April 20, 2011 (AT&T/T-Mobile merger hurts poor)
"The government has no business making any recommendations as to how to enhance the quality of local TV news."
-- Kathleen Kirby, Radio Television Digital News Association
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2011
Learn about USDA broadband funding today in Denver http://benton.org/node/54419
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
AT&T/T-Mobile merger hurts poor - op-ed
CWA's Reasons for Backing AT&T|T-Mobile Deal
Who Will Blink First Over TV Spectrum? Obama Administration Battles Broadcasters - analysis
Rep Issa: No auction authority for FCC unless network neutrality is repealed
Tech, recording, wireless companies endorse Eshoo/Issa resolution
Sprint Agrees to Pay Clearwire $1 Billion for Use of Network
How new Internet standards will finally deliver a mobile revolution
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC poised to give broadband deployment a failing grade
EU Again Holds Off On New Network Neutrality Rules
Rural Telecos Suggest Solutions on Universal Service Reform
Public Knowledge and Benton Foundation Want Universal Service To Be Universal - press release
Satellite Operators Want Piece Of FCC Broadband Fund
NCTA: FCC Should Shift $2 Billion In Phone Subsidies To Broadband By 2015
TELEVISION
Internet-Connected TV Scores With Netflix Users
Web TV? Xbox, Verizon, Others Appear to Be up for the Challenge
What if Kathleen Kirby was Calling the Shots? [links to web]
DirecTV to launch premium video on demand Thursday with 'Just Go With It' [links to web]
PRIVACY
Kerry-McCain Bill Must Reexamine Privacy Issue - op-ed
FTC Chairman Leibowitz: Google should step up on privacy [links to web]
CONTENT
FTC asks court to shut down fake news sites [links to web]
NBC Sports Wins $2 Billion NHL Faceoff [links to web]
Online poker: Federal crackdown is a bad bet - editorial [links to web]
UK gets green light to tackle online piracy [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
China set to surpass U.S. in PC purchases
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Sharpening Online Tools for 2012
Why Obama is turning back to TV, despite big success in new media
LOBBYING
Facebook Seeking Friends in Beltway
Why Tech Firms Find Allies Late in Washington
MORE ONLINE
GOP standing firm on Web gambling ban [links to web]
The Dawning of a New Age [links to web]
Giusti Leaving FCC for GSMA [links to web]
Cloud Computing's Tipping Point [links to web]
Students social media to aid careers, poll finds [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
AT&T MERGER HURTS THE POOR
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Malkia Cyril]
[Commentary] Monopoly can be a terrific game to play with the kids at home. But there are strict rules and guidelines that prevent us from playing the game in the business world and rightly so. In business, a monopoly means one thing: the rich get richer, while the poor get left behind. Last week, the Federal Communications Commission began its review of AT&T’s proposed merger with T-Mobile. The investigation will analyze the effect this merger could have on market consolidation and overall spectrum management. The Justice Department will focus on whether or not the deal accords with antitrust laws. But the FCC and Justice must analyze more than the effect this merger could have on the nameless market; they must give serious consideration to the people who could be most affected. Like in Monopoly, AT&T is trying to buy the best real estate on the block. If the FCC and Justice allow this merger of telecom giants to happen, it will be consumers particularly lower income and minority wireless users who won't be able to pass “Go” or collect $200.
benton.org/node/56433 | Politico
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T-MOBILE WAS GOING TO BE SOLD TO EITHER AT&T OR SPRINT AT&T IS THE BETTER OPTION
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: ]
Politco offers the Communications Workers of America's reasoning for backing AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. CWA says
Deutsche Telecom (DT) was shopping its T-Mobile subsidiary because it was unable to increase its subscriber base even after offering relatively cheap rate plans and smartphone promotions which, in turn, put pressure on its profits and longer term growth potential. Furthermore, DT was not willing to commit sufficient resources to fund the build-out of a fast 4-G network.
DT seriously explored a merger with Sprint and then a merger with AT&T.
T-Mobile was going to be sold to either AT&T or Sprint. AT&T is the better option for consumers and workers.
Sprint, CWA says, has an a strongly anti-union policy and takes a very active role in opposing efforts by workers to unionize. When bilingual call center workers sought to join CWA, Sprint closed the center and moved the work to Mexico. In addition, 70% of Sprint's customer contact workforce has been outsourced.
AT&T, on the other hand, has a "Neutral-Union Policy" and allows workers to make their own decisions about whether or not to be represented by unions.
benton.org/node/56404 | Politico
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WHO WILL BLINK?
[SOURCE: Dateline New York, AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
[Commentary] The Obama Administration wants television stations to give up some of their spectrum so it can be redeployed to offer Internet services to smartphones, iPads, and other mobile devices. The White House considers broadband to be the new national medium. But it sees a crisis coming with too little spectrum available to accommodate the millions who want to use portable devices to stream videos, data, entertainment and everything else. So the administration wants to free up 300 megahertz over the next five years, and 500 mhz over the next decade, for wireless Internet. (A smartphone typically uses 24 times more spectrum than a conventional cell phone uses, while a tablet computer uses 122 times more spectrum.) Without more wireless broadband capacity, there could have a perfect storm of dropped calls, dead zones, slow speeds, and high prices. To help do that, Federal Communications Commissioner Chairman Genachowski is offering a deal to TV stations ranging from big-city network O&Os to tiny independents in places like Peoria. It goes like this: voluntarily give up your spectrum, and the government will share the proceeds when it auctions the airwaves to a wireless broadband company.
Sounds fair? Not to the National Association Of Broadcasters. The airwaves that the FCC wants TV stations to give up are worth at least $33 billion -- but that's according to a study in February that was supported by two lobbying groups that have a lot at stake in wireless broadband: the Consumer Electronics Association and the cellular phone industry’s CTIA. The NAB says the estimate is bogus because it makes too many big assumptions. Yet there’s no doubt that there's a lot of money to be had.
True, Chairman Genachowski hasn't hesitated to compromise in other controversies. But he told the NAB gathering last week that “the costs now of delaying voluntary incentive auctions would be severe.” The FCC has the legal authority to simply take broadcast spectrum if it decided that it would serve the public interest. But it needs NAB help to win congressional approval to offer stations a deal. The law requires all cash from spectrum auctions to go to the U.S. Treasury. People in the know tell me too many TV stations want the cash they could collect by going along with Genachowski's plan. The big question for them is how big a cut they'll receive from an auction.
benton.org/node/56401 | Dateline New York
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ISSA PROPOSES INCENTIVE AUCTION AUTHORITY SWAY FOR NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said that unless the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) repeals its network neutrality regulations, House Republicans might be unwilling to grant the agency new power to move on its top priority: incentive spectrum auctions. "Until net neutrality is rolled back, I don't believe Congress is going to be willing to give the FCC any new power."
benton.org/node/56418 | Hill, The
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SUPPORT FOR ESHOO/ISSA RESOLUTION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
The recording, technology and wireless industries teamed up on to say Congress should not mandate cellphone makers to include radio chips on their devices. They endorsed a resolution from Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA), ranking member of the Communications subcommittee, and Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) that says just that. The chip mandate proposal originated as a way to resolve a long-term dispute between the broadcasters and recording studios. Last year, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) signaled a willingness to support a chip mandate desired by broadcasters if radio stations would begin paying fees to musicians for airing their songs. But the chip proposal was quickly panned by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and wireless companies and failed to gain traction on Capitol Hill.
benton.org/node/56422 | Hill, The
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SPRINT-CLEARWIRE DEAL
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Greg Bensinger, Amy Thomson]
Sprint Nextel, the third- largest US wireless provider, agreed to pay Clearwire at least $1 billion for the use of its so-called fourth-generation network over the next two years. Clearwire will get $300 million this year, $550 million in 2012, as well as pre-payments of $175 million over at least the next two years. The agreement, which amends an existing deal, is good through November 2013. The deal lets Sprint keep offering wireless service that allows speedier Web browsing and video streaming than its own network. For unprofitable Clearwire, the agreement may provide less funding that some investors had expected, said Michael Nelson, a Mizuho Securities analyst. Sprint also agreed to new terms for prices based on usage of handsets, such as the Evo 4G. The carrier will be allowed to resell the 4G service, operating on a technology known as WiMax, to other carriers, the companies said. The deal resolves a disagreement over how much Clearwire could charge Sprint for use of its service, a dispute that emerged after Sprint began selling smartphones for the fourth- generation network in 2010. That disagreement may have discouraged some potential investors in Clearwire.
GigaOm notes that Sprint and Clearwire make no mention of WiMAX, the 4G technology employed by Clearwire, which leaves open a lot of questions about what 4G technology the two will rely on going forward. Sprint has been testing the more common, alternative 4G technology known as Long Term Evolution, and is reportedly working toward a migration to the technology, something that has been made easier by its network overhaul, which will swap in new multi-modal base stations that can easily support LTE equipment.
benton.org/node/56414 | Bloomberg | GigaOm
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A MOBILE REVOLUTION
[SOURCE: McKinsey Quarterly, AUTHOR: Bengi Korkmaz, Richard Lee, Ickjin Park]
An arcane-sounding change with potentially significant implications for consumers and businesses is under way on the Web: the shift to a new generation of HTML, the programming standard that underpins the Internet. Senior executives, regardless of industry, should take note; like the exponential growth of device-specific applications, this evolution of HTML will further boost the power of mobile devices, accelerating changes in the way people consume content and the potential use of smartphones and tablets as both a marketing platform and a productivity tool.
The next generation of the Internet standard essentially will allow programs to run through a Web browser rather than a specific operating system. That means consumers will be able to access the same programs and cloud-based content from any device -- personal computer, laptop, smartphone, or tablet -- because the browser is the common platform. This ability to work seamlessly anytime, anywhere, on any device could change consumer behavior and shift the balance of power in the mobile-telecommunications, media, and technology industries. It will create opportunities and present challenges. This article seeks to provide a primer on these changes for senior executives, who may feel the effects of the move toward “Web-centricity” much sooner than they think.
benton.org/node/56398 | McKinsey Quarterly
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC POISED TO GIVE BROADBAND A FAILING GRADE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to report this year that broadband providers are not deploying services in a reasonable and timely way to all Americans. FCC and industry officials said this year's 706 report, which is on circulation at the agency, will reach a conclusion similar to last year, finding the speed of broadband deployment unsatisfactory. The FCC gave broadband deployment a failing grade in 2010 after years of ruling that services were spreading quickly enough. The agency has since cited the 2010 findings to justify instances of government intervention. It used the report to help legally abed its net-neutrality regulations passed in December. This year's findings could rile House Republicans as well as phone and cable companies, who panned the FCC's findings last year.
benton.org/node/56431 | Hill, The
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EU AGAIN HOLDS OFF ON NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The European Commission said it still doesn't see a need for additional network neutrality rules at this point but has called on a European Union advisory committee to examine whether mobile operators are taking steps to block access to some Internet applications and content. In a report to the European Parliament, the commission, the EU's regulatory arm, called on the advisory committee made up of officials who regulate electronic commerce to investigate specific instances of discrimination of Internet content and applications by mobile operators and other broadband providers in Europe. The commission report noted that the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications detailed some concerns in a survey last year of its national regulators. The survey found examples of providers limiting the speed of certain peer-to-peer file-sharing or video streaming services in some countries, including France and Britain. It also found that some mobile operators in Austria, German, Italy and other countries were blocking or charging extra for access to Internet telephone services such as Skype.
benton.org/node/56407 | National Journal
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RURAL TELECOS ON USF REFORM
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Rahul Gaitonde]
The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) and the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO), in conjunction with 30 state and regional associations filed their recommendations to fix the Universal Service Fund at the Federal Communications Commission. Each of the groups agrees that the current Universal Service Fund needs to be updated to include broadband in addition to traditional telephony. They fear, however, that the Federal Communications Commission will move too quickly, stranding companies that have already invested heavily in providing telephone service to rural areas. The groups submitted a joint filing requesting the FCC to develop a cost-based system, which will slowly decrease USF support over an extended period. Firms need the extended time to recoup investment costs from the telephone systems and redirect investment to broadband deployment. The associations also requested that the FCC update the intercarrier compensation (ICC) regulations to confirm that Voice over IP (VoIP) providers must pay traditional phone companies to transfer their traffic.
benton.org/node/56413 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND REFORM
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposals to revamp the Universal Service Fund (USF) to provide broadband service will leave out many subscribers, Public Knowledge and the Benton Foundation told the Commission in comments filed late April 18. “For the first time in FCC history, ‘universal’ will come to mean “close enough,” PK and Benton told the Commission. Through the use of a “reverse auction” allowing carriers to bid to serve small service areas, carriers which want to provide universal service will be able to pick and choose which areas they want to serve, the filing said. “In seeking to connect those 8-10 percent of households left behind by the market, the Commission must not abandon some households simply because it is inconvenient to connect them,” PK and Benton said. “The whole purpose of designating geographic areas with minimum service requirements within each is to ensure that provision of service to high-cost areas can be cross-subsidized by serving low-cost areas as well. Drawing too fine a grid on currently unserved areas defeats this purpose, and will only allow bidders to skim off provision to the most profitable of the unserved areas,” PK and Benton said.
To solve the problem and allow service to be extended as far as possible, PK and Benton suggested that the USF be reconfigured to provide USF support to local communities which set up their own services in areas not sufficiently attractive to private companies. In addition, carriers receiving USF funds should be prohibited from offering “abusive terms of service” such as usage caps, while at the same time requiring that carriers not “prioritize or degrade specific applications or content” on their networks.
benton.org/node/56411 | Benton Foundation | read the comments
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SATELLITE'S USF COMMENTS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
A group of satellite broadband providers -- Dish Network, EchoStar Technologies, ViaSat/Wildblue Communications and Hughes Network Systems -- told the Federal Communications Commission that they should be allowed to participate in the Connect America Fund. The FCC is reforming the Universal Service Fund, which has been supporting traditional phone, to subsidizing broadband in unserved areas via the new Connect America Fund. According to the satellite operators, there are no technical reasons to exclude satellite broadband providers from obtaining funds under the revised regime. "Greater reliance on satellite broadband to achieve universal service goals is entirely consistent with the proposed principles," the satellite providers said in comments filed April 18. "The Administration and the Commission have made ubiquitous broadband a national priority, and satellite broadband providers hold the key to achieving these ambitious goals on a timely and cost-effective basis."
benton.org/node/56443 | Multichannel News
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BIG CABLE'S USF COMMENTS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
The National Cable and Telecommunications Association said the Federal Communications Commission should repurpose approximately $2 billion in support for rural phone carriers through the Universal Service Fund for broadband over a three-year period. The FCC is overhauling the USF program and solicited industry input on the creation of a Connect America Fund to subsidize broadband in unserved areas, and also is looking to reform the intercarrier compensation regime. NCTA said the commission should first immediately cap both the overall size of the Universal Service Fund and the amount of annual high-cost support at 2010 levels, as the FCC suggested in the proposed rule change. In comments filed April 18, the NCTA said shifting $2 billion in funds from 2012 to 2014 from the USF High Cost Program to a Connect America Fund would still leave roughly $2.5 billion in existing high-cost support for the three-year interim period.
benton.org/node/56441 | Multichannel News
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TELEVISION
NET-CONNECTED TVs
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wayne Friedman]
Although more U.S. homes have Internet-connected TVs, watching online video on TV is still a small entertainment activity -- unless your name is Netflix.
The Leichtman Research Group says that although 30% of U.S. homes now have a Internet-connected TV -- via a video game system, a Blu-ray player, and/or the TV set itself -- only 10% of those viewers are actually watching video weekly. This video activity is double what it was a year ago. But among those Net-connected TV homes that have Netflix, video weekly activity climbs to 30%. Taking Netflix out of the mix, only 3% of Net-connected TV homes watch some video weekly. Netflix's Watch Instantly service now reaches 12% of adults weekly, according to Leichtman -- that's three times the number of a year ago. Three-quarters of that group uses it to watch streaming TV shows and movies on their television sets. and 60% access Netflix via a video game system.
benton.org/node/56428 | MediaPost
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WEB TV
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Michael Learmonth]
A group of deep-pocketed companies, including Microsoft and Verizon, are exploring delivering TV service over the web, a move that could disrupt the economics of cable TV and lead to a new generation of "virtual" cable companies that provide TV without owning the pipe into the home. Microsoft has been in talks with TV networks about acquiring rights to provide a package of channels through Xbox in the US, in addition to the video-on-demand and Netflix Watch Instantly service it already carries through Xbox Live to 30 million users in the US. And Verizon is exploring how it could offer Fios TV service outside its wired footprint. And, separately, it's setting up a new business unit, Verizon Digital Media Services, to enable Fios and others to deliver live TV over the web to all net-connected devices. Neither is close to rolling out their own web TV service, but both are determined to secure the rights so that they have the option of doing so in the future. They're not alone: Cable operators are looking at web delivery to leap the confines of their wired network, and video-on-demand services such as Hulu, Apple and Amazon, as well as other brands not generally associated with TV, are looking to enter the TV market.
benton.org/node/56392 | AdAge
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PRIVACY
ADVERTISERS VIEW OF KERRY-MCCAIN
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Steve Minichini]
[Commentary] Senators Kerry and McCain recently unveiled legislation, "The Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011," is the latest attempt to strike a balance between protecting Americans' privacy online while fostering the continued growth of our economy and, specifically, of the online advertising and marketing industry. That's no small task, as consumers' and companies' -- indeed, the world's -- reliance upon the Internet and computers for communication increases. One of the most pressing issues to be tackled is the act of behavioral targeting, or BT, as it is called in the business. To many, the use of BT by marketers and others threatens a basic principle Americans hold dear: the right to privacy. The Kerry-McCain bill proposes a limit on marketers' ability to collect and share information about consumers without distinguishing between the type of information being collected: personally identifiable information (PII) or non-personally identifiable information (non-PII). That is a problem. Making a blanket statement about what is considered "private" data can be crushing to the industry and our economy. The reality is that not all tracking poses a serious problem for consumers. BT marketing is crucial to the growth of advertising and marketing. To eliminate it completely would not only harm advertisers' ability to communicate effectively to consumers, but also rob prospective consumers of a more relevant and user friendly Web surfing experience. [Minichini is president, interactive marketing, TargetCast tcm]
benton.org/node/56405 | MediaPost
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
CHINA SURPASSING US IN PC SALES
[SOURCE: ComputerWorld, AUTHOR: Patrick Thibodeau]
China is set to surpass the US in personal computer shipments either this year or the next, according to market estimates by analysts. When that PC market line is crossed, it will be one more benchmark illustrating the increasing spending power of China's 1.3 billion people. But China's growing PC market will also matter to US companies, particularly Microsoft. More than 95% of Chinese PCs today run Windows, and well over 80% of enterprises PCs are using Microsoft Office, Stuart McKee, the national technology officer in Microsoft's public sector, told a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on high-tech growth policies. "China will soon be the largest PC market in the world," said McKee, in his testimony. But the piracy rate for the business software industry in China stands at about 80% "and is even higher for Microsoft products," he said. McKee urged the committee to develop a comprehensive strategy for dealing with piracy.
benton.org/node/56399 | ComputerWorld
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
ONLINE TOOLS FOR 2012
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jennifer Preston]
As part of President Obama’s plan to rebuild the grass-roots movement that propelled him to the White House, he took to YouTube this week to urge his 19.3 million Facebook friends to join him, and invite others, for a town-hall-style chat on Facebook April 20 with Mark Zuckerberg, the social media site’s chief executive, at his side. By Tuesday afternoon, more than 22,000 people had signed up. It is all part of Obama’s re-election effort to use social media and other online tools to galvanize supporters. But unlike in the last presidential campaign, Republicans are better prepared to compete online in the 2012 contest. “The notion that the Internet was owned by liberals, owned by the left in the wake of the Obama victory, has been proven false,” said Patrick Ruffini, a Republican political online strategist who is now advising the exploratory campaign of Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, after working as a digital adviser to President George W. Bush’s campaign in 2004 and later to the Republican National Committee. During last year’s midterm elections, Republicans caught up with Democrats in using technology and social networks, and now many Republicans elected to the House and Senate are using these tools more than Democrats, according to several political and technology experts.
benton.org/node/56454 | New York Times | NPR | San Jose Mercury News
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PRESIDENT OBAMA TURNS TO TV
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Gloria Goodale]
President Barack Obama, who made his name in new media during the 2008 election cycle, is burnishing some old media tools this time around. Over the past two months, he has chatted with a dozen or so local TV affiliates across the United States. Just on April 18, he doled out four one-on-one interviews with station anchors in Denver; Raleigh (NC); Dallas; and Indianapolis. These cities are in states that could be important in the 2012 election, say political strategists, who are keeping close watch on the early stages of the presidential race. Despite some bumps in the process – President Obama tweaked the Dallas anchor for interrupting him during a testy exchange over Obama’s ratings in a Republican stronghold – the President is largely getting high marks for the tactic.
benton.org/node/56453 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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LOBBYING
Facebook Seeking Friends in Beltway
Why Tech Firms Find Allies Late in Washington
FACEBOOK SEEKS DC FRIENDS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Williamson, Amy Schatz, Geoffrey Fowler]
President Barack Obama will travel to Facebook's Silicon Valley headquarters April 20 to hold a "town hall" meeting on the economy with users of the social-networking site. But Facebook is still trying to find a path to Washington, where the company has only a fledgling lobbying operation, even though it finds its privacy policies under increasing scrutiny and is trying to navigate a politically sensitive expansion into China. In seven years, Facebook has risen from a tiny start-up to an Internet power with a potential market value estimated at more than $50 billion. Now an online forum with more than 600 million users, Facebook faces growing pressure from lawmakers and regulators concerned about the way it uses personal information shared by its users. At the same time, the company is confronting questions about how it will handle its role as a global public square for dissidents if it enters China and other countries with little tolerance for dissent. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal about its approach abroad, Facebook officials in Washington suggested the company might be willing to play by China's rules—a stance that could raise hackles in Congress.
benton.org/node/56451 | Wall Street Journal
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WHY TECH FIRMS ARE LATE TO DC
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz, Elizabeth Williamson]
Facebook is the latest Silicon Valley behemoth to conclude that it is good business to have friends in Washington. Technology companies tend to ignore Washington until they can't, most famously demonstrated by Microsoft Corp., which belatedly staffed up its operations in the capital after the Justice Department tried to break it up in the late 1990s. Last year, the company spent $6.9 million on lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Unlike other industries -- such as pharmaceuticals and telecommunications -- high-tech companies don't operate in highly-regulated businesses and generally don't easily see the need to amass large regulatory-focused or political operations in Washington. But they often do share many of the same policy concerns, among them limits on foreign-worker visas and changes to U.S. patent laws. To address those issues, they generally turn to industry trade groups such as TechNet and the Computer and Communications Industry Association.
benton.org/node/56450 | Wall Street Journal
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