March 2009

Parliamentarian Provides Privacy Update

Ignasi Guardans -- a member of the European Parliament and a substitute member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs -- expects that President Barack Obama's administration will improve the nation's relationship with the EU on privacy issues: "It may probably be the case that the first changes happen within the U.S. itself, meaning that the respect for data privacy in the fight against terrorism will be much stronger, in general." He added that he believes that the U.S. government "is very much aware that this is just one among the big examples of issues where the 'arrogant' image of the U.S. in the last years can be substantially improved."

Is John Conyers Shilling for Special Interests?

[Commentary] Is Rep John Conyers (D-MI) beholden to "Big paper?" Right now, there's a proposal in Congress to forbid the government from requiring scientists who receive taxpayer funds for medical research to publish their findings openly on the Internet. This ban on "open access publishing" (which is currently required) would result in a lot of government-funded research being published exclusively in for-profit journals -- inaccessible to the general public. Why on earth would anyone propose this? A new report by transparency group MAPLight.org shows that sponsors of this bill -- led by Rep. John Conyers -- received twice as much money from the publishing industry as those on the relevant committee who are not sponsors. This is exactly the kind of money-for-influence scheme that constantly happens behind our backs and erodes the public's trust in government.

Computer Viruses and Other Malicious Software: A Threat to the Internet Economy

Spurred by the prevalance of always-on, high-speed connections, the Internet has become a powerful tool for enhancing innovation and productivity. The increasing dependence on the Internet and other communication networks, however, means the Internet has also become a popular and efficient way to spread computer viruses and other types of malicious software (malware). "Viruses", "worms" and "zombies" might sound like science fiction, but they are in fact the reality presented by the spread of malware. The power and threat of malware are that it can infiltrate, manipulate or damage individual computers, as well as entire electronic information networks, without users knowing anything is amiss. All of this has brought the electronic world to an important juncture. Malware attacks are increasing in both frequency and sophistication, thus posing a serious threat to the Internet economy and to national security. Concurrently, efforts to fight malware are not up to the task of addressing this growing global threat; malware response and mitigation efforts are essentially fragmented, local and mainly reactive.

Marketing execs bullish about M&A

Executives in marketing communications are no more optimistic about the economy than their peers in other sectors. But they're decidedly bullish, still, about doing deals. Six out of 10, in fact, expect to be involved in M&A this year. And that represents only a modest decline from the 67% who anticipated being a buyer or a seller a year ago, according to a report from boutique advisory firm AdMedia Partners. The finding represents a consensus of 3,700 advertising, marketing services and online marketing executives, as well as select financial sponsors, recently interviewed by AdMedia Partners. These same respondents expect a 5% decline in total advertising spend, compared with a 5% increase in interactive advertising spend. They also foresee 5% growth for their own businesses.

BT promised 'no regulatory barriers' on super-fast broadband

Ofcom has ruled it will present "no regulatory barriers" to the roll out of super-fast broadband infrastructure. The regulator announced plans to encourage the development of broadband that runs at speeds in excess of 40 megabits per second (Mbps). The ruling will permit BT to progress with an investment of £1.5 billion in the network, giving up to 20 million UK homes access to high-speed Internet. BT's Openreach infrastructure division, along with other telecom providers, will be able to charge ISPs for its super-fast wholesale broadband services in order to recoup the significant investment costs.

Funding the Nascent Field of Youth Media

There needs to be greater dialogue between funders and the field of youth media to enhance mutual understanding of this developing field of practice. Funders must help co-create and better serve the nascent field of youth media, providing practitioners opportunities to define the need of their communities, work collaboratively to establish best practices and more strategically work within their communities. As the field moves forward, we must unify our collective goals, giving youth opportunities to have voice that accurately and deliberately establishes their role as future leaders. We need opportunities for dialogue, outside of the funding model, between foundations and youth media practitioners.

Bill takes aim at anonymous hot spots, like coffee shops

The Internet Safety Act, recently introduced by Sen John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rep Lamar Smith (R-TX) questions the wisdom of allowing anonymous access to the Internet, and it would require ISPs to log user activity -- and store that information for two years. The bill's two sponsors say the measure is needed to improve the ability to identify sexual predators. It means the local mom-and-pop cafe that serves open, anonymous Wi-Fi access along with coffee and muffins may soon be on the front lines of a war in Congress over privacy. Although the measure focuses on sexual predators, data that is collected and stored could potentially be sought by anyone with a subpoena. It remains unclear, from this legislation, how extensive any data collection would be and whether it would affect, for instance, a home user with an open network. It is the type of legislation that could take regulators and courts years to sort out if it becomes law.

Will relaxation of local media ownership save newspapers?

The UK's Office of Fair Trading has launched a review into local and regional media ownership rules. But Jonathan Helliwell, media analyst at JPMorgan Cazenove, said any relaxation in the rules will be "insufficient" to turn the local newspaper industry around. He said "the businesses already tend to be local monopolies" and "synergies", or cost savings, gained through consolidation allowed by new rules would be "limited".

USAC Quarterly report to the FCC

The Universal Service Administrative Company has announced that the total projected interstate and international end-user revenue base to be used in determining the contribution factor for Universal Service Support Mechanisms for the second quarter of 2009 is $18,714,716,246.51.

IBM looks to secure Internet banking with USB stick

IBM's Zurich research laboratory has developed a USB stick that the company says can ensure safe banking transactions even if a PC is riddled with malware. A prototype of the device, called ZTIC (Zone Trusted Information Channel), is on display for the first time at the Cebit trade show this week. IBM hopes to entice banks into buying it for online banking, which saves banks money on personnel costs but is constantly under siege by hackers.

Benton

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