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[Commentary] The Internet today isn't merely a mode of communication but the defining platform by which businesses innovate and transact around the world. How can governments restrict this platform when it’s very success is based on transparency, openness and access?
Becoming a force in tech innovation or disruption has never been easier—but unimpeded access to the Internet is essential. New entrepreneurs world-wide are creating ways to collaborate and solve local, regional and even global problems. Governments should note that while these innovators are passionate about their homes and culture, they have also never been more mobile. If pushed, they can seek out other countries that embrace their talent.
The Conceit of Internet Control
New figures released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) show that information and communication technology (ICT) uptake continues to grow worldwide, spurred by a steady fall in the price of telephone and broadband Internet services.
The new data, released in ITU’s flagship annual report Measuring the Information Society 2012, rank the Republic of Korea as the world’s most advanced ICT economy, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland. Of the ten top-ranked countries, eight are from Europe. The two remaining countries both come from the Asia-Pacific region, with the Republic of Korea in first place, and Japan ranked 8th. The top five countries have not changed their rank between 2010 and 2011. The only new entrant in the top ten is the UK, which moved up from 14th place last year to 9th place in 2012. ITU’s ICT Development Index (IDI)* ranks 155 countries according to their level of ICT access, use and skills, and compares 2010 and 2011 scores. All countries in the IDI top 30 are high-income countries, underlining the strong link between income and ICT progress. There are large differences between developed and developing countries, with IDI values on average twice as high in the developed world compared with developing countries. The report identifies the group of countries with the lowest IDI levels – so-called ‘Least Connected Countries’ – and highlights the need for policy makers to pay keen attention to this group.
ITU releases latest global technology development figures
[Commentary] Back when President Barack Obama seemed to be in command of the race and had the poll numbers to back it up — that was just a week ago, wasn’t it? — there were abundant suggestions that the fix was in, that a compliant, genetically liberal media was smoothing the way for the re-election for the Democratic incumbent. But after a remarkable performance by Mitt Romney in last week’s debate and a remarkably bad one by the incumbent, a poll by the Pew Research Center showed that Romney had not only made up ground, but was four points ahead of President Obama among likely voters. So, did the mainstream– and allegedly liberal — media try to knock down the new numbers? Hardly. Most reveled in the turn of events because reporters, regardless of their own political affiliations, are always in favor of news.
After Week of Big Political News, the Big Loser? Liberal Bias
A new study from Twitter and Web traffic tracker Compete says its numbers prove that Tweets can lead directly to political donations.
- Twitter users in general are 68 percent more likely to visit a campaign donation page than the rest of Web surfers.
- Twitter users exposed to political Tweets are 97 percent more likely than other Twitter users to visit donation pages.
- Twitter users exposed to political Tweets are more likely to visit donation pages than generic political sites.
- More exposure to political Tweets increases the likelihood Twitter users will visit donation pages.
- Note: The survey doesn’t seem to track whether people actually took out their credit cards. But it implies that increased visits equals increased odds of that happening.
Twitter Says Its Ads Make Money for Politicians
A trio of centrist Senate Republicans urged President Barack Obama to hold back on issuing an executive order that would protect critical infrastructure systems from cyberattacks and encouraged him to work with Congress to pass legislation instead.
In a joint letter sent to the White House, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Dick Lugar (R-IN) warn that an executive order could "undermine" Congress's need to act on cybersecurity legislation and provide a "false sense of security" that the national security threat has been resolved through executive action. Issuing an executive order "would be a mistake," they argued, and the president should "redouble" his efforts to work with Congress to get a bill passed that would address the rising threat.
GOP senators to White House: Cyber order would be 'a mistake'
Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Joe Barton (R-TX) slammed online advertisers on Wednesday for saying they would ignore a privacy feature on Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser. The lawmakers, who co-chair the Bipartisan Privacy Caucus, accused the advertisers of putting "profits over privacy." Reps Barton and Markey argued that Internet users should have to opt-in to allow advertisers to track their activity. "If consumers want to be tracked online, they should have to opt-in to be tracked, instead of the other way around," they said. “While we appreciate the efforts industry has taken to develop a ‘Do Not Track’ signal, we have long endorsed a standard that allows consumers to affirmatively choose whether to permit collection of their personal information and targeting of advertisements," they said. "Until we have stronger privacy laws in place that mandate a company adhere to a consumer’s preference, especially for children and teens, consumers and their personal information will remain at risk.”
Lawmakers blast advertisers for ignoring 'Do Not Track' on Microsoft's Explorer Markey, Barton, Diss DAA Over Decision Not to Honor Default Do Not Track (B&C)
The National Association of Broadcasters weighed to correct what it called factual and legal inaccuracies offered up by some multichannel video programming distributors in the Federal Communications Commission's request for input on its next annual status of video competition report.
NAB says the retransmission consent regime is working fine and increasing the quantity, quality and diversity of programming. In reply comments, NAB said it would not be in the public interest to get rid of the network nonduplication or syndicated exclusivity rules, or to suspend them during retrans impasses. The FCC offered up that suspension as a possible change to its enforcement of the rules, but has taken no action on that proposal, now more than a year old. NAB said that without those rules, which prevent MVPDs from importing duplicative signals from distant markets, broadcasters would lack the economic base to support local news and information, including during emergencies.
NAB Tells FCC to Leave Retransmission Alone
A new study directly links use of electronic health records to improved quality of care, at least when it comes to ordering four common screening tests. The study, published in the current issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found the use of EHRs improved the rate of screening for diabetes, breast cancer, chlamydia and colorectal cancer by anywhere from 3 to 13 percentage points. A composite score associated EHR use with overall higher quality of care, the researchers found.
Study Links Electronic Health Records to Improved Care
Gallup’s editor in chief Frank Newport said the polling firm’s methods are constantly evolving, noting that the daily tracking polling has increased the proportion of cell phones to 50 percent and added slight changes in likely voter questions.
Gallup now completes interviews with 50 percent cell phones and 50 percent landlines, when previously cell phones accounted for just 40 percent. “This means that our weights to various phone targets in the sample can be smaller, given that the actual percentage of cell phones and cell-phone-only respondents in the sample is higher,” he said. “We have instituted some slight changes in our weighting procedures, including a weight for the density of the population area in which the respondent lives. Although all Gallup surveys are weighted consistently to census targets on demographic parameters, we believe that these improvements provide a more consistent match with weight targets.”
Gallup ups cell-phones to 50 percent
[Commentary] Most of us assume that at some point the economy is going to kick into gear. That unemployment will eventually drop below 6 percent, and that job creation will return to its previous clip of 200,000 a month. But what if we're stuck at a new normal of high unemployment and low job growth? It's possible because technology might just have gotten the best of us. It used to be that new technologies generated lots of new jobs for those displaced from old ones. After farms were mechanized, Americans moved to factories. After manufacturing declined -- in part due to technologies that dramatically cut the cost of shipping goods -- we moved into services. But new technologies have been eating away at services, too. Gas station attendants are long gone and telephone operators and bank tellers aren't far behind. Endangered too are office clerks and secretaries, publishing jobs, and people providing any expertise or information that can now be digitized into a computer.
[Robert Reich is chancellor's professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton.]
Is technology to blame for chronic unemployment?