January 2010

Headlines will return after the holiday on TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2010

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2010

Policyland is cramming 5 days of fun into 4 days next week starting with back-to-back Network Neutrality events http://bit.ly/5a5xAX

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   White House, Beijing Joust Over Censorship
   Researchers identify command servers behind Google attack
   Far-Ranging Support for Google's China Move
   Chinese Web Users Plan Tech Workarounds
   Chinese Buildup Of Cyber, Space Tools Worries US
   Rockefeller To Mark Up Cybersecurity Bill
   Lawmakers Urge Action On Net Freedom Bill
   China defends censorship after Google threat
   Little future for Google in China without search
   Administration says Open Gov Directive on track
   Obama Pushes for Efficient, Modern Government
   President Obama Welcomes CEOs to White House Forum on Modernizing Government
   $133 million ad campaign promotes census participation
   Fighting Against Special Interests and For the Public Interest: A Year of Change
   ACLU Details Electronic Searches

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
   FCC to Review the Emergency Alert System
   Media Struggle to Convey a Disaster
   Burst of Mobile Giving Adds Millions in Relief Funds

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   FCC looks at ways to assert authority over Web access
   Supporters, Detractors Weigh In On FCC's Network Neutrality Principles
   Comcast Had "Fair Notice" Not To Block Speech and Innovation Online
   RIAA: Network neutrality shouldn't inhibit antipiracy
   Hey FCC: Don't Sacrifice Network Neutrality to Content Owners
   Free State: Neutrality Rules Could Be Internet Fairness Doctrine

WIRELESS
   Justice Dept Ends Texting Rate Probe
   Commerce to test 4G technology for public safety network
   The Kids Are Alright: They Have Cell Phones
   Finding Its Voice Again: De-Commoditizing The News

POLICYMAKERS
   Under New Captain, FTC Trims Sails For Speed
   Take Your Fed To Work Day

HEALTH IT
   NIST awards contract to create EHR certification system
   Health IT committee streamlines approach to NHIN

JOURNALISM
   Why is the news media comfortable with lying about science?
   Social Media Leads with Sex and Love
   Washington Post sets policy for newsroom participation in sponsored events

CABLE/BROADCASTING
   CPB Distributes $25 Million in Fiscal Stabilization Grants
   Cable fee battles point to smaller TV bundles
   Senate to examine broadcast-cable programming contracts

MORE ON INTERNET/BROADBAND
   The US Needs an Infrastructure Bank
   Minorities Agree On Importance of Web; Only 4/10 Regularly Use
   In nation of exhibitionists, there's still a demand for privacy
   Google Plans to Upgrade Old Billboards in Street View

MORE ONLINE...
   Zell: Tribune Co. will exit bankruptcy in first half of year
   France, Grudgingly, Imagines Google as a Partner on Digital Media Projects
   Concern About Fees Threatens to Delay Olympic Bidding
   Fighting Illiteracy in Chicago, With Enthusiasm

Recent Comments on:
Bandwidth Hogs Are Real, They're Just Misunderstood
FCC wants more competition with set-top boxes

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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

WHITE HOUSE, BEIJING JOUST OVER CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Aaron Back, Jessica Vascellaro]
The White House on Thursday came out forcefully behind Google Inc.'s plan to stop censoring its search engine in China, while Beijing defended its Internet policies, saying foreign Web companies were welcome to do business in the country "in accordance with the law." Asked at a briefing whether supporting Google could erode the U.S.'s relationship with China, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, "the president has strong beliefs about the universal rights of men and women throughout the globe. Those aren't carved out for certain countries." President Barack Obama gave a speech on the importance of open Internet use during a trip to China in November. In a speech at a town hall meeting in Shanghai, the president described himself as a "big supporter of noncensorship." His remarks also singled out Google. "If it had not been for the freedom and the openness that the Internet allows, Google wouldn't exist," he said.
benton.org/node/31296 | Wall Street Journal | Wash Post | New York Times
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RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY COMMAND SERVERS BEHIND GOOGLE ATTACH
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Ryan Paul]
VeriSign's iDefense security lab has published a report with technical details about the recent cyberattack that hit Google and over 30 other companies. The iDefense researchers traced the attack back to its origin and also identified the command-and-control servers that were used to manage the malware. The cyber-assault came to light on Tuesday when Google disclosed to the public that the Gmail Web service was targeted in a highly-organized attack in late December. Google said that the intrusion attempt originated from China and was executed with the goal of obtaining information about political dissidents, but the company declined to speculate about the identity of the perpetrator. Citing sources in the defense contracting and intelligence consulting community, the iDefense report unambiguously declares that the Chinese government was, in fact, behind the effort. The report also says that the malicious code was deployed in PDF files that were crafted to exploit a vulnerability in Adobe's software. "The source IPs and drop server of the attack correspond to a single foreign entity consisting either of agents of the Chinese state or proxies thereof," the report says. The researchers have determined that there are significant similarities between the recent attack and a seemingly related one that was carried out in July against a large number of US companies. Both attacks were apparently managed through the same command-and-control servers.
benton.org/node/31295 | Ars Technica | InformationWeek
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FAR-RANGING SUPPORT FOR GOOGLE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Wines]
Google's surprising decision this week to abandon cooperation with Chinese government censors — and, possibly, its four-year effort to do business here — is galvanizing an unusually broad coalition of foreigners who hope for a fresh chance to rein in the conduct of an emerging great power. Most of those forces — from the American right and left, the business and technology communities and human-rights advocacy groups — are united by a belief that their concerns over China's human-rights and free-speech constraints have been buried in a rush to online profit. Some of them have been dismayed by the conciliatory approach toward Beijing taken by the Obama administration, which counts Google's leadership among its most prominent political supporters. Others claim that the problems that prompted Google's stance are symptoms of a serious decline in China's business climate under an increasingly conservative leadership. But it is far from clear that this movement will succeed in prodding either the Chinese government or other companies who still dream of a vast market. Google, which said it would stop cooperating with Chinese censors after uncovering Chinese hackers' efforts to penetrate its computers and steal information on human-rights activists, has officially remained on the sidelines of this movement.
benton.org/node/31294 | New York Times | WSJ - Other firms attacked | WashPost - Firms' dilemma | Bloomberg - Google approached other firms
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CHINESE WEB USERS PLAN WORKAROUNDS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sky Canaves, Loretta Chao]
For Google Inc. users in China, the big question isn't whether the Internet giant retreats from China, but if Beijing retaliates by blocking Google's international search site. If Beijing decides to put the site on the other side of the "Great Firewall," as the country's system of Internet controls is informally known, college student Shi Yuchen has a workaround already planned. She'll simply fanqiang, or "scale the wall." "No matter what, I will continue to use [Google] by applying some 'scaling the wall' tools," Ms. Shi says. To help people like Ms. Shi, a small but influential number of tech-savvy Chinese have been schooling their fellow citizens on how to gain access to blocked sites.
benton.org/node/31293 | Wall Street Journal
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CHINESE BUILDUP OF CYBER TOOLS
[SOURCE: DefenseNews, AUTHOR: John Bennett]
On Jan 13, senior US officials raised new concerns about the Asian giant's efforts to develop new offensive cyber and space assets. "U.S. military and government networks and computer systems continue to be the target of intrusions that appear to have originated from within [the Peoples' Republic of China]," Adm. Robert Willard, U.S. Pacific Command chief, told the House Armed Services Committee. "Although most intrusions focus on exfiltrating data, the skills being demonstrated would also apply to wartime computer network attacks," he said. China's Peoples' Liberation Army is making "significant strides" in developing cyberwarfare concepts that range from defending Chinese networks to conducting "offensive operations against adversary networks," Wallace Gregson, assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs told the committee. The latter, he said, is seen by the Pentagon as part of a broader effort by Beijing "of developing an advanced information warfare capability to establish control of an adversary's information flow and maintain dominance of the battlespace."
benton.org/node/31252 | DefenseNews
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CYBERSECURITY BILL MARKUP
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV) said that Google's announcement that it had been the victim of cyber attacks originating from China underscore the need for the nation to take cybersecurity more seriously, adding that his panel would mark up his cybersecurity legislation early this year. His bill, among other things, would formally establish the position of White House cybersecurity adviser, an individual who would coordinate the federal government's cybersecurity activities and report directly to the president. After months of delay, President Barack Obama announced last month that he had tapped Howard Schmidt to serve as the administration's cybersecurity coordinator, a position similar to the one Rockefeller's bill would create.
benton.org/node/31258 | CongressDaily | Chairman Rockefeller
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LAWMAKERS URGE ACTION ON NET FREEDOM BILL
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
After Google announced that it may pull its operations out of China, a group of House members called on Congress Thursday to pass legislation that supporters say would give information technology companies like Google cover under U.S. law to allow them to resist efforts by foreign governments to censor their operations in those countries. Rep Christopher Smith says a bill he sponsored, the Global Online Freedom Act, would require the State Department to release an annual list of countries designated as "Internet-restricting countries," require U.S. firms to notify U.S. officials of requests from foreign governments to filter or censor information, and would prohibit U.S. Internet firms from jamming U.S.-government Web sites such as the Voice of America. In addition such firms would be required to store personally identifiable information outside of countries that impose Internet restrictions. Rep Smith and the other U.S. lawmakers urged other information technology companies to join Google's example. They also called on the State Department to use funding Congress has appropriated to support Internet freedom around the world to fund efforts to defeat China's Internet firewall, which blocks information opposed by the government.
benton.org/node/31280 | CongressDaily
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CHINA DEFENDS CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Chris Buckley, Lucy Hornby]
China defended its extensive censorship and brushed aside hacking claims on Thursday, telling companies not to buck state control of the Internet after Google threatened to quit the country. The Google dispute could stoke tensions between China and the United States, already at odds over the value of the yuan currency, trade quarrels, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and climate change policy. It threw a spotlight on hacking and the Internet controls that Google says have stifled its business in China. Google's challenge to Beijing came as foreign businesses have voiced growing frustration at China's business climate, even as Chinese economic growth outpaces the rest of the world. The Google situation is generating an outpouring of nationalist fervor from the country's online community, with some cheering it as a victory for the Chinese.
benton.org/node/31251 | Reuters | Reuters - nationalism
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LITTLE FUTURE FOR GOOGLE IN CHINA WITHOUT SEARCH
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Alexei Oreskovic, Melanie Lee]
Google, involved in high-stakes brinkmanship with the Chinese government, might still seek ways to market other products in the country even if it quits its China search business. But without search, its most important business in China, the technology giant would struggle to retain a foothold in the world's biggest Internet market by users, said analysts. The most promising non-search area of business for Google, said analysts, is its Android platform, an open source mobile operating system, already adopted by China Mobile's OPhone and Dell's Mini 3, which was launched in China late last year. But even this product could stall if Google were to no longer offer its most popular services. "Android ... has potential but if it offers any of the Google services like Gmail or search then it may have a problems once Google leaves," said iResearch analyst Hao Jun Bo. Other Google products hold even less promise in China's tightly controlled online market. Those include Google Voice and Google Books, a searchable digital library comprising millions of scanned books.
benton.org/node/31250 | Reuters | Reuters - Room for compromise?
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ADMIN SAYS OPEN GOV DIRECTIVE ON TRACK
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Clint Hendler]
With about a week to go before their first deadline, the Obama administration is saying that the Open Government Directive, the keystone effort to increase online access to government data, is on schedule. In a public webcast on Thursday morning, Aneesh Chopra, the administration's chief technology officer, said that officials were meeting weekly to keep progress on track. He promised that "each of our key agencies will release what we call high value data sets" in time to meet the directive's first (and impending) January 22 deadline, which requires each agency to identify and publish in three such data sets online in an open format. "We are meeting, we are talking, we are trading ideas. No significant delays are expected at the present time," said Norm Eisen, the administration's special counsel for ethics and government reform, in response to a question from Ellen Scott of ExecutiveGov during a conference call with reporters earlier this week. "We're working to hit our marks."
benton.org/node/31270 | Columbia Journalism Review
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OBAMA PUSHES FOR EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Sharon McLoone]
The federal government must embrace the type of technological innovation and experimentation that has borne fruit in the private sector, President Barack Obama said Thursday at a White House forum on modernizing government. Bringing the government into the 21st Century is critical, he said, and the "technology revolution that has transformed society over the last decade has yet to reach government offices." President Obama acknowledged that there are still many offices in the federal government where "reams of manila files" and envelopes are walked from desk to desk because of lack of technology use to transfer their contents digitally. President Obama singled out the Patent and Trademark Office as one of the worst cases of failing to become modernized. He said while 80 percent of patent applications are filed electronically, the agency manually prints out those applications and then scans them and enters them manually into a case management system.
benton.org/node/31256 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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PROGRESS IN TRANSPARENCY
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Aneesh Chopra, Norm Eisen]
[Commentary] Americans chose Barack Obama to be President of the United States to change the way Washington works. To do just that, on his first full day in office, the President signed two critical documents that have shaped the Administration: the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government and the Executive Order on Ethics. As a result of the Memorandum on Transparency, we have since Day One, worked to empower the public ­ through greater openness and new technologies ­ to influence the decisions that affect their lives. And as a result of the Ethics Order, we have since that same day worked to reduce special interest and lobbyist influence in Washington so the voices of the American people can be heard. The results have made history. Don't just take our word for it -- earlier this week, respected independent government reform groups issued a report card that deemed this Administration's work the "strongest and most comprehensive lobbying, ethics, and transparency rules and policies ever established by an Administration." You can read the report card here. You can also learn more about our efforts over the past year in these critical areas by exploring our Open Government Initiative website, and by reading our recently released Progress Report to the American People.
benton.org/node/31255 | White House, The
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ACLU DETAILS ELECTRONIC SEARCHES
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday that a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit has revealed that the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection agency searched more than 1,500 computers, cell phones and other electronic devices belonging to international travelers as they entered U.S. airports or other border posts. The searches were conducted between October 2008 and June 2009. The group blasted the policy that allows customs agents to search computers and other devices without suspecting any particular wrongdoing.
benton.org/node/31269 | CongressDaily
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

FCC TO REVIEW EAS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission has launched a Notice of Proposed rulemaking to consider amending its rules governing the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to provide for national testing of the EAS and collection of data from such tests. The EAS is a national alert and warning system that exists primarily to enable the President of the United States to issue warnings to the American public during emergencies. To date, however, neither the EAS nor its predecessor national alerting systems have been used to deliver a national Presidential alert. Moreover, while FCC rules provide for periodic testing of EAS at the state and local level, no systematic national test of the EAS has ever been conducted to determine whether the system would in fact function as required should the President issue a national alert, and, in their current form, our EAS rules do not mandate any such test. The FCC proposes a yearly test of the system. It seeks public comment on the specific language of the proposed rule and its sufficiency to ensure an adequate framework for the conduct of national tests implemented by this agency in collaboration with FEMA and our other Federal partners. The FCC also seeks comment on whether the specific rule that it proposes is, on balance, the best way to implement national testing of the EAS, or whether different provisions should be adopted.
benton.org/node/31275 | Federal Communications Commission
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MEDIA STRUGGLE TO CONVEY DISASTER
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter, Richard Perez-Pena]
Amid banner headlines and hours of television coverage, reporters and anchors struggled to convey the enormousness of the devastation in Haiti on Thursday, as the world's news media directed their collective attention to the crippled country. By Wednesday evening, about 24 hours after an earthquake estimated at a magnitude of 7.0, two of the nation's three network evening news anchors were live on television, albeit barely, in Port-au-Prince. Reporters and photographers for major newspapers had also reached the city. By Thursday, larger contingents of reporters had arrived. "Outside of a military conflict, this is the biggest international deployment since the tsunami" in 2004, said Tony Maddox, the managing director of CNN International. In some cases, reporters and anchors were arriving well ahead of international relief organizations. In other cases, they were hitching rides with them.
benton.org/node/31292 | New York Times
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BURST IN MOBILE GIVING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jenna Wortham]
Old-fashioned television telethons can stretch on for hours. But the latest charity appeal is short enough for Twitter: "Text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to @RedCross relief." In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, many Americans are reaching for their cellphones to make a donation via text message. And plenty of them are then spreading the word to others on sites like Twitter and Facebook. The American Red Cross, which is working with a mobile donations firm called mGive, said Thursday that it had raised more than $5 million this way. The mobile donations are part of a larger surge of money flowing to the relief effort. The Red Cross said it had collected nearly $35 million as of Thursday night, surpassing the amounts it received in the same time period after Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami. Companies also lent a hand: Google pledged $1 million to Unicef and other charitable organizations, while Microsoft promised $1.25 million in cash and donations as well as technical support for relief groups in Haiti.
benton.org/node/31291 | New York Times | WashPost | WashPost - Web connecting families
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

FCC LOOKS AT WAYS TO ASSERT AUTHORITY OVER WEB ACCESS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
"If the court removes the legal basis for the current approach to broadband, the commission may be compelled to undertake a major reassessment of its policy framework . . . or Congress will have to act," said Colin Crowell, senior adviser to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. "Any policies the commission pursues for the broadband marketplace will be rooted in the pro-consumer, pro-competitive structure of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, regardless of how the court ultimately decides." Specifically, that could mean the agency will reverse policies from the past decade that put cable and DSL Internet services in a special category over which the agency has only "ancillary jurisdiction." Those policies were intended to deregulate Internet services in order to promote competition and innovation in the young industry as it developed. Consumer groups argue that they instead reduced competition and drove prices higher. Analysts said the FCC may look to put broadband services back into a category alongside phone services that is clearly under the authority of the government. A move to reclassify broadband services would almost certainly be opposed. The telephone category is steeped in decades-long rules that are meant to prohibit blocking of services, protect consumer prices and spur competition. Such rules would be a stark change for Internet service providers that invest billions of dollars each year in networks but also receive high rates of consumer complaints over prices and services. The agency also could ask Congress to grant it explicit authority over Internet service providers. But that approach would also face significant barriers, analysts said. "The odds are against it," said Paul Gallant, an analyst at Concept Capital, a research firm. "Net neutrality is the most controversial issue in the telecom media world, and even with a Democratic majority, it's not easy to pass."
benton.org/node/31290 | Washington Post
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SUPPORTERS, DETRACTORS WEIGH IN ON FCC'S NET NEUTRALITY PRINCIPLES
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
There wasn't anything neutral from the organizations expressing their opinions concerning the Federal Communications Commission's proposed codification and expansion of the four principles in its Internet policy statement. The comments in the FCC's network neutrality proceeding flooded the commission from every side and angle this week (comments were due midnight Jan. 14). Free Press, which fully backs the FCC effort, said there were 13,000 commments from the public alone. They ranged from requests for even more regulations than the FCC proposed to arguments that the commission has not yet demonstrated a need for any new regulations. Unions and content providers said the FCC had to explicitly protect legal content as it was creating/preserving all that Internet openness, while fair-use fans said that copyright protection "should not be part of network neutrality." Network neutrality proponents want a fairly narrow definition of acceptable network management. Comcast, fresh off a strong performance challenging the FCC's network management finding against it in Federal Court (the BitTorrent case), echoed its arguments there by telling the FCC late Thursday that it must compile evidence and establish statutory authority before it adopts any rules.
benton.org/node/31289 | Multichannel News
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COMCAST NET NEUTRALITY DEFENSE
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Marvin Ammori]
[Commentary] Comcast claims that the Federal Communications Commission has been unfair to the cable giant. Namely Comcast lacked "fair notice" the FCC would act on consumer complaints about Network Neutrality violations. Moreover, Comcast claims it lacked fair notice that the FCC would judge Comcast by the standards of the FCC's well-known 2005 Internet Policy Statement, which declared that Americans are "entitled" to use the legal applications and content of their choice on the Internet. Although Comcast doesn't mention this part of the 2008 ruling, the FCC also stated that Comcast's actions in that proceeding raised "troubling questions about Comcast's candor," which is the bureaucratic way to say "lying... a lot... to the public and government, about interfering with the Internet." And all this about fair notice, when Comcast gave the public no notice at all that it was blocking online technologies.
benton.org/node/31267 | Huffington Post, The
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RIAA: NET NEUTRALITY SHOULDN'T INHIBIT ANTIPIRACY
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Greg Sandoval]
The lobbying group for the top four recording companies wants to make sure that when regulations on Network Neutrality are adopted, they don't impede antipiracy efforts. That's why the Recording Industry Association of America on Thursday asked the Federal Communications Commission to "adopt flexible rules" that free Internet service providers to fight copyright theft. According to a copy of comments submitted by the RIAA to the FCC, others, including two U.S. congressmen have already argued that the "Open Internet" principles should not protect unlawful content such as pirated songs.
benton.org/node/31279 | C-Net|News.com
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HEY FCC: DON'T SACRIFICE NETWORK NEUTRALITY TO CONTENT OWNERS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Michael Weinberg]
[Commentary] Proposed Network Neutrality regulations rules have a gaping "copyright loophole." They exempt any activity designed to block copyright infringement. This is a problem. A major reason for Network Neutrality rules in the first place is to prevent Internet service providers from doing unreasonable things, like throttling bittorrent, in the name of making the world safe from copyright infringement. There is no reason to specifically exempt attempts to block copyright infringement from Network Neutrality rules. This is because the rules do not apply to copyright infringement. The rules specifically refer to lawful activity, which does not include copyright infringement. In fact, that is why the Network Neutrality rules are so important.
benton.org/node/31278 | Public Knowledge
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NET NEUTRALITY AND FAIRNESS DOCTRINE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In comments filed at the Federal Communications Commission, the Free State Foundation, a Maryland-based free-market think tank, argues that the FCC's proposed expanded and codified network neutrality rules could be a kind of fairness doctrine for Internet service providers, including cable and telco companies. "They compel the ISP to convey or make available content it otherwise, for whatever reason, might choose not to convey or make available," the group said in its filing.
benton.org/node/31266 | Broadcasting&Cable
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WIRELESS

JUSTICE DEPT ENDS TEXTING RATE PROBE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz, Thomas Catan]
Apparently, in a big win for major carriers, the Justice Department has informed several wireless carriers that it has concluded an inquiry into whether the carriers colluded to set text-messaging rates and has no plans to take action on this issue. Although the Justice Department's inquiry into text messaging rates has concluded, government regulators are still looking into other competitive issues involving the wireless phone industry. The FCC is taking a broad look at competition in the industry, including whether exclusive handset deals like AT&T's exclusive deal to offer Apple Inc.'s iPhone are in the best interests of consumers. The Justice Department began investigating text- messaging rates at the request of Sen Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights subcommittee. In July, he asked the agency, along with the Federal Communications Commission, to examine competitive issues in the wireless industry, including text-messaging rates.
benton.org/node/31277 | Wall Street Journal
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COMMERCE TO TEST 4G FOR PUBLIC SAFETY
[SOURCE: Government Computer News, AUTHOR: William Jackson]
The Commerce Department plans to establish a lab for real-world testing of emerging 4G communications technology that could be used in a national public safety network. The facility will be set up by the Public Safety Communications Research program, a partnership of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The lab will house vendor equipment being developed for the emerging Long Term Evolution standard. "It's brand new," Dereck Orr, NIST's PSCR program manager said of LTE. "It's bleeding edge. This will be a neutral site for vendors to work out interoperability issues in a multivendor environment and a learning environment for public safety officials."
benton.org/node/31276 | Government Computer News
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KIDS HAVE CELL PHONES
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Anne Marie Kelly]
It's the end of the elementary school day. Both dismissal bells and cell phones ring and buzz as kids call and text. Twenty percent of kids ages 6-11 now have their own cell phone, according to MRI's American Kids Study. Moreover, cell adoption among children is fast-paced; ownership has grown 68% in the past five years, and more than 12% of parents say they intend to buy a cell phone for their child within the next 12 months. Most kids surveyed cite communication -- calling their parents and friends, emergency purposes and text messaging -- as their top-ranking reasons for cell use.
benton.org/node/31264 | MediaPost
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MOBILE NEWS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Steve Smith]
[Commentary] As news from Haiti comes first to many of us via our mobile devices, it calls attention to the feature and interface arms race that currently is going on in mobile news. In the app space especially we have providers like CNN, Guardian, and Time magazine making relatively late entries, but with very interesting ideas. News providers know they are entering a cluttered market, so another me-too scroll of headlines just won't do. Mobile represents an opportunity for news to reverse the polarity of Web history and distinguish rather than commoditize brands. As with marketing, content on the mobile platform has the chance not only to "extend" itself into another medium but to confront its functionality in people's lives. I know it's becoming a tiresome mantra, but mobile gives publishers the chance to do something few of them embraced on the Web: repackage content as more of a service that people value and can distinguish from competition. There is money to be made here.
benton.org/node/31263 | MediaPost
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POLICYMAKERS

FTC GEARS UP FOR ACTION
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Karl Greenberg]
The Federal Trade Commission is lighting a match under its "rocket docket" this year, and that means marketers can expect a lot of firepower from the commission and from agencies with which the FTC cooperates. "They are risk-tolerant, and they are willing to take hard positions," said Leonard L. Gordon, FTC director for the Northeast Regional Office. Also coming to the FTC are two new commissioners, one of whom is Julie Brill, former head of the consumer protection agency in Vermont. "She's very aggressive and will want to push the agency to work with the attorney general." Among the areas Gordon said the commission will revisit are advertising to kids, health claims for food and supplements, and privacy issues. And changes are definitely on the way surrounding testimonial and endorsement.
benton.org/node/31272 | MediaPost
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TAKE YOUR FED TO WORK DAY
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
Private sector executives on Thursday let Obama cabinet deputy secretaries learn the secret behind their success: technology-driven operations. Federal chief performance officer Jeffrey Zients announced that the mentorships will continue. He asked the execs to take calls from the deputy secretaries next week and debrief them on the lessons they should have learned. And he said he hopes the feds will become comfortable enough with their private sector counterparts to call whenever they need advice. Zients added that within 30 days the administration will post online an implementation plan to execute the ideas generated during Thursday's exchanges.
benton.org/node/31271 | nextgov
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JOURNALISM

WHY IS THE MEDIA OK WITH LYING ABOUT SCIENCE?
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: John Timmer]
The year is only a couple of weeks old, but it's already been a strange one for science news. With a steady flow of coverage on a huge range of complex subjects, it's easy for things to go wrong, and for journalists to come up with material that doesn't get the science right. But a few recent cases appear to involve news organizations that have gone out of their way to get a science story wrong. The news industry tends to respond badly to cases where people make up the contents of their stories—witness Jayson Blair and the fake Bush National Guard records. But, so far, the response to the recent science news-related events has been complete indifference.
benton.org/node/31261 | Ars Technica
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CABLE/BROADCASTING

CPB DISTRIBUTES $25 MILLION IN GRANTS
[SOURCE: Corporation for Public Broadcasting]
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is distributing $25 million in fiscal stabilization grants to public radio and television licensees across the country. In addition to regular CPB funding, the Fiscal Year 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law by President Obama on December 16, 2009, provided $25 million "to maintain local programming and services and preserve jobs threatened by declines in non-Federal revenues due to the downturn in the economy," to be distributed within 45 days of the bill's enactment. In early 2009, CPB had requested this money from the Administration and Congress, based on survey data showing sharp declines in individual, state and local government, business, foundation and other support for local public broadcasting stations.
benton.org/node/31274 | Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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CABLE FEE BATTLES POINT TO SMALLER BUNDLES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Yinka Adegoke]
Cable companies, burdened by the cost of programing, are starting to seriously consider something they have long resisted: letting television subscribers pay for just those channels they want to watch. For years consumer advocates, regulators and politicians have argued that cable TV providers should allow consumers to choose their own TV channels or buy smaller packages, rather than bundle around 100 fixed channels at prices usually starting around $50 a month. The cable industry has traditionally pushed back against the so called 'a la carte' proposal, arguing such plans would be uneconomical and harm niche cable networks included in the packages. But the attitude of cable operators is starting to change. Faced with rising programing costs, they are now asking if they should drop some networks from basic bundles in a bid to keep down the prices they charge customers. They are also raising the possibility of letting customers decide what channels they want.
benton.org/node/31260 | Reuters
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HEARINGS ON CABLE PROGRAMMING CONTRACTS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
Disputes between broadcasters and cable operators over program contracts will get attention in the Senate this year. The Senate Commerce Committee plans to take a look at the issue as it evaluates the proposed Comcast/NBC merger, said two sources familiar with plans. There may also be separate hearings focused on video competition.
benton.org/node/31259 | Hill, The
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MORE ON INTERNET/BROADBAND

THE US NEEDS AN INFRASTRUCTURE BANK
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Charles Phillips, Laura Tyson, Robert Wolf]
[Commentary] Our nation's investment in its physical infrastructure is far below what is necessary to meet its needs. Infrastructure spending in real dollars is about the same now as it was in 1968 when the economy was a third smaller. No wonder the American Society of Civil Engineer gave America's infrastructure a failing grade of D in its 2009 report. The writing is on the wall: Our aging infrastructure will eventually constrain economic growth. This is why the president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, an independent bipartisan group of business, academic and labor leaders of which we are members, recommends the establishment of a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB). The purpose of the bank is to invest in merit-based projects of national significance that span both traditional and technological infrastructure—roads, airports, bridges, high-speed rails, smart grid and broadband—by leveraging private capital. Infrastructure banks have proven successful elsewhere in the world, most notably in the European Union. It's time we accept that government alone can no longer finance all of the nation's infrastructure requirements. A national infrastructure bank could fill the gap. We believe that the NIB should be structured as a wholly owned government entity to keep borrowing costs low, align its interests with the public's, and avoid the conflicting incentives of quasi-government agencies. We also recommend that the NIB be run by a government-appointed board of professionals with the requisite expertise to evaluate complex projects based on objective cost-benefit analysis.
benton.org/node/31288 | Wall Street Journal
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MINORITIES AGREE WEB IS IMPORTANT
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Jack Loechner]
According to new findings from a national survey of minority adults, conducted by Brilliant Corners Research and Pollster Cornell Belcher, only 42% of African Americans and Hispanics regularly use the Internet, yet they overwhelmingly agree that Internet access is critical to achieving success. Members of African American and Hispanic communities believe in the value of high-speed broadband Internet, as opposed to outdated, slower dial-up service. In fact, nearly one-in-five respondents (18%) identified 'speed of connection' as the one thing they would change to make it easier to access the Internet - even more so than if Internet access were free (10%).
benton.org/node/31257 | MediaPost
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