June 2011

Google eyeing further display ad acquisitions

Google will buy more companies to boost its presence in the booming online display ad sector in a challenge to Facebook, even as European regulators examine its dominant web search position.

Speaking to a small group of reporters on the sidelines of the Cannes Lions advertising festival, Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said the group would continue to snap up companies that specialized in handling display ads such as banners and video. "It would be good to have more diversified revenue," Eric Schmidt said, just days after Google announced plans to buy AdMeld to grab a larger slice of the market for graphical display ads. "I would argue that we're doing really well there. We started off with largely text ads, and now we have this display business which is going to end up being a $10 billion, $20 billion kind of business. It will be very large." The vast majority of Google's revenue, which totalled roughly $29 billion in 2010, comes from the small ads that appear alongside its search results.

Companies begin to set policies for mobile devices

Now comes a survey positing that many companies have begun to establish specific policies to deal with security and liability risks stemming from the rising use of mobile devices and social networks in workplace settings. The study, conducted by messaging security firm Proofpoint and Osterman Research, polled 632 IT professionals and found that 84 percent of organizations allow their employees to use consumer devices and services, including iPads, iPhones, Facebook and Twitter to conduct business communications. Some 73% of respondents said they are using a combination of policy and trust to keep a handle on mobile devices and social networks; 51 percent use policy, technology and trust; and only 11 percent rely on "employee good judgment" alone.

Average Pay-TV Bill Is Up 3% From Last Year To $73.35 Monthly: Leichtman

Multichannel video subscribers in the U.S. pay a mean average of $73.35 per month, up 3% from last year, while the 87% of households nationwide that subscribe to cable, satellite or telco TV is leveling off, according to a consumer survey fielded this spring by Leichtman Research Group.

High-income consumers are most likely to subscribe to a multichannel video service. Just 8% with annual household incomes over $75,000 do not subscribe to a multichannel video service, compared with 14% with incomes of $30,000 to $75,000 and 20% with incomes under $30,000. As for so-called "cord cutters," LRG said the percentage of people who dropped pay-TV service in the past 12 months is "fairly consistent" with previous years. About 9% of multichannel video subscribers with household incomes under $30,000 said they're likely to cancel TV service in the next six months compared with 2% of those with incomes over $50,000. LRG also found that 12% of non-subscribers paid to subscribe to a TV service in the past year. Among current subscribers, 9% of cable TV customers, 8% of satellite TV customers and 6% of telco TV customers are likely to switch from their current provider in the next six months.

SNL Kagan: Cable Subs Fall In 15 Biggest Markets

Cable operators lost 3.8% of their subscribers in the top 15 markets during the first quarter, according to a new report by SNL Kagan, which found that satellite and telco providers picked up nearly the same number of video customers.

While the number of cable subscribers fell to 23.2 million from 24.1 million in big cities, satellite saw a small increase of 0.1% to 10.6 million. Telco subs jumped 24% to 4.4 million. Overall, the number of multichannel subscribers fell 0.1% to 38.2 million in the quarter in the biggest 15 markets. In some big markets, the total number of multichannel video subscribers fell significantly. New York registered a 0.8% drop. In Chicago, subs were down 2.3% and in Dallas they were off 5.2%. The biggest drop was registered in Atlanta, where there was a 5.2% decrease. Subs also fell in Detroit, Phoenix, Seattle and Minneapolis/St. Paul. In Los Angeles, the number of multichannel subscribers rose 3.9%. Gains were also seen in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Houston, and Tampa/St. Petersburg. The gains in Los Angeles represented a 2% pickup by satellite and a 50.9% jump by telco. Cable subscribers fell by 4%. Comcast is the largest multichannel operator in the top 15 markets with 11.6 million subs, followed by DirecTV, Dish Network and Time Warner Cable, SNL Kagan said.

China says no cyber warfare between it, US

There is no cyber warfare taking place between China and the United States, a senior Chinese official said, after weeks of friction over accusations that China may have launched a string of Internet hacking attacks.

The two countries might suffer from cyber attacks, but they were in no way directed by either government, Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai told a small group of foreign reporters ahead of a meeting with U.S. officials in Hawaii this weekend. "I want to clear something up: there are no contradictions between China and the United States" on the issue of hacking, Cui said. "Though hackers attack the U.S. Internet and China's Internet, I believe they do not represent any country," he added. Both countries were in fact already discussing the problem of hacking during their regular strategic consultations, Cui said.

Viacom sues Cablevision over iPad streaming

Viacom sued Cablevision Systems to halt what it called the unauthorized streaming of its programing on devices such as Apple's iPad.

Consumers Gain New Protections Against Fraudulent Caller ID “Spoofing”

Consumers have gained new protections against fraudulent and deceptive use of caller ID services under new rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission.

Increasingly, bad actors are altering or manipulating caller ID information -- known as caller ID spoofing -- to further a wide variety of malicious schemes, from identity theft to placing false emergency calls to SWAT teams. Using spoofing services accessible through the web or prepaid cards, anyone can inexpensively mask the origin of a call with fake caller identification information.

Last year, in response to malicious caller ID spoofing, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the Truth in Caller ID Act, which prohibited caller ID spoofing with harmful or fraudulent intent and directed the FCC to adopt rules implementing the Act.

Under the FCC’s new rules:

Violators are subject to up to $10,000 for each violation, or three times that amount for each day of continuing violation, to a maximum of $1 million for any continuing violation
The FCC may assess fines against entities it does not traditionally regulate without first issuing a citation
The FCC can impose penalties more readily than it can under other provisions of the Communications Act

China a Concern as Senate Judiciary Reviews IP Law Enforcement Efforts

Federal law enforcement agencies testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee June 23 regarding the current state of federal intellectual property rights enforcement and the challenges to enforcing IP laws due to a complex relationship with China.

Witnesses from federal law enforcement agencies reported that the increasing complexity of prosecuting IP crimes due to their international and transnational nature has made cooperation and collaboration with foreign law enforcement agencies a high priority. US law enforcement attachés to Chinese authorities have aided in IP law enforcement cooperation, reported witnesses. These attachés also serve to train Chinese authorities in their own IP rights law enforcement efforts. While witnesses reported that the Chinese have expressed genuine concern and willingness to cooperate on IP protection issues, not all members were convinced that China has been honest with the US.

Top ISPs poised to adopt graduated response to piracy

Some of the country's largest Internet service providers are poised to leap into the antipiracy fight in a significant way.

After years of negotiations, a group of bandwidth providers that includes AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon are closer than ever to striking a deal with media and entertainment companies that would call for them to establish new and tougher punishments for customers who refuse to stop using their networks to pirate films, music and other intellectual property.

This has been in the works a long time. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the respective trade groups for the four major record companies and six top Hollywood film studios, have labored for years to persuade ISPs to take a tougher antipiracy position. Under the proposed plan, participating bandwidth providers would adopt a "graduated response" to subscribers who repeatedly infringe copyrights. ISPs would first issue written warnings, called Copyright Alerts, to customers accused by content creators of downloading materials illegally via peer-to-peer sites, the sources said. Should a subscriber fail to heed the warning, an ISP could choose to send numerous follow-up notices. The plan, however, requires ISPs to eventually take more serious action.

Technology keeps kids tethered to their parents longer than previous generations

Going to college these days means never having to say goodbye, thanks to near-saturation of cell phones, e-mail, instant messaging, texting, Facebook, and Skype.

Researchers are looking at how new technology might be delaying the point at which college-bound students truly become independent from their parents, and how phenomena such as the introduction of unlimited calling plans have changed the nature of parent-child relationships -- and not always for the better. Some research suggests that today’s young adults are closer to their parents than their predecessors. But it’s complicated. Sherry Turkle, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose specialty is technology and relationships, calls this a particular sort of “Huck Finn moment,” in which Huck “takes his parents with him. We all sail down the Mississippi together.” From the electronic grade monitoring many high schools offer parents, it seems a small leap to keep electronic track of their (adult) children’s schedules or to send reminders about deadlines or assignments. Professors have figured out that some kids are e-mailing papers home for parents to edit.

Benton

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