May 2012

News Corporation Board of Directors Issues Unanimous Statement of Support for Rupert Murdoch

The Board of Directors of News Corporation met [May 2] and announced its full confidence in Rupert Murdoch's fitness and support for his continuing to lead News Corporation into the future as its Chairman and CEO. The Board based its vote of confidence on Rupert Murdoch's vision and leadership in building News Corporation, his ongoing performance as Chairman and CEO, and his demonstrated resolve to address the mistakes of the Company identified in the Select Committee's report.

Industry Officials Say Hill Needs To Help NTIA

Technology industry officials urged members of Congress to back the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration as it works to persuade federal agencies to give up some spectrum to the wireless industry. “If Congress wants to see more happen, it needs to be a reliable partner in pushing [NTIA] for progress and backing them up” when they are challenged by federal agencies, Bruce Mehlman, co-chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance, said during a Capitol Hill briefing. Association for Competitive Technology Executive Director Morgan Reed said Congress "can do more to help NTIA.”

More iPhones subject to search warrants, iPads too

A survey of court records reveals that a growing number of iPhones and iPads are the target of forensic examinations by federal agents. The trend shows how mobile devices are replacing computers in daily life, and also highlights ongoing search and seizure issues in the digital era.

Affluent Males Spend Up To $30K Annually Online

Some 19 million males with a household income of more than $100,000 spend twice as much when shopping online compared with their female counterparts, according to a report released this week.

It turns out men outpace spending for luxury items online compared with women, according to the iProspect study "The Affluent Male: What His Online Behavior Can Teach Luxury Brand Marketers." The survey included 26 questions. Some 40% of respondents shop online at least twice weekly, and those who shop multiple times spend in excess of $30,000 annually. The findings identify behavior and trends related to online research and shopping habits affluent males with salaries of more than $100,000 annually.

DHS Cyber Chief: Industrial System Threats are Growing

The government is witnessing an uptick in assaults on the computers that control industrial operations such as power transmission and transportation, the top Homeland Security Department cybersecurity official said.

Mark Weatherford, the first-ever deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity at DHS' National Protection and Programs Directorate, knows a lot about the topic and how government shares cyber intelligence with industry operators. Before joining DHS in fall 2011, he was the chief security officer at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a standards-making group of power grid operators. “We pay particular attention to industrial control systems,” Weatherford said. “We’re seeing a troubling increase in the threats and the vulnerabilities associated with those.” Much of the technical infrastructure running the machines was installed between 30 and 50 years ago, and security flaws are introduced when digital enhancements are layered on top, he said. “But we are making progress on that, I think,” Weatherford added.

Hospital CIOs Seek More Time for Electronic Records

An organization of hospital CIOs and other health IT executives is urging the federal government to give health-care providers more time to prepare for the second stage of electronic health record implementation.

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) suggests that medical providers be given a 90-day period to demonstrate that their EHRs meet upgraded standards for meaningful use. A similar 90-day period was granted as providers worked to meet the first stage of requirements for usage. Providers must demonstrate compliance with meaningful-use standards to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid cash incentives. CHIME sent letters with its recommendations to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). “We felt the approach taken in Stage 1 gave providers much-needed time to make sure the correct fields were populating and accurate meaningful use reports were being produced – we think a similar approach is needed for Stage 2 and beyond,” says Pam McNutt, a member of CHIME’s policy steering committee

Can Twitter Bring Mexico's Young Voters to the Polls?

Young voters in Mexico are an educated, urban, and technologically savvy group. They are also more likely than their parents to be independent, not affiliated with any political party. So, all the main candidates in Mexico's election are turning to social media, mostly Facebook and Twitter, in an attempt to reach out directly to the youngest segment of voters. The major parties are also seeking to recruit young members and win their loyalty through youth focused political action groups. Nobody is certain what effect the youth vote will have on the election.

Programming Languages Not Copyrightable Rules Top EU Court

Europe's top court ruled that the functionality of a computer program and the programming language it is written in cannot be protected by copyright.

The European Court of Justice made the decision in relation to a case brought by SAS Institute against World Programming Limited (WPL). SAS makes data processing and statistical analysis programs. The core component of the SAS system allows users to write and run application programs written in SAS programming language. Through reference to the Learning Edition of the SAS System, which WPL acquired under a lawful license, WPL created a product that emulates much of the functionality of the SAS components, so that customers' application programs can run in the same way on WPL as on the SAS components. The court found that although WPL used and studied SAS programs in order to understand their functioning, there was "nothing to suggest that WPL had access to or copied the source code of the SAS components." It ruled that "The purchaser of a license for a program is entitled, as a rule, to observe, study or test its functioning so as to determine the ideas and principles which underlie that program." If it were accepted that a functionality of a computer program can be protected as such, that would amount to making it possible to monopolize ideas, to the detriment of technological progress and industrial development, decided the court, echoing the opinion given last November by the court's Advocate General, Yves Bot.

ACA: Broadcasters’ Anticompetitive Practices Should Be Attributable By FCC

The American Cable Association is urging the Federal Communications Commission to consider two separately owned TV stations from the same market as a single, commonly owned entity under the agency's ownership attribution rules if the two stations opt to coordinate their retransmission consent negotiations with multichannel video programming providers (MVPDs).

"ACA has put evidence in the record showing that scores of local TV stations are coordinating retransmission consent negotiations and the effect is to lessen competition in local broadcasting markets," ACA President and CEO Matthew M. Polka said. "To shield the public from harm arising from reductions in broadcast competition, the FCC should rule that separately owned TV stations in the same market will be considered a single entity if the stations coordinate their retransmission consent negotiations, effectively prohibiting combinations of top four rated stations that are directly forbidden under the existing local television duopoly rule."

In reply comments filed on April 17, ACA stressed the need and appropriateness for the FCC to address ACA's well-documented concerns about coordinated retransmission consent negotiations in connection with the FCC's ongoing quadrennial review of its media ownership rules and policies. Further, ACA noted that the FCC -- charged by law with promoting competition in local broadcast markets -- should not be distracted by broadcasters' perpetual claims that anticompetitive broadcast practices are a matter solely for the antitrust authorities, even though the stations are FCC licensees.

A Newspaper Buying Spree

[Commentary] In the not so distant past, the more valuable newspapers became, the more eager sellers and buyers became to do deals. Today newspapers are far less valuable — by half or more — yet sellers and buyers are once again finding each other in great numbers. What worries me about some of the recent acquisitions is that if newspapers fail to hold their own and their margins continue to decline, these nontraditional owners could start slashing costs in a misguided attempt to make their investments pay off. That's a truly bad idea. The principal reason the new owners bought the papers is the lingering value of their strong newsgathering franchises, still the most dominant in every market despite rampant layoffs and downsizing, and still the most crucial asset when it comes to seeking customers online and on mobile devices.
Lose that and there's nothing left.

Benton

Search