July 9, 2014 (First Amendment issue of our time)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2014
Inmate Calling Services and The Wartime Press on today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2014-07-08/
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Snowden Undermines Presidential Panel’s Defense of NSA Spying
The Latest Snowden Leak Is Devastating to NSA Defenders - analysis
NSA’s misguided snooping on innocent people - editorial
Meet the Muslim-American Leaders the FBI and NSA Have Been Spying On
Journalists Accuse White House of Politically-Driven Suppression of News
Congress considers federal social media strategy
House passes bill to boost DHS use of social media in emergencies
Verizon Releases Transparency Report for First Half 2014 - press release [links to web]
Why Facebook is beating the FBI at facial recognition
CYBERSECURITY
Senate Intelligence Committee approves cybersecurity bill
Chinese cyberspies have hacked Middle East experts at major US think tanks [links to web]
Mob-Busting Tool Used Against Online Crime [links to web]
PRIVACY/SECURITY
Grappling with the Privacy Paradox - analysis [links to web]
In the digital world, privacy is the price of admission - analysis [links to web]
The Future of Privacy: Only the Rich Will Have It - Richard Clarke op-ed [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Sen Franken: Net neutrality is ‘First Amendment issue of our time’
Etsy Weighs In on Net Neutrality as FCC Comment Deadline Looms [links to web]
Dear Secretary Duncan: Network Neutrality is an Education Issue [links to web]
Level3 Wants FCC to Impose ISP Interconnection Requirements
Why do US ISPs want to charge for peering? Peering makes the Internet cheaper. Here’s how
Poll: California's digital divide still gaping
Santa Fe hopes to boost Internet speed, compete with new line [links to web]
EDUCATION
Sens Rockefeller and Markey push back on FCC’s Wi-Fi plan
Statement of Commissioner Ajit Pai On The Breakdown Of E-Rate Negotiations - press release
Tech CEOs push billions for Wi-Fi in schools
Could Text Messages to Parents Help Close the ‘Word Gap’? [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
CDC report on Wireless Substitution - research
What cell phone ownership says about poverty in America
Intel initiates battle for Internet of Things standards [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Amazon Tries to Woo Authors in Hachette Dispute
TELEVISION/RADIO
Limited Government Group Wants To Limit Satellite Bill [links to web]
ACT Takes Stand for TVFreedom
WHYY's Keystone Project On Urban Decline [links to web]
LABOR
Tech workforce diversity: Recognizing problem is the first step to solving it - op-ed
CONTENT
FCC Item Provides Clip Captioning Flexibility [links to web]
Ballmer Buying Clippers Shows Sports Is Must-See in Media [links to web]
Copyrights are more than just federal “privileges.” - AEI analysis [links to web]
How Google Map Hackers Can Destroy a Business at Will
Why you can no longer expect that the news will find you - analysis [links to web]
Apps and kids: Google may be next in FTC crosshairs [links to web]
JOURNALISM
Journalism Enrollments Fell Two Years in a Row. Is it the Start of a Downward Trend? [links to web]
FCC REFORM
Most Definitely: Terminate Dormant Proceedings - FCC Commissioner O'Rielly editorial [links to web]
PREDICTIONS
The Future of Privacy: Only the Rich Will Have It - Richard Clarke op-ed [links to web]
The Future of Email: It Gets Better - op-ed [links to web]
Josh Sapan on Why the Future of Television Will Be More Cinematic - op-ed [links to web]
How TV Networks Will Evolve - op-ed [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
Mid-Year Report on House Commerce Committee Accomplishments for 2014 - research [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
América Móvil to Shed Assets, Loosening Grip
Yelp Joins Critics of European Union Antitrust Settlement With Google [links to web]
New Zealand ISP allows its customers to subscribe to the US version of Netflix [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
SNOWDEN UNDERMINES PRESIDENTIAL PANEL’S DEFENSE OF NSA SPYING
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Dustin Volz]
Just when the National Security Agency looked as though it had finally scored a victory for its maligned surveillance programs, Edward Snowden again crashed the party. The newest leak, reported by The Washington Post, claims that the vast majority of accounts scooped up in a foreign-intelligence program are not those of actual overseas targets but ordinary Internet users whose communications with those targets are incidentally collected. While revealing on its face, Snowden's latest revelation also arrived just days after the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent watchdog agency, deemed spying under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act legal and effective. Whether intentional or not, the timely Post article -- the culmination of a four-month investigation of 160,000 email and instant-message conversations -- serves in part as a rebuke to the privacy board's conclusions, civil-liberties groups say, and calls into question the completeness of its review, which stands in stark contrast to the board's critical review of the spying on domestic phone records under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. "There definitely seem to be discrepancies" between the reports, said Liza Goitein, codirector of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. "It appears that, in the Snowden documents [American] information is collected deliberately in far broader circumstances than what the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board discussed."
benton.org/node/193358 | National Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
THE LATEST SNOWDEN LEAK IS DEVASTATING TO NSA DEFENDERS
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Conor Friedersdorf]
[Commentary] Consider the latest leak sourced to Edward Snowden from the perspective of his detractors. The National Security Agency's defenders would have us believe that Snowden is a thief and a criminal at best, and perhaps a traitorous Russian spy. In their telling, the NSA carries out its mission lawfully, honorably, and without unduly compromising the privacy of innocents. For that reason, they regard Snowden's actions as a wrongheaded slur campaign premised on lies and exaggerations. Snowden defenders see these leaked files as necessary to proving that the NSA does, in fact, massively violate the private lives of American citizens by collecting and storing content -- not "just" metadata -- when they communicate digitally. They'll point out that Snowden turned these files over to journalists who promised to protect the privacy of affected individuals and followed through on that oath. The NSA collects and stores the full content of extremely sensitive photographs, emails, chat transcripts, and other documents belong to Americans, itself a violation of the Constitution -- but even if you disagree that it's illegal, there's no disputing the fact that the NSA has been proven incapable of safeguarding that data. There is not the chance the data could leak at some time in the future. It has already been taken and given to reporters. The necessary reform is clear. Unable to safeguard this sensitive data, the NSA shouldn't be allowed to collect and store it.
benton.org/node/193357 | Atlantic, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
NSA’S MISGUIDED SNOOPING ON INNOCENT PEOPLE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Eugene Robinson]
[Commentary] Even those who believe the National Security Agency’s vacuum-cleaner surveillance of electronic communications does not trample privacy rights should be troubled by this practical implication: If you try to know everything, you end up knowing nothing. The NSA is gathering and warehousing enormous amounts of private information, most of it irrelevant because it concerns innocent individuals -- mostly foreigners but some US citizens as well. By “innocent,” I mean the NSA is convinced these people have no involvement with any activity that poses a threat. But the agency keeps their information anyway.
benton.org/node/193343 | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
NSA TARGETED MUSLIM-AMERICANS
[SOURCE: The Intercept, AUTHOR: Glen Greenwald, Mutaza Hussain]
The National Security Agency and FBI have covertly monitored the emails of prominent Muslim-Americans -- including a political candidate and several civil rights activists, academics, and lawyers—under secretive procedures intended to target terrorists and foreign spies. According to documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the list of Americans monitored by their own government includes:
Faisal Gill, a longtime Republican Party operative and one-time candidate for public office who held a top-secret security clearance and served in the Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush;
Asim Ghafoor, a prominent attorney who has represented clients in terrorism-related cases;
Hooshang Amirahmadi, an Iranian-American professor of international relations at Rutgers University;
Agha Saeed, a former political science professor at California State University who champions Muslim civil liberties and Palestinian rights;
Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the country.
benton.org/node/193554 | Intercept, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
JOURNALISTS ACCUSE WHITE HOUSE OF POLITICALLY-DRIVEN SUPPRESSION OF NEWS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Over three dozen journalist organizations including the Radio Television Digital News Association, National Press Foundation, and the Society of Professional Journalists, have asked President Barack Obama to drop the "excessive controls" on public information by federal agencies, branding it "politically driven suppression of news and information about federal agencies." There has been an ongoing tension between broadcast, print and online journalists and the Obama Administration, with complaints that the Administration has limited access to events, while providing its own "coverage" through official channels. In a letter to President Obama, the groups complained about policies that require journalists to go through public information officers (PIOs) before talking with staff and that have PIOs vetting interview questions and monitoring interviews with sources.
benton.org/node/193347 | Broadcasting&Cable
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CONGRESS CONSIDERS FEDERAL SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
[SOURCE: American Public Media, AUTHOR: Ben Johnson]
The House of Representatives is back from summer recess, and among the items on the agenda is the Social Media Working Group Act of 2014. While the government is already working with social media to inform and interact with citizens, one of the proposals under consideration is establishing a standard operating procedure for the Department of Homeland Security's Twitter account during a crisis. According to Nate Elliott, social media analyst at Forrester Research, typically “The hope is when government or another authority tweets something, people will share it for them.” However, because of the noisy environment of social media platforms, that generally doesn’t happen. “Messages wash away very quickly,” according to Elliott. It's why the government is looking for a more cohesive social media strategy.
benton.org/node/193307 | American Public Media
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
SOCIAL MEDIA BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Cristina Marcos]
Legislation to establish Department of Homeland Security standards for emergency responses on social media during terrorist attacks passed in the House. Passed 375-19, the bill would create a working group within DHS to provide guidance on the use of social media before, during and after terrorist attacks. The measure would also require the group to submit an annual report to Congress that includes a review of current social media technologies used to support emergency preparedness and response activities and recommendations to DHS on its use of social media in such situations.
benton.org/node/193550 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
WHY FACEBOOK IS BEATING THE FBI AT FACIAL RECOGNITION
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Russell Brandom]
If you're worried about Big Brother and computerized facial recognition, you’ve had plenty of reason to be scared. Law enforcement has been toying with facial recognition for a while, but the FBI is getting set to deploy its own system, called Next Generation Identification (NGI for short), planned to be fully operational this summer. NGI will bring together millions of photos in a central federal database, reaching all 50 states by the end of the year. After years of relative anonymity, it's easy to think 2014 is the year that law enforcement will finally know you by face. But here's an inconvenient fact about the FBI's shiny new system: Thanks to extensive work by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, we actually know quite a bit about NGI, and the numbers suggest it isn't very good at recognizing faces. Given a suspect's face, NGI returns a ranked list of 50 possibilities, and only promises an 85 percent chance of returning the suspect's name in the list. To put it another way, even when you give NGI 50 guesses, it still lets one in seven suspects off the hook. Compare that to Facebook's DeepFace system, recently presented at the IEEE Computer Vision conference, and it looks even worse. Give Facebook two pictures, and it can tell you with 97 percent accuracy whether they're the same person, roughly the same accuracy as a human being in the same spot. To be fair, Facebook has a whole network's worth of data on its side, so it ends up comparing each face to a smaller number of possibilities. It isn’t an exact comparison, but the overall impression is hard to deny: the nation's most powerful law enforcement agency is getting outgunned by a social network.
benton.org/node/193321 | Verge, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CYBERSECURITY
SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE APPROVES CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
The Senate Intelligence Committee voted 12-3 to advance a cybersecurity bill that privacy advocates fear will give more information to the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies. The bill's authors -- Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) -- hailed the vote as a step towards protecting the country from growing online threats. Cybersecurity "is a serious problem and we need to begin" addressing it, Chairman Feinstein said after the vote. "No bill is going to be perfect that's going to be able to encompass a bipartisan approach.”
benton.org/node/193501 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
INTERNET/BROADBAND
SEN FRANKEN: NET NEUTRALITY IS ‘FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUE OF OUR TIME’
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Making sure all surfers on the Web enjoy the same speed no matter which website they visit is a fundamental free speech issue, Sen Al Franken (D-MN) said. “It is absolutely the First Amendment issue of our time,” Sen Franken said. “Do we want deep-pocketed corporations controlling what information you get at what speed?” he added. Sen Franken, who has been a critical supporter of the concept of net neutrality, said that other members of Congress simply don’t understand the way the Internet works. “This has been the architecture of the Internet from the beginning, and everyone should understand that,” he said. “Some of my colleagues in the Congress don’t understand that. ... You just want to go ‘Oh, come on,’ ” Sen Franken said. “ 'Really, don’t get up and talk unless you know something.' ”
benton.org/node/193499 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
LEVEL3 WANTS FCC TO IMPOSE ISP INTERCONNECTION REQUIREMENTS
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
Level3 Communications wants the Federal Communications Commission to impose interconnection requirements on Internet service providers -- a move the company said is necessary to “fully protect the free and open Internet.” The company recommends three specific ISP interconnection requirements, which were outlined in a blog post written by the company’s general counsel for regulatory policy Michael Mooney. Mooney said Level3 already has similar arrangements with several ISPs and “the solution is good for everyone.” Level3’s proposed ISP interconnection requirements include:
If a content provider or a network operator providing connectivity for the content provider delivers content into the ISP’s local market closest to the location of the ISP’s customer requesting the content, the ISP should be required to deliver the traffic to its customer without charging an interconnection fee -- provided that the content provider delivers a certain amount of traffic in the aggregate to the ISP.
The ISP would be able to select the interconnection location but selections would have to be “reasonable.” For example, each location would have to serve a minimum number of the ISP’s customers and the location would have to be served by several different metro transport service providers to ensure that the ISP has competitive choices.
If interconnection capacity becomes congested at any interconnection location, it would have to be promptly augmented.
benton.org/node/193333 | telecompetitor
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
WHY DO US ISPS WANT TO CHARGE FOR PEERING? PEERING MAKES THE INTERNET CHEAPER. HERE’S HOW
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
As more broadband networks connect directly to each other via peering agreements, the amount of money paid for Internet transit could fall, according to a report from TeleGeography. That’s good for users of the Internet, but will cut into transit revenue at companies that range from Level 3 and Cogent to ISPs. Of course, TeleGeography isn’t sure if this will take place. By cutting out the Internet’s middlemen, peering agreements lower the cost of bandwidth and the cost of IP services. The TeleGeography report lays out the case for peering gaining ground over transit, and shows how it expects peering to grow. This is good for the Internet as a whole, but this anticipated shift to peering over paying for transit has led to some behavior shifts that are causing harms for consumers. It also means trouble for existing transit providers, especially those without other lines of business. Peering, the practice of two networks exchanging traffic directly either for free or for money, has been going on for decades. Historically, networks of a certain size would sign peering agreements because it would save them money. Instead of building out an Internet pipeline to every endpoint, two networks meet in the middle and exchange traffic. In 2012, an OECD report found that peering has helped lower the overall cost of providing bandwidth and that most peering agreements are unpaid.
benton.org/node/193507 | GigaOm
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CALIFORNIA’S DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Patrick May]
According to a statewide Field Poll, California broadband adoption rates have stagnated over the past few years, with access by Latinos, seniors and others lagging behind that enjoyed by younger adults and those with higher incomes. According to the poll, 75 percent of adult Californians have broadband Internet connectivity at home. While that's up from 55 percent when the first poll was done in 2008, this year's number was unchanged from 2013 as growth appears to have stalled. Perhaps even more troubling, usage patterns vary significantly across different segments of the state's population. For example, while nearly 90 percent of Californians age 18-29 and those who have graduated from college or who earn annual household incomes of $60,000 or more report having broadband Internet access at home, significantly smaller slices of other groups were able to say the same. They include adults who have not graduated from high school (32 percent of whom have broadband Internet access), Spanish-speaking Latinos (46 percent), seniors 65 or older (47 percent) and residents with annual household incomes of less than $20,000 (53 percent).
benton.org/node/193548 | San Jose Mercury News
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
EDUCATION
ROCKEFELLER AND MARKEY E-RATE LETTER
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) urged Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to balance the push for Wi-Fi funding for schools and libraries with funding for basic Internet connectivity. “Because Wi-Fi enhances connectivity for institutions that have broadband, its profound impact cannot be felt where there is no broadband to support it,” they said. Sens Rockefeller and Markey applauded the parts of Wheeler’s program designed to make E-Rate more transparent and efficient but warned against redirecting E-Rate funds to provide Wi-Fi. “It would be ill-advised to guarantee a permanent set-aside for Wi-Fi, if that set-aside could end up cannibalizing funding for basic connectivity,” they said, urging the FCC to increase E-Rate funding overall. The senators also expressed concerns about the proposal’s method for allocating funds for Wi-Fi, which will include factoring in the student body size of an applying school and the square footage of an applying library. That approach “is not an effective means of getting resources to schools and libraries with the greatest need” and “would disempower schools and libraries from addressing their highly localized conditions,” the letter said, asking Chairman Wheeler to test the new allocation system for two years.
benton.org/node/193553 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI ON THE BREAKDOWN OF E-RATE NEGOTIATIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai]
Any good math teacher would give the Federal Communications Commission’s E-Rate proposal an “F” because the numbers just don’t add up. It promises over $5 billion for Wi-Fi but doesn’t identify where the money will come from to fund this new program. As it stands, the proposal will blow a $2.7 billion hole in E-Rate’s budget -- one that the FCC has promised outside parties it’ll fill with a post-election increase in Americans’ phone bills. The proposal also doesn’t pass the test in other respects. Rather than giving small, rural schools and libraries a fair shake, it continues to direct the bulk of E-Rate funds to large, urban school districts. Instead of fundamentally reforming the E-Rate bureaucracy, the plan doubles down on complexity. Schools and libraries will still have to file reams of paperwork, operate on Washington’s timeline, and hire consultants -- that is, if they participate in the program at all. Rather than giving local school boards, principals, teachers, and librarians the flexibility to decide what services and technologies best meet their communities’ particular needs, the plan takes a Washington-knows-best mindset.
benton.org/node/193360 | Federal Communications Commission
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
TECH CEOS PUSH BILLLIONS FOR WI-FI IN SCHOOLS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Dropbox’s Drew Houston, Netflix’s Reed Hastings and HP’s Meg Whitman are among the tech CEOs urging the Federal Communications Commission to provide billions for Wi-Fi in schools and libraries. The FCC is voting at its upcoming monthly meeting on a plan from Chairman Tom Wheeler to boost Wi-Fi in schools and libraries. “The message from America is clear, if our schools do not have the broadband they need, our students will not be able to compete in the global economy,” the CEOs told FCC commissioners. Signatories also included current and former CEOs of YouTube, eBay, Adobe, Airbnb, Dell, Intuit, OpenTable, Salesforce.com, Xerox and prominent venture capital firms. Chairman Wheeler’s plan would put $5 billion toward providing and upgrading Wi-Fi services and equipment over the next five years on top of the agency’s $2.4 billion annual budget for the E-Rate program, which works to connect schools and libraries to the Internet. The agency has already set aside the first $2 billion and plans to provide the following $3 billion through eliminating inefficiencies in the program and phasing out non-Internet access services, including pagers.
benton.org/node/193337 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
WIRELESS SUBSTITUTION: EARLY RELEASE OF ESTIMATES FROM THE NATIONAL HEALTH INTERVIEW SURVEY, JULY -- DECEMBER 2013
[SOURCE: Department of Health and Human Services, AUTHOR: Stephen Blumberg, Julian Luke]
Preliminary results from the July -- December 2013 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) indicate that the number of American homes with only wireless telephones continues to grow. Two in every five American homes (41.0%) had only wireless telephones (also known as cellular telephones, cell phones, or mobile phones) during the second half of 2013 -- an increase of 1.6 percentage points since the first half of 2013 and 2.8 percentage points since the second half of 2012. However, these increases are smaller than those observed in previous years. This report presents the most up-to-date estimates available from the federal government concerning the size and characteristics of these populations. The 41 percent of households without a landline telephone account for nearly 93 million adults and almost 35 million children across the country. People under 30, houses with several unrelated roommates, poorer residents and Hispanic people were more likely to be relying solely on their cellphones. Nearly 9 percent of American households had only landline service, without wireless access.
benton.org/node/193340 | Department of Health and Human Services | The Hill | American Public Media
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
WHAT CELL PHONE OWNERSHIP SAYS ABOUT POVERTY IN AMERICA
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: Danielle Kurtzleben]
Not too long ago, cell phones were considered a luxury or even a status symbol. Now, mobile phones are an increasingly basic necessity for Americans of all income levels. New data from the Centers for Disease Control finds that the majority of households in poverty also are cell phone-only homes -- the only economic group studied for which that's true. Pew breaks down the data on its Fact Tank blog, showing not only that the poorest Americans tend to be the ones most likely to be cell-phone-only, at 56 percent, but that younger adults also are generally more likely to be entirely wireless. Of course, it's not that it's only poorer Americans who are increasingly going landline-free; the share of all income groups and age groups going cell-phone-only have generally trended upward since 2007 -- today, nearly 40 percent of all US adults live in cell-phone-only homes, up from 11 percent in 2007. But the poorest Americans have remained the most likely to be cell-phone-only throughout this period, and have inched away from non-poor adults.
benton.org/node/193339 | Vox
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
OWNERSHIP
AMAZON, HACHETTE AND AUTHORS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Streitfeld]
Amazon, awash in negative publicity in its confrontation with Hachette over e-book terms, is seeking to break the standoff by appealing directly to the publisher’s authors. David Naggar, an Amazon executive who works with publishers and independent authors, sent a letter to a small group of Hachette writers proposing “a big windfall for authors” by taking them “out of the middle” of the dispute. The letter extends and develops a proposal Amazon made earlier in the dispute, which was dismissed by Hachette. It now offers Hachette authors “100 percent of the sales price of every Hachette e-book we sell.” Amazon also offered to suspend all its shipping delays and price adjustments, which it put in place in an effort to bend Hachette to its will. Roxana Robinson, president of the Authors Guild, dismissed the proposal.
benton.org/node/193355 | New York Times | GigaOm
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
TELEVISION/RADIO
ACT TAKES STAND FOR TVFREEDOM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
American Community Television -- which has been battling cable operators over public, educational, and government (PEG) channel placement -- has joined broadcasters in battling them over retransmission consent reforms. TVFreedom.org said that ACT had become a member of the coalition, which includes network affiliate associations, the National Association of Broadcasters and others pushing back against calls for retransmission consent reforms. "Local broadcast TV stations and PEG channels often work together to deliver vital public service, educational and religious programming to viewers in their communities and cannot be replicated by pay-TV or broadband service providers," said ACT executive director Bunnie Riedel.
benton.org/node/193349 | Broadcasting&Cable
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
LABOR
TECH WORKFORCE DIVERSITY: RECOGNIZING PROBLEM IS THE FIRST STEP TO SOLVING IT
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Rep Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Rep Barbara Lee (D-CA)]
[Commentary] Most of us hope all Americans have a fair chance to be successful without regard to ethnicity or gender. However, the tech world has for too long been dominated by one gender and limited in ethnic diversity. Now, as major companies such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook and LinkedIn have disclosed their workforce and leadership diversity data, it is painfully clear the sector faces a persistent and troubling deficit when it comes to women, African-Americans and Latinos. We'd like to commend these companies and others that have provided this data. Are we satisfied with the picture it presents? Hardly. But as female members of a legislative body starkly unrepresentative of our nation, we know the first step in solving any challenge is recognizing there is one. Transparency promotes fairness. Data about applicants and new hires, pay equity, promotions and management composition reported by race, gender and ethnicity promotes equal opportunity. With more transparency, American individuals and investors could make better-informed decisions about investing in companies that leverage ability with diversity. With more data, job-seekers and employees will have better information to decide where to work and consumers can make informed choices about where to spend their money.
benton.org/node/193345 | San Jose Mercury News
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CONTENT
HOW GOOGLE MAP HACKERS CAN DESTROY A BUSINESS AT WILL
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Kevin Poulsen]
Beneath its slick interface and crystal clear GPS-enabled vision of the world, Google Maps roils with local rivalries, score-settling, and deception. Maps are dotted with thousands of spam business listings for nonexistent locksmiths and plumbers. Legitimate businesses sometimes see their listings hijacked by competitors or cloned into a duplicate with a different phone number or website. In January, someone bulk-modified the Google Maps presence of thousands of hotels around the country, changing the website URLs to a commercial third-party booking site (which siphons off the commissions). Small businesses are the usual targets. Attacks happen because Google Maps is, at its heart, a massive crowdsourcing project, a shared conception of the world that skilled practitioners can bend and reshape in small ways using tools like Google’s Mapmaker or Google Places for Business.
benton.org/node/193317 | Wired
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
STORIES FROM ABROAD
AMERICA MOVIL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Elisabeth Malkin]
América Móvil, the Latin American telecom giant, will sell off parts of its Mexican unit, an unexpected capitulation by its controlling shareholder, Carlos Slim Helú, to strong new antimonopoly rules. The announcement, which could set off a shake-up in Mexico’s stagnant telecommunications industry, was a victory for regulators after years of failed efforts to rein in the dominance of Slim’s company. The announcement came just as Mexican legislators approved new laws governing Mexico’s telecommunications and broadcasting industries. The laws are intended to open Mexico’s telephone and media markets, which have long been quasi monopolies, and attract billions of dollars in new investments from competitors.
benton.org/node/193541 | New York Times | FT | Bloomberg
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top