June 3, 2009 (Tech policy & Obama Admin)
"Tech policy is at the heart of this Administration's plans for the future."
-- Susan Crawford, National Economic Council
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY JUNE 3, 2009
The FCC discusses the state of the DTV transition today and the NSF Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure meets as well. See http://www.benton.org/calendar
POLICYMAKERS
Crawford: Tech Agenda Just Beginning
Crawford Warns Online Advertisers To Be Monitored
FCC's McDowell nominated for another term
Julius Genachowski to ramp up efforts to ensure equal access on the Internet
Homeland Security Names New Cybersecurity Officials
Experts want more detail on Obama cybersecurity plan
Craigslist Founder Seeks Larger DC Role
JOURNALISM
Sotomayor, Gingrich, and the demise of our press corps
Sotomayor Nomination Dominates the Narrative
New Study Charts Readership Reach
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
US Releases Secret List of Nuclear Sites Accidentally
To Shut Off Tiananmen Talk, China Blocks Sites
LABOR
Federal Antitrust Probe Targets Tech Giants
THE STIMULUS
The Peril of 'Buy American'
Battle Brews Over Broadband Mapping
A Fiber-Rich Diet
Industry Stakeholders Expect 'Meaningful Use' Criteria This Month
TELEVISION/RADIO
Ten days and Counting to DTV Transition
TiVo prevails in long-running EchoStar patent case
MRC Says It Delivered 'Almost 400,000' Anti-Fairness Doctrine Petitions To Hill
AT&T Asks FCC to Reconsider Dismissal in Cox Program Access Complaint
FCC Grants Waiver To Evolution's Low-Cost Set-Tops
DIGITAL CONTENT
Too Much Media May Be Tough on Kids' Health
Publishers look to music lessons on digital content
News Corp. digital exec supports paid content
New Twitter Research: Men Follow Men and Nobody Tweets
Facebook is king but Twitter makes waves
POLICYMAKERS
CRAWFORD: TECH AGENDA JUST BEGINNING
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Even though the Obama administration has made important, early strides in its first 133 days as part of its technology policy agenda, Susan Crawford on Tuesday said the White House has a long way to go. "We need your criticism, your engagement, your involvement, and your help," Susan Crawford, special assistant to the president for science, technology and innovation policy, told the Computers Freedom & Privacy conference. After "timely, targeted and tapered" economic stimulus package implementation, the Administration's focus will turn to job creation -- and that weighs heavily on high-tech investment, said Crawford who is also a member of the National Economic Council. Innovation is tied to a range of priorities from diminishing the country's carbon footprint and creating clean energy jobs to reducing the cost of healthcare and educating the next generation. Crawford also spoke about the need to bolster broadband deployment and bridge the gaps between urban and rural areas and rich and poor Americans.
http://benton.org/node/25658
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CRAWFORD WARNS ONLINE ADVERTISERS TO BE MONITORED
[SOURCE: Dow Jones, AUTHOR: Fawn Johnson]
National Economic Council Susan Crawford warned attendees at the Computers Freedom and Privacy conference that the Administration will keep a close watch on online advertisers that track consumers' Internet activity. "Online tracking and data collection, put together with inadequate notice to consumers about what information is collected and how it is used, raises critical privacy issues," said Susan Crawford, a special assistant to President Obama. Crawford said the Administration will ask online advertisers to use "rigorous self- regulation" practices. "These principles provide for transparency and consumer control," she said. Crawford said the Federal Trade Commission will evaluate self-regulatory programs from Web sites and Internet service providers and assess whether they provide adequate transparency, consumer control and "reasonable security of consumer data." The FTC will "determine whether particular practices constitute unfair and deceptive acts," Crawford said.
http://benton.org/node/25657
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FCC'S MCDOWELL NOMINATED FOR ANOTHER TERM
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: ]
President Barack Obama plans to nominate Robert McDowell, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, to serve another term, the White House said on Tuesday. Commissioner McDowell was confirmed by the Senate on June 1, 2006. During his tenure McDowell has helped create rules governing wireless auctions and incentives to encourage the development of new broadband technologies, the White House said. President Obama has chosen Julius Genachowski to lead the FCC. The Senate is considering Genachowski and other nominations to fill that seat and one vacancy set aside for another Republican. Sources say McDowell was the choice of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Apparently, Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, is backing former National Telecommunications and Administration acting head Meredith Attwell Baker for the other GOP seat at the FCC.
http://benton.org/node/25656
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JULIUS GENACHOWSKI TO RAMP UP EFFORTS TO ENSURE EQUAL ACCESS ON THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Politico.com, AUTHOR: Jeanne Cummings]
The political sea change brought by Democratic dominance that's already affecting the energy and health care sectors is about to wash over a new one: technology. President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate later this month — and activists expect him to ramp up efforts to ensure equal access on the Internet. The so-called Net neutrality issue has been roiling the Internet community for three years, pitting Internet access providers such as Verizon, Comcast and AT&T against consumers and content providers including Google, Microsoft and Amazon. It's also an issue that offers a striking illustration of how elections matter.
http://benton.org/node/25655
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HOMELAND SECURITY NAMES CYBERSECURITY OFFICIALS
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: J. Nicholas Hoover]
The Department of Homeland Security filled out its cybersecurity team Monday, two months after Rod Beckstrom resigned as director of the department's National Cybersecurity Center. He had clashed with the National Security Agency and complained about lack of funding. Taking Beckstrom's place as director of the National Cybersecurity Center will be Philip Reitinger, who is currently Homeland Security deputy undersecretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate. Reitinger, who also worked in cybersecurity for Microsoft and fought cybercrime for the Department of Justice, will help to coordinate cybersecurity efforts across the government.
http://benton.org/node/25654
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EXPERTS WANT MORE DETAIL ON OBAMA CYBERSECURITY PLAN
[SOURCE: ComputerWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
President Barack Obama's new cybersecurity report is short on details and creates a federal coordinator position that may have limited power, some cybersecurity experts say. The new cybersecurity coordinator will report both to the US National Security Council and the National Economic Council, raising concerns that whomever Obama names will have split priorities, said Stewart Baker, a partner in the Steptoe & Johnson law firm and a former assistant director for policy in the US Department of Homeland Security. "That is not an indication that this office will be given large amounts of authority," said Baker, who served at DHS during former President George Bush's administration. While many initial reactions to the release of the Obama administration report were positive, speakers at a Congressional Internet Caucus event Monday raised some concerns, particularly that the report is short on details.
http://benton.org/node/25653
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CRAIGSLIST FOUNDER SEEKS LARGER DC ROLE
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Craig Newmark, the founder of popular online community Craigslist.org, said Tuesday he is considering whether to "dedicate a big chunk of my life" to those who are driving change in Washington and wants to spend more time practicing his own brand of public service. Was his comment during a keynote at the annual Computers Freedom & Privacy conference a hint he is considering joining President Obama's stable of tech-savvy advisers or running for Congress? Probably not (although he was involved in Obama's campaign). But the Web freedom advocate is eager to get more engaged in the policy debate in the nation's capital. As the government tries to figure out how to effectively use consumer products like micro-blogging site Twitter and photo-sharing site Flickr, Newmark wants to weigh in.
http://benton.org/node/25652
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JOURNALISM
SOTOMAYOR, GINGRICH, AND THE DEMISE OF OUR PRESS CORPS
[SOURCE: Media Matters for America, AUTHOR: Eric Boehlert]
[Commentary] Last week's press coverage of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court was gruesome in so many ways, as reporters routinely fell down and failed to reflect even the most basic tenets of journalism. Given the near ubiquity of the press failing, it's hard for me to believe that it wasn't been done intentionally. I'm not into newsroom conspiracies, but it's just difficult to believe that among these elite, college-educated journalists, that virtually every one of them covering the Sotomayor story mysteriously forgot to provide even the slightest context for the "Latina woman" quote -- a single sentence from a speech given eight years ago. Having looked at this story from every angle, I can only conclude that the lack of context has been a conscious, deliberate decision by journalists to, in a sense, purposefully un-inform news consumers, which, of course, is the opposite of what journalism aspires to accomplish.
http://benton.org/node/25651
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SOTOMAYOR NOMINATION DOMINATES THE NARRATIVE
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
The May 26 nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the nation's first Latina Supreme Court Justice not only topped the news agenda last week. As a ritual set piece of Washington, the nomination also offered a clear look at the velocity and ferocity of the new media ecosystem in 2009, one forged by the election, by the rise of social media and cable, and even more than ever defined by speed, political surrogates, diversity and argument. From May 25-31, Sotomayor accounted for 24% of the newshole as measured by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That exceeded coverage of North Korea's nuclear test (12%), the troubled economy (9%), GM's impending bankruptcy (7%) and a California ruling affirming a gay marriage ban (5%), in PEJ's weekly News Coverage Index. So far in 2009, only one story not about the economy or the new Obama administration—the late April swine flu outbreak—has generated more weekly coverage than last week's historic nomination.
http://benton.org/node/25650
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NEW STUDY CHARTS READERSHIP REACH
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Jennifer Saba]
The Media Audit, which ranks more than 100 daily newspapers across 88 markets, estimates that the Times-Picayune Web site nola.com reaches the most adults within its market. Slightly more than 50% of adults in New Orleans have visited the site in the past 30 days representing 422,354 uniques. When the print edition of the paper is included. The Times-Picayune reaches more than 85% of the market. The San Antonio Express-News (80%) ranks #2 followed by the Washington Post (77%). The latest survey also found that heavy newspaper readers who spend more than an hour per day with the print edition, currently spend 3.7 hours per day online in general.
http://benton.org/node/25662
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
US RELEASES SECRET LIST OF NUCLEAR SITES ACCIDENTALLY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: William Bond]
The Government Printing Office Web site mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked "highly confidential," that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation's civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons. The publication of the document was revealed Monday in an online newsletter devoted to issues of federal secrecy. That set off a debate among nuclear experts about what dangers, if any, the disclosures posed. It also prompted a flurry of investigations in Washington into why the document had been made public.
http://benton.org/node/25666
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TO SHUT OFF TIANANMEN TALK, CHINA BLOCKS SITES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Wines, Andrew Jacobs]
China's government censors have begun to block access to the Internet services Twitter, Flickr, Hotmail and Microsoft's live.com, broadening an already extraordinary effort to shield its citizens from any hint of Thursday's 20th anniversary of the military crackdown that ended the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement. People in China who tried to gain access to the blocked Web sites on Tuesday instead encountered an error message saying the sites' servers had unexpectedly dropped the Internet connection — a standard indicator that access has been blocked. Weeks earlier, censors blocked Chinese users from viewing all videos on YouTube, and in recent days some television viewers have reported that BBC World News reports related to the Tiananmen anniversary were being selectively blacked out of broadcast programs.
http://benton.org/node/25659
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LABOR
FEDERAL ANTITRUST PROBE TARGETS TECH GIANTS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Apparently, the Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether some of the nation's largest technology companies violated antitrust laws by negotiating the recruiting and hiring of one another's employees. The review, which is said to be in its preliminary stages, is focused on the search engine giant Google; its competitor Yahoo; Apple, maker of the popular iPhone; and the biotech firm Genentech, among others. The review includes other tech companies and is "industry-wide." By agreeing not to hire away top talent, the companies could be stifling competition and trying to maintain their market power unfairly, antitrust experts said.
http://benton.org/node/25663
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THE STIMULUS
THE PERIL OF 'BUY AMERICAN'
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] It's not surprising that Democrats in Congress could not resist adding a "Buy American" provision to the fiscal stimulus bill earlier this year. It might seem sensible (or at least politically useful) to ensure that taxpayer dollars would be used exclusively to support American jobs. But as states and municipalities start spending stimulus money, the idea is starting to look as counterproductive as it should have looked from the beginning. It is sparking conflict with American allies and, rather than supporting employment at home, the "Buy American" effort could ultimately cost American jobs.
http://benton.org/node/25665
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BATTLE BREWS OVER BROADBAND MAPPING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz]
Before the federal government spends more than $7 billion to expand broadband Internet service in underserved areas, it wants maps that show where the money should go. But the biggest U.S. provider of broadband coverage maps, Connected Nation Inc., is backed by big telecommunications companies like Comcast Corp., Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. that potentially stand to benefit from how the Obama administration doles out the money. As it seeks to provide maps for the federal stimulus program, Connected Nation is coming under fire from officials in its home state of Kentucky, and Internet advocates in Washington leery of its industry ties. Critics complain it uses unverifiable confidential information from phone and cable companies to draw its maps, and worry Connected Nation will use the maps to steer stimulus funds toward its big corporate sponsors, at the expense of smaller players or poorly served areas. "I think it's a huge conflict of interest to turn our mapping over to the companies that stand to benefit from the results," said Art Brodsky, communications director of Public Knowledge, which has joined with other public-interest groups, including Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, to lobby against Connected Nation. Officials at Connected Nation, which is drawing broadband maps for 10 states, including Minnesota and Tennessee, say Internet providers are the best sources of the data it needs, and say Connected Nation has a "governance framework" for projects that is independent of its board of directors, which includes executives from cable and phone companies.
http://benton.org/node/25664
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A FIBER-RICH DIET
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] While data zips across the country on beams of light carried by fiber optic cables, when it reaches the vast majority of last-mile access networks it hits copper wires, which regardless of whether it's DSL or cable will always be slower than fiber. The more fiber you have the more capacity that's available to handle Internet traffic. And when you lay fiber all the way to users' front doors then you fundamentally redefine their connectivity paradigm, evolving from an era of bandwidth scarcity to one of abundance. As the Internet's backbone is all fiber, anything with lesser capacity will be a bottleneck. So let's acknowledge that the next-generation of the Internet means extending the power of fiber optics to every house.
http://benton.org/node/25649
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INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDERS EXPECT 'MEANINGFUL USE' CRITERIA THIS MONTH
[SOURCE: iHealthBeat, AUTHOR: ]
The federal government might publish criteria for the definition of "meaningful use" of electronic health records by June 16, according to the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association, a trade group for EHR firms. The Medicare and Medicaid financial incentives mandated under the federal stimulus package require meaningful use of certified EHRs. The publication of meaningful use criteria could be followed by a brief public comment period while the federal government undergoes the rules-development process. It is unclear when the final rule will be released, but industry stakeholders expect the rule on meaningful use by late summer or early fall, according to Justin Barnes, chair of the HIMSS EHR Association and vice president of marketing and government affairs for physician software vendor Greenway Medical Technologies. The federal stimulus package requires publication of a final rule on meaningful use by the end of 2009.
http://benton.org/node/25647
See also:
Health IT Part of Industry's Plan To Reduce Health Care Spending
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TELEVISION/RADIO
TEN DAYS AND COUNTING TO DTV TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
With 10 days remaining before the transition to digital television on June 12, the Federal Communications Commission is providing boots on the ground, messages over the airwaves, help over the phone, and answers in cyberspace for consumers who still need help preparing for the switch. The level of preparedness has steadily increased since Congress delayed the digital television (DTV) transition in February. The gap of unready households across America has narrowed by over 50 percent in the past six months based on Nielsen data - in January, 5.7 percent of U.S. households were estimated to be unready for the DTV transition, and that number has now dropped to 2.7 percent. However, that 2.7 percent represents about 3.1 million homes nationwide that risk losing free over-the-air television unless they act before June 12. Over the next 10 days, the FCC will be issuing a drumbeat of daily messages designed to highlight the most important issues concerning the impending nationwide transition. In addition to this media information campaign, approximately 250 FCC staffers will be working with the public at events and DTV clinics nationwide, while the Commissioners will be traveling the country for local DTV events and making television and radio appearances in target markets.
http://benton.org/node/25648
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TIVO PREVAILS IN LONG-RUNNING ECHOSTAR PATENT CASE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Gina Keating]
US District Judge David Folsom awarded set-top box maker TiVo an additional $103 million in damages plus interest on Tuesday in a long-running patent infringement dispute with DISH Network and EchoStar. EchoStar has already paid TiVo a total of $104 million in damages and lost profits as the result of a 2006 jury award for infringing on patents for digital video recorder technology. The judge may impose additional damages later this summer stemming from his finding that EchoStar violated an injunction he put in place following the jury verdict by implementing new "work-around" technology that TiVo claimed still infringed.
http://benton.org/node/25644
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DIGITAL CONTENT
TOO MUCH MEDIA MAY BE TOUGH ON KIDS' HEALTH
[SOURCE: HealthDay News, AUTHOR: ]
Easy access to a wide variety of media increases a child's risk for numerous health issues, such as obesity, eating disorders, drug use and early sexual activity. On average, American children and teens spend more than six hours a day with media such as TV, computers, Internet, video games and VCR or DVD players -- more time than they spend per day receiving formal classroom instruction, says Dr. Victor C. Strasburger of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque. All this media access affects a variety of health issues, he wrote in the June 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, a special theme issue on child and adolescent health. "The media are not the leading cause of any pediatric health problem in the United States, but they do make a substantial contribution to many health problems," Strasburger said. Among them: violence, sex, drugs, obesity and eating disorders.
http://benton.org/node/25660
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PUBLISHERS LOOK TO MUSIC LESSONS ON DIGITAL CONTENT
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Michelle Nichols]
Publishers are learning from music labels' struggle to make online music profitable and combat piracy, but so-called e-books will only add value to the industry and not replace printed books, experts say. Amid a global economic downturn, the publishing industry is also trying to deal with a growing demand for online content driven by advances in technology with electronic readers like Amazon.com's Kindle and Sony Corp's Reader. But it is learning from music labels, who have seen a shift in fans to digital sales from physical sales. These labels have filed countless lawsuits to combat free online music-sharing sites, while trying to make digital distribution profitable.
http://benton.org/node/25645
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NEWS CORP DIGITAL EXEC SUPPORTS PAID CONTENT
[SOURCE: Hollywood Reporter, AUTHOR: Georg Szalai]
News Corp. chief digital officer Jonathan Miller predicts that Paid digital media services are the wave of the future for media giants, and the only question is how fast they will become reality. News Corp will push to develop new business models that work for the industry overall. Miller added: "We want to see a (business) model established," one that includes paid-for journalistic offers. He signaled that while new models must be established across the industry, News Corp. is willing to take a lead position to push for change. Asked about how News Corp. could promote its various assets across print, TV and digital media under a new pay model, Miller suggested: "What works for consumers, I think -- and this has to be tested -- are bundles."
http://benton.org/node/25661
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NEW TWITTER RESEARCH: MEN FOLLOW MEN AND NOBODY TWEETS
[SOURCE: Harvard Business Publishing, AUTHOR: Bill Heil, Mikolaj Piskorski]
[Commentary] Twitter has attracted tremendous attention from the media and celebrities, but there is much uncertainty about Twitter's purpose. Is Twitter a communications service for friends and groups, a means of expressing yourself freely, or simply a marketing tool? The authors examined the activity of a random sample of 300,000 Twitter users in May 2009 to find out how people are using the service. They then compared their findings to activity on other social networks and online content production venues. The findings may be surprising. Although men and women follow a similar number of Twitter users, men have 15% more followers than women. The average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman. On a typical online social network, most of the activity is focused around women - men follow content produced by women they do and do not know, and women follow content produced by women they know. Among Twitter users, the median number of lifetime tweets per user is one. The top 10% of prolific Twitter users accounted for over 90% of tweets.
http://benton.org/node/25640
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FACEBOOK IS KING BUT TWITTER MAKES WAVES
[SOURCE: CNNMoney.com, AUTHOR: David Goldman]
Users spend more time on Facebook than any other social network site. Much more. But other sites are growing quickly, and experts say no social network is safely on top of the market. According to a report released Tuesday by Nielsen, Facebook users logged 13.9 billion minutes on the site in April. That compares to 5 billion minutes on MySpace, 300 million on Twitter, and 202.4 million minutes on LinkedIn. Time spent on Facebook soared 699% since April 2008, compared to a 31% drop in time spent on MySpace, which is owned by media mogul Rupert Murchoch's NewsCorp. LinkedIn's minutes grew 69%.
http://benton.org/node/25638
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