June 2011

Another Oliver Twist: British Library Builds 60,000-Book iPad App

The British Library is launching a new library-in-an-iPad application that gives tablet users access to tens of thousands of 19th-century books in their original form. The app, called the 19th Century Historical Collection, is taking a notably different tack to putting classic literature online than rivals such as the Kindle platform: Antiquarian books viewed through the British Library application will come in their original form--complete with illustrations, typefaces, pull-out maps and even the occasional paper wear.

If Google Maps Explores China, Will It Mean More Freedom Or Less?

Google has applied for a regulatory license to operate a maps software service in China.

Since last year, all companies offering online maps and location-based services and search in China have needed both official approval and a local operating partner to do so. Now, Google isn't just chasing local market leader Baidu; it's trying to win approval from a government it's publicly accused of cyberattacks on Gmail. Whether Google Maps could bring extra freedom to China's locked-down Internet, or whether the Chinese government would co-opt Google for its own anti-democratic purposes, remains to be seen. Both tactically and strategically, maps are the key for continued growth. Maps are both a portal and a feature for all location-based services, from search to advertising. Maps are also the killer application for mobile devices. But mapping and location services are also where the most frightening implications for privacy and government interference lie. Baidu, for instance, doesn't offer satellite views of the country, opting instead for rendered drawings of the cities.

Debating Disclosure and Transparency in the FCC Future of Media Report

[Commentary] The recently released Federal Communications Commission report on “The Information Needs of Communities” focuses a good deal of attention on increasing transparency by government and by broadcasters, who get to use the public airwaves for free.

Indeed, the FCC recommended that “disclosure should be a major pillar of FCC media policy.” The FCC has long recognized that providing communities with locally responsive programming is a “bedrock” obligation of every broadcaster. But to hold broadcasters accountable to this promise both citizens and the FCC need data about how broadcasters claim they are serving local communities. It’s clear from the report that the FCC recognizes that information equals power, and that citizens need more information to judge whether broadcasters are meeting their obligations to serve the public good. Why, then, did we blast the FCC’s recommendations around “enhanced disclosure”? Unfortunately, when it comes to this essential information we worry that the report has taken us one step forward and two steps back.

TechFreedom Panel Criticizes Search Engine Bias Claims

TechFreedom, a Washington (DC)-based think tank, assembled a panel of law professors gathered at the Capitol to discuss search engine bias and recent antitrust cases involving Google.

The recently-established conservative policy group moved the event to the Capitol building to make it more accessible for Senate staffers and private businessmen to attend. Each of the members of the panel came out largely against heavy antitrust regulation of search engines, particularly Google, due to their skepticism of whether fears of search engine bias were warranted. Search engine bias is when a search engine company promotes certain content over other content at the expense of competition. “Google is a source of a significant amount of traffic, but it is possible for new sites to be discovered and to turn into very large things whether Google promotes them or not,” said panelist James Grimmelman, a professor at New York Law School.

Broadband Adventures in Wunderland: The (Expensive) Myth of Competition

[Commentary] The National Broadband Plan won’t do jack until more folks in Wunderland acknowledge and aggressively address one stark truth – broadband competition is mostly a myth, expensively maintained through lobbyists, think tanks and easily-influenced politicians.

Until we get meaningful competition, a significant part – though mercifully not all – of Wunderland’s policies will result in dabbling around the edges rather than a meaningful advancement of broadband in the US. More people in Wunderland have to grab this bull by the horns, or some other vital area, and kick it in the butt. People need to take a two-by-four and beat back these attempts to undermine and circumvent programs that fund broadband efforts that introduce much needed competition. Let’s see some profiles in courage and toss this AT&T/T-Mobile merger out the back door. Encourage (incentivize) companies like Google and Corning to partner with communities to put fiber infrastructure in place. If you’re going to do more than just pretend to reform USF, take that $4 billion that comes directly out of taxpayers’ pockets and put it into communities to solicit and fund the best solutions they can find someone willing to provide. Either we get serious about competition or we stop pretending we’re serious about broadband.

Bringing and Keeping Business Investment in America

The Administration announced a new initiative – SelectUSA – the first-ever government-wide program to aggressively pursue and win new business investment in the United States by both domestic and foreign companies.

SelectUSA, established by Executive Order of the President, will leverage existing resources of the federal government to ramp up promotion of the US as a prime investment destination to create jobs at home and to keep jobs from going overseas. We will be working with governors, mayors and legislative leaders around the country, who are trying to attract business investment. We will also be a trouble shooter for those dealing with red tape and federal hurdles to bringing or keeping business operations and investment in their communities. Coordinated by the Commerce Department, with expert personnel in nearly 80 countries promoting American exports and investment opportunities, SelectUSA will lead the federal effort to address business investment attraction and retention issues, both logistical and policy related, in the US. This new initiative will target three types of firms: foreign firms looking to expand, domestic firms looking to expand, and foreign and domestic firms looking to reorganize or return their operations to the United States.

The National Broadband Map’s Rural Fairy Tale

[Commentary] We’re never going to truly connect this country if the focus of our collective broadband deployment work is to repeat erroneous claims about the number of options Americans have for broadband providers. The policies that support the current duopoly and monopoly business structure in broadband are crippling our rural communities but we won’t see forward movement on broadband competition (and therefore access, price and service) if we can’t even get the baseline data right.

10 things the US government can do to help digital news entrepreneurs

[Commentary] Let's not dismiss too quickly the federal government's potential role in promoting good news coverage.

Here are 10 steps that the US government could take that would significantly help entrepreneurs trying expand the news coverage of their local communities. And none of them involve direct subsidies or payments to the news industry. 1) Protect network neutrality. 2) Expand broadband coverage. 3) Digitize public records and put them online in open formats. 4) Pass a national shield law, with explicit protection for online publishers. 5) Regulate electronic transaction fees. 6) Revisit the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). 7) Ditch the Federal Trade Commission's "blogger endorsement" rule. 8) Model zoning reform to make it easier to run a business from your home. 9) Remove payroll tax cap and reduce rate. 10) National health care.

Lookout Inks Deal With Sprint, Launches Safe Browsing Service

While consumers are trained to look for tell-tale signs of a phishing attack on the desktop, spotting a scam from a mobile e-mail program or browser can be a lot more difficult. It’s often hard to tell where a link will take you before clicking and there is no “green bar” to tell you that a site is indeed who it purports to be. Lookout Mobile Security, a software company that specializes on smartphone security, is announcing its effort to make browsing on mobile devices a little safer. The new “safe browsing” feature works by checking all links against its cloud-based database, including those within text messages, Facebook and e-mail messages and offering a warning when users click on a link suspected of being a scam. The company began developing the feature as a proof of concept back in February and now it is being added as part of Lookout’s premium paid service.

FTC: Ceridian, Lookout Services Failed to Protect Consumers’ Personal Information

Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission finalized the orders in two cases settling charges that Ceridian Corporation and Lookout Services, Inc. claimed they would take reasonable measures to secure the consumer data they maintained, but failed to do so. The final orders require the companies to implement a comprehensive information security program and obtain independent, third-party security audits every other year for 20 years.

Benton

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