November 16, 2011 (Internet piracy legislation)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2011
Stop Online Piracy Act and FCC Reform on today’s agenda (and both are previewed below) http://benton.org/calendar/2011-11-16/
CONTENT
Facebook, Google join to fight Internet piracy legislation
Copyright Chief: Online Piracy Threatens Whole System
Sponsor Of Piracy Bill: Legit Companies ‘Have Nothing To Worry About’
Silicon Valley legislators oppose online piracy act
Shootout at the digital corral
Authors Guild: Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Is “Nonsense”
Why Americans use social media - research
The Story Behind ShopCity And Its Antitrust Complaint Against Google - analysis [links to web]
It’s Time For Transparency On Music Streaming Rates
Is Lying On The Internet Illegal?
My Own Private Internet [links to web]
5 reasons e-reader sales will nearly triple by 2016 - analysis [links to web]
Sony Considers Internet Rival to Cable TV [links to web]
Self-Publishers Get Help [links to web]
FCC REFORM
House Commerce Committee Releases Report on the Workload of the Federal Communications CommissionChairman Walden Seeks Review Of Emergency Alert Test
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Cell Phone To Point Of Near-Global Ubiquity
Samsung becomes biggest smartphone vendor, as Android's market share grows
Samsung Wins The Right To March Trial In Bid To Ban iPhone 4S In Australia
Sinclair: Broadcasting Is Answer to Wireless Traffic Needs
Jobs wanted own network with unlicensed spectrum
The first gigabit Wi-Fi chip for consumer devices is here [links to web]
Sprint slashes mobile data prices [links to web]
Once Wary, Apple Warms Up to Business Market [links to web]
The internet of things comes alive [links to web]
PRIVACY
Google offers opt-out for Wi-Fi tracking
Chairman Rockefeller encourages FTC to crack down on Facebook
Internet Advertisers Revise Privacy Program After FTC Concerns
Facebook tracking is under scrutiny
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Help Document the 2012 Ground Game
iPads in Oregon Election a Success, Official Says [links to web]
TAXES
Communications Workers of America: Verizon shifting tax burden to the '99 percent'
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Connect to Compete and Education
CYBERSECURITY
Pentagon: Offensive cyberattacks fair game
TELEVISION/RADIO
Sens DeMint, Blunt Ask FCC to Repeal Ownership Regulations
FCC Proposes New Form Requiring TV Broadcasters to Document their Public Interest Programming
MORE ONLINE
Apple names Arthur Levinson board chairman [links to web]
Half the members of Congress are millionaires - press release [links to web]
6 Innovative Ways For Nonprofits To Use Social Media [links to web]
#Occupy: The Tech at the Heart of the Movement [links to web]
ISPs could have stopped massive click-fraud operation [links to web]
C-SPAN Seeks To Cover Health Care Appeal In High Court [links to web]
Employees' smartphones among biggest government cyber menaces [links to web]
E-gov on the chopping block [links to web]
CONTENT
FACEBOOK, GOOGLE VS PIRACY LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Facebook, Google and other Silicon Valley Internet giants put aside their competitive battles and jointly warned federal lawmakers against anti-piracy legislation they fear could place too much responsibility on firms like them. A House legislative proposal has drawn fresh attention from Internet firms and venture capital investors who are at odds with Hollywood and record labels advocating for stronger laws. Silicon Valley giants Twitter, Yahoo and LinkedIn also signed onto the letter that asks leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees to be more specific in any new rules to ensure online firms aren’t liable for pirated material that may appear on their sites. A similar bill by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) passed the Senate in September. Online giants say they support efforts to fight against illegal exchange of copyrighted material on the Internet. But they said in their letter the House Stop Online Piracy Act proposal would “expose law-abiding U.S. Internet and technology companies to new uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring web sites.” Specifically, they say language is too vague in the House bill and that it could make online sites like theirs responsible for pirated content. They say a safe harbor of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 protects them from legal action as long as they show good faith to remove infringing content from their site.
benton.org/node/105557 | Washington Post | The Hill | National Journal
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ONLINE PIRACY THREATENS COPYRIGHT
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The director of the U.S. Copyright Office says that unless Congress continues to take serious steps to combat online piracy -- like the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) -- the nation's copyright system cannot be sustained. "I would like to be very clear at the outset," Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante said in testimony prepared for the House Judiciary Committee's Nov. 16 hearing on SOPA. "It is my view that if Congress does not continue to provide serious responses to online piracy, the U.S. copyright system will ultimately fail." That panel's chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), sponsored the bill, which would give industry and government more tools to pursue and potentially shut down websites believed to be trading in pirated content, including TV shows and movies. "Congress has repeatedly acted to improve enforcement provisions in copyright law over the years, including in the online environment," Pallante's testimony said. "SOPA is the next step in ensuring that our law keeps pace with infringers." She said the bill enlists all stakeholders in the crucial task of protecting intellectual property.
benton.org/node/105556 | Multichannel News
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CHAIRMAN SMITH ON SOPA
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Robert Andrews]
The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is pushing back against critics like Google and Facebook who say that impending piracy legislation is a draconian mistake. In a statement, the chairman said that free speech concerns about the bill are “false and misleading” and that law-abiding websites have nothing to fear. The remarks come ahead of a hearing tomorrow that has suddenly grabbed the attention of both Washington and Silicon Valley. The fuss is about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a law that is nominally designed to help American companies shut down websites that sell counterfeit or pirated merchandise. Earlier versions of the legislation have attracted controversy for months but, in the last week, SOPA has suddenly become a national flash point with Hollywood and the Chamber of Commerce on one side and Silicon Valley on the other. To quell the criticism, the House Judiciary Committee has released a “Facts & Myths” sheet while Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) released a statement that says only bad guys need to worry:
Claims that the Stop Online Piracy Act would limit lawful free speech on the Internet are false and misleading. This bill specifically targets websites that are dedicated to the illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit material and products. It does not target the lawful activity of legitimate websites. Because this bill focuses on illegal activity, legitimate and lawful American businesses should have nothing to worry about.
Smith’s statement reiterates an often-repeated argument that the bill is just intended to close a loophole that prevents the government from shutting down foreign websites that facilitate criminal activity. This is unlikely to assuage critics, however.
benton.org/node/105555 | paidContent.org
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SILICON VALLEY VS SOPA
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: James Temple]
Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Mike Honda (D-CA), all representing the Silicon Valley, oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill they argue would undermine legal protections that foster online innovation and create jobs. "At a time of continued economic uncertainty, this legislation will result in fewer new businesses, fewer new investments and fewer new jobs," the representatives said. "We understand the importance of combatting piracy to protect the intellectual property of the American entertainment industry from copyright infringement in other parts of the world," they said. "The SOPA as written, however, is overly broad and would cause serious and long-term damage to the technology industry, one of the few bright spots in our economy."
benton.org/node/105562 | San Francisco Chronicle
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SHOOTOUT AT THE DIGITAL CORRAL
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
Hollywood’s in a showdown over its TV shows, movies and music with an up-and-coming opponent in the Washington arena: the Silicon Valley gang. And that can only mean a huge payday for lobbyists. According to figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, the film, music and TV industries have spent more than $91 million on lobbying so far this year — an amount that puts them on pace to beat all of their previous spending records. Not to be outdone, Google and its tech cohorts — including eBay, Yahoo and Facebook — have been ramping up spending and are looking for a hired gun to lead their newly revamped coalition. The focus of the faceoff: a pair of online copyright bills aimed at getting Internet companies to help shutter websites that profit from illicit copies of blockbuster films, TV shows and chart-topping songs.
benton.org/node/105561 | Politico
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AUTHORS GUILD VS KINDLE LENDING LIBRARY
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Laura Hazard Owen]
The Authors Guild is taking a stand against the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, Amazon’s new initiative allowing Kindle-owning Prime members to borrow free e-books. Amazon is “boldly breaching its contracts” with publishers, the Guild contends, in “an exercise of brute economic power.” The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library contains over 5,000 titles, many of which are being included without publisher permission. In those cases, Amazon is simply buying a copy of the book at the wholesale price any time a Prime member borrows it (hence no “big six” publishers’ titles are in the program, since they set their own e-book prices). When the program first launched, many publishers did not even know that their books were included. The Association of Author Representatives and others have raised questions over how authors whose books are included will be paid. The Authors Guild contends that the publishers who willingly included their books in the lending library (and were paid a hefty sum by Amazon to do so) are in the wrong: “While these publishers generally have the right to license e-book uses for many of their authors’ titles (just as most trade publishers do), our reading of the standard terms of these contracts is that they do not have the right to do so without the prior approval of the books’ authors.”
benton.org/node/105550 | paidContent.org | ars technica
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WHY AMERICANS USE SOCIAL MEDIA
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Aaron Smith]
Two-thirds of online adults (66%) use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn. These internet users say that connections with family members and friends (both new and old) are a primary consideration in their adoption of social media tools. Roughly two thirds of social media users say that staying in touch with current friends and family members is a major reason they use these sites, while half say that connecting with old friends they’ve lost touch with is a major reason behind their use of these technologies. Other factors play a much smaller role -- 14% of users say that connecting around a shared hobby or interest is a major reason they use social media, and 9% say that making new friends is equally important. Reading comments by public figures and finding potential romantic partners are cited as major factors by just 5% and 3% of social media users, respectively.
benton.org/node/105544 | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project | MediaPost
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MUSIC STREAMING RATES
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Robert Andrews]
Major labels may be hoping that new-wave digital music jukeboxes can make up for slowing downloads growth. But a drip-drip of labels pulling out of the services in protest at low fees is continuing, and may grow to more than just indies. The distributor for drum ‘n bass act Blu Mar Ten became the latest to pull its content from streaming services including Spotify, Rdio and Napster, joining Projekt Records, Prosthetic Records, Century Media and Metal Blade Records so far this year. Consumption through these services is booming. Blu Mar Ten’s distributor says 82 percent of listens to its songs this Q3 was through Spotify, Rdio, Napster and Simfy. But just 2.6 percent of its revenue came from these services. In particular, for 750,000 Spotify streams, it got just £2,500, it says: “We have taken the decision to no longer provide content to any of the above streaming-type music services.” European royalty collector PRS For Music licenses on-demand digital music operators using a clearly laid-out industry rates structure that, in the UK, requires either 10.5 percent of their gross revenue or 0.085 pence per track streamed. But, unlike transparent operators like We7, which is only too happy to talk about the rates it pays, every time I have asked whether Spotify is paying industry-standard rates, both Spotify and the industry’s PRS For Music have clammed up, including the latest time I asked just last week. The lingering, unanswered perception is that Spotify, part-owned by the labels themselves, enjoys more favorable rates than its competitors.
benton.org/node/105531 | paidContent.org
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LYING ONLINE ILLEGAL?
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Eyder Peralta]
At a House Judiciary Committee hearing titled "Cyber Security: Protecting America's New Frontier,” the focus was on big cyber threats to the country's infrastructure. But there was another juicier question that came out of the hearing: The way the Justice Department wants to interpret a current law, lying on the Internet would amount to a crime. Richard Downing, deputy chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section at the Department of Justice, argued that in order to properly protect the country, the part of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) that says a person must exceed their "authorized access" to break the law should include a violation of the terms of service. When you sign up for a Web service, a dating one or even to attain the ability to comment on NPR DOT org, you usually agree to a long terms of service that we bet most people don't even read. The way the DOJ wants the law interpreted means breaking any of those terms would constitute a crime.
benton.org/node/105527 | National Public Radio
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FCC REFORM
FCC WORKLOAD REPORT
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
The House Commerce Committee released a report on the Workload of the Federal Communications Commission. The report is a summary of data, requested by Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL), regarding the number of complaints, petitions, applications, and other pending items at the Commission.
The FCC has 1,471,912 pending indecency complaints, with over a third of those - 568,720 -- over five years old. The good news is that aside from those indecency complaints, which are pending court resolution of the FCC's indecency regulatory authority, there are virtually no other pending complaints. The other good news is that under FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the backlog of TV station license renewals has been reduced by 30%. The bad news, the report suggests, is that many of the licenses that have not been renewed may also be held up by those pending indecency complaints. As of July 5, according to the FCC figures, the FCC had 3,472 open proceedings, 3,213 of which, or 93%, had been dormant for more than two years.
Chairman Walden said, “This staff report confirms what everyone already knows: Chairman Genachowski has improved many of the processes of the Commission, but there is much work left to be done. That’s why it’s so important to move forward with process reform legislation now, so that the agency locks in the gains it has already made, and so that the public will see it continue to improve into the future.”
Chairman Stearns said, “As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, I have challenged agencies to rid themselves of unnecessary regulations and provide certainty to the industries they regulate. The Federal Communications Commission’s recent closing of 999 dockets signifies Chairman Genachowski’s commitment to good process, but much more needs to be done. Thousands of petitions and licenses have been pending at the Commission for more than five years, and the FCC has missed its own internal deadlines 29 percent of the time. The Commission has also repeatedly missed deadlines set by Congress, including the release of the Satellite Competition Report and Video Programming Report. Congress has tasked the FCC with reviewing the competitive landscapes of these industries annually in order to determine the appropriate regulatory framework. How can the agency appropriately regulate an industry it has not comprehensively analyzed since 2008? I hope the FCC will work on these shortcomings and show signs of improvement by its next report due in January. In the meantime, I will work with my colleagues on FCC process reform legislation.”
benton.org/node/105537 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | read the report
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
REVIEW OF EAS TEST
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Smith]
House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) says he wants answers about last week's test of the emergency alert system, which was highly promoted and then plagued by reports of problems. Chairman Walden said on he has scheduled a meeting with federal officials to review the Nov. 9 test. Across the country many people reported that no signal appeared or the transmission was garbled on outlets ranging from radio, TV, and cable. "By many accounts, last week's test had major problems," Chairman Walden said. "In my home state of Oregon, most -- if not all -- stations didn't even receive the signal. He said he has contacted officials at the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Emergency Management Agency to schedule a briefing for the subcommittee's members on Nov 17. "I look forward to hearing where the agencies can relay what worked, what didn't, and where we can go from here to fix it," Chairman Walden said. The FCC and FEMA contend that the test played out exactly as needed.
benton.org/node/105554 | National Journal
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
CELL PHONE UBIQUITY
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Aaron Baar]
According to a new nine-country study by SSI, about 95% of the population in industrialized, tech-savvy countries owns a cell phone, with places such as Hong Kong, China and Sweden leading the way, with ownership rates of 99%, 98% and 98%, respectively. Among the nine countries surveyed (which also included the United States, United Kingdom, German, France, Japan and Australia), the U.S. had the lowest rate of cell phone ownership at a still-high 89%. The survey also found that 28% of consumers in those countries owned multiple cell phones. “Soaring cell phone ownership has a significant impact on researchers doing telephone studies,” says Jessica Smith, Vice President, Offline Services for SSI, in a statement. “Researchers who omit cell phones from their samples will find critical gaps in coverage -- particularly among younger, ethnic and lower income households.” Among those who own cell phones, 42% currently have smartphones. And the remaining 58% plan to upgrade their cell phone to a smartphone with their next purchase. China and Hong Kong have the highest rates of smartphone ownership (68% and 57%, respectively), while Sweden and Japan are among the lowest (33% and 16%). Among those looking to upgrade to cell phones, Apple’s iPhone is the leading brand.
benton.org/node/105533 | MediaPost
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SAMSUNG, ANDROID AND THE SMARTPHONE MARKET
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Mikael Ricknäs]
Samsung became the biggest smartphone vendor in the world during the third quarter, and Android's market share has surpassed 50 percent for the first time, market research company Gartner said as it reported on phone sales to end-users. Worldwide smartphone sales totaled 115 million units in the third quarter of 2011, up 42 percent from the third quarter of 2010. However, smartphone sales slowed compared to the second quarter, a consequence of the economic situation and of consumers holding out for new models, including the iPhone 4S, according to Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner. Android and Samsung were the big winners among smartphone operating systems and vendors, respectively. Samsung became the worldwide No. 1 for the first time, selling 24 million smartphones, three times as many as it sold during the third quarter last year. Samsung's support for Android, and the availability of a wide variety of low-cost smartphones running the OS, helped Android grab a 52.5 percent share of the market: 60.5 million smartphones based on the various versions of the OS were sold, according to Cozza.
benton.org/node/105545 | IDG News Service | Los Angeles Times
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SMASUNG, APPLE IN AUSTRALIA
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Ingrid Lunden]
One more development in the legal fight between Samsung and Apple: a court in Australia has granted a March date for a case being brought by Samsung against Apple for patent infringement, with Samsung’s aim being to get the iPhone 4S banned from sale, unless the two sides reach a licensing settlement. Samsung has been banned in Australia from selling its 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab, an Android tablet, after Apple successfully got an injunction on the device in October on the grounds that it infringed its patents. Before that, the device had already been held back from sales voluntarily by Samsung until the case got resolved. That case is still making its way through the courts, but it looks like Samsung will have missed the crucial holiday sales season for the tablet. Samsung is hoping to gain some leverage in what looks like a grim situation for the company in Australia by counterattacking Apple with its own claims of patent infringements. The justice presiding over the various Samsung/Apple suits in the country, Annabelle Bennett, agreed to a March date for Samsung’s trial. That doesn’t sound like it’s coming very soon, but it is significantly earlier than August, which is when Apple hoped the case would be heard. That will also mean that the Australian case will come before the judges before a similar case gets heard in the United States, likely in May.
benton.org/node/105548 | paidContent.org
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BROADCASTING AND WIRELESS TRAFFIC
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Coalition for Free TV and Broadband, of which Sinclair is a member, has released a paper detailing the $60 billion it says the U.S. Treasury would get if it left spectrum in broadcasters hands. The paper is an effort to quantify the superiority of using broadcasters to handle heavy wireless traffic. "A Broadcast Overlay service that is technically compatible with commercial wireless networks would allow users to consume more data at a lower cost with a higher quality of service," it argues. The coalition argues the incentive auction plan will "destroy" 2,000 TV stations, with the government "confiscating" TV stations so the spectrum can be turned over to wireless companies who already have "plenty" of spectrum. The coalition is encouraging supporters to contact their legislators, including a separate listing of the deficit supercommittee that could make the auctions part of its recommended deficit reduction plan, due at the beginning of next week.
benton.org/node/105540 | Broadcasting&Cable | read the paper
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JOBS WANTED UNLICENSED NETWORK
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Nancy Gohring]
Steve Jobs initially hoped to create his own network with the unlicensed spectrum that Wi-Fi uses rather than work with the mobile operators, said wireless industry pioneer John Stanton. Stanton, chairman of venture capital firm Trilogy Partners, said he spent a fair amount of time with Jobs between 2005 and 2007. "He wanted to replace carriers," Stanton said of Jobs, the Apple founder and CEO who died Oct. 5 after a battle with cancer. "He and I spent a lot of time talking about whether synthetically you could create a carrier using Wi-Fi spectrum. That was part of his vision." Stanton spoke at the Law Seminars International event in Seattle. He said that after around 2007, Jobs gave up on the idea. But Jobs still managed to have a major impact on wireless operators, Stanton said.
benton.org/node/105530 | IDG News Service
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PRIVACY
GOOGLE OPT-OUT WI-FI TRACKING
[SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: David Goldman]
A year and a half after Google admitted that it had inadvertently collected unsuspecting people's personal information sent over the Internet via their wireless routers, the company has implemented a way for people to opt-out of having their routers tracked in the first place. Google records and stores locations of Wi-Fi networks on its servers for two reasons: to provide a location services like Google Maps for Android smartphone users if GPS is unavailable and to more quickly locate a GPS signal when one is around. The locations of the wireless networks are typically crowd-sourced by Android phones themselves. But another way Google collects locations of Wi-Fi routers is to drive its Street View cars around neighborhoods. In addition to the cameras attached to their roofs that film 360-degree images for Google Maps, the cars also have antennas that discover local Wi-Fi networks.
benton.org/node/105543 | CNNMoney
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FTC NOMINATION HEARING
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
During a nomination hearing he chaired, Sen Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) encouraged Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz to crackdown on Facebook for allegedly misleading users about its privacy policy. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Rockefeller acknowledged that Chairman Leibowitz would not be able to respond because of his agency's policy against discussing ongoing investigations. "So that leaves me more time to say what I feel," Chairman Rockefeller said. He said that any action the FTC takes against Facebook should require Facebook to obtain its users' consent before changing any policies and should set up a "rigorous enforcement regime." Later in the hearing, Chairman Rockefeller said he watched Charlie Rose's interview of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg. He said the Facebook executives acted like "the world is ours" and "we are the future" but that no "sense of restraint" or "collateral damage… was brought up." Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said he could not comment on any possible settlement with the FTC, but he pointed to references in the transcript of the Charlie Rose interview in which Sandberg and Zuckerberg discussed their views of privacy.
Chairman Leibowitz tried to assure Republican and Democratic legislators alike that when the final voluntary recommendations from the commission are released on food marketing to kids, they will be balanced, modified from the earlier draft, totally voluntary and essentially unenforceable. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) expressed the most concern about the proposed food marketing guidelines, whose original draft drew heavy fire from ad agencies for being overly restrictive. Sen Hutchison pointed out that some of the foods--yogurt and 2% milk--whose marketing the guidelines suggested could be restricted, were on the list of foods approved by the Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture in their 2010 dietary guidelines. Chairman Leibowitz said he hoped to get the FTC's final recommendations out soon, but said they were only that. He pointed out that the FTC's portion of the interagency working group recommendations were focused on marketing, not dietary guidelines, and that he, too, was surprised when he learned that his daughter's breakfast of Special K and yogurt would not pass muster. As he has said before, the guidelines have been modified to reflect stakeholder input, including recommending that they apply to 2-to-11-year-olds, rather than extending them to up to 17-year-olds.
benton.org/node/105539 | Hill, The | Senate Commerce Committee | Chairman Rockefeller | FTC Chairman Leibowitz
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INTERNET ADVERTISERS REVISE PRIVACY PROGRAM
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Eric Engleman]
An Internet-advertising industry program to enforce privacy safeguards is expanding in response to concerns from U.S. regulators and consumer-advocacy groups. The voluntary program, announced last year by an advertising-industry coalition, calls for letting consumers block ads that are based on their Web-browsing habits. The Federal Trade Commission expressed concern that the program didn’t apply to other forms of online tracking. The changes will let consumers block other kinds of Internet-data collection, with the exception of information gathering required for companies’ “operations and system management,” said Stu Ingis, general counsel for the Digital Advertising Alliance, which administers the program. The alliance “has announced important changes to address how data can be collected and used online,” Jessica Rich, deputy director of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau, said. “We’ve been encouraging them to make these changes and believe it’s an important step for consumers and for self-regulation.” Under the revised program, participating companies will also be barred from collecting data on consumers’ Internet browsing to determine eligibility for employment, credit, medical treatment or insurance, Ingis said. The changes will take effect next year, he said.
benton.org/node/105538 | Bloomberg
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FACEBOOK TRACKING
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Byron Acohido]
In recent weeks, Facebook has been wrangling with the Federal Trade Commission over whether the social media website is violating users' privacy by making public too much of their personal information. Far more quietly, another debate is brewing over a different side of online privacy: what Facebook is learning about those who visit its website. Facebook officials are now acknowledging that the social media giant has been able to create a running log of the web pages that each of its 800 million or so members has visited during the previous 90 days. Facebook also keeps close track of where millions more non-members of the social network go on the Web, after they visit a Facebook web page for any reason. To do this, the company relies on tracking cookie technologies similar to the controversial systems used by Google, Adobe, Microsoft, Yahoo and others in the online advertising industry, says Arturo Bejar, Facebook's engineering director. Facebook's efforts to track the browsing habits of visitors to its site have made the company a player in the "Do Not Track" debate, which focuses on whether consumers should be able to prevent websites from tracking the consumers' online activity.
benton.org/node/105566 | USAToday
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
DOCUMENTING 2012’S GROUND GAME
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Derek Willis]
Elections, for most people, can be like icebergs: what you see is only a small portion of the whole campaign. In an age of micro-targeted direct mail, Facebook ads and “robocalls,” voters can experience a campaign in very different ways than their neighbors do, to say nothing of the view that reporters traveling with candidates get. The New York Times is embarking on an experiment to illuminate the “ground game” of the 2012 presidential race, and we need your help. We would like to see what the presidential campaign looks like to you: what messages are you getting through the mail or seeing on billboards? Have you spotted interesting fliers around town or in local publications? Take a picture, and send it to us. We will even accept screenshots of text messages and materials from candidates and other groups. We are looking more for the raw materials of the campaign — postcards, posters and the like — than pictures of campaign events. When candidates are trying to win your vote, what tools are they using besides television?
benton.org/node/105542 | New York Times
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TAXES
CWA ON VERIZON’S TAXES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) accused Verizon of not paying its fair share of federal taxes. Verizon paid no federal taxes between 2008 and 2010, and actually received a $1 billion rebate from the U.S. Treasury, according to a report prepared by the Citizens for Tax Justice. Robert McIntyre, the report’s lead author, said that tax rebates to companies like Verizon are simply “wasted dollars, that could have gone to protect Medicare, create jobs and cut the deficit. Too many corporations are gaming the system at the expense of the rest of us.” Edward McFadden, a spokesman for Verizon, said that counting both state and federal taxes, Verizon actually paid $1.79 billion in taxes between 2008 and 2010. Additionally, its federal rate was lower in those years because of deferred taxes that it will pay later, he said. CWA said Verizon has taken advantage of the "Reverse Morris Trust" rule, which allows companies to not pay taxes on assets it sells off. The labor leaders said they are urging the congressional supercommittee on deficit reduction to end the Reverse Morris Trust rule to help the government collect more revenue.
benton.org/node/105541 | Hill, The | CWA press release | read the report
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
CONNECT TO COMPETE AND EDUCATION
[SOURCE: Department of Education, AUTHOR: Sec Arne Duncan]
Children live in an ever-more interconnected world where their success in competing for the jobs of tomorrow will increasingly depend on their ability to understand, operate and adapt to computer-based technology and online environments. And, we are seeing that smart use of technology can improve the opportunity to learn for people of all ages. Yet, the U.S. trails countries like Singapore and South Korea in expanding access to broadband Internet. By supplying low-income families with affordable Internet, computers and free digital training, the FCC's national "Connect to Compete" initiative will play a key role in providing more of our nation's children with a 21st century education. Last year, the U.S. Department of Education released the National Education Technology Plan to promote the role technology can play in transforming education. Applying technology to our entire education system can have a cascading impact on improving student learning, expanding effective practices, using data to support decision-making and encourage continuous improvement. Connect to Compete addresses the need to build and expand technology infrastructure, one of five core components outlined in the National Education Technology Plan. I commend and thank the more than a dozen corporate and nonprofit partners for their leadership in breaking down barriers to Internet and technology access for tens of millions of Americans. Our collective efforts to increase access to technology and improve education will have a tremendous influence in providing greater opportunities for children across the U.S. while also making a significant investment in our nation's economic future.
benton.org/node/105526 | Department of Education
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CYBERSECURITY
PENTAGON CYBERSECURITY REPORT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
The Pentagon has laid out its most explicit cyberwarfare policy to date, stating that if directed by the President, it will launch “offensive cyber operations” in response to hostile acts. Those hostile acts may include “significant cyberattacks directed against the U.S. economy, government or military,” Defense Department officials stated in a long-overdue report to Congress. But the report is still silent on a number of important issues, such as rules of engagement outside designated battle zones — a sign of how challenging the policy debate is in the newest and most complex realm of warfare. That strategy focused on the importance of deterring attacks by building defenses that would “deny” adversaries the benefits of success. In the latest report, the Pentagon states that adversaries threatening a crippling cyberattack against the United States “would be taking a grave risk.”
benton.org/node/105567 | Washington Post
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TELEVISION/RADIO
MEDIA OWNERSHIP REGULATIONS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sens Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) have asked the Federal Communications Commission to repeal its radio and television station ownership restrictions and newspaper/broadcast and radio/TV cross-ownership restrictions, saying TV and radio stations should not be forced to try to compete in the fast-moving digital age while "strapped with regulations that do not apply to other competitors." That is a point broadcasters have been making to the FCC for years, and with increasing urgency as the Internet continues to remake the model for video delivery. In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the senators said that an "honest assessment" in the FCC's ongoing media ownership regulation review -- mandated by both the courts and Congress -- compels repeal, or at least modification, given the growth of competition, including from the Internet. They say that ownership regulations are antiquated and maintain a structural imbalance that has the practical effect of picking winners and losers rather than providing a fair competitive environment.
benton.org/node/105563 | Broadcasting&Cable
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BROADCASTERS’ DISCLOSURE
[SOURCE: Broadcast Law Blog, AUTHOR: David Oxenford]
When the Federal Communications Commission last month started a new proceeding to mandate an online public file for television stations, the FCC promised to soon initiate another proceeding to look into the need for a new form to document the public interest programming that TV stations provide. The FCC fulfilled that promise, and issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) to start the process of adopting a new form for TV stations to complete to report on various categories of "public interest programming," however that might be defined. In 2007, the FCC had adopted Form 355 to accomplish that task. But, after an outcry from stations about the paperwork burden that the form would impose, the FCC never submitted it to the Office of Management and Budget for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act, and thus the form never became effective. The adoption of the Form 355 was vacated last month in the online public file proceeding. But the FCC now proposes its return - in some fashion. So what does the FCC now propose to require from TV stations to document their public interest programming?
First, the FCC asks a series of questions about how such a form should be structured, and how the information should be collected to be meaningful for those that want to analyze it, but not overly burdensome for the TV stations. The FCC then goes on to discuss the Quarterly Programs Issues lists (QPIs) that are currently required to be placed in a station's public file every three months - describing the issues that station management sees as important in the community and the programs that the station has broadcast to address those issues.
benton.org/node/105560 | Broadcast Law Blog | read the NOI
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