August 2009

Most People Don't Understand Broadband Or Bandwidth

Daily has a mother-in-law moment and realizes that, for most people, broadband's just a faster way to get onto the Internet than dialup. And because the public doesn't understand bandwidth and why they'd need/want more, it makes it that much more difficult to spark a nationwide movement demanding networks be built with greater capacity. So a key cornerstone of any effort to change America's broadband future, must be recognizing how much work needs to be done educating the public about broadband and committing ourselves to overcoming these challenges.

Cybersecurity Measure Undergoes Changes

Sweeping cybersecurity legislation introduced by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) in April has undergone major changes during the August recess and now features a more prominent focus on ensuring that the U.S. government and private sector have a properly trained workforce to thwart high-tech threats. A revised version of the bill sent to Commerce and Intelligence committee aides late last week "captures a lot of the input we've received since its introduction" but is still a draft and has not been approved at the member level.

YouTube to share ad money with more video makers

YouTube, the world's most popular video sharing site, said on Tuesday it will start sharing advertising cash with users who upload the most popular clips of everything from skateboarding dogs to dancing babies. The video site, which is owned by Web search giant Google, said it will extend its YouTube partnership program to allow individuals to make money when their videos are deemed eligible based on the number of views and how widely they are shared with other users. YouTube has been criticized by some Google investors, who complain that the site has failed to capitalize financially on its immense popularity.

Treasury to Get Nine-Figure Return On DTV Coupon Program

The US Treasury will get at least $139 million back when the National Telecommunications and Information Association has redeemed its final $40 DTV-to-analog converter box coupon, and likely more along the lines of a $200 million-plus return. While NTIA cannot calculate exactly how much money will be returned until the program ends at the end of October, the deadline for requests was July 31 and NTIA published a final active coupon request figure of 4,287,379. That is the number of coupons it had sent out but had not been redeemed. With $310,796,690 in coupon funds left as of Aug. 12 (the last update), if every one of those coupons had to be redeemed, it would cost $171,496,516, leaving the government with $139,300,174 left over. But at the current average redemption rate of about 55%, that would mean the refund to Treasury would be more on the order of $214 million.

FCC Grants Waivers on Four Set-Top Boxes

In a victory for cable operators, the Federal Communications Commission has granted Motorola, Cisco, Pace and Thomson waivers on its set-top integration ban for what they pitched as one-way, low-cost limited-capability boxes. That means there are four more boxes that can be installed without the need to go to the FCC for an individual waiver. The FCC said Tuesday that it had vetted the specs for the quartet of waiver requests and found them to be "no more advanced" than the Evolution Broadband boxes it previously waived. It granted the waiver, saying Public Knowledge's assertion that software upgrades could conceivably alter those capabilities "does not have merit." But it did say that hardware modifications could alter them, so that any box that differed from the specs submitted would require a separate waiver. The FCC also recently extended a hardship waiver of the rule by overbuilder RCN and extended the waiver to low-cost HD boxes for the first time. The FCC instituted the ban on digital set-tops that integrate security and channel surfing functions in an effort to spur a retail market. But it said it would entertain waivers for low-cost boxes sans bells and whistles.

Public Knowledge's Gigi Sohn said, "We are disappointed that the Media Bureau granted the waivers for low-end set-top boxes, which lock in advantages the cable companies already have while offering consumers set-top boxes with fewer features than they might otherwise get in an open market. The larger issue is whether the Commission is doing what Congress required back in 1996, when the Telecom Act promised an open, competitive market for full-featured set-top boxes. That vision would have given consumers more choices and more features. It's that goal to which the Commission should aspire, rather than continually lowering the bar through the waiver process."

One Year Ago: The Media Helped Elect Obama -- By Inspiring McCain to Pick Palin

[Commentary] It was exactly one year ago this week that there was a true turning point in the 2008 race for the White House. And it had little to do with Barack Obama. One might even say that it boiled down to the media helping to elect him -- but not by supporting him, in the way conservatives often charge. Instead, it involved coverage that very well could have hurt him, but that ended up rebounding in his favor, big time. It was the electronic media's overblown coverage of the allegedly widespread threat by female Hillary delegates, and other Clinton fans, to bolt Obama in favor of McCain. John McCain and his people bought it, hook, line and sinker. They saw an opening, which really wasn't there, and went completely overboard. Not only did a female VP suddenly look like a great idea, but she would have extra appeal to the particular type of Hillary primary voters so hyped by the media.

Nielsen Decides Not To Control For PCs, Internet Access In National TV Ratings Sample

TV ratings giant Nielsen has decided not to adjust its national TV ratings sample to ensure that it properly represents households equipped with personal computers or Internet access. The decision follows an annual review of the process Nielsen uses to determine what types of households and individuals to mathematically "weight" to ensure that they represent the population at large. Nielsen historically has used the weighting process to adjust for an under-representation of certain kinds of households, especially harder-to-recruit ones such as minorities, to ensure that their viewing habits are properly represented in its national TV ratings. But after conducting some testing, Nielsen executives concluded that adding weights for the presence of a personal computer or Internet access in under-represented households would provide "no significant change or enhancement" to its national TV ratings sample.

User Empowerment, Not Regulation, Is The Answer to Privacy Concerns About Targeted Ads

A Q&A conducted by BlueKai CEO Omar Tawakol. BlueKai Registry enables consumers to see what marketers know about them and edit their online preferences. Tawakol speaks with Brian Szoka from the Progress & Freedom Foundation about user empowerment and online privacy. Szoka says there's been no showing of real harm done by online data use and collection for advertising.

Don't forget children in rush to healthcare IT

A study that focuses on healthcare information technology and its effect on children's health has found that children have unique needs that aren't taken into account as the pace of technology accelerates. "Children have many unique needs to be considered in developing technology-enabled innovations for improving their health," the report states. "Children have different health needs, are often served by different caregivers and in different care settings, and in some cases require HIT with different functionality than adults." "Technology-Enabled Innovations for Improving Children's Health" is a joint project of the Health Technology Center and The Children's Partnership, two California-based nonprofit research organizations. While there is broad recognition that information and communications technology (ICT) would help improve care and the pace of adoption is accelerating, there has been little focus on the use of ICT to improve healthcare for and the health of America's 73 million children, the authors of the report note. By ignoring the unique requirements of children, technologies that offer promise to improve children's health are being underused, according to the study, and underserved children who stand to gain the most from these new advances are least likely to receive their benefits.

Journalists' recent work examined before embeds

As more journalists seek permission to accompany US forces engaged in escalating military operations in Afghanistan, many of them could be screened by a controversial Washington-based public relations firm contracted by the Pentagon to determine whether their past coverage has portrayed the U.S. military in a positive light. US public affairs officials in Afghanistan acknowledged to Stars and Stripes that any reporter seeking to embed with U.S. forces is subject to a background profile by The Rendon Group, which gained notoriety in the run-up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq for its work helping to create the Iraqi National Congress. That opposition group, reportedly funded by the CIA, furnished much of the false information about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction used by the Bush administration to justify the invasion. Rendon examines individual reporters' recent work and determines whether the coverage was "positive," "negative" or "neutral" compared to mission objectives, according to Rendon officials. It conducts similar analysis of general reporting trends about the war for the military and has been contracted for such work since 2005.

Benton

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