April 17, 2012 (Privacy activists launch campaign against cybersecurity bill)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Information and Communication Technologies and Productivity Growth -- A Survey of the Literature - research
New Hampshire House, Senate to work on Internet protection [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Technology industry huddles with privacy group over cybersecurity bill
Privacy activists launch online campaign against House cybersecurity bill
US and China engage in cyber war games
CISPA: Necessary protection or invasion of privacy? [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC seeks $819,000 from T-Mobile for violating hearing aid compatibility standards
NTIA Cautions Against Early Public Safety LTE Deployments
How many iPhones did Apple sell last quarter? [links to web]
PRIVACY
Google target of new federal privacy probe
Foes say Google got slap on the wrist in Wi-Spy
CONTENT
E-book overkill - op-ed
What the DOJ e-book lawsuit means for readers now - analysis
A kids’ reading app that reports back to parents [links to web]
TELEVISION/RADIO
Genachowski to Broadcasters: Hear Us Out on Spectrum Auction
FCC’s Genachowski on Political Files: Common Sense
Rep Eshoo Wants FCC to Extend Political File Reporting to Cable/Satellite
Behind Closed Doors, Broadcasters Battle Online Disclosure of Political Ad Buys
NAB: Gordon Smith Takes Aim at Industry's Ruthless Adversaries
Mitt Romney: Fox News Has Been Good To Me
Tablets Are Clear Go-To Alternative To TV: Study [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Supreme Court Mum on Media Ownership Case Review
Comcast Heads to Trial in Case Alleging Monopolization
Tech groups eye copyright case before SCOTUS
HEALTH
FDA tangles with wireless medical-app makers
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
DHS Network Monitoring: 4th Amendment Problems?
Data transparency coalition forms with backing of Microsoft [links to web]
JOURNALISM
2012 Journalism Pulitzer Winners
2012 Mirror Awards Finalists - press release [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
Chairman Fred Upton donors include energy, health, tech companies
Commissioner Copps Takes a Bow
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Odd Couple: China Meets Hollywood
Apple and ACCC iPad mediation fails
INTERNET/BROADBAND
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTIVITY
[SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, AUTHOR: Tobias Kretschmer]
The wealth of nations and their economic fortunes are ultimately driven by productivity. More productive workers earn higher wages and experience higher living standards than past generations. Hence, studying the driving forces behind productivity growth is an important question for researchers and policymakers alike. In Europe, it is especially interesting as for much of the recent past it has been lagging behind in many of the relevant measures of economic growth and wellbeing, including productivity. This short paper relies on some of my recent work on the topic. As a review of the existing literature, it is necessarily incomplete and selective. However, there is a general shortage of recent studies that take a methodological approach to screening the literature and, more importantly, presenting the headline findings in a coherent and parsimonious way. This paper is an attempt to do that. While doing so, I hope to point out areas for future research while also summarizing what we do know (and what we do not know) about the impact of ICT on economic growth.
benton.org/node/119991 | Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
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CYBERSECURITY
PRIVACY AND CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
A major software industry group met with one of the leading critics of a cybersecurity bill to try to find common ground on the legislation. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) -- which represents companies including Microsoft, Apple and Adobe -- met with the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) to discuss the nonprofit group's privacy concerns with the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). CDT -- along with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union, Free Press and other groups -- is leading a week of protests against the cybersecurity bill. Tom Molino, vice president of government affairs for the BSA, said he is confident that the two sides can find a solution.
benton.org/node/120039 | Hill, The
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CAMPAIGN VS CISPA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
A coalition of privacy groups launched an online campaign against a House cybersecurity bill, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). The campaign aims to recreate the backlash that derailed anti-piracy legislation earlier this year. Groups including the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and Free Press are leading the campaign, which is titled "Stop Cyber Spying." They are encouraging people to use the hashtags "#CongressTMI" (as in, "too much information") and "#CISPA" on Twitter to draw attention to the bill. The groups also have set up websites to help people contact their representatives in Congress. The groups have no plans to blackout websites, which was a central feature of the protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) in January.
benton.org/node/120007 | Hill, The | PC Magazine
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CYBERWAR GAMES
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: Nick Hopkins]
The US and China have been discreetly engaging in "war games" amid rising anger in Washington over the scale and audacity of Beijing-coordinated cyber attacks on western governments and big business, the Guardian has learned. State department and Pentagon officials, along with their Chinese counterparts, were involved in two war games last year that were designed to help prevent a sudden military escalation between the sides if either felt they were being targeted. Another session is planned for May. Though the exercises have given the US a chance to vent its frustration at what appears to be state-sponsored espionage and theft on an industrial scale, China has been belligerent. "China has come to the conclusion that the power relationship has changed, and it has changed in a way that favors them," said Jim Lewis, a senior fellow and director at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank in Washington.
benton.org/node/120003 | Guardian, The
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
T-MOBILE VIOLATES HEARING AID STANDARDS
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Scott Lowe]
Citing repeated failures to meet hearing aid capable handset guidelines, the Federal Communications Commission is seeking a forfeiture of $819,000 from T-Mobile. The FCC alleges that T-Mobile USA violated the Hearing Aid Compatibility Order, which requires all providers to offer at least 10 handsets (or 50 percent of all devices) that support acoustic coupling and 7 devices (or 33 percent of all devices) with inductive coupling. The filing claims that the company "willfully and repeatedly" violated the terms of the order between 2009 and 2010, failing to meet standards for 19 of the 24 months in the period, during which:
T-Mobile was short by a total of 52 handset models a deficiency which gave potentially large number of consumers with hearing disabilities far fewer choices of compatible handsets than the minimum numbers required by our rules.
benton.org/node/120037 | Verge, The
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NTIA CAUTIONS AGAINST EARLY PUBLIC SAFETY LTE DEPLOYMENTS
[SOURCE: Urgent Communications, AUTHOR: Donny Jackson]
Officials for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recently asked jurisdictions with plans to deploy public-safety LTE systems during the next year to stop their work to ensure that money is not wasted on equipment that will not integrate into the nationwide broadband network. Communicated during individual meetings with 700 MHz broadband waiver recipients and during group calls with relevant stakeholders, this request is an attempt by NTIA to have any money spent on LTE deployments fit into the nationwide-network design. That design will be created by the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), which may not exist until Aug. 22. “Essentially, NTIA is recommending that BTOP jurisdictions hold off on the purchase of LTE equipment,” said Bill Schrier, chairman of the Operator Advisory Committee — a group of jurisdictions that have received waivers to utilize public-safety broadband spectrum in the 700 MHz band. “This is a reversal of NTIA’s previous advice.”
benton.org/node/119994 | Urgent Communications | NTIA
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PRIVACY
NEW PRIVACY PROBE FOR GOOGLE
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Mike Swift]
Hard on the heels of being fined $25,000 for allegedly blocking a federal privacy investigation, Google is enmeshed in a second federal probe into its privacy practices that could soon bring a more painful hit to the search giant's pocketbook. The Federal Trade Commission is deep into an investigation of Google's actions in bypassing the default privacy settings of Apple's Safari browser for Google users, according to sources familiar with ongoing negotiations between the company and the government. Within the next 30 days, the FTC could order the Mountain View search giant to pay an even larger fine in the Safari case than the penalty the Federal Communications Commission hit Google with, say the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
benton.org/node/120047 | San Jose Mercury News
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FOES SAY GOOGLE GETS SLAP ON WRIST
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Google earned about $38 billion in revenue last year, but the only penalty it's faced in the United States in connection with its Wi-Spy scandal is a mere $25,000 fine. Some say the penalty, issued for obstructing the investigation and not for violating the law, is a slap on the wrist — too small of a price to pay for collecting troves of personal information from citizens' home networks. "The federal government ought to be asking more questions and seeking more answers," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who served as Connecticut's attorney general when his state and others began investigating the incident in 2010. The senator said that there "needs to be some oversight" — not just over how and why Google collected the data, but why federal regulators didn't pursue the matter more aggressively.
benton.org/node/119996 | Politico
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CONTENT
E-BOOK OVERKILL
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Michael Shermer]
[Commentary] What the Department of Justice’s e-book lawsuit probably will do instead of restoring pricing competition is return to Amazon the power to monopolize the e-book market through predatory pricing to the detriment of publishers, authors and, ultimately, readers. Who will really benefit from the Justice Department's lawsuit? Amazon, of course. As a company spokesman said in a statement about the case, "This is a big win for Kindle owners, and we look forward to being allowed to lower prices on more Kindle books." Amazon will gain a government-aided advantage over the competition. As Macmillan's Sargent said in a statement: "After careful consideration, we came to the conclusion that the terms [of the proposed settlement with Justice] could have allowed Amazon to recover the monopoly position it had been building before our switch to the agency model.” The Justice Department should have left things alone. Essentially, two titans — Apple and Amazon — clashed, and competition was working. [Shermer is the publisher of Skeptic magazine, an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University and Chapman University, and the author of "The Believing Brain" and other science books.]
benton.org/node/120048 | Los Angeles Times
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WHAT E-BOOK SUIT MEANS FOR READERS
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Laura Hazard Owen]
What does the Department of Justice suit against Apple and five book publishers for allegedly colluding to set e-book prices mean for readers today and in coming weeks? Readers are likely to see lower prices on e-books from HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster — at least at Amazon, which expressed its glee over the settlement. But you won’t see those lower e-book prices until at least June — remember there’s that 60-day waiting period, and then publishers and retailers have to enter into new contracts. It’s in Amazon’s best interest to enact the new contracts as soon as possible so that it can start discounting the settling publishers’ e-books. Other e-book retailers, like Barnes & Noble and Kobo, are likely to want to enter into new contracts quickly as well so that they are on a more even playing field with Amazon. They may not be able to afford to discount a wide range of e-books as deeply as Amazon can, but could deeply discount select titles. As soon as the new contracts are in place, let the discounting begin. Forrester analyst James McQuivey told Digital Book World last week that he expects Amazon to discount e-books slowly and strategically, starting with bestsellers. Publishing industry consultant Mike Shatzkin, on the other hand, believes Amazon “will do the splashiest discounting they possibly can, making the point as loudly as possible that they deliver the lowest prices to the consumer and daring their competition to match them.”
benton.org/node/120004 | paidContent.org
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TELEVISION/RADIO
GENACHOWSKI MAKES CASE FOR SPECTRUM AUCTION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Michael Malone, John Eggerton]
At the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski once again attempted to sell the FCC's spectrum incentive auction plan to broadcasters, many of them skeptical. Chairman Genachowski mentioned that it was his third NAB presentation as chairman, along with many visits as a broadcaster and trade association staffer, and took pains to paint a rosy economic picture for local broadcasters. He said the incentive auction for broadcasters' spectrum might well be a favorable opportunity for the 40% of TV stations not getting retransmission consent cash, and for those who do not air local news. But Chairman Genachowski stressed that broadcasters in all markets, and of all sizes, should at least hear the details of the plan. "It's an unprecedented opportunity [for broadcasters] to improve their financial position," he said. "Don't be afraid to be interested. Others already are."
benton.org/node/120045 | Broadcasting&Cable | Chairman Genachowski
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GENACHOWSKI RESTATES CASE FOR ONLINE POLITICAL FILES
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Harry Jessell]
At the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski gave every indication that he plans to move ahead with mandating television broadcasters to place their political advertising files online. “Editorial writers have called it ‘an excellent idea’ and encouraged the FCC to put in place,” he said. “It’s the 21st century; I call it common sense.” Chairman Genachowski addressed and dismissed broadcasters’ two major arguments against the idea — that it would be too costly and that it would expose “proprietary” ad rate information, disrupt sales negotiations and hurt their business. The chairman also gently scolded broadcasters for how they have opposed the requirement. “Using rhetoric that one writer described as ‘teeth-gnashing’ and ‘fire-breathing,’ some in the broadcast industry have elected to position themselves against technology, against transparency and against journalism.” Following the speech and his flattering introduction of Chairman Genachowski (“he’s a certified smart guy”), NAB President Gordon Smith conceded that the NAB has made little headway in altering Genachowski’s course.
benton.org/node/120044 | TVNewsCheck | Chairman Genachowski
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REP ESHOO WANTS TO EXPAND POLITICAL FILE REQUIREMENT
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) has written Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski to argue for online reporting of television station political files, including individual terms and conditions, and for expanding that requirement to cable & satellite television operators. Political files are the files, currently residing in paper form at local stations and MVPDs, that chronicle political ad time buys per requirements to provide equal access and lowest-unit-rate charges. Broadcasters have complained that real-time filing for that information will be a burden, especially on smaller stations, and require people hours and resources that will be taken away from local news and other important public service functions. In a letter dated April 16, Rep Eshoo wrote that she had "no doubt" the FCC could craft rules that would ease the process for smaller stations and minimize staff time that would have to be devoted to the task. She said not putting the information on the Internet was "inexcusable" given that the technology was available to bring disclosure "into the 21st Century." Rep Eshoo said creating an FCC-hosted website is an "encouraging start." She also said she supported "future action" to bring the public files of cable and satellite providers online." The FCC has not proposed extending the requirement of online filing to cable and satellite operators.
benton.org/node/119999 | Multichannel News
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BROADCASTERS PUSH BACK AGAINST DISCLOSURE
[SOURCE: Pro Publica, AUTHOR: Justin Elliott]
The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote April 27 on whether to require TV stations to post online public information about political ad buys. Some form of the rule seems likely to pass, but the industry and others are lobbying the FCC to alter the nature of the final rule. The FCC won’t release the exact text of the rule until after the panel votes to finalize it later this month. Meanwhile, the wording is subject to change based on input from interested parties. That’s why the National Association of Broadcasters has been paying visits to key FCC officials this month. A group of influential Republican senators has also told the FCC they oppose the proposed rule. On April 3 and 10, National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith met officials, including all three FCC commissioners, to make his case against required online disclosure of the public political ad information.
benton.org/node/120002 | Pro Publica
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NAB VS RUTHLESS ADVERSARIES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith took aim at Google and Wiki on one hand and "some cable operators" on the other in a speech to broadcasters about the ability of its "ruthless, smart and well-financed" adversaries/competitors. Those appeared to include cable operators on the retrans front and the technology community on the content-protection front. In a keynote speech to the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, Smith told his audience that Google and Wiki had taken a lesson from broadcasters' playbooks to "create a powerful megaphone to change forever how battles are won, or lost, inside the Beltway." And while broadcasters had leveraged their power to protect TV stations in the spectrum auction debate, he suggested, the Googles and Wikis had used theirs to change the debate from "thou shalt not steal," to "do not censor the Internet."
benton.org/node/120005 | Broadcasting&Cable
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ROMNEY: FOX HAS BEEN GOOD TO ME
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: ]
During a private campaign event on April 15 in Palm Beach (FL), GOP candidate Mitt Romney had some rather favorable words to say about Fox News. Speaking of the media coverage his campaign has received, Romney singled out CNN host Wolf Blitzer as being a good interviewer and said, according to the Wall Street Journal, that Fox News has been good to him. He called Fox News viewers "true believers," but said that he needed to broaden his reach to independent and female voters. According to NBC News, Romney also said, "We are behind when it comes to commentators on TV. They tend to be liberal. Where we are ahead or even is on Twitter and on the Internet."
benton.org/node/119998 | Huffington Post, The
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OWNERSHIP
MEDIA OWNERSHIP CASE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Supreme Court took no action April 16 on broadcasters' appeal of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last July upholding the Federal Communications Commission's 2008 decision not to loosen the television duopoly, radio ownership or TV/radio cross-ownership rules, but vacating the FCC's loosening of the broadcast/newspaper cross-ownership rule for failure to meet notice and comment requirements. The Supremes had a conference April 13 where they were expected to consider three appeals of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. The National Association of Broadcasters sought appeal on the grounds that there was a split in the circuits, while Tribune (joined by Fox, Sinclair, Clear Channel, Bonneville, and the Newspaper Association of America) and Media General challenged on constitutional grounds in separate petitions. Court watchers predicted that if the court took no action, it was likely because it was waiting until it had ruled on the government's challenge to FCC indecency enforcement before it decides, since that also implicates the scarcity rationale for broadcast regulation (Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC) that Tribune et al. and Media General are challenging in their appeals to the Supremes.
benton.org/node/120000 | Broadcasting&Cable
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COMCAST SUIT
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Phil Milford, Michael Bathon]
A 2003 consumers’ $875 million antitrust lawsuit against cable-service operator Comcast is headed for trial after a federal judge in Philadelphia upheld some of the claims. U.S. District Judge John Padova said allegations that Comcast targeted discounts for potential new customers may go to trial, while claims including blocking access to some contractors won’t. “Because it possessed market power, its decision to target promotional discounts to deter a new entrant may be deemed predatory and an exercise of market power to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Padova wrote of Comcast in his pre-trial opinion. The judge also found “that Comcast has stated a legitimate procompetitive justification for its conduct with regard to cable infrastructure installation contractors.” The lawsuit was filed by customers who contended the Philadelphia-based company wrongly “entered into agreements with its competitors to allocate the nation’s regional cable markets amongst themselves” and “used its monopoly power to raise cable prices to artificially high, supra-competitive levels,” according to Judge Padova’s ruling.
benton.org/node/120001 | Bloomberg
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KIRTSAENG VS JOHN WILEY AND SONS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Keith Perine]
The Supreme Court agreed to hear a copyright case involving the online sale of foreign-made textbooks that’s being closely watched by the tech sector. The case, Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., involves the “first-sale doctrine,” a copyright infringement defense under which someone who buys a copyrighted work is free to resell it. In the case, Supap Kirtsaeng, a student from Thailand, subsidized his expenses by having friends and family members send him foreign editions of textbooks and selling them online. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that the doctrine does not apply to copies of copyrighted material made outside the US. Several big tech trade groups, including TechNet, TechAmerica and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, along with eBay, filed a friend-of-the-court brief siding with Kirtsaeng and urging the high court to hear the case.
benton.org/node/120042 | Politico
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HEALTH
FDA AND APP MAKERS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Brett Norman]
An onslaught of mobile health technology has forced an arranged marriage between smartphone app makers and the Food and Drug Administration — because someone had to regulate them. There’s just one problem: Many of the tech wizards aren’t used to FDA supervision. And now, both sides are struggling to figure out how to live with each other. Last year, the FDA suggested some ground rules: If you make an app that claims to diagnose or treat a medical condition, then you need to show that it’s safe and effective before you sell it, just as other medical-device makers do. That seemed reasonable enough to the traditional medical-device industry, which is well-versed in the ways of the FDA. But the requirements — data on effectiveness, possibly clinical trials — have gobsmacked some software developers who are used to working in the fast-paced, relatively unregulated wilds of the Internet.
benton.org/node/120040 | Politico
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
EINSTEIN
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: J Nicholas Hoover]
An intrusion detection program that the federal government uses to protect its computer networks could raise privacy concerns under the Fourth Amendment, Congress' policy research organization said in a recent report. In a March report, the Congressional Research Service said that the federal government's monitoring of network traffic under the Einstein network monitoring and intrusion detection and protection program could constitute unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment, though it noted that the government has strong arguments that the program is constitutional. Einstein, operated by the Department of Homeland Security with some help from the National Security Agency, is a cross-government effort to monitor federal networks for cyberattacks. As part of those efforts, the system monitors all communications, including federal employee communications with private citizens, which, according to the report, "may trigger Fourth Amendment guarantees to the right to be free from unreasonable searches and excessive government intrusion," despite the steps the government has put in place to mitigate privacy concerns.
benton.org/node/119993 | InformationWeek
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JOURNALISM
PULITZER WINNERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: ]
The Pulitzers, journalism's top honor, were announced by Columbia University. The Pulitzer for public service was given to the Philadelphia Inquirer for its reporting on violence in the city's schools. The Huffington Post became the first for-profit online news organization to win a Pulitzer Prize for reporting, while another online news outlet, Politico, won for editorial cartooning.
benton.org/node/120050 | New York Times | see list of prizes | WSJ | FT
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POLICYMAKERS
UPTON DONORS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Bob King]
The odds for House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton’s long-shot GOP primary opponent are looking even longer after Chairman Upton (R-MI) reported having a titanic first-quarter fundraising effort — buoyed by money from energy, technology and health companies under his panel’s jurisdiction. The Michigan Republican’s campaign committee raked in $981,964 from Jan. 1 to March 31, bringing the total he’s raised for his reelection effort to $2.47 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings. As of the end of the quarter, Upton’s campaign was sitting on $2.3 million in cash and had no debt. His campaign’s first-quarter benefactors included the political action committees of energy companies Entergy Corp., Southern Co., Murray Energy and Duke Energy, along with the Nuclear Energy Institute, Google, Comcast, Verizon, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer — each of which tossed in $5,000 or more. Those figures blow out of the water any comparable numbers from his primary opponent, former state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, who last week disclosed that he had raised nearly $76,500 since announcing his campaign plans in mid-January. He had $56,644 cash on hand at the end of the quarter. Democrats are also considering putting a political novice, renewable energy expert Mike O’Brien, in the hunt for Upton’s seat.
benton.org/node/120041 | Politico
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COMMISSIONER COPPS TAKES A BOW
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In what was billed as the largest-ever collection of current and former FCC Commissioners, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association hosted a Minority Media & Telecommunications Council salute to retired Commissioner Michael Copps, who exited the FCC at the end of December. NCTA headquarters was an appropriate venue, since the association is headed by one of Copps’ former chairman, Michael Powell, and now employs one of his former top aides, Rick Chessen. There was no lack of quorum at this meeting of FCC minds, with 14 former commissioners and a video from former chairman Bill Kennard. Actually, there technically was, since only two of the three current commissioners were there. FCC Chairman Genachowski had a conflict, but sent Chief of Staff Zac Katz to speak for him. The afternoon event was filled with lots of hugs and a few tears as former colleagues–his policy foes remain friends and fans, something of an anomaly in Washington–stepped up to the mic, and the Mike, to wax eloquent. Commissioner Copps said he would continue working on the issues he remains passionate about. Almost on cue as this item was being written, an e-mail came from the Benton Foundation with this blog item from Copps on one of the hot topics of the day, broadcast disclosure.
benton.org/node/119995 | Broadcasting&Cable | MMTC | Benton Foundation
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
CHINA MEETS HOLLYWOOD
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Michelle Kung]
China and Hollywood are gearing up to make more films together. Hollywood wants access to a rapidly growing foreign market, while China wants Hollywood's help to duplicate the success of big-budget U.S. films. Walt Disney Co. and China's DMG Entertainment said they agreed to co-produce the next "Iron Man" film in China. Other major U.S. studios have announced Chinese joint ventures or co-productions in recent months. But challenges lie ahead. While the Chinese government has taken key steps recently to lure foreign filmmakers, it still maintains a tight grip over who participates in its film industry and what they are allowed to make.
benton.org/node/120049 | Wall Street Journal
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APPLE, AUSTRALIA FAIL TO AGREE
[SOURCE: Sydney Morning News, AUTHOR: Lucy Battersby]
Mediation between Apple and Australia's competition watchdog has ended without a resolution. The next phase of the case will be determined at a directions hearing this afternoon before Justice Mordecai Bromberg of the Federal Court in Melbourne. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took the world's biggest company to court on March 27 after it failed to respond to its concerns that the name of its new tablet – iPad Wi-Fi + 4G – would mislead Australian consumers.
benton.org/node/119989 | Sydney Morning News
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