as to why Dish would hold their own customers and our viewers hostage for terms that are radically off-market."

Can Open-Source Infrastructure Move the Market?

This is no fairy tale. The budding young programmer is one, Chris Alfano. The innovative school is Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy and its school leader is Chris Lehmann.

The open-source school “mainframe 2.0” is Slate, supported by Chris’s local dev shop, Jarvus. And yes, innovation is live and kicking in Philadelphia. For schools that are dealing with long-term, restrictive software agreements or that lack the time and talent to rethink their technology implementation, this anecdote may sound as fanciful as calling on the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion for backup support. Even still, open-source infrastructure --platforms, portals, mainframes, whichever sounds least threatening -- carries some serious promise for education innovation that to-date has won most of its marketplace success by merely automating the status quo.

And then there’s data privacy and ownership. What education company explicitly advertises full data portability --that is, the option to download your school or student data, and then permanently wipe it from the product’s database? With open-source products, educators decide when, where, and how data gets moved, stored and shared.

ConnectNYC Brings Fiber Internet to Local Businesses

On March 12, 2014, a contest to connect New York City businesses with high-speed Internet came to a close.

Held by the New York City Economic Development Corp. (EDC), the ConnectNYC Fiber Challenge will award city businesses with dedicated fiber to their locations -- each of which is worth about $50,000. Now the EDC is working its way through more than 150 applications, giving out fiber connections on a first come, first serve basis. And according to Ian Fried, marketing and publicity director for EDC, none of the applicants have been turned away thus far.

"And we hope that as many contracts as possible can be negotiated," he said. This is the second round of the ConnectNYC program, which is funded by a franchise agreement with the city.

In the first round, 29 businesses were selected, and included a Holiday Inn in Long Island and a Kickstarter project. The EDC expanded the program by partnering with more ISPs, offering more applications and providing $14 million worth of fiber construction cost coverage for the winning businesses.

"This program doesn't just benefit tech companies," said Eric Gertler, executive vice president of the Economic Development Corporation (EDC). "We're living in an age where broadband is essential for all types of businesses." In New York City, a majority of people receive their Internet service through legacy copper wires -- which is incapable of supporting high performance services, so fiber is the next step.

Benton

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