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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski held an online Q&A session from Twitter headquarters, telling Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) that Internet freedom is vital for innovators and speakers and a "day 1 priority of mine."
Sen Rubio had tweeted the following: "What is FCC doing to help preserve Internet freedom at #WCIT? Must oppose Internet regulation and expanding #ITU authority." FCC Chairman Genachowski and Sen Rubio are pretty much on the same page, as are Republicans and Democrats in general, on the need for continuing a multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance. The WCIT reference is to the upcoming ITU World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai.
AdWeek reports that Chairman Genachowski’s foray into social media bombed as Genachowski—set to take questions via a Twitter chat at 1:30 p.m. for a half hour—failed to show for the first 20 minutes. Apparently, Chairman Genachowski wasn't tagging his answers with the #askjulius hashtag that participants were using to send him questions. As a result, the discussion, at least for those following the #askjulius hashtag, devolved into a lot of snark.
FCC’s Genachowski, Sen Rubio on Same Page About Expanding ITU Authority Over Internet #AskJulius Chat Turns Into No Chat (AdWeek)
In a memo to members of the House Commerce Committee's Communications Subcommittee, staffers for the Republican majority signaled to the Obama administration that it should focus on clearing spectrum from government users rather than encouraging them to share spectrum with commercial users.
A recent National Telecommunications & Information Administration report on freeing up that spectrum suggested sharing should be an important part of that plan, a point echoed by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). NTIA has said that clearing spectrum could cost $18 billion and take ten years, which was one of the reasons it suggested sharing should be part of the equation as a way to free it up more quickly and at less expense. But the staff memo says NTIA has conceded that estimate was not based on independent analysis, and may be inflated and inaccurate.
Republican Staffers: Clearing Spectrum, Not Sharing, Is Priority
Motorola has been overly dependent on Verizon's business ever since the launch of the original Droid. At the time, both Verizon and Google were hoping to stop the onslaught of the iPhone on AT&T, without much success: Verizon originally bet on RIM's BlackBerry Storm to predictably disappointing results, and Google had yet to catch fire with Android in any real way. The original Droid, developed by Motorola in deep collaboration with Google, changed the fortunes of all three companies, and turned Android into a market force to be reckoned with. But the real collaboration was between Google and Verizon: in return for Verizon agreeing to push Android as the main competitor to the iPhone, Google radically softened its stance on network neutrality. Verizon's marketing muscle, thrown behind the original Droid and Droids since, has buttressed Motorola and was the driving force behind whatever modest success the company had before being acquired by Google. With little apology to Motorola's phones on other US carriers, it's clear that the Droid brand — controlled by Verizon — drives Motorola's business and, more importantly, its business decisions. And if Motorola was a bit of a puppet before, the "new Motorola" just shines a spotlight on the strings that were always there.
Can Google's 'new Motorola' break free of Verizon?
The Senate Judiciary Committee will finally take action this month on legislation that would update a pair of privacy laws from the 1980s, including a measure dealing with government access to electronic communications.
The committee said that it would take up an update of the Video Privacy Protection Act, which the House passed in December, and attach provisions to that bill that would amend parts of the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, according to a Democratic aide. ECPA set standards for law-enforcement access to electronic communications. Many privacy advocates and tech firms argue that the bill is woefully out of date and that it offers inconsistent protections depending on the type of communications. For example, under current law, e-mail stored with a third-party provider such as Google or Yahoo that is older than 180 days can be accessed by law-enforcement officials without a warrant, while a document stored on a home computer for the same amount of time would require a warrant. Several privacy groups and tech firms formed the Digital Due Process coalition a few years ago to push Congress to update the law. They argue that the out-of-date protections in ECPA for access to e-mail and other electronics could hamper the growth of cloud computing and other technologies.
Senate Judiciary to Take Up Privacy Legislation
A former New York prosecutor, John Prather, claims AT&T, Verizon, Qwest and Sprint regularly charged law enforcement agencies 10 times what they should have for routine wiretaps. He’s now suing on behalf of the FBI and state and city police departments to recover many millions of dollars for overcharging that allegedly took place for almost 20 years. The case provides a window on the evolving world of wiretaps during an era of increasing surveillance. But the case is complicated because Prather stands to get a big chunk of money if the case succeeds and, as the phone companies argue, he may not be a real whistle-blower in the first place.
Lawsuit says phone companies gouged FBI on wiretaps
Foxconn Technology Group is denying reports in the Chinese media that it forced vocational students to work at factories that make iPhones. Foxconn, which in recent months has come under heavy scrutiny in connection with working conditions in its factories, has conceded that it uses students on assembly lines, but says they are not required to work there. Advocates for workers say the practice of having "interns" work on assembly lines at Foxconn dates back years. Frequent Foxconn critic Li Qiang of China Labor Watch said the interns are typically 16 to 19 years old and earn about $285 a month, the same as other workers.
Foxconn denies using forced student labor to make Apple iPhones
The launch of the iPhone 5 will shake up the smartphone industry and have broader implications for a host of companies from Google to the U.S. major wireless to Intel, according to JP Morgan analysts.
Apple is expected to raise the bar for other phone makers with features including a larger screen but thinner body, 4G LTE wireless capability and longer battery life. Many 4G phones have been criticized for being “pocket hogs” or “battery hogs,” but the new iPhone will avoid those labels. The device, however, isn't expected to incorporate Near Field Communication technology to power mobile transactions or other uses. The firm anticipates the global rollout of the latest iPhone to be faster and wider than in the past and projects Apple to ship at least 45 million of the devices in the fourth quarter, with about 25 million of those being iPhone 5 handsets. The pricing should stay the same as the iPhone 4S—starting at $199 for the subsidized 16 GB model. The arrival of the iPhone 5 will ripple across the tech landscape. For PC makers like HD and Dell, it signals trouble. Sales of the device will further curb demand for laptops and desktop computers, as consumers increasingly switch to smartphones and tablets.
iPhone 5 To Have Major Impact On Users, Tech Rivals
iPhone use tripled among federal managers between 2009 and 2011, reaching 23 percent. That figure’s especially impressive given that Apple hasn’t yet achieved the government’s coveted FISMA certification, meaning it’s compliant with the 2002 Federal Information Security Act. Apple’s rise in federal market share was accompanied by a steep decline in BlackBerry use, down from about three quarters of the market in 2009 to just half in 2011. Google’s Android platform held steady at about 25 percent during that time.
How the iPhone Changes Government and Society: A Quick Review
The board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has elected Patricia Cahill to serve as chair and elected Elizabeth Sembler to serve as vice chair. These are each one-year terms.
Patricia Cahill was appointed to the CPB board by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate in August 2009. She was previously vice chair of the CPB board, and she has worked in public radio for more than 40 years. Earlier this year, she retired as general manager of KCUR-FM, the public radio station at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she also currently serves as an assistant professor of Communication Studies. Prior to her 25 years of service at KCUR, Cahill worked as a reporter, producer, program director, news director and general manager of KMUW-FM at Wichita State University, where she was also an instructor in speech communications and journalism. Cahill has served on the board of directors for NPR and as the chair of the Distribution/Interconnection Committee, the Membership Committee and the Development Committee. She was also the president of Public Radio in Mid America, a public radio membership organization. Cahill earned a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Kansas. She is the mother of two daughters.
Elizabeth Sembler was appointed to the CPB board by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in October 2008. Sembler is a Jewish educator, serving as both the director of engagement at Congregation B’nai Israel in St. Petersburg, Fla., and the director of Kesher, a Jewish afterschool program for students at the Ben Gamla Hebrew Language charter school in Clearwater, Fla. She has served on the board of WEDU-TV since 1993 and was the chair of its board from 2001-2003. In 2006, she joined the board of the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), a nonprofit group that supports the continued growth and development of a strong and financially sound noncommercial television service. Sembler serves on the board of advisors of the Davidson Graduate School of Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, New York and on the board of directors of the Academy Prep Center of St. Petersburg in Florida, a privately funded middle school for students qualifying for needs-based scholarships. She also serves on the board of directors of the Florida Orchestra and was a member of the United Jewish Communities National Young Leadership Cabinet in the 1990s. She began her career as a staff writer for the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times) after earning her bachelor's degree in newspaper journalism and political science from Syracuse University. She later earned a master's degree in English from the University of South Florida. Sembler lives in Seminole (FL) with her husband Greg. They are the parents of four university students.
Patricia Cahill Elected Board Chair and Elizabeth Sembler Elected Vice Chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The 2012 party conventions were a kind of coming-out party for Twitter as a political advertising platform. Over the course of the conventions, both presidential campaigns, the Republican National Committee, and the Republican-leaning super PAC Americans for Prosperity shelled out an estimated $120,000 each for a Promoted Trend -- a phrase or slogan like #RomneyRyan2012 or President Obama's #Forward2012 that appears on Twitter Web pages and on mobile Twitter feeds for 24 hours. Although the six-figure dollar amount is chump change when compared with the hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on television, Twitter generates an outsized share of attention among political professionals and helps to form the narratives that pundits, journalists, and candidates will develop during and after big events.
How Candidates are Selling the Hashtag Election