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Seven rent-to-own companies and a software design firm have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they spied on consumers using computers that consumers rented from them, capturing screenshots of confidential and personal information, logging their computer keystrokes, and in some cases taking webcam pictures of people in their homes, all without notice to, or consent from, the consumers.
The software design firm collected the data that enabled rent-to-own stores to track the location of rented computers without consumers’ knowledge according to the FTC complaint. The settlements bar the companies from any further illegal spying, from activating location-tracking software without the consent of computer renters and notice to computer users, and from deceptively collecting and disclosing information about consumers.
FTC Halts Computer Spying FTC: Rented computers spied on customers (The Hill) "I always feel like somebody's watching me" (FTC blog)
Last week, Mail Online – which overtook NYTimes.com’s readership in December – hailed passing the 100 million monthly uniques milestone. On Sept 25, its publisher DMGT said digital revenue in its Associated Newspapers division, which contains MailOnline and Metro.co.uk, grew 72 percent in the last 11 months. That is against the 41 percent increase which rocketed MailOnline’s traffic from 74.9 million monthly uniques a year ago.
Sales growth outpacing audience growth at world’s biggest online newspaper
Jan. 1, 2013, not only marks the beginning of the new year, but it’s also the deadline for public safety agencies to convert their land mobile radio (LMR) functionality to narrowbanding, which allows radios to use spectrum more efficiently. Those that miss the deadline will need to submit applications for special waiver extensions, but they can’t claim that they weren’t given enough time, Dave Buchanan, committee chair of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council’s Spectrum Management Committee, told Government Technology last year. The FCC started this endeavor in 1991, and by 1992, the agency established its narrowbanding initiative. It asserted that all public safety and business LMRs operating in the 150-512 MHz radio bands should cease using 25 kHz efficiency technology and begin operating using at least 12.5 kHz efficiency technology. Migration to 12.5 kHz efficiency technology will allow the creation of additional channel capacity within the same radio spectrum and support more users, according to the FCC.
Public Safety: Have You Converted to Narrowbanding Yet?
Several questions remain for federal agencies implementing telework and bring-your-own-device -- or BYOD -- programs, including whether federal employees should be reimbursed for a portion of their costs in participating in those programs. In light of such questions, it may behoove federal agencies to begin forging partnerships with their employees regarding funding for telework tools, according to a new report by the Merit Systems Protection Board.
MSPB notes that each organization’s situation and its optimal solutions for telework are unique and that the ways agencies support and fund telework programs may evolve over time as budget appropriations and work demands evolve. But, according to MSPB, some things should remain constant across all federal agencies, including a realistic understanding of what tools agencies should provide, and preparation on the part of teleworkers to work with agencies, IT staff and supervisors to identify the best telework technology and solutions for their roles and jobs.
Who Should pay for Telework?
Dish Network and Sprint Nextel continue to spar over proposals to shift Dish's MSS S-band spectrum by 5 MHz, with Dish accusing Sprint of glossing over critical issues related to its spectrum and LTE deployment plans. In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, Dish blasted a previous Sprint filing, arguing that "Sprint's silence on the key timing and interference issues related to any changes to the AWS-4 band plan underscores that there is no public policy benefit to Sprint's self-serving proposals."
Dish accuses Sprint of glossing over spectrum issues
Consumers don’t like bad mobile sites, or even worse, brands not even having a mobile site.
While 72 percent of consumers think it’s important for brands to have a mobile-friendly site, fully 96 percent have nonetheless come across a site that wasn’t mobile-friendly, according to a Google study. That consumers are turned off by sites not optimized for smartphones isn’t news to anyone who uses the mobile Web. But marketers need more than anecdotal evidence to get their organizations to invest in the medium, said Google’s head of global mobile sales and strategy Jason Spero. First off, brands should keep in mind consumers’ mentality when visiting mobile sites. They’re “task-oriented,” said Spero. Sixty-six percent of the consumers surveyed said they navigate to mobile sites through a search engine, and 79 percent said they’ll double back to the search engine if the sites they click on aren’t to their liking. In fact, they’re five times more likely to abandon the search altogether if they don’t like what they find.
72% of Consumers Expect Brands to Have Mobile-Friendly Sites
The Federal Communications Commission appoints the Honorable Swati Dandekar, Board Member, Iowa Utilities Board, and the Honorable Stephen Michael Bloom, Commissioner, Oregon Public Utility Commission, to serve on the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services. These two appointments fill the positions vacated by Robert Clayton, former Chairman of the Missouri Public Service Commission, and Vendean Vafiades, former Commissioner of the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Telecommunications Services
The Federal Trade Commission got plenty of input on the proposed changes to its rule implementing the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act to protect kids that FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz has called "tech savvy but judgment poor."
The comment deadline was midnight Sept. 24. Those included the concerns of consumer groups that the rules were not sufficiently tightened, and from cable and wireless operators that there could be unintended consequences to the changes as proposed, including putting a crimp in TV Everywhere online delivery of kids content.
FTC Gets Earful on COPPA Revisions
Lots of people are trying to bridge the divide between paper and the internet. Some efforts include augmented-reality playthings that enliven pages and QR codes that introduce hyperlinks to print, while many expect e-readers will evolve in to flexible, hi-res, connected digital “paper.” But what if the printed word could become digital today? That’s what a project called Interactive Newsprint is promising. An eight-year-old Cambridge, UK, company called Novalia, working with the Universities of Central Lancashire, Dundee and Surrey, is deploying its electronics-enabled paper concept toward newspapers.
Newsprint joins the Internet of Things
States should get with the times and switch to digital resources within five years. That's the first of three recommendations the State Educational Technology Directors Association published in its report on Sept. 24. The report shows examples of what states and school districts are doing now, and provides recommendations for government, industry and education.
- Shift from print-centric adoption practices for textbooks to digital resources within five years.
- Create a vision and road map to make the digital shift.
- Establish an active marketplace for digital content.
Report: States Should Switch to Digital Resources Within 5 Years Out of Print: Reimagining the K-12 Textbook in a Digital Age (State Educational Technology Directors Association)