Dec 15, 2008 (Google abandons Net Neutrality)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY DECEMBER 15, 2008
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
Google Wants Its Own Fast Track on the Web
Future of the Internet III: Experts and analysts assess the future of the Internet in a new survey
Startup banks on making money from free broadband
The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World
Using YouTube as a study aid
FCC NEWS
FCC Cancels Dec 18 Meeting
Dems Ask Martin To Stick To DTV Transition
FCC's Inspector General Finds fault with Low-Income, E-rate Programs
JOURNALISM
A Scandal in Chicago That Justifies Investigative Journalism
Politico and Reuters Forge a News Distribution Alliance
Tribune: After the Fall; Company's Troubles May Cost Studios
MediaNews Sees Bad Timing on Newspapers, Not Bad Bets
An Imperiled Newspaper's Threads in a Small City's Fabric
THE TRANSITION
Obama's chief tech duties
Broadcasters Need to Get on Board with Obama
Is Obama's Web-based political revolution real or smoke?
How an Obama FCC will deal with major telecom issues
TIA Gives Congress Ideas for Broadband Deployment
Infrastructure needs worth loosing up pursestrings
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
McCain's Web Win
McCain Campaign Sells Info-Loaded Blackberry to TV Reporter
Obama Internet whizzes barely had iPhones at the start
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
GAO says Congressional Action Needed to Ensure Agencies Collaborate on Public Safety Network
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
The Fed Who Blew the Whistle
QUICKLY -- Internet access still a wish for many in rural areas; AT&T raises dividend despite job cuts; The Elements of Information Control; Tech trends every school leader should know; HDTV: Content is playing catch-up
INTERNET/BROADBAND
GOOGLE WANTS ITS OWN FAST TRACK ON THE WEB
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Vishesh Kumar, Christopher Rhoads]
Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content. At risk is a principle known as network neutrality: Cable and phone companies that operate the data pipelines are supposed to treat all traffic the same -- nobody is supposed to jump the line. But phone and cable companies argue that Internet content providers should share in their network costs, particularly with Internet traffic growing by more than 50% annually, according to estimates. Carriers say that to keep up with surging traffic, driven mainly by the proliferation of online video, they need to boost revenue to upgrade their networks. Charging companies for fast lanes is one option. One major cable operator in talks with Google says it has been reluctant so far to strike a deal because of concern it might violate Federal Communications Commission guidelines on network neutrality. "What they're talking about is selling you the right to skip ahead in the line," says Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, a Washington-based advocacy group. "It would mean the first part of your business plan would be a deal with AT&T to get into their super-tier -- that is anathema to a culture of innovation."
http://benton.org/node/19874
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FUTURE OF THE INTERNET III: EXPERTS AND ANALYSTS ASSESS THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET IN A NEW SURVEY
[SOURCE: Pew Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Press release]
A survey of Internet leaders, activists and analysts shows they expect major tech advances as the phone becomes a primary device for online access, voice-recognition improves, artificial and virtual reality become more embedded in everyday life, and the architecture of the Internet itself improves. They disagree about whether this will lead to more social tolerance, more forgiving human relations, or better home lives. Key predictions: 1) The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the Internet for most people in the world in 2020. 2) The transparency of people and organizations will increase, but that will not necessarily yield more personal integrity, social tolerance, or forgiveness. 3) The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.
http://benton.org/node/19867
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STARTUP BANKS ON MAKING MONEY FROM FREE BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR:]
For the past three years, a startup called M2Z Networks has been figuring out a way to blanket the nation with a free wireless broadband network to ensure all Americans have access to basic high-speed Internet connections. Along the way, the company has found support in powerful corners of Silicon Valley and Washington. It has attracted funding from several of the Valley's top venture capital firms. And it has captured the interest of Kevin Martin, the chairman of Federal Communications Commission, who is backing a plan essentially mirroring the M2Z proposal as a way to promote universal broadband. Finally, this month, the company was nearing a breakthrough. Martin pushed for a full FCC vote on his plan, which would set the rules for auctioning off the slice of wireless spectrum that M2Z wants to put its ideas into action. But opposition forces gathered steam, deferring M2Z's dreams for now.
http://benton.org/node/19863
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THE SECRETS OF MARKETING IN A WEB 2.0 WORLD
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Salvatore Parise, Patricia Guinan, Bruce Weinberg]
[Commentary] Consumers are flocking to blogs, social-networking sites and virtual worlds. And they are leaving a lot of marketers behind. the authors offer these principles: 1) Don't just talk at consumers -- work with them throughout the marketing process. 2) Give consumers a reason to participate. 3) Listen to -- and join -- the conversation outside your site. 4) Resist the temptation to sell, sell, sell. 5) Don't control, let it go. 6) Find a 'marketing technopologist.' 7) Embrace experimentation.
http://benton.org/node/19866
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USING YOUTUBE AS A STUDY AID
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR:]
YouTube is perhaps best known for its cavalcade of homemade performances and TV clips, but many people are turning to it for free tutoring in math, science and other complicated subjects. Math videos won't rival the millions of hits garnered by laughing babies, but a YouTube tutorial on calculus integrals has been watched almost 50,000 times in the last year. Others on angular velocity and harmonic motion have more than 10,000 views each. The videos are appealing for several reasons, said Kim Gregson, an Ithaca College professor of new media. Students come to the videos when they're ready to study and fully awake, which is not always the case in 8 a.m. calculus classes. And they can watch the videos as many times as they need until they understand.
http://benton.org/node/19865
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FCC NEWS
FCC CANCELS DEC 18 MEETING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it has canceled its open meeting scheduled for Thursday, Dec 18. The cancelation came in response to a request by Sen Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA) that the FCC pay more attention to a smooth transition to digital television early next year. The meeting agenda had included votes on changes to program-access complaint rules, including putting a shot clock on the FCC's handling of complaints, as well as opening an inquiry into a related proposal to prohibit cable programmers from dictating placement on programming tiers as a condition of carriage agreements. The agenda also included a proposal to create a free broadband service as part of a wireless spectrum auction, another item that had drawn criticism from those who supported the proposal but opposed a condition that the service include a content filter to protect minors from inappropriate content.
http://benton.org/node/19853
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DEMS ASK MARTIN TO STICK TO DTV TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
As expected Sen Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA), the incoming chairmen of the Congressional committees with oversight of the Federal Communications Commission, have written a letter advising FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to confine his last FCC actions to smoothing the DTV transition and matters that "require action under the law." They write: "The most important challenge for the Commission over the next nine weeks is to ensure the smoothest possible transition to digital television (DTV). At a time when serious questions are being raised about transition readiness, it would be counterproductive for the FCC to consider unrelated items, especially complex and controversial items that the new Congress and new Administration will have an interest in reviewing. We strongly urge you to concentrate the Commission's attention and resources only on matters that require action under the law and efforts to smooth the transition to digital television."
http://benton.org/node/19833
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FCC'S INSPECTOR GENERAL FINDS FAULT WITH LOW-INCOME, E-RATE PROGRAMS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The FCC's Inspector General released its "initial analysis" of audits of both the low income (Lifeline/LinkUp) and the E-Rate programs of the Universal Service Fund. The IG finds that ALL low income programs payments are "erroneous" and 13.8% of E-Rate payments are erroneous. These findings, then, label these programs as "at risk" according to OMB criteria.
http://benton.org/node/19832
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JOURNALISM
A SCANDAL IN CHICAGO THAT JUSTIFIES INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
[Commentary] Who says the modern American newspaper doesn't matter? For the last few years, newspapers have been smacked around for lacking relevance, but the industry has finally found a compelling spokesman: Gov Rod R. Blagojevich (D-IL). According to the criminal complaint that the United States attorney filed, Governor Blagojevich, while allegedly trying to set a price for a United States Senate seat, also spent a significant amount of time going after the press, especially The Chicago Tribune, whose editorial page had been calling for his impeachment. The governor said he would withhold financial assistance from the Tribune Company in its effort to sell Wrigley Field unless the newspaper got rid of the editorial writers. "Our recommendation is fire all those [expletive] people, get 'em the [expletive] out of there and get us some editorial support," he told his chief of staff, John Harris. In a city and state where corruption is knit into the political fabric, a solvent daily paper would seem to be a civic necessity. But if another governor goes bad in Illinois what if the local paper were too diminished to do the job?
http://benton.org/node/19873
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POLITICO AND REUTERS FORGE A NEWS DISTRIBUTION ALLIANCE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Richard Perez-Pena]
Politico, the upstart news source from Washington, and Reuters, the venerable wire service, have joined forces to offer articles to newspapers and sell advertising on the papers' Web sites, the latest step in the rising competition among electronic news media to fill the void left by the shrinking print business. Politico recently began offering papers a limited number of free articles, and beginning this week the papers that sign onto that service, the Politico Network, will also see the stream of daily output from Reuters, and choose up to 10 articles and 10 photographs each day to use in print or on the Web. Politico would gain the right to sell ads on the newspapers' Web pages containing the Politico and Reuters articles — though not the printed pages — and would share the revenue with the papers. At the same time, Reuters will begin carrying most of Politico's work on its news wires.
http://benton.org/node/19872
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TRIBUNE: AFTER THE FALL; COMPANY'S TROUBLES MAY COST STUDIOS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Paige Albiniak]
Warner Bros., Twentieth Television, Disney-ABC and NBC Universal face multimillion-dollar ramifications after Tribune's announcement last week that it was declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure its massive debt. According to Tribune's bankruptcy filing before a federal court in Delaware last week, Tribune owes Warner Bros. $23.7 million, Twentieth $8.1 million, Disney-ABC $6.2 million and NBCU $4.9 million. Tribune has a few options it can exercise to deal with its outstanding studio debts. It could just proceed with business as usual, paying its bills on time. It could also negotiate longer payout terms with the studios. Another possibility is that studios will be forced to take writedowns for portions of payments they expected to receive and accounted for, but now will not be paid. Regardless of any revenue hits, studios will likely want to work with Tribune to find ways to preserve future business. But players in the industry say the manner in which the studios resolve this issue could set a precedent should other TV broadcast groups be forced to declare bankruptcy in the rocky months to come, a scenario that wouldn't surprise many industry executives.
http://benton.org/node/19871
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MEDIANEWS: SEES BAD TIMING ON NEWSPAPERS, NOT BAD BETS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Richard Perez-Pena]
Dean Singleton expanded his newspaper empire at the worst possible time, in the worst part of the country he could have chosen, and he has been paying the price ever since in plummeting advertising and shrinking papers. Yet somehow, even in today's adverse climate, he professes optimism. In 2006 and 2007, as prices for newspapers were peaking, Mr. Singleton's company, the MediaNews Group, bought this city's daily, The Mercury News, and more than 30 smaller San Francisco Bay Area papers. He gambled his company on California just as the bottom was about to fall out for newspapers, especially here. "In retrospect, the timing was not good," said Mr. Singleton, the head of and a major shareholder in the company, which is privately held. "But in our business, you buy newspapers when they're for sale. If we could have foreseen the current economic downturn in the state, it might have changed our views, but we couldn't foresee that."
http://benton.org/node/19870
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AN IMPERILED NEWSPAPER'S THREADS IN A SMALL CITY'S FABRIC
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Dan Barry]
[Commentary] The Bristol Press has been covering Bristol since 1871. but may be shutting down soon. Last month the newspaper's financially troubled owner, the Journal Register Company, announced that The Bristol Press and a sister newspaper, The New Britain Herald, would cease to publish if not sold — cheaply, by the way — by mid-January. And it is true that even among the newsprint faithful, few weep for the Journal Register Company, brought down as much by its own bad business decisions as by declining advertising revenues. Often derided as a profit-mad, quality-journalism-be-damned company, it would begrudge the electrical cost of those holiday lights now faintly brightening the Bristol Press newsroom. But if this is the future, at least let us pause to appreciate what a small, imperfect daily newspaper means to this small, imperfect city, where the clocks and watches of America were once made, where General Motors once produced its ball bearings, where ESPN is based, and where springs — yes, unheralded yet essential customized springs — are produced.
http://benton.org/node/19869
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THE TRANSITION
OBAMA'S CHIEF TECH DUTIES
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Micah Sifry, Andrew Rasiej]
[Commentary] One decision yet to be made by Obama is carrying out his promise to appoint the country's first chief technology officer. Considering how important the implementation of new technology is for carrying out Obama's vision for future economic development, global competitiveness, transparency, citizen engagement and saving money on government operations, Obama would do himself and the country a huge favor by making sure this position has Cabinet-level status. Once appointed, Obama should give the CTO the following mandates: 1) Internet evangelist; 2) study of all the benefits of achieving universal, high-speed wireless access to the Internet, including economic and energy efficiencies, environmental benefits, and improvements in transportation, health care and safety; 3) developing a government-wide online platform for civic engagement that connects Americans to each other to identify and solve problems; 4) ensure that the Obama administration is the most open, honest and accountable in history by overseeing the creation of a government data commons that pulls together lobbying reports, ethics records, campaign finance filings, regulatory interventions, earmarks, contracts, grants, subsidies — all the ways that outside actors attempt to influence government; 5) encouraging all government agencies, as well as the legislative branch, to make maximum use of new communications technologies to make the processes of government more accessible and participatory; 6) develop a process by which all government agencies are working to reboot themselves in light of newly available technological capacities.
http://benton.org/node/19836
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BROADCASTERS NEED TO GET ON BOARD WITH OBAMA
[SOURCE: tvnewsday, AUTHOR: Harry Jessell]
[Commentary] Broadcasters have a reputation among Washington Democrats of being takers. They take spectrum and they take other government benefits like must carry, but they give little back. Recognizing that a smooth digital television transition is in its own self interest, the National Association of Broadcasters has also poured several million dollars into its DTV awareness efforts, including a five-person DTV office, a four-person "road show" that has logged 95,000 road miles carrying the DTV message to community events across the country and a speakers' bureau that can deliver a DTV expert to any Rotary or Lions Club meeting on short notice. But if the incoming Obama Administration wants more "broadcasters need to dig deep into their reserve fund to come up with extra cash to fund calls centers" because "it will buy badly needed goodwill with the administration and the next FCC chairman in the coming policy battles."
http://benton.org/node/19834
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IS OBAMA'S WEB-BASED POLITICAL REVOLUTION REAL OR SMOKE?
[SOURCE: McClatchy Newspapers, AUTHOR: Frank Greve]
Has a presidential adviser ever before asked you to tell her where the economic crisis is hurting you personally? Has a future Cabinet member ever sought your ideas for improving health care? Barack Obama's incoming administration does both on its transition Web site, change.gov, and the appeals are drawing thousands of e-mail respondents. So is the site's invitation to "share with us your concerns and hopes," and more than 300,000 people have taken up the site's invitation to apply for political appointments. Want to join a policy debate? Your e-mail will appear on change.gov. Readers then rate your submission using icons whose thumbs are up or down. Submissions that are deemed the best rise to the top of the screen. To proponents, these efforts by Obama's team to build a Web-based network of support can democratize the government anew. To skeptics, however, change.gov is little more than a clever public-relations device, a way to keep Obama's fans revved up about him and give them the illusion of influence.
http://benton.org/node/19830
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HOW AN OBAMA FCC WILL DEAL WITH MAJOR TELECOM ISSUES
[SOURCE: NetworkWorld, AUTHOR: Brad Reed]
With new leadership soon to take over at the Federal Communications Commission, observers say the FCC is likely to be more skeptical of big telecom mergers and to embrace network neutrality rules. Although President-elect Barack Obama has yet to nominate anyone to chair the FCC when he takes office next year, telecom analyst Jeff Kagan says that a Democratic-led FCC is going to be reminiscent of the Clinton FCC in the 1990s, when government was more willing to intervene in the telecom market. Similarly, Brookings Institute senior fellow Robert Crandall says that the FCC under an Obama administration is likely to be "more populist and more concerned about concentration in media." On a practical level, this makes it likely that major mergers comparable to the AT&T-Bell South merger of 2007 and the Verizon-MCI merger of 2006 will face more intense scrutiny and will be less likely to go through without more stringent conditions. Free Press policy director Ben Scott, however, thinks that the Obama administration must not only be wary of new telecom mergers, but also be active in promoting new competition within the industry. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/19852
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TIA GIVES CONGRESS IDEAS FOR BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT
[SOURCE: xchange, AUTHOR: ]
Talk of a national broadband policy is gearing up as President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office. Obama, arguably the most tech-savvy presidential candidate in history, has made no secret of his intent to revolutionize health care with electronic medical records, create a CTO cabinet position and work toward ubiquitous broadband access. To that end, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) on Thursday asked federal lawmakers to consider specific broadband deployment and adoption incentives in the economic stimulus bill the House and Senate will debate during the 111th Congress. TIA proposes "targeted incentives" to stimulate investment across wireless and fixed broadband platforms. The idea stems from a Communications Workers of America (CWA) plan that would create 97,500 direct jobs and 2.5 million jobs throughout the country with every $5 billion investment, according to CWA estimates. TIA builds on that by suggesting the inclusion of new tax incentive tiers that apply to fixed and wireless broadband, satellite broadband and broadband core and backbone transport.
http://benton.org/node/19851
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INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS WORTH LOOSING UP PURSESTRINGS
[SOURCE: Newsday, AUTHOR: Emil Henry]
[Commentary] In the wake of the recent electoral rout, we conservatives must redefine ourselves. The world has changed, and one new reality is the imperative that our government modernize America's aging infrastructure. Many conservatives are uneasy with such talk - clinging to the notion that government investment is anathema to Reagan orthodoxy and other core conservative beliefs. They fear the creation of another permanent bureaucracy, foresee a strain on the budget and argue that such spending is an ineffective economic stimulus. These legitimate worries miss the bigger point: Our infrastructure needs are at a critical juncture. Like the maintenance of a strong military - investment that protects prosperity - investment in key infrastructure is consistent with Reagan principles. Moreover, such "expansion" would promote several conservative ideals: economic growth, energy independence, national security and US competitiveness.
http://benton.org/node/19850
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
MCCAIN'S WEB WIN
[SOURCE: Technology Review, AUTHOR: David Talbot]
During the dark months of mid-2007, when McCain's finances cratered, his skeletal Web staff ran much of the show, including making television advertisements and bolstering ties to key bloggers. This is what kept him alive to clinch the crucial New Hampshire primary in January of 2008. The Web team ran most of the fundraising and organizing functions, and the sole Web videographer started making television advertisements too. "That's all there was--one guy. It was fun, in a way. We got to do new things." Among other efforts during that period, the McCain crew courted conservative bloggers, helping soften some of his harsher online critics. "We had the ability to get some buzz out there, get our people energized."
http://benton.org/node/19829
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MCCAIN CAMPAIGN SELLS INFO-LOADED BLACKBERRY TO TV REPORTER
[SOURCE: FoxNews.com, AUTHOR: Tisha Thompson]
Private information at bargain prices. It was a high-tech flub at the McCain-Palin campaign headquarters in Arlington (VA) when a local TV reporter bought a Blackberry device containing confidential campaign information: 50 phone numbers for people connected with the McCain-Palin campaign, as well as hundreds of emails from early September until a few days after election night.
http://benton.org/node/19835
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OBAMA INTERNET WHIZZES BARELY HAD IPHONES AT THE START
[SOURCE: AFP, AUTHOR: ]
The brains behind Barack Obama's Internet campaign revealed Friday they had just one smart phone between them the day their unlikely high-tech revolution began. In a first public discussion since last month's historic election, new media director Joe Rospars, online director Scott Goodstein and blogging supremo Sam Graham-Felsen all referred to a "tidal wave" of online voter activism. They did this by embracing the gamut of new media tools, from YouTube to e-mail lists, from blogs to Facebook, and by putting an Obama platform on iPhones so that users could recruit contacts to the cause. The result, says Micah Sifry, co-founder of politics blog TechPresident, was a "mass participation revolution" that appears set to continue after Obama is inaugurated on January 20. Goodstein said that new media is in politics to stay. "I think the cat's out of the bag."
http://benton.org/node/19828
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
GAO SAYS CONGRESSIONAL ACTION NEEDED TO ENSURE AGENCIES COLLABORATE ON PUBLIC SAFETY NETWORK
[SOURCE: Government Accountability Office, AUTHOR: Joel Willemssen]
The Integrated Wireless Network (IWN) was intended to be a collaborative effort among the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Homeland Security (DHS), and the Treasury to provide secure, seamless, interoperable, and reliable nationwide wireless communications in support of federal agents and officers engaged in law enforcement, protective services, homeland defense, and disaster response missions. GAO was asked to determine the extent to which the three departments are developing a joint radio communications solution. IWN is no longer being pursued as a joint development project. Instead of focusing on a joint solution, the departments have begun independently modernizing their own wireless communications systems. GAO recommends Congress should consider, given the critical importance of improving radio communications among federal agencies, requiring that DOJ, DHS, and the Treasury employ key cross-agency collaboration practices to develop a joint radio communications solution. (GAO-09-133)
http://benton.org/node/19849
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
The Fed Who Blew the Whistle
THE FED WHO BLEW THE WHISTLE
[SOURCE: Newsweek, AUTHOR: Michael Isikoff]
In the spring of 2004, Thomas Tamm had just finished a yearlong stint at a Justice Department unit handling wiretaps of suspected terrorists and spies—a unit so sensitive that employees are required to put their hands through a biometric scanner to check their fingerprints upon entering. While there, Tamm stumbled upon the existence of a highly classified National Security Agency program that seemed to be eavesdropping on U.S. citizens. The unit had special rules that appeared to be hiding the NSA activities from a panel of federal judges who are required to approve such surveillance. When Tamm started asking questions, his supervisors told him to drop the subject. He says one volunteered that "the program" (as it was commonly called within the office) was "probably illegal." Tamm agonized over what to do. He called the new York Times and that one call began a series of events that would engulf Washington—and upend Tamm's life. Eighteen months after he first disclosed what he knew, the Times reported that President George W. Bush had secretly authorized the NSA to intercept phone calls and e-mails of individuals inside the United States without judicial warrants.
http://benton.org/node/19868
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QUICKLY
INTERNET ACCESS STILL A WISH FOR MANY IN RURAL AREAS
[SOURCE: Sacramento Bee, AUTHOR: Diana Lambert]
Millions of Americans in sparsely populated areas deemed unprofitable by large communications companies remain without broadband Internet access. California would see a gain of 1.8 million jobs and $132 million in payroll over 10 years if broadband Internet use among adults is increased by 3.8 percent annually, according to a report prepared last year for the Sacramento Regional Research Institute.
http://benton.org/node/19848
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AT&T RAISES DIVIDEND DESPITE JOB CUTS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Ritsuko Ando]
On Friday, AT&T raised its quarterly share dividend by 2.5 percent to 41 cents a share, despite recent job cuts and a plan to cut spending in 2009 due to a slower economy. The announcement comes a week after AT&T said it will eliminate 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its workforce, to deal with a decline in traditional phone sales as well as a weaker economy. AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said in a statement that the dividend reflects the board's confidence in its financial strength.
http://benton.org/node/19847
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THE ELEMENTS OF INFORMATION CONTROL
[SOURCE: information-control.org, AUTHOR: ]
Fifty-five powerful media and telecommunications companies own over 540 TV stations, 2000 radio stations, 430 newspapers, 230 magazines, and 80 major cable channels in the United States. They provide paid TV service to approximately 52 million subscribers and broadband Internet service to over 57 million subscribers. They're the bottlenecks through which our news, our entertainment, and our political discourse must travel. What they want to promote becomes prominent; what they suppress stays out of the mainstream. As such, these companies are the elements of information control.
http://benton.org/node/19846
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TECH TRENDS EVERY SCHOOL LEADER SHOULD KNOW
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: Meris Stansbury]
A new generation of students with vastly different learning needs is redefining expectations for classroom instruction, and a growing emphasis on school accountability is changing the role of the school district IT leader. According to William Rust, research director for the IT research and consulting firm Gartner, there is a new digital divide occurring in schools. Whereas this divide used to refer to whether or not students had access to technology, now it concerns whether schools are using technology effectively to achieve results. Rust identified four key trends that school district chief technology officers (CTOs) should be aware of: accountability, the changing nature of learners, the accessibility of technology, and the "internal and external demands" that are now placed on ed-tech executives.
http://benton.org/node/19831
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HDTV: CONTENT IS PLAYING CATCH-UP
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Troy Wolverton]
If you get a high-definition television this holiday season, don't be surprised if the picture doesn't look as good in your living room as it did on the showroom floor. High-definition sets have been on the market for about a decade now, and most of the major over-the-air and cable networks can now broadcast in high definition. But a lot of movies, television channels and programs are still in standard-definition. The number of movies and TV programs available in higher-resolution formats is increasing, but the particular show or film you want to watch may not yet be available.
http://benton.org/node/19864
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