October 31, 2011 (Cybersecurity)

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

SYRIA USES US GEAR TO BLOCK WEB
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jennifer Valentino-Devries, Paul Sonne, Nour Malas]
Blue Coat Systems, a US company that makes Internet-blocking gear, acknowledged that Syria has been using at least 13 of its devices to censor Web activity there—an admission that comes as the Syrian government cracks down on its citizens and silences their online activities. The company says it shipped the Internet "filtering" devices to Dubai late last year, believing they were destined for a department of the Iraqi government. However, the devices—which can block websites or record when people visit them—made their way to Syria, a country subject to strict U.S. trade embargoes.
benton.org/node/100211 | Wall Street Journal
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CYBERSECURITY

CYBERSECURITY LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
Despite the apparent divide between the two chambers on the details of comprehensive cybersecurity legislation, the passage of a Senate bill would put pressure on the House to act, according to Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI). Few lawmakers have more experience on the issue than Rep Langevin, the co-founder of the bipartisan Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, and he expressed optimism recently that some form of legislation to improve the security of private sector networks would pass Congress this year. "I think the Senate passing something would be a major gamechanger and a major step forward in seeing comprehensive cybersecurity legislation pass Congress this year," Rep Langevin said. " Absent that, I think this thing kind of goes on in fits and starts."
The GOP unveiled their own recommendations for comprehensive cybersecurity legislation recently that favor incentives and information-sharing over government mandates. They also restrict the new rules to nuclear power, water treatment facilities and other high-regulated sectors. Langevin said his reaction to the Republican proposal was generally positive and suggested there is room for compromise between the two parties, particularly since there is bipartisan support for legislation that would allow firms to share more information on cyber threats without incurring legal liability. While Rep Langevin feels some form of regulation will be necessary for critical infrastructure providers, he said an information-sharing bill would constitute progress, especially considering how little attention cybersecurity received as a policy issue just a few years ago. "Four years ago when I first started with this issue, it was not something that was widely thought about or written about," Langevin said. "The process was just beginning....as a country we were just waking up to the fact we were getting hacked and penetrated at an unacceptable level." Langevin is particularly concerned about securing the electric grid, where he believes the potential for cyberattacks to create physical damage is greatest. He pointed to the development of more sophisticated viruses such as Stuxnet as evidence the threat is increasing. He also stressed the need for the administration and military to define what constitutes an attack and what the appropriate response would be, echoing the concerns of Senate Armed Services chairman Carl Levin (D-MI)
benton.org/node/100627 | Hill, The
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GRADING CYBERSECURITY PROGRESS
[SOURCE: FederalNewsRadio, AUTHOR: Jason Miller]
The Obama administration is turning up the pressure on agencies to accomplish four specific cybersecurity goals. The Office of Management and Budget, the Homeland Security Department and the White House cyber coordinator's office gave deputy secretaries a high-level scorecard highlighting their agency's current status against goals for Trusted Internet Connections, implementing continuous monitoring and using secured identity cards to log on to computer networks. Howard Schmidt, the White House cyber coordinator, said DHS developed the scorecard from the CyberStat sessions that have been held with agencies. During the sessions, DHS, OMB and Schmidt's office reviewed agency progress in securing computers and networks. The four areas of the report card:
Continuous monitoring: How agencies are prepared to do it? Do they have an update-to-date IT inventory? Can they do configuration scans and vulnerability scans?
Trusted Internet Connections initiative:
What percentage of the agency's network traffic is going through the TIC?
What percentage of the TIC reference architecture is in place?
HSPD-12 or secure identity cards: What percentage of the agency's employees are using the secure identity card to log on to the computer network?
benton.org/node/100178 | FederalNewsRadio
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PRIVACY

FACEBOOK PRIVACY INQUIRY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Four lawmakers wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, questioning him about the social network's handling of user data. In the letter, Reps. Joe Barton (R-TX), Edward Markey (D-MA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) pointed to reports about an Austrian consumer who had asked Facebook to provide him with the data it had collected about him. Facebook sent the man a CD with 1,200 pages of data, including his chat conversations, everyone he had ever "poked," events he had been invited to (regardless of whether he attended) and even the IP addresses of the computers he used to log into his account. The data included information that the consumer thought he had deleted, such as personal messages and people he had "defriended." "We are concerned that although the user was under the impression that this information was deleted at the user's request, Facebook continued to retain the information," the lawmakers wrote. They asked Zuckerberg to describe "all personally identifiable information that Facebook collects," how it stores user information and whether it deletes information when a user requests it. They also asked how Facebook balances user privacy with free-speech rights.
benton.org/node/100209 | Hill, The
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ONLINE AD PLAN INQUIRY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has sent letters to Visa and MasterCard, asking for answers to a series of questions about their plans to aggregate data from their card users' purchases to create profiles for third-party targeted advertising. Chairman Rockefeller said he is concerned with the potential connection of currently unconnected databases and the placement of embedded cookies to serve behavioral advertising. Chairman Rockefeller has given the companies until Nov. 30 to fill him in on how they collect card purchase info, whether they sell it to third parties, and their plans for combining that data with other data, including from social networking sites, and what privacy protections there will be.
benton.org/node/100200 | Broadcasting&Cable
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TELEVISION/RADIO

NEW BROADCAST DISCLOSURE PLAN
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Harry Jessell]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission vacated its 2007 “enhanced disclosure” rules that would have forced stations to expend untold money and man-hours to detail the various kinds of programming they aired so that self-appointed watchdogs of the public interest could judge whether said programming justified the stations’ continued existence. But FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski couldn’t leave it at that. Instead of congratulating themselves for dumping some unworkable rules and showing the world that a Democrat-controlled agency could actually deregulate something, Chairman Genachowski and the other commissioners moved forward with plans to substitute new disclosure rules that may be just as onerous, unnecessary and wrong-headed as the 2007 rules. The agency opened a new proceeding that would preserve a key component of the 2007 rules — that stations be required to post their paper public inspection files online so that anybody and everybody could get a look at them. But the agency is also proposing to up the stakes by requiring posting of political files — records of political advertising bought by candidates and advocacy groups — and certain other information like shared services agreements and on-air sponsorship announcements. Significantly, the FCC had rejected the idea of posting political files as too burdensome in 2007. The FCC also said it would start a second proceeding to develop a new programming disclosure form so that it and others could easily track the kinds and amounts of programming that stations were airing in various categories like news and public affairs. The new form would not be as complicated and detailed at the infamous Form 355 of the 2007 rules, but it would still be more demanding than what stations now have to provide and would be another mandatory chore to worry about and pay somebody to do. Chairman Genachowski may be thinking the initiatives are a nice compromise, a way of keeping stations on their toes and placating liberals without actually adopting a concrete public interest programming standard and trying to enforce them. But I can’t give him points even with that generous spin. To me, the proposals are an indictment of broadcasting. They imply that TV stations are not meeting their public service obligations so must be put on endless probation and carefully monitored to make sure they are behaving themselves. They put stations in the same category as Lindsay Lohan. And unlike Lindsay, broadcasters have done nothing to merit such treatment.
benton.org/node/100207 | TVNewsCheck | CommLawBlog
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POLITICAL AD FUNDERS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Susan Crawford]
[Commentary] Thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision last year to allow corporations and unions to make unlimited campaign contributions, Americans in the coming year may be blitzed by $1 billion of essentially anonymous television ads. Sponsors will hide behind the facade of made-up names for empty organizations. Why? So voters can’t question messages because of ad buyers’ motives. Congress or the Federal Communications Commission could guarantee the common-sense right to judge a political message by the intent of the messenger. But the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has no intention to pass such a disclosure law. Indeed, Greg Walden (R-WA), chairman of the House committee with jurisdiction over the FCC’s budget, has promised to go “nuclear” with budgetary reprisals if the commission dares require full identification of campaign ads’ funders. No one questions the FCC’s authority under existing law to pierce the veil by requiring companies that buy ads to say where their revenue comes from. The FCC could require this information be included in broadcasters’ existing political files. If ads are being placed by conduit companies that rely on political campaign placements for 70 percent or more of their business, the disclosure would have to reveal the entity ultimately responsible for the political speech in question. As the FCC politely suggested this week, that political file could go online. This enhanced disclosure requirement would embody the deal struck by the Supreme Court in Citizens United: Transparency provides balance. One of the FCC’s five commissioners understands the case for action. As Commissioner Michael J. Copps puts it: “Democracy is not well-served when those who are attempting to manipulate our political dialogue through unidentified advertising won’t even stand up and tell us who they are. The fissures in our democracy will continue to widen if big money retains its unchecked influence in our elections.” The FCC’s other four commissioners should heed his warning. Voters should insist on bold action in the public interest, now.
[Crawford is a professor of law at Cardozo School of Law]
benton.org/node/100205 | Bloomberg
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

VERIZON AND NETWORK NEUTRALITY VOTE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Tom Tauke, Verizon's executive VP for policy, said that he thought there were enough senators supporting network neutrality rule-blocking legislation to force a vote in the Senate, and said he expected that vote would happen, perhaps as early as the next few weeks. The measure is highly unlikely to pass given that Democrats control the Senate and the rules were backed by a Democratic majority at the Federal Communications Commission and praised by a Democratic President who made network neutrality a campaign issue. The House has already passed an infrequently used legislative Congressional Review Act motion that would invalidate the agencies network neutrality rules, a move which gained new attention after an effective date of Nov. 21 was finally established for those rules. There has yet to be a Senate vote. And there were several unsuccessful legislative efforts to defund implementation of the rules. Tauke says the FCC is relying on a telecom statue to extend its authority to impose rules over the Internet that it can extend to price and interconnection regulation. "We think that is wrong, and from a policy perspective very dangerous." He said Verizon was more concerned about the assertion of jurisdiction than the rules themselves. "This is really about whether the FCC has the authority to regulate the Internet space," he said.
benton.org/node/100197 | Broadcasting&Cable
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LA BTOP GRANT RECINDED
[SOURCE: Times-Picayune, AUTHOR: Jonathan Tilove]
The Commerce Department rescinded an $80 million grant to Louisiana to spread broadband in rural central and northeastern parts of the state, complaining that the Board of Regents' implementation plan was way behind schedule, incomplete and unresponsive to repeated requests for additional information. "Furthermore," the rescission letter says, "the pattern of schedule delays, uncertainties and contingencies demonstrated a lack of management ability and control by Louisiana to get this project built on schedule and on budget." The letter, signed by Arlene Simpson Porter, director of grants management for Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also said that had the revised plan been its original plan, the project would never have been recommended for approval.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) placed the blame squarely on the state. "Despite receiving the green light for more than $80 million in federal funds, the state fumbled the ball and was either unable or unwilling to complete the project, which could have been a tremendous boost to central and northeast Louisiana," Landrieu said. "This is yet another missed opportunity to improve the lives of Louisiana residents, particularly rural Louisianians who are often left out of such initiatives. If the state of Louisiana is unable to carry out these types of transformative projects across our state, then I will work even harder to partner with interested local officials, nonprofits and businesses to accomplish the same goals."
But, while noting that it was the Board of Regents that applied for the grant, Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater said that, "from the start, we've always said there were implementation and sustainability problems in the grant that had to do with a top-down, government-heavy approach that would compete with and undermine, rather than partner with, the private sector and locals."
benton.org/node/100174 | Times-Picayune | Fierce
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WHAT WOULD JOBS THING OF USF REFORM?
[SOURCE: InformationWeek , AUTHOR: Jonathan Feldman]
[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski hailed the commission's latest plan for rural broadband as "taking a system designed for the Alexander Graham Bell era of rotary telephones and modernizing it for the era of Steve Jobs and the Internet future he imagined." It's easy to capitalize on someone's reputation once they're no longer around to object. But would Steve Jobs, famous for bucking the big mobile carriers' modus operandi, brand a plan that is largely supported by big telecom and features old technologies as a think different moment? The big news is that the FCC is dissolving the Universal Service Fund, created by the charge on your phone bill that subsidizes phone service in rural areas, in favor of creating a fund that subsidizes broadband. "As part of this reform, some consumers may pay, on average, an additional 10 to 15 cents a month on their bills; but for every dollar in cost, reform will provide $3 in benefits for consumers." Wow, does this sound like "Hi, we're from the government, we're here to help," or what? There's no doubt that any move away from telecom-based infrastructure and towards modern IP-based infrastructure is a good move. But will the FCC's new plan cost you? More to the point, will it preserve the "big brother" status of incumbent telecoms, or is it really a bold, new move, the equivalent of Steve Jobs' runner throwing the hammer into the screen in the famous "1984" Macintosh commercial? My overall take is that it's not really a Steve Jobs moment when we're encouraging carriers to build a whopping 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. Can I get a Pentium Pro PC with a 100-MB hard drive to go with that? Oh, wait, carriers can apply for a waiver if it's a hardship to build out 1 Mbps. Maybe that comes with a 486SX with 4 MB of RAM.
Dave Burstein, an industry analyst, is also full of sunshine about the plan, saying that the FCC "gave the big telcos a fat subsidy for what they already have while cutting the small telcos and rural competitors. It's mostly a switch in subsidies between carriers disguised as a broadband effort." It is troubling that, according to his analysis, "Verizon and AT&T claimed they would have to abandon 5-10 million lines that already get broadband because the costs were too high," due to a phony model that claimed $80 per month in costs to serve those lines. He adds that 2 million to 5 million homes will not be reached by this effort, as they're deemed too expensive.
benton.org/node/100170 | InformationWeek
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SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES IN DIAL-UP AGE
[SOURCE: KQED, AUTHOR: Audrey Watters]
Remember the agony of waiting for a Web site to load, before broadband was widely available? According to a recent survey, a lot of American schools and libraries are still living in that era. Only 35% of public libraries have broadband speeds between 1.5 Mbps and 10 Mbps (a rather broad range); 34.7% have speeds lower than 1.5 Mbps, and only 24.9% have broadband speeds higher than 10 Mbps, according to data from the American Library Association’s Public Library Funding & Technology Access Survey (PDF). As a comparison, Netflix says that an Internet connection of at least 1.5 Mbps is necessary to stream videos at the lowest possible quality. But keeping up with the requisite Internet speed isn’t the only challenge that schools and libraries face. With the increasing demands for data, there are also challenges of bandwidth. Multiple users on multiple machines — whether accessing the Internet through hardwire or wireless — put additional strains on resources, so that even if a library or school has high-speed broadband, a user experiences dial-up-like speeds. The FCC has made broadband access the focus of some of its efforts over the last few years, arguing for its importance to the U.S. economy and education. It’s pushing for better access across the board, but also recognizing the importance of high-speed Internet specifically at schools and libraries.
benton.org/node/100169 | KQED
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

LIGHTSQUARED QUESTIONS MOTIVES
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Eliza Krigman]
LightSquared accused GPS manufacturer Trimble of lobbying against the broadband company out of narrow financial interest. Weeks after the FCC granted its controversial waiver to LightSquared in January, Trimble board members sold nearly $20 million of stock, according to SEC filings compiled by LightSquared. The waiver granted more flexibility for how retailers can use spectrum purchased from LightSquared, a critical element of the company’s business plan. The GPS community said it fundamentally changed the nature of the network LightSquared planned to build, introducing GPS interference problems. But LightSquared denies that, arguing that its network plans remained the same before and after the waiver. The February stock sales comprise “three times the highest amount of stock board members and top managers had unloaded in any one month going back to 2007,” Jeff Carlisle, head of regulatory affairs for the broadband company, said in a release. “This demonstrates that Trimble insiders clearly viewed LightSquared as a financial threat to its commercial business.” “And that explains Trimble's motivation in leading the public relations and lobbying campaign against LightSquared,” he added.
benton.org/node/100186 | Politico
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GOVERNMENT GPS ADVISOR
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Eliza Krigman]
Despite his financial stake in a company at the center of a public lobbying campaign against LightSquared, a key adviser to the government on the controversial broadband company’s plans won’t step down. “This issue is way too important for me to back off,” said Bradford Parkinson, a Stanford professor and GPS expert. Parkinson, the vice chairman of a federal advisory board the government relies on to understand GPS matters, has been accused of putting his financial interests above his scientific analysis. The reason: Parkinson also has a multimillion dollar financial stake in Trimble, a GPS manufacturing company at the heart of a campaign aiming to derail LightSquared from entering the market. In a recent story, POLITICO described the issue surrounding Parkinson’s advisory role on LightSquared and his ties to Trimble. Still, Parkinson maintains that his only loyalty is to protecting GPS, which could be harmed by LightSquared’s planned broadband network.
benton.org/node/100188 | Politico
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ERICSSON SANS SONY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Om Malik]
[Commentary] Back in the day, when it came to mobile infrastructure, there were three large companies: Motorola, Ericsson and Nortel. They were collectively called M.E.N. And often, thanks to their monopolistic practices, they were essentially M.E.N behaving badly. Nevertheless, in time, two of them fell victim to changes in technologies and their own corporate actions, while market forces in the form of competition from Huawei changed the landscape forever. However, one of them survived: Ericsson. The Swedish telecom giant has managed to transform itself by betting big on one simple trend: the demand for wireless broadband is going to be huge. In doing so, the company kept building leading edge 3G+ products, bet heavily on LTE and pushed harder into emerging telecom markets such as India and China. Today, when it comes to mobile, they are one of the two major players, Huawei being the other.
Ericsson announced it’s selling off its stake in the ill-fated Sony Ericsson phone handset venture to Sony for about $1.5 billion. It’s a great move by Ericsson. Ericsson becomes a pure play broadband company: selling wired broadband and wireless broadband hardware along with providing managed services. (See: Ericsson to manage Sprint’s network.) It’s also time for Ericsson to start thinking about the evolution of the mobile cloud and how it can build hardware for that shift. In doing so, Ericsson will remain the other viable option against Huawei, which has become the PacMan of telecom.
benton.org/node/100195 | GigaOm
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CONTENT

YOUTUBE CONTENT
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Staci Kramer]
Google confirmed one of the most open content secrets around: YouTube is partnering with programmers to launch dozens of new YouTube channels—as many as 100—with thousands of hours of exclusive premium content in a bid to create a digital-age cable universe with global reach. The first channels are set to premiere next month, with more rolling out through 2012. It’s billed by some as Google meets Hollywood but it’s not that narrow. Programmers range from celebs (Madonna, Rainne Wilson, Ashton Kutcher), athletes (Lance Armstrong, Shaquille O’Neal) and major media outlets (WSJ, Hearst Magazines, Thomson Reuters) to the internet-native companies that rank among YouTube’s most visited sites, including Machinima, Demand Media, and Maker Studios. Crossover programmers from TV are also there in force: Ben Silverman, Electus; Lloyd Braun and Gail Berman, BermanBraun; and Brian Bedol, Bedrocket. IGN is partnering with new News Corp. sibling Shine on a channel. CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, Tony Valenzuela and other writers will provide scripted programming for Collective Digital Studio to co-produce and market on BlackBoxTV. These aren’t channels in the conventional cable sense, expected to be programmed linearly up to 24/7. The content will be exclusive to YouTube for 18 months. It also with be available globally. That’s a major departure from some of the entertainment premieres we’re used to seeing, where rights are carved up by geography and windowed in to the most slots possible. The plans include financing the new channels, up to $5 million in some cases, according to sources. Rather than an investment or a funding that might imply equity, Google is providing the money through grants with a nearly 50-50 rev share (some deals vary) after proceeds are used for payback.
benton.org/node/100189 | paidContent.org | | TVNewsCheck | Multichannel News
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PROTECT IP ACT AND MINORITIES
[SOURCE: Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, AUTHOR: Dorrissa Griffin]
Debate has recently centered on the Protect IP Act of 2011, whose fate currently lies in the Senate. While hardly sensationalistic for the headline of the day, the bill has far-reaching impact if passed: it establishes a system for blocking the domain names of non-U.S. based sites that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has determined act largely to promote copyright infringement. Meaning: if you are going to produce it, you need to get paid for it. This is a principle construct fueling copyright law. Minorities in all professions appear impacted by the wealth gap. But minority content creators – those who are responsible for creating music, movies, and other media that sets the tone for popular culture in this nation – have experienced casual and commonplace theft of their creations, which have in many instances left them penniless. Minority artists are impacted the most by this kind of theft because minority artists, writers and filmmakers often have little wealth (the wealth gap being as vast as it is) – except for their intellectual property. And once that gets stolen, nothing is left.
benton.org/node/100622 | Minority Media and Telecommunications Council
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DIGITAL DIVIDE

LIFELINE/LINKUP REFORM
[SOURCE: Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, AUTHOR: Kenneth Mallory]
Numerous leaders who have fought for equal rights for African Americans and other minorities to have accessible and unbridled systems of communications in their communities have realized something critical: the power and freedom that directly stems from being able to freely reach out to a neighbor, relative, or colleague to send an expression of affection, discuss a work matter, or verbalize an urgent appeal for help – all through the use of the telephone. Telephone service not only provides personal benefits, but aids in maintaining a sense of balance and containing costs in municipalities across the nation. Just imagine the considerable financial burdens that would be placed on a city’s resources if residents weren’t able to use a phone to dial 911 to quickly diffuse a dangerous situation like a fire, or if a mother did not have access to a phone to find her child, and instead solicited city services to accomplish that task. While telephone service has empowered many African American communities across the nation, many low-income blacks have struggled to pay for phone service – and that is where the federal government has stepped in. The Federal Communications Commission has endeavored to make access to phone service a possibility for low-income Americans citizens by providing subsidies for telephone service and telephone installation costs to low-income Americans through the Lifeline and LinkUp programs. These programs are part of the nation’s Universal Service Fund, which strives to make telecommunications services affordable to all Americans. Some states also have their own Lifeline/LinkUp programs. The FCC is considering reforming Lifeline/ Link Up to make it more efficient and deliver broadband service to more Americans. Specific reform efforts are supported by several civil rights organizations like the NAACP and the National Urban League. Equality in access to telecommunications services like the telephone and broadband Internet is the civil rights issue of the 21st century.
benton.org/node/100621 | Minority Media and Telecommunications Council
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ONLINE HOMEWORK
[SOURCE: Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, AUTHOR: Ava Parker]
[Commentary] Though studies have shown that American schoolchildren in the past have done less homework than students in other nations, that trend is changing fast. As America grows concerned about falling behind other nations in learning, especially in math and the sciences, teachers are responding with more, and tougher, homework. What concerns me is the potential for some students, particularly those from poor families, to be left behind. That’s because the Internet is playing a larger role in homework assignments. And why not? The Web provides access to worldwide sources of information, far more than the tattered books on science and social studies that cluttered our kitchen table each school night.
[Parker is the president of Linking Solutions Inc., a business-development and community-outreach firm, and a partner in the law firm of Lawrence & Parker]
benton.org/node/100624 | Minority Media and Telecommunications Council
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DIVERSITY

DIVERSITY IN SILICON VALLEY
[SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: Laurie Segall]
Weeks ahead of the premiere of a CNN documentary focusing on diversity in the tech industry, the charged issue is already generating sparks. A heated debate broke out on Twitter after a preview screening of Black in America 4. Blogger-turned-investor Michael Arrington ignited a controversy with his comments about the visibility of minority-led companies. In the documentary, which airs November 13, Arrington talked about his difficulties finding African-American entrepreneurs to launch their ventures at his TechCrunch Disrupt conference -- and suggested he would accept almost any black entrepreneur, regardless of merit. "There's a guy, actually, his last company just launched at our event, and he's African-American. When he asked to launch -- actually, I think it was the other way around. I think I begged him," Arrington told CNN's Soledad O'Brien. "His startup's really cool. But he could've launched a clown show on stage, and I would've put him up there, absolutely," Arrington said. "I think it's the first time we've had an African-American [be] the sole founder."
It's a remark that didn't sit well with some in the tech community. Female and black entrepreneurs fired off tweets saying they didn't want to be treated any differently because of their skin color or gender.
benton.org/node/100167 | CNNMoney
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DIVERSITY, CULTURAL NETWORKS POWER INNOVATION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Vivek Wadhwa]
[Commentary] University of California, Berkeley School of Information’s dean, AnnaLee Saxenian, often talks about a visit, in the ‘90s, by a high-level delegation from Japan. The Japanese kept asking where the government’s administrative offices were. They wanted to meet the people who did the central planning for Silicon Valley in order to learn directly from them. They couldn’t comprehend, said Saxenian, that such an authority didn’t exist -- that Silicon Valley thrives without government intervention. People in Silicon Valley laugh when they hear these stories. But I have friends in Washington D.C. who, to this day, believe that government has a role to play in Silicon Valley-style innovation. They are mistaken, as are countries, such as Japan, that have invested billions of dollars on science parks and top-down clusters. To stimulate innovation, they have to first understand what really makes the Valley tick. For the past two years, I have been researching the success of one ethnic group: Indian immigrants. Before 1980, hardly any Silicon Valley firms were founded by people from India. But, as AnnaLee Saxenian documented in 1999, of the companies started in the Valley from 1980 to 1998, seven percent had an Indian founder. A survey my research team undertook at Duke University in 2006 found that this proportion had increased to 15.5 percent in the companies founded from 1995 to 2005. This is astonishing considering that, according to the 2000 census, fewer than six percent of the Silicon Valley workforce were Indian born. How did this group achieve this feat? They did so by mastering the Valley’s rules of engagement. They formed mentoring networks and started helping each other.
benton.org/node/100165 | Washington Post
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FCC REFORM

RECUSAL INFORMATION
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Press release]
On October 28, the Federal Communications Commission declined to make public recusal statements from Commission employees. On May 19, 2011, Public Knowledge asked the FCC to require commissioners and staff negotiating for new employment to make those intentions public. PK noted the lack of transparency in post-FCC employment. The letter also noted that officials recusing themselves from dockets or issues because of employment negotiations had in the past been required to file a publicly available letter with the recusal information. That requirement has lapsed, and Public Knowledge said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski should "immediately reinstitute this requirement."
Harold Feld, legal director of Public Knowledge said on Oct 28:
“At a time when public confidence in government is at a low ebb, and when the Obama Administration has promised high levels of transparency, it is disappointing that the Federal Communications Commission would shield from the public potential transitions of Commission staff to private industry. It is even more disappointing that the Commission did not even attempt to craft a solution to balance the privacy concerns of employees against the public perception of perpetual revolving doors at regulatory agencies. It could have put the issue out for comment to consider possible remedies to bolster public confidence in the agency. The FCC has the authority to do so, but chose not to. While we recognize the need for privacy, we also recognize the need for the public to be aware of the extent to which regulators may be seeking or discussing employment with companies they regulate. There seemed to be no lack of job opportunities for staff when the agency made voluntary recusals public in the past, and we see no harm in continuing that policy or some variation of it.”
benton.org/node/100201 | Public Knowledge | read the FCC’s decision | B&C
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BUDGET

CENSUS BUDGET AX
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ben Casselman]
Washington politicians often battle over what economic statistics mean and what to do about them. Now, they are fighting about the statistics themselves. House lawmakers, facing record budget deficits, have proposed cutting some funding for the Census Bureau. The bureau says if the cuts go through, it would have to cancel the economic census, a once-every-five-year snapshot of the economy, due again next year, that is the basis for much of the country's economic data. The House Appropriations Committee didn't explicitly cut the 2012 economic census; the panel cut President Barack Obama's proposed $1 billion Census budget to $855 million. A Senate committee last month rejected the House cut, setting up a showdown between the chambers. Economists warned that cutting the measure would rob policy makers of crucial information. "If you're trying to figure out what policy measures America should be taking right now to promote job growth for families and workers, without data sets like the 2012 economic census it's going to be a lot harder to do," said Matthew Slaughter, a professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and a former member of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee say they are responding to budget realities.
benton.org/node/100636 | Wall Street Journal
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ACESSIBILITY

ADVANCEMENT IN ACCESSIBILITY
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Michael Copps presented the Chairman’s Awards for Advancement in Accessibility (AAA) to several organizations that have made significant technological innovations to help consumers with disabilities benefit from the country’s communications technologies. The Chairman also honored the winners of an FCC Challenge: Lifted by the Cloud: Visions of Cloud Enhanced Accessibility (Cloud Challenge) and presented a special award to Apple, Inc., for its visionary leadership in, and contributions to, accessibility. The Chairman’s AAA are intended to encourage technological innovation in communication-related areas and to recognize engineers, researchers and other technologists whose energies and perseverance have been successful in crafting innovative ways for consumers with disabilities to benefit from our nation’s communications technologies. The work of these honorees has improved the ability of people with disabilities to obtain and succeed at jobs and participate more
actively in the community.
The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with National Disability Employment Awareness month and the one year anniversary of the 21st Century Communications and Video Programming Accessibility Act (CVAA). The FCC also launched the Accessibility Clearinghouse, which was required by the CVAA.
Awards were being presented for the development of mainstream or assistive technologies, the development of standards, and the implementation of best practices that foster accessibility. The awards are a project of the FCC’s Accessibility and Innovation Initiative (A&I Initiative), as recommended in the National Broadband Plan. The A&I Initiative seeks to facilitate dialogue among industry, assistive technology companies, app developers, government representatives and consumers to allow these stakeholders to share best practices and solutions for accessible communications technologies.
The Chairman’s 2011 AAA Winners are:
• Accesswireless.org (CTIA: The Wireless Association)
• LookTel Money Reader
• Microsoft Accessibility Tools and Training Resources
• Non-Visual Desktop Access
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Coach
• Universal Subtitles
• iPhone 4 (Apple)
The Chairman’s 2011 AAA Honorable Mentions are:
• Apps4Android
• AT&T Speech Mashups for Accessibility
• The Farfalla Project
• Interpretype
• Phlixie
• Verizon Center for Customers with Disabilities
Winners of the Cloud Challenge are:
• AT&T Speech Mashups for Accessibility
• The Farfalla Project
benton.org/node/100203 | Federal Communications Commission | Commissioner Clyburn
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October 31, 2011 (Cybersecurity)