May 1, 2012 (Hulu, networks to change model of free streaming)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2012
CONTENT
Hulu, networks to change model of free streaming
Public Interest Groups Hammer Comcast Over Reports of Hulu's Change in Streaming Model
Navigating a Tightrope With Amazon - analysis
OWNERHIP
Understanding the IP Wars - op-ed
Ignoring critics, Verizon, Comcast dive deeper into cross-selling pact
Google, Oracle attorneys wrap up first part of trial
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
The New Pay Phone and What It Knows About You
Itsy-bitsy teeny cell towers are coming [links to web]
Wearable devices track people via wireless network [links to web]
CTIA Boss Steve Largent Aims To Keep Conference From Being Lost in the Shuffle [links to web]
Mobile data is growing, but voice & sms slowing [links to web]
Data Engineer in Google Case Is Identified
Google, Oracle attorneys wrap up first part of trial
TELEVISION
FCC’s political ad rule disappoints supporters and foes alike
21% Have a TV Connected to Web [links to web]
BROADBAND/INTERNET
FCC Launches Competition To Identify The Best Ways To Increase Broadband Adoption Among Low-Income Americans - press release
Why bandwidth caps could be a threat to competition - analysis
The United States of broadband: Location matters
Dutch top Euro broadband table, but things are slowing
Why CISPA could kill the cloud - analysis
Prospects poor for US cybersecurity bill
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Network Anchors for Romney?
FCC’s political ad rule disappoints supporters and foes alike
Political TV Ad Spending Picking Up After A Slow Start: Analyst
HEALTH
Medical care shifting to electronic data files
Chicken Scratches vs. Electronic Prescriptions [links to web]
Elder care enters the digital age [links to web]
LOCAL INTITIATIVES
San Francisco's Pursuit of Tech Spurs Questions
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
GSA tool lets people verify genuine federal social media accounts
The Secret Behind Successful Mobile Apps [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
At $1.7 billion, Nook is worth more than Barnes & Noble itself
In Tale of Two Bookstore Stocks, Digital Strategy Sets One Apart [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Names Renee Wentzel Legal Advisor And Charles Mathias Special Counsel - press release
STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:
Russia, China on top copyright pirates list again-USTR
Pirate Bay must be blocked in UK, High Court rules
Foreign Telecom Firms Pass on India
NZ National Broadband Network to add NZ$33 billion to economy
New Zealand to Test Mobile Tickets for Public Transport Services [links to web]
European Tablet Adoption Lags Behind Other Regions [links to web]
Tough Questions for Cameron on Ties to Murdoch
Murdoch ‘unfit’ to run global company
iPad '4G' claims face scrutiny from UK regulator [links to web]
CONTENT
CHANGING MODEL FOR FREE STREAMING
[SOURCE: New York Post, AUTHOR: Claire Atkinson]
Viewers who stream network TV shows may soon discover the free ride is not so free. Hulu, which attracted 31 million unique users in March under a free-for-all model, is taking its first steps to change to a model where viewers will have to prove they are a pay-TV customer to watch their favorite shows, sources tell The Post. In fact, the move by Hulu toward the new model — called authentication because viewers would have to log in with their cable or satellite TV account number — was behind the move last week by Providence Equity Partners to cash out of Hulu after five years. And it’s not just Hulu making it tougher for cable-cutters to stream shows and other content. Fox, owned by News Corp., which also owns The Post, is expected to begin talks soon with Comcast on a TV Everywhere deal that will require authentication. Plus, Philadelphia-based Comcast is expected to switch to an authentication model for this summer’s Olympic Games. The move toward authentication is fueled by cable companies and networks looking to protect and profit from their content.
benton.org/node/121759 | New York Post
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RESPONSE TO HULU
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton, George Winslow]
Public interest groups were quick to jump on reports that Hulu was going start requiring a cable TV subscription to access its content (the cable industry's "authentication" model for putting its programming online), though they differed over what that move meant. Free Press said it called into question whether Comcast was living up to its NBCU deal conditions (NBC is a co-owner of Hulu), and asked for an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice, which approved the Comcast/NBCU deal. By contrast, Public Knowledge apparently did not think moving the content behind a pay wall violated any of the deal conditions. In fact, it said the FCC specifically did not adopt such a condition, even though it was recommended by some. Comcast says it has no role in Hulu management decisions, which was a condition in the deal.
benton.org/node/121806 | Broadcasting&Cable
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NAVIGATING TIGHTROPE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
[Commentary] The e-book “After Friday Night Lights” was pulled from Amazon after Amazon made the work available for free. It had been priced at $2.99 but the plan hit a pothole after Apple, which had been looking to get into shorter works in a digital format, decided to include e-books in a promotion that it does with Starbucks. It selected the digital sequel as a Pick of the Week, giving customers a code they could redeem online for the book. (The author said he still received a royalty of $1.50 for each copy sold.) Amazon interpreted the promotion as a price drop and lowered its price for “After Friday Night Lights” to exactly zero. Byliner, the e-book’s publisher, withdrew the book from Amazon’s shelves, saying it did so to “protect our authors’ interest.”
benton.org/node/121757 | New York Times
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OWNERHIP
UNDERSTANDING THE IP WARS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Erin-Michael Gill]
[Commentary] Patents are technical and legal documents, each one costing about the price of a new Fiat 500 to draft. There is a very small community of IP professionals who write, prosecute and sell these assets. Of the over 1,000,000 attorneys in the United States, only 30,000 or so have passed the Patent Bar. So few, in fact, that the USPTO allows scientists and engineers to take the exam, adding about 10,000 more “Patent Agents” admitted to practice patent law before the USPTO. This means that at any given time, depending on the technology area, there are only a few thousand people who really have any idea what a given patent likely covers, or what it’s potentially worth. And that is at the core of all these IP wars. The entire reason the patent system exists is that the Government wants to buy something from inventors: disclosure. Society benefits when inventors disclose their ideas so that later innovators can learn from, reproduce, and build upon or around those ideas. What the Government gives the inventor is exclusivity — it grants the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling, those new innovations.
[Erin-Michael Gill is Managing Director and Chief Intellectual Property Officer of MDB Capital.]
benton.org/node/121780 | Wall Street Journal
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VERIZON-COMCAST
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
Six new regions are getting the Verizon-Comcast treatment. The wireless operator and the cable provider revealed today they’re selling their cross-network bundle of mobile and broadband services in and around Atlanta; Chicago; Kansas City, Mo.; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.; Salt Lake City and throughout Colorado. The U.S. Department of Justice may well find that cross-selling pact anticompetitive, but Verizon and its cable partners aren’t stopping until they’re told they have to. As in the case with other such launches, Verizon and its cable partner are offering a Visa prepaid card valued between $50 and $300 for customers that couple Verizon Wireless mobile service with a Comcast residential broadband or TV plan. They’re even adding a little extra incentive in this new round of launches with a “double your data package” promotion, which will combine a 12-month upgrade to Comcast’s 30 Mbps Blast cable modem service with Verizon’s PowerBoost offer, which doubles a smartphone user’s monthly data cap.
benton.org/node/121801 | GigaOm
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
THE NEW PAY PHONE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Somini Sengupta]
The term pay phone has a new meaning today. For consumers who wish to ditch their wallets, paying through a mobile phone can be awfully convenient. Those same consumers can also, often unwittingly, give up valuable information about themselves to merchants that want to sell them things. A new survey by law professors at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that most Americans are uneasy with the idea that their phones could divulge behavioral and personal information, like phone numbers and in-store browsing habits. The survey was created by Chris Hoofnagle and Jennifer Urban, who study digital privacy issues, and financed by Nokia, which makes cellphones. The survey posed a variety of questions by phone to 1,200 people nationwide. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. It found that four out of five of those surveyed “objected to the transfer of their phone number to a store where they purchase goods,” while 15 percent said they would “probably allow” transmission of that information and only 3 percent said they would “definitely allow it.” It also found that consumers were less worried about giving up their e-mail addresses.
benton.org/node/121783 | New York Times
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GOOGLE ENGINEER NAMED
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr, David Streitfeld]
At the center of the uproar over a Google project that scooped up personal data from potentially millions of unsuspecting people is the company software engineer who wrote the code. Now a former state investigator involved in another inquiry into Street View has identified Engineer Doe. The former investigator said he was Marius Milner, a programmer with a background in telecommunications who is highly regarded in the field of Wi-Fi networking, essential to the project. On his LinkedIn page, Milner lists his occupation as “hacker,” and under the category called “Specialties,” his entry reads, “I know more than I want to about Wi-Fi.” The former state investigator spoke on the condition that he not be identified because he was not authorized to speak. Although the Federal Communications Commission declined to identify the engineer, a footnote in the full text of its report said Google told the agency the identity of Engineer Doe “only because it had disclosed his name to state investigators on December 17, 2010.”
benton.org/node/121812 | New York Times
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GOOGLE-ORACLE UPDATE
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Brandon Bailey]
Jurors began deliberating in the crucial first phase of a high-stakes trial over Google's Android mobile software, after attorneys traded final arguments over Oracle's claim that Android violates valuable copyrights for the Java programming system. Google executives "knew they needed a license" to use key elements of the Java system, but they didn't get one, Oracle attorney Michael Jacobs told jurors in U.S. District Court. Instead, he said, Google took shortcuts and piggybacked on Java's popularity. "They put it in Android because it suited them, to get to market faster," he said. But Google attorney Robert Van Nest contended Android is a "transformative product" that Google engineers created "from scratch, using their own ingenuity and open-source products," including parts of the Java platform that were available in the public domain.
benton.org/node/121808 | San Jose Mercury News
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TELEVISION
REACTION TO POLITICAL AD RULE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
After the Federal Communications Commission adopted new political ad disclosure rules, a number of groups weighed in.
"Those missing markets include some key presidential battleground states, as well as states and districts with close congressional campaigns," said Lisa Rosenberg, a government affairs consultant with the Sunlight Foundation. "Moreover, by limiting the coverage to ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, the ruling omits coverage for political advertising on Spanish-language television that could be especially important this year." Nonetheless, Rosenberg said, the FCC’s vote was a step in the right direction.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which had fiercely opposed the rule before the vote, said the FCC unfairly singled out the television industry for disclosure. "By forcing broadcasters to be the only medium to disclose on the Internet our political advertising rates, the FCC jeopardizes the competitive standing of stations that provide local news, entertainment, sports and life-saving weather information free of charge to tens of millions of Americans daily," said Dennis Wharton, NAB’s vice president of communications.
Free Press, one of many groups that had pushed for years to have the disclosure rule approved, said the vote was a “win for transparency, open access to information and the public." "We're pleased that the FCC has ignored the overheated rhetoric and unsubstantiated claims of the broadcast lobby in this proceeding," said Corie Wright, a senior policy counsel at Free Press. "These modest measures will place minimal, if any, burden on broadcasters but will offer great public benefits."
benton.org/node/121779 | Hill, The
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BROADBAND/INTERNET
INCREASING BROADBAND ADOPTION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
For the first time ever – and as a result of tens of millions in savings from reform of its Lifeline program – the Federal Communications Commission is launching a competition to discover the best ways to increase broadband adoption rates among low-income Americans. The competition is funded by the newly created “Broadband Adoption Lifeline Pilot Program.” It builds on the Connect to Compete initiative, a public-private partnership aimed at helping to close the broadband adoption gap that was launched by the Commission last year. This competition uses $25 million in savings from major reforms earlier this year of the Lifeline program to launch pilot projects across the country to test best practices around issues of cost, digital literacy and relevancy. A Public Notice announces criteria for the competition and a deadline of July 2, 2012 for applications. Winners will begin their year-long projects in the fall of this year.
The Pilot will gather high-quality data that will guide long-term efforts to increase broadband adoption among low-income Americans. Applicants must be telecommunications carriers eligible to participate in Lifeline. But they are encouraged to partner with existing broadband adoption programs as well as schools, libraries, state and local governments, non-profits and others. The winners will reflect a diversity of geographic areas (rural, urban), technologies (fixed, mobile), and service plans. At least one project will explore providing support on Tribal lands.
benton.org/node/121805 | Federal Communications Commission | Application Process | Chairman Genachowski | WashPost | B&C
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BROADBAND CAPS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
Since the first dot-com boom, unmetered Internet access has been the industry standard. But recently, usage-based billing has been staging a comeback. Comcast instituted a bandwidth cap in 2008, and some other wired ISPs, including AT&T, have followed suit. In 2010, three of the four national wireless carriers—Sprint is the only holdout—switched from unlimited data plans to plans featuring bandwidth caps. To many people, the argument for metered bandwidth seems intuitive and obvious. Bandwidth is a scarce resource, and advocates argue that usage-based pricing encourages efficient network use and ensures that heavy users pay their "fair share." Yet the economics of metering aren't as simple as they might appear. Companies are often surprised by how well flat-rate billing schemes work. Customers love them, and flat-rate billing encourages more intensive use of networks that sit idle most of the time. Network providers insist that they are simply trying to cope with rapidly rising demand for bandwidth. But critics charge that the trend toward bandwidth caps is driven by more sinister motives, especially in the residential broadband market. In this story we'll examine the economics of metering and try to explain why it has suddenly come back into vogue.
benton.org/node/121776 | Ars Technica
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THE UNITED STATES OF BROADBAND
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
The US is falling in the quality of broadband its ISPs are offering on a quarterly basis, although in the fourth quarter of 2011 that fall in speeds was seen by several other counties, with overall broadband speeds falling to a global average 2.3 Mbps from the third quarter to the fourth. The data comes from Akamai’s State of the Internet report, which uses the content delivery network’s data to construct a detailed report on web speeds, security and mobile connections. Om has covered the big picture, but here’s what the report says about the US. For the year, the global average connection speed was up a 19 percent, with double-digit percentage growth seen in eight of the top 10 countries and also in the US, which is ranked 13th. The U.S.’s average connection speed is 5.8 Mbps — a 14 percent increase from the previous year. Overall our average peak connection speeds ranged from 36 Mbps in Delaware down to 13.3 Mbps in Arkansas.
benton.org/node/121773 | GigaOm
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DUTCH TOP BROADBAND TABLE
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Bobbie Johnson]
The Netherlands still has the best overall Internet speeds in Europe, but it’s Romania that can boast the fastest, according to new figures from Akamai. According to the content delivery network’s latest State of the Internet report, which looked at broadband performance for the last quarter of 2011, internet users in the Netherlands had the highest average connection speed in Europe — at 8.2 Mbps. Meanwhile the Romanians ranked first in terms of peak speeds, with connections that topped 35 Mbps. In total, Europe boasted 12 of the top 20 countries worldwide in terms of average speeds, with strong showings from Switzerland, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Belgium too — all of which puts the continent’s brightest broadband nations on a good competitive footing with Asia’s strongest: South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan.
benton.org/node/121771 | GigaOm
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CISPA AND THE CLOUD
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: By Ted Samson]
A close read of CISPA's broad language reveals that Joe Internet's privacy isn't all that would be in jeopardy if the bill makes it through the Senate and past President Obama's veto pen. CISPA poses a threat to the privacy of entire organizations, from nonprofits and small business on up to the enterprise -- and even to the very future of cloud computing. Drawing from the bill's exact language, CISPA would permit "certified entities" and "cyber security providers" to "voluntarily" share any customer data with other certified entities, so long as the data constitutes "cyber threat intelligence" for "cyber security purposes" -- as well as for the sake of "national security." In a nutshell, the federal government and "certified entities" could freely pass around customer data in the name of security, without due process and without any fear of reprisal if their purported security fears turn out to be completely unwarranted. "Certified entities" can mean federal agencies, other public agencies, utilities, and private organizations. That's a potentially long, long list of whistleblowers.
benton.org/node/121766 | InfoWorld
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POOR PROSPECTS FOR CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR:]
US internet security experts think there is only a slim chance that important cybersecurity legislation will emerge from Congress this year, despite continuing attacks and approval of a controversial bill by the House of Representatives late last week. The Republican-controlled House approved the Cyber Intelligence and Protection Act (CISPA), but although the bill passed the House with bipartisan support, it is likely to face tougher scrutiny in the Democrat-controlled Senate, where opponents, concerned that it might be used to spy on US citizens, are gearing up for a protracted fight. “The prospects for cybersecurity [legislation] this term are fairly poor because the question of legislation on cyber has become a subset of the political situation on the Hill which exists not just for cyber but for most initiatives,” said Sam Visner, a former chief of intelligence programs at the National Security Agency, who now overseas cyber strategy for CSC, an IT consultancy.
benton.org/node/121809 | Financial Times
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
ANCHORS AND POLITICAL ADS
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Wilner, Ken Goldstein]
Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric and David Gregory endorsing presidential candidates: Could it happen? Actually, it already is -- though not quite in the way you might imagine. For decades, scholars have studied and debated the impact of media, both paid and earned, on the decision-making of swing voters. Earned media -- i.e., news -- is generally believed to have limited impact, because the types of broadcasts valued by swing voters are unlikely to contain the pointed messages that are more effective at moving minds. Media outlets delivering more one-sided messages, on the other hand -- such as FOX News Channel or MSNBC -- are watched mainly by people who already have made up their minds. Meanwhile, paid media, or traditional campaign advertising, can be targeted at swing voters. But messages and messengers with particular partisan or other motives may not have the credibility to alter those voters’ decisions. What happens, though, when swing voters are confronted by negative messages delivered by credible messengers?
benton.org/node/121768 | Columbia Journalism Review
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POLITICAL AD SPEND
[SOURCE: Deadline New York, AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
The conventional wisdom holds that the 2012 campaign will set records for TV spending. But that’s not how things have gone so far, says Wells Fargo Securities analyst Marci Rivicker — who follows political ads closer than just about anybody on Wall Street. Campaigns have spent $275.5M on TV ads through April 15; nearly 66% went directly to broadcast stations while the rest went to national TV and cable. But spending and fundraising through February was 20% below the average in presidential year campaigns from 2000 through 2008. The large number of GOP presidential debates “dampened the need for advertising,” Ryvicker says, adding that there wasn’t “a clear path to the Republican nomination.” But spending in March was 12% over the average for the month in the previous cycles. That leaves Ryvicker unsure of whether 2012 political TV spending will come in ahead or behind her forecast of $2.7 billion.
benton.org/node/121798 | Deadline New York
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HEALTH
MEDICAL CARE SHIFTING TO ELECTRONIC DATA FILES
[SOURCE: Boston Globe, AUTHOR: Chelsea Conaboy]
One in 10 doctors who work outside hospitals in the United States began using electronic health records in 2011, helped along by the promise of $27 billion in incentives from the federal government. As of the end of last year, 35 percent of such doctors had a system that performed at least basic functions, including ordering of prescriptions and storing doctor notes and test results, according to one in a series of studies on the topic published in the latest issue of the journal Health Affairs. The technology is spreading, the result of years of fierce, well-funded advocacy aimed at soothing doctors’ concerns about the hassle and cost of the systems. To date, $146 million in incentive payments have been distributed to doctors and hospitals in the state to help pay for installation, training, and upkeep, according to Bridget Scrimenti, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts eHealth Institute, part of an independent state agency working on the issue. Now, some involved in health information technology say it is time to focus more attention on making sure the systems are safe.
benton.org/node/121760 | Boston Globe
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LOCAL INTITIATIVES
MAYOR ED LEE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Vauhini Vara, Stu Woo]
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee wants to do more to promote the local technology industry than any mayor before him. But some who advocate for low-income residents in this rapidly changing city are saying that's not necessarily a good thing. Since he was appointed mayor a year ago and elected to a full term in November, Mayor Lee has made it a priority to boost the city's economy through the tech industry. Last year, he backed tax breaks to help San Francisco Internet companies Zynga and Twitter. He visits tech companies weekly and is close to start-up financier Ron Conway. But this approach increasingly has some advocates of affordable housing and renters' representatives questioning whether the mayor's focus on tech-sector growth is helping San Franciscans who are struggling most to recover from the recession. Advocacy groups met with Mr. Lee earlier this month to raise concerns about issues ranging from the dearth of work at the tech firms for entry-level workers to the city's rising cost of living with the arrival of wealthy tech workers.
benton.org/node/121782 | Wall Street Journal
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
FEDERAL SOCIAL MEDIA REGISTER
[SOURCE: FederalComputerWeek, AUTHOR: Alice Lipowicz]
Federal agencies need help tracking their social media accounts, and citizens need help verifying which government accounts are authentic. Now the General Services Administration has stepped in to address both of those concerns with a new online solution. The GSA launched the new online Federal Social Media Registry and verification tool intended to allow users to register and verify official federal social media accounts. The registry is meant to serve as a central database to list all official, verified federal social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and YouTube and other services, totaling 22 networks. Debuting on Howto.gov on April 26, the registry allows users to enter an account name to determine if it is an official account sponsored by a federal agency. It also allows federal managers to submit accounts for registration and verification.
benton.org/node/121769 | FederalComputerWeek
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COMPANY NEWS
NOOK
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Om Malik]
Microsoft and Barnes & Noble have buried the patent hatchet and teamed up to compete against Apple and Amazon in the eBooks business. The new partnership sees Microsoft investing $300 million in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary. The $300 million investment in the Nook subsidiary of Barnes & Noble gives Microsoft about 17.6 percent ownership of this business unit. That values this part of the business at about $1.7 billion. Before the markets opened this morning, the Nook business was valued about $900 million more than Barnes & Noble itself.
benton.org/node/121774 | GigaOm | AP | Fast Company
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POLICYMAKERS
GENACHOWSKI NAMES NEW ADVISORS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski named Renee Wentzel Legal Advisor to the Chairman and Charles Mathias Special Counsel to the Chairman.
In her role, Wentzel will have particular responsibility for wireless and engineering and technology issues, including removing barriers to mobile broadband deployment and unlicensed spectrum policy. She will begin May 7.
Mathias, currently Acting Legal Advisor, will have responsibility for public safety and homeland security issues, as well as for certain spectrum policy issues. He will also lead a team on government reform to develop and implement procedural and regulatory reforms to further innovation in government, extending the work previously led by Ruth Milkman, who will continue to serve as Special Counsel to the Chairman and Co-Lead of the Incentive Auction Task Force.
benton.org/node/121803 | Federal Communications Commission
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:
RUSSIA, CHINA ON TOP COPYRIGHT PIRATES LIST AGAIN-USTR
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Doug Palmer]
The United States again put Russia and China on its annual list of countries with the worst records of preventing the theft of copyrighted material and other intellectual property (IP), the US Trade Representative's office said. Argentina, Canada and India were also put on the "priority watch list," along with Algeria, Chile, Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan, Thailand, Ukraine and Venezuela. "This year's Special 301 Report is more significant than ever in light of recent U.S. Government data showing that IP-intensive industries support as many as 40 million American jobs and up to 60 percent of U.S. exports," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement. Canada, among the North American Free Trade Agreement nations along with Mexico and the United States, made the list for the fourth consecutive year, partly for failing to reform its copyright laws. The priority watch list carries no threat of sanctions, but hopes to shame governments into cracking down on piracy and counterfeiting and updating their copyright laws.
benton.org/node/121826 | Reuters | USTR | read the report
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PIRATE BAY MUST BE BLOCKED IN UK, HIGH COURT RULES
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Cyrus Farivar]
The United Kingdom's High Court ruled that The Pirate Bay must be blocked by all local Internet services providers, thereby cutting it off from a potential user base of over 50 million people.
The ruling comes after a February decision that the site was infringing copyright in the United Kingdom. The UK entertainment industry has applauded the outcome. "Sites like The Pirate Bay destroy jobs in the UK and undermine investment in new British artists," the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said in a statement. Digital and civil rights groups decried the decision.
benton.org/node/121825 | Ars Technica | Financial Times | CSM
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FOREIGN TELECOM FIRMS PASS ON INDIA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: R Jai Krishna]
Foreign companies are steering clear of an auction of Indian mobile-phone bandwidth in a sign of how far the nation's once-booming telecommunications industry has fallen from investor grace. Australia's Telstra Corp. and Sweden's TeliaSonera AB said they won't participate in the coming sale. Meanwhile, Norway's Telenor ASA threatened to pull out of India, saying that the new base rates proposed by India's telecom regulator for the auctions are far too high. The government expects to complete the auction rules by the end of May, with the auction likely to take place at the end of August. A supporter of telecommunications company Uninor at a demonstration in New Delhi, April 18. India was until recently a favored investment destination for many foreign companies, especially telecom operators who wanted to offset slowing growth in their home markets. Companies such as Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Britain's Vodafone Group PLC have invested in India directly or through local operators, driving the pace of growth in India's telecom sector to the fastest in the world.
benton.org/node/121823 | Wall Street Journal
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NZ NBN TO ADD NZ$33BN TO ECONOMY
[SOURCE: ZDNet, AUTHOR: Darren Greenwood]
New Zealand's Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) and Rural Broadband Initiatives (RBI) look set to deliver a NZ$33 billion boost to the New Zealand economy, says an Alcatel-Lucent study. And if the country can improve its take-up of broadband and the use of applications by 20 percent, such economic benefits would increase to NZ$48 billion, attendees at a major Auckland conference on broadband heard. Andrew Miller, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent New Zealand, told The Future With High Speed Broadband conference in New Zealand that as end users become more familiar with broadband, they demand more innovative applications. Other studies have shown higher broadband penetration leads to higher economic growth, with a US survey showing 10 per cent more broadband use increased GDP by 1.8 per cent, with similar positive effects on employment, Miller said.
benton.org/node/121821 | ZDNet
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TOUGH QUESTIONS FOR CAMERON
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Burns]
A turbulent House of Commons session provided evidence of the potentially serious political repercussions for Prime Minister David Cameron and his government emanating from the widening scandal enveloping Rupert Murdoch’s media interests in Britain. The immediate issue for the past week has been the revelation that an aide to Jeremy Hunt, a minister in Mr. Cameron’s government, had a cozy relationship with a lobbyist for Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation when the company was bidding for full control of Britain’s most lucrative broadcaster, British Sky Broadcasting, known as BSkyB. As culture minister, Mr. Hunt had the power to waive regulatory scrutiny that could have doomed the takeover. At the parliamentary session, one of the most acrimonious of Mr. Cameron’s two years in power, the prime minister held off repeated opposition demands for an independent assessor to review whether Mr. Hunt had breached ministerial rules by approving his aide’s ties to the lobbyist or in failing to curb them.
benton.org/node/121816 | New York Times
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MURDOCH UNFIT
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Ben Fenton]
Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise stewardship of a major international company after failing to investigate phone hacking at the News of the World and overseeing a culture of “willful blindness”, a committee of MPs said. The findings of the culture, media and sport committee could endanger News Corp’s continued ownership of British Sky Broadcasting, media commentators said. But the conclusions affecting Murdoch, and the passing of the entire report, were not unanimous, with findings about him, as well as the overall motion to submit the report to parliament, being passed by six votes to four, with the Conservative members of the committee all opposing. It was open to those opposing the votes to submit a minority report, but they did not do so. The Conservative members of the committee said they would all have voted in favor of the report had the amendment condemning Rupert Murdoch as unfit not been included.
benton.org/node/121815 | Financial Times
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