November 2011

In an anonymous industrial park, Central Intelligence Agency analysts who jokingly call themselves the "ninja librarians" are mining the mass of information people publish about themselves overseas, tracking everything from common public opinion to revolutions.

The group's effort gives the White House a daily snapshot of the world built from tweets, newspaper articles and Facebook updates. The agency's Open Source Center sometimes looks at 5 million tweets a day. The analysts are also checking out TV news channels, local radio stations, Internet chat rooms — anything overseas that people can access and contribute to openly. From Arabic to Mandarin, from an angry tweet to a thoughtful blog, the analysts gather the information, often in a native tongue. They cross-reference it with a local newspaper or a clandestinely intercepted phone conversation. From there, they build a picture sought by the highest levels at the White House.

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) wrote to his Senate colleagues, urging them to oppose a resolution to overturn the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules.

The House passed a resolution to repeal the rules in April, and the Senate resolution, sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), is expected to come up for a vote next week. The FCC's network neutrality rules prevent Internet service providers from slowing down or speeding up access to websites. Wireless carriers are banned from blocking lawful websites or applications that compete with their services. Sen Kerry argued that if the resolution passes, it "will stifle innovation and discourage investment in the next Google or Amazon." He also said it would endanger other health and environmental regulations. "It will set the precedent that this Congress is prepared to deny independent regulators their ability to execute the law," he wrote. "That would put at risk health rules, environmental protections, worker rights and every other public protection that our agencies enforce that some in Congress do not like." Sen Kerry told his colleagues the network neutrality order has "brought certainty and predictability to the broadband economy and insures that anyone can create a website and deliver a service with the certainty that it will be made available to everyone else on the Internet." He argued that the rules do not regulate the Internet but rather regulate "the behavior of firms owning and operating the gateways to the Internet."

The demand for technology in classrooms has given rise to a slick and fast-growing sales force. Makers of computers and other gear vigorously court educators as they vie for billions of dollars in school financing. Sometimes inviting criticism of their zealous marketing, they pitch via e-mail, make cold calls, arrange luncheons and hold community meetings. But Apple in particular woos the education market with a state-of-the art sales operation that educators say is unique, and that, public-interest watchdogs say, raises some concerns. Along with more traditional methods, Apple invites educators from around the country to “executive briefings,” which participants describe as equal parts conversation, seminar and backstage pass. Such events might seem unremarkable in the business world, where closing a deal can involve thinly veiled junkets, golf outings and lavish dinners. But the courtship of public school officials entrusted with tax dollars is a more sensitive matter. Some critics say the trips could cast doubt on the impartiality of the officials’ buying decisions, which shape the way millions of students learn.

The House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology discussed updating a bill prohibiting mobile telemarketing to allow businesses to make robo-calls to mobile phones in certain cases.

In his opening statement at the hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) said that the bill needed to evolve with current technology. Under the current law, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), businesses are not allowed to use automatic dialing equipment and prerecorded messages for calls to wireless phones. Chairman Walden argued that the law is too prohibitive. The Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011 would define whether the law prohibits consumers from receiving important automated calls, offering the example of low-balance or fraud alerts from financial institutions. Still, it’s not clear if the bill would be able to distinguish between helpful alerts and other telemarketing calls. Lawmakers in the hearing were particularly concerned with what constituted “prior express consent” to receive the calls. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), who was influential in passing the TCPA, asked if businesses would be able to reach consumers who had, at some point, given their mobile numbers to companies such as pizza-delivery services. Consumer groups have said they opposed the measure.