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AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and other major Internet service providers are set to implement a copyright alert system aimed at cutting down on illegal peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted material "over the next several weeks," according to the head of the organization overseeing the new anti-piracy program. "There are [implementation] dates in draft materials that are not set in stone and we don't want to create any expectations we can't meet, but we're really close and we'll start seeing alerts over the next several weeks," said Jill Lesser, the executive director of the Center for Copyright Information (CCI).
Internet providers set to crack down on illegal file-sharing
The House Commerce Committee has released documents, including e-mail exchanges, it collected from the Federal Communications Commission as part of the committee's investigation of LightSquared. The documents were the subject of a Sept. 21 hearing on the waiver process at which FCC staffers got tough questioning but no smoking guns from the FCC documents were proffered.
House Releases LightSquared Documents
It's this year's biggest technology acquisition and the largest outbound deal in Japan's history. But game-changing, it is not. Even if the SoftBank-Sprint deal succeeds, Sprint will still struggle to win customers in a market dominated by the twin towers of the U.S. mobile landscape - Verizon and AT&T - while T-Mobile and MetroPCS move to team up. That market dynamic will persist, analysts say. Analysts do not believe that the Sprint deal by itself can undermine the two U.S. market leaders' virtually unassailable position.
SoftBank deal's big on size, small on change
During a discussion at the Hudson Institute, new Federal Trade Commission member Maureen Ohlhausen voiced skepticism with the FTC’s call for new legislation to help safeguard online privacy, saying it could undermine the agency's other mission of promoting competition. She believes the FTC and Congress should examine the FTC's current authority and identify any holes before seeking new power to impose rules to protect online privacy. "Before seeking new privacy legislation, I think it is important to identify a gap in statutory authority or to identify a case of substantial consumer harm that we would like to address but can't within our existing authority," she said.
FTC Official Skeptical of Privacy Legislation
The University of Chicago and surrounding neighborhoods will be the first to benefit from Gigabit Squared’s ambitious plan to bring to gigabit broadband connectivity to college towns across the US.
Gigabit Squared has set aside $5 million for the Chicago project as part of its Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program in collaboration with partner Gig.U. The State of Illinois is kicking in $2 million, while the University of Chicago is committing $1 million now and plans to raise another $1 million in the surrounding communities. The first phase of the project will bring gigabit fiber connections to 4,825 homes, businesses, schools, libraries and healthcare institutions in the Hyde Park neighborhood U of C calls home, as well as surrounding communities. By bringing in the surrounding neighborhoods of Woodlawn, Washington Park and Kenwood, the project isn’t just targeting college students, professors and administrators. It’s covering a lot a lot of territory beyond the University’s direct sphere of influence. What’s more the project will expand outwards over the next four years taking in more neighborhoods. Eventually the project hopes to connect 210,000 residents living in 79,000 households with a combination of fiber and Wi-Fi technologies, as well as link 10,000 individual small businesses.
Gigabit Squared plans fiber broadband for Chicago’s south side State, U of C plan broadband push for South Side (Crain’s)
With cable ratings rising, research suggests fewer viewers are beginning their prime-time TV experience by checking out the broadcast networks first -- if they aren’t tuning into a particular program. Research from GfK shows the percentage of viewers (18-49) who cite a broadcast channel as one of the top three they turn to has dropped from 49% in 2008 to 42% this year. Those mentioning a cable network among the first three has risen from 80% to 85% over the same period. The results come from an online survey.
Viewers Check Cable First, Then Broadcast
For a second year in a row, Rupert Murdoch faced shareholder critics of his News Corporation at the company’s annual meeting. And for a second year in a row their proposals for management changes were shot down.
Murdoch Prevails Over Protests at News Corp. Annual Meeting
[Commentary] From April 10 to Sept. 20, an estimated $29.2 million has been spent on third-party presidential ads containing at least one claim flagged as deceptive by fact-checking organizations including FactCheck.org This number represents 27.8 percent of dollars spent on third-party presidential television advertising during that period. Denver is among the targets of the resulting ad tsunami, with CU News Corp reporting more than $27.8 million spent on 26,081 political ads run on the four largest stations in the Denver market through Oct. 5. Broadcasters have two tools to protect viewers. First, although they have to air even blatantly false ads by federal candidates, stations have the unquestioned right to reject third-party ones outright and to insist on the accuracy of those they choose to air. However, since third-party advertisers pay up to four times more than candidates for the same time slots, some stations are reluctant to exercise these rights. But a second option exists in the form of on-air and online journalism that debunks deception.
Denver newsrooms tops in fact-checking
A federal agency has launched a review into allegations that the city of Richmond submitted erroneous reports as part of a nearly $400,000 federal stimulus grant aimed at encouraging broadband use among minorities and low-income residents.
In an interview, Katy Curl, the city’s Library and Cultural Services director, acknowledged that her department could not document $57,000 worth of in-kind services, such as electricity and phone bills, it claimed to have provided over the past two fiscal years as part of the program. “We used the numbers in good faith that they were correct,” Curl said. “As we looked back, it wasn’t a number that could be verified.” Prompted by a whistle-blower complaint from a finance manager in the city’s Library and Cultural Services Department, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration began reviewing the city’s handling of the grant this month. The grant is part of a $4.7 billion program to improve the nation’s broadband system. The whistle-blower declined to be named for fear of jeopardizing her job prospects. It does not appear that any federal funds have gone missing.
Richmond's Handling of Stimulus Grant Under Federal Review
In the early 1990s, Turner Broadcasting System, was in the forefront of place-based media. It started networks, broadcasting programming and commercials, that included the Checkout Channel, in supermarkets; CNN Accent Health, in doctors’ offices; CNN Airport Network; CNN College Television Network, now the MTVU unit of Viacom; and McDTV, inside McDonald’s restaurants.
At the time, the idea of encouraging consumers to watch TV in locations where television was not usually watched was somewhat controversial, particularly because of the introduction of sponsored programs in classrooms by Whittle Communications under the Channel One banner. Critics complained that the screens commercialized the environments in which they were installed. Years later, the screens are accepted, or at least tolerated, as critics have moved on to complaining about other forms of advertising they consider more obtrusive and intrusive. Ted Turner’s efforts were celebrated by the Digital Place-Based Advertising Association which identified Turner an industry visionary.
Ted Turner Cited for ‘Place-Based’ Media Efforts