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December 2010

Phone-Wielding Shoppers Strike Fear Into Retailers

Until recently, retailers could reasonably assume that if they just lured shoppers to stores with enticing specials, the customers could be coaxed into buying more profitable stuff, too. Now, marketers must contend with shoppers who can use their smartphones inside stores to check whether the specials are really so special, and if the rest of the merchandise is reasonably priced.

"The retailer's advantage has been eroded," says Greg Girard of consultancy IDC Retail Insights, which recently found that roughly 45% of customers with smartphones had used them to perform due diligence on a store's prices. "The four walls of the store have become porous." Some of the most vulnerable merchants: sellers of branded, big-ticket items like electronics and appliances, which often prompt buyers to comparison shop. Best Buy, the nation's largest electronics chain, said Tuesday that it may lose market share this year, a downward trend that some analysts are attributing in part to pressure from price comparison apps.

For NPR stations, a sigh of relief

A funny thing happened to National Public Radio stations after the worst publicity fiasco in NPR's history: almost nothing at all.

Public radio outlets across the country braced for the worst from their listeners after NPR fired commentator Juan Williams for remarks he made on a Fox News program in late October. With denunciations ringing nightly on Fox and from conservatives in Congress, the stations worried that they might be punished for the actions of Washington-based NPR, public radio's leading programming organization. Of particular concern: that the storm over Williams would affect contributions from listeners, corporations and local governments, which stations rely on to stay in business. Yet after an initial flurry of mostly angry e-mails and calls in the wake of the Oct. 20 firing of Williams, the controversy waned quickly and has all but disappeared, station managers say. More important, perhaps, is that few contributors revoked financial pledges made to the stations during fundraising drives held the week of Williams's firing.

President's advisory group finds most federal IT funds being misused

Every year, federal agencies get roughly $4 billion for research and development of information technology. The goal of that funding is to bring the best available networking and communications technology into government. But an independent study by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology -- a group that includes Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and Microsoft Chief Technologist Craig Mundie -- has found that a scant amount of that money actually goes toward information technology development.

The report, scheduled to be released Dec 16, seeks to emphasize the importance of accounting for spending within government agencies and to highlight how the United States risks falling behind other nations that are investing more heavily in IT research. Many agencies use information technology to advance research in their own fields, such as the large databases of protein sequences that are important to biomedical research. These applications represent important infrastructure and are legitimately categorized as R&D expenditures, but they are not "information technology" R&D, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget.

Walden to be House telecom subcommittee chairman?

Apparently, former radio station owner Rep Greg Walden (R-OR) will chair the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over interstate and foreign telecommunications including, but not limited to all telecommunication and information transmission by broadcast, radio, wire, microwave, satellite, or other mode.

Silicon Valley No Longer Reflects Name After Investors Shun Chip Companies

Silicon Valley has lost its appetite for silicon. While venture capitalists are pouring money into social networking, e-commerce and online-game companies, investments in chipmakers are close to a 12-year low. And yet semiconductors -- made from silicon wafers -- provide the brains for everything from computers and mobile phones to nuclear missiles.

At issue is the expense to get a startup off the ground. Chipmakers spend millions developing and testing their designs before they even know if an idea is viable. Those costs have pushed the industry abroad to countries that offer tax incentives and subsidies unmatched in the U.S. Meanwhile, the expense of starting software and Internet companies has actually gone down, thanks to cheap Web-based programs and services. That contrasts with China, whose role as a manufacturing hub for semiconductors is helping it play a bigger role in design and innovation. The country’s worldwide share of chip- related patents is expected to rise to 33 percent this year from 22 percent last year.

CALM Act Signed Into Law

President Barack Obama signed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act into law on Dec 15. The bill directs the Federal Communications Commission to regulate commercial volume per the Advanced Television Systems Committee's recommendations adopted last November. It gives cable operators and broadcasters a year from the law's adoption to comply.

Global Publics Embrace Social Networking

Although still a relatively young technology, social networking is already a global phenomenon.

In regions around the world – and in countries with varying levels of economic development – people who use the Internet are using it for social networking. And this is particularly true of young people. Meanwhile, other forms of technology are also increasingly popular across the globe. Cell phone ownership and computer usage have grown significantly over the last three years, and they have risen dramatically since 2002. While social networking has spread globally, it is particularly widespread in the country where it began. Among the 22 publics surveyed, Americans most often say they use websites like Facebook and MySpace: 46% use such sites; 36% use the Internet, but do not access these sites; and 18% say they never go online.

The survey finds three countries close behind the United States in social network usage: in Poland (43%), Britain (43%) and South Korea (40%), at least four-in-ten adults say they use such sites. And at least a third engage in social networking in France (36%), Spain (34%), Russia (33%) and Brazil (33%).

Generations 2010

There are still notable differences by generation in online activities, but the dominance of the Millennial generation that we documented in our first “Generations” report in 2009 has slipped in many activities.

Milliennials, those ages 18-33, remain more likely to access the Internet wirelessly with a laptop or mobile phone. In addition, they still clearly surpass their elders online when it comes to many communication- and entertainment-related activities, such as using social network sites and playing games online. However, Internet users in Gen X (those ages 34-45) and older cohorts are more likely than Millennials to engage in several online activities, including visiting government websites and getting financial information online.

Finally, the biggest online trend is that, while the very youngest and oldest cohorts may differ, certain key Internet uses are becoming more uniformly popular across all age groups. These online activities include seeking health information, purchasing products, making travel reservations, and downloading podcasts.

Ofcom spells out concerns over BSkyB bid

Ofcom has found “potentially material public interest issues” in News Corp’s proposed bid for British Sky Broadcasting and its officials are likely to sit down with the two sides in a meeting over the next two or three days.

The broadcasting regulator has sent a so-called “issues letter” to both parties. Experts said that sending the document, known as an issues statement, did not necessarily mean that Ofcom was intending to recommend a referral of News Corp’s plans for a full review by the Competition Commission. The issues statement lays out concerns raised by interested parties, including commercial rivals, during a consultation period and invites News Corp to comment on them.

Ofcom is working on behalf of Vince Cable, the business secretary, to determine whether the proposed bid could have an impact on media plurality, that is to say a reduction in the number of diverse voices in broadcasting and the press. News Corp owns News International, the UK’s largest publisher of national newspapers, and 39.1 per cent of the shares of BSkyB, which has 10m subscribers and is the largest broadcaster by revenue in the UK. News Corp is seeking to own the remaining 60.1 per cent of BSkyB and has offered 700p a share for it, valuing the whole company at £12.3bn ($19.1bn).

December 16, 2010 (Network neutrality expected to pass)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2010

What a day to be a wonk!. We got access issues, diversity and broadcasting, Internet2, and the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (see http://benton.org/calendar/2010-12-16/)


NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   Network neutrality expected to pass, investment analyst says
   Imagine a world where every app has its own data plan
   FCC could shape next phase of smartphones
   Venture capital investors weigh in on FCC's network neutrality plans with differing views
   Network neutrality supporters question Genachowski plan
   Gigi Sohn takes on FCC's network neutrality plan
   CCIA Still Hopeful For Changes To Network Neutrality Order
   FTC Chairman Leibowitz Endorses Network Neutrality
   Senate Republicans oppose network neutrality

INTERNET/BROADBAND/UNIVERSAL SERVICE
   Broadband prices dropping around the world, but not in US
   Broadband: A must for America’s economic recovery
   USF Reform Key to Widely-Available, High-Speed Internet, FCC Chairman Says
   Rep Terry Seeking New Democratic Partner For Universal Service Reform
   USF contribution factor set at record 15.5%
   NTIA Releases Overview of BTOP Awards
   Google Update on Google Fiber
   Montana Public Service Commission Approves CenturyLink-Qwest Merger
   San Jose rejects regional broadband plan
   Generations 2010
   Global Publics Embrace Social Networking

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
   Google: Acquisitions and antitrust
   See also: How Big Should We Let Google Get? Wrong Question
   See also: Google and the Ghost of Silicon Valley Past
   Comcast promises to invest in Asian-American programming
   Comcast Must Court Olympics, Part of NBC's Legacy
   Person of the Year 2010: Mark Zuckerberg
   Silicon Valley No Longer Reflects Name After Investors Shun Chip Companies
   Ofcom spells out concerns over BSkyB bid

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   US Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLeaks
   Federal guidance on WikiLeaks raises legal questions
   President's advisory group finds most federal IT funds being misused

PRIVACY
   Is Your E-Book Reading Up On You?

CONTENT
   China Agrees to Intellectual Property Protections
   Amazon's latest Kindle deletion: erotic, incest-themed fiction

CHILDREN AND MEDIA
   Tinseltown’s New Target: A study of Teen Female Sexualization on Primetime TV
   New Fight Erupts Over Rules to Keep Booze Ads From Teens
   Consumer Group Sues McDonald's Over Happy Meal Toys

MARKETING
   House Clears Bills Aimed At Deceptive Online Tactics, 'Spoofing'
   Navy Pier blames Groupon for cutting into Winter Wonderfest revenue
   American Apparel Source Raves About A $3 Million Groupon Deal

TELEVISION/RADIO
   Over-the-Top TV at Bottom of Station Plan
   CPB Funding for Mobile DTV Initiative
   Net-Nipping
   For NPR stations, a sigh of relief
   CALM Act Signed Into Law
   Ofcom spells out concerns over BSkyB bid

JOURNALISM
   Fox boss ordered staff to cast doubt on climate science
   Watch a Newspaper Reinvent Itself
   See also: Finding the Sweet Spot for Journalism and Social Media

HEALTH
   ONC panel approves steps for provider directories, NHIN rules

LOBBYING
   AT&T's $4,000 Cakewalk Through the FCC

MORE ONLINE
   Walden to be House telecom subcommittee chairman?
   Phone-Wielding Shoppers Strike Fear Into Retailers

NETWORK NEUTRALITY

FCC EXPECTED TO ADOPT NETWORK NEUTRALITY ORDER
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Investment analyst Rebecca Arbogast believes proposed network neutrality rules, now being considered in private deliberation by members of the Federal Communications Commission, will be approved with some tweaks. Arbogast, a Stifel Nicolaus analyst, said Commissioners Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn won't likely push for rules that redefine broadband as a telecom service but will argue to beef up some provisions including stronger wireless rules, limits or bans on paid priority delivery of content, and clear definitions for what services are covered in the rules.
benton.org/node/46593 | Washington Post | Reuters
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY NIGHTMARE
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Imagine a world in which the applications on your phone all carried different fees. Want to launch that Facebook app? It will cost you 2¢ per megabyte of data you exchange with the social networking site -- but launch Skype, and you might find yourself billed a flat monthly rate. And preferred apps would incur no charges at all, no matter how much data is exchanged. As for the money, it's paid not to Skype and Facebook and YouTube, but to your mobile data provider, who wants a piece of the action passing over its network (and who wants to avoid becoming an undifferentiated "bit hauler"). This vision of the mobile world is feasible today, thanks to deep packet inspection (DPI) gear and some robust policy creation tools. With the right hardware and software, carriers can exert fine-grained control over billing that goes well beyond the money-for-total-bandwidth-model seen increasingly today. Of course, to critics, "fine-grained" sounds like "nickel-and-diming," and they see it as little more than an excuse to turn an open Internet into something more like a cable system, complete with different access "packages." This vision was on display in a webinar given by DPI vendor Allot and billing company Openet. The topic was "Managing the unmanageable: monetizing and controlling OTT applications." OTT means "over the top," and it refers to apps that use the Internet to reach consumers. The problem (or "problem") for wireless companies is that many of the key apps come from extremely lucrative businesses; why shouldn't the operators be able to use the size of their customer base to charge these companies some money?
benton.org/node/46555 | Ars Technica | The Huffington Post
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FCC COULD SHAPE SMARTPHONES
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Richard Waters]
[Commentary] The open wireless Internet already feels like a birthright. For anyone with a touchscreen smartphone, it’s outlandish to think you couldn't download any app – or tap into any Internet service – you wanted. The era of walled gardens, however, with all its limitations and frustrations, is not that far in the past. And the US, where the iPhone and its kind have made their biggest inroads, is about to put the new-found freedoms to their first serious test. Some broad protections should help. One would be a rule – still being hammered out – to prevent mobile companies from blocking “competing services”. What that means is not at all clear. When the nature of communications is morphing – and not just into voice-over-IP and instant messaging, but also social networking and tweeting – deciding exactly what is competing with what becomes a challenge. But for the Federal Communications Commission, that may be just the point. Being too prescriptive at this stage would leave future innovations unprotected. Also, vague boundaries could be effective if companies governed by them shy away from testing the limits. Another protection will lie in transparency, since operators will have to disclose to regulators when they block or degrade a service.
benton.org/node/46618 | Financial Times
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VENTURE CAPITAL AND NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Venture capital investors are closely following the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality proposal and offering differing opinions on what the rules could mean for their investments. Brad Burnham of Union Square Ventures in New York thinks his portfolio companies that include Twitter and Foursquare won't be protected by the current proposal. He says the FCC falls short in prohibiting cable and telecom firms from charging fees to Web firms to access customers and for faster lanes on the Internet. Weaker wireless protections mean those firms' applications could be blocked on future smart phones and tablets, Burnham says. And without clear definitions on what “unjust and unreasonable” management of networks means, he says cable and telecom Internet service providers can use their own loose interpretations to discriminate against competing services.
benton.org/node/46552 | Washington Post
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SUPPORTERS QUESTION NET NEUTRALITY PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
Dozens of groups that have supported efforts at the Federal Communications Commission to create network neutrality rules have voiced opposition to a proposal from agency Chairman Julius Genachowski in recent days. In a Dec 14 letter to the FCC, the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of Research Libraries and Educause raised several concerns about Genachowski's plan. The groups "fear that this form of proposed net neutrality is not true net neutrality," Corey Williams, associate director for the ALA's Office of Government Relations, said. The rules prohibiting broadband providers from selectively blocking or slowing Web traffic should apply to providers serving libraries and other institutions, not just consumer retail services, as the proposal suggests, the groups said. In addition, the proposal should explicitly prohibit paid prioritization, and it should drop language that says net neutrality protections should be limited to lawful traffic, the groups said.
benton.org/node/46551 | IDG News Service
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GIGI SOHN AND NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn has been a vocal critic of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski's policies. Her organization came out in force last week against his network neutrality proposal, which the FCC’s commissioners will vote on next week. Sohn said she will oppose the plan unless it is strengthened -- a decision that could help sink the top agenda item of Genachowski’s term and potentially obliterate his legacy as chairman. After nearly two decades in Washington, Sohn walks a fine line between insider and watchdog. As Sohn’s influence in Washington has grown over the last two decades, she has not tempered her advocacy. After serving on President Obama’s advisory group on telecom issues, she made a conscious decision not to bite her tongue. “Right after Obama had been elected, one of my board members asked me, ‘What do you want Public Knowledge’s role with the new president [to be]?’ ” she said. Sohn told the board member, “Trusted adviser.” “He said, ‘No, that’s not what you want to be. You want to be the person who tells them the truth — the way that things should be,’ ” she recalls. “And he was absolutely right.”
benton.org/node/46550 | Hill, The
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HOPE TO IMPROVE NETWORK NEUTRALITY PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Computer and Communications Industry Association President Ed Black said that the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality proposal "could be improved enough so some of the glaring loopholes" in the measure are closed. Still he predicted either way the proposal is likely to face legal challenges. Black would not say whether his group or others critical of the proposal would take action to block it in court if the FCC approves a weak network neutrality proposal. Black and Center for Democracy and Technology Senior Policy Counsel David Sohn met with reporters to discuss network neutrality and other tech issues being tackled at the FCC and that may come up in the 112th Congress. Neither Black nor Sohn expect Congress will be able to solve the thorny issue of whether to impose rules to ban broadband providers from discriminating against or prioritizing Internet content, saying the ball is in the FCC's court at this point. Black said he does not believe the proposal goes far enough to protect the openness of the Internet, pointing in particular to its exemption for wireless broadband. Wireless "is such a big part of the future" that it must be brought under what he views as "light-tough net neutrality rules," Black said.
benton.org/node/46535 | National Journal
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FTC BACKS NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz has thrown his weight behind network neutrality regulations under consideration at the Federal Communications Commission: "the best that could be hoped for" in spite of criticisms that the regulations are too watery.
benton.org/node/46549 | Hill, The | Huffington Post
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INTERNET/BROADBAND/UNIVERSAL SERVICE

BROADBAND PRICES DROPPING, BUT NOT IN US
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Looks like we're right back in the line sharing debate again. A new study suggests that the United States could do better when it comes to home Internet services prices. The Technology Policy Institute's latest survey of the global high speed Internet market finds that US residential broadband subscription rates have "remained fairly stable" over the last three years, rising by just two percent. That's good, of course, since they didn't go way up. But residential broadband prices have fallen in most other countries, the paper notes -- in some instances by as much as 40 percent. The survey also found that prices in the United States for "triple play" plans are some of the most expensive among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member nations. Why the price gap? The paper emphasizes that "it does not evaluate the policies and other influences that impact those prices," but does note that many other nations require their big Internet service providers to "unbundle" or open their networks to small broadband providers at wholesale rates. "Few countries actively regulate retail broadband prices, but every country that mandates network unbundling necessarily regulates wholesale prices," the TPI survey observes. "Wholesale prices are part of an ISP's costs, meaning that wholesale price regulation can affect retail prices. Thus it may not be surprising that the biggest price decreases have occurred in the EU [European Union], where wholesale prices for full unbundled loop access fell by about 10 percent between 2007 and 2009."
benton.org/node/46620 | Ars Technica
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BROADBAND A MUST FOR RECOVERY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Henry Rivera]
[Commentary] Our nation’s digital divide has made the recent economic downturn worse because minorities who lack access to broadband services face significant disadvantages in the job market. While not a panacea for the current state of the economy, broadband is certainly an industry that America can leverage to create high-paying jobs, stimulate the economy, and close the digital divide. Closing the digital divide is important to our economic recovery because leaving minority communities behind will only increase the disparity between America’s haves and have nots. As the Federal Communications Commission begins to implement the National Broadband Plan, it should keep in mind that all Americans, particularly disenfranchised populations, stand to benefit from a broadband policy that fosters a stronger, more robust broadband industry. Broadband is quickly becoming the preferred path to finding work, obtaining an education, managing finances, and the list goes on. Regardless of what the FCC does with network neutrality at its upcoming December meeting and regardless of what Congress may do in reaction, with so much at risk, the FCC, Congress and the Administration should make every effort to ensure that those investing in the broadband industry have the opportunity to grow and innovate for years to come. Only then will we be able to insure a place for all Americans in the economic recovery that's sure to come. [Henry Rivera served as the nation’s first Hispanic FCC Commissioner from 1981-1985. Currently, he serves as Chairman of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, General Counsel for the Benton Foundation, and as a Partner at Wiley Rein.]
benton.org/node/46547 | Hill, The
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USF AND SPEED
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski]
Speaking at the release of the Communications Workers of America's "Speed Matters" report, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said, "Speed matters, because if we want the job-creating Internet services and applications of the future developed in America, we are going to have to do better." The National Broadband Plan sets goals of 100 megabits per second broadband to 100 million homes by 2020 and 1 gigabit-per-second service to at least one anchor institution in every community in the country. To reach these goals, the FCC is working to modernize the Universal Service Fund from supporting yesterday's telephone service to tomorrow's broadband access service. Through public-private partnerships, USF helped bring phone service to all corners of the country. But the program has become outdated, inefficient, and poorly targeted, Chairman Genachowski said. The National Broadband Plan proposed transforming USF by creating a Connect America Fund to focus on broadband in a way that is fiscally responsible, that demands accountability, and works -- that is targeted and effective.
benton.org/node/46591 | Federal Communications Commission
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TERRY SEEKING USF REFORM PARTNER
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Rep Lee Terry (R-Nebraska) said he is seeking a new Democratic partner to work with him to push legislation that would overhaul the universal service fund, which provides subsidies for telecommunications services in rural and high-cost areas. Terry's longtime partner in recent years in the effort to overhaul the fund, Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA) was defeated for re-election in November. As chairman of the House Communications Subcommittee, Rep Boucher played a key role in pushing the issue this Congress. Despite the loss of Boucher, Rep Terry, who also sits on the House Commerce Committee, said he plans to take the lead on the effort. He added, however, that he believes it will take a Democratic partner to help move the measure forward, saying "it needs to be bipartisan." He said he has talked with some Democratic members about working with him on the bill but was not ready to reveal any names. Incoming House Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) is supportive of the effort but it's unclear where the issue will fall on Upton's priority list.
benton.org/node/46589 | National Journal
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USF CONTRIBUTION 15.5%
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
While the industry continues to debate how to reform the Universal Service Fund, the Federal Communications Commission this week announced the USF contribution factor for the first quarter of 2011 would be 15.5%. That number represents the percentage of carriers’ interstate revenues that goes primarily toward the costs of delivering telecom service to high-cost areas, as well as to the schools and libraries, Lifeline/ Linkup and rural health care programs.
benton.org/node/46528 | Connected Planet
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NTIA BTOP REPORT
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
This report includes statistical information about the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, including where to find information about all projects awarded. NTIA believes that BTOP projects, brought to their conclusion, will serve as models for future investments that will further accelerate and expand access to and adoption of broadband across America.
benton.org/node/46588 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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GOOGLE FIBER UPDATE
[SOURCE: Google, AUTHOR: Milo Medin]
Google is delaying, until early 2011, an announcement on which community or communities will be selected to get an ultra high-speed broadband network. Google had hoped to make an announcement in 2010, but nearly 1,100 communities responded to the experiment and the company is delaying a decision "to make sure we get this right." Medin joined Google this week as vice president of Access Services to oversee the Google Fiber team. Over the past several months Medin has been following the progress the team has already made -- from experimenting with new fiber deployment technologies here on Google’s campus, to announcing a “beta” network to 850 homes at Stanford.
benton.org/node/46543 | Google | San Jose Mercury News | GigaOm
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SAN JOSE REJECTS PLAN
[SOURCE: San Jose Business Journal, AUTHOR: Eli Segall]
The San Jose City Council unanimously rejected the city’s participation -- at least for now -- in a regional broadband system, saying it has been marred by a lack of transparency, unknown costs and other problems. The "Bay WEB" program, overseen by the Bay Area chapter of a federally-funded security group, would create a regional public-safety broadband system. Motorola Inc. applied for and received a nearly $51 million grant from the U.S. Commerce Department this past September to implement the project. San Jose city officials have said the security group — Urban Area Security Initiative in San Francisco — has not followed standard government contracting methods. Among other things, city officials say neither the group’s staff nor its general manager sought board approval for various decisions, including the reallocation of $2 million that its board — known as the "Approval Authority" — set aside last year for San Jose. That same amount of money was also redirected from the cities of Oakland and San Francisco, also without board approval. The Approval Authority has seven members, including a San Jose assistant fire chief, Oakland's director of emergency services and the San Francisco Fire Department’s deputy chief of administration. Meanwhile, San Jose officials have also noted that some staff members of the security group are former Motorola employees.
benton.org/node/46520 | San Jose Business Journal
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GENERATIONS 2010
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Kathryn Zickuhr]
There are still notable differences by generation in online activities, but the dominance of the Millennial generation that we documented in our first “Generations” report in 2009 has slipped in many activities. Milliennials, those ages 18-33, remain more likely to access the Internet wirelessly with a laptop or mobile phone. In addition, they still clearly surpass their elders online when it comes to many communication- and entertainment-related activities, such as using social network sites and playing games online. However, Internet users in Gen X (those ages 34-45) and older cohorts are more likely than Millennials to engage in several online activities, including visiting government websites and getting financial information online. Finally, the biggest online trend is that, while the very youngest and oldest cohorts may differ, certain key Internet uses are becoming more uniformly popular across all age groups. These online activities include seeking health information, purchasing products, making travel reservations, and downloading podcasts.
benton.org/node/46603 | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project
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SOCIAL NETWORKING EMBRACED GLOBALLY
[SOURCE: Pew Global Attitudes Project, AUTHOR: ]
Although still a relatively young technology, social networking is already a global phenomenon. In regions around the world – and in countries with varying levels of economic development – people who use the Internet are using it for social networking. And this is particularly true of young people. Meanwhile, other forms of technology are also increasingly popular across the globe. Cell phone ownership and computer usage have grown significantly over the last three years, and they have risen dramatically since 2002. While social networking has spread globally, it is particularly widespread in the country where it began. Among the 22 publics surveyed, Americans most often say they use websites like Facebook and MySpace: 46% use such sites; 36% use the Internet, but do not access these sites; and 18% say they never go online. The survey finds three countries close behind the United States in social network usage: in Poland (43%), Britain (43%) and South Korea (40%), at least four-in-ten adults say they use such sites. And at least a third engage in social networking in France (36%), Spain (34%), Russia (33%) and Brazil (33%).
benton.org/node/46604 | Pew Global Attitudes Project
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP

ACQUISITIONS AND ANTITRUST
[SOURCE: Google, AUTHOR: Don Harrison]
Washington Post's columnist Steve Pearlstein asked whether Google, with a dominant share in Web search, should be able to use its near monopoly and its profits to win dominant positions in adjacent or complementary markets. Our answer is "yes."
All companies make 'build vs. buy' decisions. Sometimes it’s possible to develop a new product in-house; other times a company decides it can bring a new product to market faster by acquiring another company.
Google is competing against other companies for acquisitions. Those companies not only have substantial cash or equity that they use to make acquisitions, they also regularly compete against us and other companies to acquire leading startups.
Acquisitions are typically good for consumers and the economy. Antitrust law is designed to protect consumers, not competitors, and Google's acquisitions have created great things for consumers. For startups, getting acquired is often the path to success (especially given the difficult IPO market), so stopping large companies from making acquisitions would only deprive startups of another potential bidder and investors of a potential return on their invested capital. You can't be both pro-economic growth and anti-acquisitions.
Courts and regulators recognize efficiencies in mergers into new spaces. They also have approved many deals where the leader in one category acquired the leader in a separate category.
benton.org/node/46546 | Google
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COMCAST AGREEMENT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Comcast has negotiated the 16-page "memorandum of understanding" with the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition, promising to make new investments in Asian-American programming if its merger with NBC Universal is approved. The company has pledged to expand distribution of Asian American owned-and-operated and targeted programming. It also promised to launch a new Video OnDemand offering called "Cinema Asian America."
benton.org/node/46592 | Hill, The | B&C
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LITTLE CHIP INVESTMENT IN SILICON VALLEY
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Ari Levy, Ian King]
Silicon Valley has lost its appetite for silicon. While venture capitalists are pouring money into social networking, e-commerce and online-game companies, investments in chipmakers are close to a 12-year low. And yet semiconductors -- made from silicon wafers -- provide the brains for everything from computers and mobile phones to nuclear missiles. At issue is the expense to get a startup off the ground. Chipmakers spend millions developing and testing their designs before they even know if an idea is viable. Those costs have pushed the industry abroad to countries that offer tax incentives and subsidies unmatched in the U.S. Meanwhile, the expense of starting software and Internet companies has actually gone down, thanks to cheap Web-based programs and services. That contrasts with China, whose role as a manufacturing hub for semiconductors is helping it play a bigger role in design and innovation. The country’s worldwide share of chip- related patents is expected to rise to 33 percent this year from 22 percent last year.
benton.org/node/46607 | Bloomberg
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

WIKILEAKS AND CONSPIRACY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Charlie Savage]
Federal prosecutors, seeking to build a case against the WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange for his role in a huge dissemination of classified government documents, are looking for evidence of any collusion in his early contacts with an Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking the information. Justice Department officials are trying to find out whether Assange encouraged or even helped the analyst, Pfc. Bradley Manning, to extract classified military and State Department files from a government computer system. If he did so, they believe they could charge him as a conspirator in the leak, not just as a passive recipient of the documents who then published them. Among materials prosecutors are studying is an online chat log in which Private Manning is said to claim that he had been directly communicating with Assange using an encrypted Internet conferencing service as the soldier was downloading government files. Private Manning is also said to have claimed that Assange gave him access to a dedicated server for uploading some of them to WikiLeaks.
benton.org/node/46616 | New York Times
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IT FUNDS MISUSED
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Every year, federal agencies get roughly $4 billion for research and development of information technology. The goal of that funding is to bring the best available networking and communications technology into government. But an independent study by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology -- a group that includes Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and Microsoft Chief Technologist Craig Mundie -- has found that a scant amount of that money actually goes toward information technology development. The report, scheduled to be released Dec 16, seeks to emphasize the importance of accounting for spending within government agencies and to highlight how the United States risks falling behind other nations that are investing more heavily in IT research. Many agencies use information technology to advance research in their own fields, such as the large databases of protein sequences that are important to biomedical research. These applications represent important infrastructure and are legitimately categorized as R&D expenditures, but they are not "information technology" R&D, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget.
benton.org/node/46609 | Washington Post
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PRIVACY

E-BOOKS AND YOU
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Martin Kaste]
E-books are quickly going mainstream: They represent nearly one out of 10 trade books sold. It's easy to imagine a near future in which paper books are the exception, not the norm. But are book lovers ready to have their reading tracked? Most e-readers, like Amazon's Kindle, have an antenna that lets users instantly download new books. But the technology also makes it possible for the device to transmit information back to the manufacturer. "They know how fast you read because you have to click to turn the page," says Cindy Cohn, legal director at the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It knows if you skip to the end to read how it turns out." Cohn says this kind of page-view tracking may seem innocuous, but if the company keeps the data long-term, the information could be subpoenaed to check someone's alibi, or as evidence in a lawsuit. And it's not just what pages you read; it may also monitor where you read them. Kindles, iPads and other e-readers have geo-location abilities; using GPS or data from Wi-Fi and cell phone towers, it wouldn't be difficult for the devices to track their own locations in the physical world. But it's hard to find out what kind of data the e-readers are sending. Most e-book companies refer all questions about this to their posted privacy policies. The policies can be hard to interpret, so Cohn and the EFF created a side-by-side comparison. It's just been updated to include Apple's iPad.
benton.org/node/46584 | National Public Radio
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CONTENT

CHINA AND IP PROTECTIONS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Sewell Chan]
Senior Chinese officials pledged to better crack down on software piracy and other violations of intellectual property rights as part of a series of commercial agreements after two days of talks. The Chinese delegation, led by Wang Qishan, the vice premier for economic matters, also agreed to lift certain barriers to imports of heavy industrial machinery and to hold talks on easing a ban on imports of American beef that was imposed during a 2003 scare over mad cow disease. The talks, which took place during an annual forum known as the United States-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, did not address the thorniest issues in the economic relations between the two countries, like the giant trade imbalance and the value of China’s currency. But the largely technical discussions helped set the stage for a state visit by President Hu Jintao to Washington next month, officials on both sides said.
benton.org/node/46613 | New York Times | National Journal
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AMAZON REMOVES BOOKS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jacqui Cheng]
Amazon may be in the process of stirring up some more trouble for itself thanks to reports that the company is deleting certain kinds of erotica from both the online store and users' devices. The erotica in question is controversial: it talks about certain acts of incest. Judging from Amazon's most recent bouts with book "censorship," users who have already paid for the deleted content are likely to get fired up. Self-published author Selena Kitt was first notified that the print version of one of her fiction books violated Amazon's content guidelines last week, followed by the unceremonious removal of two more offerings from the Kindle store. After noticing that the three books that Amazon singled out were all "erotic incest fantasy fiction," she found at least three other authors whose incest-themed erotica had been removed from Amazon, followed by a Kindle support thread full of even more names. On top of the book removal from Amazon's store, Kitt's readers reportedly found that her books had disappeared from their Kindles as well.
benton.org/node/46536 | Ars Technica
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CHILDREN AND MEDIA

SEXUALIZING TEEN GIRLS
[SOURCE: Parents Television Council, AUTHOR: ]
In a new report, the Parents Television Council details the nature and extent of Hollywood’s obsession with sexualizing teen girls. PTC’s report is based on a content analysis of the most popular primetime broadcast shows among 12 to 17-year-olds during the 2009-2010 TV season. PTC found that when underage female characters appear on screen: more sexual content is depicted; the teen girls show next to no negative response to being sexualized; more sexual incidents occur outside of any form of a committed relationship; and there is less accuracy in the TV content rating. Major Findings:
Underage female characters are shown participating in a higher percentage of sexual depictions compared to adults (47% and 29% respectively).
Only 5% of the underage female characters communicated any form of dislike for being sexualized (excluding scenes depicting healthy sexuality).
Out of all the sexualized female characters depicted in the underage and young adult category for the entire database, 86% were presented as only being of high school age.
Seventy-five percent of shows that included sexualized underage female characters were shows that did not have an “S” descriptor to warn parents about the sexual content.
Based upon a definition established by the American Psychological Association of “healthy” vs. “unhealthy” sexuality, the study findings show that 93% of the sexual incidents involving underage female characters occurred within a context that qualified as “unhealthy.”
The data revealed that 98% of the sexual incidents involving underage female characters occurred outside of any form of a committed relationship.
The data show that 73% of the underage sexualized incidents were presented in a humorous manner or as a punch line to a joke.
benton.org/node/46582 | Parents Television Council
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KIDS AND ALCOHOL ADS
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: EJ Schultz]
A new Johns Hopkins report chastises alcohol advertisers for failing to keep booze ads away from teens, even though the study's results show the industry making some progress in living up to its self-imposed standards. It follows closely another university report that found a decline in youth binge drinking. Industry rules prohibit alcohol ads on TV shows where more than 30% of the audience is below the legal drinking age. Last year, 23,718 ads -- or about 7.5% of all alcohol ads -- failed to meet the standard, down from 8.6% in 2008, according to the study by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Yet the center points to other data that it says show an increase in alcohol marketing exposure to teens. The report -- which examined the nearly 2.7 million alcohol TV ads it says were placed from 2001 to 2009 -- zeros in on people ages 12 to 20 whom the center says are most at risk of taking up alcohol as a result of ads. Of that population, 91% were exposed to alcohol TV ads in 2009, seeing an average of 366 ads, according to the study. That's up from the 90% of the age group that had exposure in 2001, who saw an average of 217 ads.
benton.org/node/46537 | AdAge | B&C
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HAPPY MEALS SUIT
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: April Fulton]
The Center for Science in the Public Interest filed a lawsuit against McDonald's in state court in California to stop the company from advertising toys with Happy Meals. It's no sure thing that the consumer group will get its way in court, of course, but the lawsuit ups the pressure on the fast-food chain over the combination of food and toys that appeal to kids. McDonald's defends the meals. The lawsuit asserts that under California's consumer protection laws, McDonald's toy advertising is deceptive. It targets children under 8 years old who don't have the ability to understand advertising. But the real concern for the group, and for parents, CSPI says, is that McDonald's advertising makes kids beg their parents to buy food that's high in calories, sugar, fat and salt, which contributes to obesity. But CSPI is not asking for damages, just for McDonald's to stop advertising toys.
benton.org/node/46522 | National Public Radio | CSPI | read the suit
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MARKETING

HOUSE PASSES TWO BILLS
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The House cleared two technology-related bills including one that aims to crack down on firms that engage in deceptive online marketing tactics. By voice vote, the House passed a Senate bill known as the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act. It would prohibit companies from using misleading post-transaction advertisements and require them to clearly disclose the terms of their offers to consumers and obtain credit and debit card information directly from a consumer purchasing the service or product. It would bar online retailers and other websites from passing on consumers credit, debit or other billing information to third-party sellers. The legislation, offered by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV), emerged from a Commerce Committee investigation into aggressive online marketing tactics by three firms in particular, Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty. The House also cleared another Senate bill by voice vote that would place new restrictions on caller identification "spoofing," which involves changing the number or name that appears on caller ID during a phone call. The legislation would ban the use of the technology for the intention to "defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value." Supporters say the technology used to deceive a caller's true identity is easily found on the Internet and is being used by scam artists for identity theft and other crimes and in some cases to cause physical harm.
benton.org/node/46586 | National Journal | Chairman Rockefeller | Sen Hutchison
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TELEVISION/RADIO

OVER-THE-TOP AND BROADCASTING
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Daisy Whitney]
While a growing number of electronic devices are offering consumers the ability to bypass cable and satellite by delivering TV programming to their sets through broadband connections and Internet-connected TVs and other devices, TV stations aren't rushing to get on board. Station groups say over-the-top (OTT) services are simply too new and unknown. But if growth predictions are correct and if viewers continue to cut their cable cords, stations may have to turn to OTT outlets to insure their shows are reaching consumers.
benton.org/node/46542 | TVNewsCheck
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CPB FUNDING MOBILE DTV
[SOURCE: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced that it will provide public television stations in 20 markets with funding to begin delivering mobile digital television (DTV) programming by the end of 2011. With the help of more than $2 million in grants from CPB, stations can purchase and install mobile DTV equipment that will enable them to broadcast public television programming to mobile and handheld devices in their respective service areas. The investment in mobile DTV is in line with CPB’s commitment to strengthen the quality of public media’s digital content and reach new audiences. Public television joins several other commercial broadcasters in their goal to eventually provide a new national mobile video service. CPB plans to offer a second round of grant funding for additional stations next year.
benton.org/node/46541 | Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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NET-NIPPING
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Andrew Wallenstein]
Turner Broadcasting may have stumbled upon a pernicious phenomenon: the decreasing number of consumers who jettison broadband access while holding onto their cable subscriptions. There's a relatively steady increase this year in US homes that have both cable and Internet access, which would certainly poke yet another hole in the notion that there’s some new breed of consumers opting to go it alone with Internet access to meet their video needs. But there seems to be a more pronounced decrease at work in the number of people shedding broadband while still keeping cable. From this moment on, I christen this group “net-nippers.” Because no trend should bear the indignity of going without a cute name.
benton.org/node/46519 | paidContent.org
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NPR SIGH OF RELIEF
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
A funny thing happened to National Public Radio stations after the worst publicity fiasco in NPR's history: almost nothing at all. Public radio outlets across the country braced for the worst from their listeners after NPR fired commentator Juan Williams for remarks he made on a Fox News program in late October. With denunciations ringing nightly on Fox and from conservatives in Congress, the stations worried that they might be punished for the actions of Washington-based NPR, public radio's leading programming organization. Of particular concern: that the storm over Williams would affect contributions from listeners, corporations and local governments, which stations rely on to stay in business. Yet after an initial flurry of mostly angry e-mails and calls in the wake of the Oct. 20 firing of Williams, the controversy waned quickly and has all but disappeared, station managers say. More important, perhaps, is that few contributors revoked financial pledges made to the stations during fundraising drives held the week of Williams's firing.
benton.org/node/46611 | Washington Post
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CALM ACT IS LAW
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
President Barack Obama signed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act into law on Dec 15. The bill directs the Federal Communications Commission to regulate commercial volume per the Advanced Television Systems Committee's recommendations adopted last November. It gives cable operators and broadcasters a year from the law's adoption to comply.
benton.org/node/46605 | Broadcasting&Cable
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JOURNALISM

FOX ALTERS CLIMATE COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Media Matters for America, AUTHOR: Ben Dimiero]
In the midst of global climate change talks last December, a top Fox News official sent an email questioning the "veracity of climate change data" and ordering the network's journalists to "refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question." The directive, sent by Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon, was issued less than 15 minutes after Fox correspondent Wendell Goler accurately reported on-air that the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization announced that 2000-2009 was "on track to be the warmest [decade] on record."
benton.org/node/46530 | Media Matters for America
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NEWSPAPER REINVENTION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Peter Applebome]
At the new offices of The Register Citizen in this faded old mill town, there’s a sign out front welcoming residents to come in for coffee and muffins at the Newsroom Café -- sort of Starbucks meets “Lou Grant.” Mimeographed fliers reading “Public Welcome!” invite people to walk in and participate in the 4 p.m. story conference. Residents are free to stroll through the newsroom as reporters peck out stories. “I have no idea how this is going to work,” Emily M. Olson, the managing editor, said as 10 staff members were joined by a retiree moving to Florida, a public safety commissioner, a Democratic Town Committee member, and a Wal-Mart assistant store manager and intrepid blogger, who showed up for the meeting. “It’s all new to us, but if you hear something that piques your interest, feel free to share it with us.” Torrington, a city of 36,000 in northwestern Connecticut, pockmarked with abandoned mills, is not the first place that comes to mind as a brave outpost on the digital frontier. And The Register Citizen, with roots dating to 1874 and a print circulation that’s fallen from 21,000 in the late 1980s to 8,000 now, isn't an industry giant either. But when it moved Monday from its dilapidated 105-year-old home into a renovated factory space meant to embody a full-bore embrace of the Internet, it provided one metaphor for how journalism is trying to reinvent itself. If Torrington seems an unlikely locale, well, that’s the point.
benton.org/node/46615 | New York Times
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LOBBYING

CUPCAKE WALK
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
AT&T delivered 133 boxes of Georgetown Cupcake treats -- valued at a whopping $3,703 (plus tax and delivery charges) -- to Federal Communications Commission officials. A source said the cakes, featuring AT&T's logo, arrived Dec 15. Most of the boxes contained a dozen cakes, with a retail pricetag of $29. The offices of Chairman Julius Genachowski and all four commissioners each received a box of 12, as did the Office of Media Relations. The Office of General Counsel received two cartons (always best to stay on their good side) while the Enforcement Bureau received four boxes and two divisions of the Wireline Bureau pigged out on 54 cupcakes each. Public Knowledge spokesman Art Brodsky said the list was shared in good fun. "We attach no importance whatsoever" to AT&T's distribution of cupcakes, he quipped. But in a blog posting titled "Cupcakegate?," Robert Quinn, senior VP for federal regulatory at AT&T, accused the digital rights group of promoting an anti-cupcake agenda. "For many years AT&T has provided sweets to policymakers as well as journalists and others, who we work with daily.
benton.org/node/46581 | National Journal | The Hill | Public Knowledge | AT&T
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