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June 2012

Netflix analyzes a lot of data about your viewing habits

Netflix’s algorithms for recommending movies to customers might not be perfect, but it isn’t for lack of trying. The company is capturing and analyzing an incredible amount of data to try and figure out what you want to watch next.

Here’s a taste of what Netflix is collecting, and how much:

  • More than 25 million users
  • About 30 million plays per day (and it tracks every time you rewind, fast forward and pause a movie)
  • More than 2 billion hours of streaming video watched during the last three months of 2011 alone
  • About 4 million ratings per day
  • About 3 million searches per day
  • Geo-location data
  • Device information
  • Time of day and week (it now can verify that users watch more TV shows during the week and more movies during the weekend)
  • Metadata from third parties such as Nielsen
  • Social media data from Facebook and Twitter

However, Netflix’s most-interesting use of data might be its attempts to actually analyze what’s going on in movies themselves.

TV networks try to connect with young, tech-savvy multitaskers

Television networks have enormous challenges as they fight to remain viable and profitable in the digital age.

They're losing viewers, and they know it. In response, some cable channels are introducing shorter episodes to reach multi-tasking kids with shorter attention spans. They're bulking up online content to feed the ravenous appetites of younger users. And they're listening to social media conversations about their shows — in some cases even changing plot lines to suit audience tastes. "The networks ... are all struggling with younger people," said Neil Howe, an authority on generations and president of the consulting firm LifeCourse Associates. "The big danger is whether [networks] will become gradually less relevant" and disappear from younger viewers' screens altogether.

Are your kids at risk on social media?

How many parents blanched when they read about the recent rape allegations involving three children that led to the Skout smartphone dating app closing and reviewing security measures in its teen section? This came at a time when many people have been discussing the very real safety and developmental hurdles should Facebook do more than just float the idea of opening the gate to kids under 12.

Being a parent today means protecting our kids from the dangers lurking in many more dark corners than our parents and grandparents ever had to worry about. The predators aren’t just the shady-looking guy on the outskirts of the playground, scouting for their prey. Today, they lurk without technically lurking, able to mask themselves in the obscurity of online personas and with access to many details about our kids without needing to spend much time and energy to get that information. So how on Earth is a parent to strike the precarious balance of allowing children to keep pace with the technology of the day while keeping them out of the ever-growing reach of predators using digital means to find them?

Facebook to pay $10 million to settle suit

Facebook has agreed to pay $10 million to charity to settle a lawsuit that accused the site of violating users' rights to control the use of their own names, photographs and likenesses.

The lawsuit, brought by five Facebook members, alleged the social networking site violated California law by publicizing users' "likes" of certain advertisers on its "Sponsored Stories" feature without paying them or giving them a way to opt out. A "Sponsored Story" is an advertisement that appears on a member's Facebook page and generally consists of another friend's name, profile picture and an assertion that the person "likes" the advertiser. The settlement was reached last month.

SEC Pressed Facebook For Details On Mobile Revenue Before IPO

The Securities and Exchange Commission pressed Facebook executives to explain in more detail how a user shift to mobile devices could impact the company’s profits.

“Assuming that the trend toward mobile continues and your mobile monetization efforts are unsuccessful, ensure that your disclosure fully addresses the potential consequences to your revenue and financial results rather than just stating that they ’may be negatively affected,’” the agency wrote to Facebook on Feb. 28. Facebook amended its IPO filing on May 9, about a week before its $16 billion sale, to say that its revenue may be negatively affected by users accessing the site on mobile devices rather than personal computers. The company said its ability to make money off mobile users was “unproven.”

T-Mobile smartphones are data beasts, eating up 760 MB a month

T-Mobile USA has a well-deserved reputation for having some of the highest volume smartphone users on the mobile Internet. Not only does it have the fastest 3G networks and the most liberal data caps in the industry save Sprint, T-Mobile lets you user your phone’s mobile hotspot capabilities on mid-tier plans free of charge, allowing your typical user to actually consume the data he or she pays for. T-Mobile this week revealed just how much that typical smartphone user on its network consumes: 760 MB per month. What’s more subscribers that have its 42 Mbps dual-carrier HSPA+ phones such as the new HTC One S gobble up an astonishing 1.3 GB a month, which proves the obvious: faster networks mean more data used.

Communal Clearwire? Meet Karma.

A new startup is chucking the conventional approach to data plans in favor of plans that require users to share access to their Wi-Fi hotspots. Customers with Karma's hotspots, running on Clearwire's WiMAX network, pay $14 per gigabyte. The hotspots offer open Wi-Fi access, and when a new user logs on to the connection they get 100 MB of free browsing. That may not sound like such a great deal for the Karma subscribers shelling out cash for their mobile broadband connection, but there's this: the hotspot owner gets a 100 MB of free data for every outside user that signs on to the open Wi-Fi connection. The idea is to create a cycle that allows hotspot owners to give free access to their connection without incurring additional data charges. Karma's rates are significantly cheaper than those offered by Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Under Verizon's new shared data plans, users pay $50 for 1 GB of data. AT&T charges $20 per month for 300 MB of data, up to $50 for 5 GB of data.

Markup

House Commerce Committee
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 4pm
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 10am
http://republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/News/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=9607

On Tuesday, June 19, and Wednesday, June 20, the Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a markup on several pieces of legislation along with the latest report on the committee’s activities. On Tuesday, the committee will convene at 4:00 p.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building for opening statements only. The committee will reconvene on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. to consider legislation including:

  • H.Con.Res. 127 expresses the sense of Congress that the Internet should remain free from international regulation and that the United States should continue its commitment to the current “multi-stakeholder” model of governance. This concurrent resolution would reject international proposals, expected to be discussed at the December World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai, to treat the Internet like an old-fashioned telephone service.

The committee will also vote on its third Semi-Annual Activity Report to the House.

Electronic copies of the legislation and the Semi-Annual Committee Activity Report can be found on the Commerce Committee’s website http://energycommerce.house.gov/news/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=9602. A background memo, amendments, and votes will be available at the same link as they are posted.


Privacy Multistakeholder Meeting

National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Department of Commerce
July 12, 2012
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/other-publication/2012/first-privacy-multistakeh...

See also: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-06-28/pdf/2012-15767.pdf

More meeting details: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/other-publication/2012/july-12-2012-privacy-mult...

Webcast info: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/privacy-multistakeholder-meeting-webcast-7-12-2012

The July 12, 2012 meeting will be the first in a series of NTIA-convened multistakeholder discussions concerning mobile app transparency. Stakeholders will engage in an open, transparent, consensus-driven process to develop a code of conduct. The objectives of the July 12, 2012 meeting are to: 1) promote discussion among stakeholders by employing a structured, open process; and 2) provide a venue for stakeholders to agree on the schedule and format of future meetings.

Stakeholders and other attendees are encouraged to express their intent to attend in person or to view the webcast by June 22, 2012. You may express intent at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/webform/july-12-2012-privacy-multistakeholder-me.... Expressions of intent will help NTIA determine space requirements for the meeting, and webcast technology requirements.


Spectrum Management Advisory Committee Meeting

National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Department of Commerce
July 24, 2012,
1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Mountain Daylight Savings Time.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-06-15/pdf/2012-14659.pdf

The Committee will receive recommendations from subcommittees on matters related to the accomplishment of the President’s ten-year goal of identifying 500 megahertz of radio spectrum for wireless broadband.

The Sharing, Unlicensed, and Spectrum Management Improvements Subcommittees will report on the status of their determinations and findings and facilitate discussion on recommended next steps.

In addition, the Committee will receive reports from designated committee members on the progress of the following five working groups to repurpose the 1695–1710 MHz and 1755–1850 MHz bands for wireless broadband:
1. WG1 1695–1710 MHz Weather Satellite Receive Earth Stations,
2. WG2 1755–1850 MHz Law Enforcement Surveillance and other short-range fixed,
3. WG3 1755–1850 MHz Satellite Control Links and Electronic Warfare,
4. WG4 1755–1850 MHz Fixed Point-to-Point and Tactical Radio Relay, and
5. WG5 1755–1850 MHz Airborne Operations.


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