May 17, 2012 (FBI eyes Internet wiretaps)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2012
FCC REFORM/OVERSIGHT
Recap: Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission
Latest Review of Lifeline Program Reforms: 135,000 More Duplicate Subscriptions to be Eliminated, Generating $15 Million Of Savings - press release
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Recap: Hearing on Broadband Loans and Grants
Lawmakers want FCC action to make certain broadband services less expensive
Netflix Turning Up the Heat on AT&T, Comcast and TWC Over Data Caps
The Rise of Europe's Private Internet Police - analysis
FBI eyes Internet wiretaps
Fight continues for critical infrastructure protections
Social media is reinventing how business is done [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
NTIA’s Strickling: Government Needs Paradigm Shift in Spectrum Thinking
AT&T, U.S. Cellular buying 700 MHz licenses for LTE
Mayors question Verizon-cable deal
Verizon will kill 'grandfathered' unlimited data plans, push users to data share
Half of US cell phones are now smartphones [links to web]
New Terahertz Wireless Connection Faster Than Your Microwave Oven [links to web]
Schumer introduces bill to combat cellphone theft [links to web]
CONTENT
ACTA deathwatch: profs call process unconstitutional, Europe revolts
Netflix Turning Up the Heat on AT&T, Comcast and TWC Over Data Caps
PBS stations need to "become YouTube of local community," Seiken says
Introducing the Knowledge Graph: things, not strings - press release
The Legal Cost of Improper Internet Censorship by schools - op-ed [links to web]
As Google Tweaks Searches, Some Get Lost in the Web
In the era of Angry Birds, the challenge is finding the great things amid the junk - op-ed
Time Warner Cable, Viacom Reach Deal For Tablet, Smartphone TV [links to web]
TELEVISION
A DVR Ad-Eraser Causes Tremors at TV Upfronts
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Rove super-PAC launches $25 million swing-state ad blitz
Coming To A Political Campaign Near You: Outside Money, And Lots Of It [links to web]
Blitz of Campaign Ads Is Early and Aggressive
Romney Camp Tries to Limit Reporters’ Access, and Rope Line Ruckus Erupts
OWNERSHIP
After 7 Years, No End in Sight to Phone Hacking Scandal
Holding company exec to Grassley: Not Google's planes
Mayors question Verizon-cable deal
What Will Facebook Do with All Its Cash? - analysis [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Data, Data Everywhere
FBI eyes Internet wiretaps
POLICYMAKERS
Positioning ONC for Continued Success - press release
COMPANY NEWS
Samsung loses $10 billion market value on Apple order report [links to web]
Facebook’s biggest problem is that it’s a media company - analysis
You're only worth $1.21 to Facebook
What Will Facebook Do with All Its Cash? - analysis [links to web]
Facebook Courts a Skeptical Madison Ave [links to web]
LightSquared's bankruptcy is a cautionary tale for investors [links to web]
FCC REFORM
FCC OVERSIGHT HEARING
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee]
The full Senate Commerce Committee held an oversight hearing on the Federal Communications Commission on May 16. The hearing offered Committee members an opportunity to convey their priorities and to hear from the five FCC commissioners about efforts to protect consumers and carry out the public interest. Senators rushed through their questioning of FCC commissioners during the oversight hearing so they would not have to hold the panel over while they voted on the floor, but Commerce Committee members still hit on plenty of topics, including on the network neutrality.
Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) commended the FCC for reforming the Universal Service Fund. He also identified his priorities: spectrum auctions, a public safety broadband network, and the E-rate program which discounts telecommunications service for schools and libraries. Chairman Rockefeller got all five commissioners to commit to not raiding the E-rate fund to support digital literacy, something Rockefeller feared the FCC was planning. “Finally,” he said, “we may hear calls for the agency’s statutory authority to be updated. As I have indicated before, as Chairman of this Committee, I am willing to lead that effort. But I am not interested in a reform exercise that puts the thumb on the scale to benefit one industry player, at the expense of another. Any effort to revise or update the law must keep consumers front and center. And regardless of any such effort, it is imperative the FCC continues to use all its existing authority to robustly protect consumers and the public interest.”
Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison urged the FCC Commissioners to move quickly on bringing spectrum to the wireless market in order to increase competition in the mobile broadband industry. She also pressed FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on allowing the planned Texas emergency responder network to go forward so that it can be ready in time for the start of hurricane season. Last year, the Texas Department of Public Safety received a waiver from the FCC to begin deploying a 4G mobile broadband data network for emergency personnel. Several sites in the state are prepared to move forward with their projects, and Harris County, in particular, can turn on its network within weeks. The State of Texas is now just waiting on the FCC to approve the technical aspects of its plan.
Chairman Genachowski said that the FCC had not received a single complaint in the six months since its Open Internet order went into effect, but also said that if a court overturns it, he would urge Congress to codify it. He would not rule out classifying Internet service providers as a Title II service if the court overturned, but said he is on the record as saying "that it not the best idea." New Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said she agreed with the chairman, but pointed out that the FCC has been reclassifying services for a decade. Commissioner Robert McDowell, who advocates closing the Title II docket, shot back that the FCC had never classified Internet access as a Title II service, and added that leaving the docket open had "devastating" implications internationally for the effort to push back on an ITU effort to regulate the Internet.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) pressed the commissioners to investigate alleged misconduct by News Corporation. He wants the commission to investigate whether the illicit activities News Corporation executives are accused of in the United Kingdom, including hacking into subjects’ voicemails, bribing officials for information and obstructing justice, might extend to the United States. “Despite this long list [of allegations], the FCC did not announce plans for any proactive investigation,” Sen Lautenberg said. “What does it take?” Chairman Genachowski told Sen Lautenberg that, since matters involving News Corporation may come before the commission, “it would be inappropriate to prejudge them.” “We don't comment on the status of investigations,” he said. “Obviously we have important responsibilities that we take seriously.”
benton.org/node/123378 | US Senate Commerce Committee | Chairman Rockefeller | Sen. Hutchison | Hutchison - TX Emergency Responder Network | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn | Commissioner Rosenworcel | Commissioner Pai | B&C - Network Neutrality | The Hill | B&C – News Corp | AdWeek | National Journal
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LATEST REVIEW OF LIFELINE PROGRAM REFORMS: 135,000 MORE DUPLICATE SUBSCRIPTIONS TO BE ELIMINATED, GENERATING $15 MILLION OF SAVINGS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
As a result of comprehensive reforms of the Lifeline program over the last year, the Federal Communications Commission released new data about efforts to eliminate duplicate subscriptions and save tens of millions of dollars. The data revealed another $15 million in savings will be gained by eliminating 135,000 duplicative subscriptions in three states: Missouri, New York and Washington. In 2011, FCC audits identified and eliminated over 270,000 duplicate Lifeline subscriptions, saving $35 million. The FCC is also moving ahead to develop a comprehensive subscriber database that, when launched in 2013, will safeguard against duplicate subscriptions. Overall, the Lifeline reforms to cut waste, fraud and abuse are expected to save $2 billion over three years. In addition, the FCC on April 1 largely eliminated the “Link Up” program, which the Commission concluded had become wasteful and unnecessary. Link Up paid companies up to $30 for initial phone connections even though other companies are now enrolling new subscribers for free. Elimination of Link Up on non-Tribal lands is expected to save $100 million annually. Further reforms are helping ensure that only eligible consumers are enrolled, and will step up audits of Lifeline providers.
benton.org/node/123371 | Federal Communications Commission
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
HEARING ON ARRA BROADBAND STIMULUS
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
The House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held an oversight hearing on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act broadband grants and loans. Recipients of 233 National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awards worth $4 billion have spent just $1.6 billion of it so far. Less than a dozen of the projects have
been completed. Six of the awards worth $124.5 million have been returned or revoked. Recipients of 320 Rural Utility Service (RUS) awards worth $2.4 billion have spent $968 million. Five
projects have been completed. As of July 2011, $124 million in grants and $35 million in loans have been rescinded or revoked. Allegations also persist that NTIA and RUS funds are not
bringing broadband to unserved areas but instead are subsidizing competitors to overbuild privately financed networks.
The hearing featured four witnesses: Larry Strickling, head of the National Telecommunications & Information Association, which has been dispensing billions in stimulus package broadband aid; Jonathan Adelstein, former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner and head of RUS, which has been doing the same; Todd Zinser, inspector general of the Commerce Department (NTIA is under Commerce); and David Gray, deputy inspector general of the Department of Agriculture. They faced tough questioning from Republican members of the Subcommittee. Republicans focused on money that had been rescinded, what they saw as the slow progress of build-outs and spending, and complaints of overbuilding existing service, an issue near and dear to the hearts of cable operators. Subcommittee Chair Greg Walden (R-OR) called overbuilding "a perennial concern" and Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE), vice chair, said it had been a question "since day one." Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH) said he wanted to make sure funds were being spent where they were supposed to be. He did not want to be holding "embarrassing" hearings at a later date about abuses in the program. He said the build-outs should be going where they are needed, not paralleling existing capacity.
Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA) defended the RUS awards saying the funds had made "real progress" in creating jobs and economic opportunities. She suggested that some of the Republicans were simply trying to "relitigate" the stimulus package, which they had opposed.
The Republican Members also demanded answers on how West Virginia was allowed to spend millions of dollars on high-end network equipment for libraries the GOP says had little need for it. Chairman Walden pointed to an article from The Charleston Gazette about the state's use of its BTOP grant. He called it “pretty disturbing” that the state used $24 million of the $126 million grant to buy high-end Cisco routers, designed for networks with upwards of 500 computers, at libraries with only two or three computers installed. “What is NTIA doing about it?” he asked. “Don't believe everything you read in the newspaper,” Strickland responded. Each router cost $12,000, he said, and some are going to institutions with heavy needs such as hospitals and universities. Determining capacity for every institution needing a router would cost more than purchasing “scalable, expandable gear,” he said. Some institutions may not ever need full capacity, but “many of those anchor institutions may benefit” from the routers, Strickland said. “The state made an economical decision that is well-justified by the facts,” he said.
Strickling also found himself defending the agency's decision last week to put a partial hold on seven broadband public safety network projects, including ones funded through broadband grants. Strickling was hit with questions from Republican legislators from states -- Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas -- whose projects had gotten the word to stand down, at least until NTIA vets them against plans for a national interoperable broadband public safety network, now being dubbed FirstNet, which NTIA is helping oversee. He said that NTIA would vet those works in progress against the FCC interoperability standards, but that even that would not necessarily be a green light to proceed. He said he thought it would be a waste of taxpayer money to spend those millions on the chance that it will be interoperable with the system FirstNet ultimately comes up with.
benton.org/node/123380 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | B&C | The Hill | B&C - Public Safety Net
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SPECIAL ACCESS LETTER
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
The Federal Communications Commission should “act decisively” to make high capacity broadband service cheaper for businesses and other large customers, said Members of the House Communications Subcommittee in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Mike Doyle (D-PA) ask what the FCC is doing to make sure that rates for dedicated high capacity Internet lines known as “special access” are “just and reasonable” as required by the 1996 Telecommunications Act. They note that the market has long been dominated by three incumbent telephone carriers, giving them the ability to “raise prices and impose anticompetitive terms and conditions,” and complain that a 1999 commission order has preserved the situation.
benton.org/node/123356 | Hill, The
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NETFLIX FIGHTING DATA CAPS
[SOURCE: The Wrap, AUTHOR: Doug Halonen]
Netflix is turning up the heat on Comcast, Time Warner and AT&T over data caps that the cable companies place on unaffiliated streaming-video companies. In its latest attempt to end what it considers discrimination on the parts of the three cable companies, the rental and streaming giant is "shopping questions related to data caps to the Senate Commerce Committee members in anticipation of tomorrow's oversight hearing with all five [Federal Communications Commission] commissioners." Comcast, AT&T and TWC promote their own services by exempting them from the monthly broadband usage caps they apply to Netflix and other unaffiliated companies. Companies that exceed the usage caps -- which Comcast, for example, has set at 250 gigabytes a month -- can have their services cut off, slowed down or assessed with additional charges. Netflix's efforts follow by one week a lobbying call it made to the Federal Communications Commission May 7, asking the FCC to stop cable companies from unfairly favoring their own streaming services.
benton.org/node/123349 | Wrap, The
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EUROPE’S PRIVATE INTERNET POLICE
[SOURCE: Foreign Policy, AUTHOR: Rebecca MacKinnon]
[Commentary] The digital networks and platforms we depend upon for all aspects of our lives -- including the civic and political -- are for the most part designed, owned, operated, and governed by the private sector. Internet and mobile services empower us to organize and communicate in exciting new ways, and indeed have been politically transformative in democracies and dictatorships alike. But the connectivity they provide has also created tough new problems for parents, law enforcement, and anybody wanting to protect their intellectual property. Democratically elected governments face political pressure from a range of vocal and powerful constituencies to take urgent action to protect children, property, and reputations. Increasingly, however, the job of policing the Internet is falling to private intermediaries -- companies that are under little or no legal obligation to uphold citizens' rights. In effect, they end up acting simultaneously as digital police, judge, jury, and executioner. [MacKinnon is a Schwartz senior fellow at the New America Foundation]
benton.org/node/123383 | Foreign Policy
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INTERNET WIRETAPS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller suggested to lawmakers that the agency is weighing “some form of legislation” that could require Internet service providers and other companies to ensure their systems are compatible with federal wiretap orders. Mueller made his remarks in response to a question by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) at an agency oversight hearing. Chairman Leahy cited recent reports suggesting the FBI desires a way to “require Internet service providers and other online services to make their [services] amenable to government surveillance,” but told Mueller that “the Administration has not sent any up here.” Mueller said lawmakers could expect recommendations on revising the law in question soon — but he also criticized recent press reports for a “distortion of what our needs are.”
benton.org/node/123385 | Politico
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CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTIONS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso, Andrew Feinberg]
Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) is continuing to push the House to pass mandatory cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure, such as electrical grids and gas pipelines, despite the fact that House leaders oppose the regulations. Rep Langevin offered an amendment to the Defense authorization bill that would require critical systems to meet security standards. His amendment is based on the language in Rep. Dan Lungren's (R-CA) Precise Act, which cleared a House Homeland Security subcommittee earlier this year.
benton.org/node/123393 | Hill, The
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
SPECTRUM PARADIGM SHIFT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Telecommunications and Information Administration chief Larry Strickling said that the government needs to come up with a "new paradigm" for freeing up government spectrum, saying the problem with NTIA's own report on a timetable and cost -- 10 years and $18 billion -- was too long and too costly. That report was based in turn on government agency assessments, so it was not a criticism of his own agency. Instead it was to support NTIA's recommendation that it needs to look into more spectrum sharing as a way to speed the recovery of spectrum, which that report also recommended. Assistant Sec Strickling was pressed by Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) and others on why it might not be quicker to focus on a 25 MHz swath adjacent to already available commercial spectrum -- something the FCC favors -- rather than on the whole 95 MHz in the 1755-1850 spectrum band it has identified for clearing and sharing. According to the NTIA report, DOD has said the lower 25 MHz could be fairly quickly cleared, while it could take 10 years and many billions to clear the whole 95 MHz. Strickling said it was not that easy, that some government users who moved into the band on the advice that they would not be moving again were using all 95 MHz.
benton.org/node/123389 | Broadcasting&Cable
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SPECTRUM TRANSACTIONS
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Mike Dano]
In separate transactions, AT&T Mobility and U.S. Cellular are looking to purchase 700 MHz licenses, mainly from Cox Communications. Terms of the deals were not disclosed. Pending Federal Communications Commission approval, AT&T is hoping to buy eight Lower 700 MHz B Block licenses from Cox covering areas on the East Coast, including cities in Florida and Virginia. Cox paid around $28 million for the licenses during the FCC's 700 MHz spectrum auction in 2008. An AT&T spokesman declined to say how much the carrier paid for the spectrum.
Separately, U.S. Cellular purchased four Lower 700 MHz A Block licenses from Cox covering mainly locations in Kansas. Cox paid around $30 million for the licenses during the FCC's 2008 auction. Finally, in another separate transaction, AT&T purchased four Lower 700 MHz C Block licenses from Peoples Telephone Cooperative covering locations mainly in Texas. AT&T said it would use the spectrum for its LTE services. The spectrum transactions, taken together, reflect a number of notable trends in the U.S. wireless industry. First, they represent AT&T and U.S. Cellular's continuing spectrum needs. Second, the spectrum deals represent the further withdrawal of Cox from the wireless market.
benton.org/node/123344 | Fierce
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MAYORS QUESTION VERIZON DEAL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso, Andrew Feinberg]
A group of nine mayors from upstate New York want the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Justice Department to look closer at the proposed deal between Verizon and a consortium of cable companies. The mayors of Binghamton, Buffalo, Cortland, Elmira, Kingston, Syracuse, Troy, Utica and the state capital, Albany, sent a letter to the FCC and DOJ expressing "deep concern" that the deal between Verizon and some of the largest cable providers in the country would have a "devastating effect" on their communities. The mayors say the proposed deal would deter any expansion of Verizon’s high-speed fiber-optic FiOS network, which would harm minorities because Verizon would no longer have reason to expand its FiOS service to the predominately minority-inhabited urban centers of the state. “We are deeply worried that the anti-competitive partnership between Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest wireless provider, and four of the leading cable companies will have a negative impact on economic development and job creation in our cities, leading to higher prices, fewer service options, and a growing digital divide,“ the letter reads.
benton.org/node/123391 | Hill, The
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VERIZON KILLING UNLIMITED DATA PLANS
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Sue Marek]
Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) plans to eliminate the $30 per month unlimited data plan that it still provides to 3G customers who were "grandfathered" into the plan because they were data customers prior to the company's switch to tiered data pricing last July. Speaking at the 40th J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference, Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo said that as these 3G unlimited data plan customers migrate to 4G LTE, they will have to purchase the company's data-share plan (which Verizon plans to launch in mid-summer) and move off the $30 per month unlimited data plan. "Everyone will be on data share," Shammo said.
benton.org/node/123342 | Fierce
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CONTENT
ACTA DEATHWATCH
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Cyrus Farivar]
Just when you thought that everyone was content to let debates about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) simmer down, a group of American legal scholars has now submitted an open letter to the United States Senate, challenging the lack of a Congressional approval process for ACTA. The letter argues that Congress needs to review and approve ACTA, and that the Obama Administration lacks the executive authority to ratify the agreement on behalf of the United States without explicit congressional approval. (This is a position that Harold Koh, a legal advisor to the United States Department of State, has previously taken, though Koh argues the authority was granted by 2008's PRO-IP Act). Normally, the United States Constitution delegates authority to sign treaties to Congress, which can also give that authority to the White House through either an “ex ante” or an “ex post” Congressional-Executive Agreement.
benton.org/node/123369 | Ars Technica
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PBS STATIONS RECAST AS YOUTUBE OF LOCAL COMMUNITY
[SOURCE: Current, AUTHOR: ]
Jason Seiken, PBS Interactive chief, told a packed audience at the PBS Annual Meeting that “a magical opportunity will slip through our fingers if we don’t have the courage to change” and fully embrace the potential that video presents to public TV. "We are in the early stages of a two- to five-year land grab that will reshape the video industry in a way not seen since Hollywood in the early 20th century," he said. "For media organizations, this video revolution will determine who wins, who merely survives, and who perishes." Some 100 million Americans watch videos online daily; last year, YouTube had 1 trillion views, Seiken noted — and that number is doubling every two years. Next year, more than half the televisions in the country will be tethered to the Internet. Each PBS station, with the help of PBS Interactive, needs to become "the YouTube of its local community, the go-to place for video about that community."
benton.org/node/123366 | Current
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KNOWLEDGE GRAPH
[SOURCE: Google, AUTHOR: Amit Singhal]
Google launched the Knowledge Graph, which will help you discover new information quickly and easily. The Knowledge Graph enables you to search for things, people or places that Google knows about—landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, geographical features, movies, celestial objects, works of art and more—and instantly get information that’s relevant to your query. This is a critical first step towards building the next generation of search, which taps into the collective intelligence of the web and understands the world a bit more like people do. The Knowledge Graph enhances Google Search in three main ways to start:
Find the right thing: your results are more relevant because we understand these entities, and the nuances in their meaning, the way you do.
Get the best summary: With the Knowledge Graph, Google can better understand your query, so we can summarize relevant content around that topic, including key facts you’re likely to need for that particular thing.
Go deeper and broader: the Knowledge Graph can help you make some unexpected discoveries.
benton.org/node/123341 | Google
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GOOGLE TWEAKS SEARCHES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah Needleman, Emily Maltby]
Google recently tweaked the way its search engine ranks websites, seeking to downplay sites it suspects of artificially boosting their rankings. Now some small businesses say they are scrambling to avoid being relegated to the Internet's junk bin. Google declines to divulge specifics of its search-ranking algorithm, but it discourages paid links and low-quality website links. According to Google, the recent shifts in its algorithm, known as "Penguin," will enhance the user experience and don't punish businesses that follow its guidelines. "The Penguin algorithm update was designed to reduce Web spam, which is when websites try to get a higher search ranking than they deserve by deceiving or manipulating search engines," says Matt Cutts, a Google engineer. "In many cases, the affected sites had been spamming for a long time," Cutts adds. Among the tactics Google dislikes are "keyword stuffing," or overloading Web pages with keywords, and paying for inbound links as a way to artificially boost search rankings. Google makes about 500 changes to its algorithm annually. Penguin, the most recent update, affects only 3.1% of U.S.-based Google search queries, Cutts says.
benton.org/node/123400 | Wall Street Journal
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FILTERING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Joshua Topolsky]
[Commentary] For every Angry Birds there are a hundred games to waste your money and time on. Our challenge is no longer about making great things, it’s about finding those great things. It’s about how we filter, how we separate the good from the bad, and how we learn to trust when everything is flat. I think we’re at the start of one of the greatest booms in innovation and creativity the world has ever seen. But this time around, if you don’t like what you see, you’ve only got yourself to blame.
benton.org/node/123398 | Washington Post
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TELEVISION
AUTO HOP
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
Broadcast television executives came to New York this week, as they do every year, to talk up their new TV shows in front of advertisers. This year, they are having to talk about yet another technology trying to tear them down. The disruptive technology at hand is an ad eraser, embedded in new digital video recorders sold by Charles W. Ergen’s Dish Network, one of the nation’s top distributors of TV programming. Turn it on, and all the ads recorded on most prime-time network shows are automatically skipped, no channel-flipping or fast-forwarding necessary. Some reviewers have already called the feature, named Auto Hop, a dream come true for consumers. But for broadcasters and advertisers, it is an attack on an entrenched television business model, and it must be strangled, lest it spread.
benton.org/node/123402 | New York Times
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
AD BLITZ
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jonathan Easley]
Karl Rove’s super-PAC Crossroads GPS is launching a $25 million ad campaign in 10 battleground states that will be critical to determining the outcome of the 2012 presidential election. The month-long campaign will open with an ad hitting President Barack Obama for what it says are broken promises on the economy. The ads will play in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia — all states that Obama won in 2008 that the GOP hopes to reclaim.
benton.org/node/123337 | Hill, The
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CAMPAIGN ADS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeremy Peters]
The presidential campaign is erupting into a full-scale advertising war, with both candidates and their allies pouring huge sums into early and aggressive efforts to define the fight on their terms. At least $50 million worth of ads will appear in swing states in the next several weeks as President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney move swiftly to win over voters now, casting aside concerns that their money will be wasted on people who are not paying much attention five and a half months before Election Day. The latest volley came on May 16, when Crossroads GPS, a political group formed by Karl Rove and other top Republican strategists, unveiled a $25 million advertising campaign. The Crossroads campaign matches the $25 million advertising offensive that the Obama campaign began last week. Other outside political groups and “super PACs” have committed at least an additional $15 million in recent weeks, mostly to Romney’s benefit, according to Kantar Media. There is almost certainly more to come before the highly viewed spring television schedule winds down for the summer.
benton.org/node/123404 | New York Times | Wall Street Journal
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ROMNEY AND THE PRESS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Barbaro, Ashley Parker]
The Romney campaign is known for its hyper-disciplined approach to the news media. Question-and-answer sessions with reporters are rare. Aides avoid on-the-record briefings. And the candidate’s latest outreach to voters, a series of casual meetings with middle-class Americans, is shielded from public view. But on May 16, the campaign took that curtain-drawing restrictiveness to a new level, leading to a brief kerfuffle with reporters and later, an apologetic clarification. After Mitt Romney’s speech in Saint Petersburg (FL), campaign aides told members of the traveling press corps that they could not approach either the audience or the rope line where Romney shakes voters’ hands and casually speaks with them. Access to such interactions has long been a zealously protected staple of presidential campaign reporting that allows reporters to capture unscripted moments and pose questions to candidates (who typically ignore or pretend not to hear them). Romney, however, has at times proven a chatty and news-making figure on the rope lines, to his aides’ frustration. These moments have showcased a disarmingly candid side of Mr. Romney, but they have clashed with the imperatives of the carefully choreographed, modern political campaign. An official daily message — cut the debt, reduce regulations, tap domestic energy sources — has been repeatedly overshadowed by his offhanded remarks. That may explain the sudden efforts to put an even greater distance between reporters and the candidate, who are already separated by metal gates at events.
benton.org/node/123405 | New York Times
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OWNERSHIP
NO END IN SIGHT FOR NEWS CORP SCANDAL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ravi Somaiya]
The phone hacking scandal that shook Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire and hit the heart of the British government began quietly on a Monday in 2005, when aides to the British royal family gathered in a palace office appointed with priceless antiques to air suspicions that their voice mail messages had been intercepted. Seven years and dozens of arrests later, the day after the latest criminal charges were brought, information from the police, prosecutors and investigators indicated that the investigations are likely to go on for years, with no obvious end in sight. If it is proved that those in Murdoch’s employ conspired to pay public officials to further business interests, experts say he could be at risk of sanctions in the United States under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Even a small fine would threaten to take the scandal across the Atlantic, and increase political pressure on Murdoch’s lucrative American interests.
benton.org/node/123406 | New York Times
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REPLY TO GRASSLEY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
An executive of the holding company owned by Google executives that leases a hangar at a government airfield responded to questions from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), saying Google has nothing to do with the aircraft in question. Ken Ambrose, vice president of H211, the holding company owned by Google executives Larry Page and Sergei Brin that owns several aircraft stored at California's Moffett Airfield, a former naval air station now operated by NASA, told Grassley in a letter that "these are not Google corporate aircraft. They are privately owned and operated by principal executives of the company." Ambrose also tells Sen Grassley that H211 pays "above market rent" for the hangar at Moffett, and that the company has operated more than 150 scientific flights for NASA. A Google spokesman said that the aircraft are fitted with NASA equipment for these flights. Ambrose responded to concerns that the Google executives are purchasing fuel at a reduced price by telling Sen Grassley that the only fuel available at the field is controlled by a Defense Department contractor, "so that is the fuel we use."
benton.org/node/123376 | Hill, The
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
DATA, DATA EVERYWHERE
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Adam Mazmanian]
So far, the Obama Administration's push to encourage software developers to use monstrous, freely available government datasets in consumer apps is generating more light than heat. It's not clear why access to 600 gazillion terabytes (or thereabouts) of free, machine-readable data covering traffic accidents, copper smelting, phytoplankton cell counts and other fascinating, everyday topics have only inspired, at last count, 85 mobile apps. To counter this data ennui, and to launch a special section of Data.gov focusing on transportation and consumer product safety, the Administration hosted a data pep rally on May 16, with U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park acting as cheerleader-in-chief. Senior officials from Labor, Transportation, Consumer Product Safety Commission and others, made presentations (some live, some via recorded video) designed to stimulate interest in translating raw data into simple, navigable apps that consumers can use on mobile devices.
benton.org/node/123367 | National Journal
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POLICYMAKERS
NEW ONC POSITIONS
[SOURCE: Department of Health and Human Services, AUTHOR: Dr. Farzad Mostashari]
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced the creation of an Office of the Chief Medical Officer and an Office of Consumer eHealth.
The primary function of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer will be to infuse a clinical perspective across ONC on all activities which have clinical implications. Activities located in this office will include safety, usability, clinical decision support, meaningful use policy development, and quality including metrics and measurement development. The Chief Medical Officer will report directly to me, and will play a key role in helping ONC satisfy its mission of improving health and health care through health IT.
The Office of Consumer eHealth will continue the work on consumer engagement begun in our Office of Policy and Planning. Creation of this new office provides exciting opportunities for ONC to expand upon the work that is currently underway, including the pledge program and patient-focused challenges. Creation of the Office of Consumer eHealth demonstrates ONC’s strong commitment to enabling patient and family engagement in health care.
benton.org/node/123335 | Department of Health and Human Services
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COMPANY NEWS
FACEBOOK AS MEDIA COMPANY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Mathew Ingram]
[Commentary] There’s been a lot of attention paid to Facebook’s business model recently, especially with the news that General Motors has killed a $10-million advertising campaign devoted to the giant social network — not exactly a great sign of confidence in advance of the world’s most eagerly anticipated IPO. And GM’s move is only the latest indication of discontent, as other advertisers are also questioning their spending. What all of these moves reinforce is that while Facebook may look like and function like a social network for the majority of its users, on the business side it looks almost exactly like a traditional media company, and that is both good and bad.
benton.org/node/123353 | GigaOm
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YOUR WORTH TO FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: David Goldman]
How much does Facebook value its users? In strictly monetary terms, about as much as a bag of chips. Facebook is raking in a little over $1 billion in sales every three months. That sounds like a big number, but with more than 900 million active users, it means each Facebook user is bringing in just $1.21 a quarter. Facebook's ARPU in the United States and Canada is almost twice its global average, coming in at $2.23 per quarter. Facebook's fastest user growth is coming from developing countries, where the company says the ad market brings in significantly lower sales. Its quarterly ARPU is just 61 cents in those regions.
benton.org/node/123347 | CNNMoney
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