April 21, 2009 (Congress returns from Spring Break)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY APRIL 21, 2009
Today's events: 1) Internet Openness: Net Neutrality and Beyond, 2) Copyright, Content and Class Action Lawsuits: A Debate on the Google Book Search Settlement, 3) a House hearing on A New Age for Newspapers: Diversity of Voices, Competition and the Internet, and 4) a nominations hearing in the Senate. See http://www.benton.org/calendar/2009-4-21
AGENDA
Stakes high as Congress returns
THE TRANSITION
Sunstein will get chance to nudge at OMB
Nonprofit Groups to Push for Exceptions to Lobby Rule
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Lawmaker Is Said to Have Agreed to Aid Lobbyists
THE STIMULUS
Commenters Weigh In On $7.2 Billion Broadband Stimulus Plan
Federal stimulus dollars could speed Internet access for the underserved
More Internet Equals More Jobs: Reviving the Economy with Broadband
Big Challenges Await Health-Records Transition
Stimulus money heightens urgency for health IT guidance
Miami to tap stimulus for $200 million smart grid
JOURNALISM
Senate panel to look at future of newspapers
Why We Should Get Rid of the White House Press Corps
NY Times dominates 2009 Pulitzer Prize contest
The Real Story Behind "Tent City" -- and How the Media Get It Wrong
Economy Shares Headlines with Pirates, Tea Parties and Waterboarding
TELEVISION/RADIO
Rehr Points to Television's Strengths in NAB Opening Keynote
TV News Jobs and Salaries Decline As Amount of News Increases, RTNDA/Hofstra University Survey Shows
Networks rewriting rules for fall
TV experts predict bleak future for network TV
Canadian media companies square off over fees
Cable Industry Claims To Be At Forefront of Content-Control Technologies
MEDIA & ELECTIONS
States turn to Web 2.0 tools for upcoming elections
Lobbying Groups Ramp Up Spending on Issue Ads
OWNERSHIP
Oracle Agrees to Acquire Sun Microsystems
Telcos, Satellite Join Cable's Push To Build Pay Wall On Web
IP Hawks Counter Tech Letter To Obama
Internet Archive wants book copyright indemnity like Google
QUICKLY -- FCC Officials: Comcast VoIP Issues Should Be Considered With Existing Proceedings; Google's Schmidt Talks Privacy, Internet Domination; The American Observer; UN Launches Library Of World's Knowledge; Computer Spies Breach Fighter-Jet Project; The State of the Internet Sales Tax
AGENDA
STAKES HIGH AS CONGRESS RETURNS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Thomas Ferraro, Richard Cowan]
Barack Obama's presidency has been a wild ride for Congress and lawmakers are bracing for more turbulence when they begin returning on Monday to tackle an array of tough issues from healthcare to energy. In the three months since Obama took office, his fellow Democrats in Congress have overcome Republican objections and unleashed a raft of spending to try to buoy the sinking economy. With the Senate coming back on Monday and the House in on Tuesday, following a two-week recess, the Democratic leadership in both chambers will press its advantage, while undeterred Republicans dig in their heels. One of the first agenda items will be Senate consideration of a bill backed by Democrats and some Republicans to tighten laws against financial fraud. At stake on other fronts are some of the chief policy goals of the Obama administration, including its plan to restructure the U.S. healthcare system and to cut U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants blamed for climate change.
http://benton.org/node/24505
Recommend this Headline
back to top
THE TRANSITION
PRESIDENT OBAMA ANNOUNCES ANOTHER KEY OMB POST
[SOURCE: The White House]
President Barack Obama nominated Cass R. Sunstein to be Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. Although obscure, the post wields outsize power. It oversees regulations throughout the government, from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Obama aides have said the job will be crucial as the new administration overhauls financial-services regulations, attempts to pass universal health care and tries to forge a new approach to controlling emissions of greenhouse gases. Sunstein is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. A recipient of many honors and prizes, and author of hundreds of articles and numerous books, Sunstein is the most cited law professor on any faculty in the United States. Sunstein's many books include After the Rights Revolution (1990), Risk and Reason (2002), Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle (2005), Worst-Case Scenarios (2007), and Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008). He is also coauthor of leading casebooks in both Constitutional Law and Administrative Law; his major academic specialties have been constitutional law, administrative law, and regulatory policy.
http://benton.org/node/24504
Recommend this Headline
back to top
NONPROFIT GROUPS TO PUSH FOR EXCEPTIONS TO LOBBY RULE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Peter Baker]
President Obama's policy banning the hiring of registered lobbyists to serve in his administration has caused a deep discontent among many Democrats. The dispute over the policy underscores the tension between the grand gestures of the campaign trail and the undesired consequences once in office. As a candidate, Mr. Obama presented himself as a reformer who would purge Washington of the insidious influence of special interests. As president, he has found some of his own supporters among those purged. Although Mr. Obama has issued a few waivers to allow activists to work in his administration, the broad sweep of his rules points to the lasting damage of the scandal surrounding the powerful lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials. The assumption underlying the Obama policy, critics say, is that all lobbying is suspect, even legitimate advocacy at the heart of a democratic process. A coalition of nonprofit groups has started a campaign to exempt lobbyists for charitable and social welfare organizations that have tax-free status, meeting with presidential aides and sending them a package of ideas for rewriting the policy. Some senior officials privately agree with the effort, concluding that they are hurting the administration by effectively barring people who lobbied on behalf of human rights, environmental and consumer causes espoused by Mr. Obama. But White House officials said there had been no internal debate on the matter and flatly dismissed the proposals, adding that they would not consider any changes because it would start the administration down a slippery slope of declaring some lobbyists acceptable and others unacceptable.
http://benton.org/node/24538
Recommend this Headline
back to top
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
LAWMAKER IS SAID TO HAVE AGREED TO AID LOBBYISTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Neil Lewis, Mark Mazzetti]
One of the leading House Democrats on intelligence matters was overheard on telephone calls intercepted by the National Security Agency agreeing to seek lenient treatment from the Bush administration for two pro-Israel lobbyists who were under investigation for espionage, current and former government officials say. The lawmaker, Representative Jane Harman of California, became the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee after the 2002 election and had ambitions to be its chairwoman when the party gained control of the House in 2006. One official who has seen transcripts of several wiretapped calls said she appeared to agree to intercede in exchange for help in persuading party leaders to give her the powerful post. One of the very few members of Congress with broad access to the most sensitive intelligence information, including aspects of the Bush administration's wiretapping that were disclosed in December 2005, Ms. Harman was inadvertently swept up by NSA eavesdroppers who were listening in on conversations during an investigation, three current or former senior officials said. It is not clear exactly when the wiretaps occurred. Harman denied Monday that she had contacted the Justice Department to seek leniency for employees of a pro-Israeli lobbying organization under investigation for espionage.
http://benton.org/node/24539
Recommend this Headline
back to top
THE STIMULUS
COMMENTERS WEIGH IN ON $7.2 BILLION BROADBAND STIMULUS PLAN
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Mike Farrell, John Eggerton]
More than 1,400 trade associations, municipalities, companies and individuals weighed in on the federal government's $7.2 billion broadband stimulus plan, offering their takes on the definitions of two terms -- "unserved" and "underserved" -- that could determine the program's success or failure. Just how the government construes those two seemingly innocuous words will determine how the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utilities Service — the two government agencies charged with administering the broadband stimulus program — will figure out how the funds are distributed. The Federal Communications Commission will consult with NTIA and RUS on the definitions. NTIA spokesman Mark Tolbert said the agency is working closely with the other agencies involved in the project. The definitions of unserved and underserved are expected to be finalized along with other details on how the funding plan will be distributed when the NTIA issues its Notice of Funding Availability within the next two to three months. The NoFA, as it is called, will set the criteria for applying for grants and loans through the program. Most commenters seem to agree on a definition for an unserved community: any area where no broadband service (defined by the FCC as 768 Kbps or higher) is available. But they differ widely on the meaning of "underserved."
http://benton.org/node/24503
See also:
The BroadbandCensus.com List of NTIA Comments
Recommend this Headline
back to top
FEDERAL STIMULUS DOLLARS COULD SPREAD INTERNET ACCESS FOR THE UNDERSERVED
[SOURCE: Contra Costa Times, AUTHOR: Lisa Vorderbrueggen]
(4/17) Decisions made long before the current recession could help California collect up to $1 billion in federal stimulus dollars earmarked to close the digital divide. Back in 2005, the California Public Utilities Commission ordered major telecommunications companies to provide $60 million in seed capital for investments in the expansion of high-speed Internet access into underserved areas. It was a condition imposed on merger deals between AT&T, SBC and others. "We had no idea back then that there would be a recession or an economic stimulus package, but we are now extremely well-positioned to leverage these federal dollars," said Sunne Wright McPeak, a former Contra Costa County supervisor and president of the California Emerging Technology Fund. "No other state has the level of data and planning that we have." The utility commission created the Technology Fund to oversee the $60 million, 10-year effort to expand broadband access and use. McPeak left her post in late 2006 as the state secretary of the Business, Housing and Transportation Agency and became the fund's first executive director. The fund's plan calls for leveraging its dollars threefold and generating an investment in broadband of $240 million. Its goal is to bring high-speed Internet to households in rural and remote areas, poor urban neighborhoods and to people with disabilities. Almost five out of every 10 Californians lack access to broadband service or face barriers to access such as poor English skills, poverty or disabilities.
http://benton.org/node/24502
Recommend this Headline
back to top
MORE INTERNET EQUALS MORE JOBS: REVIVING THE ECONOMY WITH BROADBAND
[SOURCE: The WIP, AUTHOR: Megan Tady]
High-speed Internet is one of the most transformative technologies in human history. In little more than a decade, broadband has completely changed how people do business, engage with government, teach children, and interact with one another and the rest of the world. But not everyone is able to take advantage of this technology. The US is suffering from a "digital divide," where tens of millions of people can't get online for reasons of class, location, race and ethnicity. Only 35 percent of homes with less than $50,000 in annual income have broadband, while 76 percent of homes earning more than $50,000 per year are connected, according to the 2007 US Census Bureau. Like Connie, nearly 20 million Americans live in places that are not served by a single broadband provider. And the digital divide has an ugly race component: only 40 percent of ethnic minority households subscribe to broadband, while 55 percent of non-Hispanic white households are connected. These stunning numbers don't take into account the other barriers to access many people simply can't afford a computer or don't have the skills to use the technology. "With those variables, that means that there's a huge population of people who don't have [Internet] access who won't be able to engage in our society as a whole," says Shireen Mitchell, executive director of Digital Sisters/Sistas Inc., an organization that works to bridge the digital divide in underserved communities.
http://benton.org/node/24501
Recommend this Headline
back to top
BIG CHALLENGES AWAIT HEALTH-RECORDS TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jacob Goldstein]
Dr David Blumenthal, the physician in charge of the federal government's massive push to move health care to electronic records from paper files, faces "huge challenges" as he starts his new job in Washington this week. Experts have warned that systems that are poorly designed or badly run can jeopardize patient safety. They are calling for more regulation or stricter standards for certification, arguing that the risks are heightened by limited public oversight of the systems. Dr. Blumenthal said Monday that problems can arise from trying to install systems too quickly and without proper support. He called technical assistance a "critical factor" in reducing risks.
http://benton.org/node/24537
Recommend this Headline
back to top
STIMULUS MONEY HEIGHTENS URGENCY FOR HEALTH IT GUIDANCE
[SOURCE: FederalComputerWeek, AUTHOR: Mary Mosquera]
(April 3) Imagine what would have happened in the early 20th century if the federal government had decided to give the automobile industry a boost with billions of dollars for manufacturers and buyers, even though the industry was just starting to figure out what it was doing. That is an apt analogy for the state of the health information technology sector. The economic stimulus law sets aside a net of about $19.5 billion for health IT during the next 10 years, with hopes of convincing physicians and patients to start using electronic health records and related applications that could improve the quality and reduce the cost of health care.
http://benton.org/node/24500
Recommend this Headline
back to top
MIAMI TO TAP STIMULUS FOR $200 MILLION SMART GRID
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Martin LaMonica]
The City of Miami announced a proposal on Monday to install 1 million two-way "smart meters" to all Miami residents over the next two years in what would be the most comprehensive smart-grid program in the US. The installation of meters with a wireless Internet connection will allow consumers get detailed home energy usage information from the Web. With the up-to-the minute data, consumers are expected to take steps to lower their consumption. About 1,000 consumers will get in-home energy display from GE, called an EcoDashboard, and have smart-meter-controlled appliances and thermostats. These people will also participate in a demand-response program that will allow the utility to adjust appliances to throttle down electricity use during peak times. The project, which will total $700 million across the state, also calls for adding Internet connectivity to substations and other hardware along the distribution grid, which will allow the utilty to prevent or quickly fix outages.
http://benton.org/node/24488
Recommend this Headline
back to top
JOURNALISM
SENATE PANEL TO LOOK AT FUTURE OF NEWSPAPERS
[SOURCE: Boston Globe, AUTHOR: James Vaznis]
Sen John Kerry (D-MA) will hold hearings in Washington next week on the financial problems facing the newspaper industry, as dwindling advertising dollars push many US papers to the brink of closure. He'd like to spotlight the financial plight of newspapers after The New York Times Co. threatened earlier this month to shut down The Boston Globe unless its labor unions agree to $20 million in cost concessions, including pay and benefit cuts. The Globe is on track to lose $85 million this year, executives told labor representatives. "America's newspapers are struggling to survive and while there will be serious consequences in terms of the lives and financial security of the employees involved, including hundreds at the Globe, there will also be serious consequences for our democracy where diversity of opinion and strong debate are paramount," Sen Kerry wrote in a letter sent to union leaders Friday. He also voiced his commitment to the industry and to ensuring that the "vital public service newspapers provide does not disappear." "The increase in media conglomerates has resulted in an increase in agenda-driven reporting and over time, if those of us who value a diversity of opinion and ideas, and are unafraid to be confronted with pointed commentary and analysis, do not act, it is a situation which will only get worse," Kerry wrote.
http://benton.org/node/24486
Recommend this Headline
back to top
WHY WE SHOULD GET RID OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ana Marie Cox]
(April 19) Intense interest in the Obama administration has swelled the ranks of the White House press corps. Yet too often, the White House briefing room is where news goes to die. The day of a typical White House correspondent consists, literally, of waiting to be told things. Legitimate security concerns and a tightly scripted political world keep the presidential press corps physically corralled and informationally hostage. But putting a horde of reporters on the site where the big decisions about the country's future are made is no guarantee of enhanced coverage. Instead of heaping more telegenic reporters into a single White House beat, break up the work among the corps of plugged-in journalists. When the president speaks out on AIG, let financial and labor reporters truth-squad him; when North Korea launches a missile, let defense and Asia specialists assess the White House reaction. Let the beleaguered journalism business prove its worth by providing something you can't get by watching the White House's YouTube channel. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/24496
Recommend this Headline
back to top
NY TIMES DOMINATES 2009 PULITZER PRIZE CONTENT
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Robert MacMillan]
The New York Times dominated the Pulitzer Prizes announced on Monday, winning five of the coveted awards for investigative, breaking news and international reporting, feature photography and criticism. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/24495
Recommend this Headline
back to top
HOW THE MEDIA GOT THE "TENT CITY" STORY WRONG
[SOURCE: AlterNet, AUTHOR: Rose Aguilar]
The media have finally discovered homelessness. Not surprisingly, they get the story wrong. Over the past few months, reporters from around the world have flocked to the now-famous tent city in Sacramento (CA). Like Oprah, several national and international articles and TV pieces have falsely portrayed everyone in tent city as once-middle-class people driven to homelessness because of the economic meltdown. The show reported -- inaccurately -- that an estimated 1,200 people in Sacramento are living in tent cities after losing their jobs and homes. According to Loaves & Fishes, a privately funded group that has been feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless in Sacramento for 25 years, 1,226 people live on the streets of the city. Between 100 and 200 temporarily call tent city home. The majority of Sacramento's homeless population suffer from physical disabilities, mental illness and drug and alcohol addictions.
http://benton.org/node/24484
Recommend this Headline
back to top
ECONOMY SHARES HEADLINES WITH PIRATES, TEA PARTIES AND WATERBOARDING
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
For the second week in a row, the economic crisis only narrowly edged out Somali pirates as the top story in what is becoming a more a diverse news landscape than earlier in the year. With media attention to the financial meltdown falling to less than 50% of its level a month ago, an obvious question emerges: As the news about the economy gets modestly better, and the torrent of grim news slows, is the story attracting less attention than it did when things seemed more dire? For the week of April 13-19, the financial crisis accounted for 18% of the newshole, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. While that's a small increase over the previous week (15%), it marks the third in a row when the subject has accounted for less than 20% of the coverage. By contrast, it filled 43% of the newshole in the first two months after Barack Obama's inauguration.
http://benton.org/node/24532
Recommend this Headline
back to top
TELEVISION/RADIO
REHR POINTS TO TELEVISION'S STRENGTHS IN NAB OPENING NIGHT
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Vlada Gelman]
In Las Vegas, National Association of Broadcasters CEO David Rehr opened the industry's annual conference saying, "From moving 3-D viewing into the home to incorporating FM chips in cell phones to exploring all the possibilities of the Internet, we are planning for the future and seizing opportunities in this digital age." Rehr pointed out that the digital television transition has given "TV broadcasters the opportunity to rebrand and reinvent." Broadcasters also have made strides in bringing local, digital broadcast TV to mobile and handheld devices, which could provide them with additional advertising and search revenue in the future. Rehr urged broadcasters to make the best use of their resources, "work together to continue to accelerate technology and think of our business in new ways" and "maintain a realistic optimism" in these tough economic conditions.
http://benton.org/node/24493
Recommend this Headline
back to top
TV NEWS JOBS AND SALARY DECLINE
[SOURCE: Radio-Television News Directors Association, AUTHOR: Press release]
Results of the 2009 Hofstra University/Radio-Television News Directors Association Annual Survey indicate jobs in local television news dropped by 4.3 percent and salaries dropped by 4.4 percent last year. At the same time, stations set a record for the amount of news on the air while the net number of stations originating news declined by only 4 in the past 16 months. "It's clear that stations are banking on local news to carry them into the future," said Bob Papper, director of the survey and professor and chair of the department of journalism at Hofstra University. "Television is clearly suffering from the same stress as the entire economy, but stations are by no means giving up on local news." Papper said he expects jobs and salaries to continue to decline in 2009, but looks for improvement in 2010.
http://benton.org/node/24490
Recommend this Headline
back to top
NETWORKS REWRITING RULES FOR FALL
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Michael Schneider]
As they prepare for their fall-scheduling meetings, network heads are once again rewriting the rules. That includes NBC, which takes the most radical step of all this September when it starts stripping Jay Leno's new series five nights a week at 10 o'clock. Here are a few of the new realities in primetime: 1) Super-sized reality series are here to stay. 2) Despite what critics say, flow matters more than ever on the schedules, so networks, especially NBC, may move toward theme nights -- a comedy block one night, reality on another and dramas on a third. 3) Low-cost shows with low ratings might make more sense to keep around than higher-rated shows with hefty fees. 4) Once the networks gave up on Saturday, it was only a matter of time before other timeslots started losing favor as well. 5) Edgier fare earlier in the evening on NBC. Insiders believe viewers won't make a stink over content issues (although watchdog groups will likely make a ruckus) because they're familiar with those shows already and know what they're getting. 6) The rise of low-cost fare, such as international co-productions.
http://benton.org/node/24482
Recommend this Headline
back to top
TV EXPERTS PREDICT BLEAK FUTURE FOR NETWORK TV
[SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, AUTHOR: Rob Owen]
The future of prime-time network television is murky at best. Where once networks dictated what we watch and when we watch it, America has turned into a nation of individual programmers who pick and choose their shows and viewing times at their leisure, thanks to DVRs and online streaming sites such as Hulu.com. Syracuse University hosted "From Test Patterns to Pixels: Envisioning the Future of Television" to examine the state of TV with participation from some of its legendary figures.
http://benton.org/node/24481
Recommend this Headline
back to top
CANADIAN MEDIA COMPANIES SQUARE OFF OVER FEES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Randall Palmer]
Two leading Canadian media companies were poles apart on Monday over whether cable television operators should have to pay conventional TV broadcasters a fee to carry their signals. Quebecor, a big player in the French-speaking province of Quebec, argued for fee-for-carriage, saying over-the-air broadcasters were under unfair pressure to provide local programming without enough compensating revenue. On the other side, Rogers Communications, which owns one of Canada's biggest cable companies, told a House of Commons committee that the idea was a cash grab. The committee is examining the idea of having cable companies pay conventional broadcasters as a means of easing an acute revenue crisis among broadcasters and trying to preserve local TV programming.
http://benton.org/node/24494
Recommend this Headline
back to top
CABLE INDUSTRY CLAIMS TO BE AT FOREFRONT OF CONTENT-CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association told the Federal Communications Commission that the cable industry says it was at the forefront of content-control technologies, and continues to improve them, an effort that will be aided by its migration to digital. NCTA's comments came in a proceeding that will result in an FCC report to Congress on the state of the V-chip/ratings system and other technologies. NCTA argued that it has made it easy to block shows using the ratings via program guides, and with a system sensitive enough to, say, block a TV-PG rated show with a violence warning, but not one with a language warning, if that is the customer's preference. Or, shows with a violence warning can all be blocked regardless of the rating. Some digital set-tops can also be programmed to skip channels, and even exclude them from the on-screen guide. NCTA also pointed out that cable operators--Comcast, Time Warner and Cox among them--have teamed with third parties to provide content controls, including "several cable operators [who] have relationships with Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that rates shows for age-appropriateness.
http://benton.org/node/24489
Recommend this Headline
back to top
MEDIA & ELECTIONS
STATES TURN TO WEB 2.0 TOOLS FOR UPCOMING ELECTIONS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Stephanie Condon]
State governments are turning to tools like Twitter to manage elections in order to cut costs and keep up with increasingly Net-savvy citizens. Both California and Ohio are using more Web tools to communicate with citizens and their own staff during elections, the states' respective secretaries of state said Monday. Through projects such as the Voting Information Project, states have been moving voter information online, such as voter registration instructions, polling locations, and descriptions of issues and candidates on the ballot. Millions of citizens also turn to state-run sites to track election results. Now, the state of California is planning to utilize cloud computing for its election night services with the aim of saving money by storing data with external hosting providers, said California Secretary of State Debra Bowen.
http://benton.org/node/24487
Recommend this Headline
back to top
LOBBYING GROUPS RAMP UP SPENDING ON ISSUE ADS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Conkey, Brody Mullins ]
Since President Obama's inauguration, $270 million has been spent on television advertisements designed to influence public-policy decisions, according to Campaign Media Analysis Group, a nonpartisan organization that tracks television spending. That is up significantly from the same period at the beginning of the last session of Congress in 2007. It took until September 2007 for so-called issue-advocacy spending to reach $270 million in the previous cycle, according to the organization. The rise in such advertising underscores Washington's new prominence in the economy. "What has surprised me so much this year is that nobody has sat back and waited to see what Congress is going to do," said Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of Campaign Media Analysis Group. Energy issues have been the focus of more than $115 million in advertising. Health-care organizations have spent millions of dollars on advertisements.
http://benton.org/node/24536
Recommend this Headline
back to top
OWNERSHIP
ORACLE AGREES TO ACQUIRE SUN MICROSYSTEMS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Don Clark, Ben Worthen]
Oracle announced a deal to buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion, a surprise union of software and hardware companies that emerged following failed talks for International Business Machines to buy Sun. Oracle, which has been snapping up smaller software companies for several years, agreed to pay $9.50 a share for Sun. The companies valued the transaction at about $5.6 billion, excluding Sun's cash and debt. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/24498
Recommend this Headline
back to top
TELCOS, SATELLITE JOIN CABLE'S PUSH TO BUILD PAY WALL ON WEB
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Roger Cheng]
The satellite television, telecommunications and cable industries - longtime rivals - agree on one issue: The need to put TV shows that are available online, most of which are now free, behind a pay wall. The rare agreement among the normal combatants reflect their strong concern that allowing free access to such content could lead to problems similar to those faced by the music and news industries, now struggling to establish subscription-based business models. No barriers to Internet content also could push subscribers to cancel their TV service and rely solely on the Web. Cable companies have been out-front on this issue, but satellite and telcos are joining the fight. The different companies have had informal talks, but any agreement will be difficult and likely years away, if they ever come. Hurdles include logistical and technical issues as well as getting cooperation from many companies in different industries that generally don't play nicely with other. The basic idea is for subscribers of any satellite, telco or cable TV service to get an identification number or password, which they can use to access restricted online content offered by media companies. A wide-ranging authentication system, however, would be difficult to set up when factoring the different service providers.
http://benton.org/node/24497
Recommend this Headline
back to top
IP HAWKS COUNTER TECH LETTER TO OBAMA
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
A collection of unions, artists' alliances, companies, trade associations and research organizations whose livelihoods depend on solid intellectual property protections wrote to President Obama Monday countering what they believe is a "false dichotomy" espoused by high-tech groups who suggested in a letter earlier this month that there is a conflict between the rights of authors and inventors and the need for innovation or creativity. "The authors of the April 2 letter would have you believe that you must choose between safeguarding IP protection on the one hand and promoting innovation on the other. This supposed conflict is itself an invention," the new letter stated. The communiqué was signed by Association of American Publishers, Business Software Alliance, Copyright Alliance, Motion Picture Association of America, Recording Industry Association of America and many more. The previous memo was sent by the American Library Association; Center for Democracy and Technology; Computer and Communications Industry Association; Consumer Electronics Association and others.
http://benton.org/node/24492
Recommend this Headline
back to top
INTERNET ARCHIVE WANTS BOOK COPYRIGHT INDEMNITY LIKE GOOGLE
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Eric Bangeman]
The Internet Archive, perhaps best known for its website archive the Wayback Machine, has let a federal judge know that it would like to be covered by same the copyright liability protection that Google will enjoy as part of its settlement with The Authors Guild. On Friday, the Internet Archive submitted a letter to Judge Denny Chin requesting permission to intervene in The Authors Guild v. Google, arguing that the proposed settlement of the case would hinder it from competing against Google. In addition to operating Wayback Machine, the Internet Archive is a founding member of the Open Content Alliance, launched in 2005 as an alternative to Google's book-digitization project. Unlike Google's opt-out plan, the OCA planned to scan only copyrighted material which had been given advance permission from the publishers. In 2007, the OCA opened the virtual doors of its Open Library for business.
http://benton.org/node/24491
Recommend this Headline
back to top
QUICKLY
FCC OFFICIALS: COMCAST VOIP ISSUES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED WITH EXISTING PROCEEDINGS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
Senior Federal Communications Commission officials, in a letter last week to Comcast, said issues raised about the cable company's IP voice service -- in an inquiry initiated in the last days of the Kevin Martin regime -- should be considered as part of ongoing agency proceedings. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/24485
Recommend this Headline
back to top
GOOGLE'S SCHMIDT TALKS PRIVACY, INTERNET DOMINATION
[SOURCE: PCMag.com, AUTHOR: Chloe Albanesius]
Google CEO Eric Schmidt appeared at his alma mater, Princeton University, on Saturday to discuss the Internet and globalization, Google products that have recently made headlines, and how not to be evil. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/24483
Recommend this Headline
back to top
THE AMERICAN OBSERVER
[SOURCE: Bill Moyers Journal, AUTHOR: Bill Moyers]
An interview of David Simon, the former Baltimore Sun reporter turned executive producer of HBO's critically-acclaimed show The Wire. Simon talks with Bill Moyers about inner-city crime and politics, storytelling and the future of journalism today. They touch not only on the plight of America's cities, the drug war and prison numbers and the state of the news media, but also on the art of telling hard truths through stories rather than statistics.
http://benton.org/node/24480
Recommend this Headline
back to top
UN LAUNCHES LIBRARY OF WORLD'S KNOWLEDGE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Edward Cody]
A globe-spanning, United Nations, digital library seeking to display and explain the wealth of all human cultures has gone into operation on the Internet (see www.wdl.org), serving up mankind's accumulated knowledge in seven languages for students around the world. The World Digital Library, which officially will be inaugurated Tuesday at the Paris headquarters of UNESCO. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/24535
Recommend this Headline
back to top
COMPUTER SPIES BREACH FIGHTER-JET PROJECT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Siobhan Gorman, August Cole, Yochi Dreazen]
Computer spies have broken into the Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project -- the Defense Department's costliest weapons program ever -- according to current and former government officials familiar with the attacks. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/24534
Recommend this Headline
back to top
THE STATE OF THE INTERNET SALES TAX
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Olga Kharif]
Companies like online retailer Amazon.com, iTunes service provider Apple and software maker Microsoft have been fighting Internet taxes for years. Back in 1992, the Supreme Court ruled in Quill vs. North Dakota that states can't make companies with no physical presence in their states to collect those states' sales taxes. That means that Amazon.com may only be required to collect sales taxes in states like Washington State, where it has facilities, and not in others. Well, there's an effort under way to change that. In the next week, legislators are expected to introduce bills in the House and Senate promising to do away with the "physical presence" requirement. If a bill passes — and that's a big "if" — it would require all online retailers, except for the tiniest companies, to collect sales taxes in the 23 states that are part of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project. The states would compensate the retailers for the trouble, while promising not to sue them for tax collection mistakes that are made.
http://benton.org/node/24533
Recommend this Headline
back to top