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January 2012

EU Data Rules Worse Than SOPA?

Last week, the European Commission (EC) released a draft revision of its 1995 data protection rules for the stated purpose of strengthening online privacy rights and Europe's digital economy. But the rules threaten the viability of data-driven businesses, from Google to credit bureaus, critics contend.

The EC says that a single streamlined set of rules will save businesses billions in administrative work. The rules require: notification of national data authorities as soon as possible following a serious data breach; explicit rather than assumed consent for data collection; easier consumer access to data and easier transfer of that data to other providers; and support for a "right to be forgotten," which gives consumers the option under some circumstances to have their data deleted from third-party service providers. The fine for violating these European Union (EU) data rules is substantial: up to 1 million Euros or up to 2% of global annual revenue. Under this regime, Google's collection of Wi-Fi network data through its Street View cars, disclosed in 2010, could have cost the company $586 million, had the EU chosen to punish the company to the full extent of the law.

The secret behind the SOPA defeat

The recent defeats of SOPA and PIPA, two bills designed to clamp down on Internet piracy, have been widely hailed as a victory for popular, bottom-up democracy. To some degree this was true, but it's important not to overlook the effect of bareknuckled political action and lobbying by the tech industry. And it's important not to forget that the tech lobby deserves just as much scrutiny as do the various lobbies -- the movie and music industries, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and others -- that supported the bills.

The tech lobby was in the right this time, but it won't always be. And though at least some of the companies that fought against SOPA and PIPA did so in part from a sincere desire for sound public policy, they mainly did it to protect their own business interests. Judging by some of the reactions to the bills' defeat, you'd almost forget that the fight was mainly between two groups of powerful, self-interested business interests. Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, called the bills' demise "a serious grassroots victory for democracy." Politico's Anna Palmer took things a step further, citing the legislation's defeat as evidence that "K Street's boom days have come and gone."

Machine-to-Machine Communications: Connecting Billions of Devices

This document examines the future of machine-to-machine communication (M2M), with a particular focus on mobile wireless networks.

M2M devices are defined, in this paper, as those that are actively communicating using wired and wireless networks, are not computers in the traditional sense and are using the Internet in some form or another. While, at the global level, there are currently around five billion devices connected to mobile networks, this may by some estimates increase to 50 billion by the end of the decade. The report provides examples of some of the uses to which M2M is being put today and its potential to enhance economic and social development. It concludes that to achieve these benefits, however, changes to telecommunication policy and regulatory frameworks may be required. Some of the main areas that will need to be evaluated, and implications of M2M assessed, include: opening access to mobile wholesale markets for firms not providing public telecommunication services; numbering policy; frequency policy; privacy and security; and access to public sector information.

Be Better at Twitter: The Definitive, Data-Driven Guide

"Who Gives a Tweet: Evaluating Microblog Content Value" is the culmination of a year's worth of analysis conducted by the researchers Paul André of Carnegie Mellon, Michael Bernstein of MIT, and Kurt Luther of Georgia Tech as they set to find out what separates value from vagary in a Twitter post.

Last year, the team created a site, Who Gives a Tweet -- essentially, a Hot or Not for microcontent -- that asked users to designate a selection of tweets according to the emotional responses they provoked ("positive," "neutral," "negative"). And then, intriguingly, to explain those responses in their own words. The team, with the help of Mechancial Turk, then analyzed the 43,000 crowdsourced responses they'd collected from the site, looking for patterns and takeaways that might help the rest of us to become better, more crowd-pleasing members of the Twittersphere.

Sprint grants LightSquared new extension to get FCC clearance

Sprint Nextel granted billionaire Philip Falcone's LightSquared a new six-week extension to get Federal Communications Commission clearance to operate its planned nationwide fourth-generation network.

A Sprint spokesman said the carrier had given LightSquared until mid-March to resolve FCC concerns its network interferes with global-positioning systems. That follows a 30-day extension gave LightSquared at the end of last year. Getting the FCC's approval is a condition of Sprint and LightSquared's 15-year accord to share spectrum and network construction and equipment costs. LightSquared has said the agreement will help it save about $13 billion through the end of this decade.

The FCC is accepting public comment until Feb. 27 on LightSquared's argument that GPS device manufacturers aren't entitled to legal protection from interference caused by its signals.

BlackBerry Under Siege in Europe

The iPhone has taken a big bite out of the BlackBerry in a market where the older phone once dominated: business customers in North America.

Phones like the Galaxy S II, based on Android software, have helped Samsung become a top phone maker. Meanwhile, in Europe, Samsung is poised to do the same to Research in Motion, BlackBerry’s maker, as a growing number of businesses are buying, or plan to buy, phones using the Android operating system. Although BlackBerry is a must-have accessory for the growing business class in the developing economies of the world and RIM is adding customers there at a healthy clip, the company faces a problem in its established markets. Businesses are looking for another option besides the BlackBerry.

Global broadband zooms, US penetration is over 80 percent

Did you know that Bulgaria has the highest level of broadband adoption at 96 percent? Or that average connection speed in South Korea is 16.7 megabits per second (Mbps) versus the global average connection speed of 2.7 Mbps? These are some of the fun facts included in Akamai’s State of the Internet report for the third quarter of 2011.

The company will release its report later this week. South Korean and Japanese cities dominate the top 100 cities list. Amsterdam is the fastest city in Europe (ranked #33), and San Jose was once again the fastest city in the United States with an average connection speed of 13 Mbps. It was ranked at number 13 amongst the top 100 and was one of the 23 US cities that made the list. Other US cities in the top 100 include Plano, Texas (8.9 Mbps,) Fremont, California (8.6 Mbps,) North Bergen, NJ (8.5 Mbps,) and Jersey City, New Jersey (8.2 Mbps.)

Thailand welcomes Twitter's new censorship policy

Thailand is welcoming Twitter's new policy to censor tweets in specific nations where the content might break laws.

Technology minister Anudith Nakornthap said the new policy was a "constructive" development. The Southeast Asian country routinely blocks websites with content deemed offensive to the Thai monarchy. Anudith said it was good that Twitter "felt responsible to cooperate with governments to make sure basic rights are not violated through the use of social media." Thailand's taskforce that monitors anti-monarchy content has blocked 1,156 websites since December.

London Lagging Rest of the UK for 3G Mobile Broadband Speeds

Results of 3G speed tests carried out by consumers during 2011 show that London has the slowest average speeds of any of the UK's top ten largest cities (by population), according to the price comparison a website, uSwitch.

The speed seen in London is 24% slower than Portsmouth -- the fastest city in the UK -- and trails behind neighboring capital cities Cardiff (2.90Mbps) and Edinburgh (2.94Mbps). Birmingham, the UK's second largest city with a thriving business community, fares little better, lagging behind smaller cities such as Edinburgh, Leeds and Liverpool with an average download speed of 2.81Mbps. The broadband speed reports are based on an iPhone app installed by uSwitch customers.

Benton Applauds the Federal Communication Commission for Updates to the Lifeline Program

Submitted by benton on Tue, 01/31/2012 - 13:22

On Tuesday, January 31, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced adopted rules to reform the Lifeline program. The following statement can be attributed to Benton Foundation* Policy Counsel Amina Fazlullah:

“At a time of nationwide economic stress, when a number of families are facing unemployment and homelessness, Lifeline ensures that these families are able to maintain a connection to potential employers, educational resources, government services and healthcare providers.

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