March 2010

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2010

This week's busy agenda http://bit.ly/9eTunC

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Net a "Fundamental Right," Four Out of Five Say
   US Hopes Internet Exports Will Help Open Closed Societies
   China to punish hackers, says no Google complaint
   UK Bill will censor Internet, providers claim
   Homeland Security seeks to thwart cyberattacks
   GSA Preps $35 Billion Networking Contract

THE STIMULUS AND THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
   Investing in broadband
   What You Need To Know About the National Broadband Plan
   100Mbps broadband may be closer than you think

MORE ON BROADBAND
   iPhone Network Congestion Opens Market for Time Warner Cable

TELEVISION/RADIO
   At the Last Minute, a Disney-Cablevision Truce
   Dispute Heats Up Over Proposed New Fees for Playing Songs on the Radio

KIDS AND MEDIA
   Rapid Rise of Children With Cellphones
   Word to youth: Texting, driving don't mix

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   UK Call for new technology drive to spur growth

MORE ONLINE
   Google's Search Engine Getting Too Personal?
   New digital signs target people by age and gender
   In lean times, TV reporters must be jacks of all trades
   Second Life's virtual money can become real-life cash

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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

PEOPLE SAY NET ACCESS IS A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Mathew Ingram]
Four in five adults in more than 26 different countries believe that Internet access is a fundamental right, according to a new poll sponsored by the BBC World Service. The poll asked more than 27,000 adults about their attitudes towards the Internet, and found that 87 percent of those who regularly use the Internet believe that access should be "the fundamental right of all people." More than 71 percent of non-Internet users also felt that they should have the right to access the global network. In both South Korea and Mexico, more than 90 percent of those surveyed agreed that access was a fundamental right. The survey found that most web users are positive about the Internet: Close to 80 percent said they felt it had brought them greater freedom, 90 percent said they thought it was a good place to learn, and just over 50 percent said they enjoyed spending their time on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. However, some expressed concern as well.
benton.org/node/32928 | GigaOm
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INTERNET EXPORTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Mark Landler]
Seeking to exploit the Internet's potential for prying open closed societies, the Obama administration will permit technology companies to export online services like instant messaging, chat and photo sharing to Iran, Cuba and Sudan, a senior administration official said Sunday. On Monday, he said, the Treasury Department will issue a general license for the export of free personal Internet services and software geared toward the populations in all three countries, allowing Microsoft, Yahoo and other providers to get around strict export restrictions. The companies had resisted offering such services for fear of violating existing sanctions. But there have been growing calls in Congress and elsewhere to lift the restrictions, particularly after the postelection protests in Iran illustrated the power of Internet-based services like Facebook and Twitter. "The more people have access to a range of Internet technology and services, the harder it's going to be for the Iranian government to clamp down on their speech and free expression," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made yet. The decision, which had been expected, underscores the complexity of dealing with politically repressive governments in the digital age: even as the Obama administration is opening up trade in Internet services to Iran, it is shaping harsh new sanctions that would crack down on Iranian access to financing and technology that could help Iran's nuclear and missile programs.
benton.org/node/32927 | New York Times
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CHINA TO PUNISH HACKERS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Ben Blanchard, Benjamin Kang Lim]
China has pledged to punish hackers who attacked Google if there is evidence to prove it, but said it has yet to receive any complaint from the world's top search engine. Google sent shockwaves across business and political circles in January when it declared it would stop censoring Chinese search results, and threatened to pull out of China -- the world's largest online community with 384 million users at the end of last year -- over hacking and censorship concerns. Google had never filed a report to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology over the cyber attacks or sought negotiations, Vice Minister Miao Wei was quoted as saying by state news agency Xinhua late on Saturday. "If Google has had evidence that the attacks came from China, the Chinese government will welcome them to provide the information and will severely punish the offenders according to the law," Miao said. "We never support hacking attacks because China also falls victim to hacking attacks," he said.
benton.org/node/32916 | Reuters
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UK BILL WILL CENSOR INTERNET
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Maija Palmer]
The UK's largest Internet service providers have fired a broadside at last-minute changes to a law dealing with copyright piracy on the Internet, condemning the measures as "dangerous" and "unworkable." They are calling for all parties to scrap a surprise amendment to the government's digital economy bill, which was passed by the House of Lords last week. The changes would give TV and music companies the right to demand that Internet service providers block access to websites that host pirated material. If ISPs wish to refuse, they would have to make their challenge through the courts, incurring high costs. BT said that in practice such companies would simply accede to most blocking requests, potentially ushering in an era of online censorship without any appropriate safeguard. "ISPs would feel compelled to block a site simply because a rights holder claims there is infringing material on it, rather than because of a court decision," said Simon Milner, group director of industry policy at BT. "We fear it could also be a backdoor to censorship of the Internet," said Andrew Heaney, executive director of strategy and regulation at TalkTalk, the UK's second largest Internet service company. "We are concerned that, as they stand, the proposals could increase costs and penalize ISPs," Virgin Media said. Service providers have been left scrabbling to formulate a response to the amendment forced through by the Liberal Democrats on Wednesday.
benton.org/node/32919 | Financial Times
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HOMELAND SECURITY SEEKS TO THWART CYBERATTACKS
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera]
Cybersecurity researchers in the private sector have lamented for many years that collaborations with government officials on addressing cyberthreats have been few and far between. But at the RSA Conference at San Francisco's Moscone Center, an annual gathering of cyber-security industry professionals, not only have top government representatives stressed their desire to work closely with the private sector in stemming the growing tide of security problems - they want some of them to quit their jobs and join the feds. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said during a keynote speech Wednesday that her agency has new authority to beef up its team of cyber-warriors and couldn't help making her pitch to the thousands of security experts in the room. Sec Napolitano was the second top federal official to make an appearance at the RSA conference this week. On Tuesday, cyber-security coordinator Howard Schmidt listed his office's priorities in fortifying the country's networks and digital assets. Their visits illustrate the prominence of cyber-security at the federal level as the government seeks to address the risks and opportunities of cloud computing, and the vulnerabilities of the nation's critical infrastructure have become painfully obvious.
benton.org/node/32917 | San Francisco Chronicle
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GSA PREPS $35 BILLION NETWORKING CONTRACT
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: J. Nicholas Hoover]
The General Services Administration is inching toward awarding a 10-year telecommunications contract vehicle estimated to be worth up to $35 billion. It is designed to complement the struggling, behind-schedule Networx contract vehicle. GSA this week released a draft request for proposals for the new contract, Connections II, which the agency says will be a "one-stop shop" for telecom and networking products and services. Connections II will serve as a successor to the similar Connections contract, which expires in 2011. Connections II will make a number of services available to federal agencies, including: communications and networking; IT operations, administration and management support; customer service and technical support; and building/campus facility preparation. While the Networx contract covers telecommunications services provided by service providers (AT&T, Verizon, Level 3 Communications, Sprint, and Qwest won the awards there), Connections is geared toward internal networking needs.
benton.org/node/32914 | InformationWeek
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THE STIMULUS AND THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN

INVESTING IN BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The massive economic stimulus package that Congress passed last year included $7.2 billion to promote the spread of high-speed Internet connections in the United States. We can quibble over whether those funds helped stimulate the economy -- it took almost a year for the federal government to approve the first grant requests -- but not about the long-term value of the investment. The proof of that is in the two grants recently awarded to California, which aim to narrow the gap between the digital haves and have-nots. The federal government gave a group led by the California Emerging Technology Fund $7.25 million to run educational campaigns in underserved communities. These will include working with middle schools to train and equip parents to use computers; with housing developers to build broadband service into subsidized rentals; and with major medical centers to establish broadband links to clinics in the inner city and rural areas. The point is to show people how broadband is relevant to them. The efforts by Los Angeles and the technology fund don't address all of America's broadband shortcomings. Other issues include broadband speeds that lag those in rival industrialized nations, noncompetitive prices and poor coverage in remote areas. But the grants to the two projects represent a smart investment in a digital onramp, one that will usher more Americans into the economy and workforce of the future.
benton.org/node/32931 | Los Angeles Times
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
[Commentary] So far we have been relatively unimpressed with the aspects of the National Broadband Plan that have been pre-announced, as have other economists and analysts. It tends to favor the existing broadband duopoly while offering little in the way of innovative ideas for expanding access. While the complete document isn't out yet, many of the big-picture items in the plan have been previewed within the last two weeks. So with the caveat that it may all change by March 16, here is a rundown of its main components and a few beneficiaries that we believe our readers are most likely to care about.
benton.org/node/32930 | GigaOm
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100MBPS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
If you're looking forward to a future of streaming movies, gargantuan Internet file exchanges, and other high-bandwidth activities, cheer up. Broadband service providers in most of the major markets around the country will soon be able to deliver 100 Mbps broadband service with no problem. That's enough to download a music album in as little as 5 seconds, an hour-long TV show in about 30 seconds, and a high-definition movie in roughly 7 minutes 25 seconds. But it's going to cost you. This should make the Federal Communications Commission's goal of getting 100Mbps service to 100 million homes by 2020 an easily achievable goal. The issue is not whether those speeds can be achieved nor is it whether broadband providers can reach 100 million homes with the service in 10 years. From a technical standpoint, 100 Mbps is achievable today. In fact, Cablevision is already offering a 100 Mbps service, and Comcast, which has been offering 100 Mbps to business customers since September in one test market, is about to launch 100 Mbps service to consumers in several markets in the first half of this year. Verizon Communications, which has deployed fiber directly to people's homes, doesn't offer 100Mbps service right now, but a company spokesman said such a service will be available soon. And Cox Communications, which is also upgrading its cable network, said it will have 100 Mbps service this year as well in some markets. The real issue is whether anyone needs those kinds of speeds, and how much they are willing to pay for it.
benton.org/node/32929 | C-Net|News.com
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MORE ON BROADBAND

CABLE AND INTERNET BACKHAUL
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Kelly Riddell, Amy Thomson]
iPhone users coping with jams on AT&T's network may get some relief from an unexpected quarter: cable companies. Time Warner Cable, the biggest pay-television provider in New York City, is pitching phone companies including AT&T and Verizon Wireless on a service that uses its underground cables to carry mobile calls and Web downloads -- easing the congestion spurred by data-hungry users of smartphones like the iPhone. The service, known in the industry as wireless backhaul, has become Time Warner Cable's fastest-growing business after revenue tripled last year, said Craig Collins, senior vice president of business services. Across the cable industry, sales from wireless carriers may reach about $3.6 billion in 2012, according to researcher GeoResults. "Backhaul is a growth play that we are pursuing aggressively," Collins said. "These mobile players want to get the bandwidth they need at a cost-effective price and our structure allows them to get that pretty seamlessly."
benton.org/node/32915 | Bloomberg
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TELEVISION/RADIO

DISNEY-CABLEVISION TRUCE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter, Brooks Barnes]
The Oscar statuette became a pawn in a public brawl between the Walt Disney Company and Cablevision on Sunday, a dispute that prevented more than three million viewers from watching the beginning of the Academy Awards show until a tentative agreement restored the signal 14 minutes into the telecast. The accord ended a high-stakes game of brinkmanship between the two companies that was the latest in a string of recent feuds between media giants over transmission fees. Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, a person familiar with the situation indicated that Disney ended up getting 55 to 65 cents per subscriber per month. (Other reports say closer to 27 cents to 37 cents.) Apparently, Disney first asked for $1 and Cablevision countered with 25 cents. Cablevision has 3.1 million subscribers in the tri-state region.
Early Sunday morning, Disney pulled the signal on WABC, its flagship station in the New York area, as it pressed its case for payments from Cablevision. The pre-Oscar interviews, the red carpet show and the opening monologue by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were all blacked out. But the two companies said they had finally found some common ground at 8:44 p.m. Eastern time, the same time that the signal for WABC was restored. Suddenly, Cablevision customers who had spent the day scrambling to watch the show saw the actress Penelope Cruz walking up on stage to present the first award. Still, the deal came too late for many Cablevision subscribers, who had already made alternative plans. Some held impromptu viewing parties with satellite-equipped friends, some searched for bars showing the Oscars, and some tried in vain to watch via the Internet.
benton.org/node/32926 | New York Times | WSJ | WashPost | FT | LATimes | Bloomberg | Los Angeles Times
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RADIO ROYALTIES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Joseph Plambeck]
For more than 70 years, royalty payments for air time have flowed to the songwriters and music publishers but not to the musicians or record companies. Now there is a renewed drive to revisit that arrangement, and in recent weeks the volume of the discussion has increased several decibels. For the radio industry, that has meant taking the battle to a place it knows: the airwaves. Over a recent 10-day period, a 60-second advertisement distributed by the National Association of Broadcasters was broadcast free almost 35,000 times on radio stations across the country, according to Media Monitors, which tracks radio advertisements. In response, the MusicFirst Coalition, a group that includes the record companies and hundreds of artists, began an ad campaign of its own, though on a much smaller scale. A print ad, which ran in Roll Call, a Washington newspaper popular on Capitol Hill, featured a pig with an antenna for a tail and its head buried in a pail labeled "Bailout Funds." A radio spot ran on a local Washington station.
benton.org/node/32925 | New York Times
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KIDS AND MEDIA

KIDS WITH CELLPHONES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Alex Mindlin]
The proportion of children with cellphones has nearly doubled since 2005, an increase driven in large part by boys, according to Mediamark Research and Intelligence, a market research company. Though girls still have more cellphones than boys — 21.8 percent of girls have them, compared with 18.3 percent of boys — that gap is about half as large as it was in 2005. Most of the children surveyed who had cellphones were 10 or 11 years old; Mediamark reported that 36.1 percent of children in that age range had phones.
benton.org/node/32924 | New York Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

CALL FOR TECH GROWTH
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Peter Marsh]
Britain should invoke some of the spirit of Inmos - a government-owned semiconductor company set up more than 30 years ago - to establish a £300m series of new technology centers to lay the basis for economic growth, according to a top government adviser. "The UK should focus on technologies where it has a lead and back them with solid amounts of money," said Hermann Hauser, a scientist-cum-venture capitalist who is producing a report for Lord Mandelson later this month on several new technology initiatives. Hauser believes that due to the big fiscal deficit money for new state-backed technology developments in the next few years is likely to be tight, whichever party wins the next election. However, the economic spin-offs from backing such ventures are likely to be substantial in the long run, he says. "The lessons from Inmos have taught us that when governments put money into new technologies, they nearly always over-estimate the benefits in the short term but under-estimate what they will be over a long period," Hauser said. Bristol-based Inmos was set up by the Labour government in 1978 to develop a new series of microchips and received about £65m in public funds.
benton.org/node/32920 | Financial Times
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