August 2010

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2010

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Blair Levin: Fix the Universal Service Fund
   USTelecom: Network neutrality fight distracts from the Broadband Plan

CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY
   Senator Hopes for a Vote on Cybersecurity Measure Before Elections
   Defense official discloses cyberattack
   Consumers Union questions safety of paying with smart phones
   Germany Plans to Limit Facebook Use in Hiring

TECHNOLOGY
   ITS Launches Its First Telecommunications Science Video Series for the Public

JOURNALISM
   Eight Things to Know About How the Media Covered the Gulf Disaster

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

FIXING USF
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Levin, who directed the creation of the National Broadband Plan while he was at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said that it is essential to overhaul the Universal Service Fund. "The current Universal Service system is broadly flawed," he said. "It creates false incentives. It creates situations where we're paying one phone company $17,000 per line, per year. ... The point is, if we don't fix that -- and part of the Broadband Plan is about fixing that -- the vision of broadband doesn't matter." He also said it is understandable that many Americans fail to see the broad public benefits of the Internet. It's because the government has been slow to show them those benefits. "We as a country haven't been effective at utilizing the platform for, essentially, public services," he said.
benton.org/node/41347 | Hill, The | The Hill -- benefits
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NET NEUTRALITY AND THE BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Walter McCormick, president of USTelecom -- the lobbying association for broadband providers -- said that the telecom community should get back to talking about the broadband plan amid all the bickering over network neutrality. "Our hope as an industry is that we'll be able to get back to the broadband plan and that we'll be able to get back to these consensus objectives," he said. "To the extent net neutrality is an issue that needs to be resolved, [we hope] that there will be an acknowledgement of the fact that there is both an investment and deployment aspect to this that needs to be addressed and that there are also certain social aspirations for how we want the Internet to operate. But this does not need to happen on a partisan basis."
benton.org/node/41346 | Hill, The
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CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY

CYBERSECURITY MEASURE IN SENATE
[SOURCE: GovInfoSecurity.com, AUTHOR: Eric Chabrow]
The Senate is considering attaching cybersecurity legislation to a key defense authorization bill as a way to assure passage this year of the measure to reform the way the government safeguards its computer networks and that of key national IT systems, Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Deleware) said. "It's hard to get a measure like cybersecurity legislation passed on its own," said Sen Carper, who chairs a Senate subcommittee with cybersecurity oversight. Sen Carper said that backers would seek to add cybersecurity provisions to a bill that's likely to pass, such as the National Defense Authorization Act, which likely would be passed before the fall midterm elections. Besides, he said, cybersecurity is a component of national security. "That is a place that makes a lot of sense." Another reason Sen Carper said he believes the Senate may consider the cybersecurity legislation as part of the defense authorization bill is that the chairman and ranking minority member of the Armed Services Committee -- Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ) -- also serve on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where a major piece of the cybersecurity legislation emanates. Sen McCain also serves as the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management.
benton.org/node/41342 | GovInfoSecurity.com
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CYBERATTACK DISCLOSED
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
Now it is official: The most significant breach of U.S. military computers was caused by a flash drive inserted into a U.S. military laptop on a post in the Middle East in 2008. Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III says malicious code placed on the drive by a foreign intelligence agency uploaded itself onto a network run by the U.S. Central Command. "That code spread undetected on both classified and unclassified systems, establishing what amounted to a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control," he said. "It was a network administrator's worst fear: a rogue program operating silently, poised to deliver operational plans into the hands of an unknown adversary." Lynn's decision to declassify an incident that Defense officials had kept secret reflects the Pentagon's desire to raise congressional and public concern over the threats facing U.S. computer systems, experts said.
benton.org/node/41341 | Washington Post
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ARE MOBILE PAYMENTS SAFE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Tiffany Hsu]
Paying for a shopping spree by waving a smart phone may be more exciting than swiping a credit card, but according to Consumers Union, it might not be as safe. The nonprofit testing and information organization, which publishes Consumer Reports, called on regulators to implement protective standards on mobile payments. Federal law currently shields credit or debit card holders from many charges associated with lost, stolen or misused cards. But without industry-wide rules for "digital wallet" providers, consumers could risk losing money through fraud, merchant disputes or processing mistakes, the group said. Existing regulations are piecemeal, said the group. Mobile payments linked to credit cards are the most protected, with limited liability for unauthorized transactions and the right to argue about certain charges. Phone purchases hooked up to debit cards have fewer safeguards. But mobile payments would probably increase the number of charges funneled through prepaid cards and phone bills, which are even less protected. While mobile payments are already common in countries such as Japan, they're just now catching on in the U.S. Some critics have raised privacy and hacking concerns.
benton.org/node/41345 | Los Angeles Times
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This headline is presented in partnership with:

GERMANY PLANS TO LIMIT FACEBOOK USE IN HIRING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Jolly]
As part of the draft of a law governing workplace privacy, the German government on August 25 proposed new restrictions on employers' use of Facebook profiles when recruiting. The proposed law would allow managers to search for publicly accessible information about prospective employees on the Web and to view their pages on job-networking sites, like LinkedIn or Xing, but would draw the line at purely social-networking sites like Facebook, said Philipp Spauschus, a spokesman for the Interior Minister, Thomas de Maizière. Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet gave its backing to the proposed law Wednesday. The bill will now go to Parliament for discussion, and could be passed as early as this year, Mr. Spauschus said.
benton.org/node/41340 | New York Times
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TECHNOLOGY

SCIENCE VIDEO SERIES
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS), a division of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, today released a collection of online training and educational videos for public viewing on ITS's website. These videos cover telecommunications topics ranging from an easily understandable review of the fundamentals of radio spectrum -- such as defining decibels using common logarithms—to in-depth explanations of complex engineering issues like resolving signal-interference problems. In announcing the public posting of this video collection, Al Vincent, Director of ITS, stressed that this is the first of what he expects to be a valuable educational series. "The publication of these videos reflects ITS's goal to be not only a technical resource for telecommunication standards development, but also a trusted, impartial informational resource for industry, students, the general public, and other government organizations," said Vincent. "This unique web-published video series represents a significant expansion in the accessibility of ITS's research findings for the public, and we certainly hope to continue to make information on additional topics available in this way."
benton.org/node/41344 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration | website
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JOURNALISM
   Eight Things to Know About How the Media Covered the Gulf Disaster

MEDIA COVERAGE OF OIL SPILL
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which began with the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion on April 20 and continued to gush for another three months, posed a daunting set of challenges for the news media. Unlike most catastrophes, which tend to break quickly and subside almost as fast, the spill was a slow-motion disaster that demanded constant vigilance and sustained reporting. The story was also complex, dominated by three continuing and sometimes competing story lines from three different locales—the role of the London-based oil company, the efforts of the Obama Administration, and the events in the Gulf region -- that taxed reportorial resources and journalistic attention spans. Coverage of the disaster also required a significant amount of technical and scientific expertise. The news media, in short, found themselves with a complicated, technical and long-running disaster saga that did not break down along predictable political and ideological lines. And they were reporting to an American public that displayed a ravenous appetite for the spill story.
A study of the coverage reveals:
The oil spill was by far the dominant story in the mainstream news media in the 100-day period after the explosion, accounting for 22% of the newshole—almost double the next biggest story. In the 14 full weeks included in this study, the disaster finished among the top three weekly stories 14 times. And it registered as the No. 1 story in nine of those weeks.
The activities in the Gulf—the cleanup and containment efforts as well as the impact of the disaster—represented the leading storyline of the disaster, accounting for 47% of the overall coverage. Next came attention to the role of BP (27% of the coverage). The third-biggest storyline was Washington based—the response and actions of the Obama Administration (17%).[1]
The Obama White House generated decidedly mixed media coverage for its role in the spill saga, but questions about its role diminished over time—in part thanks to a Republican misfire. And the administration fared considerably better than BP and its CEO Tony Hayward, who on balance were portrayed as the villains of the story.
BP emerged as the antagonist in the media narrative about the oil spill, particularly its CEO Tony Hayward. But outside of two Louisiana politicians playing smaller roles, none of the top newsmakers were portrayed as protagonists in the saga.
The Gulf saga was first and foremost a television story. It generated the most coverage in cable news (31% of the airtime studied), with CNN devoting considerably more attention (42% of its airtime) than cable rivals MSNBC and Fox News. The spill also accounted for 29% of the coverage on network news as the three big commercial broadcast networks—ABC, CBS and NBC—spent virtually the same amount of time on the story.
The spill story generated considerably less attention in social media, on blogs, Twitter and You Tube. Among blogs, for example, it made the roster of top stories five times in 14 weeks. But during those weeks one theme resonated—skepticism toward almost all the principals in the story.
While some did better than others, many traditional media outlets made effective use of interactive features on their websites to track key aspects of the disaster. The PBS NewsHour's Oil Leak Widget, for example, monitored the amount of oil spilling into the Gulf. The New York Times site offered a video animation that helped explain how a last ditch effort to prevent the spill failed.
If anything, public interest in the Gulf saga may have even exceeded the level of mainstream media coverage. According to surveys by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, often between 50% and 60% of Americans said they were following the story "very closely" during these 100 days. That surpassed the level of public interest during the most critical moments of the health care reform debate.
benton.org/node/41343 | Project for Excellence in Journalism
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BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2010

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   Verizon's Pact With Google Would Keep Internet Open, Tauke Says
   Verizon Defense of Veroogle Plan Falls Short
   Why net-neutrality rules should be applied equally
   Net Neutrality Talks Move Forward With Tacit FCC Support
   See also: Why I'm Amused Rather Than Outraged Over New "Industry Negotiations"
   Copps: Cable-ization of Internet is a danger to America

FCC
   The Incredible Shrinking FCC

PRIVACY
   Zuckerberg Versus the ACLU
   Google Wi-Fi Spy Lawsuits Head to Silicon Valley

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   FCC Wraps Up Ultra-Long Ultra-Wideband Proceeding
   Good Cellphone Service Comes at a Price

TELEVISION
   Political Ad Spend to Soar
   FCC: Fox Decision Suggests Indecency Regime Is Unconstitutional
   Economic doubts cast cloud over fall TV season

BUDGET
   US Reviews Tech Spending
   FCC Asks to Repurpose $4.5 Million to Fund Media Ownership Research, National Broadband Plan Implementation

HEALTH
   $32 million to support rural health priorities includes funding for telehealth
   ER wait times reduced 22 percent with advanced EHRs

CONTENT
   How Income From News Readers Stagnates Despite Growth
   Can Hollywood keep hanging on to its aging business model?

STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:

   Broadband Plans May Be the Battleground in Australia
   Senators flag Chinese telecom firm Huawei
   Brazil introduces e-commerce guidelines
   Facebook Deletes Accounts Purporting to Be From North Korea

MORE ONLINE
   Landlines, TV sets no longer essential, study says
   Fifteen Independent Spirits Using Web Video to Forge Their Way in Hollywood
   Mosque Controversy, Iraq War Dominate the News

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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

VERIZON DEFENDS PROPOSAL WITH GOOGLE
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
Verizon's proposal with Google for Internet-traffic rules will meet demand for an open Internet, said Thomas Tauke, Verizon executive vice president for public affairs. "We need to get this right" to promote investment, Tauke said in a speech at an Aspen, Colorado, conference. Tauke said consumers would benefit from added services. "We want to protect the Internet but we also want to offer consumers more services," such as remote monitoring of blood pressure, Tauke said. "The broadband platform, in addition to the open Internet, is the platform for innovation and growth in the years ahead." He said adopting the proposal would allow President Obama to meet a promise he made to voters on the campaign trail. "It fulfills the president's campaign promise of non-discrimination and transparency on the Internet."
benton.org/node/41238 | Bloomberg | The Hill
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VERIZON DEFENSE FALLS SHORT
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] Tom Tauke's case came up short in two general areas and in a few specific ones. First, the internal contradictions of an Internet divided against itself cannot stand. Second, the defense skirted the uber-issue of how to implement any programs -- Verizon's, Google's, or anyone's -- without the Federal Communications Commission having any authority to do so. As a framework issue, it's not sufficient to say that the plan meets President Obama's campaign promise of "non-discrimination and transparency on the Internet," as Tauke claimed. It would be acceptable if the Internet existed only in the wired world, but, alas, it doesn't. As FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has said, it's the same Internet, whether reached from a personal computer or from a mobile phone. So by excluding the wireless world from even the minimal suggestions the two big companies made, they cleave out all of the future growth in Internet usage from wireless devices and networks. Between the two of them, Verizon and AT&T control about 70 percent of the wireless market, so it's easy to see why they want the high-growth sector to be fenced off.
benton.org/node/41237 | Public Knowledge
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WIRELESS NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Rob Pegoraro]
[Commentary] In one way, the joint network neutrality proposal from Google and Verizon earns its skeptical reception. Google and Verizon make a fundamental mistake in not treating wired and wireless connections alike. What about the competitive nature of wireless access, compared with the monopoly or duopoly of wired broadband in most areas? Verizon, Google and other advocates of keeping wireless unregulated neglect two factors that constrain competition. First, 3G coverage maps of carriers illustrate how many areas have just one or two choices for mobile broadband. Second, long-term contracts mean most users can vote with their wallets only every two years. The biggest reason to apply network neutrality regulations to wired and wireless alike is basic economics. Anytime the government applies one set of rules to some competitors in a market but not others, it distorts that market.
benton.org/node/41236 | Washington Post
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TALKS GET TACTIC FCC SUPPORT
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Howard Buskirk, Jonathan Make]
Does Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski approve of the latest round of talks around network neutrality. Industry observers think there me be a slight nod to the talks that could demonstrate to Congress that exhaustive stakeholder meetings have not lead to a consensus position. "The struggle between the lead regulatory agency here and Congress is very interesting," said Chairman Charles Benton of the Benton Foundation, a net neutrality proponent. Analyst Kevin Taglang of the foundation isn't hopeful that a deal can be reached without the participation of the Open Internet Coalition, which was involved in the discussions that Lazarus led. "There may be some people who are pro-net neutrality, but you're taking the entire public interest community out of the equation" in the conversations, Taglang said. "You can't have that debate just between companies."
benton.org/node/41069 | Communications Daily
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COPPS ON OPEN INTERNET
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Michael Copps]
I think most of you understand how important the Internet and access to high-speed broadband are to the future of our country. This incredible technology intersects with just about every great challenge confronting our nation-whether it's jobs, education, energy, climate change and the environment, news, international competitiveness, health care or equal opportunity. There's no solution for any of these challenges that does not have a broadband component to it. We have a technology now with more power to bring about good than any communications advancement in all of history. The question is: will we use it in such a way as to maximize its small "d" democratic potential-or will we turn this, too, over to the special interests and gatekeepers and toll-booth collectors who will short-circuit what this great new technology can do for our country?
The Internet was born on openness, flourished on openness and depends on openness for its continued success. Easy to say-not so easy to guarantee. We must not ever allow the openness of the Internet to become just another pawn in the hands of powerful corporate interests. The few players that control access to the wonders of the Internet tell us not to worry. But I am worried. How can we have any confidence that their business plans and network engineering are not going to stifle our online freedom? You know, history is pretty clear that when some special interest has control over both the content and distribution of a product or service-and a financial incentive to exercise that control-someone is going to try it. That's a monopoly or an oligopoly or whatever you want to call it -- I call it a danger to America.
And the present danger is that big business will put us on the road to the cannibalization, cable-ization and consolidation of broadband and the Internet. Oh, the special interests tell us not to worry. New technologies always work for the public good. Broadcasters said just give us a ton of free spectrum-hundreds of billions of dollars as it turned out-and the airwaves would always serve the people first. You saw what happened there! Then cable came along and said they would fill the holes in the road that broadcasting ended up creating-you know what happened there when you look at the programs you get and, worse, the bills you get. In both cases, we were too quick to take their word. Now the big Internet service providers give us the same pitch: "Don't worry; be happy; we would never compromise the openness of the Internet." After what happened to radio and television, and after what happened to cable, should we take their word? I don't think so!
benton.org/node/41052 | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING FCC
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] In the year since the Federal Communications Commission reached its full complement of members, it has been "picking at crumbs while there was a roast sitting on the table." Indeed, when the FCC became whole last August, there was a veritable buffet of tempting items from which to choose, any one of which would have set the FCC off on a course of action and shown that the Obama FCC represented the change for which the president's supporters voted and in which they believed. To wit:
On February 20, 2007, Skype filed a petition with the FCC asking for the common-sense ruling that would apply the 1968 decision allowing any wired telephone to be connected to the network to the wireless world as well.
On December 11, 2007, Public Knowledge and others filed a petition with the FCC asking that texting and accompanying short codes be protected.
On May 20, 2008, rural cellular carriers asked the FCC to take a look at deals between carriers with cellphone manufacturers which left the rural consumers unable to have access to those phones if a particular carrier doesn't provide service in a given area.
Right there are three key groups of people in the country - wireless customers generally; those who use text messaging, generally younger customers; and rural customers - who could have been helped with minimal effort from the FCC. No new proceedings would have been needed. Even today, none of those petitions has been acted upon.
benton.org/node/41228 | Public Knowledge
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PRIVACY

FACEBOOK VS ACLU
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Austin Carr]
The ACLU quickly criticized Facebook's new location services, but Facebook is crying fowl. Facebook released a statement Facebook Places sets a new standard for user control and privacy protection for location information. We're disappointed that ACLU's Northern California office ignores this and seems to generally misunderstand how the service works.
Specifically, no location information is associated with a person unless he or she explicitly chooses to become part of location sharing. No one can be checked in to a location without their explicit permission. Many third parties have applauded our controls, indicating that people have more protections using Facebook Places than other widely used location services available today. ACLU responded saying it appreciates the privacy options currently available to Places users, but recommend three "straightforward steps" to provide further safeguards:
1. Limiting the default visibility of check-ins on your feed to "Friends Only."
2. Allowing you to customize your check-in privacy.
3. Providing notice to you each time you are checked in by a friend.
benton.org/node/41056 | Fast Company | ACLU
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GOOGLE WI-FI CASES
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: David Kravets]
Whether Google is liable for damages for secretly intercepting data on open Wi-Fi routers across the United States is to be aired out in a Silicon Valley federal court. Eight proposed class actions from across the country that seek unspecified monetary damages from Google were consolidated this week and transferred to U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Jose, California. Another five cases are likely to join. The lawsuits allege that Google violated federal and state privacy laws in collecting fragments of data from unencrypted wireless networks as its fleet of camera-equipped cars moseyed through neighborhoods snapping pictures for its Street View program. The consolidation decision by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is likely to spark a legal frenzy by attorneys involved in the cases, as they jockey to win over Judge Ware and garner lead counsel status. That would give those lawyers intense media attention, as well as the biggest share in legal fees from a verdict or settlement.
benton.org/node/41227 | Wired
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

ULTRA-LONG ULTRA-WIDEBAND PROCEEDING
[SOURCE: CommLawBlog, AUTHOR: Mitchell Lazarus]
After 12 years, the Federal Communications Commission has closed out one of the longest and most contentious rulemakings in recent memory. Ultra-wideband was bound to be controversial from the start. The basic idea consists of spreading a low-level signal across a very wide swath of spectrum, often a gigahertz or more. In principle, the level at any one frequency is too low to interfere with conventional spectrum users, but the power adds up across the wide bandwidth into a useful signal. The FCC expected two main kinds of uses: data transmission, which can reach hundreds of megabits per second over short distances, and a variety of imaging and radar applications.
benton.org/node/41222 | CommLawBlog
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TELEVISION

POLITICAL AD SPENDING SOARS
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Steve McClellan]
The economy is still shaky, but that won't stop politicians from spending a record amount this year on advertising to sway mid-term election results. And the political advertising floodgates will open right after Labor Day spewing messages -- and an inordinate amount of mud, according to analysts -- right up to Election Day on Nov. 2. According to Borrell Associates, political ad spending will reach $4.2 billion this year, double the $2.1 billion the firm estimated was spent in 2008. And Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG), a unit of WPP's Kantar, also expects a record total, with up to $2.8 billion being spent by candidates and various special interest groups, vs. the $2.6 billion it said was spent two years ago. Political spending this year is eye opening given that general market advertisers aren't expected to return to pre-recession spending levels until at least 2013, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. It's also striking given that 2010 is a mid-term election, when spending usually dips below the previous presidential campaign cycle. But not this year: "It's become an endless campaign, that's really what we're seeing," said Kip Cassino, vp research at Borrell. Evan Tracey, president of CMAG, notes that this mid-term cycle has an unusual amount of highly competitive races, including close to 100 congressional elections, vs. the normal 35 to 40. In addition more than half of all the gubernatorial and senate seats are up for grabs. "I can't remember that much turnover before and they all feel like they're in the cross-hairs of voters," he said of the candidates. "And that competitiveness drives the spending."
benton.org/node/41230 | AdWeek
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FCC AND FOX INDECENCY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a supplemental brief solicited by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal Communications Commission conceded that the court's ruling that its indecency enforcement regime is unconstitutionally vague bears directly on its fine for nudity in a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue, but says that the same court should hold off on reaching any decision on ABC's appeal of that fine until the U.S. government decides whether or not to petition to appeal the Fox ruling. The FCC said that NYPD Blue's scripted airing of images of adult nudity (actress Charlotte Ross's backside) was different from the "gratuitous utterances" during a live awards show. But it conceded that the court's decision went beyond the specifics of the cases to the larger issue of the FCC's indecency oversight authority. The FCC said it and Justice were contemplating filing a petition for a full-court rehearing of the Fox ruling, which was a three-judge panel decision rendered last month. The court won't have long to wait for that decision, since the deadline for petitioning that decision is August 27.
benton.org/node/41223 | Broadcasting&Cable
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FALL TV REVENUE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Sue Zeidler]
US broadcast networks head into the fall television season armed with more than three dozen new shows and billions of dollars in advertising commitments -- but a few wicked plot twists may still be in store. Ahead of the 2010-2011 TV season, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox have sold about $8.2 billion in advance commercial time, up around 17 percent from last year, with higher prices and sales volume. But analysts caution that the confidence advertisers showed in early sales could be slipping, and prices could come under pressure if the broadcast networks failed to deliver a few breakout hits, or if worries about the economy deepened. "We've seen big increases in TV ad pricing and inventory sold, but the question is if it's sustainable," said Tony Wible, analyst with Janney Capital Markets.
benton.org/node/41231 | Reuters
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BUDGET

US REVIEWS TECH SPENDING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz]
Obama administration officials are considering overhauling 26 troubled federal technology projects valued at as much as $30 billion as part of a broader effort by White House budget officials to cut spending. Projects on the list are either over budget, haven't worked as expected or both, say Office of Management and Budget officials. Administration officials aren't considering shutting down the programs but instead are considering ways to revise them or separate them into smaller pieces in the proposed 2012 federal budget, which will be released in February. Among the targeted projects is a $2.8 billion Treasury Department project to update the agency's computer network and telecommunications, which has resulted in 45 data centers that can't support newer Internet technologies, according to OMB officials. AT&T Inc. is one of the main contractors on that project, according to government records. A $2 billion Air Force logistics project that has already cost $650 million and is still years away from deployment is also on the list, as is the Federal Bureau of Investigation's troubled $557 million Sentinel case-management system, which has been halted because of poor performance. Lockheed Martin Corp. has served as the main contractor on the FBI project. A $7.6 billion Interior Department project to consolidate technology systems is also on the list, after Obama administration officials found that despite spending $3.25 billion so far on 200 data centers and 9,000 servers, employees aren't even on the same email system.
benton.org/node/41229 | Wall Street Journal | nextgov
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FCC BUDGET
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski]
On July 29, 2010, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski wrote to Congressional Appropriations leaders proposing to reprogram $4.5 million of prior year unobligated funds to enable the FCC to focus on important media issues and continue to make a critical investment in the people needed to transform the FCC into a twenty-first century agency for the information age. The $4.5 million in funds are currently available and would not require additional appropriation or funding for this fiscal year. The $4.5 million in funds were originally obligated as follows: $274,000 from 2004; $582,000 from 2005; $1,460,000 from 2006; $1,330,000 from 2007; and $854,000 from 2008. Chairman Genachowski proposed spending: 1) $1 million to fund research to inform the quadrennial review of media ownership rules; and 2) $3.5 million to expand the FCC's workforce in order to implement the National Broadband Plan.
benton.org/node/41057 | Federal Communications Commission
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HEALTH

FUNDING FOR TELEHEALTH
[SOURCE: Department of Health and Human Services, AUTHOR: Press release]
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today more than $32 million in FY 2010 funds to increase access to health care for Americans living in rural areas. The funds reach across seven programs administered by the Office of Rural Health Policy in HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Funding includes:
More than $2 million for the Telehealth Network Grant Program, which helps communities build capacity to develop sustainable telehealth programs and networks. Telehealth allows patients in underserved and remote areas to receive health care without traveling great distances; it also is used frequently for distance education and health care administration. The services provided via telemedicine range from primary care to highly specialized care found in leading academic medical centers.
More than $1 million for the Telehealth Resources Center Grant Program, which provides technical assistance to help health care organizations, networks and providers implement cost-effective telehealth programs serving rural and medically underserved areas and populations. The program is designed for entities with a successful track record in helping to develop sustainable telehealth programs.
Close to $1 million for the Flex Rural Veterans Health Access Program, a new program that will help eligible entities coordinate innovative approaches, collaborative networks and virtual linkages to provide rural veterans and other rural residents access to mental health and other health care services. The grants aim to improve mental health services through the use of health information exchange and telehealth in states where veterans make up a high percentage of the total population.
benton.org/node/41225 | Department of Health and Human Services
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EHRs IMPROVE EMERGENCY CARE
[SOURCE: HealthcareITNews, AUTHOR: Diana Manos]
The patients at hospitals with the most advanced type of electronic medical records are likely to spend 22.4 percent less time in the emergency room than at other hospitals, a new study from the W.P.Carey School of Business at Arizona State University shows. "The good news is that if you choose a hospital with the best type of fully functional electronic medical records, you will probably have a shorter treatment time and a much shorter overall stay in the emergency room," said Assistant Professor Michael Furukawa, who authored the study. "However, I also found that if your hospital has just a basic electronic medical records system, efficiency could actually be worse than at emergency rooms with no electronic medical records at all." Furukawa said he examined data from the 2006 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The nationally representative survey included records from more than 30,000 patient visits to 364 hospitals nationwide. The study examined three categories: hospital emergency rooms with little or no electronic medical records; those with only basic electronic medical records, which lack more advanced functions like online access to certain test results; and emergency rooms with the best, fully functional type of electronic medical records systems. Furukawa found that hospital emergency rooms with the best electronic medical records had 13.1-percent shorter treatment times, 23.5-percent shorter stays in the ER for patients eventually admitted to the hospital, and 21.3-percent shorter stays in the ER for patients who were treated and discharged without being admitted. The study also found that hospital emergency rooms with only basic electronic medical records had a 47.3-percent longer wait time for patients specifically dealing with urgent or semi-urgent medical issues.
benton.org/node/41224 | HealthcareITNews
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CONTENT

INCOME AND ONLINE NEWSPAPER READERSHIP
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Robert Andrews]
Overall traffic levels may be reaching saturation and online ad prices are stagnating. Most publishers know this, but few actually disclose their average revenue per user. Media Norge is a stand-out in that regard. Giving us a rare insight, it acknowledges average income per monthly unique visitor of two Norwegian krona (that's $0.32 or £0.21) is now less than it was back in 2006. So Media Norge, which publishes Norway's largest paper Aftenposten and classifieds site Finn.no, told investors it will "focus on improving traffic quality and value - loyalty over heads and eyeballs."
benton.org/node/41054 | paidContent.org
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CAN HOLLYWOOD BUSINESS MODEL CONTINUE?
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Patrick Goldstein]
Everywhere you look in the entertainment world these days, you see more and more people crossing the digital divide, using a staggering array of new devices to read books, watch TV shows, listen to music and, yes, even read the newspaper. The one business that seems largely immune to all this dramatic change is the movie business. In Hollywood, the maxim seems to be: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Even though DVD revenues are in decline, movie theater revenue is up again this year (though actual attendance is down slightly) as people continue to flock to see films the way the industry wants them to--in theaters with big screens and popcorn at the concession stand. While nearly everything is different about the way we now consume much of our music, TV and news, the moviegoing experience is largely unchanged from the way our grandparents saw films 75 years ago. As it turns out, Hollywood has something special going for it: Moviegoing is an irresistible social experience. People love communal events, where they can experience something together, bound together by a similar passion or commitment. It's why the key forms of entertainment that still reliably make lots of money are all examples of social experiences--live concerts, sporting events and moviegoing. In fact, the strategy studios use to lure millions of moviegoers to theaters is strikingly similar to the strategy baseball team owners have used in recent years to stimulate attendance at their ballparks. It's what you might call creating scarcity to drive demand.
benton.org/node/41053 | Los Angeles Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
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BROADBAND AND THE AUSTRALIAN ELECTION
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Lyndal McFarland]
Plans to update Australia's broadband infrastructure are shaping up as a potential swing issue as the country faces its first hung parliament in 70 years, with the two major political blocs lining up to woo independent lawmakers in a bid to form a government. Broadband has been a hot political topic in Australia since before the 2007 federal election, with current Internet speeds lagging well behind those available in many other advanced nations; that is particularly the case for regional and rural areas. Both major parties will be keen to pitch their plans to provide better broadband services to the nation's 22.4 million residents, and the topic is likely to be high on the agenda as negotiations between the parties and the independent lawmakers get under way. The three independents -- Rob Oakeshott, Bob Katter and Tony Windsor -- will have to decide between the 43 billion Australian dollar (US$38.40 billion) fiber national broadband network proposed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her Labor Party, and the watered-down version on offer from Tony Abbott and his conservative Liberal-National coalition. All three have indicated broadband will be a key part of their discussions in coming days, particularly access for the regional areas they represent.
benton.org/node/41233 | Wall Street Journal
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HUAWEI CONTROVERSY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
Republican Senators raised concerns over reports that a firm with ties to the Chinese military is bidding to supply equipment to Sprint Nextel and potentially the U.S. government. Eight Republican senators wrote August 18 to senior Obama administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Director of National Intelligence General James Clapper, to question reports that the Chinese telecom firm Huawei Technologies is seeking clearance to do business in the United States. The senators claim Huawei has questionable ties to the Chinese military and has supplied equipment to Iran, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. They argue allowing Huawei to supply equipment to Sprint Nextel, a major defense contractor, could threaten national security.
benton.org/node/41232 | Hill, The
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