BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012
A look at the week ahead http://benton.org/calendar/2012-10-28--P1W/
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
White Journalists Writing Overwhelming Number Of Newspaper Political Features: Study
Internet Gains Most As Campaign News Source But Cable TV Still Leads - research [links to web]
Republicans Increasingly Positive About Campaign - research
Local television stations in swing-states cash in on deluge of political ads [links to web]
President Obama Is Even in TV Ad Race Despite PACs [links to web]
As President Obama Accepts Offers, Late-Night Television Longs for Romney [links to web]
Strident Anti-Obama Messages Flood Key States
Sunlight to FCC: 2,100 Files Missing From Political Database
Sunlight: $34.5 Million Spent in October on Senate Race Ad Buys [links to web]
‘Pittsburgh is getting pounded’ by ads [links to web]
Agency Offers Better Options For Record Political Ad Spend, Includes 'Fun' [links to web]
Presidential Campaign Donations in the Digital Age - research
Can Romney close the digital divide?
TELEVISION
NBC Affiliates Concerned About Simultaneous Spectrum Auction
FCC’s Clyburn: There Has Been Great Interest From Broadcasters in Auctions [links to web]
It’s Official: NBC Stations Getting Cozi
Local TV Promos Don't Translate To More Viewers [links to web]
CBS' Poltrack: Ad-Insertion VOD System Could Be an Advertiser Solution to DVR Viewing [links to web]
ACA to FCC: Regulatory Fees Should Be Based on Ability to Pay [links to web]
Comcast Profit Surges After NBC Comeback, Asset Sales [links to web]
Higher DVR usage becomes a mixed blessing for TV industry [links to web]
Premier League Soccer to Move to NBC in $80 Million Deal [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Lower Trade Barriers Sought for Small Online Sellers
Texting Doctors Turn Off Pagers [links to web]
Republican governor in Nevada pledges 'full support' to Reid’s online poker bill [links to web]
NGA Says It Opposes Draft Internet Gambling Bill [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Cybersecurity bill likely dead [links to web]
President Obama seeks compromise on cyber security executive order
Cybersecurity legislation makes Panetta's lame duck to-do list [links to web]
Sec Napolitano: Administration will act on cybersecurity if Congress fails to pass bill [links to web]
Army Leaders Promote Need for Offensive Cyber Capability
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC Sets Pleading Cycle for T-Mobile/MetroPCS Merger - public notice
Who gets rich off 'free' government phones
Here’s AT&T’s plan to grow now that everyone has a mobile phone [links to web]
NBC Affiliates Concerned About Simultaneous Spectrum Auction
FCC’s Clyburn: There Has Been Great Interest From Broadcasters in Auctions [links to web]
Sprint Reveals New No-Contract Data Plans for 4G Tablets [links to web]
The mobile market isn’t saturated yet: Over half of the world is unconnected [links to web]
Data-Gathering via Apps Presents a Gray Legal Area
Wi-Fi’s annoying little secret: Not all Wi-Fi is created equal - analysis [links to web]
Clearwire to use Huawei equipment in network upgrade [links to web]little secret: Not all Wi-Fi is created equal - analysis [links to web]
Vodafone must decide on Verizon venture - analysis [links to web]
PRIVACY
Data-Gathering via Apps Presents a Gray Legal Area
Yahoo Says No to Microsoft's 'Do Not Track' Browser
CONTENT
Bowker: Number of self-published books up 287% since 2006 [links to web]
Big Data in More Hands [links to web]
No Fair Use Carve-Out for Tablet-Friendly DVD Copies [links to web]
New coalition for Pandora-backed royalty bill launches [links to web]
AFL-CIO Calls on Lawmakers to Oppose Internet Radio Legislation [links to web]
New York Times website blocked in China [links to web]
PATENTS
ITC Judge Says Samsung Infringes Four Apple Patents
Samsung does not infringe on Apple's multitouch patent, Dutch court rules
Apple: Justice Department Investigating Samsung's Use of Patents
Apple to Samsung: Sorry We Called Your iPad Copy a Copy [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Penguin and Random House agree merger
Random House and Penguin Are Negotiating a Merger
Consumer Watchdog: Google Profits From Ill-Gotten Data [links to web]
For Crossownership Relief, Think Small - editorial [links to web]
Vodafone must decide on Verizon venture - analysis [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Surveillance and Accountability - editorial
Hillary Clinton: The U.S. Doesn't Rely on Facebook for Intelligence
Dot-Gov Reform Presses On, Here and Across the Pond [links to web]
Saving Billions in IT Spending - press release
Syria's YouTube 'war' could win the war - editorial [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS/LOBBYING
NetCoalition winds down operations [links to web]
McSlarrow to Head Comcast's Mountain Region [links to web]
Former top FCC lawyer Schlick heads to Google [links to web]
SoftBank hires lobbyists in bid to buy Sprint [links to web]
New coalition for Pandora-backed royalty bill launches [links to web]
LightSquared hires former Sen. Coleman to lobby for network [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
The Much-Needed and Sane Congressional Office That Gingrich Killed Off and We Need Back - analysis [links to web]
Home Entertainment Spending Rises, Buoyed by Streaming Subscriptions [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
WHITE JOURNALISTS
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Jack Mirkinson]
A new study finds that there is a deep lack of racial diversity among the newspaper journalists writing about some of the biggest political issues of the 2012 campaign. The 4th Estate, which makes infographics about media trends, looked at 38 different newspaper front pages across the country from January through mid-October of 2012. It found that white journalists dominated when it came to writing feature stories about campaign issues. White reporters wrote 91 percent of stories on the economy, 90.8 percent of stories on social issues and 92.7 percent of stories on foreign policy. Most startlingly, they wrote 98.2 percent of stories on immigration. The topic would seem to call for increased Latino participation, but the study found that Latinos wrote just .2 percent of stories. The organization did a similar study which found that men are overwhelmingly quoted in stories about women's issues.
benton.org/node/137963 | Huffington Post, The | The Atlantic
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INTEREST IN CAMPAIGN
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, AUTHOR: ]
A new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Oct. 18-21 among 1,005 adults, finds that 63% of the public says the campaign is interesting, while 28% say it is dull. Last month, 53% found the campaign interesting. From January through June, majorities said the campaign was dull, and no more than about four-in-ten found it interesting. 73% of Republicans say the campaign is interesting, up 23 points since early September and by far the highest percentage of the year. More independents also view the campaign as interesting (56% today, 45% in September). The percentage of Democrats who say the campaign is interesting, which jumped 19 points between June and September, is unchanged since then (66%). Compared with a month ago, far more Republicans also view the campaign informative (69% now, 49% then,). And substantially fewer say the campaign is “too long” than did so in September (42% now, 62% then). In fact, the percentage of Republicans who say the campaign is too long is now about as low as it was in January (49%) at the start of the GOP primaries. Democrats’ and independents’ views about whether the campaign is informative and too long are little changed since September. On both measures, opinions among Democrats turned much more positive between June and September.
benton.org/node/137865 | Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
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SUNLIGHT AND MISSING AD INFO
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Sunlight Foundation said that due to imprecise rules and broadcasters' varying interpretations, 2,100 entries in the Federal Communications Commission's television station political files database are missing. Sunlight says that of the 220 stations that are required to post documents on political ad spending -- the top affiliates in the top 50 markets -- more than half have since removed some of those documents. Sunlight has been monitoring and trying to expand the database (through its Political Ad Sleuth project), as has ProPublica, which Sunlight says has most of those missing files in the cloud. Sunlight says it has started backing up the FCC filings so it can preserve the non-paper trail. In a story on its website, Sunlight Reporting Group's Jake Harper said that broadcasters have been updating ad revisions by replacing the original file, which Sunlight says keeps the public dark on changes like shifts in strategy and spending.
benton.org/node/137971 | Broadcasting&Cable
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ANTI-OBAMA MESSAGES FLOOD KEY STATES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeremy Peters]
To turn on the television, open the mail or drive down the highway here is to watch conservatives test the boundaries of how far they can go to disqualify President Barack Obama. Along the Interstate that connects the beach towns of Florida’s east coast, giant billboards show the president, whom some on the far right have falsely accused of being Muslim, bowing to a Saudi king. Another blares “Stop Obama!” and shows a nuclear warhead with “Iran” painted on it aimed at Israel, a particularly potent message with this area’s many Jewish voters. In one commercial that started running this month, a wealthy businessman and Hungarian immigrant named Thomas Peterffy laments how socialism shackled his native country. “And that’s what I see happening here,” he says. “That’s why I’m voting Republican and putting this ad on television.” And a new anti-Obama DVD is dropping into voters’ mailboxes, claiming that the president is the love child of an illicit relationship between his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist Party loyalist. The back story of the DVD offers the latest example of how secretive forces outside the presidential campaigns can sweep into battleground states days before the election.
benton.org/node/137886 | New York Times
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CAMPAIGN DONATIONS
[SOURCE: Pew Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Aaron Smith, Maeve Duggan]
13% of all adults have made a contribution to one of the presidential candidates in this year’s election. Offline methods (such as donating in person or via regular mail) remain the most common way that Americans contribute to political campaigns, but that online contributions represent a significant portion of the total. At the moment, donations directly from cell phones make up only a small component of the political giving universe. Among the 13% of adults who have donated to one of the presidential candidates in this year’s election:
67% donated in person, over the telephone, or through the mail
50% donated online or via email
10% donated by sending a text message from their cell phone or using a cell phone app
Put another way, that works out to just 1% of all American adults who have made a presidential contribution directly from their cell phone this election season. By way of comparison, prior Pew Internet research has found that roughly one in ten American adults have made a charitable donation of any kind using the text messaging feature on their cell phone.
benton.org/node/137958 | Pew Internet & American Life Project | National Journal
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ROMNEY’S DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Steve Friess]
Mitt Romney’s 120-member digital team has a seat in “the Gov’s” inner circle to push targeted ads on Facebook, Google and Twitter, to build mobile apps and to accept text-based donations, but even GOP operatives say they haven’t closed the digital divide with Barack Obama’s tech machine. The Obama campaign has spent $47 million on online ads so far, compared to Romney's $4.7 million, according to election filings. The president’s mobile app lets volunteers get lists of homes in their neighborhood that need lawn signs and banners, while Romney’s provides press releases and upcoming events. The Obama camp consistently scores digital “firsts,” such as geotargeting direct messages via Twitter this week. Within minutes of Obama's "horses and bayonets" zinger at the last debate, the campaign had posted video of it on YouTube. Thus, as a tight race winds down and questions remain as to just how decisive a digital campaign is in the end, Romney’s tech operation nonetheless is charged with helping turn momentum into votes. It’s long been assumed that the digital advantage goes to the Obama campaign, which has spent more money, hired more tech staff and developed an in-house voter database that’s rumored to be a game-changer in politics. Still, Romney’s staff contends they have the right stuff.
benton.org/node/138019 | Politico
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TELEVISION
NBC AFFILIATES VISIT FCC
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In meetings with Federal Communications Commission officials members of the NBC Television Affiliates board -- led by president/chairman Jordan Wertlieb of Hearst and Ralph Oakley, vice chairman of the affiliates group and president of Quincy Newspapers -- said they were concerned that if the FCC conducts simultaneous incentive auctions, "there will be no safety net available in the event that the predictive engineering models have miscalculated the amount of spectrum actually necessary to repack the remaining television stations" consistent with the statutory mandate to preserve coverage areas and populations. They told the FCC officials that such preservation must be in fact, not simply in theory. They also called for a fair, transparent and "technically sound" auction process, all of which the FCC has pledged to do. While they were there, the affiliates also talked about what they said were their other issues of greatest concern. Those were that the retransmission consent regime is working and that government intrusion would unfairly benefit Pay TV operators, and that the FCC needs to relax media ownership rules.
benton.org/node/137908 | Broadcasting&Cable
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NBC’S COZI
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Harry Jessell]
NBC Owned Television Stations confirmed that it is launching early next year a multicast channel mixing classic TV with hit movies and original national and local programming. The 24/7 channel will be carried on the 10 NBC O&Os and the group is actively seeking affiliates in other markets. Cozi TV is actually a relaunch of the Nonstop Network, a multicast channel with national original programming and a smattering of original local programming. The Nonstop Network, in turn, was a roll up of local Nonstop channels that several NBC stations had launched. Cozi TV is entering a multicast market that is already crowded with channels that rely to one extent or another on classic TV shows or movies.
benton.org/node/137906 | TVNewsCheck
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
LOWER TRADE BARRIERS SOUGHT FOR ONLINE SELLERS
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
A new report released by eBay found that 97 percent of its sellers export their products to another country. Despite their sellers' success in reaching new global markets, eBay urged policymakers to take steps that would help lower obstacles to international e-commerce. Using data gathered from the thousands of sellers on the Internet auction and marketplace site, eBay's study found 80 percent of those who said they export products do business in five or more countries. And many of eBay's sellers have one or just a few employees, said eBay Director of Global Fulfillment Mark Mastandrea at a panel discussion on the report. The study found that the Internet has made it easier to reach customers abroad by reducing the costs and difficulty of advertising, communicating with customers, and collecting payments. However, challenges remain in actually moving products across borders, said Brian Bieron, eBay's senior director of federal government relations. At the event, eBay and other industry officials argued that the current trade regime is not designed to support small sellers like the ones that utilize eBay and other Internet platforms to reach customers. Given this, eBay is pushing policymakers to make several changes that would make international trade easier for "micro" sellers. They include reducing the customs challenges for smaller sellers by increasing the "de minimis" threshold, which is the value of goods that can enter a country duty free, and creating trusted trader programs for smaller sellers between the United States and other countries.
benton.org/node/137905 | National Journal
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CYBERSECURITY
CYBERSECURITY COMPROMISE?
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Taylor Armerding]
President Barack Obama is reported to be willing to compromise on cyber security. There have been continuing reports since early September that the president is preparing an executive order to implement some of the provisions of the 2012 Cyber Security Act (CSA), after it failed to come to a vote in the Senate in early August. There are reports that a final draft is circulating that includes a major compromise to settle differences between those who want government to have free access to networks under attack, and those concerned about violations of privacy.
benton.org/node/137867 | InfoWorld
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ARMY LEADERS PROMOTE NEED FOR OFFENSIVE CYBER CAPABILITY
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Bob Brewin]
The Army needs to develop offensive cyber capabilities it can wield in battle the same way it uses artillery or air power, top service commanders explained at the Association of the United States Army annual conference. Lt. Gen. Rhett Hernandez, commander of Army Cyberspace Command at Fort Meade (MD), said cyber threats against Army networks today are “real, growing, sophisticated and evolving . . . they are changing the way we operate.” The threats require sophisticated defensive systems to detect and deter attackers. But the Army also must have the ability to “conduct cyber offensive operations when directed,” he said, adding that the ability to conduct cyberattacks should be integrated with traditional joint fires capabilities such as artillery.
benton.org/node/137871 | nextgov
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
T-MOBILE/METROPCS PLEADING CYCLE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
Deutsche Telekom AG, T-Mobile USA, and MetroPCS Communications have filed applications seeking Federal Communications Commission consent to the transfer of control of Personal Communications Service licenses and leases, one lower 700 MHz license, as well as international 214 authorizations, held by MetroPCS and its wholly-owned and controlled subsidiaries and by T-Mobile and its wholly-owned and controlled subsidiaries to a newly combined entity. Under the agreement to combine T-Mobile and MetroPCS, Deutsche Telekom’s indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary, T-Mobile Global Holding GmbH (“T-Mobile Holding”), would transfer all of its ownership interests in T-Mobile to MetroPCS, and MetroPCS would then issue stock to T-Mobile Holding or its designee. The agreement would result in Deutsche Telekom and existing MetroPCS shareholders ultimately holding 74 percent and 26 percent ownership interests, respectively, in the newly combined entity. The newly combined entity would be named T-Mobile US, Inc., and both the MetroPCS brand and the T-Mobile brand would be retained, offered through separate business units. The Applicants state that the proposed transaction would combine complementary spectrum portfolios that, in some markets, would result in larger blocks of contiguous spectrum to allow for higher speeds, throughput rates, and increased capacity, and in other markets, would augment the spectrum holdings of the combined company to enable broader and more robust Long Term Evolution deployment. The Applicants further state that the proposed transfers would allow the newly combined company to make more efficient use of the spectrum and offer improved services to consumers across the country. Preliminary review of the Applications indicates that T-Mobile and MetroPCS would combine their AWS-1 and PCS spectrum, as well as one lower 700 MHz license, in 248 Cellular Market Areas across the nation. Post-transaction, in markets in which there is geographical overlap the merged entity would hold a maximum of 110 megahertz of spectrum covering approximately 141 million people, or 46 percent of the population of the mainland United States. In addition to the applications filed proposing to transfer control of MetroPCS’s licenses to the combined company, T-Mobile has filed applications proposing what it characterizes as pro forma transfers of control of all of its licenses and authorizations to the newly combined entity. Those applications are included on this public notice as well.
Interested parties must file petitions to deny no later than November 26, 2012. Persons and entities that file petitions to deny become parties to the proceeding. They may participate fully in the proceeding, including seeking access to any confidential information that may be filed under a protective order, seeking reconsideration of decisions, and filing appeals of a final decision to the courts. Oppositions to such pleadings must be filed no later than December 6, 2012. Replies to such pleadings must be filed no later than December 17, 2012. All filings concerning matters referenced in this Public Notice should refer to WT Docket No. 12-301 and reference the specific file numbers of the individual
applications to which the filings pertain.
benton.org/node/138031 | Federal Communications Commission
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LIFELINE
[SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: Jordan Malter]
One of America's fastest-growing wireless carriers is a company you've probably never heard of: Tracfone Wireless. It's the U.S. arm of a telecom empire controlled by the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, and it's the biggest player in an increasingly lucrative market: subsidized mobile phones for low-income Americans. The subsidy became a political flashpoint recently thanks to an incendiary YouTube video featuring a Cleveland resident praising her free "Obama phone." Hype from the Drudge Report and conservative ringleaders like Rush Limbaugh propelled the video to nearly 5 million pageviews. The real story behind the phones is more nuanced than the 45-second clip. The subsidy is from a government-created program called Lifeline, which is paid for by customer fees on most phone bills. The program is overseen by the Federal Communications Commission, and has its roots in a universal access initiative that began in 1985, during Ronald Reagan's administration.
Here's how it works.
benton.org/node/137961 | CNNMoney
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PRIVACY
DATA GATHERING APPS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Kevin O’Brien]
Applications like Angry Birds and even more innocuous-seeming software, like that which turns your phone into a flashlight, defines words or delivers Bible quotes, are collecting personal information, usually the user’s location and sex and the unique identification number of a smartphone. But in some cases, they cull information from contact lists and pictures from photo libraries. As the Internet goes mobile, privacy issues surrounding phone apps have moved to the front lines of the debate over what information can be collected, when and by whom. Next year, more people around the world will gain access to the Internet through mobile phones or tablet computers than from desktop PCs, according to Gartner, the research group. The shift has brought consumers into a gray legal area, where existing benton.org/node/138052 | New York Times
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YAHOO REJECT’S DO NOT TRACK REQUESTS
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
Yahoo said it will not recognize Microsoft's default 'do not track' signal on its new Internet Explorer browser. The Internet advertising community has just about had it with Microsoft's decision to set its DNT feature to "on" by default because it undercut an industry pledge to come up with an "opt-in" DNT feature by the end of the year. "In principle, we support 'Do Not Track (DNT). Unfortunately, because discussions have not yet resulted in a final standard for how to implement DNT, the current DNT signal can easily be abused. Recently, Microsoft unilaterally decided to turn on DNT in Internet Explorer 10 by default, rather than at users’ direction. In our view, this degrades the experience for the majority of users and makes it hard to deliver on our value proposition to them. It basically means that the DNT signal from IE10 doesn’t express user intent," Yahoo wrote in a blog post.
benton.org/node/138022 | AdWeek | Yahoo
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PATENTS
SAMSUNG-APPLE PATENTS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Paczkowski]
Apple has struck another blow against Samsung in the pair’s sprawling patent battle.
A U.S. International Trade Commission judge on Oct 24 ruled that Samsung infringed four of the six patents Apple asserted against it before the ITC. In his initial determination, ITC Judge Thomas Pender found that Samsung’s products violate Apple’s ’949, ’922, ’678, and ’501 patents. The first refers to touchscreen heuristics and lists Steve Jobs as an inventor; the second describes a “method and apparatus for providing translucent images on a computer display”; the third, elements of the iPhone’s design; and the last, “audio I/O headset plug and plug detection circuitry.” This is an initial determination, so Judge Pender’s findings still need to be approved by the ITC’s full six-member commission. And he did find in Samsung’s favor on two other patents. But, make no mistake, this is bad news for the company.
benton.org/node/137986 | Wall Street Journal | Washington Post
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SAMSUNG WINS IN DUTCH COURT
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Loek Essers]
Samsung's Galaxy devices don't infringe on an Apple multitouch patent that describes technology that prevents smartphone users from pushing two on-screen buttons at the same time, the Court of the Hague ruled. The technique used in Android is sufficiently different from Apple's patent, the judge said. "The court judges that Samsung with the trading of its Galaxy products does not infringe on EP 948," said judge Peter Blok and two other judges. "Apple, as the unsuccessful party, will be ordered to pay the litigation costs," the judges wrote. Samsung's costs already exceed $422,000. Apple sued Samsung in the Netherlands over a multitouch patent called "touch event model." The technology described in the patent disables parts of the screen of a multitouch device when an application developer deems it necessary to do so to avoid undesirable input.
benton.org/node/137868 | IDG News Service | WSJ
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JUSTICE INVESTIGATING SAMSUNG
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brent Kendall]
The Department of Justice is investigating whether Samsung has misused some of its mobile-device patents in ways that violate antitrust law, rival Apple said in a filing with the U.S. International Trade Commission. The department is investigating Samsung's use of patents that are deemed essential to wireless-technology standards adopted by the industry, Apple said. According to a person familiar with the probe, the department has been conducting the investigation for several months. The European Commission also has been investigating Samsung's patent conduct, a probe it announced in late January. The ITC is one of several legal bodies that are refereeing patent-infringement disputes between the two companies.
benton.org/node/137876 | Wall Street Journal
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OWNERSHIP
PENGUIN-RANDOM HOUSE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Gerrit Wiesmann, Mark Wembridge]
Bertelsmann, the German media company, and Pearson, its UK rival, are merging Random House and Penguin, their respective publishing units, in response to the rapidly developing challenges of the e-book revolution. In a move likely to trigger more consolidation, the companies said 53 percent of Penguin Random House would be owned by Bertelsmann, and the other 47 per cent held by Pearson, which also owns the Financial Times. Both media companies had agreed to hold their stakes for at least three years and it was likely that Bertelsman would seek to increase its shareholding thereafter, according to a person briefed by the German side. Both Bertelsmann and Pearson were also said to have the right to trigger an initial public offer after five years.
benton.org/node/138051 | Financial Times
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RANDOM HOUSE-PENGUIN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Amy Chozick, Eric Pfanner]
In an effort to stave off the challenge from online retailers in a rapidly changing market, two of the world’s largest book publishers, Random House and Penguin, are engaged in talks to combine their businesses. Pearson, the British media conglomerate that owns Penguin, said that it was discussing a potential deal with Random House’s owner, Bertelsmann of Germany. The merger, if completed, would create a combined entity that would control nearly 25 percent of the United States book market and feature an elite roster of authors like Dan Brown, Toni Morrison and John Grisham of Random House and Junot Diaz and Patricia Cornwell of Penguin. The potential consolidation comes as traditional publishers try to compete with dominant technology companies like Amazon, Apple and Google that have gained power in the e-book market. Lower prices offered by retailers like Amazon have put pressure on publishers to adjust their digital book strategy at a time when brick-and-mortar stores have been disappearing. A deal could signal a move toward further consolidation among the major publishers, much the way the music industry realigned itself as it made the painful transition to the digital marketplace.
benton.org/node/137988 | New York Times
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
SURVEILLANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Nearly seven years after the disclosure of President George W. Bush’s secret program of spying on Americans without a warrant, the Supreme Court is about to hear arguments on whether judges can even consider the constitutionality of doing this kind of dragnet surveillance without adequate rules to protect people’s rights. President Obama’s solicitor general, Donald Verrilli Jr., will be calling on the court to toss out the case based on a particularly cynical Catch-22: Because the wiretaps are secret and no one can say for certain that their calls have been or will be monitored, no one has standing to bring suit over the surveillance. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected that avoidance of accountability, and so should the Supreme Court.
benton.org/node/138054 | New York Times
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FACEBOOK INTELLIGENCE
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: John Hudson]
The Obama Administration came under fire after Reuters and Fox News reported that internal State Department e-mails revealed that an Islamic militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the Benghazi attacks on social media platforms, but Sec of State Hillary Clinton fired back saying U.S. intelligence isn't based on random Facebook posts. "Posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence," Sec Clinton said. "I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued for some time to be." She insisted that time was needed to parse out the conflicting evidence related to the Benghazi attack. "The independent accountability review board is already hard at work looking at everything, not cherry picking one story here or one document there, but looking at everything - which I highly recommend as the appropriate approach for something as complex as an attack like this," she said.
benton.org/node/137909 | Atlantic, The
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IT SAVINGS
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Zients]
Over the last six months, agencies across the Federal government have been undertaking a coordinated effort to scour their IT budgets to find unnecessary IT spending and develop a plan to root out waste. This effort – called PortfolioStat – has resulted in ambitious plans that will save the government $2.5 billion over the next three years through consolidating duplicative systems, buying in bulk, and ending or streamlining off-track projects. Under PortfolioStat, agencies have collected and analyzed baseline data on 13 specific types of commodity IT investments, spanning infrastructure, business systems, and enterprise IT. These areas have the most significant opportunities for reducing waste. OMB worked with agencies to review their data and compare their spending to other agencies and private sector benchmarks in order to assess the agency’s current state and develop a list of opportunities to reduce inefficiency, duplication, and unnecessary spending. Based on this analysis, agencies drafted PortfolioStat plans, which were then reviewed in Deputy-Secretary-led PortfolioStat sessions with the Federal Chief Information Officer.
benton.org/node/137870 | White House, The
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