July 6, 2010 (Kagan's Responsibility)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2010

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POLICYMAKERS
   Brandeis's Seat, Kagan's Responsibility
   See also:Sen Franken blasts Comcast-NBC merger, presses Kagan on network neutrality
   Outsiders at the FCC

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   $795 Million in New Broadband Grants
   Deficit Cutting Fever Threatens Broadband Stimulus Payouts
   With Boucher talks, four simultaneous efforts take on network neutrality
   Capitol Hill telecom talks make little progress on fine print
   Let FCC play by rules with giants
   Progressives to Obama: Don't 'back away' from network neutrality
   Sunlight Foundation: Microsoft, Google 'similar' to telecom giants in revolving door hires
   America Must Focus More On Enabling Reliable Broadband
   Is Broadband a Basic Right? Finland Says Yes!
   States' role in broadband: Goofus or Gallant
   24/7 Internet access is fast approaching but not here yet
   Less than 10% of fliers use Wi-Fi
   Erasing all digital footprints 'impossible'
   Media and Retail Firms Meld Business Models Online

CYBERSECURITY
   Democrats seek Obama's help on cybersecurity
   It is time for countries to start talking about arms control on the Internet

LABOR
   Supply Chain for iPhone Highlights Costs in China

OWNERSHIP
   Tech customers question industry's takeover spree
   Byron Allen Weighs In On Comcast-NBCU
   Media and Tech Confer in Sun Valley
   Comparing the three tech giants

WIRELESS
   Obama Gives Impetus To Spectrum Push
   FCC Approves National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Petition
   Why Carriers Still Hold the Key to Handset Sales
   Location-based services lure users, advertisers, investors
   Tech firms aim to keep wayward walkers on path

TELEVISION
   DISH Network files suit in Las Vegas against FCC to block PBS law

CHILDREN & MEDIA
   Coalition Asks FTC To Extend Child Privacy Protection To Mobile, Gaming And Other Platforms
   See also:FTC Extends Public Comment Period for COPPA Rule Review until July 12, 2010

NEWS FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:

   Clinton calls for Internet freedom in Azerbaijan, criticizes blogger convictions
   European Commission consults on network neutrality
   Telekom Austria obliged to provide 'virtual' network access to altnets
   Belgian telecoms regulator to implement mobile termination rates reductions

COMMUNITY MEDIA
These headlines presented in partnership with:

   US public libraries: We lose them at our peril
   Technology in Libraries Critical to Unemployment Turnaround, Access to Social Services, Study Finds
   Asbury Park Press blog launches coffeehouse newsroom
   J-Lab Announces Four Awards for New Media Women Entrepreneurs
   Understanding News Literacy: A Youth Media Perspective
   McDonald's, library offer prizes for kids who read

MORE ONLINE
   Strickling Addresses Copyright Symposium
   "Yes We Can": A Viral Video Phenomenon
   McChrystal's Comments Turn the Social Media to Afghanistan
   An Enduring Religious Web Site Is Poised for a Next Phase

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POLICYMAKERS

KAGAN'S RESPONSIBILITY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Rosen]
[Commentary] Elena Kagan has been nominated to fill the Supreme Court seat once held by Louis Brandeis. He was not only a great and restrained judge but the most prescient critic of the "curse of bigness" in a time of economic crisis. Judge Brandeis can teach us a great deal. For example, Democrats repeatedly insisted during the Kagan hearings that the current Supreme court has shown a pro-corporate bias — a charge supported by a recent study by the Constitutional Accountability Center, which found that in the term that just ended, the United States Chamber of Commerce won 13 out of the 16 cases in which it filed briefs, a success rate of 81 percent.
If Ms. Kagan is to change this orientation, she will have to resurrect Brandeis's concerns about the "curse of bigness" — in business and in government. With vision and clarity, Brandeis warned about how corporate money controlled by "our financial oligarchy" can threaten American democracy and how the reckless gambles that greedy megabanks take with "other people's money" can threaten the global economy.
Similarly, as Sen Al Franken (D-MN) suggested in the Kagan hearings, the greatest threats to free speech in the 21st century won't come only from oppressive governments trying to silence political dissidents. They will also come from the titans of digital communication.
At the moment, Comcast, Google and Facebook have more power over who can speak and be heard than any government or Supreme Court justice. To preserve free speech and privacy in the face of that power, Ms. Kagan will need to explore the ways that giant media corporations can threaten liberty, even if they are not formally restricted by the Constitution.
Ever since the rise of the conservative legal movement in the 1980s, liberals have yearned for a justice who can not only challenge Justice Antonin Scalia on his own terms, but also change the terms of debate. As her deft performance in the hearings showed, Elena Kagan has the potential to play that transformative role. To achieve it, however, she needs to develop a positive vision of progressive jurisprudence in an age of economic crisis, financial power and technological change. As a model for this vision, she need look no further than her greatest predecessor.
benton.org/node/37512 | New York Times
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

OBAMA ANNOUNCES ARRA GRANTS
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Press release]
On July 3, President Barack Obama announced investment in sixty-six new Recovery Act broadband projects nationwide that, according to the grantees, will not only directly create approximately 5,000 jobs up front, but will also help spur economic development in some of the nation's hardest-hit communities, helping create jobs for years to come. In total, tens of millions of Americans and over 685,000 businesses, 900 healthcare facilities and 2,400 schools in all fifty states stand to benefit from the awards. The $795 million in grants and loans through the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture have been matched by over $200 million in outside investment, for a total public-private investment of more than $1 billion in bringing broadband service to these communities, most of which currently have little or no access, to help them better compete and do business in the global marketplace.
benton.org/node/37500 | White House, The | see list of awardees | Department of Commerce | Department of Agriculture | Reuters | The Hill
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BUDGET THREATENS BROADBAND STIMULUS
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] A proposal by Sen Max Baucus (D-MT) would cut approximately $300 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and $300 million from Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service to help fund extensions of unemployment benefits and other more popular stimulus measures such as -- surprise! -- extensions of various tax credits. (Rep. David Obey (D-WI) would cut the same amount, but as part of the supplemental funding for the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.) While Feld certainly doesn't begrudge extending unemployment benefits (he does think tax credits are rather worthless for motivating corporate behavior in light of how few corporations end up paying corporate income tax), he absolutely questions the wisdom of pulling funding from stimulus programs that are not only creating jobs now, but helping to transform our future. How far we've fallen from a year and a half ago when then-Administration broadband spokesperson Blair Levin promised that the $6 billion for broadband stimulus was only a down payment for the Administration's investment in broadband infrastructure. Now, with the effort to repurpose the Universal Service Fund for broadband seriously jeopardized by the Comcast vs FCC decision, Congress proposes to trim back available money for broadband even further.
benton.org/node/37499 | Tales of the Sausage Factory | CongressDaily | nextgov
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BOUCHER HOLDING NET NEUTRALITY TALKS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) acknowledged reports on July 1 that he is holding private talks between Internet and telecommunications companies about the possibility of passing narrow network neutrality legislation this year. This development means there are now at least four separate, simultaneous processes occurring to find a solution on network neutrality, along with private stakeholder meetings at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a rulemaking procedure at the FCC, and weekly sessions on Capitol Hill among more than 30 stakeholders led by the commerce committees. Chairman Boucher said his talks are similar to the FCC's meetings, where Google, the Open Internet Coalition and Skype are discussing broadband regulation with Verizon, AT&T, and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association in talks brokered by top agency officials. The distinction, however, is that "the meetings in my office are focused on the prospect of passing legislation, while the discussions at the FCC are designed to inform the ongoing rulemaking being considered at that agency."
benton.org/node/37496 | Hill, The
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TELECOM TALKS UPDATE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Progress was not made on the fine print of potential broadband legislation by a large group of stakeholders, according to Media Access Project's Andrew Schwartzman, who attended the staff-led meeting convened by the chairmen of the commerce committees. Schwartzman called the July 2 meeting "more of the same" after last week's talk, where stakeholders stated their positions but did little to clear net neutrality's perennial dividing lines. Schwartzman said Friday's meeting "drilled down into the specific provisions of" Title II of the Communications Act -- which currently governs telephone service -- that might be appropriate to apply to broadband providers through targeted legislation. The discussions have been posed by the chairmen of the commerce committees as a way to update communications law, potentially boosting the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) authority after an April appeals court decision seemed to diminish the agency's ability to act. But Friday's talks did not yield progress on the nitty-gritty of a potential law, according to Schwartzman.
benton.org/node/37495 | Hill, The
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PLAYING BY THE RULES
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tyrone Brown]
[Commentary] Echoes of "The Pelican Brief" by John Grisham abound in the Federal Communications Commission's dispute with communications giants such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast over broadband access "reclassification." At issue is whether the agency should be able to set clear and fair policies regarding how these companies transmit data online and allow users to access content on the Internet. Without the ability to set such ground rules, the FCC would be powerless to prevent these companies from ignoring online privacy concerns, engaging in false billing practices or interfering with Internet users' content access. The agency also would be unable to set rules for developing online start-ups that could become the Facebooks, eBays and Googles of tomorrow. Like the oil megalith in Grisham's book, powerful network operators want to avoid the inevitable court resolution of their dispute with the FCC. So they have turned to Congress to bail them out — not, apparently, to change the law but to prevent the FCC from acting under current law. [Tyrone Brown is president of Media Access Project]
benton.org/node/37494 | Politico
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PROGRESSIVES PRESS OBAMA ON NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
A group of progressive bloggers and activists wrote a letter to President Barack Obama on July 1 raising concerns that network neutrality meetings between telecommunications and Internet companies could spur him to abandon the open Internet policies he has endorsed since the campaign. "We're concerned that the White House and FCC are backing away from this commitment," the group said. "There is much talk of 'compromise' on this crucial issue, and reports of backroom meetings between [Federal Communications Commission (FCC)] officials and lobbyists to cut a deal that would jeopardize the open Internet. Giving up on your pledge to protect net neutrality would be a serious and possibly irreversible mistake." Signers include Jason Ruben, executive direct of MoveOn.org political action, Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake, Lawrence Lessig of ChangeCongress, Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Coalition, Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge, among many others.
benton.org/node/37493 | Hill, The
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RELIABLE BROADBAND
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] An interesting study by BroadbandChoices that suggested consumers care more about broadband reliability than speed. While our national broadband plan does touch on the issue of broadband reliability, suggesting it's a topic worth researching further and one that's essential for applications like public safety and smart grid, it's pretty much silent on the issue of whether or not America's broadband infrastructure is currently reliable enough. 1) A fundamental truth of broadband reliability is that shared networks are less reliable than dedicated, and lower capacity networks are less reliable than higher capacity ones. Put into practical terms, that means that DSL networks tend to be more reliable than cable or wireless networks as each customer essentially has their own pipe vs. sharing with all their neighbors. That also means that fiber's more reliable than any of these other networks as it has by far the most capacity. 2) Broadband reliability also includes issues related to the physical characteristics of networks. For example, DSL reliability is limited by distance, so if you're too far from the central office your connection won't work as well as if you're closer. Also, networks with active components in the field are less reliable than those with passive. Since copper networks require electronics throughout they're less reliable than passive fiber networks. 3) Broadband reliability encompasses the nexus of technical and business decisions made in connecting your local network out onto the Internet at large. So if your community doesn't have a big backhaul pipe to the Internet, or your provider decides to over-provision that backhaul connection to the extreme to try and drive greater profits your network will be less reliable.
What's so frustrating is that while our national broadband plan isn't completely silent about these issues, it also doesn't really address them head on within the context of insuring Americans have access to reliable broadband networks. Instead it almost seems to assume that broadband networks are and will continue to be reliable.
benton.org/node/37471 | App-Rising.com
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IS BROADBAND A RIGHT?
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
In Finland, the Ministry of Transport and Communications said that as of July 1 the country's citizens have a basic right to broadband speeds of 1 Mbps and suggested that for operators who have to supply such a service a reasonable charge would be between 30 to 40 Euros ($36.70 and $48.90) per month. Finland also has an ambitious goal of connecting every citizen to a 100 Mbps connection by 2015. So should the U.S. follow suit? The Finns may not have had quite the legislative jumble to deal with as the U.S. does, but Finland is the first country to declare that broadband is a basic right. For those that think the U.S. should as well, or even if the U.S. should implement a Broadband Bill of Rights, then the current debate over reclassifying broadband is the place to start.
benton.org/node/37469 | GigaOm | Ministry of Transport and Communications
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GOOFUS AND GALLANT
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
[Commentary] There's been a lot of attention paid to the role the federal government plays in fueling broadband deployment and adoption as a result of the broadband stimulus program and the National Broadband Plan. But a recent report from The Pew Center on the States reminds us that state governments also can play an important role. People of my generation may remember the Goofus and Gallant comics that used to appear in Highlights for Children magazine. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, Goofus was a kid who always did what he wasn't supposed to — throwing a snowball at another kid's face, for example. His nemesis, Gallant, always did a more correct version of the same activity — for example, throwing a snowball at a fence post. The Pew Center report, entitled "Bringing America Up to Speed: States' Role in Expanding Broadband," essentially singles out states that have been Gallants when it comes to encouraging broadband deployment and adoption. And although it stops short of pointing the finger at any Goofuses, it does point out how Goofus actions or inaction on the part of states can have the reverse affect.
benton.org/node/37468 | Connected Planet
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CYBERSECURITY

SENATE AND CYBERSECURITY LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Chris Strohm]
On July 1, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and six Senate committee leaders urged President Barack Obama to back their effort to advance legislation aimed at protecting critical information technology systems from attacks. In a letter to President Obama, the senators said they plan to produce a comprehensive cybersecurity bill, although they did not specify when it would happen. "Executive branch leadership is key to the nation's cybersecurity and we are eager to hear your views on the optimal organizational structure, necessary updates and reforms to legislation and regulations governing communications networks and information systems, and additional authorities needed to facilitate effective government leadership and response to cyber threats and vulnerabilities," they wrote. The letter was signed by Sen Reid, Commerce Committee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV), Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI), Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA).
benton.org/node/37498 | CongressDaily
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CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: The Economist, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] Throughout history new technologies have revolutionized warfare, sometimes abruptly, sometimes only gradually: think of the chariot, gunpowder, aircraft, radar and nuclear fission. So it has been with information technology. Computers and the Internet have transformed economies and given Western armies great advantages, such as the ability to send remotely piloted aircraft across the world to gather intelligence and attack targets. But the spread of digital technology comes at a cost: it exposes armies and societies to digital attack. The threat is complex, multifaceted and potentially very dangerous. Modern societies are ever more reliant on computer systems linked to the Internet, giving enemies more avenues of attack. If power stations, refineries, banks and air-traffic-control systems were brought down, people would lose their lives. Yet there are few, if any, rules in cyberspace of the kind that govern behavior, even warfare, in other domains. As with nuclear- and conventional-arms control, big countries should start talking about how to reduce the threat from cyberwar, the aim being to restrict attacks before it is too late.
benton.org/node/37497 | Economist, The
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LABOR

LABOR COSTS IN CHINA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Barboza]
Last month, researchers in Silicon Valley cracked open the new iPhone and started analyzing the new model's components, trying to unmask the identity of Apple's main suppliers. These "teardown reports" provide a glimpse into a company's manufacturing. What the latest analysis shows is that the smallest part of Apple's costs are in Shenzhen, where assembly-line workers snap together things like microchips from Germany and Korea, American-made chips that pull in Wi-Fi or cellphone signals, a touch-screen module from Taiwan and more than 100 other components. What the latest analysis shows is that the smallest part of Apple's costs are here in Shenzhen, where assembly-line workers snap together things like microchips from Germany and Korea, American-made chips that pull in Wi-Fi or cellphone signals, a touch-screen module from Taiwan and more than 100 other components. But what it does not reveal is that manufacturing in China is about to get far more expensive. Soaring labor costs caused by worker shortages and unrest, a strengthening Chinese currency that makes exports more expensive, and inflation and rising housing costs are all threatening to sharply increase the cost of making devices like notebook computers, digital cameras and smartphones.
benton.org/node/37511 | New York Times
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WIRELESS

OBAMA SPECTRUM PUSH
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Harry Jessell]
[Commentary] Broadcasters trying to ward off attacks on their spectrum were not happy to see President Barack Obama swing into the action this week. His June 28 directive essentially endorses the National Broadband Plan and puts the weight and prestige of the Obama administration behind securing 500 MHz of additional spectrum over the next 10 years for broadband services, even if a big chunk of its has to come from broadcasters. Obama's memo re-energizes the NBP, which had begun to lose momentum since its March release and which really is too big for the Federal Communications Commission to manage alone. With President Obama on board, it now has all kinds of resources, human and financial. The memo puts National Telecommunications and Information Administration in charge, but few in Washington telecommunications circles believe it. Most believe that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, Obama's old law school classmate and fundraiser, is still calling the shots. President Obama had to designate NTIA as the point, because it's part of the executive branch while the FCC is an independent agency. If nothing else, the presidential involvement increases the likelihood that Congress will authorize "incentive auctions" that would allow broadcasters to share in the proceeds. If anyone was going to oppose incentive auctions on the Hill, it was going to be Democrats who generally don't like the idea of paying broadcasters for spectrum that they believe still belongs to the public. But with President Obama on board, such opposition may dissipate. Say what you will about the president, he has demonstrated the ability to line up Democratic votes on far more controversial matters than telecommunications.
benton.org/node/37488 | TVNewsCheck
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FCC ELIMINATES NARROWBANDING DEADLINES IN THE 150-174 AND 421-512 MHZ BANDS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission released an order intended to eliminate certain interim narrowbanding deadlines for public safety and commercial licensees in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz Bands (VHF/UHF Bands). This action will ease the transition for licensees in these bands who are required to migrate their land mobile radio systems from 25 kHz bandwidth channels to 12.5 kHz bandwidth channels by January 1, 2013 in order to help reduce congestion, improve communications, and increase user access to the spectrum. The Order partially grants a petition filed by the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) seeking relief from interim narrowbanding requirements that otherwise take effect on January 1, 2011. Specifically, the order gives flexibility to VHF/UHF Band licensees to continue to obtain 25 kHz-capable equipment for their existing systems until January 1, 2013, which previously would have been prohibited as of January 1, 2011. This will make it easier for licensees to manage the transition of their existing systems to 12.5 kHz capability. In granting this relief, however, the Commission reaffirmed its commitment to timely completion of the migration to 12.5 kHz technology by the January 1, 2013 deadline.
benton.org/node/37487 | Federal Communications Commission | read the Order
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CARRIERS DOMINATE HANDSET SALES
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Colin Gibbs]
Mobile network operators may be seeing their long-held dominance in the space fade as newcomers like Apple and Google expand in the mobile sector, but when it comes to selling handsets, carriers still hold the key. And no operator is better at hawking handsets than Verizon Wireless. Its $100 million ad campaign for the Motorola Droid launch was an unqualified success, fueling Droid sales that outpaced the Nexus One by a factor of nine in its first 74 days on the market. Also, Verizon's aggressive "buy one, get one" promotion played a huge role in the success of RIM's BlackBerry Curve, which made headlines last year by outselling the iPhone in the first quarter of 2009.
benton.org/node/37485 | GigaOm
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TELEVISION

DISH SUES FCC
[SOURCE: Las Vegas Sun, AUTHOR: Steve Green]
Satellite TV company DISH Network sued the Federal Communications Commission on July 1 in a bid to block enforcement of a law requiring it to carry the high definition programming of public television stations around the country. DISH Network filed the suit in Las Vegas in U.S. District Court for Nevada, where the company is incorporated. Attorneys for DISH Network sought in the suit a restraining order and injunction blocking enforcement of the law, called the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010, which was signed into law on May 27. DISH Network claims the law violates its constitutional rights by putting the government in the position of deciding what channels it will offer subscribers. Kurt Mische, president of public station KNPB in Reno (NV), said the DISH Network lawsuit was typical of the company's bias against local programming. He said DISH has long favored "putting up a national feed from the East Coast, which doesn't work well for us on the West Coast." "It's very disappointing," Mische said of the lawsuit. In contrast, cable TV companies and satellite competitor DirecTV have embraced carrying high definition local PBS programming, Mische said.
benton.org/node/37491 | Las Vegas Sun | Multichannel News
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CHILDREN & MEDIA

COPPA COMMENTS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wendy Davis]
A coalition of 17 advocacy groups and health organizations is asking the Federal Trade Commission to issue tougher regulations regarding online marketing to children. The organizations are calling on the FTC to extend rules implementing the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act to a host of devices and platforms, including cell phones, gaming consoles, digital billboards and interactive TV. The Clinton-era law prohibits operators of Web sites and online services geared toward children from collecting personal information from minors under 13 without their parents' consent. "When Congress passed COPPA in 1998, computers provided the only means of accessing websites and online services. Today, adults and children have many other ways to access the Internet and online services," the groups say in their comments. Organizations that have joined in the comments include The Center for Digital Democracy, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Pediatrics, Consumers Union and U.S. PIRG. The groups also are asking the FTC to broaden the definition of personal information to include not only names and street or email addresses, but other data like IP addresses, geolocation data and other "seemingly anonymous" information that can be used for online behavioral advertising -- or serving ads to users based on data about them. "Information collected through geolocation is especially sensitive given that it can allow for a child to be physically contacted wherever he or she is, at any time," the coalition says in its FTC filing. In addition, the groups say the FTC should require some online sites, social networks and ad networks to file regular reports on their collection and use of visitors' data.
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association told the FTC that COPPA has been working well, and cautions the commission against making any big changes to its enforcement. COPPA regulates the collection and use of personal information from and about children collected on the Internet. NCTA argues that the rule has effectively limited the collection of personal information from children while preserving "meaningful content" and maintaining the integrity of children's interactive experiences on the Internet. NCTA warns against "effectively barring children's access to interactive functionality within emerging technologies and platforms" and says it should retain its definition of personal information and leave parental consent mechanisms alone.
benton.org/node/37484 | MediaPost | Broadcasting&Cable
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NEWS FROM ABROAD
Thee headlines presented in partnership with:

   Clinton calls for Internet freedom in Azerbaijan, criticizes blogger convictions

CLINTON IN AZERBAIJAN
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Azerbaijan on July 4 "to come to grips" with "the work that has to be done" to create an open society there after it jailed two bloggers who posted video political parodies about the government. Clinton's fourth of July remarks in Baku, Azerbaijan encouraged the nation to support freedom of expression on the Internet. The State Department had criticized the government there in November when the two bloggers were convicted of "hooliganism" and sentenced to a little over two years in jail. "Democracy is not about elections," Sec Clinton said. "In today's world, it's about the way new technologies and social media can help the democratic dialogue flourish."
benton.org/node/37490 | Hill, The
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COMMUNITY MEDIA
This headline is presented in partnership with:

   US public libraries: We lose them at our peril

LOSING LIBRARIES
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Marilyn Johnson]
[Commentary] The U.S. is beginning an interesting experiment in democracy: We're cutting public library funds, shrinking our public and school libraries, and in some places, shutting them altogether. These actions have nothing to do with whether the libraries are any good or whether the staff provides useful service to the community. This country's largest circulating library, in Queens, N.Y., was named the best system in the U.S. last year by Library Journal. Its budget is due to shrink by a third. Los Angeles libraries are being slashed, and beginning this week, the doors will be locked two days a week and at least 100 jobs cut. And until it got a six-month reprieve June 23, Siskiyou County almost became California's only county without a public library. Such cuts and close calls are happening across the country. We won't miss a third of our librarians and branch libraries the way we'd miss a third of our firefighters and firehouses, the rationale goes ... but Johnson wonders. Those in cities that haven't preserved their libraries, those less fortunate and baffled by technology, and our children will be the first to suffer. But sooner or later, we'll all feel the loss as one of the most effective levelers of privilege and avenues of reinvention -- one of the great engines of democracy -- begins to disappear.
benton.org/node/37509 | Los Angeles Times
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TECHNOLOGY IN LIBRARIES CRITICAL
[SOURCE: GovTech.com AUTHOR: Karen Wilkinson]
As government agencies push what have traditionally been paper-based processes and services online, public libraries are seeing more demand for access to technology so that citizens can interact with their government. But there's a catch-22: Public libraries are faced with reduced funding and shorter operating hours. A report released this month shows that while the public is increasingly using the Internet at libraries for job and e-government resources, funding cuts at state and local levels are forcing libraries to "literally lock away access to these resources as they reduce operating hours.
benton.org/node/37466 | Government Technology
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