September 2010

Apple, Google and Others: Vying for Prime Time in the Digital Living Room

The digital living room as a concept has been around for years. The vision: Television will be connected to the Internet, and viewers -- who are generally passive consumers of content -- will become more interactive participants.

Through their televisions, viewers will start microblogging via Twitter, updating Facebook with comments about the shows they watch and sharing YouTube videos with friends. Meanwhile, they will access whatever programming they want, whenever and however they want. The problem, according to Wharton faculty and other experts, is that consumers are not likely to change their television habits very quickly. The challenge for companies looking to conquer the digital living room is finding a business model that works. Models will vary, but experts at Wharton generally agree that content subscriptions will play a key role.

Senate passes bill boosting telework

On Sept 29, the Senate unanimously approved compromise legislation to expand telecommuting opportunities governmentwide. The bill, H.R. 1722, requires federal agencies within 180 days to determine employees' eligibility to telework, establish policies under which those personnel are allowed to work remotely and develop written agreements with authorized employees. The legislation also requires agencies to integrate telework into their continuity of operations plans and to train managers, supervisors and employees on the new policies.

The Longstanding FCC Problem with Transparency on the Disposition of Petitions

The right to petition the federal government is one guaranteed by the 1st Amendment. The Federal Communications Commission has implemented this requirement, but all this means nothing if petitions fall into an administrative black hole where they can not be seen, let alone acted on! Petitions apparently go to bureaus and offices and just sit around until someone decides to act on them -- or not. One always has the options of going to the District Court and asking for a writ of mandamus, but that is possibly the only option. Since the existence of these petitions can be secret, it is difficult for interested 3rd parties to find out about them and try to pressure/embarrass the FCC into acting.

Some modest suggestions:

The FCC create an internal tracking systems for such petitions and report all filings to all commissioners within a month of filing.
The FCC create a public tracking system, analogous to the FCC Items on Circulation webpage, that documents all petitions more than 3 months old that have not been acted on and makes the text available for public inspection. This need not be a Public Notice requesting comment, just an acknowledgement that the petition has been filed and is under review.

ISP Challenges West Virginia's Use of Broadband Stimulus Funds

Jim Martin, president of West Virginia broadband provider Citynet, alleges that a $126 million broadband stimulus award from the federal government isn't being spent as the federal grant intended. Martin said the grant money should be used to build a "middle-mile" broadband network that Citynet and other telecommunications' companies could tap into. Instead, the state is giving $40 million to Frontier Communications, a Citynet competitor, to construct a "last-mile" network that benefits only Frontier, Martin said. The network would run to libraries, schools, health-care facilities, and fire and police departments, which, in turn, would pay Frontier for broadband service. "Frontier is going to have the state's business forever," Martin said. "No other company will have the money to come in and build the network."

Bridgeport-based Citynet applied for $34 million in stimulus funds to build a "middle-mile" network, but it's application was rejected. Martin has said his complaint isn't "sour grapes."

BBG Chairman Isaacson Outlines Vision for International Broadcasting

Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Chairman Walter Isaacson laid out his vision for the future of U.S. international broadcasting in a keynote address as part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's 60th Anniversary.

Acknowledging the newly-appointed Board's launch of a year-long comprehensive review, Isaacson described the creation of "a great virtual global news service" that would provide reliable reporting for every medium, including social media created by members of BBG broadcasters' global audience. As he outlined his imperatives for engaging citizens with limited access to news and information, Isaacson repeatedly stressed the importance of credibility in news broadcasting, noting that "trustworthy journalism" would pay dividends for U.S. foreign policy objectives.

Technology Changes the Face of Politicking

Taking cues from our tech-savvy President's playbook, some candidates in next month's midterm elections are tapping a new social networking tool to connect with constituents: Gowalla, a service that lets its users check in via smartphone to share their locations with friends and earn colorful digital "stamps."

The Texas-based company has come out with a campaign tool kit that's designed to draw potential voters to town halls and fund-raisers. Governors Charlie Crist of Florida and Rick Perry of Texas are among the earliest adopters of the technology, which enables their campaigns to schedule events on Gowalla and reward supporters with candidate-branded badges for attending and checking in -- a big incentive for the social network's users, who make a game of collecting stamps in their "virtual passports."

Europe to get stronger cybersecurity laws

Europe is to strengthen its cybersecurity legislation in the context of increasingly powerful attacks, the European Commission said. New regulations are proposed that would see the perpetrators of cyberattacks and the producers of related and malicious software prosecuted, and criminal sanctions increased to a maximum two-year sentence.

European countries would also be obliged to respond quickly to requests for help when cyberattacks are perpetrated, and new pan-European criminal offences will be created for the "illegal interception of information systems".The European Network and Information Security Agency (Enisa), which has been operational for the last five years, will also be modernised and strengthened to help countries and private stakeholders prevent and combat cyberattacks. The proposals will have to be passed by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers if they are to come into effect.

Senate blocks recess appointments with deal between Dems, GOP

Senate Democrats struck a deal with Republicans that will keep President Barack Obama from making recess appointments while Congress is out of town campaigning for the midterm elections.

Democratic leaders have agreed to schedule pro-forma sessions of the Senate every week over the next six weeks. Under the law, the president can only make a recess appointment if the Senate is adjourned for more than three consecutive days. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had threatened to send Obama's most controversial nominees back to the president if Democrats did not agree to schedule pro-forma sessions. That would have forced the president to resubmit the nominees to the Senate and Democrats to start their confirmation processes (including hearings) all over again.

Media literacy should be everyone's objective

[Commentary] With such a vast amount of information available, it's difficult to wade through the fluff to get to the cold hard facts. It's so hard, sometimes, to get to the truth. With it being so difficult to get to the actual truth, it makes it even more challenging to formulate an informed opinion on any subject... A tool that people should utilize is evaluating the levels of credibility of media outlets. For example, there are certain credible news services, such as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, which would have a high level of credibility as opposed to a blog on the Internet that would have quite a low level. The roots of our democracy are in ancient Greece and they had a very simple democratic system that held individuals accountable. The general population took it upon themselves to make sure their democracy survived. It's our job, in the present day, to ask the right questions and get to the facts. Otherwise, we will have no part in our own future and we will be resigned to the fact that others will be making unchecked decisions on our behalf. That shouldn't happen, especially in a democratic republic like ours.

Make children media literate

[Commentary] Our approach needs to be multi-faceted and targeted via different mediums. The idea is to generate what is called media literacy, which is an ability to imbibe what is being shown, analyze it while keeping in mind the context and engage in the right decision-making process regarding it. A significant factor is parents' role in ensuring that the child is able to assimilate and integrate the experiences, observations and knowledge that s/he garners from the media. It is not about supervising everything that is being watched but about making sure that parents address a significant number of the issues and at the same time maintain a relation with the child and discuss his/her observations and experiences.

Benton

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