April 2012

Oracle Vs. Google, Week One

It was Larry vs. Larry as two powerful chief executives of two of the most successful tech companies squared off in court in person.

The rare appearance of two chiefs squaring off was part of a civil court trial that began this week. Oracle and Google are fighting over whether Google’s Android operating system violates copyright on Java, the open-source computing language that Oracle got when it acquired Sun Microsystems. It may last a while, but within a couple of days the arguments are clear. Oracle says Google went out of its way to avoid getting a license to use Java, and has shared internal Google e-mails to suggest as much. Google says Java is free, and cites an Oracle post to that effect. Therefore, Google says, we don’t need a license. In terms of trial theater, the best stuff was probably the sight of the two Larrys: Larry Ellison, Oracle chief executive, and Larry Page, Google chief executive, making their respective cases. Mr. Ellison was, by most accounts, smooth, if occasionally tripped up by Google’s lawyers about whether or not Java was free. Mr. Page toed the company line, repeatedly stating, “we did nothing wrong.”

Larry Page Seems to Be Running Low on Products to Kill

Google CEO Larry Page has made an active practice of cutting deprioritized, ignored and non-key products. In the past year that’s included Gears, Knol, Wave, Buzz, Code Search, Aardvark, Google Labs and Slide. On April 20, Google published another “spring cleaning” list of products it is purging, but at this point it seems to be running low on clear and easy things to cut.

The list includes:

The non-starter One Pass program for publishers that launched only a year ago
A toolbar to help browse content called Google Related that was introduced only last August
The Google Flu Vaccine Finder, a former “20 percent” project from 2009 that’s being passed onto HealthMap
Older software to support BlackBerry and Picasa, and the mobile web version of Google Talk

In online video, minorities find an audience

Among the 20 most-subscribed-to channels on YouTube, eight feature minorities. Most are Asian American. Many more black and Latino shows populate the top 50. These producers are also finding an audience that has been largely neglected by Hollywood. Nearly 80 percent of minorities regularly watch online videos, compared with less than 70 percent of whites, the Pew Internet & American Life Project says.

“A lot of US marketers are leaving minority audiences on the table,” said Seneca Mudd, the director of industry initiatives at the Interactive Advertising Bureau. “Advertisers would ignore that trend at their own peril.” Analysts say the trend of minority content on YouTube makes sense. Networks feel pressure to appeal to a broader audience, but Internet video can thrive by just targeting niches because the cost of producing a show is so low, said David Bushman, television curator for the Paley Center for Media.

Lawsuit against Apple for 'bait' apps moves forward

A group of California parents calling Apple's in-app purchasing practices rotten for luring their kids with expensive "addictive" game apps gets to proceed with a class-action lawsuit. A San Jose judge recently denied Apple's effort to get the case dismissed. In the suit, the parents allege that their minor children were able make purchases of "game currency" within free games without their knowledge or permission. And the "highly addictive" nature of the games "compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of game currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more," the suit alleges.

Revision of the Program Access Rules

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission seeks comment on whether to retain, sunset, or relax one of the several protections afforded to multichannel video programming distributors by the program access rules -- the prohibition on exclusive contracts involving satellite-delivered, cable-affiliated programming.

The current exclusive contract prohibition is scheduled to expire on October 5, 2012. The FCC also seeks comment on potential revisions to its program access rules to better address alleged violations, including potentially discriminatory volume discounts and uniform price increases.

Comments are due on or before June 22, 2012; reply comments are due on or before July 23, 2012. Written PRA comments on the proposed information collection requirements contained herein must be submitted by the public, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and other interested parties on or before June 22, 2012.

Stations’ Online Future Hinges on ‘MVPD’

[Commentary] The regulatory issue that was talked about privately and extensively by broadcasters and their lawyers at National Association of Broadcasters convention and that will have great, long-term implications for the industry was the Federal Communications Commission's request for comments on the definition of multichannel video program distributor (MVPD). That doesn't sound like such a big deal. But it is. Multichannel video program distributor is a term cooked by the authors of the 1992 Cable Act to mean basically "cable system or satellite operator," but the 42-word definition leaves room for others the FCC may want to include. Being defined as an MVPD brings with it all kind of rights and obligations under the law. That's why this is important.

Broadcasters desperately need to get their signals on the Internet so that they can be accessed on every desktop, netbook, laptop, tablet and smartphone. It's the key to ubiquity, one of the qualities that has brought the medium this far. If the networks and other copyright holders loosen their grip and give stations permission to put their programming online, the stations may not need the compulsory license. And there has been increasing talk that that is happening. And if stations go online, it should be a safe environment where there are rules for handling TV signals and everybody has to play by them. And the way to create that environment is to make sure that Internet distributors are deemed MVPDs with all rights, privileges and responsibilities thereunto pertaining.

Bridging the News Industry's Digital Divide

US newspapers last year lost $10 in print advertising sales for every dollar gained online, according to the Pew Research Center. That was worse than 2010, when newspapers lost $7 in print advertising for every dollar made from digital. Could the New York Times, which recently cut the number of its newspaper’s free articles people can read on its site to 10 a month from 20, finally be onto something?

Is it finally flexing the pricing power it has with loyal readers to get paid for all the journalism it invests in? Although the company has been a case study in financial mismanagement, it is now generating an average of $250 annually for every digital subscriber, according to Barclays Capital. If the Times can continue to add paying readers to its rolls, while squeezing more out of its print subscribers, it just might have what it takes to offset declines in print—and now digital—advertising. Might. This realization might be 19 years too late. And it won’t necessarily apply at less indispensable publications, which have spent a decade gutting their content. But any hint of good news is welcome in the post-apocalyptic business of journalism in 2012.

FCC Confirms April 27 Agenda

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Friday, April 27, 2012. The FCC will consider:

a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that protects consumers by adopting and proposing additional rules to help consumers prevent and detect the unlawful and fraudulent placement of unauthorized charges on their telephone bills.
a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking inviting comment on whether to allow noncommercial educational broadcast stations to conduct on-air fundraising activities that interrupt regular programming for the benefit of third-party non-profit organizations.
a Second Report and Order that increases transparency and improves public access to community-relevant information by moving the television broadcast station public file from paper to the Internet.
a Report and Order establishing a regulatory framework for channel sharing among television licensees in connection with an incentive auction of spectrum.
a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on proposals to reform and modernize how Universal Service Fund contributions are assessed and recovered.

ACLU: Wireless Carriers Enable Warrantless Cellphone Tracking

While law enforcement organizations across the country may be tracking people using their cellphones, police are finding willing partners in wireless phone companies, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer said.

Many cellphone companies have created departments and even online portals to help law enforcement request location data on people, often without a warrant, ACLU attorney Catherine Crump said during a taping of C-Span's "The Communicators." She pointed to an ACLU survey of local police agencies released earlier this month that found that some carriers, such as Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile charge law enforcement for the data. "I think the cell phone companies owe their customers a more clear picture of how the government and potentially others are accessing their data," Crump said. The information collected and stored by wireless carriers are the real privacy problem, John Jay College professor Dennis Kenney said during the show.

Stolen Smartphone Database: Good for Consumers?

The federal government, law enforcement and wireless carriers recently announced the creation of a new database that will attempt to make stolen smartphones unusable, and therefore less valuable.

The Federal Communications Commission, police chiefs and wireless carriers said the new database will record a unique identifying number for each device, similar to a car’s vehicle identification number. When a smartphone is stolen, the device’s owner will be able to call his or her wireless carrier, which in turn will block the device from being reactivated on any carrier’s network. But the planned system could have some surprising consequences, industry observers say.

Harry Sverdlove, CTO of security vendor Bit9, said that although government intervention on this issue is beneficial for consumers, it ultimately could be a bigger boon for phone carriers and manufacturers. Since the database would block a device from reactivation, Sverdlove said, more smartphones would need to be purchased, thus increasing revenue for the manufacturers. “By preventing phones from being reused illegally, that’s good for [the manufacturers],” Sverdlove said. “It’s to their benefit.”

Benton

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