January 2010

AT&T: We Really Do Suck in SF & NYC

AT&T this morning said its earnings rose 25 percent in the fourth quarter thanks to its wireless business, and told consumers, if not investors, what they wanted to hear by detailing plans to spend $18-$19 billion in capital expenditures, with $2 billion aimed at wireless backhaul. The carrier, which has the dubious honor of being the exclusive provider of the iPhone, has been the target of much ire on the part of its customers due to the poor performance of its network, especially in major cities.

Facebook Being Probed Over Privacy — Again

If you looked at the recent tweaks to Facebook's privacy controls and thought that some of your settings had been changed to expose more of your content to the outside world than ever before, you're not alone. At least one Facebook user has filed a complaint with the Canadian government about exactly that, and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada said this morning that it's opening an investigation into the matter. According to the Commissioner's office, the probe "focuses on a tool introduced by Facebook in mid-December 2009, which required users to review their privacy settings. The complainant alleges that the new default settings would have made his information more readily available than the settings he had previously put in place." Assistant Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham was quoted in a statement announcing the probe that:

"The individual's complaint mirrors some of the concerns that our Office has heard and expressed to Facebook in recent months. Some Facebook users are disappointed by certain changes being made to the site - changes that were supposed to strengthen their privacy and the protection of their personal information."

Facebook, meanwhile, says that it went to significant effort to inform users of the changes and what was involved.

Managers reject applicants because of online info

If there was ever a doubt that those party pictures on Facebook can come back to haunt you, take a look at this statistic: 70 percent of hiring managers say they've decided not to hire an applicant because of information they've found online. The data come from a survey of 1,200 human relations managers and consumers in the United States, Britain, Germany and France. Microsoft commissioned it last November.

HHS takes Hippocratic oath on health IT stimulus

The Health & Human Services Department will set up a panel of experts to identify and fix any "potentially harmful unintended consequences" of its push to get physicians and hospitals equipped with electronic health records over the next several years.

In announcing a contract to set up the group, HHS acknowledged the plan to offer providers financial incentives to adopt health IT was meant to "enormously improve the quality and efficiency of health." "But good intentions are often not enough," the notice said. "This contract honors the ancient injunction to physicians, 'First, do no harm.'" Providers are staring to consider how they will participate in the incentive programs set up by HHS's Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) to accelerate adoption of EHRs. The notice said it would be prudent for HHS to be on the lookout for problems that might crop in carrying out the plan.

Bill looks to cut University of Maine Internet sales

FairPoint Communications took its cyber turf war with the University of Maine System to the Maine State House on Wednesday, arguing for new restrictions on the institution's ability to sell high-speed Internet services.

Relations between Maine's largest telecommunications company and the university system have been strained since last year when FairPoint officials accused the public system of unfairly competing with the private sector in offering broadband Internet. On Wednesday, lawmakers heard heated debate about whether UMS' efforts to expand the state's high-speed Internet infrastructure would undercut FairPoint's attempts to grow its broadband business, which the company believes is key to its long-term survival. Supporters of the university system, meanwhile, said it was FairPoint's legislative proposal that could keep Maine in the "dark ages."

"This bill, if passed, serves only the interests of one bankrupt company at the expense of Maine people," said Sen. Elizabeth Schneider (D-Orono).

Intelligent Transportation Systems: U.S. Not Leading the Pack

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) released a report, Explaining International IT Application Leadership: Intelligent Transportation Systems, and will hold a forum for domestic and international transportation experts to discuss the implications of the findings. The report highlights the increasing disparity between foreign industrialized nations and the United States regarding the current use of new technologies to address major transportation congestion, safety and environmental problems.

"The report should be a serious wake-up call to our nation's transportation leaders and policymakers as to why the U.S. is not staying competitive in the international market," said Scott Belcher, president and CEO of the Intelligent Transportation Society (ITS) of America. "Other industrialized nations have learned that a major key to transportation efficiency and economic growth is developing intelligent transportation systems to allow for the safe and easy movement of goods and people." Improving a nation's transportation system involves more than building new roads and repairing old infrastructure. The future of transportation includes networks of sensors, microchips, cameras, vehicle probes and devices to disseminate information in real time to the masses.

House investigates website hackings

The House of Representatives is investigating the hacking of as many as 49 websites of Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

The Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) — the House's technological maintainer and adviser — informed affected members that the Information Systems Security Office is looking into the matter and they should have temporary websites up shortly. House officials are expected to hold a meeting late Thursday afternoon to look at what course of action the House should take toward the hackings. The sites were hacked Wednesday night after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

Update: House leaders called for additional steps to safeguard the lawmakers' websites from cyber attacks, like the ones that that struck nearly 50 members' sites on Thursday. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), in a letter sent to Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Dan Beard, made the calls for heightened cyber security in the face of recent actions taken by Beard to strengthen House firewalls and Blackberry security.

Strong leadership needed for uncertain times

[Commentary] Investing and innovating with an eye toward benefiting from global markets will directly result in more dollars for jobs today and tomorrow. Over the next decade, the world promises to be a smaller, faster, more connected place. This nation's standing in that new world will be determined by the decisions we make today.

We can and should be the world leader in innovation for decades to come, as long as we embrace the future, and take common-sense steps to make our nation more competitive, our workforce more educated, our tax laws more rational, our trade policies more positive, and our immigrations laws more welcoming of international talent.

In many respects the major policies we have in the place in the areas that matter most to jobs - - education, immigration, trade, taxes - - are the same policies we had in place for the last fifty years. As a result, over that time we have experienced double digit declines in the manufacturing sector and complete stagnation in real wages. What we need now are smart policies that will serve us well for the next fifty years. By advancing such polices, President Obama has the opportunity to utilize the same technologies that have "flattened the world" to ensure that America remains a global leader in innovation and moves from uncertainty to unbounded optimism.

[Dean C. Garfield is President and CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council]

Maybe Information Really Doesn't Want to Be Free

Could the era of ubiquitous free content be ending?

Ask New Yorker media columnist Ken Auletta and he'll tell you it just might be. And not just because traditional media companies find themselves desperate for a new source of revenue in the digital age, but because the company that has arguably done more than any other to promote the ethos of free content has come around on the issue. That would be Google, and Auletta ought to know better than most. The author of the recent book "Googled," Auletta was granted unprecedented access to the company, sitting in on closed-door meetings and conducting more than 150 interviews with employees and meeting dozens of times with the founders and top executives. In a keynote address delivered at an industry conference hosted by the Software and Information Industry Association in New York, Auletta argued that a strictly ad-supported business model for the media business is beginning to lose credibility.

10 things you'll see on the Web in the next 10 years

[Commentary] What might the government's Internet presence look like in another 10 years?

1) Cloud computing progresses, but success and cost savings remain a mixed bag.

2) The network neutrality pendulum swings both ways: "We expect the net neutrality supporters to win the first couple of rounds in this fight, but the topic won't go away. Eventually, the telecommunications lobby will win, and by 2020, setting priorities for certain data packets will likely be the norm."

3) Your desk has a single device that serves as a phone, computer, video screen and more.

4) Accessibility problems are finally solved for government Web sites.

5) Data lag and packet latency problems are solved on large parts of the Internet.

6) Proximity networking changes the way we connect to the Internet. 7) Spam and phishing are mostly under control.

8) IPv7 could be waiting in the wings.

9) Agent software finally takes hold.

10) Government interactions with the public makes a tectonic shift.

Benton

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