January 2010

Comcast Had "Fair Notice" Not To Block Speech and Innovation Online

[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.

Free State: Neutrality Rules Could Be Internet Fairness Doctrine

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.

Health IT committee streamlines approach to NHIN

Federal health information technology policymakers OKed a set of recommendations to recast the National Health Information Network (NHIN) as a set of broader, more practical services designed to help providers meet fast approaching deadlines for qualifying as meaningful users of health IT. I

n a Jan 13th meeting of the Health and Human Service Department's Health IT Policy Committee, experts said that the original plan for the NHIN, conceived almost a decade ago, may no longer be equal to the current demands on healthcare providers to digitize their practices. Instead, policymakers recommended a new focus on the NHIN as a more basic set of services designed to expedite meaningful use, including an emphasis on 'push' transactions, electronic directories, a reliance on secure transport services via the Internet and practices for authenticating information handling.

Dr. David Blumenthal, the national health IT coordinator, conveyed a sense of urgency in moving ahead with the new framework. "Given the timeframes to meaningful use, if there are new investments, new policies or aspirations we have to verbalize and communicate, we have no time to lose," he said.

The Kids Are Alright: They Have Cell Phones

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.

Finding Its Voice Again: De-Commoditizing The News

[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.

Social Media Leads with Sex and Love

During a week when the mainstream press was consumed with issues of terrorism and national security, the online community wrapped itself up in sex and dating. A BBC report about a scientific sex study, along with controversial actions taken by a selective online dating site, spurred reaction from people in the blogosphere and in social media.

It was an example of how the less restricted and more personal nature of social media can facilitate a conversation unlikely to occur in traditional media. From January 4-8, 16% of the news links in blogs were about a sex study conducted by researchers at King's College in London, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Why is the news media comfortable with lying about science?

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.

Cable fee battles point to smaller TV bundles

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.

Senate to examine broadcast-cable programming contracts

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.

Rockefeller To Mark Up Cybersecurity Bill

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

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