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January 2011

Keeping Up With Community Radio

[Commentary] Commercial broadcasters are less than thrilled that they'll soon have new neighbors on the nation's radio spectrum. They're worried about keeping up with hundreds of new noncommercial Low Power FM (LPFM) stations that will soon launch.

Last month, after multiple failed attempts, Congress finally passed the Local Community Radio Act, freeing up the dial for new community radio stations (100 watts) with a three- to five-mile reach. (President Barack Obama signed the bill into law this month.) These new locally owned stations will be run by non-commercial and nonprofit groups, including schools, churches, civil rights and social justice organizations, and emergency responders. The new law is particularly helpful for urban areas, because it repealed past restrictions that kept LPFM stations out of cities. The fight for community radio spanned a decade, as big radio broadcasters tried to block the bill, claiming-despite numerous studies saying otherwise-that LPFM radio stations will cause interference with their signals.

Wanted: Mass digital literacy training for all higher ed students

In recent years, as enrollment in journalism schools has continued to grow, I listen as amusement as various folks scratch their heads in amazement. What could these people possibly be thinking? Don't they know the media is dying? Why are they signing up for a dead-end major? But I see it from a different view: To various degrees, everyone will be a content creator in the coming years. At the same time, as the number of content creators swells, and the platforms and volume of content explode, people will need to be equipped to wade through, evaluate, and critique what they read. People need to learn how to be both better creators and better consumers of media. These skills become more essential, more vital with every year. We talked about this idea back in 2007-8, when I was knee-deep in the Next Newsroom Project, I was spending a lot of time at Duke University. I felt that one of the most progressive things Duke could to would be to create a digital literacy requirement. When I attended Duke (1987-1991), we were all required to take a freshman writing class, to ensure that we came out with a baseline of writing skills, something considered essential for our professional success.

MEDIA LITERACY: The Younger the Better

When we think of media literacy, we often think of "knowing the news." Of comprehending current events. And this is true -- but media literacy is also about being able to discern what messages are being sent to you, tracking back to the original source of the messages, and determining what and who you can trust and why.

It demands a certain level of cognitive development and, in lot of ways, education and training. I'm not optimistic enough to think that, in many districts, there are time or resources to devote to additional courses, especially when so many students are missing the basics. But I do think that "media literacy" starts in the English classroom with concepts such as "critical reading"- but we should be taught more than just Author's Intent. We should be learning Advertiser's Intent. Assuming reasonable A/V and digital resources (which I do realize that not all schools have, but that's another issue altogether), there's no reason we couldn't devote a couple reading/writing classes a month (or more) to broadcast and online media. Swap out a poem for a commercial, and have students find hidden messages instead of recurring themes. Pop a brand's Facebook fan page onto the overhead and discuss why we feel compelled to answer their discussion questions or include them in our "like"s. I don't mean to suggest reading comprehension is any less important and I'd rather we have more than less, but we need to fit these discussions in somewhere and the Language Arts curricula seems like a logical place to start.

January 27, 2011 (Will FCC and Congress Sabotage Obama?)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2011

Mapping today's Headlines http://benton.org/headlines/map


WIRELESS
   Will FCC and Congress Sabotage Obama State of the Union High Tech Goals?
   Obama's wireless goal 'realistic,' Mobile Future chairman says
   NAB Says President's Wireless Plan Calls For More Holistic Approach
   What’s A POTUS SOTU Shout Out On Wireless Worth?
   White House wants to allocate D Block to public safety
   FCC Names TV White Space Database Administrators -- including Google
   Consumers Union wants more transparency on wireless charges
   FCC Approves LightSquared Request
   A loophole means unlimited data for AT&T iPhone
   Mobile app industry to surge in 2011: Gartner
   Coming next: Carry-along base station for travelers
   Ripples From the Cellphone’s Splash
   Class action suit against Apple over broken iPhone 4 glass

OWNERSHIP
   NBC Has Deal To Sell KWHY In LA
   See also: Broadcast Sector: Improved Profitability, Undervalued Stocks
   Vivendi Exits NBCU
   Hulu Reworks Its Script as Digital Change Hits TV
   Comcast and NBC News
   Larry Page's Google 3.0
   Google Blocks ‘Instant’ Results For BitTorrent, Cyberlocker Sites

CABLE
   NCTA: Broadband Video Migration Needs No FCC Push
   VOD Patent Suit Lodged Against Six Biggest U.S. Cable Operators
   Netflix now No. 2 video subscription service
   Netflix: ISPs Overcharging Subs With Tiered Data Plans

TELECOM
   Rep Terry Sees Role For Congress On USF Despite FCC Action

ELECTIONS & MEDIA
   22% of online Americans used social networking or Twitter for politics in 2010 campaign
   House Approves Repealing Public Financing of Presidential Campaigns

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   US Pushes Internet Freedom on Social Media
   Rep Bono Mack Resolution Urges White House To Keep UN Away From Internet
   House, Senate Judiciary chairs clash over extending online spy provisions
   Obama No Longer Leads The Pack On Social Media
   State of the Union, the Digital Party
   Full Presidential Speech Got an Unscripted Leak

GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
   President's Order on Regulatory Review Does Not Apply to FCC, FTC

PRIVACY
   Justice Department Wants ISPs To Turn Over More User Data
   House, Senate Judiciary chairs clash over extending online spy provisions
   Sen Wyden proposes mobile-privacy legislation
   The Real Privacy Threat Is From Offline (Not Online) Marketers
   PrivacyStar mobile app users have filed 100,000 complaints with FTC over telemarketers

CYBERSECURITY
   25 Years of Digital Vandalism
   From Bullets to Megabytes

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   US Pushes Internet Freedom on Social Media
   EU clears Intel's purchase of McAfee
   Canada wages YouTube war against metered Internet billing - video
   BBC, Facing Budget Cuts, Will Trim World Service and Lay Off 650

HEALTH
   Study: EHRs and CDS don't improve care

CONTENT
   Rep Baca wants to slap warning labels on violent games
   Newspaper Web Sites Reach 62% of Online Population
   Kindle Singles

MORE ONLINE
   Rep Matsui will co-chair High Tech Caucus
   Americans Spend Twice As Much Time on Facebook As Twitter
   DVRs Approaching Critical Mass, Finally
   The Battle Over TV Channel 6 and LPTVs Used for FM Radio Broadcasts
   Rabbis buy ad targeting Fox News
   Recording industry thanks Rep Berman with fundraiser at Grammys

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WIRELESS

FCC, CONGRESS AND SOTU GOALS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
{Commentary] Congressional opponents want to cripple the Federal Communications Commission’s ability to support broadband by using the dubious “government takeover of the Internet” meme. In doing so, members of Congress are only hurting those constituencies which could benefit from the FCC actively working to promote deployment of broadband. No matter, though. The rhetorical points, even if demonstrably silly, will still gain traction with less informed legislators who care more about preventing non-existent takeovers than helping the economy. The “government takeover of the Internet” nonsense only helps the incumbent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) take control of the Internet, but few in Congress seem concerned about that. President Barack Obama was right on target when he pointed out: “Our infrastructure used to be the best, but our lead has slipped. South Korean homes now have greater Internet access than we do.” The incumbent protectors in Congress are doing a great job helping us slip further behind, but are doing nothing to help the US get ahead. According to the latest “State of the Internet” quarterly report from Akamai, the U.S. ranks 12th in broadband speeds, with South Korea leading the way. Of the top cities with highest broadband speeds, South Korea claimed 12 (including the top 11), Japan 8, and the best U.S. city was 57th. The picture isn't pretty, and it gets uglier when one realizes that the slippage comes when the broadband carriers are totally deregulated. There is no excuse for the regulatory structure holding them back. There are no regulatory incentives not to invest, thus proving the point that crimping the FCC, as the Congressional opponents want to do, has nothing to do with broadband performance. It’s all on the companies, large and small, to do as the will. Or won't. If the Obama Administration really wants to improve broadband competitiveness, it should take a more active role, rather than sit back and let the companies which have let us down drive the process to becoming competitive again.
benton.org/node/48879 | Public Knowledge
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NAB RESPONDS TO SOTU
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith says President Barack Obama is right to make wireless build out to rural America a priority, and that that argues for not putting too much emphasis on spectrum reclamation. The FCC is looking to move broadcasters off spectrum in population centers, like the Eastern Seaboard corridor, to free up room for more wireless broadband. But Smith interpreted the President's remarks as suggesting a more balanced approach. "We agree with the White House that wireless broadband infrastructure build-out to rural America is the key to job creation," he said, "and NAB believes the President's vision deserves as much attention as reallocating broadcast spectrum to wireless carriers in urban markets. We encourage Congress to consider a holistic approach to the wireless broadband issue, including passage of spectrum inventory legislation that fully identifies fallow or warehoused airwaves."
benton.org/node/48877 | Broadcasting&Cable
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WHITE HOUSE SUPPORTS D BLOCK ALLOCATION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
TR Daily reported: "During a meeting with public safety leaders yesterday, Vice President Biden and other top administration officials announced their plan to support D-block reallocation," the article said. "The vice president said the administration would recommend that between $10 billion and $13 billion be appropriated to construct a nationwide public safety network, but he also mentioned that $10.5 billion would be reserved for the network from incentive auctions, according to public safety and industry sources. Administration officials said details of the plan would be announced in the fiscal year 2012 budget request to be released in February." That meshes with a bill introduced by Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) but clashes with what the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) originally recommended for this block of spectrum.
benton.org/node/48918 | Hill, The
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WHITE SPACE ADMINISTRATORS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission has designated nine entities -- Comsearch, Frequency Finder Inc., Google Inc., KB Enterprises LLC and LS Telcom, Key Bridge Global LLC, Neustar Inc., Spectrum Bridge Inc., Telcordia Technologies, and WSdb LLC -- as TV bands device database administrators. The TV bands databases will be used by fixed and personal portable unlicensed devices to identify unused channels that are available at their geographic locations. This action will allow the designated administrators to develop the databases that are necessary to enable the introduction of this new class of broadband wireless devices in the TV spectrum.
benton.org/node/48884 | Federal Communications Commission
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WIRELESS TRANSPARENCY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
AT&T and Verizon haven't done enough to notify customers about recent changes to their wireless subscription agreements, according to a letter from Consumers Union. The nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports wrote to the chief executives of both firms along with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski urging them to step up their efforts to inform customers about the changes to their wireless plans. “In light of the tough economic times many consumers are facing, these companies need to provide greater transparency in, and disclosure of, these new plans and terms of service,” said policy counsel Parul Desai. According to Consumers, AT&T has dropped two limited text messaging plans, leaving customers with the option of paying $10 a month for 1000 messages or $20 a month for unlimited texts. AT&T is also cutting off its upgrade discount program, which gave customers $50 to $100 off a new phone every two years.
benton.org/node/48856 | Hill, The
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LIGHTSQUARED GETS OK
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission adopted an order granting LightSquared Subsidiary LLC (LightSquared), a Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) licensee in the L-Band, a conditional waiver of the Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) "integrated service" rule. On November 18, 2010, LightSquared submitted an application for modification of its existing ATC authorization, asserting that the services it plans to offer would meet the Commission's integrated service requirements for MSS/ATC for L-Band MSS systems. In considering LightSquared's request, and in granting this waiver, the FCC considered several factors, including LightSquared's provision of substantial satellite service in the L-Band, its ongoing efforts to coordinate with other L-Band operators and make substantial investments to rationalize operations in the L-Band to enable use of this spectrum for both MSS and ATC broadband services, the steps it has taken to promote an MSS/ATC marketplace that includes dual-mode satellite/terrestrial devices, and its deployment of a 4G satellite/terrestrial network in the L-Band pursuant to unique and substantial terrestrial buildout requirements. The FCC attached conditions to the waiver, drawn from commitments made by LightSquared in its request, to ensure that LightSquared's proposed service offering - both its improved satellite service and its ancillary terrestrial component - will achieve the purposes of the integrated service rule. The FCC also attached conditions to address concerns that commenters and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have raised about potential interference with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers.
NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling said, "We are pleased that the FCC has taken our recommendation and is requiring that the potential interference concerns be addressed before LightSquared begins offering commercial broadband service. We will continue to work in consultation with the FCC, government agencies, and industry to ensure that any harmful interference concerns are resolved.”
benton.org/node/48854 | Federal Communications Commission
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UNLIMITED PLANS FOR SOME AT&T CUSTOMERS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Peter Svensson]
Verizon Wireless will start offering the iPhone on Feb. 10 with a draw that AT&T no longer offers to new subscribers: a plan with unlimited data usage. But some AT&T iPhone users on limited plans won't need to move to Verizon for all-you-can-eat data. In an unadvertised loophole, AT&T has allowed subscribers who have had an unlimited data plan in the past to switch back. That includes anyone who had an iPhone before June, when the limited plans took effect. The company has allowed iPhone and smart-phone users with unlimited-data plans to keep them when upgrading directly to a new phone. It's the option to return to an unlimited plan after going limited that's been secret.
benton.org/node/48880 | Associated Press
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OWNERSHIP

NBC SELLING LA TV STATION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
NBCU will sell its Spanish-language independent KWHY-TV Los Angeles to investment company The Meruelo Group, subject to Federal Communications Commission approval. The agreement comes before the planned Jan. 28 close of the Comcast joint venture agreement. Terms were not disclosed; Telemundo paid $239 million when it bought the station in 2001. NBC had originally asked the commission for a temporary, six-month extension of its waiver of the FCC ownership rules to continue owning three stations in the market. The station group promised that within six months of the NBCU-Comcast deal's close, it would either sell KWHY, one of its three stations there, or put it in a trust. But it subsequently indicated it did not need the waiver and would get a deal done. The company also pledged to try and find a minority buyer as one of a number of pledges by Comcast/NBCU to promote diversity in programming and ownership. NBCU will put the station in a separate trust, Bahia Honday LLC, upon closing of the merger. The trust will handle the sale and regulatory approval process. The deal is expected to be done by midyear.
benton.org/node/48850 | Broadcasting&Cable
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HULU REWORKS SCRIPT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sam Schechner, Jessica Vascellaro]
Just as the digital wave transforms the television industry, Hulu, a pioneer of Internet TV, is in internal discussions to dramatically transform itself. The free online television service has become one of the most-watched online video properties in the U.S. and a top earner of web-video ad dollars since its 2008 launch. But its owners -- industry powerhouses NBC Universal, News Corp. and Walt Disney Co.—are increasingly at odds over Hulu's business model. Worried that free Web versions of their biggest TV shows are eating into their traditional business, the owners disagree among themselves, and with Hulu management, on how much of their content should be free. Fox Broadcasting owner News Corp. and ABC owner Disney are contemplating pulling some free content from Hulu, say people familiar with the matter. The media companies are also moving to sell more programs to Hulu competitors that deliver television over the Internet, including Netflix, Microsoft and Apple. And in what would be a major shift in direction, Hulu management has discussed recasting Hulu as an online cable operator that would use the Web to send live TV channels and video-on-demand content to subscribers, say people familiar with the talks. The new service, which is still under discussion, would mimic the bundles of channels now sold by cable and satellite operators.
benton.org/node/48925 | Wall Street Journal
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NEW CHEFS FOR THE NBC NEWS STEW
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
Keith Olbermann may have unwittingly done Comcast a favor last week when MSNBC's most popular commentator startled audiences by announcing that he had just hosted his last show on the cable news network. Sure, it was awkward for Comcast. Many of Olbermann's fans wondered whether the No. 1 cable and broadband provider — heady from winning federal approval to buy NBC Universal — secretly elbowed out the best-known liberal voice on television. Comcast denied any involvement. But the widespread suspicions provided Comcast brass with a bracing reminder that they'll start playing a new ballgame on Friday when they close their deal with General Electric for 51% of a joint venture that includes NBC Universal. Once that happens, Comcast will face a level of public scrutiny and criticism unlike anything it ever experienced. Comcast isn't simply becoming the nation's most powerful media and entertainment giant, with assets in broadcast and cable TV, movies, the Internet and theme parks. The company is becoming television's dominant newscaster, with enormous influence on civic life. Comcast will control the No. 1 evening newscast (The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams), morning newscast (The Today Show), and Sunday talk show (Meet the Press). On cable, CNBC is the leading source of business news, while MSNBC focuses on politics. NBC's national news operations generated about $1.8 billion in revenue in 2009, with 60% coming from cable.
benton.org/node/48922 | USAToday
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GOOGLE 3.0
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Brad Stone]
Welcome to Google 3.0. In the 1.0 era, which ran from 1996 to 2001, Larry Page and Sergey Brin incubated the company at Stanford University and in a Menlo Park (CA) garage. In 2001 they ushered in the triumphant 2.0 era by hiring Eric Schmidt, a tech industry grown-up who'd been CEO of Novell. Now comes the third phase, led by Page and dedicated to rooting out bureaucracy and rediscovering the nimble moves of youth. The creative chaos inside Google's halls—a decentralized jungle of innovation, as one prominent venture capitalist puts it—once empowered employees to make bold moves, such as creating Gmail, the search-based e-mail system. Other than Android, the culture has recently produced a string of flops, such as Google Buzz, a Twitter clone, and Google Wave, a wonky service that let people collaborate online. Page doesn't explicitly blame those missteps on the company's loosely knit management or the famous troika at the top. Yet he concedes, "We do pay a price for [shared decision-making], in terms of speed and people not necessarily knowing where they go to ask questions." His elevation to CEO, he says, "is really a clarification of our roles. I think it will help with our speed."
benton.org/node/48915 | Bloomberg
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CABLE

NCTA ON ALLVID
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association suggests that the free market forces behind video's move to broadband have outpaced the Federal Communications Commission's attempt to put its shoulder to that wheel. The cable organization says video is already moving online without the government having to step in and mandate a technological path via its AllVid inquiry. The FCC has been looking to put out a rulemaking proposal in the first quarter. The FCC is looking to create a gateway device that weds over-the-air, over-the-wire and over-the-top video as a way to drive broadband adoption, for one thing, but it could also potentially be used to disaggregate content and threaten the business model of those, like cable operators, whose business is to aggregate and deliver content. In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, NCTA president Kyle McSlarrow reiterated that the marketplace is where that box should evolve, rather than from a government technology mandate that could jeopardize a system already meeting consumer demand. "The fact that tens of millions of tablets, game consoles, Internet-connected TVs, and other smart, video-capable devices have been sold and will be sold means that the Commission no longer needs to ‘create' a retail market for navigation devices," McSlarrow wrote. "Instead, the Commission should focus on ‘keeping the runway clear' of impediments and unnecessary rules that could slow these exciting developments."
benton.org/node/48893 | Multichannel News
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NETFLIX'S GROWTH
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Ben Fritz]
Netflix reported strong subscriber and revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2010, driving past its own predictions and Wall Street expectations and sending its already sky-high stock up 8% in after-hours trading. The DVD-by-mail and online video company surpassed 20 million subscribers at the end of the year, making it the No. 2 video subscription company in the country, behind only cable giant Comcast. Based on current trends, it should surpass Comcast by mid-2011.
benton.org/node/48934 | Los Angeles Times
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NETFLIX'S GROWTH
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Ryan Lawler]
In a statement issued along with today’s earnings announcement, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said: “An independent negative issue for Netflix and other Internet video providers would be a move by wired ISPs to shift consumers to pay-per-gigabyte models instead of the current unlimited-up-to-a-large-cap approach. We hope this doesn't happen, and will do what we can to promote the unlimited-up-to-a- large-cap model. Wired ISPs have large fixed costs of building and maintaining their last mile network of residential cable and fiber. The ISPs’ costs, however, to deliver a marginal gigabyte, which is about an hour of viewing, from one of our regional interchange points over their last mile wired network to the consumer is less than a penny, and falling, so there is no reason that pay-per-gigabyte is economically necessary. Moreover, at $1 per gigabyte over wired networks, it would be grossly overpriced.” That means that ISPs introducing tiered data plans could be overcharging subscribers by up to 100 percent. Netflix also takes issue with the way that some ISPs treat traffic coming into their network. While Netflix doesn't call out Comcast by name, the country’s largest cable provider recently got into a spat with Level 3, one of Netflix’s content delivery networks. That fight resulted in Comcast asking Level 3 to pay higher interconnection fees for connecting to Comcast’s last-mile network.
benton.org/node/48904 | GigaOm | ars technica
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TELECOM

USF REFORM IN THE HOUSE
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Rep. Lee Terry (R-Nebraska) will move ahead with legislation that would overhaul the universal service fund, which subsidizes telecommunications in rural and high-cost areas, even though the Federal Communications Commission is moving forward on its own reform effort. Rep Terry was given the go ahead this week to begin working on the issue by House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), "It's on the to-do list" for this Congress, said Rep Terry, vice chairman of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee. When asked if Congress needs to act given that the FCC has indicated it will take on the issue, Rep Terry said there are issues that the FCC can not tackle without legislative authority. He said they include expanding the pool of contributors who pay into the USF.
benton.org/node/48872 | National Journal
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA

SOCIAL NETWORKING AND ELECTIONS
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Aaron Smith]
Some 21% of online adults used social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace in the months leading up to the November, 2010 elections to connect to the campaign or the election itself, and 2% of online adults did so using Twitter. That works out to a total of 22% of adult Internet users who engaged with the political campaign on Twitter or social networking sites in at least one of the following ways:
11% of online adults discovered on a social networking site who their friends voted for in the November elections
9% of online adults received candidate or campaign information on social networking sites or Twitter
8% of online adults posted political content on Twitter or a social networking site
7% of online adults friended a candidate or political group on a social networking site, or followed them on Twitter
7% of online adults started or joined a political group on a social networking site
1% of online adults used Twitter to follow the election results as they were happening
Republicans, who lagged behind Democrats in the 2008 campaign in some key aspects of social media use, caught up to Democrats in the midterm election cycle. The “political social media user” cohort represented by these 22% of Internet users voted for Republican congressional candidates over Democratic candidates by a 45%-41% margin, and Republicans’ enthusiasm for using social media matched that of Democrats. Among social networking site users, 40% of Republican voters and 38% of Democratic voters used these sites to get involved politically. Further, Tea Party supporters were especially likely to friend a candidate or political group on a social networking site during the 2010 election—22% of such users did this, significantly higher than all other groups.
benton.org/node/48914 | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

POLITICS AND SOCIAL MEDIA
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Ari Shapiro]
The White House took what can best be described as a "blitzkrieg" approach to social media for President Obama's State of the Union address. There were live question-and-answer sessions, Twitter exchanges and the president will take questions via YouTube. Of course, the Obama social media operation was a juggernaut during the 2008 campaign. On Facebook and Twitter, in text messages and on YouTube, there was no comparison between Republicans and Democrats. So the reality just two years later is striking: In social media, Republicans have caught up. That's the conclusion of a report released by the Pew Research Center. "Lots more people — including Republicans, independents, supporters of the Tea Party — are just as active in this space as Democrats used to be," says Lee Rainie, director of Pew's Internet and American Life Project. "So the Democratic advantage, in some sense, is being washed away by the mainstreaming of the populations who are using these tools."
benton.org/node/48897 | National Public Radio
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THE DIGITAL SOTU
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: EB Boyd]
If you have a television and you’re a civic-minded sort, you probably plonked down in front of CNN (or the networks, or Fox, or the like) last night and watched President Obama’s State of the Union address (and the Republican response, or maybe even the Tea Party response) old-school style--on the boob tube with a remote in one hand and a beer in the other. But if TV was your only game last night, you missed out. The real party was online. It was a massive demonstration of how the conversation in politics is shifting, from a one-way affair controlled jointly by politicians and the media, to both a two-way dialogue between pols and constituents and a many-to-many free-for-all between any and all who care to dive in.
benton.org/node/48837 | Fast Company
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GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE

REGULATORY REVIEW DOES NOT APPLY TO INDEPENDENT AGENCIES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Cass Sunstein, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Management and Budget, testified before the House Commerce Committee's Oversight Subcommittee on Jan 26. He said President Barack Obama's new executive order calling for government agency regulatory review does not apply to independent agencies including the Federal Communications and the Federal Trade Commission. Sunstein said President Obama was following the lead of Republican President Ronald Reagan, who he said began the practice of not applying executive orders to independent regulatory agencies out of concern for overreaching executive branch authority. Sunstein said that practice had been followed by subsequent presidents. He conceded that OIRA did oversee information gathering, including from those independent agencies, per the Paperwork Reduction Act. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chair of the House Commerce Committee, suggested the issue needed to be studied and perhaps some action taken. "No agencies should be exempt," he said. Committee Republicans talked about the explosion of regulations under the Obama administration, while Sunstein countered that the number of regulations was about the same as the last two years of the Bush administration. Ranking Committee Member Henry Waxman (D-CA) said it looked like the Republicans were repeating their 1995 "all-out assault" on regulations. He warned against painting the issue with too broad a brush. He said he believed in eliminating unnecessary regulations, but that regulations also grow the economy and preserve the environment. He called myths the suggestion that regulations destroy jobs and stymie the economy.
benton.org/node/48858 | Broadcasting&Cable
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PRIVACY

JUSTICE WANTS ISP DATA
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Joe Mullin]
There’s a vigorous privacy debate in Washington, spurred by the Federal Trade Commission and others, that is questioning whether Internet companies have too much data about users’ net-browsing activities. The House Judiciary Committee looked like a parallel universe Jan 25 -- although nobody seemed to recognize the irony. A lawyer from the Department of Justice told Congress that in order to hunt down child pornographers and other criminals, Internet service providers need to retain data, such as records of which users are at which IP addresses, for a much longer period -- perhaps a year. That would be a big change for ISPs, which have varying data-retention practices and aren't currently required to hold data at all, although most do for a short period. Politicians from both parties were annoyed by the DOJ request, but mainly because it lacked specifics.
benton.org/node/48866 | paidContent.org
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OFFLINE MARKETERS AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Andrew Pancer]
[Commentary] Congress and the media have been all over the online community about risks to privacy and the need for more transparency, notice and choice, and there, of course, has been talk of new “Do Not Track” rules. But is the relentless focus on Internet marketers deflecting attention from more worrisome practices in the offline world? Offline marketers collect and share more information on consumers than their online counterparts do -- and it’s more cumbersome for consumers in the offline world to effect change to those practices. Unlike offline marketers, the vast majority of online marketers simply don't collect personally identifiable information, or PII, unless there is an explicit opt-in from consumers.
benton.org/node/48867 | paidContent.org
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

INTEL-MCAFEE JUMPS EUROPEAN HURDLE
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Jennifer Baker]
The European Union's competition authorities have cleared Intel's proposed acquisition of McAfee subject to certain conditions. The European Commission had conducted an investigation into the planned deal amid fears that rival IT security products could be excluded from the marketplace due to Intel's strong position in the global computer chip market. The concern was that Intel would build security functions into its chips that would only work with McAfee products. However, to alleviate those concerns, Intel made commitments to the Commission earlier this month that it would ensure the interoperability of the merged entity's products with those of competitors. The Commission indicated that those promises had been sufficient and decided to approve the acquisition rather than continue with a further four-month probe. The approval is conditional upon Intel's commitments to ensure fair competition between the parties and their competitors in the field of computer security.
benton.org/node/48869 | IDG News Service
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CANADA'S UBB WAR
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Canadians hate metered Internet pricing, or Usage Based Billing (UBB) as they call it -- letting the dominant Internet Service Providers charge broadband subscribers and smaller competitive ISPs by the quantity of data use. That's a practice that the government regulator, the Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), approved for Bell Canada in September.
benton.org/node/48853 | Ars Technica | Stop the Meter video 1 | Stop the Meter video 2
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HEALTH

NEW EHR STUDY
[SOURCE: HealthcareITNews, AUTHOR: Mike Miliard]
A new study by a Stanford University Research team, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, has found that current usage of EHR and clinical decision support technology may improve administrative efficiency but does "not appear to translate into better outpatient quality of care." The three-year study, titled Electronic Health Records and Clinical Decision Support Systems: Impact on National Ambulatory Care Quality, was coauthored by Randall S. Stafford, MD, PhD, and Max J. Romano, who examined data from more than 250,000 ambulatory visits between 2005 and 2007. EHRs were in use for roughly 30 percent of those visits, with clinical decision support used for about 17 percent of them. The pair's findings could be seen as a splash of cold water for the healthcare IT industry ­ and the federal government intent on spurring widespread EHR adoption with billions in financial incentives.
benton.org/node/48840 | HealthcareITNews
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CYBERSECURITY

DIGITAL VANDALISM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: William Gibson]
[Commentary] The road to our present universe teeming with viruses, worms and Trojan horses was paved, a quarter-century ago this month, with the Alvi brothers’ good intentions of securing their intellectual property. Virus-writers seemed, at least at first, to be in it for anything but money. The outcome was simply vandalism, as dull as someone smashing out the light fixtures in a bus shelter. Random bits of software or pieces of equipment would temporarily quit functioning. Random strangers were anonymously discommoded. Somewhere, I assumed, someone had a rather abstract giggle. Should the lights go out in our online bus shelters one day, or some critical control system go spectacularly awry, it may in a sense, however distantly, be because Israel found a way to shut down Iran’s centrifuges. But in another way it will be the result of a bright idea two brothers once had, in the vicinity of Lahore Railway Station, to innocently clamp a digital pirate’s wheel.
benton.org/node/48928 | New York Times
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BULLETS TO MEGABYTES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Richard Falkenrath]
[Commentary] Stuxnet, the computer worm that last year disrupted many of the gas centrifuges central to Iran’s nuclear program, is a powerful weapon in the new age of global information warfare. A sophisticated half-megabyte of computer code apparently accomplished what a half-decade of United Nations Security Council resolutions could not. This new form of warfare has several implications that are only now becoming apparent, and that will define the shape of what will likely become the next global arms race — albeit one measured in computer code rather than firepower. Stuxnet also raises sticky and perhaps irresolvable legal questions. At present there is no real legal framework for adjudicating international cyberattacks; even if victims could determine who was responsible, their governments have few options outside of diplomatic complaints and, perhaps, retaliation in kind. An international entity that could legislate or enforce an information warfare armistice does not exist, and is not really conceivable. By explicitly authorizing these offensive operations in appropriate, defined circumstances, a new statute would strengthen the president’s power to provide for the common defense in cyberspace. Doing so wouldn't answer all the questions that this new era of warfare presents. But one thing is sure: as bad as this arms race will be, losing it would be even worse. [Falkenrath was deputy homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush]
benton.org/node/48926 | New York Times
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Ripples From the Cellphone’s Splash

The cellphone is beginning to have the kind of impact on industry that has been seen with only a few products, like the car or big kitchen appliances. The ripple effect showed up this week in a number of corporate earnings reports.

Corning said that its quarterly profit surged 41 percent, in part because of rising sales of its unusually strong Gorilla Glass, which is used in smartphone displays. Gorilla Glass, which is used in roughly 200 million mobile devices, produced about $250 million in revenue for Corning in 2010. James B. Flaws, the company’s chief financial officer, told analysts that Gorilla Glass could generate $1 billion in revenue this year.

Kodak reported its earnings and noted that quarterly revenue from its digital business, which includes its camera unit, slid 25 percent from a year ago. Kodak executives partly blamed competition from cellphones, which are causing serious trouble in the market for low-end point-and-shoot digital cameras, the type that Kodak makes.

Netflix now No. 2 video subscription service

Netflix reported strong subscriber and revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2010, driving past its own predictions and Wall Street expectations and sending its already sky-high stock up 8% in after-hours trading. The DVD-by-mail and online video company surpassed 20 million subscribers at the end of the year, making it the No. 2 video subscription company in the country, behind only cable giant Comcast. Based on current trends, it should surpass Comcast by mid-2011.

Class action suit against Apple over broken iPhone 4 glass

California resident Donald LeBuhn filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday against Apple alleging that Apple's iPhone 4 has a manufacturing defect that causes its glass housing to break after "reasonable use."

In the filing, LeBuhn's attorneys tell their client's tale of iPhone 4 woe: When his daughter was using the phone to send a text message, she dropped it from a height of 3 feet, and the phone's glass allegedly shattered. The phone had a protective bumper on it when it was dropped, the suit said. LeBuhn then took the phone to a mom and pop Apple repair store so he could save $50 on the $159 re-glassing job. But because the outlet was not one of Apple's own, his warranty was voided. LeBuhn is peeved because of what he perceives as Apple's frequent claims about the strength and durability of the iPhone's glass. LeBuhn is suing for a variety of monetary damages, attorney's fees, and injunctions attempting to force Apple to contact all iPhone 4 owners to notify them of their "options to replace the damaged glass" -- including the right to a refund and "compensatory damages."

BBC, Facing Budget Cuts, Will Trim World Service and Lay Off 650

Facing a 16 percent reduction in its budget, the BBC World Service said that it would close 5 of its 32 language services and reduce its work force by about a quarter, cutting around 650 jobs over the next three years.

The BBC is facing deep cuts in spending over the next several years, and this week announced that it would cut 25 percent, or $54 million, from its online budget. But it hastened to point out that it was the government, which is responsible for financing the World Service through the Foreign Office, that made the decision to cut the budget so sharply in this case. The cuts include the closing of the Macedonian, Serbian and Albanian services, as well as broadcasts in English for the Caribbean and in Portuguese for Africa. The broadcaster also intends to cut radio broadcasts to China, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, and to cease evening radio broadcasts in Arabic. In addition, the service will cut off radio programming in Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Turkish, Vietnamese, Ukrainian and Azeri, the official language of Azerbaijan, as well as radio broadcasts to Cuba in Spanish. The BBC pledged that it would reverse the cuts in 2014, when it takes over responsibility for financing the World Service from the Foreign Office.

Full Presidential Speech Got an Unscripted Leak

Two hours before President Obama delivered his State of the Union address, something happened that seemed without precedent: A full-length draft of the speech was posted on a news Web site without White House knowledge.

And for a moment, one of the most scripted acts of Washington stagecraft was thrown off balance. The leak of the speech, which appeared on NationalJournal.com at 7:14 p.m., even prompted a wry quip from President Obama. “I don't need to deliver it now,” he said to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. “Everybody saw it.” White Houses ordinarily dribble out carefully selected excerpts from the State of the Union address before the evening network newscasts as a way to try to frame how the speech is discussed in the news media. They will then release the full text, typically with the disclaimer “as prepared for delivery,” a few minutes before the speech begins. But the National Journal forced the White House’s hand, prompting the press office to send out the full text of the speech just before 8 p.m. — more than an hour before the president started delivering his remarks. And that allowed cable news commentators and bloggers to scan it and emphasize whatever caught their eye.

25 Years of Digital Vandalism

[Commentary] The road to our present universe teeming with viruses, worms and Trojan horses was paved, a quarter-century ago this month, with the Alvi brothers’ good intentions of securing their intellectual property.

Virus-writers seemed, at least at first, to be in it for anything but money. The outcome was simply vandalism, as dull as someone smashing out the light fixtures in a bus shelter. Random bits of software or pieces of equipment would temporarily quit functioning. Random strangers were anonymously discommoded. Somewhere, I assumed, someone had a rather abstract giggle. Should the lights go out in our online bus shelters one day, or some critical control system go spectacularly awry, it may in a sense, however distantly, be because Israel found a way to shut down Iran’s centrifuges. But in another way it will be the result of a bright idea two brothers once had, in the vicinity of Lahore Railway Station, to innocently clamp a digital pirate’s wheel.

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