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October 2009

Lawmakers criticize China on Internet, human rights policies

China has come under criticism for its human rights record from a commission of lawmakers and executive branch officials. The annual report from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China expresses deep concern about continued human rights abuses and stalled reforms in China. The report, released Friday, specifically criticized China's government for harassing Chinese citizens who asked the government to investigate the causes of a 2008 earthquake in Sichuan that killed tens of thousands. It also criticizes the government for discrediting the Dalai Lama and said repression increased in the Tibetan areas of China and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The report also singles out for criticism China's efforts to control the Internet; Chinese officials blocked access to domestic and foreign websites based on their religious and political content. And the report scolded the government for its requirement, which was later withdrawn, that all computers in China be sold with pre-installed censorship software. The report suggests that Congress and the administration get input from government agencies, non-government organizations and private companies on best practices and possible legislation that would ensure U.S. companies promote free expression in China. Nine senators and nine House members from both parties sit on the commission. Executive branch commission officials have not been filled by the Obama administration.

A key to government performance

[Commentary] When it comes to government performance and technology, Moore's Law has been tied down by Gordian knots. For too long, habit has outpaced innovation; government has settled for not just old over new but also complacency over efficiency. President Barack Obama took office with a commitment to break those knots, relying on innovation to make government perform better for the American people. In information technology specifically, one of the most promising areas is cloud computing, which uses the power of distributed, smartly integrated computers to accomplish complex tasks efficiently. Working together — across agencies, between branches of government, and through best-practice collaborations with the private sector — we can shape a federal government that is more accountable, more collaborative, and more consistent in its delivery of services. Across the government, the challenges grow tougher each day. It is time for the government to join the 21st century and be more agile and adaptive, more responsive and responsible.

The Other Side to Closed Captioning

Video description and closed captioning are two sides of the same coin: descriptions providing blind and visually impaired television viewers an audio narrator's depiction of the video portion of a television program, captions providing deaf and hard of hearing viewers video text of what's spoken in the audio portion of a program. But there's a wide gulf between the presence of the two services in television programming today. By 1989, virtually the entire primetime schedule on the major broadcast networks was captioned, and today much of cable network fare and local news programs provide captions. Captions are viewed not just by those with hearing problems, but by people in sports bars, fitness clubs and other areas where a noisy environment makes it impossible to hear a program's audio. In contrast, a relative handful of programs in the multi-hundred channel universe provide video description service, among them Fox's "The Simpsons," CBS's "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," an impressive portion of PBS's schedule, and some programs and movies on cable networks, particularly Nickelodeon and Turner Classic Movies. The reasons for the disparity in availability between the two services fall into the regulatory, cost, and technical categories. In the mid-1990s, the FCC began preparing timelines and requirements for both closed captions and video description. They adopted regulatory requirements for both, but while the closed caption provisions got a relatively free ride, the television and motion picture industries fought requirements for video descriptions in court in 2002, claiming the commission did not have authority to issue such requirements. The industry won and those regulations were tossed out. That legal rampart to the commission's requirements may be breached in the near future, as Congressman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has introduced H.R. 3101, the "Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009," which, if passed, provides the FCC the authority to issue video description requirements and instructs the commission to get after it.

DTV Converter Box Test Program -- Results and Lessons Learned

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Engineering and Technology has released a report on tests of digital-to-analog TV (DTV) converter boxes. The report describes methodologies, results and lessons learned in over 50,000 individual engineering tests that were performed on 136 DTV converter boxes that were submitted for certification as "coupon eligible" by various manufacturers in the period August 2007 to January 2009 and on 17 converter box samples that were purchased from retail outlets through February 2009. The tests were completed in March 2009. Most of the tests were performed for the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and served as one step in the NTIA's approval process of converter boxes under the Government's TV Converter Box Coupon Program and were intended to ensure that all of the boxes certified as coupon eligible passed NTIA's conservative performance specifications before going on the market. The report indicates that 116 of the 136 converter box models tested by the FCC Laboratory eventually passed all tests to satisfy the NTIA requirements and were offered to the public as coupon-eligible converter boxes. The report is intended to inform engineers involved in designing DTV receivers, TV broadcasters, measurement technicians, standards developers and the technical community of engineering data on the performance of the converter boxes and of functional and performance issues that might apply to other DTV receiver products as well.

Thierer Named PFF President

The Progress & Freedom Foundation announced that Adam Thierer, longtime PFF Senior Fellow and Director of PFF's Center for Digital Media Freedom, has been appointed president of the Foundation. He succeeds Ken Ferree, who will remain active as a Senior Fellow and as a member of PFF's Board of Directors. Thierer said he plans to push "forward with our vision of defending individual liberty, free markets, freedom of speech, and property rights." Thierer formally joined PFF in 2005 but has been involved with PFFs since its creation. In 1995, he was a co-author of PFF's first major book, The Telecom Revolution - An American Opportunity. He is the author or editor of seven books on, and regularly writes about content regulation and child safety, the regulation of mass media and network industries, Internet governance, intellectual property, and federalism in high-tech markets. Thierer earned his B.A. in journalism and political science at Indiana University, and his M.A. in international business management and trade theory at the University of Maryland.

Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Department of Health and Human Services
The Omni Shoreham Hotel
2500 Calvert Street, NW
Washington, DC
October 29, 2009
9 a.m. to 3 p.m./Eastern Time
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-25051.pdf

The Implementation Workgroup will be hearing testimony from stakeholder groups, such as purchasers, vendors, and users, on health information technology adoption experiences with the proposed standards. The Workgroup intends to monitor the adoption rate of proposed standards, identify opportunities to accelerate implementation, and establish a continuous feedback loop on the development of new or revised standards.

HIT Standards Committee's function is to provide recommendations to the National Coordinator on standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for the electronic exchange and use of health information for purposes of adoption, consistent with the implementation of the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan, and in accordance with policies developed by the HIT Policy Committee. The Implementation Workgroup is charged with benchmarking adoption rates for proposed standards across diverse settings; soliciting public input on what stakeholders need to lower the barriers to standards adoption; evaluating the degree to which proposed standards achieve policy objectives; and establishing an ongoing process to gather public input to inform future standards development, revisions to existing standards, or guidance on tools to minimize the cost of adoption.


Oct 16, 2009 (Low Power Radio Act Moves On)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY OCTOBER 16

Next week's agenda includes HIT, access for people with disabilities, Network Neutrality, and geek-wonks go wild at the ECFS 2.0 Launch. For details see http://bit.ly/1WJFsJ


HOUSE COMMERCE MARKUP
   House Committee Approves Low-Power FM Station, Interoperable Communications Bills
   See also: Public Safety Interoperable Communications Approved by Senate
   House Committee Approves Satellite Reauthorization Bill

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Motricity: "Shame On Us" If The Mobile Internet Becomes Like The Internet
   T-Mobile Executive Calls for More Spectrum for Smaller Competitors

BROADBAND/INTERNET
   FCC Will Vote on Network Neutrality Proceeding on October 22
   Are telephone companies giving up on broadband stimulus?
   Simple, Justifiable Bandwidth Goals For America
   Texas Prioritizes 52 Broadband Stimulus Applications

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Official says Einstein security system won't read e-mails
   Hathaway opens up about her decision to leave White House
   Freshman Rep Wants Bills Online In 24 Hrs

OWNERSHIP
   Movie Industry Plan for Set-Top Boxes Will Hurt Consumers
   Justice Agency Resists Music Merger
   Radio Should Pay for Playing Music, Senate Panel Says

ADVERTISING
   Ad Group Calls FTC Blog Rules 'Dubious'
   Google Back on Track for World Domination; Considers Relocation to Seattle

HEALTH
   Web-based health insurance portals get Senate committee nod
   Blumenthal puts quality reporting at apex of meaningful use
   Public Media Closes the Early Literacy Gap

QUICKLY
   Washington Technorati Toast Public Knowledge and Its IP3 Awards
   Israel Protests Turkish TV Series About Palestine

MORE ONLINE ...
   Email and Nobel Dominate the Blogs
   Disparate state rules plague online education
   How Much Longer Will You Remain Passive?

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HOUSE COMMERCE MARKUP

HOUSE COMMERCE MARKUP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The House Commerce Committee approved bills to increase the number of low-power FM radio stations and extend a program to fund interoperable communications. Both had passed easily in the Communications Subcommittee the week before. On voice votes, the committee approved and reported favorably to the House the Local Community Radio Act and the Public Safety Interoperable Communications Act. The first bill, long opposed by broadcasters, reduces the channel separation between low-power and full-power stations to allow more of the former to share the band with the latter. The second bill provides a two-year extension for making use of up to $1 billion in government funding for state and local interoperable communications systems. The money comes from the auction of the 700 mHz DTV spectrum. The bill does not increase the funds, but allows states and localities another two years to make use of them.
benton.org/node/28848 | Broadcasting&Cable
   See also: Public Safety Interoperable Communications Approved by Senate
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SATELLITE BILL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
On Thursday, the House Commerce Committee approved the Satellite Home Viewer Reauthorization and Extension Act, a bill granting satellite operators a compulsory license to carry distant TV network station signals. The bill grants a blanket license to satellite operators to import distant TV network affiliate stations to viewers in a market who can't get a viewable version of their local affiliate and includes a provision allowing Dish network back into the distant network signal business in exchange for reaching all 210 markets. The bill makes clear that satellite operators are not required to carry TV stations' multicast signals.
benton.org/node/28847 | Broadcasting&Cable | Multichannel News -- Amendments | Multichannel News -- DISH
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

"SHAME ON US" IF MOBILE REPEATS INTERNET
[SOURCE: mocoNews.net, AUTHOR: Tricia Duryee]
Ex-AT&T executive Jim Ryan is now the chief strategy and marketing officer of Motricity, which provides storefront, portal and browser services to carriers. On how users should pay for mobile content and other services, Ryan is clear: Users should pay for content and services they access on mobile devices -- and the carrier should get a cut of the revenues. "My hope is that the mobile Internet does not go down the path of re-creating the Internet. The Internet treats the end user as a means to an end." By that, he means that most users believe their presence alone on a site should generate enough revenues from ads. Of course, some content providers believe that, too. "That's flawed....The Internet did teach us some bad habits." Ryan says content providers should be charging, especially on mobile where the service can be more personalized and tailored to a interests and habits. "People will be more than willing to pay," he said. "I want to pay for a news service that will deliver the top 10-15 stories that matter to me the most. I want them to be researched and well-written. I will pay money for that."
benton.org/node/28846 | mocoNews.net
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T-MOBILE CALLS FOR MORE SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
A Q&A with Neville Ray, T-Mobile's senior vice president of engineering and operations. He thinks the key to competition isn't Network Neutrality rules but more spectrum. Specifically, he is pushing regulators to auction radio airwaves in the AWS band where T-Mobile and smaller carriers are already building out networks for wireless broadband services. T-Mobile is the fourth-largest carrier of wireless services in the nation, and despite the huge leaps in subscriber growth by the nation's two largest carriers ­ Verizon Wireless and AT&T, he describes the wireless market as "hyper-competitive." Ray is in Washington (DC) this week to meet with Federal Communications Commission commissioners and attend the 3G Americas conference in town this week, a group that he chairs. And no, he didn't comment on whether T-Mobile is interested in buying Sprint Nextel.
benton.org/node/28859 | Washington Post
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BROADBAND/INTERNET

FCC WILL VOTE ON NETWORK NEUTRALITY PROCEEDING ON OCTOBER 22
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Thursday, October 22, 2009. There's one item on the agenda: a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on policies to preserve the open Internet (WC Docket No. 07-52).
benton.org/node/28867 | Federal Communications Commission
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TELEPHONE COMPANIES GIVING UP ON BROADBAND STIMULUS?
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Ed Gubbins]
Telecom access equipment vendor Calix says its clients represent 40% of tier 2 and tier 3 US telecom providers. One quarter of those customers applied for broadband stimulus funding. Those who chose not to apply fall into four categories: 1) Those who did not qualify based on the definitions set forth by grant program administrators, 2) Those who feared the strings attached to the funds, 3) Those who couldn't wait for competitive reasons, and 4) Those who are already executing on all cylinders and saw the stimulus as a distraction. For the first two groups, many are still waiting on the fence to see how dramatically the rules change in the next round of funding ­ this includes some very large incumbent local telephone companies. For the service providers in the third and fourth groups, they continue to charge ahead with broadband expansion and upgrade plans, and in some cases have hastened their expansion and upgrade plans to counteract potential stimulus-funded incursions into their service territories.
benton.org/node/28860 | TelephonyOnline
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SIMPLE, JUSTIFIABLE BANDWIDTH GOALS
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] What should be America's bandwidth goals? An important first step is to realize that we should have at least two tiers: baseline served and fully served. Baseline served refers to the lowest level at which we consider a network to be delivering broadband. This is also the level that 100% of Americans (or as close as possible) should have access to. Fully served refers to the speeds at which we consider a person, building, or area fully served relative to the bandwidth demands of that time. The second vital step is to acknowledge that we need to have different goals for different types of users, in particular differentiating between residential and what businesses and community anchors need. Finally, we need goals not just for today but also for tomorrow that are primarily based on the needs of users rather than the limitations of technologies. For residential, Daily sets these goals for today: Baseline - 1Mbps up/down and Fully Served - 10Mbps down, 2Mbps up. For 2015 he sets these goals: Baseline - 10Mbps up/down and Fully Served - 100Mbps down, 20Mbps up. For commercial -- Today -- Baseline - 10Mbps up/down and Fully Served - 100Mbps-1Gbps up/down; for 2015, Baseline - 100Mbps up/down and Fully Served - 1-10Gbps up/down.
benton.org/node/28845 | App-Rising.com
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TEXAS PRIORITIZES BROADBAND STIMULUS APPLICATIONS
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
The state of Texas on Thursday released its list of the 52 projects that should be prioritized in the broadband stimulus funding decision pending by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and the Rural Utilities Service. Through Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and Donna Nelson, Commissioner of the Public Utilities Commission of Texas, the state provided a detailed itemization of its project priorities, as well as its recommendations for implementation of grant funding in Texas. Even though Staples and Nelson said that its "extensive review process... was conducted in a very short period of time," they said, "we are confident in the projects we have recommended." Although Staples and Nelson said that they had winnowed more than 150 applications potentially affecting Texas to 52, they also asked that the NTIA consider "all applications proposing Texas service for funding as well."
benton.org/node/28866 | BroadbandCensus.com
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

OFFICIAL SAYS EINSTEIN WON'T READ E-MAILS
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Chris Strohm]
Although a sophisticated system called Einstein 3 is in development to detect and prevent electronic attacks on federal civilian networks, a senior Homeland Security official gave assurances Wednesday that the department has no intention of reading contents of e-mails or other communications. Instead, the department wants to have the system determine whether electronic communications entering the networks contain viruses or other attack signatures, the official said. Einstein 3 is expected to deal solely with federal civilian networks. The Defense Department is responsible for protecting military networks. But so far, Homeland Security officials have provided little information publicly about the reach of Einstein 3, stoking concerns by privacy and civil rights groups that the government might ultimately intend to read and store the contents of electronic communications produced by US citizens. "The intention is not to look at the contents of e-mail," Phil Reitinger, deputy undersecretary for the department's National Protection and Programs Directorate, said in an interview with reporters. "The intention is to look for attack signatures; things that indicate an attack. So, for example, if a virus is coming in you would want to see the pattern of bits that indicates a virus or worm is coming in," Reitinger said. "You are looking for specific indicators of attack, not the contents of people's e-mail." "We use automated signature analysis," he added. "No person would look at any particular piece of data unless a signature was matched and indicated that an attack was in progress."
benton.org/node/28844 | CongressDaily
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HATHAWAY OPENS UP ABOUT HER DECISION TO LEAVE WHITE HOUSE
[SOURCE: FederalNewsRadio, AUTHOR: Jason Miller]
An interview with former White House advisor Melissa Hathaway. The former acting senior director for cybersecurity in the White House says the President not only gets the importance of hardening federal and commercial networks, but laid out priorities for the government to initially focus on. "There were certain priorities he wanted us to kick off first, beginning with the dialogue with the American people. Second was how to operationalize public and private partnerships focusing on financial services and energy sectors. The President understood the severity of the situation and what he wanted to be done for the country."
benton.org/node/28857 | FederalNewsRadio
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FRESHMAN REP WANTS BILLS ONLINE IN 24 HOURS
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Rep Lynn Jenkins (R-Kansas) introduced a resolution to change House rules and require committees to post the actual text of adopted bills and amendments online within 24 hours. She argued in a press release that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's pledge for an open and transparent Congress has fallen short and lawmakers have failed to require transparency for one of the most powerful components of Congress -- congressional committees. "The federal government functions best when it governs in the light of day," she said.
benton.org/node/28855 | CongressDaily
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OWNERSHIP

MOVIE INDUSTRY PLAN FOR SET-TOP BOXES WILL HURT CONSUMERS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
In an October 14 letter to Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau Chief William Lake, Public Knowledge argues that a proposal by the motion picture industry to use "selectable output control" to hobble the functions of set top boxes won't stop movie theft but will harm consumers. Recently, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) told the FCC that such control was needed to bring movies to the public faster than they otherwise might. Public Knowledge responded that movie companies can bring out their product to consumers at any time and without a waiver of FCC rules. PK told the Bureau: "The MPAA has submitted no proof that grant of the waiver will serve the public interest at all. To the contrary, what proof exists in the record shows that the 'problem' of a longer window for release of movies to MVPDs than for release on DVDs is a business decision made by MPAA's members. Rather than shed crocodile tears for the poor shut ins and busy parents who must either subscribe to NETFLIX to get the earlier window or wait a whole thirty days, MPAA's members could simply negotiate a shorter release window."
benton.org/node/28843 | Public Knowledge | Read the letter | PK blog post
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JUSTICE AGENCY RESISTS MUSIC MERGER
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ethan Smith, Jeffrey McCracken]
A proposed merger that would create a powerhouse in the music business is facing stiff resistance from the Justice Department, and will require major concessions, according to several people familiar with the situation. Negotiations are continuing between Justice Department officials and executives of Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Live Nation Inc., and no final decision has been reached. But department officials have let it be known that there are elements of the proposed merger that could prompt them to sue to block it, said one person familiar with the situation. The ticketing giant and the world's largest concert promoter "now sense they need to make some serious concessions," and are worried the Justice Department will seek to block their deal, this person said. The merger, formally proposed in February, is the first high-profile combination to come up for antitrust review during the Obama administration, and it is attracting attention far beyond the confines of the music business. Under President George W. Bush, the Justice Department rarely blocked mergers based on antitrust concerns, but the Obama administration has signaled it will take a tougher approach. The Ticketmaster-Live Nation deal is widely regarded as a bellwether of the department's attitude toward such potential deals as Comcast Corp.'s proposal to take a majority stake in General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal. Like the proposed Ticketmaster-Live Nation alliance, a Comcast-NBC deal would represent "vertical integration," in which several links in the chain between producer and consumer are controlled by a single entity.
benton.org/node/28864 | Wall Street Journal
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RADIO SHOULD PAY FOR PLAYING MUSIC
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
Radio station owners such as CBS Corp. would have to pay new fees to play music on the air under legislation approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee over opposition from broadcasters. The measure, approved in a voice vote, would establish a royalty to be split between recording artists and labels. Satellite and Internet radio already pay such fees. Similar legislation passed the House Judiciary Committee in May. Music labels such as Warner Music Group Corp.,Vivendi SA, and Sony Music Entertainment say their artists deserve to be compensated for the value their songs bring to radio stations. Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who heads the Judiciary Committee, said the bill would end a "glaring inequity."
benton.org/node/28863 | Bloomberg
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ADVERTISING

AD GROUP CALLS FTC BLOG RULES 'DUBIOUS'
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
The Interactive Advertising Bureau on Thursday called on the Federal Trade Commission withdraw recently issued enforcement guidance regarding the opinions and commentary of bloggers online marketers and others, saying the rules unfairly and unconstitutionally impose penalties on online media for practices in which offline media have engaged for decades. In an open letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, IAB President Randall Rothenberg called the agency's distinction between offline media and online media, "constitutionally dubious."
benton.org/node/28856 | CongressDaily
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GOOGLE'S BACK
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jessica Vascellaro]
Google shook off the recession and said its Internet advertising business picked up steam during the third quarter, as marketers began spending again. The Internet search company's revenue increased 7% from the year-earlier quarter to $5.94 billion. That compares with just 3% year-over-year growth in the second quarter. Revenue was also up 8% sequentially from the second quarter, picking up after being flat from the first to second quarter of the year. Profits grew even faster as Google continued to restrain its costs. Net income rose 27% to $1.64 billion from a year ago. "While there's obviously a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us and we're seeing lots of signs of that in all of the industries that we pay attention to," said Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt. Schmidt added that Google was ready to start investing again, citing plans to hire and pursue acquisitions and partnerships. The company is launching a new online service that will let readers buy electronic versions of books and read them on such gadgets as cell phones, laptops and possibly e-book devices. Google Editions marks its first effort to earn revenue from its Google Books scanning project, which attempts to make millions of printed books available online. Although the scanning program has faced complaints from authors and publishers over copyright, Google Editions will cover only books submitted and approved by the copyright holders when it launches next year.
benton.org/node/28865 | Wall Street Journal | FT | AP
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HEALTH

WEB-BASED HEALTH INSURANCE PORTALS GET SENATE COMMITTEE NOD
[SOURCE: FederalComputerWeek, AUTHOR: Alice Lipowicz]
The Senate Finance Committee-approved health care reform bill includes several health information technology provisions: It would create Web-based health insurance exchanges, create incentives for electronic health records (EHRs) and increase the use of quality measures, which typically require aggregate data. The Web portals "would make purchasing health insurance coverage easier and more understandable by using the Internet to give consumers information about available plans," the committee said after approving the bill Oct.13. The goal with the Web portals is to increase competition and availability of plans in the marketplace, the committee said. Currently, insurers operate under a patchwork of state laws, so the idea is to standardize the rules so that more insurers can compete in more states.
benton.org/node/28853 | FederalComputerWeek | Federal Computer Week | iHealthBeat
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BLUMENTHAL PUTS QUALITY REPORTING AT APEX OF MEANINGFUL USE
[SOURCE: GovernemntHealthIT, AUTHOR: Mary Mosquera]
National health information technology coordinator David Blumenthal emphasized that the ability of clinicians to amass, analyze and report healthcare quality measures lays at the heart of his office's strategy for using IT to transform the US healthcare system. "The key to meaningful use is to know how to measure for performance and to be able to give feedback to providers," he said Oct. 15 at a conference sponsored by the National Quality Forum, which promotes and develops quality measures. The aim is to take existing quality measures and convert them into metrics that can be incorporated into electronic health records in a standard form so they can be compared across practices and geography, he said. "We expect that to be an ever more important requirement to improve healthcare," Blumenthal said, adding that the National Quality Forum is retooling some existing measures for use in electronic health records.
benton.org/node/28852 | GovernemntHealthIT
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PUBLIC MEDIA CLOSES THE EARLY LITERACY GAP
[SOURCE: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AUTHOR: Press release]
A new study shows preschool children who participated in a media-rich literary curriculum integrating public media video content and educational games were better prepared for kindergarten than students who did not use the curriculum. The study, which was conducted by researchers at the Education Development Center, Inc. and SRI International, evaluated educational video content and associated interactive games from Super Why!, Between the Lions and Sesame Street, which are produced as part of the Ready To Learn (RTL) initiative. RTL aims to increase literacy skills for children aged 2-8 living in high poverty communities, by utilizing multiplatform content. The researchers examined the impact of the curriculum which included public media content in a randomized controlled trial with 398 low-income four and five-year olds from 80 preschool classes in New York City and San Francisco. The children who had public media content in their classes developed significantly more early literacy skills ­- the ability to name letters, know the sounds associated with those letters and understand the basic concepts about stories and printed words ­- than children who did not have public media content in the classroom.
benton.org/node/28851 | Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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QUICKLY

PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE'S IP3 AWARDS
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
Public Knowledge's sixth annual "IP3 Awards" - which celebrates information policy, intellectual property, and Internet protocol - drew a crowd of Washington's technorati to the Sewell-Belmont House in Washington on Thursday evening. Among the guests dropping by the event included White House science and technology policy aide Susan Crawford, the Obama administration's designee to be intellectual property czar Victoria Espinel, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, Office of Science and Technology Policy chief of staff Jim Kohlenberger, NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling, and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA). Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn recommitted her organization to the principles of Net neutrality and to "balance" in the copyright wars. Awardees included: 1) Karen Jackson, the Deputy Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia, 2) Siva Vaidhyanathan, a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, 3) Sascha Meinrath, the creator of the Open Technology Initiative at the New America Foundation, and 4) Sarah Deutsch, associate general counsel of Verizon Communications.
benton.org/node/28862 | BroadbandCensus.com
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ISRAEL PROTESTS TURKISH TV SERIES ABOUT PALESTINE
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
An Israeli Foreign Ministry official rebuked Turkey's acting ambassador on Thursday over a Turkish television series that, among other things, appears to depict an Israeli soldier murdering a Palestinian child. Naor Gilon, deputy director for the Foreign Ministry's Western Europe desk, said he had told the Turkish envoy, Ceylan Ozen, that the television series was "incitement" that could set off attacks against Jews visiting Turkey. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel later talked about his own concerns about the series and what it said about bilateral relations. The program's producer, Selcuk Cobanoglu, told Ynet, an Israeli news Web site, that the characters in his series did not represent Israelis. Cobanoglu acknowledged that the uniforms looked similar to Israeli uniforms. But he also said: "The Turkish and American militaries have uniforms like that as well. We love the people in Israel. We love the Israelis."
benton.org/node/28861 | Associated Press
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FCC Will Vote on Network Neutrality Proceeding on October 22

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Thursday, October 22, 2009. There's one item on the agenda: a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on policies to preserve the open Internet (WC Docket No. 07-52).

Texas Prioritizes 52 Broadband Stimulus Applications

The state of Texas on Thursday released its list of the 52 projects that should be prioritized in the broadband stimulus funding decision pending by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and the Rural Utilities Service. Through Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and Donna Nelson, Commissioner of the Public Utilities Commission of Texas, the state provided a detailed itemization of its project priorities, as well as its recommendations for implementation of grant funding in Texas. Even though Staples and Nelson said that its "extensive review process... was conducted in a very short period of time," they said, "we are confident in the projects we have recommended." Although Staples and Nelson said that they had winnowed more than 150 applications potentially affecting Texas to 52, they also asked that the NTIA consider "all applications proposing Texas service for funding as well."

Google Back on Track for World Domination; Considers Relocation to Seattle

Google shook off the recession and said its Internet advertising business picked up steam during the third quarter, as marketers began spending again. The Internet search company's revenue increased 7% from the year-earlier quarter to $5.94 billion. That compares with just 3% year-over-year growth in the second quarter. Revenue was also up 8% sequentially from the second quarter, picking up after being flat from the first to second quarter of the year. Profits grew even faster as Google continued to restrain its costs. Net income rose 27% to $1.64 billion from a year ago. "While there's obviously a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us and we're seeing lots of signs of that in all of the industries that we pay attention to," said Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt. Schmidt added that Google was ready to start investing again, citing plans to hire and pursue acquisitions and partnerships. The company is launching a new online service that will let readers buy electronic versions of books and read them on such gadgets as cell phones, laptops and possibly e-book devices. Google Editions marks its first effort to earn revenue from its Google Books scanning project, which attempts to make millions of printed books available online. Although the scanning program has faced complaints from authors and publishers over copyright, Google Editions will cover only books submitted and approved by the copyright holders when it launches next year.

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