February 2010

Two changes in the agenda: FCC Extends Network Neutrality Deadline and FCC Extends Review of the Emergency Alert System

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2010

Today's agenda http://bit.ly/bZ7a3e

NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN/FOCUS ON WIRELESS
   Mobile Broadband: A 21st Century Plan for U.S. Competitiveness, Innovation and Job Creation
   Donovan: Broadcasters Already Using Spectrum Efficiently
   Why the FCC's Plan to Provide Enough Mobile Spectrum Falls Short
   How the National Broadband Plan Will Encourage Investment
   Making the Nation Ready for Broadband
   Strickling: Government Needs To Be Involved In Net Policy
   Mark March 16 "National Broadband Plan Day"
   Broadband Fans, We Have an Innovation Problem
   Mobile Broadband Making Inroads
   Free Press: Phone and Cable Companies Present a False Choice
   How will telcos convert voice-only customers to VOIP?
   Wilmington, NC takes white spaces to swamp, ballparks

THE STIMULUS
   BTOP Grant for New Mexico
   Palo Alto drops stimulus bid, pinning fiber hopes on Google

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   The Strongest Open Internet Protections Possible: Yes, We Can.
   Connecting The Telecom Dots Behind 'Net Neutrality' (Hint: It's About The Money)
NOTE: FCC Extends Network Neutrality Deadline

OWNERSHIP
   Comcast-NBC Deal Hurts Jobs, Investment and Prices, Union Says

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
   House Hearing on the Collection and Use of Location Information for Commercial Purposes
   Cell phones show human movement predictable 93% of the time
   Survey: Newspaper Web Sites Still Top Source for Local Info But Competition is Closing In

GOOGLE NEWS
   Italian verdict on Google privacy sets dangerous precedent
   Brussels move opens the door for Washington
   Ad chiefs welcome probe into Google search business
   Formulas at heart of Google complaint
   Google's size puts it in the searchlight
   Google Risks China Brain Drain

NEWS FROM DoJ
   Department of Justice Will Not Challenge Proposed Online Subscription News Service
   Justice Approves Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal
   Two Former Executives of Video Relay Services Company Plead Guilty to Defrauding FCC Program

CYBERSECURITY
   FCC Wants Info To Help Curb Cyber Attacks
   Snowe: Cybersecurity coordinator lacks accountability
   Senators get involved in combating online file-sharing dangers
   Hackers Who Breached Google Made Earlier Attacks, Expert Says
   Cyberactivists Get Help From YouTube, US to Thwart Repression

HEALTH IT
   Will US TeleMedicine Be DOA?
   HHS awards $100M for children's health IT, quality measures
   Online doctor visits prove valuable at some Europe bases
   Regional Extension Centers: Enabling Meaningful Use for All
   On Healthcare: No Mercy on Meaningful Use

TELEVISION
   C-SPAN Asks Supreme Court to Overturn Must-Carry Rules
   What Janet Jackson Reveals About Broadcasting

MORE ONLINE
Wireless carriers tell FCC they disclose fees | Office Of Technology Assessment Reboot | Sec Locke Focuses On Commercializing Research | Former Broadcaster Walden Takes Leave Of Absence From Key House Committee | Boycotting Beck on Fox "News" -- an issue of credibility | Panel: Obama's open government directive faces hurdles | White House, NIST launch online forum to collect public input on smart grid | Many Authorized STEM Projects Fail to Get Funding | Disney hopes kids will take online World of Cars out for a spin | Deterring Fake Public Participation | The Unused Cellphone App: 'Calling' | Tribune Co. Gets More Time to File Bankruptcy Re-org Plan | FTC's bid for more power tops list of worst Internet laws | Music industry blasts broadcasters over performance rights | Searching for Saddam | The Story the New York Times Won't Touch | 'Anonymity is over' on Web; what you shop for will be known | Movie Theaters Secure Financing for Digital Upgrade | Return With Us to the Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear -- Via the Internet | Don't Touch That Dial!

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NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN/FOCUS ON WIRELESS

FCC PREVIEWS SPECTRUM RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski]
At a new America Foundation event Feb 24, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined spectrum-related recommendations for the National Broadband Plan. The goal, he said: To benefit all Americans and promote our global competitiveness, the U.S. must have the fastest, most robust, and most extensive mobile broadband networks, and the most innovative mobile broadband marketplace in the world. The plan, then, will be to accelerate the broad deployment of mobile broadband by moving to recover and reallocate spectrum; update our 20th century spectrum policies to reflect 21st century technologies and opportunities; remove barriers to broadband buildout, lower the cost of deployment, and promote competition.
The Broadband Plan will represent the first important step in what FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker has called "an ongoing strategic planning process on spectrum policy -- to ensure that the agency's stewardship of the public's airwaves is smart, future-oriented, and serves as an ongoing engine of innovation and investment." The National Broadband Plan will set a goal of freeing up 500 Megahertz of spectrum over the next decade. The plan will propose a "Mobile Future Auction" -- an auction permitting existing spectrum licensees, such as television broadcasters in spectrum-starved markets, to voluntarily relinquish spectrum in exchange for a share of auction proceeds, and allow spectrum sharing and other spectrum efficiency measures. The plan will also recommend applying a flexible approach to other frequency bands, where our rules-technical rules, service rules-may be holding back the broadband potential of large swaths of spectrum. The Plan proposes resolving longstanding debates about how to maximize the value of spectrum in bands such as the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) or Wireless Communications Service (WCS) by giving licensees the option of new flexibility to put the spectrum toward mobile broadband use-or the option of voluntarily transferring the license to someone else who will. In addition, the National Broadband Plan will encourage innovative ways of using of spectrum, including what some call "opportunistic" uses, to encourage the development of new technologies and new spectrum policy models. The plan will also include a recommendation that we invest a sufficient amount in R&D to ensure that the science underpinning spectrum use continues to advance. Finally, and critically, to improve mobile communications for our first responders, we will develop the 700 MHz public safety broadband network to achieve long overdue interoperability. The plan will also recommend that we establish and fund an Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC) within the FCC to develop common technical standards for interoperability on the public safety broadband network from the start, and to update these standards periodically as broadband technology evolves.
benton.org/node/32550 | Federal Communications Commission | TVNewsCheck | B&C | The Hill | Bloomberg | CTIA | NAB
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BROADCASTERS DEFEND SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Broadcasters' top spectrum policy lobbyist said Wednesday (Feb. 24) that broadcasters are already using their spectrum efficiently and have only a fraction of the beachfront spectrum wireless broadband providers are eyeing. In a statement responding to the Federal Communications Commission's announced plan for a voluntary reclamation of TV spectrum, David Donovan, president of the Association For Maximum Service Television, said that he was "struck" by the "apparent focus" of the plan on broadcast spectrum. "We have exclusive use of only 5.1% of the so-called beachfront spectrum that broadband services desire," said Donovan. "To this end, we have supported a spectrum inventory to assess spectrum use and demand by all entities using spectrum," he said. Donovan said MSTV would examine the "voluntary" plan (his quotes) closely, and would work with the commission to help "facilitate the broadband plan."
benton.org/node/32549 | Broadcasting&Cable
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WHY THE FCC'S SPECTRUM PLAN FALLS SHORT
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Colin Gibbs]
[Commentary] A mobile future auction may not actually free up much spectrum. The plan might be effective in rural areas, where carriers don't need more bandwidth anyway; meanwhile most broadcasters have already indicated they'll balk at selling spectrum they use to reach over-the-air viewers in urban areas. And even if such a plan were successful, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Genachowski's goal of delivering 500 MHz of new spectrum falls far short of the 800 MHz mobile network operators say they'll need to meet increasing demand for data by the end of this year. So while both the mobile industry and the FCC agree that the National Broadband Plan must make new spectrum a priority, the FCC's efforts as revealed so far won't meet the industry's needs.
benton.org/node/32548 | GigaOm
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BROADBAND PLAN AND INVESTMENT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Blair Levin]
The National Broadband Plan will increase demand and impact supply in every part of the ecosystem in the long-term in a few ways. First, the plan will accelerate the move of certain sectors from processes designed and optimized for the technology of the past to more efficient processes enabled by broadband. Another way the plan could affect demand is by accelerating adoption. Right now, over 100 million Americans have not adopted broadband. About 14 million can't adopt because there is no affordable broadband available where they live. For these Americans, the universal service fund-the reform of which is discussed below-will play a critical role. Another big issue affecting investment is spectrum. From the perspective of economic growth, the worst use of spectrum is to leave it unused. Spectrum that lies fallow is a drag on the economy and does not foster the public interest. And there is no upside to letting it sit: unlike, say, oil, spectrum is a natural resource whose use today does not diminish its usefulness tomorrow. The plan will provide an opportunity for the Commission to, for the first time, articulate how it will meet the Congressional directive that all people in the United States should have access to broadband. As part of that, the plan will lay out a staged approach so that, over time, universal service support will go to broadband services that include voice, rather than voice-only services. Intercarrier compensation is another complicated policy in which carriers charge each other for origination, transport and termination of traffic. The current system has long been criticized for distorting investment. The plan will also make a series of recommendations designed to eliminate those distortions and regulatory arbitrage. Like the universal service recommendations, the plan will provide an opportunity for the Commission--again, for the first time--to lay out a staged approach so that intercarrier compensation reflects how companies will exchange traffic in an IP-based broadband world.
benton.org/node/32547 | Federal Communications Commission
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MAKING THE NATION READY FOR BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Blair Levin]
[Commentary] At last week's open Commission meeting, I explained how writing a National Broadband Plan is like solving a mystery. The mystery involves why some parts of the economy have embraced modern communications to greatly improve their performance while others lag far behind. A recent book -- Wired for Innovation -- offers some clues. In researching why certain companies benefit from the use of information technology while others, similarly situated, do not, the authors found the benefits of the technology only come to life if the companies also change their fundamental processes and develop what the authors refer to as a digital culture. Having technology is not enough. Similar clues can be found in the 1990 paper, "The Dynamo and the Computer", which explored why major innovations in microelectronics, fiber optic communications and computing had not yet shown up in productivity statistics. Part of the answer turns out to be diffusion lag---it takes time for one technical system to replace another. The author points out in the early 1900's factories didn't reach 50% electrification until four decades after the first central power station opened. One cause of that diffusion lag was the unprofitability of replacing "production technologies adapted to the old regime of mechanical power derived from water and steam." The problem was not just getting the electricity. It was the cost of completely reengineering factories to benefit from electric power over the tried and embedded techniques of an earlier time. So today, some sectors of our economy have a diffusion lag in adopting their processes to take advantage of the modern communications era. But why? Solving the mystery of today's diffusion lag turns out to be critical to what Congress asked us to do in directing us to give our country a plan for utilizing broadband to advance national goals.
benton.org/node/32546 | Federal Communications Commission
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STRICKLING: GOV NEEDS TO BE INVOLVED IN NET POLICY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) head Lawrence Strickling says the government should definitely be involved in sorting out the policy tensions -- like network neutrality -- between competing interests on the Internet in order to insure it remains an open and innovative platform that can be trusted by its users. "I answer the question whether the government should be involved with an emphatic 'yes,'" he said, adding immediately that that role does not have to be as a heavy-handed regulator, saying the current regulatory regime is "too slow, backward looking and political," to be effective. Strickling said that despite the currency of the "broadband ecosystem" metaphor, the Internet is not "a natural park or wilderness area that can be left to nature." He said he didn't believe that anyone in the Media Institute audience believed the government should leave the Internet alone. He said that hands off was the right policy when the Internet was first developed, but that this was a new century, with an Internet that had morphed into the "central nervous system" of the economy and society. He called the Internet a large and growing organization with "no natural self-regulatory equilibrium...The cacophony of human actors demands that there be rules or laws created to protect our interests," he said. President Obama has long been a proponent of network neutrality regulations.
benton.org/node/32545 | Broadcasting&Cable
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MARK MARCH 16 "NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN DAY"
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that the following items will be on the tentative agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 16, 2010: 1) National Broadband Plan Presentation: Commission staff will present the National Broadband Plan. 2) Broadband Mission Statement: The Commission will vote on a Broadband Mission Statement, containing goals for U.S. broadband policy.
benton.org/node/32544 | Federal Communications Commission
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BROADBAND FANS, WE HAVE A INNOVATION PROBLEM
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
[Commentary] Wired broadband is in trouble. And it's the fault of Internet service providers and Silicon Valley. Despite a rollout of faster technology from some cable providers, and Verizon's continued fiber-to-the-home buildout, the wired broadband world isn't looking terribly exciting outside Google's testbed project. A close inspection of the long-range Federal Communications Commission's National broadband Plan doesn't have me overly inspired, especially as other areas of the world invest in 1 Gbps networks today. Meanwhile, in the same two-week period as recent wired broadband news, the mobile industry's largest trade show, Mobile World Congress, took place. It was chock-full of the usual mobile players as well as a who's who of anyone in the tech scene. And issues associated with mobile broadband, from new networks to spectrum shortages and how to build applications for mobile handsets, were all anyone could talk about. Wired was tired, and mobile was basking in the glow of the spotlight and investment.
benton.org/node/32543 | GigaOm
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MOBILE BROADBAND MAKING INROADS
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: W. David Gardner]
While the report that 35% of Americans don't have access to high-speed Internet in the home created many headlines over the past week, what hasn't attracted as much attention is the finding that 15% of the country's adult population now uses mobile wireless broadband on laptops. The statistics were published in a survey released by the FCC as it prepares to submit its National Broadband Plan to Congress. Mobile broadband, for which users must pay a fee, is relatively new, so the 15% usage figures indicate that the wireless phenomenon is catching on and is likely to increase rapidly as more robust 4G networks are deployed. Survey respondents were asked whether they used "a service with your laptop computer that is called wireless broadband, allowing you to access the Internet virtually anywhere? This is usually a service that you have to pay a monthly fee for, either by itself or as part of another communications bill. This is NOT what is called Wi-Fi." With 4G wireless broadband increasingly being deployed, the 15% usage figure will surely grow as Sprint-Nextel steps up rollout of its WiMax network and Verizon Wireless prepares to deploy its LTE network later this year. Sprint, which is deploying its 4G network through its majority-owned Clearwire carrier, is already offering broadband wireless via data cards. Verizon Wireless will begin offering data cards later this year when it debuts the LTE service in 25-30 markets.
benton.org/node/32542 | InformationWeek
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FREE PRESS: COMPANIES OFFER FALSE CHOICE
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Ben Scott]
Free Press filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to protect consumers and promote competition. Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press, made the following statement: "Years of lobbying and litigation by industry have undermined the intent of Congress to make the FCC the cop on the beat in communications markets. The Commission cannot and should not be prevented from protecting consumers and promoting competition. The phone and cable industries present a false choice between the current environment of extreme uncertainty and total government control of the Internet. Our position has always been that there are options in the middle -- clear places where the FCC can act to protect consumers and promote competition, without the doomsday scenarios portrayed by the ISPs. To the extent that incumbents now bemoan the regulatory uncertainty they face, it's their own fault for trying to eviscerate Title I so significantly that the Commission has been forced to revisit these questions."
benton.org/node/32540 | Free Press
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HOW WILL TELCOS CONVERT VOICE-ONLY CUSTOMERS?
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
AT&T's December 2009 proposal to the Federal Communications Commission recommending the phase-out of traditional POTS is very much a "big picture" document that leaves many details to be resolved later. Although there has been ample coverage of the factors that are driving the company to make this recommendation, few news reports have attempted to identify the details that would need to be resolved if AT&T's ideas were to be accepted. That's something worth exploring, since AT&T's proposal seems to have a lot of support. AT&T suggests that voice service should be delivered in VOIP form over the broadband network it envisions will replace the PSTN. The company already is moving in that direction with its u-Verse offering, which supports voice in VOIP form over a converged platform for customers who also take either data or advanced video service. AT&T's proposal makes just one brief reference to customers who may want only voice service. The company asks the FCC to issue a Notice of Inquiry to address "how to ensure that the phase-out of the PSTN does not leave individuals who do not use computers without service." The company points to the possibility of using inexpensive devices that allow VOIP customers to plug traditional telephones directly into broadband connections. Installing those broadband connections, however, is almost certain to require a truck roll, noted Clif Holliday, president of B&C Consulting -- an industry analyst who has been closely following broadband deployments such as u-Verse. And that could be very costly, Holliday said.
benton.org/node/32536 | Connected Planet
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WILMINGTON AND WHITE SPACES
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Wilmington, North Carolina was the first spot in the country to transition from analog to digital TV. Now, more than a year later, the city is again serving as a testbed, this time for unlicensed broadband operating in the empty channels ("white spaces") of the TV band. But the goal isn't to bring broadband suddenly to everyone -- not at first. White spaces gear first has to prove that it can save local government real money, and that means deploying somewhere unique: the swamp. "You can learn from your own mistakes or you can learn from other people's mistakes," said Rick Rotondo of Spectrum Bridge when I spoke to him yesterday about the Wilmington project. Spectrum Bridge is operating the test project under a special experimental license from the FCC, and it doesn't intend to repeat some of the mistakes made by enthusiastic early boosters of municipal WiFi. Those projects too often began without a clear economic model, and many subsequently collapsed. While Rotondo certainly hopes to offer broadband access to homes and businesses in the future, he knows that white spaces broadband first needs to prove its efficiency to the city of Wilmington. Only when it's clear that the tech pays for itself will the focus move to extending Internet access. To that end, the city has identified a host of specific test applications for the gear where digging a trench or even running aerial fiber or a wire would be cost prohibitive. One such place is the wetlands that surround Wilmington. They're studded with various water sensors to monitor the condition of the wetlands, and the EPA requires them to be monitored, especially when construction is taking place nearby.
benton.org/node/32531 | Ars Technica
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THE STIMULUS

BTOP GRANT FOR NEW MEXICO
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
Commerce Secretary Locke, Sens Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Tom Udall (D-NM), and former New Mexico Governor Toney Anaya announced a $11.2 million Recovery Act investment to help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve education and healthcare in eastern New Mexico and west Texas. The grant will bring high-speed Internet access to more than 200 community anchor institutions -- including schools, public safety organizations, healthcare facilities, and government agencies -- and lay the groundwork for bringing affordable broadband service to thousands of homes and businesses in the region. The investment will allow the ENMR Telephone Cooperative, Inc., which does business as ENMR-Plateau, to enhance broadband Internet capabilities in eastern New Mexico and west Texas by providing a more than 1,600-mile ring of fiber. Among other benefits, the project plans to expand distance learning opportunities for students at schools and libraries in rural areas and enable connectivity to a telehealth network being constructed across New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.
benton.org/node/32541 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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PALO ALTO DROPS STIMULUS BID
[SOURCE: Palo Alto Daily News, AUTHOR: Will Oremus]
Palo Alto's city council has decide to drop the city's bid for broadband stimulus funds and instead apply to partner on a Google infrastructure project. City Manager James Keene said Palo Alto's chances for stimulus cash looked dim, since the federal projects are aimed at communities where Internet access is scarce. By contrast, Keene and several other officials speculated that a plugged-in city such as Palo Alto might be just what Google is looking for.
benton.org/node/32498 | Palo Alto Daily News
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

THE STRONGEST OPEN INTERNET PROTECTIONS
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Malkia Cyril]
[Commentary] Full broadband adoption and open Internet protections are both possible -- if, and only if, the Federal Communications Commission defines broadband as a universal service and ensures the strongest possible protections for an open Internet. Communities of color and the poor cannot thrive with less. It's time for our voices to be heard. The truth is, strong open Internet protections encourage investment and deployment, because they prevent ISPs from profiting from artificial scarcity; and nothing about network neutrality will prevent ISPs from charging heavy users more. The only reason additional costs would be dumped on poor and working class consumers is if private companies are given too much rope to hang us with. We can prevent that by ensuring the FCC imposes strong non-discrimination protections in network neutrality rules, thereby limiting corporate control over the Internet. I support -- and I believe Mr. Steele would agree -- stopping corporate bullies, not rewarding them with more control. It's clear that the civil rights mandate is to ensure full broadband access and adoption while defending representation online. Many members of the civil rights community agree that the best way to narrow the digital divide is to define broadband as a universal service, and codify the strongest open Internet rules possible that narrowly define reasonable network management and ensure that every voice and idea has a chance by preventing the blocking or prioritizing of content based on profit. But some in the civil rights community are legitimately concerned that limiting the ability of wealthy corporations to increase their profit through broad and discriminatory management of their networks might have a negative impact on broadband build out and access for communities of color, the poor, and other historically disenfranchised groups. As a result, they are hesitant to support rules that may curtail the flexibility of corporate media giants to block or prioritize content to make money. But the fight for an open Internet is a fight for our mothers, our children, and our future. Let's not be confused. The fight for an open Internet is an inter-generational fight that requires all members of the civil rights community -- veterans and leaders of a new generation -- to have the foresight and clarity to respond effectively to a new generation of media problems and opportunities. None of us should be willing to cede representation to get access, or accept any less than the strongest Open Internet protections possible.
benton.org/node/32539 | Huffington Post, The
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CONNECTING NET NEUTRALITY DOTS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] It is misleading to say that the current debate over Network Neutrality and the open Internet is about the Net. The current debate over Net Neutrality and the open Internet is not about the Net. It's not about Neutrality. It's not about openness. It's about you. It's about Personal Internet Freedom vs. Corporate Internet Control. It's all about the money. There's a reason that Verizon and AT&T and Comcast and the rest of the crew are spending millions of dollars on their lobbying, campaign contributions, front groups and academics to beat up on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Congress, state regulators, state legislators and anybody else who gets in their way. It's not for any particular principle. It's not because of some disagreement over arcane issues in telecommunications law. It's so they can shape today's Internet to their liking, and make money from it as they want the Internet to be, and what they want isn't pretty. They want two things: 1) To do what they want, including destroying (or at least severely restricting) the Internet as we know it. 2) To do it without any government oversight or consumer protection.
benton.org/node/32538 | Public Knowledge
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OWNERSHIP

COMCAST-NBC DEAL HURTS JOBS, UNION SAYS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Kelly Riddell]
Comcast's proposed takeover of NBC Universal would hurt jobs, stifle Internet investment and raise cable prices, said Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America union. "We don't see value in the merger as it stands," Cohen said in an interview before his scheduled testimony tomorrow to the House Judiciary Committee. "We see huge problems in terms of jobs and workers rights in the industry." The merger will affect about 100,000 union jobs within the industry, including those at Internet and production companies that work with NBC Universal, Cohen said. The CWA and consumer groups say the deal, which will give Comcast 51 percent of NBC Universal, will give it too much control over the market.
benton.org/node/32535 | Bloomberg
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LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

HOUSE HEARING ON LOCATION INFO
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a joint hearing on February 24. The hearing examined privacy and other issues related to the commercial collection, use, and sharing of location-based information. Applications that collect information about users' whereabouts may soon face more regulatory scrutiny if Congress backs the suggestions from members of subcommittees. Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush (D-IL) said he will push legislation that would clamp down on commercial applications companies who collect users' location data. Rules preventing wireless carriers from sharing customers' location data without their consent must also apply to location-reading application companies, said Rep Edward Markey (D-MA). The wireless regulations ensure a mobile phone is a "telecommunications device and not a tracker," Rep Markey said, arguing that similar rules should govern applications such as global positioning systems (GPS) and mapping programs, services that connect users with nearby retailers, and social applications such as Four Square, which allow users to tell their friends where they are.
benton.org/node/32533 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | CongressDaily
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CELL PHONE LOCATION RESEARCH
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Casey Johnston]
We'd like to think of ourselves as dynamic, unpredictable individuals, but according to new research, that's not the case at all. In a study published in last week's Science, researchers looked at customer location data culled from cellular service providers. By looking at how customers moved around, the authors of the study found that it may be possible to predict human movement patterns and location up to 93 percent of the time. These findings may be useful in multiple fields, including city planning, mobile communication resource management, and anticipating the spread of viruses.
benton.org/node/32532 | Ars Technica
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NEWSPAPERS STILL TOP SOURCE OF LOCAL INFO
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Jennifer Saba]
More people go to newspapers Web sites for complete local information than any other source, according to a new survey from the Newspaper Association of America and comScore. Of the more than 3,000 adults surveyed, 57% chose newspaper Web sites as the top source for local information. However, the survey reveals that the competition is moving in. While 57% of identified newspapers as the top source of local information, 54% cited online portals while 53% went with local TV web sites. The respondents also rely more on portals for local information (31%) followed by local newspaper Web sites (23%)and local TV Web sites (22%). Newspapers have a tiny lead when it comes to being the most trust worthy local source. Thirty-three percent said newspaper sites while 32% said local TV Web sties. The source used most often by respondents by content type? Newspaper Web sites had only 30% of the vote for local news versus 31% for local TV sites. Newspaper Web sites bested other sources for local classifieds: 39% of respondents look to newspapers Web sites for that category -- far and away more than the next source, specialty Web sites at 14%.
benton.org/node/32529 | Editor&Publisher | NAA | NetNewsCheck
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GOOGLE NEWS

ITALIAN GOOGLE VERDICT
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jacqui Cheng]
An Italian court has convicted three former Google executives of violations of Italy's privacy code early Wednesday morning. The decision comes after months of back and forth on the case, all of which began with a video uploaded by some delinquent teenagers of themselves beating on a classmate with Down Syndrome. Though the judge in the case absolved the executives of defamation charges (and a fourth was found not guilty of all charges), the verdict is shocking and is likely to have serious repercussions for sites that host user-generated content in Italy. The three-minute video was uploaded in 2006 and had a short lifespan on Google Video Italia, as complaints were quickly lodged and it was pulled within hours. That didn't stop an Italian Down Syndrome support group called Vivi Down from arguing that it should never have appeared in the first place. The group filed a complaint that resulted in a two-year investigation, and eventually, Milan public prosecutor Francesco Cajani agreed that the Google execs had violated Italian law by allowing the video to be uploaded. The four executives in question were Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer, senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond, former chief financial officer George Reyes, and London-based Google Video exec Arvind Desikan. As Google has pointed out repeatedly, none of these executives had any involvement in the video and only learned about its existence after it had been removed. Nonetheless, Desikan was the only one of the group who was not convicted, while Drummond, Fleischer, and Reyes were all found guilty of privacy violations and received suspended six-month jail sentences.
benton.org/node/32523 | Ars Technica
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BRUSSELS MOVE OPENS THE DOOR FOR WASHINGTON
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Stephanie Kirchgaessner]
When Google learned that the then-newly elected Obama administration wanted to name Christine Varney head of the Federal Trade Commission, it was so uneasy that it lobbied the White House transition team against the move. Jon Leibowitz ultimately got the job with strong backing of an ally in the Senate and, to Google's disappointment, Ms Varney was named head of the Department of Justice's antitrust division. Soon Google will find out whether its nervousness was justified. The European Commission's move opens a door for the DoJ to follow suit and initiate a probe into a company with strong ties to the Obama White House. Antitrust attorneys in Washington on Wednesday said the DoJ would examine the competition issues at the center of Europe's preliminary probe but that US officials faced more hurdles before opening a formal inquiry. According to a person familiar with the matter, the European probe, which is at an early stage, had not yet risen to the level of senior officials within the antitrust division at the DoJ. Legal experts say Ms Varney has so far taken a tough but measured stance against Google and would not rule out the possibility of opening an investigation into concerns of anti-competitive behavior.
benton.org/node/32557 | Financial Times
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AD CHIEFS WELCOME GOOGLE PROBE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR:]
Advertising executives have welcomed the first antitrust inquiry into Google's hugely profitable search advertising business, after the European Commission's decision to launch a preliminary probe. "Generally when you talk to our clients they would welcome greater transparency in its business practices ... [and] a regulatory review to make sure there is nothing going amiss," said Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising group WPP. The head of a large media-buying agency said: "The simple commercial reality of where [Google] sits and generates its revenues [is that] it will exploit its dominant position." Google on Wednesday mounted a robust public defence of its secretive search algorithms . It warned that any regulatory move to force it to disclose more about how its technology works would damage its core search service and the advertising that runs alongside it.
benton.org/node/32556 | Financial Times
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FORMULAS AT HEART OF GOOGLE COMPLAINT
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Maija Palmer, Chris Nuttall]
Algorithms are the "secret sauce" behind Google's business, much like the recipe for Coca-Cola, and an important background to the antitrust complaints filed against it at the European Commission. They are highly complex mathematical formulae. Google's algorithm draws on 200 factors and is tweaked 400 times a year by an army of engineers, which the company uses to determine how to rank the search results it displays on its Internet search site. Google rankings can be vital to a company's business. About 67 per cent of Internet users go to its search engine to locate information, and most will only click on links on the first page of Google's search results. A low ranking means invisibility. The secretive nature of the algorithm is at the heart of the antitrust complaints the company faces in Brussels. Companies find it hard to understand why their rankings go up and down, and Google stands accused of manipulating the formula to discriminate against competitors.
benton.org/node/32555 | Financial Times
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GOOGLE'S SIZE PUTS IT IN THE SPOTLIGHT
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Does the nature of Internet searching itself have an anti-competitive effect on other markets? More popular sites figure higher in search results, but ranking high also generates more traffic. So it is possible that Google -- because of the good service it provides and with no ill intent -- is making other markets more winner-takes-all and less competitive. The overarching issue is: does the gatekeeping role of web search give it a public utility-like role? That is the difficult question that Joaquín Almunia, the new EU competition commissioner, must help to answer.
benton.org/node/32554 | Financial Times
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GOOGLE RISKS CHINA BRAIN DRAIN
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Loretta Chao]
Technology companies in China have begun aggressively trying to poach talent from Google in the wake of its pledge to stop complying with Chinese government censorship rules, potentially complicating the Internet search giant's effort to continue operating in the country. Headhunters and rival Internet executives say that uncertainty over Google's future in China has made engineers and other employees from the U.S. company's Chinese offices more receptive to their overtures. Those employees were previously much harder to woo away from Google because of staffers' loyalty to the company.
benton.org/node/32553 | Wall Street Journal
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