March 2009

"He's made nerdy sexy."
-- White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel on OMB chief Peter Orszag

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY MARCH 30, 2009

THE TRANSITION
   Another Larry for NTIA
   Peter Orszag: Making nerdy sexy
   On Nominations, Good News, Bad News and a Blame Game

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Obama Brings Flush Times for Black News Media
   GSA signs deals for agencies to use social networking sites
   Recovery.gov faces private rival Recovery.com
   Radio-Free Swat Valley

THE STIMULUS
   House Oversight of Recovery Act Broadband Initiatives
   The Great Broadband Mapping Distraction
   Rural broadband vs. red tape

DIGITAL TELEVISION
   AmeriCorps to help Consumers Prepare for DTV Transition

JOURNALISM
   TV outlets struggle to explain fiscal turmoil
   AIG drives Online Narrative, Too
   Local TV News Reports a Drop in Revenue, Ratings
   Informed by Colbert and Stewart?
   Cable News Stokes Political Fever
   Setbacks in Bay Area Add to Pain for Local Newspaper
   European Newspapers Find Creative Ways to Thrive in the Internet Age

ADVERTISING
   Stations Embrace Direct-Response, Paid Programs
   Product Placement Goes Local
   Limited Ad Experiment: Fewer, Shorter Breaks Enhance Viewer Ad Recall

WIRELESS
   Efforts to limit cellphone use while driving grow
   A look at wireless in the year 2025

CYBERWARFARE
   Deep computer-spying network touched 103 countries
   Cyber Review May Urge White House Control

QUICKLY -- Cost-conscious consumers downgrade from cable Internet to dial-up; When every student has a laptop, why run computer labs?; Some Online Shows Could Go Subscription-Only; Video Game Makers Challenged by the Next Wave of Media; Job seekers turning to online social networks; Serious Threats to Sirius Radio

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THE TRANSITION

ANOTHER LARRY FOR NTIA
[SOURCE: The White House]
On Friday, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Lawrence E. Strickling to be Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, Department of Commerce. As such, he would head the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that serves as the executive branch agency principally responsible for advising the President on telecommunications and information policies. In this role frequently works with other Executive Branch agencies to develop and present the Administration's position on these issues. In addition to representing the Executive Branch in both domestic and international telecommunications and information policy activities, NTIA also manages the Federal use of spectrum; performs telecommunications research and engineering, including resolving technical telecommunications issues for the Federal government and private sector; and administers infrastructure and public telecommunications facilities grants. Strickling is a technology policy expert with more than two decades of experience in the public and private sectors. As Policy Coordinator for Obama for America, Strickling oversaw two dozen domestic policy committees and was responsible for technology and telecommunications issues. Prior to joining the campaign, Strickling was Chief Regulatory and Chief Compliance Officer at Broadwing Communications for three years. His private sector experience also includes serving in senior roles at Allegiance Telecom and CoreExpress, Inc. and as a member of the Board of Directors of Network Plus. In government, Strickling served at the Federal Communications Commission as Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau from 1998 to 2000. During his tenure at the FCC, Strickling developed and enforced rules to foster competition and protect consumers in the telecommunications marketplace. Prior to joining the FCC, Strickling was Vice President, Public Policy at Ameritech. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/23864
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PETER ORSZAG: OBAMA'S BUDGET MAN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jodi Kantor]
Peter Orszag is the youngest member of President Obama's team holding cabinet rank, a 40-year-old with what colleagues call a graybeard's knowledge of how the government spends money. But he has little interest in merely keeping fiscal house. His animating passions are far grander — health care, energy policy and Social Security overhaul, for starters. Everything about the way he has interpreted his new job speaks of ambition: the policy heavyweights he has hired for the Office of Management and Budget, his efforts to persuade cabinet secretaries to let him help shape their plans, a public profile as high as that of any budget director since David A. Stockman's polarizing tenure under Ronald Reagan a quarter-century ago. But though colleagues call Mr. Orszag something of a presidential favorite, his relative power among the gigantic personalities on the Obama economic team is still uncertain. Although the budget touches everything, he has no particular subject-area portfolio, and on the topics that most draw his interest, the administration is already well stocked, maybe even overstocked, with expertise and opinions.
http://benton.org/node/23863
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ON NOMINATIONS, GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS AND A BLAME GAME
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Al Kamen]
The White House is pushing hard to get the Senate to confirm more nominees before Congress heads off Friday for a two-week recess. White House data indicate that the administration has recovered from that little Daschle-Geithner problem and will set the modern world indoor record for the number of nominations and confirmations by March 31. As of Friday, Team Obama even has more total nominations and confirmations, 104 in all, than the vaunted Reagan personnel juggernaut of the 1980s. But the accompanying chart shows the problem: While the Reagan team had a total of 95 nominations and confirmations, 61 of its candidates had been confirmed by April 1. The Obama folks, barring a miracle, won't match that. "Obama has clearly caught his stride in announcing and nominating candidates for Senate confirmation," said Paul Light of New York University. "Now the question is whether the Senate can keep up. The logjam is broken at the White House and has moved up Pennsylvania Avenue."
http://benton.org/node/23897
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

OBAMA BRINGS FLUSH TIMES FOR BLACK NEWS MEDIA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Rachel Swarns]
For the nation's black magazines, newspapers, and television and radio stations, the arrival of the Obama administration has ushered in an era of unprecedented access to the White House. President Obama gave Black Enterprise magazine his first print interview and gave a black talk show host one of his first radio interviews. This month, he invited 50 black newspaper publishers to meet with him at the White House. And at his news conference Tuesday, he skipped over several prominent newspapers and newsmagazines to call on Kevin Chappell, a senior editor at Ebony magazine. It was the first time an Ebony reporter had been invited to question a president at a prime-time news conference. President Obama is cultivating a new cast of media insiders in the nation's capital, the correspondents and editors of the black media outlets that are devoting more staff members and resources to covering the first African-American president.
http://benton.org/node/23862
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GSA SIGNS DEALS FOR AGENCIES TO USE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Jill Aitoro]
Federal government agencies can now engage with citizens through popular media technologies such as video-sharing service YouTube, using pre-negotiated service agreements that comply with federal terms and conditions. After nine months of negotiations, the General Services Administration signed agreements with four video-sharing and social networking sites: Flickr, Vimeo, blip.tv and YouTube. GSA did not make an agreement with the online messaging service Twitter because the agency determined the provider's standard terms and conditions aligned with federal requirements. GSA also is negotiating with the social networking sites Facebook and MySpace. The agreements are memorandums of understanding and cover free services only and can't be used to negotiate premium services that require a fee. At least 17 agencies have signed, or are in the process of signing, agreements with one or more of the providers using the template provided by GSA. Agencies with existing agreements with any of the providers can be grandfathered in to the terms and conditions negotiated by GSA. The agency recommends federal employees check with their agencies' Web managers and attorneys to determine the steps they need to follow to enter into an agreement. Most agencies will appoint directors of new media to determine how they can use social networking tools to meet mission goals and comply with President Obama's open government directive.
http://benton.org/node/23861
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RECOVERY.GOV FACES PRIVATE RIVAL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Reid Wilson]
Onvia, a 12-year old consulting group, has launched Recovery.com with the goal of providing real-time data on spending that comes out of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The new site promises to aid both businesses seeking contracts growing out of the stimulus package and taxpayers wondering where the money is going. Recovery.com is offering live data streams to subscribers. Onvia is pitching lawmakers and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials on their alternative site to contrast what many call a disappointing lack of transparency thanks to the unwieldy task of tracking so much money.
http://benton.org/node/23860
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RADIO-FREE SWAT VALLEY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Douglas Feith, Justin Polin]
[Commentary] It is a costly failing that the American government has been unable to communicate quickly with the Pashtun community about the attack on the Rahman Baba shrine. Congress has provided trillions of dollars to support military action in the fight against terrorism, but it has not yet provided resources for a strategic communications capacity that could be the key to victory. If it had the equipment and personnel for the job, the United States could broadcast radio programs for the Pashtuns commemorating Rahman Baba's life and poetry, thus helping to revive the collective memory of Sufism and inspiring opposition to the Taliban. Other programs could highlight the cultural and physical devastation wrought by the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The United States conducted impressive strategic communications during the cold war. Radio Free Europe, Voice of America and other programs conveyed information and ideas that contributed to the discrediting and ultimate defeat of Soviet communism. Pakistan's Islamist extremists apparently know the value of strategic communications. They preach and broadcast, understanding that every non-extremist school they close, every artist they force to move, every moderate tribal leader they kill and every Sufi shrine they destroy can increase their powers of intimidation and persuasion.
http://benton.org/node/23896
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THE STIMULUS

HOUSE OVERSIGHT OF RECOVERY ACT BROADBAND INITIATIVES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
On April 2, the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet will hold an oversight hearing on the American Recovery and reinvestment Act, focusing on broadband initiatives at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and at the Department of Agriculture.
http://benton.org/node/23859
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THE GREAT BROADBAND MAPPING DISTRACTION
[SOURCE: PublicKnowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] It's unfortunate that the issue of broadband mapping is taking up any time and energy, much less about $350 million in stimulus money. Discussion of mapping takes away from discussion of the real issue ­ deployment, and why large companies have to be begged to provide service to some areas while they go to court and to state legislatures to prevent others from filling the gap. The whole point of a legitimate broadband mapping exercise is for the public and policymakers to see where the service is being offered, at what speeds and price and, as importantly, where it isn't. The "why" it isn't being offered is a separate question the map can't answer. The whole strategy of the telecom industry is to keep any mapping from revealing embarrassing information, like low speeds, high prices and spotty coverage and to keep anyone else from verifying the information it does put forward. Connected Nation (CN) is already gearing up to capture a big piece of the action, holding a webinar to tell state agencies that CN is one go-to group, one-stop shop that states need to make their mapping dollars work. That would be unfortunate on any number of levels, in part because the industry strategy has been to use public dollars to privatize the mapping function. Enough already. It's clear that the public sector wants transparency and accountability in broadband data reporting and subsequent mapping. The industry, voiced through Connected Nation, does not. There's no point in spending lots of time negotiating this. Both the Commission and NTIA should move to Plan B, which is collecting information without involving the telephone and cable companies. There are legitimate, for-profit mapping companies that don't have ties to communications carriers, there are community groups, there are any number of other approaches that could be used. It won't be the quick and easy way to getting the information, but it will have to do. Then we can move on to the real issue of how to bring broadband to areas that those same big carriers don't want to serve. They know where they are, even if they don't want to tell us.
http://benton.org/node/23858
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RURAL BROADBAND VS RED TAPE
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Anu Partanen]
Raul Katz, director of strategy at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information and an adjunct scholar at the university's business school, says he's "very confident" that rural broadband deployment could create hundreds of thousands of jobs. But first the federal government has to hand out the $7.2 billion it has earmarked to bring high-speed Internet to underserved areas of the U.S. And that, analysts say, could take many more months. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utility Services, the Department of Commerce and the Federal Communications Commission, will deploy the money. Before broadband builders can get the money, though, the agencies must determine which areas qualify, and exactly how to define broadband. All the money has to be out the door by September 30, 2010. In the past, this time frame might have seemed like fast action for the cumbersome bureaucracies, but in the current economic climate many regard it as hopelessly slow.
http://benton.org/node/23857
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DIGITAL TELEVISION

AMERICORPS TO HELP CONSUMERS PREPARE FOR DTV TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
As part of the Federal Communications Commission's comprehensive nationwide DTV transition assistance effort, hundreds of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) members will partner with the FCC to assist individuals who may have difficulty making the switch to digital television, the FCC and AmeriCorps NCCC announced today. The AmeriCorps NCCC members will focus on groups the FCC has targeted for special attention, including low-income individuals, minority communities, non-English speaking consumers, senior citizens, consumers with disabilities and individuals living in rural areas or tribal lands. The NCCC, an AmeriCorps program made up of men and women between the ages of 18 and 24, will serve on the front lines of the FCC's DTV transition outreach effort that will extend beyond June 12, the deadline for full-power broadcast stations to cease analog broadcast transmission and to broadcast in digital. The FCC and AmeriCorps NCCC have signed an interagency agreement that will enable AmeriCorps NCCC members to visit homes where individuals need help to connect their antennas and analog televisions to digital converter boxes, help consumers apply for the $40 converter box coupons, make presentations at community events, serve in walk-in DTV help centers and otherwise spread the word to over-the-air populations who haven't yet taken steps necessary to continue watching television after their broadcast stations complete their transitions to all-digital broadcasting.
http://benton.org/node/23856
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JOURNALISM

TV OUTLETS STRUGGLE TO EXPLAIN FISCAL TURMOIL
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Brian Lowry]
The financial crisis is complicated not just by companies that are too big to fail, but numbers that -- especially for our news media -- are too big to fathom.
Television is a blunt instrument, one driven by story and narrative. As such, the nuances of high finance are beyond the grasp of most cable news talent. As MSNBC's Keith Olbermann put it on his program, "We've all been forced to understand the economy to a greater degree than we did before." Some are clearly doing better than others. Put simply, you know how newspeople struggle with topics like TV ratings or polling data, where the significance of modest movement up or down is often wildly overblown? It's a lot like that, only with money. And it's showing up in the reporting being done, which frequently tends to focus on relatively small matters in the larger scheme of things.
http://benton.org/node/23855
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AIG DRIVES ONLINE NARRATIVE, TOO
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: ]
While the news agenda of bloggers often differs from that of the traditional press, there was no such divide last week when it came to $165 million in bonuses paid by insurance giant AIG. Outrage over AIG-which has received about $180 billion in bailout funds-dwarfed all other subjects in the social media last week, just as it did in the mainstream press. And as was the case with reaction in the traditional media, the vast majority of online commentators expressed anger over the bonuses while a small minority voiced support. That discussion made the economic crisis overwhelmingly the top subject for bloggers, accounting for 65% of the most linked-to stories by blogs and social media sites from March 16-20, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.
http://benton.org/node/23853
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LOCAL TV NEWS REPORTS A DROP IN REVENUE, RATINGS
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: ]
In 2008, local television remained the most popular source of news in America. More than half of the US public (52%) told the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press that they regularly watched local television news. But the number of people who watch local TV news has decreased over the last decade. Even more surprising, falling ratings and falling revenue befell the sector in an election year. Viewership of local news declined or was flat across all timeslots in 2008, a continuation of the audience erosion first observed two years earlier. Affiliates of the four major networks saw sharp audience declines in both evening and late-night news, while ratings for morning newscasts held steady. The trend towards shifting timeslots or adding newscasts to adjust to changing lifestyles and viewing habits seems to have slowed in 2008, as struggling stations made fewer scheduling changes.
http://benton.org/node/23852
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INFORMED BY COLBERT AND STEWART?
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Mark Dolliver]
Who needs news when there's "news"? Twenty-four percent of respondents to a Rasmussen Reports poll agreed that TV shows like The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (pictured) are "taking the place of traditional news outlets." Fewer than half (45 percent) disagreed, while the rest were unsure. And people don't necessarily think this is a bad thing. Thirty-nine percent of respondents to the poll (conducted last weekend) believe such programs make Americans "more informed" about current events, outnumbering the 21 percent who think the shows make people "less informed. (Twelve percent said the shows have "no impact" either way, and the rest were unsure.) Seven percent said these shows are "very influential" in shaping their own political opinions, with another 14 percent saying the programs are "somewhat influential" in this way. It's a sign of how significant these shows have become in the politico-cultural scene that the polling firm took the trouble to gather approval/disapproval ratings for the two stars.
http://benton.org/node/23847
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CABLE NEWS STOKES POLITICAL FEVER
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
Gorged on ratings from a historic election and still riding on leftover adrenaline, the cable networks have steadfastly remained in campaign mode. And the hyperbolic rhythms and requirements of a cable news world have never seemed less relevant to the story at hand. "On the cable networks, the intensity of conflict is what drives their shows, so everything is turned into a referendum," said John D. Podesta, president of the Center for American Progress, who served as chief of staff for President Clinton and the co-chairman of the transition team for President Obama. "It's worse than it was four years ago, and its worse than it was four years before that. It's on a new slope." Roosevelt used a radio to broadcast hope in grim times. President Obama has many more megaphones at his disposal, but they go both ways, a feedback loop that threatens to drown out the message.
http://benton.org/node/23895
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SETBACKS IN BAY AREA ADD TO PAIN FOR LOCAL NEWSPAPER
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Richard Perez-Pena]
Extinction threatens The San Francisco Chronicle. The Hearst Corporation says the newspaper lost about $1 million a week last year, and it must either sell the paper, close it or lay off a large part of its already diminished staff. A plunge in advertising revenue has battered American newspapers, but red ink flowed from The Chronicle even in years when profit margins above 20 percent were the industry norm. Media analysts and current and former Hearst executives lay some blame on moves by the company and the previous owners, the de Young family — particularly a damaging 35-year partnership with a smaller paper, The Examiner, whose effects are still felt years after it was dissolved. But fault also lies with the geography, demographics, competition and technology that all make the Bay Area perhaps the toughest newspaper market in the country. What is certain is that The Chronicle no longer has anything like the grip it once had on this region. From 2003 to 2008, the paper lost a third of its circulation, among the steepest declines in the industry.
http://benton.org/node/23894
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EUROPEAN NEWSPAPERS FIND CREATIVE WAYS TO THRIVE IN THE INTERNET AGE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Pfanner]
As the death toll in the American newspaper industry mounted this month, the German publisher Axel Springer, which owns Bild, the biggest newspaper in Europe, reported the highest profit in its 62-year history. Mathias Döpfner, Springer's chief executive, said he was looking for opportunities to expand, scouting around for acquisitions in Germany, Eastern Europe and maybe — in what would be a first for the company — the United States. "I don't believe in the end of journalism," Mr. Döpfner said. "On the contrary, I think the crisis can have a positive impact. The number of players will diminish, but the strong players may be stabler after the crisis." In much of the world, American newspapers are seen as journalism's gold standard. But the American newspaper's business model appears to be broken. While much of Europe faces many of the same problems, a few newspaper publishers have found innovative ways not only to survive, but thrive in the face of the recession and the Internet.
http://benton.org/node/23893
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ADVERTISING

STATIONS EMBRACE DIRECT-RESPONSE, PAID PROGRAMS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Paige Albiniak]
In this economy, TV stations and networks are running more direct-response advertising—ads that offer an 800 number so folks can respond immediately—and paid programming. Both forms of advertising have been on the rise in the past year, and that means even fewer opportunities for syndicators. No organization measures paid programming, but according to TNS Media Intelligence, revenues from direct-response advertisements have increased to $1.79 billion from January to September 2008, from $1.64 billion from January to September 2007. In paid programming, also known as commercial leasing, TV stations sell entire blocks of time to advertisers for a flat rate. In the past, paid has aired on weekend mornings and overnight, but now paid is creeping into daytime, early and late fringe, and even primetime. Typical paid programmers include diet and exercise programs, cleaning products, and skin and makeup regimes. Religious programmers—such as Joel Osteen or Joyce Meyer—also pay for their time. While prices vary, stations typically sell a half-hour of programming for $1,000. Blocks sold to religious programmers cost a bit less, between $800 and $900 per half hour.
http://benton.org/node/23846
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PRODUCT PLACEMENT GOES LOCAL
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Brian Steinberg]
Often concocted between TV networks and brand handlers, product-placement deals seem to have a heftier-than-usual dose of Hollywood glitz. But some of the meat-and-potatoes parts of the media industry can also cook up these pacts. State Farm Insurance is appearing in customized videos created to run on local stations that air the Meredith Corp. syndicated hour-long lifestyle program "Better" (named in part after the company's Better Homes & Gardens magazine), among other places. The effort shows how branded-entertainment plays can run for local TV outlets, not just highfalutin' NBC comedies and ABC reality programs.
http://benton.org/node/23851
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LIMITED AD EXPERIMENT: FEWER, SHORTER BREAKS ENHANCE VIEWER AD RECALL
[SOURCE: MarketWatch, AUTHOR: David Wilkerson]
Fox Broadcasting's move this season to offer the new drama "Fringe" with limited commercial interruption is showing some success, with audiences showing better-than-average recall of the ads. In the DVR environment, 56% of "Fringe's" commercials were played back, well ahead of the primetime average of 40%.
http://benton.org/node/23850
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WIRELESS

EFFORTS TO LIMIT CELLPHONE USE WHILE DRIVING GROW
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Jayne O'Donnell]
More than 250 bills prohibiting or restricting cellphone use while driving are pending in 42 state legislatures despite disagreement over the risks cellphones pose and the effectiveness of enforcement. The number is up from about 120 bills in just 18 states 10 months ago, according to an analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a safety research group funded by insurers. Four states — Georgia, Idaho, North Carolina and Texas — are considering banning all types of cellphone usage behind the wheel, including hands-free devices. Watching that legislation are wireless carriers and automakers, which have invested millions of dollars in hands-free technology built into vehicles. At least one insurer is also taking action: Nationwide will soon offer discounts to parents who buy technology that disables their teens' phones while their vehicles are in motion. Six states plus the District of Columbia currently ban handheld cellphone use while driving. Legislators in 23 states have introduced bills to allow only hands-free phoning.
http://benton.org/node/23889
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A LOOK AT WIRELESS IN THE YEAR 2025
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
What's in store for the wireless industry for the next 15 years? Will the industry undergo another fundamental shift in its landscape? Yes and no. The great leap forward to mobility — the uprooting of services and technology that once were confined to a specific place — already has become a given. The expectation is that every new application, every new service will now have — or will soon have — some kind of mobile component. Wireline voice connections are giving way to wireless, fewer and fewer computers are connected to networks via cords, and the Apple iPhone's Safari browser already has begun to handle a noticeable percentage of the world's Web browsing activity. Mobility's already out of the bag. Those trends will continue, of course. Networks will get faster, phones will get smarter and radio connections will reach a multitude of different devices. The next revolution won't be about mobility per se, but it will use mobility to create unimaginable scale and depth in the networks of the future. The mobile operators of 2025 won't be counting their subscribers in millions, but managing individual connections numbering in the billions. Any device or object with active electronics — and many without — will be capable of transmitting a wireless signal, communicating not just with the wide-area cellular network, but with multiple local and personal area networks, and often directly with one another. While device interfaces will evolve, a good deal of the traffic and transactions on the mobile networks will be between machines. Billions of sensors will flash data across networks, triggering countless numbers of interactions, most of which customers will have only a vague awareness of. Devices will not only connect to the network, but interconnect directly with hundreds of different devices in the home, office, car and public space — some computing devices in their own right, others ordinary household objects. Wireless won't just be a means of accessing the Internet. It will coax the Internet from the virtual world into the real one.
http://benton.org/node/23848
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CYBERWARFARE

DEEP COMPUTER-SPYING NETWORK TOUCHED 103 COUNTRIES
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Jeremy Kirk]
A 10-month cyberespionage investigation has found that 1,295 computers in 103 countries and belonging to international institutions have been spied on, with some circumstantial evidence suggesting China may be to blame. A new report provides some of the most compelling evidence and detail of the efforts of politically-motivated hackers while raising questions about their ties with government-sanctioned cyberspying operations. It describes a network which researchers have called GhostNet, which primarily uses a malicious software program called gh0st RAT (Remote Access Tool) to steal sensitive documents, control Web cams and completely control infected computers.
http://benton.org/node/23898
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CYBER REVIEW MAY URGE WHITE HOUSE CONTROL
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
The Obama administration's 60-day review of the federal cybersecurity posture will likely conclude that a comprehensive strategy for protecting the government's IT assets and critical infrastructure from high-tech attacks should be run by the White House, Rep Jim Langevin (D-RI) said. The review being conducted by Melissa Hathaway, a senior adviser to former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, is more than halfway complete. Recent studies have recommended that oversight authority be housed in the Executive Office of the President rather than the Homeland Security Department or the National Security Agency. "I expect that cybersecurity as we go forward will look very much like our counter-proliferation program," said Rep Langevin, who co-chairs the House Cybersecurity Caucus.
http://benton.org/node/23845
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QUICKLY

COST-CONSCIOUS CONSUMERS DOWNGRADE FROM CABLE INTERNET TO DIAL-UP
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, AUTHOR: Etan Horowitz]
In today's world of social networking, online videos and music downloads, going from high-speed to dial-up is like switching from a Maserati to a horse and buggy. But some say the hundreds they would save might make them go back, especially for those who have high-speed Internet at work. Though there's no hard and fast data about how many people are switching, there are signs that it is becoming an option for cost-conscious customers. United Online, which owns dial-up providers NetZero and Juno, recently launched an advertising campaign in which Chief Executive Mark Goldston says the average family can save $300 a year by switching to NetZero's $9.95-a-month dial-up service.
http://benton.org/node/23854
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WHEN EVERY STUDENT HAS A LAPTOP, WHY RUN COMPUTER LABS?
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
What's the point of running a university computer lab when all the students bring laptops anyway? That's a question that schools have been asking themselves as computer ownership rates among incoming freshmen routinely top 90 percent. Schools like the University of Virginia have concluded that the time has come to dismantle the community computer labs and put that money to more productive uses. With labs closing down, the university hopes to save some cash. School vice president James Hilton told The Chronicle of Higher Education that it cost about $300,000 to run the campus computer labs each year, but the amount that the school actually saves will depend on how much it costs to provide alternative access to things like community printers and niche software. To make specialized software available to students, the school says it will "convene a community to jointly review potential software delivery solutions." Its ideas so far all appear to revolve around accessing specialized tools over the network, possibly through "software streaming" or some form of remote connection to dedicated machines.
http://benton.org/node/23849
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SOME ONLINE SHOWS COULD GO SUBSCRIPTION-ONLY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone, Brian Stelter]
In the last couple of years, the television industry has made a big push onto the Web, giving viewers hope that they might one day reach nirvana: every show ever made, available online for immediate free viewing. But many in the industry are now questioning whether free is a sustainable model. And some are trying to make sure people have a reason to keep paying hefty cable bills.
http://benton.org/node/23891
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VIDEO GAME MAKERS CHALLENGED BY THE NEXT WAVE OF MEDIA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Matt Richtel]
Booming video game sales are masking a serious concern for game makers: their economic model is in peril. Game companies are taking in more money, but, in many cases, not profits. The market has expanded greatly, with more women and older gamers playing. People are playing on consoles, computers, cellphones and hand-held gadgets. But a proliferation of free or low-cost games on the Web and for phones limits how much the major game publishers can raise prices. It also diverts attention from the game consoles, like the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft.
http://benton.org/node/23890
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JOB SEEKERS TURNING TO ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Dan Fost]
Websites such as LinkedIn help employers and job candidates find one another through common bonds.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-linkedin30-2009mar30,0,7095088.story
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SERIOUS THREATS TO SIRIUS RADIO
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Olga Kharif]
Since its inception, satellite radio bragged that unique content represented a key competitive weapon in the crowded digital media market. Just last year, former rivals Sirius and XM spent a combined $446.6 million on programming and content alone. Sirius XM pays $100 million a year to shock jock Howard Stern and his team, for example, and $60 million annually to Major League Baseball. But as Web radio and mobile radio applications flourish, they are beginning to erode the value of Sirius's pricey content deals.
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