April 2012

Tablets Are Clear Go-To Alternative To TV: Study

Tablets have quickly become the preferred second-screen alternative to TVs for viewing full-length episodes -- ahead of computers -- with tablet owners reporting that 15% of their TV show viewing happens on the devices, according to a new study commissioned by Viacom.

Viacom's "Tapping into Tabletomics" study found that the devices did not decrease time spent watching TV, but did reduce time spent with PCs and smartphones. The survey polled about 2,500 consumers who own tablets or have use of one in their household. "It's really increasing their overall consumption of TV," said Stu Schneiderman, senior director of Viacom Media Networks Digital Research. Among tablet owners who subscribe to a cable company that offers streaming apps -- including Comcast and Time Warner Cable -- about half reported downloading the apps. Those MSO app users spend 20% more time on their tablet than non-MSO app users. About 22% of MSO app users watch full-length TV shows on their tablets, and 24% of Apple Airplay users and 19% of Netflix users also use the devices to watch full episodes.

Tech groups eye copyright case before SCOTUS

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.

Chairman Fred Upton donors include energy, health, tech companies

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.

FDA tangles with wireless medical-app makers

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.

Technology industry huddles with privacy group over cybersecurity bill

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.

CISPA: Necessary protection or invasion of privacy?

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, is either a welcome resource in preventing cyber attacks or a troubling invasion of privacy, depending who you ask.

The bill passed overwhelmingly in the House Intelligence Committee and appeared to be headed for easy passage in the House. Criticism of the bill is beginning to mount as several free speech and civil liberties groups are lining up against CISPA and encouraging their supporters to do the same by contacting their representatives in Congress, taking their concerns to Twitter, and generally being noisy about their concerns. So what would CISPA actually do? “The intention of CISPA is to make it easier for companies to share information about cyber threats,” says Jennifer Martinez of Politico. “So that companies and the intelligence community can be more proactive about combating cyber attacks or theft of trade secrets.” So the feds have information about a potential attack on a company, they can share that with the company. Companies aren't required to share with the government but they can choose to. That’s the part that’s causing a lot of worry. Here's what worries Kendall Burman, senior research fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology: “The potential for your Internet service provider or other companies that you interact with to monitor and collect information that they believe meets CISPA's very broad definition of a cybersecurity threat and then send out information to anyone in government, including the National Security Agency.”

FCC seeks $819,000 from T-Mobile for violating hearing aid compatibility standards

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.

Privacy activists launch online campaign against House cybersecurity bill

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.

New Hampshire House, Senate to work on Internet protection

New Hampshire House and Senate leaders are working on legislation to outlaw taxing Internet access in the state. Supporters say the legislation is necessary because the state's 1991 Communications Services Tax is outdated. State law currently does not define the Internet or Internet access and was written before the invention of 3G and 4G wireless networks, which allow access to the Internet via smart phones.

NAB: Gordon Smith Takes Aim at Industry's Ruthless Adversaries

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

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