February 2012

Obama and Xi should talk tech, not trade

[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.

FCC’s Genachowski: Concerned About Incentive Auction Legislation

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said that he was hopeful Congress would pass incentive auction legislation but worried that it would include provisions preventing the FCC from maximizing the overall value of the spectrum.

He also said he was pleased with the fallout of the network neutrality rules, saying they resolved a radioactive issue without putting crimp in investment or innovation. He put in a plug for multi-stakeholder solutions to resolving disputes about internet business practices-the FCC network neutrality rules include having industry players weigh in on what constitutes reasonable network management. He said that he is pleased with what has happened since the FCC adopted the rules -- they went into effect last fall.

APTS Praises Preservation of Public Funding for Broadcasting

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.

Debate Over TV Sports Blackouts

A quintet of senators has told the Federal Communications Commission it is time for the FCC to try and end sports blackouts. "We believe it is time for the NFL's blackout policy to end," said Sens Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in a letter to the FCC. They also took aim at the "byzantine" restrictions on MLB games that result in blackouts.

The NFL says that lifting the FCC's sports blackout rule sits alongside the syndicated exclusivity and network nonduplication rules as key protections for contractual distribution rights for broadcasters. The league pointed out that it was the only sports league where all of a team's local games were available with the exception of what it said was the relatively rare blackout -- 16 games out of 256 regular season games. The league summarized its points succinctly. It said that the blackout rule is in the public interest because it supports broadcast TV in general and the broad distribution of games -- what the FCC has called must-have programming -- via free over-the-air TV; that the same result could not be practically achieved through private contract; that Congress in the sports Broadcasting Act said promoting attendance at the game helps the sport and fans, and that repeal of the FCC's blackout rule would not end blackouts.

The National Association of Broadcasters says that lifting the FCC's sports blackout rule would harm localism and hasten the migration of sports programming from broadcast to cable. NAB says that the reason it is opposing lifting the ban is because it prevents pay-TV operators from circumventing exclusivity agreements -- it would allow cable ops to import a distant signal version of the game into markets where the home game was blacked out due to standing NFL contracts, which would continue to be in force, preventing broadcasters from showing the games to their over-the-air subscribers.

FCC’s Mignon Clyburn: When a daughter votes her mind

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.”

M-Campaigning: Mobile Technology and Public Outreach

In 2008, candidate Barack Obama pioneered several innovative applications of digital technology. With the help of the Internet, he raised $750 million. He made use of social media platforms such as Facebook and MySpace to identify and communicate with supporters around the country. And through Meetup.com, he launched virtual get-togethers with voters in many different locales simultaneously. Four years later, we see another wave of innovation enabled by mobile technology in the United States and around the world. Smartphones and handheld devices have proliferated and now outnumber desktop computers. Candidates, voters, activists, and reporters are using these vehicles for public outreach, fundraising, field organization, political persuasion, media coverage, and government accountability. Unlike 2008, where text messaging was the dominant feature of mobile campaign outreach, this year there has been a proliferation of mobile ads, video, web links, and apps.

As part of our Mobile Economy Project, West reviews innovative examples of campaign outreach made possible through mobile technology. He shows how smartphones expand the opportunities for mobilization and ways in which certain policy steps would expand citizen participation.

Vodafone 'Evaluating' Cable & Wireless Bid

Vodafone Group PLC is considering a takeover bid for embattled U.K. telecommunications provider Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC.

Vodafone said it "regularly reviews opportunities in the sector and confirms that it is in the very early stages of evaluating the merits of a potential offer" for C&W Worldwide, but cautioned that there is no certainty an offer will be made. Any offer would likely be in cash, the company said. Analysts say such a deal could improve Vodafone's network quality in the U.K. and support its corporate business world-wide. C&W Worldwide owns the U.K's biggest fiber network dedicated to businesses. It also has an international cable network that reaches across Europe, India and throughout Asia. But it has had a tough time since its spinoff from parent Cable & Wireless PLC in 2010, suffering a sliding stock price and management changes. Under U.K. takeover rules, Vodafone is required to either make a firm offer for C&W Worldwide or walk away by 5 p.m. GMT on March 12.

Chinese Hackers Suspected In Long-Term Nortel Breach

For nearly a decade, hackers enjoyed widespread access to the corporate computer network of Nortel Networks Ltd., a once-giant telecommunications firm now fallen on hard times.

Using seven passwords stolen from top Nortel executives, including the chief executive, the hackers—who appeared to be working in China—penetrated Nortel's computers at least as far back as 2000 and over the years downloaded technical papers, research-and-development reports, business plans, employee emails and other documents, according to Brian Shields, a former 19-year Nortel veteran who led an internal investigation. The hackers also hid spying software so deeply within some employees' computers that it took investigators years to realize the pervasiveness of the problem. They "had access to everything," Mr. Shields said of the hackers. "They had plenty of time. All they had to do was figure out what they wanted."

American Recounts Beating by Chinese Agents Suspicious of Social Media

The Chinese Communist Party has long felt threatened by overseas Web sites and social media outlets, but the recent detention of a California physicist who says he was beaten by Chinese security agents seeking the password for his Twitter account suggests how far the government will go in its battle against a freewheeling Internet available only beyond its borders.

The man, Ge Xun, 53, a naturalized American citizen who moved to the United States from China in 1986, said he was abducted from a street in Beijing this month and was roughly questioned by public security officers at a secret location. During 21 hours of interrogation, Mr. Ge said, the agents peppered him with questions about his blogging activity, his membership in an organization that promotes dialogue between Tibetans and Chinese and his role in maintaining a Web site that supports a blind lawyer living under house arrest in China’s rural northeast.

On Russian TV, It Isn’t All About the Strongman

Since rising to the top in 1999, Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister and presidential comeback aspirant, has wielded power by commanding the television screen as surely as he does the security apparatus. But on the eve of the March 4 presidential elections a restive yearning for change is in the air.

Many Russians who dread the prospect of another 6 years — or maybe even 12 — of Putin have taken to the streets, or at least to Twitter. A march in central Moscow this month lured tens of thousands despite blistering cold. A concentrated dose of Russian television — still where 70 percent of Russians get their news — shows that the ferment is too big to ignore: The Kremlin-loyal networks that at first airbrushed out the protest movement are including it in their newscasts. Now, brisk updates on voter fraud, anti-Putin rallies and opposition candidates share a news hour with long, choreographed tableaus that showcase Mr. Putin as prime minister, hard at work inspecting factories, raising pensions, scolding lazy bureaucrats, and doing what it takes to preserve stability and spread prosperity. He has taken to publishing long mission statements for Russia’s future; each one is framed on the news like a tablet from Moses. For viewers the effect is bipolar: a little bit NPR, a little bit North Korea.

Benton

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