February 2012

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

SPECTRUM AUTION LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Congress has reached a compromise on key wireless spectrum issues that had the potential to put the kibosh on innovation and competition when it came to both mobile broadband and unlicensed spectrum. The House and Senate had proposed language in a bill that interfered with the FCC’s ability to set the terms of a proposed auction for a portion of the digital TV spectrum, and also prevented the agency from allocating unlicensed spectrum that could be used for white spaces broadband or even more airwaves for Wi-Fi. But legislators reached a compromise that ensures that the FCC will be able to set spectrum auction rules, which means it will have the freedom to ensure that AT&T and Verizon don’t walk away with the lion’s share of the new spectrum (after it sets a public rulemaking). Of course, the rules that are currently being proposed for that auction still leave the value of those airwaves for mobile broadband in doubt. From a tech perspective it’s the compromise on unlicensed spectrum that’s the most important. The law will acknowledge that the FCC will have the authority to designate spectrum as unlicensed in the TV band and beyond — meaning Congress can’t demand that if the FCC gets airwaves it has to auction them the highest bidder. Yes, such an action ensures more money for the U.S. Treasury (and presumably a boon to taxpayers), but it also means that technologies that could rely on unlicensed airwaves may never come to fruition. And, those technologies, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and others arguably offer consumer, business and economic benefits that offset the loss to the U.S. Treasury.
The legislation also sets aside a portion of spectrum and provides funds for a nationwide broadband network for first responders. The public safety network, which would help first responders from different agencies communicate during emergencies, is one of the last outstanding recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Report.
The compromise removes a provision from Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) that would have barred the FCC from imposing network neutrality conditions on wireless companies that buy the spectrum licenses at auction. The FCC's controversial net-neutrality rules prohibit Internet providers from slowing down or blocking access to legitimate websites.
benton.org/node/114490 | GigaOm | Senate Democrats | House Commerce Committee Democrats | House Commerce Committee Chairman Upton | House Commerce press release | The Hill | B&C | Bloomberg |
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PRESIDENT ENDORSES SPECTRUM DEAL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
President Obama praised Congress for agreeing to legislation that would extend a payroll tax cut and auction television airwave licenses to wireless companies. He promised to sign the bill as soon as it reaches his desk. "[The legislation] includes a critical element in the plan I outlined in the State of the Union to out-innovate the rest of the world by unleashing mobile broadband, investing in innovation, and building a nationwide public safety network," President Obama said. "It will mean a stronger economy and hundreds of thousands of new jobs."
benton.org/node/114492 | Hill, The
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GENACHOWSKI REACTS TO SPECTRUM DEAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said he was pleased that Congress had recognized the importance of freeing up spectrum, but warned that the way the bill is worded could "limit the FCC's ability to maximize the amount and benefits of recovered spectrum." He was not explicit, but the reference was to language in the bill that limits how the FCC can structure the spectrum auction by preventing the FCC from imposing conditions on who can bid. While the FCC has been accused of wanting to exclude major players, the chairman has countered that the point is to make sure that bidders of all sizes get a chance.
benton.org/node/114491 | Broadcasting&Cable
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

FCC MEASURING BROADBAND SERVICE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission is continuing its efforts to improve the availability of information describing broadband performance in the US. A key part of the FCC’s Consumer Empowerment Agenda will be expanding the Measuring Broadband project this year, including publishing two reports in 2012, and expanding the study to include more technologies, extending the study into new regions of the country, and planning to publish more kinds of data. The first round of testing will begin in March. Interested consumers are again encouraged to volunteer to be a part of this important effort to provide detailed and accurate measurements of consumer broadband performance on a national level. Once again, the Measuring Broadband project will develop real data to evaluate ISP broadband performance claims and provide consumers with the ability to compare ISPs in meaningful ways.
benton.org/node/114489 | Federal Communications Commission
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BROADBAND STIMULUS
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Samantha Bookman]
[Commentary] How far along is the national broadband stimulus program? Since 2009, over $3,525,706,687 in stimulus grants have been disbursed to 258 applicants in two rounds of Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) funding, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). More than 18,000 miles of new broadband networks have been built out as of November 2011, the Commerce Dept. reported. The money has been used for more than 229 projects so far--beyond building infrastructure, stimulus has funded the creation and improvement of public computer centers, state government development, and sustainable broadband adoption initiatives. But a look at the NTIA's broadband availability maps show that the United States still has a way to go before every citizen has access to acceptable high-speed, scalable broadband. There are large hurdles to clear. Rural communities are still way behind the speed curve, with 17 states reporting a 15 to 25 percent difference in speed availability between their urban and rural areas. (And that's at the 3 Mbps/768 Kbps federal standard.) That is beginning to change, as stimulus awardees including Windstream in its Oklahoma region put their grants into action and break ground on projects to improve broadband access in selected rural areas. Low income consumers are gaining more access to broadband technologies thanks to both increased public computer availability and "essentials"-type subscriber programs offered by providers like Comcast and CenturyLink.
benton.org/node/114456 | Fierce
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BIG TRENDS IN BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Heather Kelly]
What’s the next big technology for connecting an increasingly data-hungry world to the Internet? While cable remains a solid, wired solution for connecting to the Internet in many places, its adaptation has stumbled outside of the U.S. where a shaky infrastructure produced poor wireline connections. DSL came along after cable, and quickly became known as high-speed DSL as customers used more data faster, ever pushing the capacity of their phone lines. In rural areas, satellite often remains the only player in the game. However, more and more, the only phrase on the lips of services, companies, and customers alike has been optical fiber. Fiber seems up to that challenge, boosting data rates and extending reach over copper fiber. The current goal of providers is to offer what is referred to as a triple-play (voice, data and video over one network) but as fiber’s use and popularity increases, expect to see them branch out to building fixed access or wireline Internet with wireless access technologies in order to provide networks that will offer always-on broadband services on a constant basis.
benton.org/node/114485 | Washington Post
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MORE FCC NEWS

FCC BUDGET HEARING
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, FCC Inspector General David Hunt, and Universal Service Administrative Company CEO Scott Barash testified in front of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology on the FCC’s budget. For FY2013, the FCC requests an increase in its appropriated budget to $432 million, including $85 million from auction receipts and $347 million from regulatory fees. This proposal represents a net $7 million increase from FY2012 funding levels, with $10.6 million for new programs; $5.1 million to maintain existing programs; $1.1 million to replace aging radio-direction-finding vehicles; $300,000 to improve the consultation abilities of the Office of Native Affairs and Policy; and savings of $10.2 million based on a one-time appropriations adjustment and reductions to rent, contracts, and other expenses. The Commission estimates that it will have 1,917 employees for FY2012, and its request for FY2013 would maintain that number. Of the $10.6 million in new programs, $3.6 million would be used to implement the Administration’s cloud initiative, host the FCC’s services at distributed data centers with improved cybersecurity capabilities, upgrade the ability to change service providers without affecting public use of the FCC’s online services, and produce potential long-term savings. The FCC requests $2.5 million to consolidate two data centers in Washington, D.C., as well as elements of a redundant site at the FCC’s Gettysburg facility. The FCC requests another $2.5 million to buy new radio-direction-finding equipment for the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau; this equipment is used to determine the source and significance of harmful interference to radio broadcasters and receivers. The FCC requests $1 million to develop the technical capabilities of supporting interoperable public safety communications in the 700 MHz spectrum, $500,000 for the FCC’s test facility to support new wireless technologies including spectrum sensing equipment, and $500,000 for a study on the link between the ownership and employment practices of communications providers and content they air.
benton.org/node/114488 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | Chairman Genachowski
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WILL FCC CLOSE TITLE II DOCKET?
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski told the House Communications Subcommittee he would consider closing the Title II docket which proposed to reclassify Internet access service as a telecommunications service subject common carrier regulations. Internet service providers had termed that the nuclear option and the FCC ultimately struck compromise on network neutrality rules that avoided dropping that bomb by relying on Title I authority. But it did not close the Title II docket. Republicans have expressed concern that if the FCC loses a court challenge to its Title I-based compromise network neutrality rules, it could move quickly to assert Title II authority. At a budget oversight hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) asked him to close it and Chairman Genachowski said he would at least consider it. Chairman Walden pointed out the docket had been open since 2009 -- the compromise rules were approved in Dec. 2010. "Why is it still open," he asked, tying it to the budget by also asking how many employees were currently working on the docket. Chairman Genachowski said he was not aware of any employees working on the docket. "Why not close it," asked Chairman Walden. "It is something that we will consider,” Chairman Genachowski answered. “We have been focused on USF." Chairman Walden cut him off saying: "You're here, we can consider it now." Chairman Genachowski said it was "something I will discuss with my staff."
benton.org/node/114452 | Broadcasting&Cable
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FCC TREADING LIGHTLY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
The Federal Communications Commission’s decision to yank its support for satellite firm LightSquared all but ends that company’s effort to launch mobile services, analysts say. Now comes the hangover. FCC officials say they still have faith that satellite technology can be used to create wireless networks rivaling those of AT&T and Verizon Wireless. But analysts say the agency will step more carefully this time, after being burned by congressional investigations, feuds with other federal agencies and two years of work wasted on LightSquared. And, the analysts said, the LightSquared controversy will bring extra scrutiny, especially from GOP lawmakers, to future efforts to use satellites to satiate America’s voracious appetite for smartphones and network-connected tablets. The agency is expected to move deliberately on its next pet project — helping Dish Network get a mobile network running using its satellites, analysts said.
benton.org/node/114457 | Washington Post
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FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON TERMINATION OF CERTAIN PROCEEDINGS AS DORMANT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (“CGB”) seeks comment on whether certain docketed FCC proceedings should be terminated as dormant. FCC rules direct the CGB to periodically review all open dockets and, in consultation with the responsible Bureaus or Offices, to identify those dockets that appear to be candidates for termination. Those dockets could be ones in which no further action is required or contemplated as well as those in which no pleadings or other documents have been filed for several years. The FCC specified that proceedings in which petitions addressing the merits are pending should not be terminated, absent the parties’ consent. The termination of a dormant proceeding also includes dismissal as moot of any pending petition, motion, or other request for relief that is procedural in nature or otherwise does not address the merits of the proceeding.
benton.org/node/114476 | Federal Communications Commission | list of proposed dockets for termination | list of proposed dockets for termination
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CYBERSECURITY

CLASH OVER CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) accused Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-CT) of trying to ram through a flawed cybersecurity bill at a hearing. "Unfortunately, the bill introduced by the chairman and ranking member has already been placed on the calendar by the majority leader without a single markup or any executive business meeting by any committee of relevant jurisdiction," Sen McCain said. "My friends, that’s wrong." "To suggest that this bill should move directly to the Senate Floor because it has ‘been around’ since 2009 is outrageous," McCain said. "First, the bill was introduced two days ago. Secondly, where do Senate Rules state that a bill’s progress in a previous Congress can supplant the necessary work on that bill in the present one?" Sen McCain said he is concerned the bill will duplicate cybersecurity efforts by the Defense Department, grow the budget deficit and impose burdensome regulations on businesses.
benton.org/node/114484 | Hill, The
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

DHS DEFENDS SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Joseph Marks]
The Homeland Security Department monitors social media sites, blogs and online comment threads to gather "situational awareness" about threats and emergencies, but it doesn't pull identifying information about average citizens out of those comments unless it's a "life or death situation," officials told a House panel. The hearing of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence follows news that an agency contractor mined Facebook, Twitter and the comments sections of online news articles in 2009 to gauge Standish, Mich., residents' thoughts about a short-lived proposal to move Guantanamo Bay prisoners to an area prison. The contract with General Dynamics was uncovered after the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an online privacy advocacy group, filed a Freedom of Information Act request and subsequent lawsuit. Current analysis produced by the National Operations Center, where the social media monitoring program is housed, "focus[es] on what's being reported, not who's reporting it," said DHS Chief Privacy Officer Mary Ellen Callahan. Those reports never identify people's names or other personally identifying information unless the analysts believe someone's life might be in danger or if the person being referred to is a public official, she said. When then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in Tucson in January 2011, for instance, reports identified the congresswoman by name, Callahan said.
benton.org/node/114480 | nextgov | Fast Company | The Hill | The Atlantic
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PRIVACY

HOW COMPANIES LEARN YOUR SECRETS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Charles Duhigg]
Almost every major retailer, from grocery chains to investment banks to the U.S. Postal Service, has a “predictive analytics” department devoted to understanding not just consumers’ shopping habits but also their personal habits, so as to more efficiently market to them. “But Target has always been one of the smartest at this,” says Eric Siegel, a consultant and the chairman of a conference called Predictive Analytics World. “We’re living through a golden age of behavioral research. It’s amazing how much we can figure out about how people think now.” As the ability to analyze data has grown more and more fine-grained, the push to understand how daily habits influence our decisions has become one of the most exciting topics in clinical research, even though most of us are hardly aware those patterns exist. One study from Duke University estimated that habits, rather than conscious decision-making, shape 45 percent of the choices we make every day, and recent discoveries have begun to change everything from the way we think about dieting to how doctors conceive treatments for anxiety, depression and addictions. There is a calculus, it turns out, for mastering our subconscious urges. For companies like Target, the exhaustive rendering of our conscious and unconscious patterns into data sets and algorithms has revolutionized what they know about us and, therefore, how precisely they can sell.
benton.org/node/114503 | New York Times
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GOOGLE’S IPHONE TRACKING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin, Jennifer Valentino-Devries]
Google and other advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple's Web browser on their iPhones and computers—tracking the Web-browsing habits of people who intended for that kind of monitoring to be blocked. The companies used special computer code that tricks Apple's Safari Web-browsing software into letting them monitor many users. Safari, the most widely used browser on mobile devices, is designed to block such tracking by default. Google disabled its code after being contacted by The Wall Street Journal. The Google code was spotted by Stanford researcher Jonathan Mayer and independently confirmed by a technical adviser to the Journal, Ashkan Soltani, who found that ads on 22 of the top 100 websites installed the Google tracking code on a test computer, and ads on 23 sites installed it on an iPhone browser.
benton.org/node/114502 | Wall Street Journal | SJ Merc
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TWITTER APOLOGY
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Matthew Shaer]
Twitter has acknowledged that it stores user data – including info from contact lists and address books – on its servers, sometimes for months at a time. At issue is a mobile feature called Find Friends, which allows smartphone users to locate real-life friends on Twitter. Results are produced by giving Twitter permission to churn through the contacts on your phone. So far, so good. But after critics raised questions about the functionality, Twitter confirmed that the data was not immediately erased – instead, all of it, including phone numbers and email addresses, remained on Twitter servers for up to 18 months. In a statement, Twitter has promised more clarity on existing privacy policies.
benton.org/node/114501 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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NEW NIST REPORT ON ONLINE SECURITY AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: National Institute of Standards and Technology, AUTHOR: Patrick Gallagher]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology released a paper entitled Recommendations for Establishing an Identity Ecosystem Governance Structure which supports the implementation of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace and responds to comments received in response to the related Notice of Inquiry published in the Federal Register on June 14, 2011. Recommendations include:
Steering Group Initiation. The Identity Ecosystem Steering Group should be established as a new organization which should be led by the private sector in conjunction with, but independent of the Federal Government.
Steering Group Structure. The government recommends a Steering Group structure with two bodies, a Plenary and a Management Council, with mutually supporting roles and dispersed decision making responsibilities.
Stakeholder Representation. Providing balanced representation, securing individual privacy, advocating for underrepresented participants, and preventing the exercise of undue influence are all essential aspects of providing effective stakeholder representation to participants in the Identity Ecosystem.
International Coordination. Given the global nature of online commerce, the Identity Ecosystem cannot be isolated from internationally available online services and their identity solutions. As such, the Identity Ecosystem Steering Group should coordinate with representatives from ongoing and planned international identity efforts, standards development organizations, trade organizations, and the international departments of member entities in order to leverage lessons learned and broadly recognized technical standards.
benton.org/node/114500 | National Institute of Standards and Technology
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FTC REPORT ON APPS, KIDS AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Trade Commission issued a staff report showing the results of a survey of mobile apps for children. The survey shows that neither the app stores nor the app developers provide the information parents need to determine what data is being collected from their children, how it is being shared, or who will have access to it. The report notes that mobile apps can capture a broad range of user information from a mobile device automatically, including the user's precise geolocation, phone number, list of contacts, call logs, unique identifiers, and other information stored on the device. At the same time, "the report highlights the lack of information available to parents prior to downloading mobile apps for their children, and calls on industry to provide greater transparency about their data practices." The report recommends:
All members of the "kids app ecosystem" – the stores, developers and third parties providing services – should play an active role in providing key information to parents.
App developers should provide data practices information in simple and short disclosures. They also should disclose whether the app connects with social media, and whether it contains ads. Third parties that collect data also should disclose their privacy practices.
App stores also should take responsibility for ensuring that parents have basic information. "As gatekeepers of the app marketplace, the app stores should do more." The report notes that the stores provide architecture for sharing pricing and category data, and should be able to provide a way for developers to provide information about their data collection and sharing practices.
benton.org/node/114459 | Federal Trade Commission
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ANDROID WON’T SHARE DATA
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Tom Krazit]
In response to the uproar over how mobile iOS applications have had access to address-book data without having to inform the user, Google was all too happy to confirm that its development model for Android applications makes it impossible to share personal data with an app developer unless you agree to do so before installing the app. Tim Bray, Google’s head of Android developer relations, addressed Android’s take on the Path-inspired mess that forced Apple to acknowledge that it should have done a better job policing apps that uploaded address-book data from users without explicit permission. “Reading contacts on Android requires explicit OK,” he said on his Twitter feed, pointing to two Android development articles that address how Android deals with granting permission to access personal data.
benton.org/node/114447 | paidContent.org
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CHILDREN & MEDIA

TABLETS AS BABYSITTER
[SOURCE: Nielsen, AUTHOR: ]
The rise of gadgets is ushering in a new generation of kids who are growing up digital. According to a Nielsen survey of adults with children under 12 in tablet-owning households, in Q4 2011 seven out of every 10 children in tablet-owning households used a tablet computer – a nine percent increase compared to Q3 2011. Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed said children play downloaded games on their tablets and 57 percent said children used tablets to access educational apps. The portable gadget also keeps kids quiet while families are on-the-go: 55 percent and 41 percent of parents report that their children used tablets for entertainment while traveling or in restaurants, respectively. This can also include watching TV shows and movies, which 43 percent of children often do. Communicating with friends and family is a less popular function on tablets– only 15 percent of kids engage in this activity.
benton.org/node/114458 | Nielsen
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

NARWAL
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Sasha Issenberg]
As part of a project code-named Narwhal, President Obama’s reelection team is working to link once completely separate repositories of information so that every fact gathered about a voter is available to every arm of the campaign. Such information-sharing would allow the person who crafts a provocative email about contraception to send it only to women with whom canvassers have personally discussed reproductive views or whom data-mining targeters have pinpointed as likely to be friendly to Obama’s views on the issue. From a technological perspective, the 2012 campaign will look to many voters much the same as 2008 did. There will not be a major innovation that seems to herald a new era in electioneering, like 1996’s debut of candidate Web pages or their use in fundraising four years later; like online organizing for campaign events in 2004 or the subsequent emergence of social media as a mass-communication tool in 2008. This year’s looming innovations in campaign mechanics will be imperceptible to the electorate, and the engineers at Obama’s Chicago headquarters racing to complete Narwhal in time for the fall election season may be at work at one of the most important. If successful, Narwhal would fuse the multiple identities of the engaged citizen—the online activist, the offline voter, the donor, the volunteer—into a single, unified political profile.
benton.org/node/114477 | Slate
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HEALTH

DISTRACTED DRIVING GUIDELINES
[SOURCE: Department of Transportation, AUTHOR: Press release]
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the first-ever federally proposed guidelines to encourage automobile manufacturers to limit the distraction risk for in-vehicle electronic devices. The proposed voluntary guidelines would apply to communications, entertainment, information gathering and navigation devices or functions that are not required to safely operate the vehicle. Issued by the Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the guidelines would establish specific recommended criteria for electronic devices installed in vehicles at the time they are manufactured that require visual or manual operation by drivers. The announcement of the guidelines comes just days after President Obama’s FY 2013 budget request, which includes $330 million over six years for distracted driving programs that increase awareness of the issue and encourage stakeholders to take action. Geared toward light vehicles (cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, minivans, and other vehicles rated at not more than 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight), the guidelines proposed today are the first in a series of guidance documents NHTSA plans to issue to address sources of distraction that require use of the hands and/or diversion of the eyes from the primary task of driving. In particular, the Phase I proposed guidelines recommend criteria that manufacturers can use to ensure the systems or devices they provide in their vehicles are less likely to distract the driver with tasks not directly relevant to safely operating the vehicle, or cause undue distraction by engaging the driver’s eyes or hands for more than a very limited duration while driving. Electronic warning system functions such as forward-collision or lane departure alerts would not be subject to the proposed guidelines, since they are intended to warn a driver of a potential crash and are not considered distracting devices.
The proposed Phase I distraction guidelines include recommendations to:
Reduce complexity and task length required by the device;
Limit device operation to one hand only (leaving the other hand to remain on the steering wheel to control the vehicle);
Limit individual off-road glances required for device operation to no more than two seconds in duration;
Limit unnecessary visual information in the driver’s field of view;
Limit the amount of manual inputs required for device operation.
The proposed guidelines would also recommend the disabling of the following operations by in-vehicle electronic devices while driving, unless the devices are intended for use by passengers and cannot reasonably be accessed or seen by the driver, or unless the vehicle is stopped and the transmission shift lever is in park.
Visual-manual text messaging;
Visual-manual internet browsing;
Visual-manual social media browsing;
Visual-manual navigation system destination entry by address;
Visual-manual 10-digit phone dialing;
Displaying to the driver more than 30 characters of text unrelated to the driving task.
benton.org/node/114455 | Department of Transportation | USA Today
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LOBBYING

HOLLYWOOD SEEKS NEW MESSAGE
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
Hollywood is casting about for a new script to explain the entertainment industry’s side of the online piracy story to the American public — and lawmakers — in light of the surprise ending dealt the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act in Congress last month. Industry lobbies and entertainment companies are mulling over new Web-based advocacy campaigns and possibly seeking outside consultants to help them recast the policy debate: They see it as a multibillion-dollar heist of movies, music and the work of artists by Internet bandits. “We can’t throw any old message out there. We need to be smart about it — where we put it, how we say it, who says it,” said one entertainment industry executive. The executive said that lawmakers who supported SOPA and PIPA want “a more robust PR effort from the motion picture industry not only in Washington but outside of Washington to get people to understand why they should care about this issue as consumers.”
benton.org/node/114479 | Politico
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COMPANY NEWS

INTELLECTUAL VENTURES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Sinead Carew]
Intellectual Ventures, a privately held patent holding company co-founded by a former Microsoft executive, sued three of the four top US mobile providers for patent infringement. The company accused AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA of fifteen counts of infringements of patents related to their wireless network services in a lawsuit filed at the U.S. District Court of Delaware. It said that the operators had infringed on its patents either alone or in conjunction with each other through their interoperability agreements including those involving swapping of multi-media messages between their customers.
benton.org/node/114482 | Reuters
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

DOUBTS RAISED ABOUT FAIR LABOR ASSOCIATION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steven Greenhouse]
Auret van Heerden, president of the Fair Labor Association which was hired by Apple to inspect its suppliers’ factories, has begun praising the Chinese plants of Foxconn, Apple’s largest supplier, just days after his group began inspections there. van Heerden’s apparent praise of conditions at Foxconn came despite previous reports of employees committing suicide, dying in factory explosions and complaining of sometimes working more than 70 hours a week. The Fair Labor Association’s No. 2 official, Jorge Perez-Lopez, said, “The work we’re doing at Foxconn is not about first impressions or whether something has a paint job or not.” “The proof,” Perez-Lopez continued, “will be in the pie, will be in the eating. It will be when the report comes out.” “Generally, in a labor rights investigation, the findings come after the evidence is gathered, not the other way around,” said Scott Nova, executive director of the Workers Rights Consortium, a university-backed group that monitors apparel factories worldwide. “I’m amazed that the F.L.A. would give one of the most notoriously abusive factories in the world a clean bill of health — based, it appears, on nothing more than a guided tour provided by the owner,” he added. “If the F.L.A. wants to convince people that it can somehow conduct an impartial investigation of Apple, despite being funded by Apple, this is not a good way to start.”
benton.org/node/114494 | New York Times
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THE SUN SINKS MURDOCH
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Philip Stephens]
[Commentary] News International, the British subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, is at the center of the bribery scandal in the UK. A furor about voicemail interceptions has already forced the closure of the best-selling News of the World. This has merged into an even more damaging investigation into illegal payments to police officers and civil servants. The reckoning for Murdoch has been brutal. A year ago the British outpost of the mighty News Corp empire was unassailable. Politicians of all stripes and seniority doffed their caps in deference to Murdoch’s power and ruthlessness. News Corp was close to securing full control of the highly profitable British Sky Broadcasting. Now, all looks close to ruin. Investigators at The Sun are talking about “serious suspected criminality over a sustained period.” The swashbuckling style of News International was rooted in an age when proprietors told politicians what to do, journalists did what they liked, and police officers were on cash retainers. Those days have passed. So has Murdoch’s dominion.
benton.org/node/114493 | Financial Times
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NETWORK CHARGES IN EU
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Foo Yun Chee]
Telecoms providers should be able to raise prices charged to rivals for using their networks to help spur investment in faster fiber optics, said the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO), whose members include Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia and Telefonica. EU telecoms chief Neelie Kroes said last year she might tell telecoms companies to cut access charges to their copper-based networks to force them to invest in fiber optics. The suggestion, which could still be modified, is part of the Commission's plan to speed up the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband across Europe to boost jobs and businesses. The EU executive will unveil its proposals later this year.
benton.org/node/114483 | Reuters
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Analysis

February 2012

Apple Partner Foxconn Has ‘Tons of Issues,’ Labor Group Says

Apple supplier Foxconn raises worker pay as much as 25%

Possible Conflict Of Interest In ABC's Exclusive Access To Apple Chinese Supply Chain

China agrees to allow U.S. film studios more access, profit

Copyright Cheats Face the Music in France

Internet again disrupted in Iran ahead of election

February 17, 2012 (Tax Deal Includes Spectrum Auction)

How Companies Learn Your Secrets

Google's iPhone Tracking

Twitter apologizes for squirreling away iPhone user data