March 2010

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2010

The Senate Commerce Committee is "Reviewing the National Broadband Plan" today at 2:30 http://bit.ly/9uerKb (See some of the expected testimony below)

NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
   Genachowski: Government Should Have "Restrained" Role In Broadband Rollout
   The FCC's visible hand
   Pipe dream
   Competition missing from broadband plan, some say
   Ofcom wants BT to open infrastructure to rivals
   Test of National Broadband Plan will be in the Rankings
   FCC: Agencies need common cloud computing vision
   FCC plan could build on Oregon's $20M health IT push
   FCC broadband tools a hit -- what does it mean for ISPs?
   What does future broadband competition look like?
   How Will Congress Greet the National Broadband Plan?

THE STIMULUS
   NTIA Extends Deadline for BTOP Comprehensive Community Infrastructure Projects

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   The Importance of Network Neutrality

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Google tries a route around Chinese Web censorship
   See also: Baidu will take a long, hard look at Google
   Beijing seeks to limit Google fallout
   Senators form Internet freedom caucus
   EU to seek publication of anti-piracy deal
   Groups Voice Concern With ACTA Provisions
   Brown unveils digital government proposal
   Stimulus website wins award despite early complaints

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
   CBO Scores the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act
   Smartphone Sales Reaching Critical Mass

CYBERSECURITY
   President's veto power over Internet removed in amended bill
   Academic Paper in China Sets Off Alarms in US
   US Aims to Bolster Overseas Fight Against Cybercrime
   Mobile Phones Combat Taliban's Afghan 'Information Wastelands'
   Airport device follows fliers' phones

SEE YOU IN COURT
   Why Viacom's Fight With YouTube Threatens Web Innovation
   Google wins key AdWords victory
   See also: EU Set to Rule on Google Search Ads
   Appeals Court OKs Judges' Use Of Google
   More communities banning 'television on a stick'

TELEVISION
   Broadcast Nets Own 80 Percent of Prime-time Shows
Roberts: Comcast Won't Discriminate Against Competitor's Web Programming | EchoStar Successfully Launches Satellite To Expand Dish's HD Offerings | TV, Computer Multitasking Up Sharply | Regulator Says Canada Cable Firms May Negotiate Fee

MORE ONLINE
AT&T Loses The Landline With New Triple Play | US Gets Poor Grades in Nurturing STEM Diversity | Solving Algebra on Smartphones | IT community focuses on effects of reform | NIST establishing health IT test methods | The Online Ad Market Is Back To Setting Records In The US | Tech czar remains low-profile | Smart Grid Data: Too Much For Privacy, Not Enough For Innovation? | China's tech companies go global while no one is watching | Get an iPad for your old CDs thanks to iPodMeister | Time Warner in $1.5 billion bid for MGM | Health Care Generates its Biggest Week of Coverage | Michelle Obama's 'news-free zone'

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NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN

GENACHOWSKI TESTIMONY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski will tell the Senate Commerce Committee Tuesday (March 23) that the government has a crucial but "restrained" role in the rollout of broadband, and should focus with "laser-like" precision on solutions. In the first National broadband Plan oversight hearing, Chairman Genachowski will report that the plan has gotten support from a cross-section of industry players, and the plan is fiscally prudent, including touting the billions in revenue that could come from opportunities for new spectrum auctions "exceeding any funding or investments that the Plan suggests for Congressional consideration."

benton.org/node/33612 | Broadcasting&Cable
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THE FCC'S VISIBLE HAND
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] By the Federal Communications Commission's own account, broadband use in the United States has exploded over the past decade: "Fueled primarily by private sector investment and innovation, the American broadband ecosystem has evolved rapidly. The number of Americans who have broadband at home has grown from eight million in 2000 to nearly 200 million last year." So it is curious that the FCC's newly released National Broadband Plan faults the market for failing to "bring the power and promise of broadband to us all" -- in reality, some 7 million households unable to get broadband because it is not offered in their areas. Such an assessment -- and the call for government intervention to subsidize service for rural or poor communities -- is premature, at best. To urge government caution is not the same as favoring complete inaction -- and the FCC plan is longer on aspiration than specific policy intentions, so in many areas it's hard to be sure what the agency has in mind. Certainly the FCC is right to monitor information about rates and accessibility and to explore how to make more efficient use of the airwaves. Government subsidies may become essential to fulfill public purposes, such as providing broadband to rural schools. It is useful to continue to mark America's standing in these matters in comparison to that of other nations. But it is hard to see in this field the signs of gross market failure.
benton.org/node/33611 | Washington Post
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PIPE DREAM
[SOURCE: The Economist, AUTHOR: ]
Almost uniquely among OECD countries, America has adopted no policies to require the owners of broadband cables to open their infrastructure to rival sellers in order to enhance competition. America relies almost exclusively on "facilities competition," the provision of rival infrastructures: a cable provider may compete, for example, with a network that runs optical fibre to the home. True, there is a legitimate worry that forcing a company to rent out parts of its infrastructure to competitors may deter investment, but a review of international broadband policies prepared for the Federal Communications Commission by Harvard's Berkman Centre for Internet & Society revealed a range of successful compromises in use in other countries. The FCC has availed itself of none of them, and suggests that wireless broadband could instead provide more competition. But wireless data transfer is very much slower and less reliable than fixed broadband; it is more a complement than a competitor.
If America's facilities-based system were really working, the country would at the very least enjoy first-rate broadband in dense urban areas where providers are most likely to recoup their investments quickly. Yet in February the Saïd Business School at Oxford and the Universidad de Oviedo released a study, funded by Cisco, that produced a broadband quality score based on bit volume and speed, mapped against current and probable future applications. Chicago, America's best-performing city, ranked 26th, below Sofia and Bucharest. No American city was judged "ready for tomorrow". Among countries America ranked 16th, which is roughly where it falls on almost any available measure of broadband penetration or quality. That is not good enough.
The FCC says that by 2020 it aims to ensure universal access at a speed of 4 megabits per second (Mbps), a fairly feeble target. It also sets a goal, but not much of a plan, to provide 100m homes with 100 Mbps. The commission does want to impose stricter reporting requirements on price, packaging and actual speeds. It is hard to see what consumers will do with this information if they have no competitors to flee to.
benton.org/node/33610 | Economist, The
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COMPETITION AND THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR:]
The sweeping national broadband plan that federal regulators delivered to Congress last week doesn't go far enough to satisfy some experts who warn that the United States would still trail other industrialized nations in prices and speed. Those experts insist that the FCC plan is not nearly ambitious enough to bring faster Internet connections at lower prices by producing more competition. They say the proposal fails to address the fundamental cause of the problem: a duopoly broadband market controlled by giant phone and cable TV companies. According to the New America Foundation, a 100-megabit broadband connection costs as little $16 a month in Sweden and $24 a month in South Korea, while service that is only half that fast costs $145 a month in the U.S. "What I want is big bandwidth for cheap prices," said Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative. "But the plan punts on competition." Meinrath, for one, takes issue with one of the plan's signature goals: delivering broadband connections of 100 megabits per second — at least 20 times faster than most residential services today — to 100 million U.S. households by 2020. Meinrath believes this sets up the U.S. to slip even further behind in the international broadband race because the goal it sets for the rest of country — most likely rural America — puts minimum speeds at a paltry 4 megabits downstream. "A national broadband plan should be bold and visionary and this isn't," Meinrath said. "This is like entering the race and saying: 'Let's go for last place.' "
benton.org/node/33619 | Associated Press
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OFCOM WANTS BT TO SHARE INFRASTRUCTURE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Philip Stafford]
Ofcom on Tuesday unveiled proposals to allow British Telecom's rivals to use the telecoms company's infrastructure like telegraph poles to run competing high-speed broadband networks. The regulator also said BT would be allowed to set prices for the wholesale selling of its new £1.5bn high-speed broadband network to rivals such as Carphone Warehouse's Talk Talk and British Sky Broadcasting. Ofcom's proposals would give rivals physical access to BT's underground pipes and overhead telegraph poles to provide super-fast broadband to their own customers. In doing so, competitors could lay their own optical fibre cables without the expense of digging up pavements. Ofcom said BT would have to share information about the quality and capacity of the ducts. An Ofcom survey in 2008-09 indicated some areas of the network had up to 40-50 per cent with room for new cables.
benton.org/node/33620 | Financial Times
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TEST OF THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN WILL BE IN THE RANKINGS
[SOURCE: Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies, AUTHOR: George Ford, Lawrence Spiwak]
A six spot gain to 9th place in international broadband rankings would be a successful outcome for the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan, the Phoenix Center concludes in a new study. "Evaluating Broadband Stimulus and the National Broadband Plan: Establishing Expectations for Broadband Rankings" says historical trends suggest the U.S. will likely move to 13th in broadband adoption by 2012 even without significant policy changes. The is currently ranked 15th for broadband adoption by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Phoenix Center study finds that the United States will have to achieve a rank of at least 9th place to make a definitive conclusion that the stimulus funds and National Broadband Plan made a difference in U.S. broadband adoption.
benton.org/node/33609 | Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies | read the study | TechDailyDose
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FCC: AGENCIES NEED COMMON CLOUD COMPUTING VISION
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Emily Long]
Cloud computing can improve government efficiency, but federal agencies need coordinated guidance to address potential security pitfalls, according to the National Broadband Plan. The Federal Communications Commission recommends the Office of Management and Budget supplement existing cloud-based projects -- in which shared software, applications and information are accessed through the Internet -- with a government-wide strategy that takes into account security and privacy concerns. "The federal government has pretty significant efforts going on, but one of the things we realized is that there were multiple flowers blooming and not a lot of guidance," said Eugene Huang, government operations director for the National Broadband Task Force, a panel of FCC officials, consultants and technology experts. "We're not interested in shutting down innovative programs, but instead in saying, 'Look, these things represent some of the cutting edge of what is possible in terms of computing and data centers,' " he said. "At a minimum, OMB and [the General Services Administration] should continue accelerating efforts."
benton.org/node/33608 | nextgov
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FCC BROADBAND SPEED TOOLS
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
[Commentary] A week after releasing online tools that let consumers determine, and report, the real Internet access speeds they are getting, word comes that more than 150,000 have used the service — with the Federal Communications Commission planning to ultimately use all of that data to drive broadband policy. The new tools are available as Web applications and as mobile apps for iPhone and Android devices. They are essentially front ends to two online test services: Ookla and M-Lab. According to Ookla, the average U.S. download speeds found are 11.5 Mb/s. According to M-Lab, 7.04 Mb/s. The real question is what the FCC plans to do with this data. The National Broadband Plan, released by the FCC this week, makes a point of defining broadband for the purposes of the new Connect America fund as 4 Mb/s "actual" download speeds — so perhaps the commission sees consumer tools such as these as a means of policing telcos' performance. The new tools also seem to dovetail well with the commission's attitude toward competition, which is based largely on the premise that educated consumers will drive a higher level of competition.
benton.org/node/33606 | Connected Planet
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WHAT DOES BROADBAND COMPETITION LOOK LIKE?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Marvin Ammori, a professor of law and media/telecom expert at the University of Nebraska, asks Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski what he envisions the broadband market will look like in one decade.
benton.org/node/33605 | Washington Post
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THE STIMULUS

NTIA EXTENDS BTOP DEADLINE
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
NTIA announces that the new application closing deadline for the electronic submission of CCI projects under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) is extended until 10:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on March 26, 2010.
benton.org/node/33603 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

THE IMPORTANCE OF NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Politico.com, AUTHOR: Rep Ed Markey (D-MA)]
[Commentary] As a result of American companies' innovation and the historic openness of the Internet since its creation, the international language of the Internet is uniquely American: Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, Twitter, Amazon, Facebook and Hulu. It is a success story that could be made only in America. But as the Internet evolves, we now face a choice. Can we preserve this wildly successful medium and the freedom it embodies, or do we permit network operators to alter how the Internet has historically functioned? Do we retain a level playing field for entrepreneurial entry? Or do we impose new fees and the artificial creation of slow lanes and fast lanes for content providers? I strongly believe that we must enshrine the basic principles of openness and fairness into the rules governing how Internet service providers operate. And the Federal Communications Commission should serve as the top "cop on the beat" to ensure these principles are upheld in the marketplace. Net neutrality is not about government regulation of the Internet. It's about fair rules of the road for the companies that now control access. At this pivotal moment, if we make certain that the Internet remains an unfettered platform for competition, creativity and entrepreneurial activity, we can ensure that consumers benefit and competition, innovation and investment continue to flourish.
benton.org/node/33602 | Politico.com
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

GOOGLE TRIES A ROUTE AROUND CHINESE CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Google Inc. will shift its search engine for China off the mainland but won't shut it down altogether, and it will maintain other operations in the country. It's an attempt to balance its stance against censorship with its desire to profit from an explosively growing Internet market. On Monday afternoon, visitors to Google.cn were being redirected to Google's Chinese-language service based in Hong Kong. The page said, according to a Google translation, "Welcome to Google Search in China's new home." Google's attempt at a compromise could resolve a 21/2-month impasse pitting the world's most powerful Internet company against the government of the world's most populous country. Google plans to keep its engineering and sales offices in China so it can keep a technological toehold in the country and continue to sell ads for the Chinese-language version of its search engine in the US. But Google is still taking a risk. The revolt against censorship threatens to crimp Google's growth, particularly if taking the stand prompts the Chinese government to retaliate by making it more difficult for the company to do business in the country. The ruling party, for instance, could use its filters to block people on China's mainland from connecting with Google's Hong Kong-based service.
benton.org/node/33601 | Associated Press | Google | NYTimes interview with Sergey Brin | NYTimes | Bloomberg | www.reuters.com | The Hill | ars technica | NPR | TechDailyDose | nextgov | paidContent.org
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BEIJING SEEKS TO LIMIT GOOGLE FALLOUT
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Kathrin Hille, Richard Waters]
China sought to limit the political fallout from its stand-off with Google on Tuesday, calling it an individual commercial case. The foreign ministry denied Google's move to stop censoring its local Chinese search engine would have any broader implications, just hours after the State Council issued an angry response saying the company had violated written promises. "I cannot see an impact on China-US relations unless someone wants to politicize that. I cannot see any impact on China's international image unless someone wants to make an issue of it," said Qin Gang, foreign ministry spokesman.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a senior member of the House Foreign Relations Committee and the ranking Republican on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said Google's move was "a remarkable, and welcomed action, and an important boost of encouragement for millions of Chinese human rights activists and political and religious dissidents. Google's recent deliberations and decision are a blow against the cynical silence of so many when it comes to the Chinese government's human rights abuses--a blast of honesty and courage and a good example of responsible and principled corporate policy."
Rep. David Wu (D-OR), the first Chinese-American elected to serve in the House, said that the fact that Google followed through on its promise to stop censoring search results, is "absolutely commendable." He also said it "sets a business and moral example that other companies should follow. If Google can do it, so can a lot of other technology companies." Wu added that some other technology firms have told him privately "they want to do this." He declined, however, to name which firms he had talked to about the issue.
Center for Democracy and Technology President and CEO Leslie Harris praised Google's decision but said the next step in the saga is in the Chinese government's hands. "If China allows access to unfiltered search, it will be a substantial win for global Internet freedom and for the Chinese people," she said. "If China blocks access, it will finally make clear to the Chinese people who is pulling the levers of censorship in the country."
benton.org/node/33625 | Financial Times | CongressDaily
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SENATORS FORM INTERNET FREEDOM CAUCUS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: John Poirier]
Several senators have formed a caucus to promote online freedom in Iran, China and other countries as the Obama administration pushes for greater access to an unfettered Internet. Sens Ted Kaufman (D-MD) and Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) will co-chair. The caucus also includes Sens Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bob Casey (D-PA), John McCain (R-AZ) and Mike Johanns (R-NE).
benton.org/node/33600 | Reuters
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EU TO SEEK PUBLICATION OF ANTI-PIRACY DEAL
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR:]
The European Union said Monday it wants the United States and others to publish a draft global anti-piracy deal to end rumors that it advocates cutting off Internet access for illegal downloaders. European Internet service providers said last month that they were alarmed by leaked details of the secret talks that they feared could lead to criminal sanctions and "three strikes and you're out" cease-and-desist orders to cut off access for users who share copyrighted content. They worry about legal changes that could make them liable when users break the law and warn that this would damage users' rights to privacy and freedom of expression and ultimately stifle innovation and competition in Europe's Internet industry. EU trade official Luc Pierre Devigne told a European Commission public hearing that the EU would seek to get the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Japan and others to agree on publishing a draft text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement at April talks in New Zealand. He said details of international talks are usually secret but that the EU was anxious to assure European users that it wasn't planning to strike a global deal that would force any changes to EU law.
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benton.org/node/33594 | Associated Press
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ACTA CONCERNS
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Ten public interest groups and library associations wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk Monday voicing concern about some provisions in a leaked version of the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement being negotiated by the United States and other countries. A "recent leak of a full text [of ACTA] heightens our concern that this negotiation is not primarily about counterfeiting or piracy; nor is at all about trade law," according to the letter signed by such groups as the American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge. "The public rationale that the treaty would not impinge on domestic law has been placed in doubt - particularly when one considers whose domestic law would be endangered."
benton.org/node/33593 | CongressDaily
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BROWN UNVEILS DIGITAL GOVERNMENT PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Tim Bradshaw]
Gordon Brown on Monday announced an ambitious programme of digital transformation across the public sector, providing "government on demand", underpinned by broadband access for the entire country. Speaking in central London, the prime minister set out his vision for a web-led revamp of policymaking and the civil service to make government more transparent and accountable. The government will create a new web "dashboard", dubbed "MyGov", that will enable people to manage a wide range of their interactions with the public sector, from booking doctors' appointments and managing tax benefits to communicating with teachers and ordering a new passport. Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the worldwide web, will lead a new Institute of Web Science, with £30m of public funding, that will look at the economic and legal, as well as technical ramifications, of the Internet.
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benton.org/node/33588 | Financial Times
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RECOVERY SITE WINS AWARD
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
Recovery.gov, the federal website that shows how and where stimulus money is being spent around the country, received a Gold "ADDY" Award from the Ad Club of Metropolitan Washington. Winning the local ADDY competition means Recovery.gov will go on to compete against winners from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware in the regional contest. The site, which cost $18 million to build, launched in September to track the spending of the $787 billion stimulus package. It's been criticized from the beginning-- first for its slow development, then for lack of information, and later for inaccurate information.
benton.org/node/33585 | Hill, The
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

CBO SCORES SPECTRUM BILL
[SOURCE: Congressional Budget Office, AUTHOR: ]
The Radio Spectrum Inventory Act (HR 3125) would require the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct an inventory of the license holders and users of certain frequencies of the radio broadcast spectrum. The agencies would be required to complete the inventory within one year of enactment of the bill and to make the results available to the public on the Internet. The bill would require the agencies to prepare two reports. The first, to present the results of the inventory, would be due two years after the date of enactment and would be updated biennially thereafter. The second, to provide recommendations by NTIA and the FCC of spectrum that should be reallocated or made available for sharing, would be due four years after enactment and would be updated every four years thereafter.
Based on information from NTIA and the FCC, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 3125 would cost $31 million over the 2011-2015 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Most of that cost would be incurred to collect information about the users of each band of spectrum and update the databases that track that information. CBO estimates that costs to the FCC would total $15 million over the 2010-2015 period; costs to NTIA would be about $16 million over the same period. Further, under current law, the FCC is authorized to collect fees to offset the costs of its regulatory program; subject to appropriations action, CBO estimates that the FCC would collect $15 million in fees to offset the bill's costs. Therefore, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 3125 would increase net discretionary spending by $16 million over the 2011-2015 period. CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 3125 would increase net discretionary spending by $16 million over the 2011-2015 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts.
Pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply to this legislation because it would not affect direct spending or revenues. H.R. 3125 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
benton.org/node/33599 | Congressional Budget Office
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CYBERSECURITY

CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Stokes]
When the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 was originally proposed, this sweeping overhaul of the nation's cybersecurity apparatus contained a provision that would give the president the power to shut down the Internet in the event of a major cyberattack. Needless to say, the idea of giving an Internet kill switch to President Obama was wildly unpopular with everyone from civil libertarians to the Fox News crowd, and the bill didn't make it very far. The bill's sponsors, Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), amended the bill last week and dropped the controversial kill switch provision. In the modified version of the bill, which is now the Cybersecurity Act of 2010, S. 773, the president will work with government agencies and the private sector to define a set of objective criteria for what constitutes a national cybersecurity emergency. The president will also work with those same parties to develop a coordinated plan of action that will kick in when such an emergency is formally declared. The combination of agreed-upon objective criteria and a preexisting plan that's collaboratively developed with the owners of critical network infrastructure is by itself a significant improvement over the former version's unilateral presidential shutdown power, but the amendment goes even further by explicitly declaring that, "This section does not authorize, and shall not be construed to authorize, an expansion of existing Presidential authorities."
benton.org/node/33586 | Ars Technica
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CYBERSECURITY CONCERN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Markoff, David Barboza]
It came as a surprise this month to Wang Jianwei, a graduate engineering student in Liaoning, China, that he had been described as a potential cyberwarrior before the United States Congress. Larry M. Wortzel, a military strategist and China specialist, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 10 that it should be concerned because "Chinese researchers at the Institute of Systems Engineering of Dalian University of Technology published a paper on how to attack a small U.S. power grid sub-network in a way that would cause a cascading failure of the entire U.S." When reached by telephone, Mr. Wang said he and his professor had indeed published "Cascade-Based Attack Vulnerability on the U.S. Power Grid" in an international journal called Safety Science last spring. But Mr. Wang said he had simply been trying to find ways to enhance the stability of power grids by exploring potential vulnerabilities.
benton.org/node/33587 | New York Times
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US AIMS TO BOLSTER FIGHT AGAINST CYBERCRIME
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Siobhan Gorman]
The alleged Chinese cyber attacks on Google have spurred proposals at the State Department and on Capitol Hill to establish an ambassador-level cybersecurity post and to tie foreign aid to a country's ability to police cybercrime. "Google was a watershed moment," said James Lewis, a former State Department official and cybersecurity specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It helped push the debate in the direction of better security." Cybersecurity involves the protection of government and corporate computer systems from hackers. In the wake of the cyber attacks on Google Inc., officials at the State Department circulated a proposal to create an ambassador-like post, according to officials briefed on the proposal. This person would take on such duties as negotiating cyber policy at the United Nations, and making sure the U.S. has a consistent position on cybersecurity when issues come up overseas. The proposal, however, has run into internal resistance from the State Department's intelligence bureau, which oversees most cybersecurity matters at the department, said Mr. Lewis, who frequently advises the administration. The turf wars inside the State Department became apparent several months ago, when Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg met with the more than one-dozen bureaus with an interest in cybersecurity issues and discovered many thought they should run the security for the department, officials said. The emerging solution is to create a high-level cybersecurity position. The person in this job would either report to a top State official, such as the deputy secretary, or to a panel of representatives from the major department bureaus involved in computer security policy, U.S. officials said.
benton.org/node/33622 | Wall Street Journal
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MOBILE PHONES COMBAT INFORMATION WASTELANDS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Indira A.R. Lakshmanan]
One morning last summer, U.S. officials meeting in Afghanistan on the rooftop terrace of Ambassador Karl Eikenberry's Kabul residence had an "aha" moment. Rear Admiral Greg Smith spread out two maps. One highlighted pockets of insurgent control; the other marked mobile-phone towers. Where the Taliban's presence was strongest, phone coverage was weakest, crippled by Taliban sabotage of the towers, recalled Smith and U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke in separate interviews about the July 27 meeting. "We found that Afghans in the most-troubled, insurgent- held areas lived in information wastelands dominated by militant propaganda," Holbrooke said March 17. "We are fighting back with a revamped strategy that puts the people and their ability to communicate at the forefront of our effort." The U.S. is betting about $263 million in 2010 that winning this campaign will help it prevail on the battlefield. The effort aims to turn public opinion against the Taliban and develop a network that lets Afghans contact government officials and authorities talk to each other, said Brigadier General John Nicholson, who runs the Joint Staff's Pakistan-Afghanistan coordination unit at the Pentagon.
benton.org/node/33621 | Bloomberg
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SEE YOU IN COURT

VIACOM THREATENS INNOVATION
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Bobbie Johnson]
In the YouTube-Viacom court case there's something important going on: Depending on how New York District Judge Louis Stanton rules, some of the fundamental basics of Internet law could get rewritten. Cases like Viacom's put principles such as safe harbor under threat ­ something that could alter the relationship between web sites and their users: Who owns a tweet? Who can say what on Facebook? Where does the line fall between virality and piracy? When does a service become responsible for what its users do? In a world where real-time, social web services are pushing the boundaries, a win for Viacom could endanger all sorts of innovation.
benton.org/node/33581 | GigaOm
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GOOGLE WINS ADWORDS BATTLE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Nikki Tait]
Google on Tuesday won an important legal victory in its battle with brand owners over its Adwords service when Europe's top court found that its activity did not amount to trademark infringement. The European Court of Justice ruling will be a relief to the US-based company, which obtains a large proportion of its income for the service. However, the court did rule that advertisers themselves could not, by using trademarked keywords, arrange for the search company to display advertisements which do not allow Internet users to easily establish from whom the goods or services in the advertisement originated.
benton.org/node/33623 | Financial Times
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EU SET TO RULE ON GOOGLE SEARCH ADS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Carolyn Henson and Mike Gordon]
A landmark ruling at Europe's highest court on Tuesday will determine whether advertisements that pop up alongside Internet search results when consumers search for brand names such as Louis Vuitton violate European trademark laws. The court will also rule whether Internet giant Google Inc. can be held liable for any breaches of trademarks in advertisements that appear on its Web site. A finding against Google will have wide implications for the multibillion dollar Internet search industry where Google, Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Inc.'s Bing and other search engines generate valuable revenue by enabling advertisers to tag their ads to particular search words, often famous brands. The ruling will also set out for the first time in the EU how far trademark owners can restrict online use of their brands.
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benton.org/node/33589 | Wall Street Journal
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BANNING DIGITAL BILLBOARDS
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Larry Copeland]
More than a dozen cities around the nation have banned what some consider a growing external driving distraction: digital billboards. Digital billboards change images every four to 10 seconds, flashing multiple messages from one or more advertisers on the same sign. Opponents such as John Regenbogen of Scenic Missouri deride them as "television on a stick." Several communities have banned digital billboards outright, the most recent being Denver this month. Other places have put a moratorium on them pending a federal study on whether they distract drivers. At least one other city and two states are studying moratoriums. "The digital billboards are a distraction," says Fred Wessels, an alderman in St. Louis, which just approved a one-year moratorium on such signs."If they weren't distracting, they wouldn't be doing their job," says Max Ashburn, spokesman for Scenic America, a national non-profit group that seeks to limit billboards. Research on the issue is mixed. A Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study in 2007, financed by the billboard industry, found that they aren't distracting. A review of studies completed last year for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, however, concluded that they "attract drivers' eyes away from the road for extended, demonstrably unsafe periods of time."
benton.org/node/33615 | USAToday | USAToday -- current bans
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TELEVISION

BROADCAST NETS OWN 80% OF PRIME TIME
[SOURCE: TelevisionBroadcast, AUTHOR: Deborah McAdams]
The major broadcast networks produce about four-fifths of the programming in prime time, according to the latest report from the Government Accountability Office. That goes for broadcasting and basic cable, the GAO said. "On the basis of GAO analysis of ownership in the 20 most widely distributed basic cable networks, major broadcasters and companies affiliated with both major broadcasters and cable operators have owned half or more of the top 20 cable networks for each year reviewed," the report said. "Combining ownership in both prime-time programming and basic cable networks, the major broadcasters have controlled a significant share of television programming over the last decade." The GAO analyzed data from the fall schedules of 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2009, based on data provided by the FCC. The GAO found that in the fall of 2009, the top five program producers in terms of prime-time hours were studios affiliated with ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and Warner Bros. Together, the five produced 76 shows comprising 82 percent of the prime-time schedule. Independent producers were responsible for 11.
benton.org/node/33618 | TelevisionBroadcast
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