November 2009

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin of the Southern District of New York granted preliminary approval Thursday to a revised settlement between Google and authors and publishers over the Internet giant's effort to create a vast digital library. The Justice Department and the public will have until Feb. 4 to comment on the new settlement and a hearing will be held Feb 18.

On Thursday, the House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Rural Development, Biotechnology, Specialty Crops, and Foreign Agriculture held a hearing to review the progress made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Commerce to award grants to expand broadband access in rural areas. "Broadband funding provided in the Recovery Act has the potential to set the stage for many years of broadband deployment in unserved and underserved rural areas. Today's hearing was another step to make sure that the policies and regulations work with and for the needs of Rural America," Subcommittee Chairman Mike McIntyre (D-NC) said. "This is an investment that can create jobs, improve communities, and change lives. Working together, we must get this right." National Telecommunications and Information Administration head Larry Strickling testified that Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant announcements for the $1.6 billion available in the first funding round will begin by mid-December and will continue into early 2010. RUS Administrator Jonathan Adelstein said, "We are now in the process of evaluating First Round applications and expect to begin issuing awards shortly. The first NOFA made available up to $2.4 billion in program level (loans and grants) funding. Well over half of the total investment projected under the BIP program has been reserved for subsequent funding rounds. There have been previous conversations regarding plans for subsequent funding. One suggestion, which we have now implemented, is to compress the planned-for second and third rounds into a single round to give applicants additional time to develop strong proposals and to ensure that we are able to meet the goal of obligating all funds by September 2010. RUS and NTIA announced this change on November 10. Subsequent funding may also include enhancements to eligibility and scoring criteria used in Round One."

According to the Webby awards, here's the 10 most influential Internet moments of the decade:

1. Craigslist, the free classifieds site, expands outside San Francisco in 2000, impacting newspaper publishers everywhere;
2. Google AdWords launched in 2000 allowing advertisers to target their customers with laser-sharp precision;
3. Wikipedia, the free open-source encyclopedia, launches in 2001 and today boasts more than 14 million articles in 271 different languages and bringing strangers together on projects;
4. Napster shutdown in 2001, opening the file-sharing floodgates;
5. Google's IPO in 2004 put the search engine on the path to powering countless aspects of our everyday lives;
6. Online video revolution in 2006 that led to a boom in homemade and professional content on the Internet and helped reshape everything from pop culture to politics;
7. Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter takes off in 2006;
8. The iPhone debuts in 2007 and smartphones go from a luxury item to a necessity with an app for just about every aspect of modern life;
9. U.S. presidential campaign in 2008 in which the Internet changed every facet of the way campaigns are run; and
10. Iranian election protests in 2009 when Twitter proved vital in organizing demonstrations and as a protest too.

The Justice Department said Thursday it has taken action against a scheme to defraud the Federal Communications Commission's video relay service for the deaf out of millions of dollars. The service allows the deaf and hard of hearing to communicate with hearing people over video phones, or more frequently via computers with cameras in real time using American Sign Language and interpreters. Making the announcement in a briefing with reporters at the Justice Department Thursday were Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny Breuer; Joseph Persichini, Jr., assistant director of the FBI's Washington Field Office; Deputy Chief Postal Inspector Zane Hill; and Ed Lazarus, Chief of Staff at the FCC. Jack Baur said 26 individuals had been indicted in a wide-ranging scheme. Consumers pay into the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) fund, some $540 million in 2008, for the service, with calls costing hundreds of dollars per hour to cover the cost of translators.