February 2012

BUDGET

WIRELESS REMAIN BUDGET PRIORITY
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Expanding wireless broadband coverage to 98 percent of Americans remains a key priority for the Obama Administration in its fiscal year 2013 budget proposal. To help do this, President Obama has proposed a boost in funding for the Federal Communications Commission and the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, two agencies leading an effort to increase the availability of spectrum needed to help expand wireless broadband to most Americans. Some of this new spectrum would come from empowering the FCC authority to auction off spectrum wheedled out of broadcasters. The Administration projects it can generate as much as $21 billion to help pay down the deficit with these auctions -- about $5 billion more than the highest estimate from Congress. The Administration is once again proposing that the FCC be given authority to impose fees on spectrum license holders, a proposal it estimates would generate $4.8 billion over the next decade. The proposal, however, has garnered little interest from Congress in past years.
benton.org/node/113278 | National Journal | B&C
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TECH AND THE BUDGET
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Chris Strohm]
US government spending on information technology would decline 1.2 percent next fiscal year under a budget proposal from President Barack Obama seeking to balance investments with deficit reduction. The technology budget calls for $78.9 billion in spending in the current fiscal year, led by Defense Department reductions, as the administration promotes savings and efficiencies in federal-data programs. It’s part of a $3.8 trillion election-year budget plan sent to Congress. “By doing more with less, the administration is driving savings across government and using those savings to reinvest in information technology and services that benefit the American people,” President Obama said in a message accompanying the proposed budget for fiscal 2013, the year starting Oct. 1. The Obama administration has been trying to hold federal IT spending steady while increasing government efficiency through the use of cloud computing and mobile devices. Information- technology expenditures rose 7.1 percent a year on average from 2001 to 2009 and “has effectively been halted” with no growth from 2009 to 2013, according to the budget. Information-technology spending includes purchasing computers, protecting government data, updating websites and hiring employees who provide technical support. The reduced expenditures in 2013 will be driven by cutting the Pentagon’s information technology investments 3.6 percent to $37.2 billion next fiscal year, according to the budget.
benton.org/node/113277 | Bloomberg | Nextgov
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FCC’S BUDGET
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission is requesting a budget of $346,782,000 to carry out the FCC’s functions and meet the expectations of Congress. The FY 2013 budget request will be used to support the FCC's Strategic Goals.
The FCC’s FY 2013 budget submission also includes requests for funding to: (1) support Commission-wide information technology needs through improvements to the FCC’s information technology infrastructure and enhancements to the security of its systems; (2) replace obsolete signal analysis equipment with new direction finding and wireless monitoring equipment; (3) establish a framework to ensure nationwide interoperability of the 700 MHz public safety broadband wireless network; (4) provide the FCC lab with special equipment capable of simulating complex broadband systems and creating the conditions necessary for proper testing of new devices; and (5) study and support communications industry participation.
benton.org/node/113275 | Federal Communications Commission | B&C
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COMMERCE BUDGET
[SOURCE: Department of Commerce, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Department of Commerce budget makes critical investments in advanced manufacturing, innovation, entrepreneurship and competitiveness and trade promotion and enforcement to help create jobs. The nearly 5 percent increase reflects President Obama and Secretary Bryson’s commitment to encouraging U.S. manufacturing and helping more American companies sell their goods and services overseas. The fiscal year 2013 request is $8 billion and requests $2.3 billion in mandatory funding. The Department also identified $176 million in administrative savings, reflecting a strong commitment to wisely stewarding taxpayer dollars and making tough choices to prioritize programs that support the Department’s core mission areas. Highlights of the $8 billion budget request include:
Improving research: $86 million increase over FY2012 enacted for NIST laboratories and construction of research facilities, making good on the President’s commitment to enhance funding for the scientific research that has traditionally fueled American innovation.
Spurring Innovation: The FY2013 Budget supports full access to fees for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to accelerate patent processing and improve patent quality as outlined in the America Invents Act.
Informing the Nation: $970 million for the U.S. Census Bureau to sustain critical economic data collection activities and provide businesses with key statistics; $100 million for the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to produce the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to provide real-time information on the health and stability of the US economy.
Increasing Wireless Access: $47 million to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to support the Administration’s efforts to free additional spectrum for commercial use, increase broadband access, and optimize other Federal agencies’ use of spectrum for radars, satellites, and public safety. NTIA, the FCC's partner in efforts to free up more spectrum for wireless broadband, also would see a slight boost in funding for 2013. The budget proposes $46.9 million for the agency, a small increase over the $45.5 million Congress appropriated for this year. The NTIA played a key role in distributing more than $4 billion in grants to spur broadband access and adoption and it is charged with continuing oversight of those grants in 2013. It also is in charge of managing the nation's spectrum holdings and is currently working to meet the president's goal of freeing up 500 megahertz in new spectrum over the next decade.
benton.org/node/114207 | Department of Commerce
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BOLSTERING IP ENFORCEMENT
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jeremy Pelofsky]
The Obama Administration proposed hiring more prosecutors to pursue intellectual property crimes in the new budget as the entertainment industry pressures the Justice Department to crack down on copyright infringement and counterfeiting. The overall proposed 2013 budget for the Justice Department was flat, $27.1 billion in discretionary spending, with officials shuffling funds to address the biggest priorities since there is little appetite in Congress to increase spending in light of recent $1 trillion-plus deficits. Still, the Justice Department asked Congress for $5 million to hire 14 new employees, including nine attorneys, to focus on intellectual property crimes. Last year, the administration sought $3 million for six new hires but Congress refused.
benton.org/node/114206 | Reuters
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DHS BUDGET
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
The Homeland Security Department nearly doubled its 2013 funding request for cybersecurity in an otherwise slimmed-down budget. There is bipartisan support for improving computer network defenses, so the outlook may be positive for obtaining much of the proposed $769 million from Congress. The funding would go toward the National Cyber Security Division for protecting federal networks and coordinating with the private sector on safeguarding critical infrastructure systems such as utility grids. In 2011, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano asked for $459 for the division. The Infrastructure Protection and Programs Directorate, which oversees the program and other cyber-related initiatives, also would be boosted from $888.2 million in estimated spending this year to $1.2 billion in fiscal 2013. By comparison, the Pentagon has asked for only a $200 million increase over last year's $3.2 billion cyber request.
benton.org/node/114204 | nextgov
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THE BUDGET AND INNOVATION
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Kit Eaton]
President Barack Obama is the man in control of what's arguably the world's only current superpower. At 50, he's looking for a second go at the country's top job. In order to get there Obama's relying, in part, on his Net-savvy staffers to whip up a storm of interest on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and even Instagram. Obama's campaign proved successful last time around, running on a pro-tech ticket. Let's look at what a second term would mean for innovation -- and for us. Startups and entrepreneurship really do seem to be close to the President's heart, and Facebook's looming IPO, at $100 billion of value, makes a loud and positive statement for the Silicon Valley system.
benton.org/node/114217 | Fast Company
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BUDGET TARGETS LIGHTSQUARED
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Smith]
Buried on page 1120 of President Obama's budget, the wireless startup LightSquared gets an indirect shout out. And not in a good way.
"SEC. [628]618. None of the funds made available in this Act may be used by the Federal Communications Commission to remove the conditions imposed on commercial terrestrial operations in the Order and Authorization adopted by the Commission on January 26, 2011 (DA 11-133), or otherwise permit such operations, until the Commission has resolved concerns of potential widespread harmful interference by such commercial terrestrial operations to commercially available Global Positioning System devices."
In the Defense Authorization Act signed by Obama last year, Congress prohibited the FCC from approving LightSquared's plans until the interference issue is addressed.
benton.org/node/114209 | National Journal
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PUBLIC BROADCASTING FUNDING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting will get $445 million according to the White House's budget proposal. Noncommercial funding had been threatened by budget-cutters, including the President's own independent commission. But, in the end, funding remained, as did the forward-finding process that is supposed to insulate it from politics. Slated for cutbacks are the Ready To Learn curriculum-based early learning program, which the White House plans to consolidate with other education programs. And, as expected, the budget zeroes out the Rural Utilities Service Public Television Digital Transition Grant program. The Association of Public Television Stations, on balance, was pleased.
benton.org/node/114258 | Broadcasting&Cable
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BUDGET APP
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Adele Hampton]
President Obama's 2013 budget arrived on Capitol Hill, but as Republicans and Democrats debate the fiscal expansion of Obama's plan, the printed pages are getting a digital makeover. The morning of its release, Obama's budget was available to anyone with a smartphone. The new app from the Government Printing Office gives politicians and economic enthusiasts alike access to 216 pages of text and images of one of the four volumes of the president's spending outline. The rest of the more than 2,000-page budget will be available through the government's digital data system. And the free app is a bargain compared to the $218 printed copy.
benton.org/node/113239 | Hill, The
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MORE NEWS FROM FCC

FCC STRATEGIC PLAN
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
As specified in section one of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Communications Act) the mission of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is to “make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, rapid, efficient, Nation-wide and world-wide wire and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges.” In addition, section one provides that the Commission was created “for the purpose of the national defense” and “for the purpose of promoting safety of life and property through the use of wire and radio communications.” The FCC’s vision is to promote innovation, investment, competition, and consumer empowerment in and on top of the communications platforms of today and the future – maximizing the power of communications technology to grow our economy, create jobs, enhance U.S. competitiveness, and unleash broad opportunity and a higher quality of life for all Americans.
Strategic Goal 1: Connect America: Maximize Americans’ access to – and the adoption of—affordable fixed and mobile broadband where they live, work, and travel.
Strategic Goal 2: Maximize Benefits of Spectrum: Maximize the overall benefits of spectrum for the United States.
Strategic Goal 3: Protect and Empower Consumers: Empower consumers by ensuring that they have the tools and information they need to make informed choices; protect consumers from harm in the communications market.
Strategic Goal 4: Promote Innovation, Investment, and America’s Global: Competitiveness Promote innovation in a manner that improves the nation’s ability to compete in the global economy, creating a virtuous circle that results in more investment and in turn enables additional innovation.
Strategic Goal 5: Promote Competition: Ensure a competitive market for communications and media services to foster innovation, investment, and job creation and to ensure consumers have meaningful choice in affordable services.
Strategic Goal 6: Public Safety and Homeland Security: Promote the availability of reliable, interoperable, redundant, rapidly restorable critical communications infrastructures that are supportive of all required services.
Strategic Goal 7: Advance Key National Purposes: Through international and national interagency efforts, advance the use of broadband for key national purposes.
Strategic Goal 8: Operational Excellence: Make the FCC a model for excellence in government by effectively managing the Commission’s human, information, and financial resources; by making decisions based on sound data and analyses; and by maintaining a commitment to transparent and responsive processes that encourage public involvement and best serve the public interest.
benton.org/node/113273 | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC’S REGULATORY AGENDA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Marlene Dortch]
Twice a year, in spring and fall, the Federal Communications Commission publishes in the Federal Register a list in the Unified Agenda of those major items and other significant proceedings under development or review that pertain to the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The Unified Agenda also provides the Code of Federal Regulations citations and legal authorities that govern these proceedings.
benton.org/node/114230 | Federal Communications Commission
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ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
This report details the Federal Communications Commission’s progress toward fulfilling its strategic goals and meeting its performance commitments. The purpose of the Annual Performance Report is to increase our agency’s accountability by making detailed performance information transparent and accessible to all citizens. The FY 2011 Annual Performance Report looks retrospectively and so it reports on the FCC’s strategic goals for FY 2011. The FCC detailed those goals in the FCC’s FY 2011 Annual Performance Plan issued in February of 2010 as part of the FCC’s FY 2011 budget submission to Congress.
benton.org/node/114229 | Federal Communications Commission
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MIGNON CLYBURN
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
Mignon Clyburn — the daughter of a prominent South Carolina Democrat — is arguably the most important member of the Federal Communications Commission now that she holds the sway vote on the panel of three as the Senate holds up two nominations indefinitely. But she doesn’t always toe the party — or family — line. On hot-button issues — from net neutrality to mega-mergers — Clyburn has broken with the politics of her powerful father, third-ranking House Democrat Jim Clyburn, and has made FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski work for her vote. “A lot of us had incorrect expectations of the kind of commissioner she’d be, based in fear,” said Gigi Sohn, co-founder of Public Knowledge. “But she’s favored the public interest with every single vote, and she really cares about disempowered communities.”
benton.org/node/114256 | Politico
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PATENTS

JUSTICE OKs PATENT DEALS
[SOURCE: Department of Justice, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division closed its investigations into Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings, the acquisitions by Apple, Microsoft and Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) of certain Nortel Networks Corporation patents, and the acquisition by Apple of certain Novell patents. After a thorough review of the proposed transactions, the Antitrust Division has determined that each acquisition is unlikely to substantially lessen competition and has closed these three investigations. In all of the transactions, the division conducted an in-depth analysis into the potential ability and incentives of the acquiring firms to use the patents they proposed acquiring to foreclose competitors. In particular, the division focused on standard essential patents (SEPs) that Motorola Mobility and Nortel had committed to license to industry participants through their participation in standard-setting organizations (SSOs). The division’s investigations focused on whether the acquiring firms could use these patents to raise rivals’ costs or foreclose competition. The division concluded that the specific transactions at issue are not likely to significantly change existing market dynamics. During the course of the division’s investigation, several of the principal competitors, including Google, Apple and Microsoft, made commitments concerning their SEP licensing policies. The division’s concerns about the potential anticompetitive use of SEPs was lessened by the clear commitments by Apple and Microsoft to license SEPs on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, as well as their commitments not to seek injunctions in disputes involving SEPs. Google’s commitments were more ambiguous and do not provide the same direct confirmation of its SEP licensing policies. In light of the importance of this industry to consumers and the complex issues raised by the intersection of the intellectual property rights and antitrust law at issue here, as well as uncertainty as to the exercise of the acquired rights, the division continues to monitor the use of SEPs in the wireless device industry, particularly in the smartphone and computer tablet markets. The division will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action to stop any anticompetitive use of SEP rights.
benton.org/node/114201 | Department of Justice | Reuters
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GOOGLE-MOTOROLA GETS EU OK
[SOURCE: European Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a developer of smartphones and tablets, by Google, the world's largest internet search and search advertising company and developer of Android, one of the most popular mobile operating systems. The Commission approved the transaction mainly because it would not significantly modify the market situation in respect of operating systems and patents for these devices. The Commission considered whether Google would be likely to prevent Motorola's competitors from using Google's Android operating system. The Commission's investigation showed Android helps to drive the spread of Google's other services. Consequently, given that Google's core business model is to push its online and mobile services and software to the widest possible audience, it is unlikely that Google would restrict the use of Android solely to Motorola, a minor player in the European Economic Area (EEA), as compared to operators such as Samsung and HTC. Motorola, as some other market participants, holds patents that are essential for telecommunications standards to operate. Access to such "standard essential" patents is therefore crucial for players on the smartphone market. However, the Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would not significantly change the existing market situation in this respect. Finally, the Commission also examined whether Google would be in a position to use Motorola’s standard essential patents to obtain preferential treatment for its services, including search and advertising. The Commission found that Google already had many ways in which to incentivize customers to take up its services and that the acquisition of Motorola would not materially change this. The Commission therefore concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any substantial part of it.
benton.org/node/113280 | European Commission | Reuters | ars technica
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

SPECTRUM LETTER
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Hundreds of nonprofit groups and companies, including Google and Microsoft, urged Congress to not restrict the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) authority to structure proposed auctions of airwaves, known as spectrum. "We reiterate our strong belief that compromise legislation should include language that gives the FCC clear flexibility to make appropriate spectrum allocation decisions that will raise revenue, support vibrant wireless competition and technological innovation, and promote rural broadband deployment," the groups wrote. "We urge Senate and House negotiators to include provisions that preserve the FCC’s existing authority to respond to changes in this continually evolving and dynamic market." The letter was also signed by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, Public Knowledge, the Free Press Action Fund and the United Church of Christ's Office of Communication.
benton.org/node/114236 | Hill, The | National Journal
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MOBILE VIDEO
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Quentin Hardy]
Cisco just released its annual five-year forecast for mobile data traffic, which projects that by 2016 mobile data will amount to 130 exabytes annually, 18 times current levels. That data figure is roughly the amount of data on 33 billion DVDs, or 813 quadrillion text messages. The United Nations figures that by 2016 there will be 7.3 billion people on Earth. Cisco says there will be 10 billion mobile devices by then, because they count sensors and people owning a tablet as well as a smartphone. It is still useful to think of the data consumption in five years being equal to every person on the planet downloading the contents of 4.5 DVDs. “Seventy-one percent of mobile traffic will be video by 2016,” says Suraj Shetty, vice president for product marketing at Cisco, who conducted the study. “Just Netflix on demand has had a huge impact on the network since 2009.” Throw in Google’s YouTube and a couple of other players, plus whatever new players, and you’ve got about three-quarters of Internet traffic in the form of video.
benton.org/node/114264 | New York Times | Multichannel News
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AT&T’S VANISHING SPECTRUM CRISIS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Tim Farrar]
[Commentary] Is AT&T failing to keep its story straight about the need for more spectrum, or is it just that the popping of the spectrum bubble has taken them by surprise as well? Recently the nation’s second largest operator has seemed to back off from some of its more aggressive claims about how fast data traffic was growing. AT&T’s senior management told investors on two separate occasions last month that “The base increase of data consumption right now is growing 40 percent a year,” and “LTE does give us a 30 percent to 40 percent lift in network efficiency, but at current growth rates, that equates to only about a year’s increase in traffic”. Remarkably that 40 percent figure is not only far less than the growth rates projected by Cisco and assumed in the Federal Communications Commission’s October 2010 working paper, but it also contrasts dramatically with the figures AT&T itself presented when it announced the planned takeover of T-Mobile in March last year. Why might AT&T’s data volumes have fallen so far short of the growth expected less than a year ago? Two obvious explanations stand out: it seems that offload to Wi-Fi is becoming far more successful than many expected, and AT&T is now cracking down on the top 5 percent of users of its unlimited iPhone data plans. [Farrar is President of Telecom, Media and Finance Associates, a consulting and research firm]
benton.org/node/113263 | GigaOm
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1 BILLION SMARTPHONES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Chen]
In just four years, one billion people will own smartphones, many of whom will be professionals taking these devices to work, says Forrester, a research company. And because of that, businesses need to think big about how to use mobile products to engage with customers, the company says. Forrester estimated that by 2016, 350 million workers will use smartphones — 200 million of whom will take their own devices to the workplace. By that year, consumer spending in the mobile app market will amount to $56 billion, and business spending on mobile projects will have doubled, the study found.
When smartphones are in the hands of a billion customers, that’s not just a trend. That’s a moment that requires a huge rethink in how companies do business and build products. That’s the upshot of the study, which looks at the trends in mobile and their implications as CIOs and businesses adapt to this new form of personal engagement with users via mobile devices. Forrester forecast that one out of every three dollars spent in the tech economy will be mobile by 2016.
benton.org/node/113268 | New York Times | GigaOm
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SEARCH GOES MOBILE BY 2016
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Kafka]
The tech press provides constant updates on the Apple versus Google mobile war, using statistics about unit sales, activation numbers, app downloads, etc. But it’s always good to remember what the war is about. Here’s a helpful reminder, via a Bernstein research note. By 2016, analyst Carlos Kirjner predicts, the majority of Web search queries will come from mobile devices. But if you added tablet searches, you’d reach the tipping point that much earlier. And it will get there much sooner in the U.S., anyway, because smartphone penetration is much higher here than other parts of the world. At some point, Kirjner suggests, Apple may decide to jettison Google for a competitor like, say, Microsoft. And that could cause real problems for Larry Page and company. But those problems would be much, much worse if Google hadn’t created an iPhone competitor in the first place.
benton.org/node/113266 | Wall Street Journal
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AT&T CUSTOMERS SURPRISED BY THROTTLING
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Peter Svensson]
AT&T has some 17 million customers with "unlimited data" plans that can be subject to throttling, representing just under half of its smartphone users. It stopped signing up new customers for those plans in 2010, and warned last year that it would start slowing speeds for people who consume the most data. What's surprising AT&T’s customers is how little data use it takes to reach that level — sometimes less than AT&T gives people on its "limited" plans. Users report that if they call the company to ask or complain about the throttling, AT&T customer support representatives suggest they switch to the limited plan. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said that as of last summer, the top 5 percent of data users were using 2 gigabytes of data per month. But he also said the company doesn't actually throttle all of the top 5 percent "unlimited" data users. Last month, the figure was only 0.5 percent, or about 200,000 people, he said. That's because AT&T only throttles users in areas where the wireless network is congested that month, Siegel said. Siegel also pointed out that aside from moving to a tiered plan, "unlimited" plan users on the cusp of being throttled can use one of AT&T's 30,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, where usage is unmetered.
benton.org/node/113265 | Associated Press
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LABOR

APPLE ANNOUNCES FACTORY INSPECTIONS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nick Wingfield, Charles Duhigg]
Apple has asked the Fair Labor Association, an independent labor rights organization, to conduct special audits of working conditions inside Chinese factories where iPhones, iPads and other Apple products are manufactured. And, in a significant about-face for the company that has the potential to affect the electronics industry, Apple asked the organization to identify particular facilities where abuses are discovered. Inspections started Feb 13 at a factory in Shenzhen, China, known as Foxconn City, which is one of the largest plants within China, with more than 230,000 workers. Human rights advocates have long said that Foxconn City’s employees are subjected to long hours, coerced overtime and harsh working conditions, all of which Foxconn disputes. Working conditions in Foxconn factories, including safety lapses that led to worker deaths. At Apple’s request, the labor group will also conduct audits of Apple’s other main assembly factories, including Foxconn’s plant in Chengdu and facilities run by Quanta and Pegatron, where the bulk of iPhones, iPads and other devices are made. Separate explosions last year at Foxconn’s iPad plant in Chengdu, and Pegatron’s iPad plant in Shanghai killed four people and injured 77. When completed, Apple said, the association’s inspections will cover factories where more than 90 percent of Apple’s products are assembled.
benton.org/node/113270 | New York Times
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FAIR LABOR ASSOCIATION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steven Greenhouse]
Apple’s announcement on Monday that an outside monitoring group, the Fair Labor Association, has begun inspecting its suppliers’ factories in China rekindled a debate over how effective the group has been in eliminating labor abuses. The association was founded in 1999, by universities and nonprofit groups, along with Nike, Liz Claiborne and several other American apparel companies that said they were eager to eliminate workplace abuses; at that time, anti-sweatshop groups were pummeling American apparel companies for abuses in overseas factories they used. Since its founding, the association has inspected more than 1,300 factories in Asia and Latin America, uncovering myriad violations. But despite these successes, many labor advocates say its efforts have barely made a dent in improving working conditions.
benton.org/node/114265 | New York Times
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CONTENT

YOUTUBE PARTNERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Kafka]
YouTube rolled out a new app for Google TV. And behind the scenes, YouTube has made a small but important change in the way it deals with content owners. YouTube is now insisting on the ability to play all videos from content “partners” — video owners that share ad revenue with the site — on all platforms, including mobile phones and connected TVs. Previously, some video owners have held back their content from some devices, in hopes of making separate deals with other distributors, like Netflix or Microsoft’s Xbox unit. But now YouTube says it wants to put all its stuff everywhere. The site informed partners about the change at the end of January, and required them to sign off on the deal within a few days, via an electronic “click form.” The terms don’t affect any of the video makers that YouTube is working with via its new “channels” program, because those companies had already agreed to multi-platform distribution. And there will also be a class of very big media companies that may not have to play by the same rules, either.
benton.org/node/114238 | Wall Street Journal
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PRIVACY

GEOTARGETING
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Tim Peterson]
“2012 is going to be a huge year in terms of innovation—not just with respect to being able to leverage location to contextualize the types of advertising and offers that a consumer receives, but also then to turn the corner on that and turn it into actual commerce in the physical world,” said Walt Doyle, CEO of the location-based service Where. And geotargeting doesn’t stop with the widely cited example of a free cup of Starbucks. While often accused of not living up to its promise, we likely will see the day, and soon, when location-based technology redefines behavioral targeting as we know it, when a consumer packaged-goods company recognizes that a shopper is in the cereal aisle and sends a Wheaties coupon to her phone. What’s more, in the not-so-distant future, a marketer could use technology like that of Where to track a person’s daily routine so precisely that it knows when she’s on her way to the office, the gym or home for the evening. To be sure, the future of location-based marketing is about more than just check-ins.
benton.org/node/114231 | AdWeek
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

TALK TECH, NOT TRADE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Yukon Huang]
[Commentary] Xi Jinping, China’s designated next leader, visits the White House today, in the middle of a divisive US presidential campaign whose protagonists often find it convenient to blame China for America’s woes. He will face protests over unfair competition and currency manipulation, and tense discussions about human rights and security. As to economic relations, there are two main threats. One is the increasing likelihood of a trade war. Recent US court verdicts forcing China to scale back production subsidies, along with draft legislation that would penalize China for currency manipulation, are aggravating relations. Yet Beijing – which has benefited greatly from open markets – has little appetite for a full-blown trade war. More worrying is the likelihood of a war over technology transfer that could dominate the relationship in future, as complaints mount from US companies forced to cede intellectual property rights as a condition for operating in China. This is serious because Beijing is intent on moving up the value chain and realizes that production of more sophisticated goods – especially control over their design and distribution – is where the real profits lie.
benton.org/node/114260 | Financial Times
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CHINA SEIZES IPADS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Pierson]
Apple's fight to use the iPad name in China has hit another snag after authorities seized dozens of the Apple tablet computers from store shelves in northern China. The seizures in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, were in response to a trademark infringement complaint filed by Chinese company Proview Technology, according to its attorney. Proview Technology, which is based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, said it holds the trademark for the hot-selling device in China. In December, a court in Shenzhen unexpectedly rejected a lawsuit in which Apple said it was the rightful owner of the iPad name. Since then, Proview Technology has filed complaints in 20 cities, urging authorities to prohibit the California tech giant from selling or marketing its device. The company has also filed lawsuits against Apple and retailers in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Huizhou, a city in southern Guangdong province.
benton.org/node/114261 | Los Angeles Times
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BBC APOLOGY
[SOURCE: The Independent, AUTHOR: Ian Burrell]
The British Broadcasting Corporation will apologize to an estimated 74 million people around the world for a news fixing scandal, exposed by The Independent, in which it broadcast documentaries made by a London TV company that was earning millions of pounds from PR clients which it featured in its programming. BBC World News viewers from Kuala Lumpur to Khartoum and Bangkok to Buenos Aires will watch the remarkable broadcast, available in 295 million homes, 1.7 million hotel rooms, 81 cruise ships, 46 airlines and on 35 mobile phone platforms, at four different times, staged in order to reach audiences in different time zones. The BBC will apologize for breaking "rules aimed at protecting our editorial integrity".
benton.org/node/114211 | Independent, The
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Analysis

February 2012

Evaluating the Usability of Electronic Health Record Systems

FBI seeks social media monitoring tool

The Therapist May See You Anytime, Anywhere

February 14, 2012 (Budget; Patents; Apple Factory Inspections)

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