June 2012

Why does Rep. Terry Love The ITU And Hate Freedom?

[Commentary] The sad truth is that those who oppose network neutrality and claim to oppose the International Telecommunication Union are hypocrites of the worst kind.

Why would I say that? What makes me say folks like Rep Lee Terry (R-NE), and other staunch opponents of network neutrality are hypocrites when they claim to oppose the ITU? Because -- as anyone who is paying the least attention to the actual proposals at the ITU will tell you -- all the proposals in front of the ITU to date are ANTI-network neutrality proposals. So obviously, if you hate network neutrality as much as Rep Terry says he does, you must totally love the ITU or be a flaming hypocrite, right? Anyone trained in formal logic recognizes the fallacy here. Someone can oppose the ITU exercising any jurisdiction over internet traffic while still supporting a specific policy proposed at the ITU.

So Rep. Terry can oppose ITU jurisdiction over Internet traffic management even if he likes the fact that -- if certain proposals were adopted -- it produces the result he likes with regard to carriers prioritizing one website over another or one application over another regardless of actual user preferences. So why do I accuse Rep. Terry and Rep. Walden of hypocrisy for opposing ITU jurisdiction over Internet traffic while still pushing for the same anti-network neutrality outcome under consideration at the ITU? Glad you asked! As it happened, Rep. Terry made just such a flawed and unsupported assertion in the opposite direction. That is to say, Rep. Terry asserted that "there is a certain level of hypocrisy" for organizations that supported the FCC's net neutrality rules (such as PK) to oppose ITU "regulation of the internet."

Denials Over Google Street View

Google released a trove of documents related to a federal investigation of its Street View mapping project. Although the project was intended to photograph the world’s streets, from 2007 to 2010 Google gathered unencrypted Internet data from wireless networks, including the content of private communications, as its specially equipped cars passed through neighborhoods. Among the documents released are sworn declarations by nine people — their names and titles redacted but most of whom appear to be Google engineers — who said they were not aware of the data collection either because it was not part of their job or they did not review the project documentation, even when it was provided to them. Also, Google confirmed that the Information Commissioner’s Office in Britain had reopened its investigation of the Street View project and had asked the company for additional information about the data it collected there.

Skout, a Flirting App, Bans Minors

In the latest cautionary tale of the risks of using social networks to connect with strangers, three men have been accused of raping children they met using a mobile app designed for flirting between adults.

The rape charges startled managers of Skout, the social networking app, because they thought they had adequate safeguards in place. It took three years for the start-up to find a promising business model. After switching from a Foursquare-like location check-in service to a flirting app that connects people with strangers nearby, the company was attracting millions of new users a month. The company started a separate, more protected, service for 13- to 17-year-olds last year after noticing that minors had gained access to the app.

New Orleans Struggles With Latest Storm, Newspaper Layoffs

It is one thing to find out that the print edition of the paper will disappear four days a week, as the owners of The Times-Picayune announced in May. But it is another thing to find out that so many familiar names — people that the city went through a flood with — may be gone, too.

In New Orleans and across the state of Alabama, as part of a basic restructuring of the news business at four papers owned by Advance Publications, scores of employees walked into one-on-one meetings and walked out 10 minutes later with severance packages. They included advertising employees, copy editors, press operators, crime reporters, photographers and graphic artists. The Web site al.com, the online site for The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times and The Mobile Press-Register, reported that 400 employees in Alabama would “experience an employment loss.” The Birmingham News had a newsroom of 102 going into June 12; by the end of the day 61 were gone. The Times-Picayune laid off more than 200 people, or nearly a third of its overall staff.

US Penalizes Online Company in Sale of Personal Data

The Federal Trade Commission assessed an $800,000 penalty against Spokeo, a data collector that the FTC said violated federal law by compiling and selling people’s personal information for use by potential employers in screening job applicants. The action is the FTC’s first case addressing the sale of Internet and social media data for use in employment screening.

Spokeo, of Pasadena (CA), agreed to settle the civil charges without admitting that they were true. The trade commission said that Spokeo violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by marketing its consumer profiles without making sure that they would be used for legal purposes, failing to ensure their accuracy and neglecting to tell consumers of its own responsibilities under federal law.

The FTC also charged that Spokeo created fake endorsements of its service and posted those comments on news and technology Web sites and blogs. The commission said the comments were made up by Spokeo’s own employees.

After Long Resistance, Pynchon Allows Novels to Be Sold as E-Books

Thomas Pynchon was one of the last great holdouts: the rare writer who had refused to allow his work to be sold in e-book format. Now he’s changed his mind.

Pynchon, the author of “The Crying of Lot 49,” “Gravity’s Rainbow” and “V.,” has struck a deal with the Penguin Press to publish his entire backlist in digital form. The announcement is another step toward the ubiquity of the e-book, even for authors who stubbornly resisted.

Lawmakers Press Huawei, ZTE Amid Probe About Possible Threats to Security

Lawmakers investigating spying threats from China are pressing two Chinese telecommunications firms active in US markets for details about their relationship with the Chinese government and with US companies.

In letters sent to Huawei Technologies and ZTE, the top lawmakers on the House intelligence committee outlined concerns about the companies' ties with the Chinese government, including the role of a "party committee" at Huawei. The lawmakers also asked about Huawei's relationships with five U.S. consulting firms and requested an expansive collection of documents, including the contracts between the firms and Huawei as well as the results of the firms' consulting work for Huawei. Those firms include International Business Machines, Accenture, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Additional questions address work the two companies have done in Iran and their funding arrangements with the Chinese government. The requests, from Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), provide an initial review of topics under investigation by the committee, which launched a probe late last year into possible threats posed to US national security by Chinese telecommunications firms seeking to do business in the US.

CBS, ABC Win Higher Rates

CBS and ABC completed their ad-sales negotiations for the coming TV season, winning higher ad rates in what is proving to be a lackluster market.

CBS got roughly $2.7 billion in ad commitments. The total was barely higher than last year, when advertisers agreed to spend about $2.65 billion on the network, according to Barclays Capital. Advertisers committed about $2.5 billion to ABC, about the same as what the network took in last year. CBS sold less of its inventory than last year. That means that this year's slight increase in total commitments came from higher prices for ad time. Typically the broadcast networks sell about 80% of their prime-time inventory during the annual mating dance with advertisers known as the upfront market. Networks sell the rest of their inventory in the "scatter" market, where ad time is bought closer to the air date. Scatter prices can often be higher than upfront prices because the supply of available spots dwindles. CBS and ABC became the first major networks to wrap up their ad talks, following the CW, owned by CBS and Time Warner, which finished last week.

AT&T Wants to Help More Smartphone Owners Divide Their Business and Personal Lives

AT&T is expanding a service called Toggle that allows smartphones to divide into work and personal components.

The paid service allows workers to use all of their personal apps without interference from their employer, while giving companies the ability to have a portion of the cell phone to provide secure access to work e-mail and corporate applications. If an employee leaves, companies can delete just the work portion. The updated Toggle is designed for both Android and Apple’s iOS, with support for BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone planned for before the end of the year.

Tin Pan Valley: The Coming Shakeout for App Makers

They were 20-somethings emboldened by new technology. If they were shrewd, they just might get rich. These inventors and wheedlers, dreamers and hucksters, were making the all-powerful software apps of their day: popular songs, sold then as widely distributed sheet music and phonograph records. They even had something of an addictive "Angry Birds" app back then: Irving Berlin. More than a century from the birth of the modern music industry -- which coalesced around a few Manhattan blocks known as Tin Pan Alley -- a new generation of entrepreneurs has become entranced by the possibilities of software apps. Consumers have downloaded 30 billion iPhone and iPad apps to date, and Apple alone has already paid out $5 billion to these developers. It's all growing very, very fast. Much separates the Sousa era from our Shazam moment. And yet the two somehow belong together, a prelude and coda in the clanging symphony of markets in action.

Benton

Search