May 7, 2009 (Benton Broadband Stimulus event today)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY MAY 7, 2009
Setting a High Standard for Broadband Stimulus Funding: Urban and Rural Examples of the "Best in Breed" -- Tune into www.benton.org at 12:30 pm (Eastern) for the webcast. For all of today's events, see http://benton.org/calendar/2009-05-07
JOURNALISM
Recap: The Future of Journalism
A newspaper business model that's working
Who owns the facts? The AP and the "hot news" controversy
Amazon launches larger-screen Kindle for $489
BROADBAND/INTERNET
Sen Wyden to FCC: time for black-and-white Network Neutrality rules
We Need More Users (And How The Stimulus Can Help)
Nation Can't Afford Short-Sighted ARRA Spending
California seeks $1 billion in stimulus funds to bring broadband link to every household
Libraries Seek Federal Money For Broadband
North Carolina Lawmakers Put Municipal Broadband Bill on Hold
Hawaii broadband bill fails
Smith Reintroduces Web Freedom Bill
TELECOM
Bloggers' Rights Derail EU Telecom Overhaul
More Cellphone Users Drop Landlines Entirely
BROADCASTING/CABLE
FCC Still Deciding Whether To Modify Cross-Ownership Rules
David Rehr Resigns As NAB President
Technical Problems Delaying TV Ratings
PBS Kids Series Helps Kids in Low-Income Families Read
Limbaugh's Living Large While Radio Boss Clear Channel Implodes
DIGITAL CONTENT
New Firm Mines Its Polling Expertise
FTC Testifies on Data Security, Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
CYBERSECURITY
Boost national cybersecurity without stifling freedom
QUICKLY -- Tech Implications Of Obama's Budget Cuts; Senate health reform hearings focus on IT; Nomination Hearing for Julius Genachowski; Applicants Sought for Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee; Bill unveiled to reverse US online gambling ban
Recent Comments on:
TBritish Telecom Chairman Says Open Access Key to Broadband Growth
JOURNALISM
RECAP: THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee]
On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a hearing on The Future of Journalism. Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) said the US government could provide tax breaks for newspapers or allow them to operate as nonprofits to help the struggling business survive. Chairman Kerry and other Senators raised concerns that without newspapers there will be too few journalists investigating governments, companies and individuals. He said the hearing was the first in a series that will focus on how to help newspapers adjust to the new media landscape. Under consideration are tax relief methods, including how and when publishers can classify operating losses, and whether newspapers should be allowed to operate as nonprofit companies for educational purposes. Under a bill proposed by Sen Ben Cardin (D-MD), newspapers turning to nonprofit status would no longer be able to make political endorsements but could report on all issues including political campaigns. Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax-exempt and contributions to support coverage could be tax deductible. Sen Cardin has said that his aim is to preserve local papers, not large newspaper conglomerates. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/25125
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A NEWSPAPER BUSINESS MODEL THAT'S WORKING
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Dan McDonough Jr, Alan Bauer]
[Commentary] The National Newspaper Association (NNA) last month reported on a study that showed community newspapers were far less affected by the challenging economy than the industry in general. The fact is that gains among progressive community newspaper companies are offsetting a large part of the massive losses being suffered by the staid, big newspaper companies. These "strong and viable" companies recognized and adapted to the changing economy in a way that larger newspapers - for the most part - are not. They adapted to evolving reader habits and emerging business models. They abandoned the traditional, head-in-the-sand mentality of denial and exploited the opportunities presented by their often larger, but undeniably obsolete, brethren. This success is no great mystery - it's the American way. Ingenuity, creativity, and the entrepreneurial spirit always have been rewarded. The newspaper companies that have altered circulation methods and policies, have focused their content and developed news delivery methods to fit today's audience and advertisers are thriving. They found new streams of revenue and ways to reduce costs that didn't eviscerate their core products. In other words, they ran their businesses the way businesses ought to be run.
http://benton.org/node/25132
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WHO OWNS THE FACTS? THE AP AND THE "HOT NEWS" CONTROVERSY
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
In 1918, the Supreme Court created a "hot news" quasi-property right that still exists in some places today, and the Associated Press has been threatening to take on the blogosphere with it. Ars digs into the "hot news" historical archive to explain why the idea has always been controversial.
http://benton.org/node/25129
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AMAZON LAUNCHES LARGER-SCREEN KINDLE FOR $489
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Robert MacMillan, Alexandria Sage]
Amazon.com introduced a larger, Kindle electronic reader on Wednesday designed for students and newspaper readers, but a $489 price tag could make it too expensive for many consumers. The Kindle DX, which has a 9.7 inch black-and-white display, is designed to be a more friendly vehicle for textbooks and newspapers, which often need a larger space to display their content effectively. The DX has about 2.5 times the surface area of the normal Kindle and costs $130 more. The DX also allows people to read personal documents, and is touted as a way for businesspeople and others to avoid having to carry around an assortment of loose papers. Besides making highly formatted pages easier to read, the DX has more memory, 3.3 gigabytes, which can hold up to 3,500 books versus the normal Kindle's 1,500. Amazon is hoping that newspaper publishers find the Kindle DX a better way to show off their daily editions.
http://benton.org/node/25114
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BROADBAND/INTERNET
SEN WYDEN TO FCC: TIME FOR BLACK-AND-WHITE NETWORK NEUTRALITY RULES
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
"Continued growth of the 'Net right now is being hampered by the lack of clear enforceable standards on net neutrality. I don't think the country can afford that," said Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) on Wednesday. "We've got to make sure that the 'Net is protected from the ever present impulse of companies that would like to take advantage of their position of the middleman to erect poles and barriers for their own benefits." But Wyden directed his ire less at the various telcos and ISPs associated with this controversy, and more at the government agency charged with resolving the issue. "I was disappointed that the Federal Communications Commission in its recent Notice of Inquiry about the country's broadband future did not once, not once, mention the concept of net neutrality," he declared. "You see the words 'universal service,' 'open networks,' 'competition,' 'affordability,' but there is kind of an elaborate dance around the central concept of net neutrality." He concludes: "I think it is time to step up and challenge the Federal Communications Commission to guarantee that the newest Web application that runs from a garage or dorm room has the same access to Internet users as Microsoft or Google. I think it is time to challenge the Federal Communications Commission to create black-and-white rules ensuring that Internet service providers are gateways to the whole net and not gatekeepers where they get to pick the winners and losers."
http://benton.org/node/25138
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WE NEED MORE USERS
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
The National Cable and Telecommunications Association thinks broadband stimulus funding should focus on creating new users over new competition. You create new users by making broadband available to people who can't currently get it, and by getting more people subscribed to broadband. Both of these goals are core to what the broadband stimulus wants to support. Of course, if these increases in take-rates end up leading to nothing more than greater profits for incumbents without spurring them to increase their investment in capacity, then we've got a problem. But at the same time I'd hate for us to worry so much about enriching incumbents that we don't push all in on trying to enrich the country by getting more people online.
http://benton.org/node/25123
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NATION CAN'T AFFORD SHORT-SIGHTED ARRA SPENDING
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Matt Williams]
[Commentary] Recovery Act-funded investments in technology can have a long-term impact on the economy. Laying fiber optic cable is a construction project in itself, so that means jobs right away. But more importantly, it holds the promise of a long-term economic payoff by attracting companies to out-of-the-way towns; it's also a driver for the creation of small businesses. This just seems like good sense.
http://benton.org/node/25122
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CALIFORNIA SEEKS $1 BILLION IN STIMULUS FUNDS TO BRING BROADBAND LINK TO EVERY HOUSEHOLD
[SOURCE: Sacramento Bee, AUTHOR: Steve Wiegand]
The good news is that 96 percent of California's households have access to a high-speed Internet connection. The bad news is that despite the good news, 45 percent of California residents a number greater than the populations of all but five states still don't have broadband connections in their homes because of geography, disabilities, a lack of English language skills or poverty. Now the promising news: The state is poised to grab as much as $1 billion in federal stimulus money for closing what's referred to as a "digital divide" between Internet haves and have-nots. The federal money could be spent in a variety of ways: for construction of both wired and "wireless" Internet-access systems; for connection projects aimed at specific groups, such as senior citizens or patrons of public libraries; to subsidize access fees for low- income users; and for education and outreach programs designed to impress the Internet's importance on groups that currently don't use it much.
http://benton.org/node/25121
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LIBRARIES SEEK FEDERAL MONEY FOR BROADBAND
[SOURCE: RedOrbit, AUTHOR: ]
The American Library Association lobbying for some of the $7.2 billion in federal broadband stimulus money to be used exclusively in expanding broadband access in libraries across the country. The library association is arguing that such grants to libraries would be the way to extend high-speed service to the greatest number of people intoning one of President Obama's stated technological goals for America. In support of their petition, the organization released statistics showing that almost 60 percent of associated libraries were unable to meet bandwidth demands during peak hours of use. The same report stated that 70 percent of the libraries claimed to be their community's only free public source of Internet access. "If the government's goal is to make sure everyone has access to broadband, the most fiscally responsible way to do that is attaching fiber to the libraries," said Emily Sheketoff, head of the association's Washington office. "By investing under $1 billion, you could hook up every public library in the country at high speed." Libraries and other public facilities are already penciled in to receive $200 million in the stimulus package. Additionally, the federal E-rate program already supplies public schools and libraries with funds for improving technological infrastructure. Library advocates have countered, however, with claims that they provide a vital service to low-income communities, particularly now as more and more unemployed citizens are turning to the Internet to search and apply for jobs a pattern that has become increasingly prominent as the recession has begun to permeate all areas of the country.
http://benton.org/node/25120
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NORTH CAROLINA LAWMAKERS PUT MUNICIPAL BILL ON HOLD
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wendy Davis]
North Carolina lawmakers have put the brakes on a bill that would have crippled municipal broadband in the state. Wednesday morning, the House Public Utilities Committee sent the measure to committee for further study. The move means that lawmakers likely won't consider the bill for at least one more year. The measure, backed by Internet service providers Time Warner and Embarq, would have effectively prevented cities and towns from building their own high-speed Internet networks. Among other provisions, the law would have prevented cities from using revenue from other public utilities to finance broadband networks. The measure would also prevent cities from using federal stimulus funds -- including the $4.7 billion Congress specifically allocated to improve broadband -- to build new networks. The incumbents argue that the financial terms will prevent towns from gaining an unfair advantage over commercial providers.
http://benton.org/node/25119
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HAWAII BROADBAND BILL FAILS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
A proposal meant to speed up Hawaii's Internet speeds has died in the state Legislature. Disagreement among lawmakers, Internet providers and regulatory agencies caused the measure to stall out in its conference committee last week. The measure would have created a new Hawaii Communications Commission to regulate all Internet service providers, including phone and cable. Legislators say it will be reconsidered next year.
http://benton.org/node/25118
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SMITH REINTRODUCES WEB FREEDOM BILL
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Reps Chris Smith (R-NJ), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) have introduced the Global On line Freedom Act, a bill that would prevent US technology companies from working with repressive foreign governments that seek to conduct Internet surveillance to find, capture, convict and often torture citizens for engaging in democracy promotion and human rights advocacy online. would require American IT companies that do business with countries known for clamping down on free speech to keep records on and notify the Justice Department of demands for personal information about Internet users. The legislation also would give the attorney general authority to order tech firms not to comply with those demands if there is a reasonable likelihood that the request is not made for legitimate law enforcement purposes. Additionally, the bill would require the U.S. firms to disclose data they block when asked by foreign governments and disclose how they filter search engine results. Smith's bill passed several House committees last Congress but he could not secure a floor vote before the session ended.
http://benton.org/node/25115
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TELECOM
BLOGGERS' RIGHTS DERAIL EU TELECOM OVERHAUL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Miller]
The European Parliament effectively scuttled a sweeping overhaul of the bloc's fragmented phone and Internet rules, opting instead to attach an amendment protecting the rights of bloggers accused of Internet piracy. Under European Union rules, the 11th-hour move kills any chance to approve the telecom package -- which would have become law if adopted Wednesday -- until at least late 2010. Lawmakers voted 407 to 57 to attach the amendment, which had quickly become a cause celebre on the Internet, in turn knocking down the plan that telecommunications companies had hoped would ease sales of their services across national borders. The telecom legislation, which was two years in the making, included laws giving customers the right to quickly change providers while keeping the same phone number. It also would have prevented Internet providers from slowing down rivals' Web sites, and established an EU-wide telecommunications regulator in Brussels. Big European phone and Internet companies supported the package, saying it would harmonize rules. Bloggers had lobbied for the amendment, which gives individuals accused of illegally downloading material the right to a hearing before authorities cut off their Web access. It was put forward in March by French parliamentarian Guy Bono, who said he wanted to "stand up for the rights of all Internet users." France is considering a law that would close the Internet account of anyone caught pirating music or movies.
http://benton.org/node/25137
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MORE CELLPHONE USERS DROP LANDLINES ENTIRELY
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
For the first time, the number of U.S. households opting for only cellphones outnumber those that just have traditional landlines in a high-tech shift accelerated by the recession. In the freshest evidence of the growing appeal of cellphones, 20% of households had only cells during the last half of 2008, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released Wednesday. That was an increase of nearly three percentage points over the first half of the year, the largest six-month increase since the government started gathering such data in 2003. The 20% of homes with only cellphones compared with 17% with landlines but no cells. That ratio has changed starkly in recent years: In the first six months of 2003, just 3% of households were wireless only, while 43% stuck to landlines. Stephen Blumberg, senior scientist at the CDC and an author of the report, attributed the growing number of cell-only households in part to a recession that has forced many families to scour their budgets for savings. Further underscoring the public's shrinking reliance on landline phones, 15% of households have both landlines and cells but take few or no calls on their landlines, often because they are wired into computers. Combined with wireless-only homes, that means that 35% of households -- more than one in three -- are basically reachable only on cells. The changes are important for pollsters, who for years relied on reaching people on their landline telephones. Growing numbers of surveys now include calls to people on their cells, which is more expensive partly because federal laws forbid pollsters from using computers to place calls to wireless phones.
http://benton.org/node/25135
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BROADCASTING/CABLE
FCC STILL DECIDING WHETHER TO MODIFY CROSS-OWNERSHIP RULES
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission has told the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that it is still trying to decide whether or not to modify the newspaper/broadcast crossownership rules, saying there could be "further proceedings." A three-judge panel on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals April 14 agreed to delay ruling on challenges to the FCC's December 2008 loosening of the newspaper-broadcast crossownership rules until a newly constituted FCC could take another look at it, if it chose to. The court had also given interested parties 21 days to tell it why it should not lift the stay on the FCC rule change. That deadline was May 5. In a letter to the court, FCC acting general counsel Michele Elison did not say the FCC would definitely review the rule change, which loosened the ban on newspaper-broadcast crossownership to allow them, under certain circumstances, in the top 20 markets, and perhaps smaller markets under a waiver policy. But she did reiterate that the majority on the Commission does not support that December 2008 order loosening the ban. "The current Commission is in the process of determining whether to reconsider or otherwise modify the newspaper/broadcast crossownership rules contained in its 2008 order. Because there may be further proceedings on remand, the Commission at this time supports keeping the current stay in place with respect to the revised newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule." In its filing with the court, representatives of Promethues Radio Project, which challenged the ownership rule change as too deregulatory, said that the stay should remain in place because the FCC is likely to modify the rule on reconsideration. And if it doesn't, the court will likely reverse it as arbitrary and capricious.
http://benton.org/node/25117
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DAVID REHR RESIGNS AS NAB PRESIDENT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Association of Broadcasters President David Rehr announced his resignation Wednesday, but is expected to remain for a transition period until early June. Janet McGregor, NAB chief operating and financial officer, will take over day-to-day running of the lobbying organization until it can find a replacement. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/25116
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TECHNICAL PROBLEMS DELAYING TV RATINGS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
In what one television executive called an unprecedented data delay, Nielsen Media Research failed to provide overnight TV ratings for four days this week. The delays caused considerable consternation within the networks that have to make important decisions this month whether to cancel or renew shows. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/25136
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PBS KIDS SERIES HELPS KIDS IN LOW-INCOME FAMILIES READ
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
PBS Kids series Super WHY? is helping kids read, particularly those in low-income families. That's according to studies conducted by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and Florida State University's Center for Reading Research for PBS in conjunction with the Department of Education's Ready To Learn grant program (RTL). That is just the kind of result DOE is looking for, since it revamped RTL several years ago to focus more on curriculum-based education targeted to younger kids, particularly from low-income families, and whose success could be measured. Among the findings in the Annenberg study were that the show improved overall reading performance, alphabet and phoneme knowledge and comprehension, and improved pre-school, pre-reading letter and sound "naming" skills. The study broke out the gains for low-income and "working class" children, finding that 46% of those kids did better on standardized tests than a control group of the same category of kids.
http://benton.org/node/25128
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LIMBAUGH'S LIVING LARGE WHILE RADIO BOSS CLEAR CHANNEL IMPLODES
[SOURCE: Media Matters for America, AUTHOR: Eric Boehlert]
[Commentary] Clear Channel's fall from business grace remains epic in its proportions. Yet Clear Channel's most famous employee, Rush Limbaugh, remains oblivious to it all. Because last July, just months before the radio economy went into free-fall, Limbaugh's bosses at Clear Channel, who enjoy deep ties to Texas Republicans and who have been at the forefront of promoting right-wing radio, rewarded the turbo-talker with the biggest contract in terrestrial radio history, complete with an eye-popping 40 percent raise over his already gargantuan pay. The astronomical worth of Limbaugh's eight-year pact: $400 million. The amount of money Clear Channel execs have been trying to scrimp and save this year as they lay off thousands from the struggling radio company: $400 million. Ironic, don't you think? But here's the real oddity about Clear Channel's pact with Limbaugh: Last summer there was nobody else in a position to steal Limbaugh away. Clear Channel was basically bidding against itself and decided, in the end, to give Limbaugh a 40 percent raise, which included writing a $100 million signing bonus check to celebrate his contract extension. That right: A nine-figure signing bonus. At the time, it was a puzzler. Looking back at it today, the $100 million goodwill gesture, viewed against the backdrop of Clear Channel's doomsday woes, makes no business sense whatsoever. (That $100 million bonus could have saved maybe 1,000 Clear Channel jobs this year alone.)
http://benton.org/node/25112
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DIGITAL CONTENT
NEW FIRM MINES ITS POLLING EXPERTISE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
A bipartisan group including some former senior White House staffers today will take its polling know-how to the Web. Sara Taylor, who worked as the political director for President George W. Bush, has brought together some unlikely bedfellows to form Resonate Networks, an advertising firm that will use data on political leanings and attitudes to help companies and interest groups sell online ads. "This is the Web 2.0 of the micro-targeting world," said Taylor, who co-founded the firm with investments from people including President Bill Clinton's deputy chief of staff, Harold Ickes. "For public affairs advertisers, the micro-targeting possibilities are limitless when it comes to identifying, persuading or motivating high-quality online audiences for an issue-based or branding campaign." The firm will sift through demographic and other profile information it has gathered on its own or acquired from other marketing firms to help advertisers figure out the political leanings and attitudes of consumers they are trying to reach. Taylor worked with Bush aide Karl Rove to use similar micro-targeting techniques in the 2004 presidential campaign. She said Resonate will take those techniques a step further by using information from surveys and the tracking of online behavior to directly target consumers. It's part of a nascent field called attitudinal targeting.
http://benton.org/node/25134
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FTC TESTIFIES ON DATA SECURITY, PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
On May 5, the Federal Trade Commission testified on the Commission's efforts to promote better security for sensitive consumer information and to prevent the inadvertent sharing of consumers' personal or sensitive data over Peer-to-Peer Internet file-sharing networks. In testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, Acting Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection Eileen Harrington said the agency strongly supports the goals of H.R. 2221, the Data Accountability and Trust Act, which would require companies to put reasonable data security policies and procedures in place, and to notify consumers when there has been a data security breach that affects them. The legislation also would give the Commission the authority to obtain civil penalties for violations. The Commission made two further recommendations regarding the data security legislation: It suggested that the legislation be extended to cover data stored on paper, as well as electronic data. It also recommended that certain provisions imposing obligations on information brokers - companies whose business is to collect and sell information about individuals who are not their customers - be targeted specifically to address harms consumers may face when brokers sell information about them, to the extent that such harms are not already addressed by federal law. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/25127
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CYBERSECURITY
BOOST NATIONAL CYBERSECURITY WITHOUT STIFLING FREEDOM
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Bryann Alexandros]
[Commentary] The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 would advance a plethora of shady mandates that could impinge on America's freedom and actually put it at greater risk. While the government may be wise to reinforce stricter control over its own network infrastructure, it does not need to interfere in the network security of the public or private sector. Lawmakers are hawking power-grabbing legislation on a topic that actually needs the weigh-in of independent security experts. Instead, we are flanked with justifications from the director of national intelligence, Homeland Security, former Bush administration officials, and government think tanks. Independent experts would explain that the biggest problems in computer security are not sinister IT professionals and the way they configure firewalls, but are in the software we choose to run. Software isn't perfect, but it surely evolves. It's beautiful in function but once we find that bit of flawed code, we fix it and patch it; we thus grow smarter, and our software more stable and secure. In fact, it is through this process that the ideas and innovation which make the US are formed. We cannot afford to stifle that. Before this Act goes any further, we all need to honestly ask whether the government should meddle in regulating the last frontier for free information.
http://benton.org/node/25133
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QUICKLY
TECH IMPLICATIONS OF OBAMA'S BUDGET CUTS
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
President Obama will propose cutting or scaling back 121 programs in the detailed budget he will unveil Thursday, saving the federal government an estimated $17 billion in FY10. About half of the savings would come from defense programs and almost $12 billion would come from discretionary spending. Two examples of the downsizing that involve technology: 1) the government's long-range radio navigation system will be eliminated, made obsolete by the prevalence of GPS and 2) the Education Department's educational attaché in Paris. The Administration is proposing that the agency instead use e-mail and videoconferencing and does not need a full-time representative there. The savings: $632,000 per year.
http://benton.org/node/25130
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SENATE HEALTH REFORM HEARINGS FOCUS ON IT
[SOURCE: HealthcareITNews, AUTHOR: Bernie Monegain]
Continued adoption of healthcare information technology is critical to healthcare reform, a spokesman for the nation's top corporations told the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday. John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, which represents chief executives of the nation's top corporations, offered his comments during the second of three roundtables to discuss healthcare reform. The committee is chaired by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) "We have had many discussions with the committee about ways to create greater value in our healthcare system, Castellani said in a prepared statement. "And we applaud your commitment to identify options that are key to the success of reform." Top among the three measures Castellani said his group supports as key to reform is "continued adoption of uniform interoperable health information technology standards and incentives to use health information technology."
http://benton.org/node/25126
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NOMINATION HEARING FOR JULIUS GENACHOWSKI
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee]
The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a nomination hearing for Julius Genachowski to be Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, May 12.
http://benton.org/node/25124
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APPLICANTS SOUGHT FOR COMMERCE SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking applications from persons interested in serving on the Department of Commerce's Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) for new two-year terms. The CSMAC provides advice to the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator on spectrum policy matters. Applications must be postmarked or electronically transmitted on or before June 1, 2009.
http://benton.org/node/25113
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BILL UNVEILED TO REVERSE US ONLINE GAMBLING BAN
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: John Poirier]
Legislation aimed at reversing a 3-year-old ban on Americans placing online bets was introduced on Wednesday by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA). The Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act would establish a federal regulatory and enforcement framework for online gaming. Chairman Frank said the bill would give the Treasury Department the authority to establish regulations and license Internet gambling operators. The Treasury would also have the authority to revoke or terminate the license of any operator that violates the law. Enforcement actions could also include fines.
http://benton.org/node/25131
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