Benton RSS Feed

A majority of Americans now own a smartphone of some kind. Our definition of a smartphone owner includes anyone who says “yes” to one—or both—of the following questions:

• 55% of cell phone owners say that their phone is a smartphone.
• 58% of cell phone owners say that their phone operates on a smartphone platform common to the U.S. market.
• Taken together, 61% of cell owners said yes to at least one of these questions and are classified as smartphone owners. Because 91% of the adult population now owns some kind of cell phone, that means that 56% of all American adults are now smartphone adopters. One third (35%) have some other kind of cell phone that is not a smartphone, and the remaining 9% of Americans do not own a cell phone at all.

A Q&A with former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski.

On network neutrality, he says, “One of the things that came out of the intense and loud public debate that we had in 2009 and 2010 was that we won the proposition that people have a right to send and receive information on the internet. We won another debate, which is that the government has a role in enforcing that right. That was also a controversial proposition. But by the end of the day, when we put the framework in place, it was supported by a very broad array of stakeholders including the bulk of companies both on the internet side and on the network side. I think people get it now, and I think more importantly, the business and social norms around internet openness are settling into the cement of the industry. The most important thing for people to understand is that the basic rule that people have a right to send information over the internet — even when they are using a wireless device — is part of the framework. If a carrier blocks a consumer's access to the internet, they are violating our rules.”

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is issuing this rule to provide information to the public about the Board’s organization, function, and operations.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (Board) was created as an independent agency within the executive branch by the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007. It has two primary purposes: (1) To analyze and review actions the executive branch takes to protect the United States from terrorism, ensuring that the need for such actions is balanced with the need to protect privacy and civil liberties; and (2) to ensure that liberty concerns are appropriately considered in the development and implementation of laws, regulations, and policies related to efforts to protect the Nation against terrorism.

If you live in one of the nearly 25 states that charge sales tax on digital goods or services you likely pay more for everything from downloaded music, e-books and ringtones to streaming TV shows and video. And a growing number of states are finding ways to tax our digital diversions.

While some states rely on existing sales tax laws, more than a dozen have enacted sales tax laws specifically targeting digital goods. As consumers switch to digital music, books and movies, many states discovered that they were losing out on valuable sales tax revenue and decided to do something about it, said Michael Mazerov, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit think tank. E-book sales, for example, rose 44% to $3.04 billion in 2012, according to the Association of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group. Meanwhile, digital music sales, were up 9.1%, with digital transactions making up a record 37% of all album purchases, according to Nielsen.