February 27, 2012 (Judge dismisses lawsuit over Google privacy changes)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2012
The Mobile World Congress 2012 and the rest of this week’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2012-02-26--P1W/
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
FBI Turns Off Thousands of GPS Devices After Supreme Court Ruling
California Bill Would Prevent Cell Service Shutdowns
Support democracy in Hungary with new Radio Free Europe broadcasts - op-ed [links to web]
Inmates to be allowed MP3 players but will restrict music [links to web]
PRIVACY
Judge dismisses lawsuit over Google privacy changes
What a Difference a Week Makes: A New Framework for Protecting Privacy - analysis
Obama's 'bill of rights' good start on Web privacy - editorial [links to web]
Onward online privacy - editorial [links to web]
The problem with Obama's privacy 'bill of rights' - analysis
Opt-Out Provision Would Halt Some, but Not All, Web Tracking - analysis [links to web]
Risk and Riches in User Data for Facebook [links to web]
Privacy management on social media sites - research
Google: New privacy policy to have little impact on enterprise [links to web]
Stanford’s Jonathan Mayer On Fixing Privacy [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Why Genachowski’s Cybersecurity Initiative Is So Radical (In A Good Way) - analysis
Cybersecurity 2.0 - editorial [links to web]
In Attack on Vatican Web Site, a Glimpse of Hackers’ Tactics [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
It’s the end of the line for telco - op-ed
Sprint, MetroPCS were “hours away” from now-dead $8 Billion deal
Study: Wireless Carriers Face Stiff Competition
ITU Chief: Governments Need to Make It Easier to Deploy Next-Gen Mobile Broadband [links to web]
Judge awards iPhone user $850 in throttling case
Are you getting throttled into paying more for your wireless coverage?
Wireless Giants Converge on Barcelona [links to web]
Mobile Operators Turn to Merger Lite as Watchdogs Stop Deals [links to web]
New chips help bring high-definition sound to smartphones and other devices [links to web]
Spectrum Provisions in the Middle Class Tax Relief Act - analysis
Ed Lazarus: Congressional Limits Cramp Spectrum Auctions [links to web]
Critics Get Their Say on Verizon/Cable Spectrum Sale - analysis
Verizon: Spectrum - Crunching the Numbers - press release
Nokia Chief Says No Plans of Merger With Microsoft [links to web]
iPhone's Crutch of Subsidies [links to web]
BROADCASTING
The FCC's "Stopwatch" Proposal to Evaluate Station Program Content
Sen. Burr Calls FCC Proposal for Online Public Files Unnecessary Burden [links to web]
TOC Online Political File Plan Makes Sense - editorial
What Stations Must Know About Political Ads [links to web]
Support democracy in Hungary with new Radio Free Europe broadcasts - op-ed [links to web]
CONTENT
Los Angeles Times To Add Paywall [links to web]
Grammys Were Topic Number 1 - research [links to web]
One Way Google Might Crash Cable's Party - analysis [links to web]
Social media age shocker? On politics, newspapers get more respect. [links to web]
Will Facebook, Twitter, Fundly and the like be the fundraisers of the future? [links to web]
Facebook suffers lobbying exodus [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
How Hollywood Conquered the World (All Over Again) [links to web]
MPAA's Chris Dodd Extends SOPA Olive Branch to Silicon Valley [links to web]
Kickstarter Expects To Provide More Funding To The Arts Than NEA [links to web]
INTERNET
Valley must join effort to stop UN from governing the Internet - editorial
USTelecom: FCC Should Purge Regulatory “Vestiges of a Bygone Era” [links to web]
State Sessions Focus on Broadband - analysis [links to web]
Researchers: Having too many connections weakens networks [links to web]
Will Facebook, Twitter, Fundly and the like be the fundraisers of the future? [links to web]
HEALTH
Secretary Sebelius announces next stage for providers adopting electronic health records - press release
COMPANY NEWS
Apple: Confronting a Law Of Limits [links to web]
Apple Riding High, but for How Long? [links to web]
Deutsche Telekom: Downwardly Mobile in the US [links to web]
Apple And Foxconn's Ethics Hit Your Gadget Prices - analysis
Google: Growing Too Big for a Conscience? [links to web]
Risk and Riches in User Data for Facebook [links to web]
Facebook suffers lobbying exodus [links to web]
RESEARCH
True Innovation - op-ed
JOURNALISM
‘Evidence was destroyed’ in newspaper phone scandal
MORE ONLINE
CableLabs CEO: Interactive TV As Relevant As Ever [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
FBI ENDS GPS SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin]
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning the warrantless use of GPS tracking devices has caused a “sea change” inside the Justice Department, according to FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann. He said that the court ruling prompted the FBI to turn off about 3,000 GPS tracking devices that were in use. These devices were often stuck underneath cars to track the movements of the car owners. In U.S. v. Jones, the Supreme Court ruled that using a device to track a car owner without a search warrant violated the law. After the ruling, the FBI had a problem collecting the devices that it had turned off, Weissmann said. In some cases, he said, the FBI sought court orders to obtain permission to turn the devices on briefly – only in order to locate and retrieve them.
benton.org/node/115248 | Wall Street Journal
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CALIFORNIA BILL PREVENTS NETWORK SHUTDOWNS
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Brian Heaton]
Local governments in California might lose their ability to black out wireless communications networks. A new bill has been drafted that would extend the California law that requires a court order to shut down land-based telephone service to mobile devices, giving users uninterrupted access to 911 and telecommunications services. Introduced Feb. 22 by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), SB 1160 follows the Bay Area Rapid Transit Agency’s (BART) shutdown of mobile services during August’s public protests regarding the shooting deaths of two men by BART police. The network blackout stirred a firestorm of controversy, attracting the attention of the hacker collective “Anonymous” and the Federal Communications Commission.
benton.org/node/115238 | Government Technology
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PRIVACY
JUDGE DISMISSES EPIC SUIT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) that sought to force the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to block Google's planned privacy changes. EPIC argued that Google's privacy changes, scheduled to go into effect March 1, would violate a settlement the Web company reached with the FTC last year. But in her decision, Judge Amy Berman Jackson concluded that the courts cannot review whether the FTC chooses to enforce its legal settlements. "In this case, plaintiff cannot point to any indication that Congress intended courts to monitor the FTC’s enforcement of its own consent decrees," she wrote.
benton.org/node/115247 | Hill, The | National Journal
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A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR PROTECTING PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
Was it just last week when we shared lots of gloom and doom about the state of US privacy? Who could have predicted that so much would change so quickly. On February 23, the White House released Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy which includes a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. The Administration also announced that coalition of Internet giants including Google has agreed to support a do-not-track button to be embedded in most Web browsers—a move that the industry had been resisting for more than a year.
http://benton.org/node/115098
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PRIVACY BILL OF RIGHTS
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Dan Mitchell]
The data-privacy framework unveiled by President Obama has received near-universal praise from privacy advocates. At the very least, they say, it represents a good start and proves that the administration is serious about protecting privacy rights as they apply to how businesses collect and use personal data. The only drawback is that while the administration is calling for Congress to enact a "privacy bill of rights," the actual Bill of Rights is nowhere to be found in the announcement. The framework targets only the private sector's activities, not the government's. Given the increasing Constitutional leeway the government has granted to itself on data searches, wiretapping and the like, it's not surprising that privacy advocates are a little taken aback by the difference in how the Administration is treating the public and private sectors.
benton.org/node/115230 | Fortune
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PRIVACY MANAGEMENT
[SOURCE: Pew Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Mary Madden]
Social network users are becoming more active in pruning and managing their accounts. Women and younger users tend to unfriend more than others. About two-thirds of internet users use social networking sites (SNS) and all the major metrics for profile management are up, compared to 2009: 63% of them have deleted people from their “friends” lists, up from 56% in 2009; 44% have deleted comments made by others on their profile; and 37% have removed their names from photos that were tagged to identify them. Some 67% of women who maintain a profile say they have deleted people from their network, compared with 58% of men. Likewise, young adults are more active unfrienders when compared with older users.
benton.org/node/115224 | Pew Internet & American Life Project | AP | The Hill | National Journal | Wall Street Journal | Washington Post | The Atlantic
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CYBERSECURITY
CYBERSECURITY PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) new cybersecurity initiative is so important and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s speech is such a radical and welcome addition to the cybersecurity discussion. The approach outlined by Chairman Genachowski, if followed, promises to address three key security weaknesses in the Internet in a way that actually works with the underlying principles that have made the Internet such a widespread success for everyone from the most unsophisticated end user to the most sophisticated tech giant: voluntary consensus, openness, and ease of use. By leveraging the strengths of the network to help overcome the vulnerabilities of the network, the FCC can do a lot to improve cybersecurity while simultaneously fulfilling its statutory mandates to protect consumers and promote broadband adoption and use. Chairman Genachowski radically departs from the usual Cybersecurity Establishment. Here’s the money quote:
“It’s important to pause and note the relationship between the Internet’s success and these new threats. The potential harm of cyber attacks is so great because the Internet has become such a key platform for innovation, economic growth, and opportunity — delivering more and more value to people everywhere, every day.
So as stakeholders address the challenge of cybersecurity, it’s vital that we preserve the ingredients that have and will fuel the Internet’s growth and success. Specifically, it’s critical that we preserve Internet freedom and the open architecture of the Internet, which have been essential to the Internet’s success as an engine of innovation and economic growth.
Preserving the openness of the Internet is not a concern to be balanced with security risks, it is a guiding principle to be honored as we seek to address security challenges.
Privacy is a similarly important principle. There are some who suggest that we should compromise privacy to enhance online security. This too is a false choice. Privacy and security are complementary – both are essential to consumer confidence and adoption of broadband. We can and must improve online security while protecting individuals’ privacy.”
benton.org/node/115225 | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
THE END OF THE LINE FOR TELCO
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Martin Geddes]
[Commentary] The telecom industry has reached its peak. This is it. Look around you. Whatever you are doing in telecom, however you are making money in the field, it isn’t going to get better than this. This industry has acquired its maximum share of the economy. We are the digital railroad business at the height of the railroad barons. The only way now is down. We’ll see maybe one or two more mini-booms, a few more troughs, but the long-term trend has just gone into reverse. Telcos aren’t going to be able to divide-and-conquer Apple’s and Google’s platforms. The locus of power has shifted fundamentally. The value creation is outside the network. It gets worse. These players may start to aggregate assets and wholesale access to build AppleNet, GoogleGlobe and AmazonRiver to connect merchants to eyeballs and wallets, without any other gatekeepers, such as a telco retail bundle, in the way. It gets worse. Telcos as profitable networked cloud services providers? You’ve got to be kidding me. It gets worse. Ericsson has positioned itself as what my colleague Dean Bubley refers to as a dominant “under the floor” player. It is potentially a king-maker for telcos, controlling the delivery platform from which their operations have to be run. Networks are just large, distributed supercomputers — and Ericsson is the new IBM. Nobody got fired for choosing them. Their power is ominous for operators. It gets worse. Home networks don’t need service providers. You just buy a box and plug it in. Street-level networks don’t either — you can build a simple resilient mesh. Nor do town networks that join the kids with their school. We fundamentally don’t need communications service providers to manage data transmission. As long as we have a means to fund infrastructure, just as we manage with roads, we can do it for ourselves.
benton.org/node/115240 | GigaOm
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SPRINT-METROPCS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Tom Krazit]
CNBC reported Feb 24 that Sprint and MetroPCS were “hours away” from announcing an $8 billion merger agreement, but the deal was thwarted by Sprint’s board of directors. CEO Dan Hesse was said to have endorsed the deal, which would have seen MetroPCS owning about 30 percent of the combined company, but it would have been a challenge. For one thing, MetroPCS and Sprint don’t operate in the same spectrum bands, according to The Verge. That means blending the two customer bases would have been quite difficult. On top of that, Sprint is already carrying substantial debt and won’t make money on its extremely expensive iPhone deal for several years, leaving the company with few options to generate cash.
benton.org/node/115239 | GigaOm
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STIFF COMPETITION FOR WIRELESS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
According to a new report from The Cambridge Strategic Management Group, a variety of factors, from over-the-top voice competition to Wi-Fi operators are helping "shift value away from established mobile industry players." It predicts that Wi-Fi could take an $8 billion chunk out of wireless carriers' revenue by 2016. The report, Signal Strength: Assessing Value Shifts in the Mobile Telecommunications Industry, says "established players can no longer rely on the rising tide of demand to guarantee growth," given tablets, cloud-based services and other disruptive factors. In fact, the report cites a host of threats to the view of incumbent wireless carriers as poised to dominate the market and the bottom line, arguing that one way to defend against over-the-top services like Skype is to offer unlimited voice and messaging.
benton.org/node/115245 | Broadcasting&Cable
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AT&T LOSES CASE
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Greg Risling, Peter Svensson]
When AT&T started slowing down the data service for his iPhone, Matt Spaccarelli, an unemployed truck driver and student, took the country's largest telecommunications company to small claims court. And won. His award: $850. Judge Russell Nadel found in favor of Spaccarelli in Ventura Superior Court in Simi Valley, saying it wasn't fair for the company to purposely slow down his iPhone, when it had sold him an "unlimited data" plan. The customer contract specifies that those who win an award from the company in arbitration that is greater than the company's pre-arbitration settlement offer will get at least $10,000. Spaccarelli picked the same amount for his claim, though AT&T's stipulation about a minimum award doesn't apply in small claims. Judge Nadel looked instead at the remaining 10 months in Spaccarelli's two-year contract with AT&T and estimated that he might pay $85 a month on average for using additional data. AT&T charges $10 for every extra gigabyte over 3 gigabytes. Judge Nadel said it's not fair for AT&T to make a promise to Spaccarelli when he buys the phone while burying terms in his contract that give the company the right to cut down data speeds.
benton.org/node/115246 | Associated Press
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THROTTLING
[SOURCE: American Public Radio, AUTHOR: John Moe]
The mobile intelligence company Validas recently looked into what kind of speeds people are getting on all these plans, specifically customers who use a lot of data. “So we took a look at the data usage of those top 5 percent for both tiered and unlimited plans on Verizon and AT&T,” says Dylan Breslin-Barnhart of Validas, “and interestingly what we found is for, especially for Verizon it was most remarkable that, ultimately, it doesn't matter if you're on tiered or unlimited, if you're in the top 5 percent bracket, you're using about the same amount of data.” But your experiences could be pretty different. Validas found that customers on the unlimited plans were getting throttled, their data was moving slower than customers using the same amount of data on tiered plans. The tiered customers were enjoying a streaming episode of "Mad Men," everything’s great. The unlimited customers were getting buffering messages, hiccups, delays, they had no idea what Don Draper was up to. Why are the wireless carriers doing such a thing? “The argument that they're making is that the people on unlimited plans are data hogs,” says Mike Masnick, editor of Techdirt, “and are using way too much data and are causing congestion for everyone else.” But why is the network slow for some customers and not others? Masnick thinks the networks don’t want customers on unlimited plans at lower rates, they want everyone to be tiered. “Well, it appears that they have plenty of bandwidth,” he says, “and what they're really trying to do is push you into paying more money for the same thing.”
benton.org/node/115257 | American Public Radio
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SPECTRUM PROVISION IN TAX BILL
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
When President Barack Obama signed the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 into law on February 22, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gained authority to 1) hold voluntary incentive auctions and 2) allocate necessary spectrum for a nationwide interoperable broadband network for first responders. The new law also provides A) $7 billion for public safety broadband network build out, and B) up to $1.75 billion for relocation costs for broadcasters. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the spectrum auction will raise $15 billion over the next eleven years. Specifically, the bill would establish clearing and auction timelines for spectrum in 1915-1920 MHz and 1995-2000 MHz (the PCS H Block), 2155-2180 MHz (the AWS-3 block), 1755-1780 MHz, 15 MHz from the government spectrum at 1675-1710 MHz paired with 15 MHz to be determined by the FCC. The bill would also allow the President to substitute alternate spectrum for 1755-1780 MHz and would reallocate the 700 MHz D Block from commercial to public safety use.
http://benton.org/node/115095
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CRITICS GET THEIR SAY
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
As we hope Headlines readers well know, on December 19, 2011, Verizon Wireless and SpectrumCo filed an application for the consent of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to the assignment of 122 Advanced Wireless Services (“AWS” -- the 1710-1755/2110-2155 MHz bands) licenses from SpectrumCo to Verizon Wireless. The 122 licenses cover 120 markets. The parties claim that the transaction will transfer unused spectrum to meet Verizon Wireless' growing demand for mobile broadband. We hope, too, that readers know we’ve been tracking the review of this transaction by regulators. You may know, too, that the Benton Foundation -- in a joint petition with Public Knowledge, Media Access Project, the New America Foundation Open Technology Initiative, Access Humboldt, Center for Rural Strategies, Future of Music Coalition, National Consumer Law Center, and Writers Guild of America West – has asked the FCC to block the transaction. This past week was a first deadline for the public to tell the FCC about their concerns about the transaction.
http://benton.org/node/115096
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VERIZON CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS
[SOURCE: Verizon, AUTHOR: Charla Rath]
Verizon Wireless is purchasing Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox to ensure that our customers get the fast, reliable service they expect from their 4G devices. This purchase is clearly in the public interest. It puts unused spectrum into the hands of 109 million consumers who will use it for high-quality wireless broadband service on Verizon’s 4G LTE-enabled smartphones, tablets, and other devices. But why does Verizon need more spectrum? The answer has become one of the big policy debates in Washington and across the country: the coming spectrum crunch. As more and more consumers use more and more wireless devices, additional spectrum capacity is needed for video-streaming, video-chatting, music, video and other content downloads, and any number of applications that require fast and reliable wireless broadband connections. Today, we serve approximately 109 million wireless connections, more than any other wireless provider in the U.S. Those connections are serviced with a nationwide spectrum license base that averages 88 megahertz of spectrum. That means, on average, Verizon uses one megahertz of spectrum to serve 1.2 million customer connections. Should the AWS spectrum transfer be approved, these wireless connections would be served using an average of 109 MHz nationwide, with one megahertz of spectrum serving almost one million customer connections. Verizon is 2-times more efficient with our spectrum than T-Mobile. While Verizon Wireless services 109 million connections with an average of 88 megahertz, T-Mobile has 50 MHz to serve 33 million customers. Both Verizon and T-Mobile have spectrum licensed nationwide, which means, as I mention above, Verizon serves 1.2 million customers on average per megahertz, while T-Mobile serves only half that with 660,000 per megahertz.
benton.org/node/115232 | Verizon
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BROADCASTING
STOPWATCH PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: CommLawCenter, AUTHOR: Richard Zaragoza, Lauren Birzon]
Responding to the Federal Communications Commission's Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding "Standardizing Program Reporting Requirements for Broadcast Licensees," the 46 State Broadcasters Associations (represented by the authors’ firm), three other State Broadcasters Associations, the National Association of Broadcasters, and a coalition of network television station owners, among others, filed comments alerting the FCC that its proposals to adopt new and detailed program reporting requirements raise serious questions about the Commission's authority to do so under the First Amendment. The 46 State Associations noted that "substitut[ing] a chiefly quantity of programming measure for public service performance, would, in the State Associations' view, inappropriately, (i) elevate form (quantity of minutes) over substance (treatment of specific issues), (ii) place other undue burdens on stations, and (iii) intertwine the government for years to come in the journalistic news judgments of television broadcast stations throughout the country."
benton.org/node/115218 | CommLawCenter
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POLITICAL FILE PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Harry Jessell]
[Commentary] Broadcasters say the Federal Communications Commission's proposal to put political advertising files online puts too great a burden and expense on them while exposing sensitive pricing data to the Internet. Now, however, the Television Operators Caucus has offered a compromise, a proposal to post online select political information that the public and journalists want most. It deserves consideration by all broadcasters and the FCC. Here's the TOC proposal:
The station would place online, either at a station website or the FCC’s website (at the station’s election), the following political file information:
the name of the buyer
the name of the candidate on whose behalf the political spots (or program material) were purchased
the entity, including officers, that paid for the spots (or program material)
the aggregate amount of money paid for the spots (or program material) by the buyer since the last online posting
Generally, the online political file would be updated once a week. Immediately prior to an election, it would also be updated the day before the election. Outside the lowest unit charge period, the online political file would be updated once a month.
Existing FCC requirements for stations’ local political files for purchase of political spots and political program material would remain the same.
benton.org/node/115216 | TVNewsCheck
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INTERNET
THE UN AND THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] It's Silicon Valley's worst nightmare: China and Russia want to turn control of the Internet over to the United Nations, according to Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell and other tech experts. "It's a potential catastrophe," San Jose Rep. Zoe Lofgren proclaimed. "I've raised alarms about it, but nobody seems to be paying any attention. We're going to need the kind of outcry that occurred in SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) and more to turn this around." The State Department's coordinator for international communications policy, Philip Verveer, downplayed the risk, calling it a "low-probability, high-consequence circumstance." "High consequence" gets our attention. Silicon Valley needs to pull out all of the stops to block a diplomatic disaster that could give despots and dictators power over the greatest open communication tool the world has ever known. The first task is to help the State Department apply the kind of pressure that spelled SOPA's demise. The proposed U.S. law to rein in copyright infringement would have harmed the Internet as a business and communication tool. The Internet now has 2 billion users and is adding millions more every week. Some tech experts believe that it will be next to impossible to maintain the status quo, given the extent of the issues. The goal of the Dubai conference should be to tweak the current regulations to alleviate legitimate international concerns while maintaining independence of the Internet. The United States won't be able to veto whatever emerges from Dubai, so it needs to be fully engaged in the game. Valley industry needs to speak up.
benton.org/node/115264 | San Jose Mercury News
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HEALTH
HHS ANNOUNCES NET STAGE OF MEANINGFUL USE
[SOURCE: Department of Health and Human Services, AUTHOR: Press release]
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the next steps for providers who are using electronic health record (EHR) technology and receiving incentive payments from Medicare and Medicaid. These proposed rules, from the Centers for Medicaid & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), will govern stage 2 of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs. Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, eligible health care professionals and hospitals can qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments when they adopt certified EHR technology and use it in a meaningful way. What is considered “meaningful use” is evolving in three stages:
Stage 1 (which began in 2011 and remains the starting point for all providers): “meaningful use” consists of transferring data to EHRs and being able to share information, including electronic copies and visit summaries for patients.
Stage 2 (to be implemented in 2014 under the proposed rule): “meaningful use” includes new standards such as online access for patients to their health information, and electronic health information exchange between providers.
Stage 3 (expected to be implemented in 2016): “meaningful use” includes demonstrating that the quality of health care has been improved.
benton.org/node/115220 | Department of Health and Human Services | HHS blog
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COMPANY NEWS
FOXCON UPS WAGES
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Kit Eaton]
Last week Foxconn pushed its starting salaries up from 900 yuan ($143) to 1,800 yuan per month, the latest and biggest in wage upticks that began in 2010. Foxconn did this for one main reason: international attention focused on the firm and associated ethical questions surrounding its treatment of workers. The lens through which this attention was focused bears just one name – Apple -- because the iPhone seller is one of the biggest companies in the world, and has recently made very bold steps to improve worker conditions. But Foxconn is actually a key supplier for a laundry list of international electronics firms, from Samsung to numerous household American names. Now two of those firms, tech giants HP and Dell, have warned that rising costs in their Chinese supply chain may result in increased in-store prices for their wares.
benton.org/node/115228 | Fast Company
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RESEARCH
TRUE INNOVATION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jon Gertner]
[Commentary] We idealize America’s present culture of innovation too much. In fact, our trailblazing digital firms may not be the hothouse environments for creativity we might think. I find myself arriving at these doubts after spending five years looking at the innovative process at Bell Labs, the onetime research and development organization of the country’s formerly monopolistic telephone company, AT&T. Why study Bell Labs? It offers a number of lessons about how our country’s technology companies — and our country’s longstanding innovative edge — actually came about. Yet Bell Labs also presents a more encompassing and ambitious approach to innovation than what prevails today. Its staff worked on the incremental improvements necessary for a complex national communications network while simultaneously thinking far ahead, toward the most revolutionary inventions imaginable. Indeed, in the search for innovative models to address seemingly intractable problems like climate change, we would do well to consider Bell Labs’ example — an effort that rivals the Apollo program and the Manhattan Project in size, scope and expense. Its mission, and its great triumph, was to connect all of us, and all of our new machines, together.
benton.org/node/115272 | New York Times
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JOURNALISM
EVIDENCE DESTROYED IN UK CASE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Ben Fenton]
Court documents from cases connected to the phone-hacking scandal reveal a pattern of destruction of evidence ordered by senior employees of Rupert Murdoch’s News International. One of the documents states that the deletion of all of the News of the World’s email archives from before September 2007, which included the entire period when phone-hacking was rampant at the Sunday tabloid, was undertaken as recently as January 2011. The documents show that despite warnings from lawyers working for victims of the News of the World’s phone-hacking that the company should preserve evidence, NI set out to delete emails that might incriminate the company. According to The Daily Telegraph, which said it obtained the documents with the permission of the High Court judge hearing dozens of phone-hacking civil suits, employees at NI were ordered to delete damaging emails.
benton.org/node/115252 | Financial Times
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