Benton RSS Feed

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2013

Today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2013-06-14/
… also, expect a big broadband/spectrum announcement from the White House today (see below)

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   US Agencies Said to Swap Data With Thousands of Firms
   Secret Court Ruling Put Tech Companies in Data Bind
   Companies Push Back on Demands for Data
   Silicon Valley companies v. NSA opens a credibility gap - editorial
   Foreign Stakes Shield Two Phone Firms from Sweep
   Secret Surveillance Court May Reveal Some Secrets
   Here’s everything we know about PRISM to date [links to web]
   Why Your Metadata Is Your Every Move - analysis
   How the NSA’s Overstep Harms the Internet - analysis
   PRISM data collection draws attention to consumer data tracking
   Rep. Peter King: Punish journalists for leaks [links to web]
   FBI director suggests Fox reporter unlikely to be prosecuted [links to web]
   Snowden is lying, say chiefs of House Intelligence panel [links to web]
   Administration's phone surveillance broke the law, says Rep Conyers [links to web]
   Surveillance and Its Discontents - WSJ editorial [links to web]
   Open Data is Re-defining Government in the 21st Century - op-ed
   Jordan's Web policy mistake - op-ed

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   White House Investing $100 Million in Government Spectrum Initiative
   FirstNet allows more time for BTOP spectrum-lease negotiations
   Apple, Samsung Take Steps to Combat Cellphone Theft but Pressed to Do More [links to web]
   SoftBank, Sprint Say Dish Broken Pledge Claim Is Nonsense
   Cellular iPads consume 3x the mobile data as smartphones [links to web]
   Why Regulators Will Like ViaSat Satellite Voice and Broadband Offering [links to web]

TELECOM
   Proposed Third Quarter 2013 Universal Service Contribution Factor – 15.1% - public notice [links to web]
   FCC Announces Workshop on Reforming Inmate Calling Services - public notice
   FCC Releases Local Telephone Competition Report - research [links to web]
   Why Regulators Will Like ViaSat Satellite Voice and Broadband Offering [links to web]

TELEVISION
   Broadcasters Find Strength in Numbers
   Gannett Agrees to Buy Belo for $1.5 Billion
   Disney Says No Bundling In Carriage Deals, DirecTV Claims A la Carte Isn't Economical

CONTENT
   Key Apple executive defends company at e-book price-fixing trial
   BMI Sues Pandora Over Fees

CHILDREN AND MEDIA
   Nearly two-thirds of American parents monitor kids on Facebook [links to web]

EDUCATION
   Study Gauges Value of Technology in Schools

JOURNALISM
   Nonprofit news organizations: some want government subsidy [links to web]
   Bloomberg Reporters’ Practices Become Crucial Issue for Company
   Venerable Format of ‘NewsHour’ Struggles With New Era of Media

ADVERTISING
   Google Takes Majority Of Mobile Ads, Facebook Closest Rival [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   US Secretary of Energy creates cybersecurity council [links to web]
   Former White House CTO Aneesh Chopra loses primary bid for Virginia lieutenant governor [links to web]
   House Commerce Committee Hearing Room to be Named after Distinguished Former Chairman John D. Dingell [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Google faces Brussels probe over Android licensing
   UK Committee Says Google Avoids Tax
   Jordan's Web policy mistake - op-ed

MORE ONLINE
   The GOP's digital opportunity - op-ed [links to web]

back to top

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

DATA SWAPS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Michael Riley]
Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said. The role of private companies has come under intense scrutiny since his disclosure this month that the NSA is collecting millions of U.S. residents’ telephone records and the computer communications of foreigners from Google and other Internet companies under court order. Many of these same Internet and telecommunications companies voluntarily provide U.S. intelligence organizations with additional data, such as equipment specifications, that don’t involve private communications of their customers, the four people said. Makers of hardware and software, banks, Internet security providers, satellite telecommunications companies and many other companies also participate in the government programs. In some cases, the information gathered may be used not just to defend the nation but to help infiltrate computers of its adversaries. Along with the NSA, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and branches of the U.S. military have agreements with such companies to gather data that might seem innocuous but could be highly useful in the hands of U.S. intelligence or cyber warfare units, according to the people, who have either worked for the government or are in companies that have these accords.
benton.org/node/153979 | Bloomberg
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

TECH COMPANIES IN BIND
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Claire Cain Miller]
Lawyers who handle national security requests for tech companies say they rarely fight in court, but frequently push back privately by negotiating with the government, even if they ultimately have to comply. In addition to Yahoo, which fought disclosures under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, other companies, including Google, Twitter, smaller communications providers and a group of librarians, have fought in court elements of National Security Letters, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation uses to secretly collect information about Americans. Last year, the government issued more than 1,850 FISA requests and 15,000 National Security Letters. FISA requests can be as broad as seeking court approval to ask a company to turn over information about the online activities of people in a certain country. Between 2008 and 2012, only two of 8,591 applications were rejected, according to data gathered by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit research center in Washington. Without obtaining court approval, intelligence agents can then add more specific requests — like names of individuals and additional Internet services to track — every day for a year. National Security Letters are limited to the name, address, length of service and toll billing records of a service’s subscribers.
benton.org/node/153977 | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

COMPANIES PUSH BACK
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Evelyn Rusli, Amir Efrati]
At least two major Silicon Valley companies routinely push back on demands from federal authorities for customer Internet data in an attempt to minimize the information released, said people familiar with the process. At Google, senior lawyers carefully examine each order by hand, and when they think the requests are too far-reaching they contest them, said a person familiar with the practice, who added the company's approach to classified and unclassified requests is the same. Facebook reviews each request or order, whether from local, federal or foreign governments, and "we frequently reject such requests outright, or require the government to scale down its requests, or require the government to provide additional information about the legal basis for its requests," a spokeswoman said. While the practices of other companies aren't known, the latest disclosures show that the systems used by some Silicon Valley companies to respond to government data demands contrast with earlier reports that suggested such orders resulted in the indiscriminate and automated vacuuming of vast amounts of customer information.
benton.org/node/153975 | Wall Street Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

SILICON VALLEY V. NSA
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Silicon Valley has a problem. The furor over the Obama administration's use of technology to track possible terrorists has cast a spotlight on the private information Valley companies collect. The question is: Is government's disclosure of its use of data for national security more important than companies' disclosure of how they're using even more intensely personal information for profit? Silicon Valley companies may fade from the NSA debate, which now rages in multiple directions. But Americans' legitimate privacy concerns will not disappear. Bringing sunshine to the information collected online is the best way for companies to maintain consumers' trust. They shouldn't need a law to do it.
benton.org/node/153973 | San Jose Mercury News
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

FOREIGN STAKES SHIELD T-MOBILE AND VERIZON WIRELESS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Danny Yadron, Evan Perez]
The National Security Agency's controversial data program, which seeks to stockpile records on all calls made in the U.S., doesn't collect information directly from T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, in part because of their foreign ownership ties, people familiar with the matter said. The blind spot for U.S. intelligence is relatively small, according to a U.S. official. Officials believe they can still capture information, or metadata, on 99% of U.S. phone traffic because nearly all calls eventually travel over networks owned by U.S. companies that work with the NSA. Nonetheless, the decision to exclude companies with overseas ties could present future challenges for the U.S. government as long as such investors continue to play a large role in operating the country's telecom infrastructure. The nation's other two nationwide wireless carriers, AT&T and Sprint Nextel, have long cooperated with the government, people familiar with the matter said.
benton.org/node/153971 | Wall Street Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

COURT MAY REVEAL SOME SECRETS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Somini Sengupta]
The secret court that adjudicates national security-related information requests lifted the veil on its operations a tiny bit, ruling that portions of one of its earlier opinions could be disclosed to the public. The ruling came in a case by the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation. It had pressed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow one of its opinions to be disclosed under a Freedom of Information Act request. The government argued that there is good reason to keep the case sealed. The court said it saw no reason to prohibit disclosing the documents sought under the Freedom of Information request. It left it to a federal court in the District of Columbia to make a ruling on the specific Freedom of Information Act litigation. In other words, the court said it would not stand in the way of another court, if it ruled in favor of the organization’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
benton.org/node/153947 | New York Times | ars technica | National Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

METADATA IS YOUR EVERY MOVE
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Elspeth Reeve]
The metadata that the National Security Agency collects on all calls in the U.S. is not just what's on a phone bill, as the program's supporters have claimed. Your phone bill lists some of the same things the NSA's collecting — numbers dialed, length of all — but does not list the geolocation of each of your calls. It is that final piece of data — where you made your calls — that tells the government everything about your life. The government doesn't need to listen to your calls. Because it already knows where you are, and that does matter. In a paper published in Nature's Scientific Reports last year, MIT researchers found that with cell phone call metadata from 1.5 million anonymous people, they could identify a person easily with just four phone calls. As Foreign Policy's Joshua Keating explains, they didn't need names, addresses, or phone numbers. They only used time of the call and the closest cell tower.
benton.org/node/153933 | Atlantic, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

NSA HARMING INTERNET?
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Sean Meloy]
[Commentary] One might think that recent allegations that the NSA is spying on everyone’s internet activity and phone records is just a privacy issue, but it is also an affront to the free flow of information on the internet and jeopardizes our ability to promote the ideals of an open internet abroad. Any massive collection of information on internet activity, whether it be incidental or directed, is bound to cause some internet users to change their activity. That is wrong. People, both internationally and in the US, shouldn’t have to think twice about what they do, where they go, and what they say on the internet out of fear that the government may be watching. People will now be hesitant to use and create new things, and because of that, the growth of the internet as tool for creativity, innovation and democratic discourse will be stunted. Public Knowledge fights against threats to free speech and innovation on the internet. This overreach by the NSA has the potential to do just that; so naturally Public Knowledge is working to stop it.
benton.org/node/153931 | Public Knowledge
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

CONSUMER DATA TRACKING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Caitlin Dewey]
Everyone is up in arms about PRISM, the National Security Agency program that allegedly gave the government access to several Internet companies’ servers. But when you go to a news site to read about PRISM, you’re watched by dozens of commercial data trackers, mostly marketing or analytics firms and advertising networks. The hubbub over the government’s secret data program has renewed the scrutiny of all forms of data mining, both the government and private varieties. Programs like PRISM ostensibly target potential terrorists. But commercial data mining has a much broader mandate: Sell stuff to people by targeting ads based on where they go and what they do online. As a result, consumers are increasingly watched by third parties no matter where they browse the Web. When privacy advocates discuss commercial data tracking, they’re usually referring to a wide range of activities — from data brokers like Acxiom, which aggregates online and offline shopping habits, to services like the Google display network, which tracks browsing data to serve up relevant ads. There are significant and important differences between commercial and government tracking. Chief among them is that companies are subject to market pressures, while the government is not. Still, many users are unaware of the breadth of tracking by commercial data miners, another anxiety for privacy advocates who see big data eroding consumer rights online.
benton.org/node/153941 | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

OPEN DATA IS RE-DEFINING GOVERNMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Kevin Merritt]
[Commentary] Perhaps it’s the constrained fiscal reality, punctuated by threats of government shut-downs. Or maybe it’s the ideological wars in Washington, playing out most recently in the battle over privacy and security sparked by revelations about the PRISM surveillance program. Whatever the reasons, the public sector in the 21st century gets a bad rap. As Tim O’Reilly, the founder of O’Reilly Media, has said, government is seen by legions of citizens from coast to coast as a bloated and inefficient ATM that takes in taxes and delivers mediocre services in return. Even a muscular liberal like Paul Krugman of The New York Times calls the federal bureaucracy “an insurance company with an army.” But a new movement, spurred by digital and social activism, is taking root to renovate and redefine the public sector. This movement is based on democratizing the vast treasure trove of data that governments have accumulated over the years, transparently releasing it so citizens and companies can drive meaningful change and solve problems that government, on its own, cannot solve. [Merritt is the founder and CEO of Socrata, a Seattle-based cloud software company focused exclusively on democratizing access to government data]
benton.org/node/153917 | nextgov
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

$100M BROADBAND INITIATIVE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
On June 14, the White House will announce a $100 million, multi-prong initiative to free up more government spectrum via spectrum sharing and spectrum efficiency that could also allow for relinquishing spectrum. At the same time, the Administration is releasing a report promoting the advances and investment in broadband under the Obama Administration. The new initiatives include a Presidential directive to federal agencies "to enhance the efficiency of their use of spectrum and make more capacity available to satisfy the skyrocketing demand of consumer and business broadband users." The memorandum creates a White House-based Spectrum Policy Team to oversee implementation and make further recommendations. The President is also pledging $100 million in R&D support. By September, the National Science Foundation will award $23 million in spectrum-sharing research and development grants and DARPA will announce the first of a planned $60 million in contracts for federal spectrum sharing efforts over the next five years. The National Telecommunications & Information Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology will spend another $17.5 million on spectrum and advanced communications research and to encourage more public-private collaboration.
benton.org/node/153967 | Broadcasting&Cable
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

FIRSTNET SPECTRUM NEGOTIATIONS
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Tammy Parker]
More than a year after work was halted on seven public-safety LTE networks, negotiations with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) for spectrum lease agreements that are needed to restart the programs remain unresolved. FirstNet announced that it extended the negotiation period for 700 MHz spectrum lease agreements through July 12, which is five months after it first authorized such discussions. On Feb.12, 2013, FirstNet's board authorized Sue Swenson to cut deals with seven Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) public-safety funding recipients over a 90-day period. On May 8, the board extended the negotiation period through June 12. However, Swenson, a FirstNet board member, subsequently reported that she and each of the recipients have concluded that an additional 30-day extension of the negotiation period is necessary.
benton.org/node/153899 | Fierce
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

DISH CLAIM “NONSENSE”
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Scott Moritz, Todd Shields]
SoftBank and its takeover target Sprint Nextel told regulators that rival suitor Dish Network’s complaint of a broken pledge requiring fresh regulatory scrutiny of the deal is “nonsensical.” “There is no factual or legal basis for Dish’s arguments,” the companies said in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, the last U.S. agency scrutinizing the $21.6 billion transaction. Mobile operator SoftBank, based in Tokyo, in a revised offer this week cut the amount of capital devoted to the new business to $5 billion from $8 billion, Dish lawyer Pantelis Michalopoulos said in a filing. The agreement also may prevent a U.S. company from acquiring a substantial portion of Sprint, Michalopoulos said. The changes require fresh analysis at the Federal Communications Commission, he said. SoftBank’s proposed investment in third-largest U.S. wireless carrier Sprint remains substantial, the companies said in their filing. “There is no basis for the commission to open a new public comment period or otherwise delay its review,” they said. “Dish’s claim that the adoption of a stockholder’s rights plan requires commission review because that plan would restrict U.S. ownership of Sprint is nonsensical,” the companies said in their filing. Nothing in the plan “says anything about whether U.S. citizens or corporations can own Sprint stock.”
benton.org/node/153923 | Bloomberg
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

TELECOM

FCC ANNOUNCES WORKSHOP ON REFORMING INMATE CALLING SERVICES RATES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
On December 28, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the matter of Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services to “consider whether changes to our rules are necessary to ensure just and reasonable [inmate calling services or ICS] rates for interstate, long distance calling at publicly- and privately-administered correctional facilities.” To gather additional data on inmate calling services, the Commission will hold a workshop on Wednesday, July 10, 2013, in the Commission Meeting Room (TW-C305), 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20554. This workshop will focus, among other things, on the impact of current ICS rates on inmates and their families, a review of state reforms of ICS rates, and a discussion regarding the cost of providing service and how to balance the needs of consumers and correctional facilities.
benton.org/node/153921 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairwoman Clyburn
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

TELEVISION

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Miriam Gottfried]
Investors are getting the news: There is value for broadcasters in joining forces. Gannett's announcement that it would acquire Belo Corp. for $1.5 billion, plus the assumption of $715 million in debt, is the latest example of consolidation among local-station owners. Among other recent moves: Sinclair Broadcast Group's April agreement to buy Fisher Communications and Media General's deal to merge with Young Broadcasting. This underscores that bigger is better when it comes negotiating with TV networks and pay-TV providers. With Gannett and Belo, for example, the combination is expected to generate around $175 million in annual synergies within three years, with much of that coming from more favorable agreements with content owners and pay-TV distributors. Indeed, the acquisition would almost double the number of stations owned by Gannett, perhaps better known as a publisher than a broadcaster. It is already the No. 1 NBC-affiliate group. Owning the Belo stations will make it the No. 1 CBS-affiliate group and the No. 4 ABC-affiliate group.
benton.org/node/153957 | Wall Street Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

GANNETT-BELO
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael De La Merced, Brian Stelter]
The Gannett Company agreed to buy the Belo Corporation for about $1.5 billion in cash, in a deal that almost doubles Gannett’s television operations. The takeover is a move by Gannett to diversify its media operations at a time when traditional print media continues to struggle. The company said the transaction would increase its television portfolio to 43 stations from 23, while its revenue from digital and broadcasting operations would make up two-thirds of its pro forma earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The deal is the biggest local television station sale in about a decade and comes amid of a wave of consolidation in the industry. One of Gannett’s rivals, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, is currently acquiring two smaller station owners. Mark Fratrik, a vice president and chief economist for BIA/Kelsey, said that the Belo acquisition would vault Gannett past Sinclair and become the No. 3 local station owner in the United States in terms of revenues. The No. 1 owner is the News Corporation, which owns 27 stations as well as the Fox broadcast network; No. 2 is the CBS Corporation, which owns 29. Local station owners like Gannett have several strategic reasons to want to get bigger. Along with obvious efficiencies behind the scenes, bigger companies tend to have more leverage when they negotiate with cable and satellite distributors for retransmission fees — the broadcast equivalent to the per-subscriber fees that cable channels receive. These fees, although a relatively new revenue source, have become vitally important to stations as they try to stave off ratings declines.
Gannett owns newspapers in Phoenix and Tucson (AZ), Portland (OR) and Louisville (KY) — all markets where it's adding Belo stations. The Belo stations include KTVK in Phoenix, KMOV in St. Louis, KGW in Portland (OR), WHAS in Louisville (KY), and KMSB-KTTU in Tucson. Gannett already owns KPNX in Phoenix and KSDK in St. Louis and thus face broadcast market overlap issues in those two markets, as well as newspaper cross-ownership concerns. The solution: Bring in a sidecar company as owner of the affected stations and enter into joint sales agreements and shared service agreements with that sidecar company.
benton.org/node/153915 | New York Times | TVNewsCheck
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

CABLE BUNDLING
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: David Goetzl]
A top Disney executive told a Congressional subcommittee that the company does not require distributors to carry low-rated networks in order to gain access to popular ones. But a DirecTV executive said there is an element of bundling involved in negotiations, including with penetration requirements. “I’ve signed three affidavits attesting to the fact that we do not employ what is commonly known as tying,” said Ben Pyne, president of global distribution at Disney Media Networks. Without referring to Disney in particular, DirecTV Executive Vice President Mike Palkovic said large programmers offer the satellite operator a single price for all of their channels (including local stations). If it wanted to carry selected ones, it would not be economical, he said.
benton.org/node/153901 | MediaPost
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

CONTENT

APPLE’S DEFENSE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Apple executive Eddy Cue vigorously argued before a federal judge that the company did not try to hurt tech rivals by illegally pushing the publishing industry to adopt an anti-competitive e-books price program. Instead Cue, the head of content and iTunes for Apple, portrayed the firm as singularly focused on its own foray into the e-books market that was dominated by rival Amazon. Apple customers got “great prices, great selection, at a better bookstore,” Cue said in response to Justice Department prosecutors at the Manhattan U.S. District Court. He was asked whether in the six weeks of negotiations with publishing executives in December 2009 and January 2010 he ever spoken about getting publishers to change their price plans with Amazon. Cue repeatedly rejected the notion. “No, we talked about moving Apple,” he said.
benton.org/node/153911 | Washington Post | The Verge | Fortune
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

BMI SUES PANDORA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Hannah Karp]
Broadcast Music Inc., or BMI, filed a lawsuit in federal court against Internet radio giant Pandora Media over Pandora's attempt to lower its royalty obligations by buying a tiny radio station in South Dakota to qualify for the lower rates that terrestrial radio broadcasters pay to use music online. BMI is asking a federal "rate court"—a part of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan that sets music royalty fees when the parties involved can't agree—to determine the rates that Pandora must pay BMI members to use their work. The suit marks the first time that BMI has resorted to litigation over Internet music services. The suit comes two days after Pandora announced it had made a deal to buy KXMZ-FM, a radio station in Rapid City (SD) Pandora had said it believed that the move would allow it to pay the reduced rates that terrestrial radio broadcasters such as Clear Channel Communications pay to use music on their digital services, such as Clear Channel's iHeartRadio. In its lawsuit, BMI, which collects royalties for music publishers and songwriters when their works are played in public, called Pandora's radio-station acquisition a "stunt" and a "brazen effort to artificially drive down its license fees." BMI and its rival, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or Ascap, say that Internet radio doesn't benefit music-rights holders in the same way that terrestrial radio does. In the suit, BMI said it is willing to accept a lower royalty rate from terrestrial radio stations' online services because they pay such significant fees for on-air broadcasts.
benton.org/node/153959 | Wall Street Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

EDUCATION

TECH IN SCHOIOLS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Motoko Rich]
With school districts rushing to buy computers, tablets, digital white boards and other technology, a new report questions whether the investment is worth it. In a review of student survey data conducted in conjunction with the federal exams known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the nonprofit Center for American Progress found that middle school math students more commonly used computers for basic drills and practice than to develop sophisticated skills. The report also found that no state was collecting data to evaluate whether technology investments were actually improving student achievement. “Schools frequently acquire digital devices without discrete learning goals and ultimately use these devices in ways that fail to adequately serve students, schools, or taxpayers,” wrote Ulrich Boser, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and the author of the report. The analysis of the NAEP data found that 34 percent of eighth graders who took the math exams in 2011 used computers to “drill on math facts” while less than a quarter worked with spreadsheets or geometric figures on the computer. Only 17 percent used statistical programs. The federal survey data showed striking differences among racial groups and income levels. More than half of the black students who took the eighth-grade math exam in 2011 said they used computers to work on math drills, while only 30 percent of white students said they did. Similarly, 41 percent of students eligible for free and reduced lunches said they used computers for math drills, compared with 29 percent of students whose families earn too much for them to qualify for the lunches.
benton.org/node/153965 | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

JOURNALISM

BLOOMBERG PRACTICES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Amy Chozick]
Most journalists dream of uncovering government corruption, landing a big interview or winning a Pulitzer Prize. But those are not the goals that Thomas F. Secunda, who co-founded Bloomberg L.P. in 1982 with Michael R. Bloomberg, has in mind. “The only journalism that matters is the kind that moves markets,” Secunda told the senior staff of Bloomberg News during a recent discussion in the seventh-floor auditorium of the company’s Lexington Avenue headquarters, according to one former Bloomberg journalist in attendance. The question of how exactly some of those Bloomberg reporters may have uncovered market-moving information has become a critical one for the company. In April, Goldman Sachs complained that a reporter had monitored an executive’s activities on the Bloomberg machine, the ubiquitous financial terminal that contains a mind-boggling array of information about economies, companies, markets and people, including Bloomberg’s own customers. The revelation prompted inquiries from more than 20 customers, including Bank of America, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and the European Central Bank. Daniel L. Doctoroff, chief executive of Bloomberg, apologized, calling the reporting practice a “mistake.” Interviews with more than 30 current and former Bloomberg employees paint a picture of an aggressive, hyperkinetic organization that not only tolerated but encouraged an unusual symbiotic relationship between the company’s news operation and its business interests, including the use of the terminals to break news. Many of these reporters say they routinely used the terminal’s function, called the UUID command, to find background information on subscribers, including contact information, when the subscriber had last logged on, and weekly statistics on how often customers used a particular function, like equity shares or currency markets.
benton.org/node/153963 | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

NEWSHOUR STRUGGLES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Jensen]
For many of its 38 years, the sober studio-interview format of the “PBS NewsHour” has served the program well, drawing viewers and corporate underwriters alike. But with a deep financing crisis forcing layoffs and other cutbacks, some public television employees believe that format — and a general unwillingness to embrace the digital realities facing journalism — may be jeopardizing the program’s future. “NewsHour” came under criticism in a confidential May 2012 report commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the program’s major supporters in recent years, that concluded bluntly that the program needed to aggressively “modernize news gathering production.” The report stressed the need for a major reorganization that included developing new digital platforms and clarifying its editorial focus. It also said more “decision-making transparency” was needed from MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, the profit-making company that co-produces the program for PBS. (The company is controlled by Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil, its founding anchors. Washington public television station WETA is the other producer.)
benton.org/node/153961 | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

STORIES FROM ABROAD

ANDROID LICENSING
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Daniel Thomas, Alex Barker]
Google is facing an investigation by European authorities into allegations that it supported the leading Android smartphone platform and its mobile services by means of cut-price licensing and exclusivity deals. According to documents seen by the Financial Times, the Brussels antitrust watchdog has focused on allegedly anti-competitive deals struck between the US technology company and smartphone providers. The informal probe, which is at a preliminary stage, follows recent complaints by companies including Microsoft and Nokia, which make the rival Windows phone range. These allegations include the licensing of Android software “below cost”, according to the documents, and “potential requests by Google to cancel and/or delay the launch of smartphone devices” based on competing operating systems or shipped with rival mobile services. The commission will also consider whether Google imposed exclusivity agreements with mobile device makers regarding the pre-installation and placement of Google’s various mobile services that are typically supplied with Android devices, such as YouTube.
benton.org/node/153925 | Financial Times | WSJ
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

GOOGLE’S UK TAXES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ainsley Thomson]
Google has aggressively avoided paying corporation tax in Britain and its reputation won't be restored until it begins to pay what is due, a UK parliamentary committee said, in the latest sign that governments around the world are stepping up scrutiny of the tax affairs of multinational firms. In a strongly worded 64-page report, the public affairs committee also criticized the U.K. tax authority, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, for failing to challenge Google about its "highly contrived" tax arrangement and called on it to fully investigate the Internet giant. The committee, made up of lawmakers from the U.K.'s main political parties, said tax avoidance by multinational firms was illustrative of wider problems and urged the government to strengthen HMRC and simplify the tax code so there are fewer loopholes for the firms to exploit. It also criticized the main accountancy firms for helping their clients use the loopholes and establish artificial tax structures.
benton.org/node/153913 | Wall Street Journal | GigaOm
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

JORDAN’S WEB POLICY MISTAKE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Schenker]
[Commentary] This month, Jordan blocked local access to about 300 domestic websites. Ironically, this action coincided with the rollout of Abdullah's "democratic empowerment" project. Putting aside the incongruous timing, the assault on Internet freedom had been legislated months ago. Still, not surprisingly, publishers of these websites accused the palace of implementing the law now to silence dissent. After all, many of the blocked sites are critical of the government and focus reportage and commentary on anti-government demonstrations, news of the tribal opposition movement known as the Hirak and alleged corruption. During a protest outside the journalists union headquarters June 3, Basil Okoor, the publisher of jo24.net — whose site is among those blocked — described the government measures as "political and not legal," and warned that "tomorrow, the state will extend its powers over print journalism." Given the ongoing turmoil in the region, it would be unwise to press for radical political reform in Jordan now. Indeed, the majority of Jordanians are not clamoring for such change. But rolling back the nation's already limited freedoms is not a recipe for enhanced stability. As Abdullah works to insulate Jordan from domestic and foreign threats, the last thing he needs — at home and abroad — is to associate his benign and traditionally enlightened monarchy with the region's most repressive regimes.
benton.org/node/153949 | Los Angeles Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top