S. 21 Cybersecurity and American Cyber Competitiveness Act of 2013
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January 23, 2013
The latest comScore Mobile Metrix ranking of the top mobile apps by audience shows that Facebook finished the year strong to capture the #1 position from Google Maps.
Of course Apple’s decision to replace Google Maps with Apple Maps on iOS 6 also caused a decline in Google Maps usage in October, which is largely responsible for the position swap. Meanwhile, Google Maps has been clawing its way back the past few months after getting reinstated on iOS 6, so look for the competition for the #1 spot to heat up as we head into 2013. While tablets are gaining steam at a rapid clip, smartphone apps remain the key drivers of media consumption in the post-PC paradigm with the majority of mobile Internet access occurring from smartphones and 4 out of every 5 minutes on smartphones spent on apps. The app space is highly competitive and it’s getting more and more important every day for media brands to ensure they are carving out that valuable real estate on consumers’ screens.
Facebook Vaults Ahead of Google Maps to Finish 2012 as #1 U.S. Mobile App
January 23, 2013
Google nearly doubled its lobbying spending in 2012 as it came under the microscope of antitrust regulators.
The Internet giant spent $16.48 million trying to influence Washington policymakers last year, according to disclosure forms. The company spent $9.68 million on lobbying in 2011. Its spending in the fourth quarter was actually down slightly from previous periods. The company spent $3.35 million in the final three months of 2012, compared with $3.76 million in the same period in 2011.
Google spent $16.5 million on lobbying as it fended off antitrust probe
January 23, 2013
A coalition of leading Senate Democrats said that enacting legislation to better protect the nation's critical computer systems from hackers will be a priority in 2013.
Senate Republicans blocked a vote on the president's preferred cybersecurity bill in 2012, warning that it would burden businesses and do little to improve security. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) introduced a bill stating that gaps in cybersecurity "pose one of the most serious and rapidly growing threats to both the national security and the economy of the United States." The resolution is co-sponsored by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Chris Coons (D-DE).
Democrats: Cybersecurity legislation a priority in new Congress Cybersecurity and 5 American Cyber Competitiveness Act of 2013 (read the bill) Comprehensive Cybersecurity Bill Will Be Priority This Congress (Chairman Rockefeller)
January 23, 2013
A total of 20.552 million viewers tuned in on 18 separate television networks to watch coverage of the second inauguration of President Barack Obama, the Nielsen Company reported.
The number, which measured the hours between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. January 21, was down sharply from the 37.793 million Nielsen recorded for Obama’s first inauguration in 2009. That was the second-highest total since Nielsen began its accounting for television viewership of the event in 1969. The highest number was recorded in 1981 for the first inauguration of Ronald Reagan. Second inaugurations are generally watched by fewer viewers, though Richard Nixon added viewers for his second in 1973, which came as the Watergate scandal was beginning to heat up. Obama’s second inauguration fared far better than that of his predecessor, George W. Bush, which drew only 15.536 million viewers, easily the smallest number recorded by Nielsen. It was, however, slightly lower than the viewing number for the second inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1997, which Nielsen reported at 21.583 million. The audience for this year’s event now stands as the second-lowest on Nielsen’s list for inaugurations since 1969.
More Than 20 Million Viewers Watched Coverage of Inauguration Obama's Second Inauguration Draws 20.6 Million Viewers (B&C)
January 23, 2013
All 100 senators in the 113th Congress will be tweeting. That’s a huge increase from the opening of the 112th Congress in 2011 when only 44 senators were tweeting. Twitter also boasts 398 House members with accounts. All of the senators -- or usually their staffs, of course -- are tweeting at least several times a week but, more importantly, a solid proportion of those tweets include content that would actually be valuable to people following the senators’ activities, such as links to legislation the lawmaker introduced, notes on committee work and alerts about media appearances.
An Entire Senate on Twitter. Really
January 23, 2013
The latest data from Akamai shows that the number of broadband connections over 10 Mbps -- what Akamai dubs “high broadband” -- has grown by 73 percent from the third quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of 2012.
The country has also see a 20 percent overall increase in average speed to 7.2 Mbps over the past year, but the number of people who have adopted broadband (measured at anything above 4 Mbps) was 62 percent, which puts the U.S. at No. 12 in the worldwide rankings when it comes to adoption and No. 9 when it comes to average speeds. The rest of the world is faring well, too, in terms of boosting speeds. The fastest countries in the world when measured by average speeds are South Korea and Japan. And as you can see from the chart below, South Korea has managed to get over half of its population buying speeds of 10 Mbps or more. The U.S. is more in line with the global average, but has seen a significant boost in high broadband adoption. What the latest version of the Akamai report shows is how much difference there can be in broadband quality even within countries.
State of the Internet: The broadband future is faster, but still unevenly distributed
January 23, 2013
Even before the World Conference on International Telecommunications took place last month in Dubai, Internet activists anticipated trouble. So did Congress, which issued a resolution calling it “essential” that the Internet remain “stable, secure and free from governmental control.” The worries proved prescient.
The conference, which supposedly was going to modernize some ancient regulations, instead offered a treaty that in the eyes of some critics would have given repressive states permission to crack down on dissent. The United States delegate refused to sign it. Fifty-four other countries, including Canada, Peru, Japan and most of Western Europe, voted no as well. The OpenNet Initiative estimates that about a third of Internet users live in countries that engage in “substantive” or “pervasive” blocking of Internet content. They tended to be among the 89 countries that signed the treaty, including Russia, Cambodia, Iran, China, Cuba, Egypt and Angola. Those in favor of a free and open Internet have long had a problem with the International Telecommunication Union, the affiliate of the United Nations that ran the conference. They see the I.T.U., which dates back to 1865, as longing for the pre-Internet era, when its influence and fortunes were greater. As a result, activists think, the I.T.U. has become aligned with, and a tool of, countries that desire more governmental control over public speech. In the wake of the Dubai meeting, there are renewed calls to scale back United States financing of the I.T.U. drastically. The logic is, why are taxpayers supporting an organization whose motives they oppose?
Keeping the Internet Safe From Governments
January 23, 2013
If the Federal Communications Commission were to try to classify Internet access service under title II common carrier regulations, it would be a "major disruption in the relationship between Congress and the FCC," House Communications Subcommittee Greg Walden (R-OR) warned.
"I hope they would not proceed down that path." Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Chairman Walden was responding to a question about what the FCC would do if a federal court overturned the FCC's current open Internet rules. While the FCC did not pursue Title II classification in that compromise order, the docket remains open and Walden, along with a number of other Republicans and industry execs, believe that is so it remains an option if the court rules in favor of Verizon's challenge to the rules. He said for the FCC to classify the Internet as a common carrier would open the door for states to do the same thing. Chairman Walden said no bill to give the FCC power to regulate the Internet would come out "on his watch."
Chairman Walden: FCC Title II Move Would Disrupt Relationship With Congress
January 23, 2013
Two House subcommittees will hold a joint hearing next month to examine international efforts to regulate the Internet. Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), chairman of the House subcommittee on Communications and Technology, told reporters that his panel will hold the hearing on Feb. 5 with the House Foreign Affairs Committee's subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade. Chairman Walden said he is "very concerned" about the outcome of the International Telecommunications Union conference in Dubai last month. He said the hearing will examine "what the American policy should be going forward to make sure the Internet is free from legacy regulation and from countries that have a different view about democracy and freedom."
Joint hearing planned on international Internet regulation House Subcommittee Hearing to Address Global Internet Governance (AdWeek)