June 11, 2012 (Facebook Holds a Vote and Turnout is Low)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2012
Two events today -- A Technology Town Hall Roundtable in Santa Clara and The Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge in Cambridge http://benton.org/calendar/2012-06-11/
And here’s a peak at the rest of the week http://benton.org/calendar/2012-06-10--P1W/
CHILDREN & MEDIA
Children Now Asks FCC to Put Teeth in Tentative Kids Ad Conclusions
PRIVACY
Facebook Holds a Vote and Turnout is Low
Wising Up to Facebook - editorial
TELEVISION/RADIO
Extending Viewability Would Aid TV Diversity - editorial
For HBO, Still Beholden to a Cable Company
TV Content Ratings System Set to Expand to Web
Radio Royalty Deal Offers Hope for Industrywide Pact
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Did Our Public Airwaves Win It for Walker? - op-ed
Immigration, cloud form as tech issues for economy
Obama’s data advantage
At Meeting of Left’s Online Activists, Weighing Impact of Attack Ads [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Spectrum and the Wireless Revolution - op-ed
Spectrum-Sharing Agreements With Mexico - press release
Apple Combats Google-Microsoft-Facebook Troika In App Race [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Tribune bankruptcy judge says he'll rule by July
If the Broadcast/Newspaper Cross-Ownership Rule Falls, Will It Make a Sound? - analysis
KUSF sale completed, FCC probe ends
Newspaper as Business Pulpit
LABOR
Thousands of AT&T workers stage a walkout in California, Nevada
TELECOM
Special Access Fight Brewing
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Olympic Games are Just the Beginning for Cyberwarfare - analysis
Computer attack on Iran nuclear program adds urgency to cybersecurity efforts
Digital Seniors - research
Broadband network expansion set for Dayton, other Ohio cities [links to web]
GOP governors bolster online sales tax push [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Attorney General Holder Assigns Prosecutors To Leaks Probe
Congress' war on leaks - editorial
POLICYMAKERS
Commerce Secretary John Bryson accused in hit-and-run crashes
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Swiss Court Orders Modifications to Google Street View
EU Antitrust Chief Sets the Clock on Google Talks
Apple to Pay Millions for Australian 4G iPad Debacle
Transforming a fixed-line incumbent: An interview with Telekom Malaysia’s CTIO [links to web]
Google Fights Back in China - editorial
EU Officials Try to Clarify Privacy Rules for the Web
Brown blasts Murdoch papers at Leveson [links to web]
Swedes’ Twitter Voice: Anyone, Saying (Blush) Almost Anything [links to web]
CHILDREN & MEDIA
PUTTING TEETH TO KIDS AD CONCLUSIONS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Children Now met with a top aide to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and others this week to press the FCC to take a stand against imbedded advertising and product placement in children's programming. According to an ex parte filing by the group, Jeff McIntyre, director of national media policy for Children Now, and the group’s attorneys met with Genachowski senior counselor Josh Gottheimer and several bureau staffers. In addition to asking the FCC to explicitly ban interactive kids advertising, they also said the FCC should "carefully review whether broadcast licensees and cable operators are complying with the requirements of the Children's Television Act (CTA)" in terms of commercial limits (cable) and educational programming (broadcast TV). The FCC tentatively concluded back in 2004 that children's TV shows should not have interactive links to advertising unless parents have opted into such interactivity. At the time, the commission said it would be premature to make that tentative conclusion into a rule because there was not much direct connectivity between TV and the 'net. Children Now argues that with programming being offered on multiple platforms, it is time for the FCC to get ahead of the curve -- the group concedes that it is "not aware" of any commercial interactivity in any kids programming. But they argue it is just a matter of time given burgeoning interactivity elsewhere. "In the absence of clear and enforceable restrictions, children's programmers are likely to start using many of the interactive marketing techniques now being used in programs intended for teen or general audiences," they told the FCC.
benton.org/node/125364 | Broadcasting&Cable
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PRIVACY
LOW TURNOUT FOR FACEBOOK VOTE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Somini Sengupta]
It has more than 900 million people. It has its own currency. And this month, for the first time, the digital republic known as Facebook held elections of a sort: it offered users a chance to vote on the way the site is governed, including how the company deploys its users’ data. Turnout was spectacularly bad in the digital republic that the writer Rebecca Mackinnon has dubbed Facebookistan. Fewer than 350,000 Facebook users voted, or under four percent. “Given these efforts and the subsequent turnout,” Elliot Schrage, its vice president of communications and public policy, wrote on the site, “We plan to review this process to determine how to maximize our ability to promote user engagement and participation in our site governance process in the future.”
benton.org/node/125371 | New York Times | ars technica
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WISING UP TO FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Bill Keller]
[Commentary] What’s the difference, I asked a tech-writer friend, between the billionaire media mogul Mark Zuckerberg and the billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch? When Rupert invades your privacy, my friend e-mailed back, it’s against the law. When Mark does, it’s the future. There is truth in that riposte: we deplore the violations exposed in the phone-hacking scandal at Murdoch’s British tabloids, while we surrender our privacy on a far grander scale to Facebook and call it “community.” Our love of Facebook has been a submissive love. But now, not so much. In recent weeks it seems the world has begun to turn a jaundiced eye on this global megaplatform. While that may not please Facebook’s executives, it is a good thing for the rest of us — and maybe for the future of social media, too.
benton.org/node/125410 | New York Times
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TELEVISION/RADIO
EXTENDING VIEWABILITY RULE
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Harry Jessell]
[Commentary] A coalition of broadcasters is working to extend the Federal Communications Commission rule that requires cable operators to carry must-carry signals in an analog format so viewers with old TV sets can continue to watch them. Many affected must-carry stations provide services that are appreciated by narrow segments of the America public. In other words, they provide diversity in programming — one of the pillars of FCC policy. By letting the rule expire, the FCC would unnecessarily hurt the weakest stations, diminish their value and threaten the diversity they bring to the public.
benton.org/node/125363 | TVNewsCheck
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HBO GO
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nick Bilton]
Only HBO cable TV subscribers can watch HBO content on HBO Go. I asked friends who have also cut the cord how they watched the second season. All of them said, in the flawed logic of a generation used to getting what it wants, when it wants it, thanks to technology, that they had no choice but to steal it. Not because they don’t want to pay for it, but because HBO Go isn’t an option. It turns out they are not alone. There’s a Web site called “Take My Money, HBO!” where people who wish they could pay to watch just HBO shows name their price. Jake Caputo, a designer who started the site on Tuesday, said 160,000 people visited in the first three days. The average price was $12. The only way to stop piracy, said Ernesto Van Der Sar, editor of Torrent Freak, a site that reports on copyright and piracy news, “is by making legal content easier to access and offering it at a reasonable price.” Like $12 a month? If HBO made its streaming service available to consumers who don’t have cable, and just one million people were willing to pay, that’s an extra $12 million a month in revenue. Cable subscribers pay about $18 a month for HBO, on top of basic cable and other cable television packages. HBO receives about $8 of that, and cable companies take in the rest. So, in my way of thinking, HBO is forgoing $12 of revenue from every person who would never get cable and $4 from those who would give up cable and get just HBO. Yet Eric Kessler, co-president of HBO, must have a different calculator in his office. “At this time, the economics simply don’t support a stand-alone HBO Go,” he said. “We make our programming, including ‘Game of Thrones,’ available on numerous platforms for our subscribers and then on DVD and electronic sell-through for those choosing not to subscribe to a TV provider.”
benton.org/node/125405 | New York Times
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TV RATINGS TO WEB
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
The black labels that tell families what to expect from network television shows will start to appear on the Internet streams of those shows, too. The expansion of the TV content ratings system is expected to be announced by the major broadcast networks on June 11. The ratings will be included in all episodic streams on Web sites like ABC.com and Fox.com by December, according to people with knowledge of the plan, who insisted on anonymity because it had not yet been made public. The announcement is an illustration of the ways that television networks are having to adapt to the Internet, where there has been a surge in the streaming of TV shows. Some sites, notably Hulu, already incorporate the content ratings into their online streams.
benton.org/node/125403 | New York Times
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RADIO ROYALTIES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ben Sisario]
For decades, the recording industry has lobbied Congress to change how radio stations pay royalties. The broadcasters have lobbied just as hard to preserve the status quo, making an agreement look all but impossible. But last week, a groundbreaking deal by Clear Channel Communications, the country’s largest radio broadcaster, raised the possibility of a solution to the standoff through marketplace negotiations instead of political head-butting. It also put the spotlight on how federal copyright law keeps up with digital media. The agreement, between Clear Channel and Big Machine, the record label behind Taylor Swift and other country acts, will for the first time allow a label to collect a royalty when its songs are played on the radio. In the United States — and almost nowhere else — radio companies pay only songwriters and music publishers, not record companies. The system, dating back almost a century, is based on the idea that radio play has enough promotional value for performers that they do not also need to be paid royalties. The arrangement has long irritated labels and performers. But with record sales plummeting over the last decade, the labels have pursued royalties more urgently as an additional revenue stream. So why did Clear Channel change its position, breaking ranks with its powerful lobbying group, the National Association of Broadcasters? The answer apparently has nothing to do with politics; with Republicans expected to retain control of the House in this year’s elections, few in the industry predict a new Washington battle is likely. Rather, it has to do with digital music, and Clear Channel’s desire to reshape its business in anticipation of rapid changes in the marketplace.
benton.org/node/125406 | New York Times
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
DID PUBLIC AIRWAVES WIN IT FOR WALKER?
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Sue Wilson]
[Commentary] Whatever questions remain about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's recall election, there is no question that his campaign was built on big money, the likes of which we've never seen in a gubernatorial campaign before. And where did all that money go? Right into thin air -- our air. And as owners of the air -- our public airwaves, to be precise -- there is plenty we can do to combat the corrosive effect of big money on our elections, by holding our partners in broadcasting, local TV and radio stations, accountable to the communities they serve. Citizens United, the Supreme Court ruling that the First Amendment prohibits government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions, is the reason huge amounts of money poured into the Walker camp from third parties like the billionaire Koch Brothers and others. So the Walker recall gave us the first glimpse at how the infamous Supreme Court ruling will affect campaigns for years to come unless something changes. There is a large and growing movement now from groups like Move to Amend, to amend the Constitution to alter the unlimited spending allowed by Citizens United. Such an effort, however, will take years to accomplish, if it ever happens at all. But what's not being talked about is where most of this money goes: about half of all campaign dollars go directly into our local radio and TV stations' wallets -- local broadcast stations which get licensed in the public/private partnership of broadcasting only if they "serve the public convenience, interest, and necessity."
benton.org/node/125396 | Huffington Post, The
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TECH ISSUES FOR ECONOMY
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Michelle Quinn]
The tech industry’s policy goals aren’t getting aired at the kitchen tables of Americans who worry about gas prices, unemployment and the housing market. But Silicon Valley is hoping President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will embrace policies this campaign season that tech companies say will help innovation and ultimately improve the economy. Executives and policy experts gathered here this week for the Tech Policy Summit said they want both candidates to back the industry’s top policy priorities — including visa reform for highly skilled workers, corporate tax reform and accelerating spectrum reallocation — with more than just lip service. “You’ll see the candidates get up there and pledge allegiance to innovation,” said David Tennenhouse, a partner at New Venture Partners. “This election is about jobs, jobs, jobs. We should think about, when we go ask for things, what plays into that agenda.” Tech industry leaders say job growth will come if firms are given more flexibility on a range of issues, such as transitioning to the cloud and hiring talented workers from other countries. High-skilled immigration reform is a priority for tech executives.
benton.org/node/125393 | Politico
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OBAMA’S DATA ADVANTAGE
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Lois Romano]
On the sixth floor of a sleek office building in Chicago, more than 150 techies are quietly peeling back the layers of your life. They know what you read and where you shop, what kind of work you do and who you count as friends. They also know who your mother voted for in the last election. The depth and breadth of the Obama campaign’s 2012 digital operation — from data mining to online organizing — reaches so far beyond anything politics has ever seen, experts maintain, that it could impact the outcome of a close presidential election. It makes the president’s much-heralded 2008 social media juggernaut — which raised half billion dollars and revolutionized politics — look like cavemen with stone tablets. “It’s all about the data this year and Obama has that. When a race is as close as this one promises to be, any small advantage could absolutely make the difference,” says Andrew Rasiej, a technology strategist and publisher of TechPresident. “More and more accurate data means more insight, more money, more message distribution, and more votes.” Adds Nicco Mele, a Harvard professor and social media guru: “The fabric of our public and political space is shifting. If the Obama campaign can combine its data efforts with the way people now live their lives online, a new kind of political engagement — and political persuasion — is possible.”
benton.org/node/125392 | Politico
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
SPECTRUM AND THE WIRELESS REVOLUTION
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Randall Stephenson]
[Commentary] The latest mobile devices depend on an unseen scarce resource: the radio waves, or spectrum, that transmit mobile data. The demand for mobile data is now roughly doubling every year. Meanwhile, the supply of spectrum supporting mobile devices has remained the same since 2008. That means we're in a race against time. The demand for spectrum will exceed supply by 2013, according to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) estimates. If that happens, the speed of the mobile revolution will slow down. Prices, download times and consumer frustration will all increase. And at a societal level we risk jeopardizing the future of our nation's vital mobile Internet infrastructure, which is generating jobs and investment on a scale well beyond the first Internet boom of the 1990s. If we are to meet our government's expressed goal of providing high-speed wireless services to 98% of all Americans by 2016, we need to better align national policies with national priorities. Three things need to happen:
Require spectrum holders to put the airwaves to work.
Quickly get spectrum where consumers need it most.
Establish a national model for the local approval process that's required when wireless carriers need to build new mobile infrastructure.
[Stephenson is chairman and CEO of AT&T]
benton.org/node/125411 | Wall Street Journal
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SPECTRUM-SHARING AGREEMENTS WITH MEXICO
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski participated in high-level discussions with U.S. and Mexican telecommunications officials at the State Department where the United States signed two Protocols with Mexico for sharing spectrum in the 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz bands along the U.S.-Mexican border. The signing of these documents marks the beginning of the final phase for rebanding in the 800 MHz band across the country. These actions will help support commercial broadband services and public safety mission-critical voice communications along the U.S.-Mexico border and throughout the United States. The United States and Mexico also signed a high-level expression of support, or “Joint Statement,” for continued coordination of spectrum along the border and cooperation on telecommunications policy issues as well as an ambitious work plan, or “Directory of Bilateral Issues,” for 2012-2014.
Specifically, the new 800 MHz Protocol: (1) allots band segments between the United States and Mexico, (2) specifies the technical parameters for operation on these band segments within 110 kilometers (68 miles) of the common border, and (3) creates a bi-national Task Force to support the transition of incumbent operators along the border to the new allotment plan.
The Protocol for 800 MHz replaces a previous agreement and paves the way for completion of 800 MHz rebanding by U.S. public safety and commercial licensees operating along the U.S.-Mexico border. The FCC ordered rebanding to alleviate interference to public safety licensees in the band caused by commercial cellular licensees. The new Protocol for the 1.9 GHz band allows Sprint Nextel Corporation to deploy CDMA service along the border with Mexico. Sprint obtained access to the 1.9 GHz band in 2004 as compensation for vacating its spectrum holding in the lower segment of the 800 MHz band in accordance with the rebanding project.
benton.org/node/125361 | Federal Communications Commission | Broadcasting&Cable
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OWNERSHIP
TRIBUNE BANKRUPTCY RULING IN JULY
[SOURCE: Crain’s Chicago Business, AUTHOR: Lynne Marek]
The judge overseeing Tribune Company's bankruptcy adjourned a hearing on the company's reorganization plan and said he'll issue a decision by July. With some of the parties in the case still haggling over some final language for the plan, Delaware Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Carey left open the possibility of a follow-up conference call on Monday if they can't resolve their differences and send him the final plan by next week. Still, he's expected to approve the Chicago-based media company's fourth amended bankruptcy plan and put the company on a path to exiting the 3½-year-old proceedings later this year.
benton.org/node/125352 | Crain’s Chicago Business | LATimes
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NEWSPAPER-BROADCAST CROSSOWNERSHIP RULE
[SOURCE: CommLawCenter, AUTHOR: Scott Flick]
[Commentary] While the perennial cliché is that the Federal Communications Commission is perpetually behind the curve in trying to keep up with new communications technologies, my experience has been that the FCC and its staff are pretty up to date on these developments. As a result, when we see a rule remain on the books after its usefulness has ended (or the discovery that it was never useful in the first place), it can usually be attributed to one of two possibilities: either fixing the rule hasn't risen high enough on the FCC's list of priorities to dedicate limited staff resources to the process (for example, modifying the FCC's full power television rules to eliminate the rules and references applicable only to analog TV), or political pressures are impeding the process. Rules that remain on the books because of a lack of staff resources tend to be addressed eventually. In contrast, rules that remain in place due to political pressures are well-nigh immortal. Recent "adaptations" make me wonder if we haven't reached the point where the broadcast/newspaper cross-ownership rule, which certainly had a reasonable purpose at one time, has reached the point where it can no longer be defended with a straight face. In particular, I am thinking of two recent events which suggest the rule has outlived its time. The first is the announcement last month by Media General that it is selling its newspapers to Berkshire Hathaway in order to concentrate on its broadcast and digital content delivery. When a company that actually does have both broadcast and newspaper interests does not find the combination sufficiently compelling to retain its newspaper operations, the premise of the rule--a fear of powerful broadcast/newspaper combinations dominating the market--appears misplaced. More interesting, however, is the recent announcement by Newhouse Newspapers that it will be scaling back its daily newspaper in New Orleans (the well-known Times-Picayune), as well as those in Mobile, Huntsville, and Birmingham, Alabama.
benton.org/node/125351 | CommLawCenter
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KUSF SALE COMPLETED
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Vivian Ho]
The multimillion-dollar sale of the University of San Francisco-owned classical music radio channel was finalized after more than a year of discussion when all parties in the transaction agreed to pay $50,000 each to end a Federal Communications Commission investigation. KUSF can now transfer its broadcast license to the nonprofit Classical Public Radio Network, a classical music station operated by the University of Southern California. The sale was announced in January 2011, with KDFC, the Bay Area's only classical music station, moving up the FM dial to 90.3 and booting out KUSF's student radio programming. The student radio station retained use of the KUSF letters, but is now accessible only online. Though the station will be owned by Classical Public Radio Network, which is owned by USC, the Bay Area will still have access to its programming at its 90.3 frequency, as well as to its relationship with the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Symphony. KDFC has been running programming at 90.3 since the sale announcement in January 2011.
benton.org/node/125366 | San Francisco Chronicle
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NEWSPAPER AS PULPIT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
[Commentary] There is a growing worry that the falling value and failing business models of many American newspapers could lead to a situation where moneyed interests buy papers and use them to prosecute a political and commercial agenda. That future appears to have arrived in San Diego, where The U-T San Diego, the daily newspaper bought by the local developer and hotelier Douglas F. Manchester, often seems like a brochure for his various interests. Public agencies that have not gotten the hint have found themselves investigated in the news pages of The U-T. A sports columnist who was skeptical of the plans found himself out of a job, and the newspaper has published front-page editorials and wraparound sections to promote political allies who share its agenda. According to several employees at the paper, a feature called “Making a Difference” has included flattering profiles of many of Manchester’s associates. The oddest part? Mr. Manchester and the chief executive, John T. Lynch, who also owns part of the paper, are completely open about their motives. “We make no apologies,” Lynch said. “We are doing what a newspaper ought to do, which is to take positions. We are very consistent — pro-conservative, pro-business, pro-military — and we are trying to make a newspaper that gets people excited about this city and its future.”
benton.org/node/125408 | New York Times
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LABOR
AT&T WALKOUT IN CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Sarno]
Thousands of AT&T workers in California and Nevada have walked off their jobs, the latest development in an acrimonious contract negotiation that has dragged on for months. AT&T landline workers in hundreds of locations gathered to protest what they saw as AT&T's unfair contract demands, which they say include "massive healthcare cost-shifting to workers and their families," as well as reductions in AT&T worker retirement security, according to the Communications Workers of America, the union to which the employees belong. The contract for 40,000 AT&T workers around the U.S. expired two months ago, and the company has since failed to reach an accord with the CWA. The CWA’s 9th district, which includes California and Nevada, covers 18,000 AT&T landline workers. Libby Sayre, a CWA spokeswoman, said that the actions did not amount to a full-blown worker strike, and were only likely to last through the day. Although the contract negotiations have been "excruciatingly slow and time-consuming," she said, "we'd much rather get a contract without a strike."
benton.org/node/125368 | Los Angeles Times
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TELECOM
SPECIAL ACCESS FIGHT
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
Industry stakeholders are lining up in support of or opposition to changes to special access price methodology proposed this week by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. Currently large incumbent carriers have considerable flexibility in how they price special access circuits, which are used by competitive carriers, wireless network operators, and enterprise customers as well as smaller incumbent carriers. But according to news reports, the FCC is considering new limitations on what the carriers can charge – or at least restricting the extent of carriers’ pricing flexibility. Competitive carriers have been particularly vocal in their opposition to today’s system and at least two competitive carrier organizations this week voiced partial support for Genachowski’s actions. “Pricing flexibility triggers have resulted in unreasonable rates and unjustifiable rate increases,” said The Broadband Coalition, a competitive coalition whose agenda includes special access reform, in a statement. “We applaud the FCC for taking this step and hope it leads to broader reforms in this area.” Comptel issued a similar statement. But opponents of special access reform, including AT&T Vice President of Federal Regulatory Bob Quinn, argued just the opposite.
benton.org/node/125356 | telecompetitor
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
CYBERWARFARE
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] On June 1, the New York Times reported on President Obama’s decision to accelerate cyberattacks begun by the Bush administration, attacks aimed at slowing the progress of Iran’s efforts to develop the ability to build nuclear weapons. The United States government only recently acknowledged developing cyberweapons, and it has never admitted using them. There have been reports of one-time attacks against personal computers used by members of Al Qaeda, and of contemplated attacks against the computers that run air defense systems, including during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-led air attack on Libya last year. But this effort, code named Olympic Games, was of an entirely different type and sophistication. It appears to be the first time the United States has repeatedly used cyberweapons to cripple another country’s infrastructure, achieving, with computer code, what until then could be accomplished only by bombing a country or sending in agents to plant explosives.
http://benton.org/node/125325
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CYBERSECURITY URGENCY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The revelation that the United States used a computer virus to damage Iranian nuclear facilities has added urgency to a push in Congress for cybersecurity legislation. Top administration officials, such as National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, have long argued that the nation is at risk of suffering a devastating cyber attack. "We now know why they were making those predictions," said Noah Shachtman, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor to Wired magazine. "They were talking about themselves—not what some outside opponent could do to us, but what we were doing to others." "The U.S. has basically endorsed the use of these things publicly, and that does change the game," Shachtman said. Paul Wolfowitz, a former Deputy Secretary of Defense under President Bush, said he hopes the news of the attack would "put some added urgency" on Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation. "Maybe it will raise awareness," Wolfowitz said. "I hope we don't have to wait for the cyber-equivalent of 9/11 before people realize that we're vulnerable."
benton.org/node/125400 | Hill, The
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DIGITAL SENIORS
[SOURCE: Forrester, AUTHOR: Gina Sverdlov]
Sixty percent of US Seniors are online — that’s more than 20 million online Seniors in the US. How are US Seniors using the Internet and technology? While they trail behind younger generations when it comes to device ownership and online usage, they integrate technology into their lives in ways that are relevant for them. For example, they use it as a way to connect with family and friends — 46% of US online Seniors send and receive photos by email, and just under half have a Facebook account.
benton.org/node/125354 | Forrester
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
INVESTIGATION OF LEAKS
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Eyder Peralta]
Attorney General Eric Holder said he was assigning two US attorneys to investigate possible leaks of classified information. Calls for an investigation into how sensitive national security details — including information about a secret terrorist kill list and about an intelligence operation that infiltrated al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula — were leaked to the media intensified this week. "Today, I assigned U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald C. Machen Jr. and U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein to lead criminal investigations into recent instances of possible unauthorized disclosures of classified information," AG Holder said in a statement. He added: "In carrying out their assignments, U.S. Attorneys Machen and Rosenstein are fully authorized to prosecute criminal violations discovered as a result of their investigations and matters related to those violations, consult with members of the Intelligence Community and follow all appropriate investigative leads within the Executive and Legislative branches of government." Earlier President Obama struck back at critics who accused the White House of leaking classified material for political gain. "The notion that my White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive," President Obama told reporters. "It's wrong."
benton.org/node/125349 | National Public Radio
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CONGRESS’ WAR ON LEAKS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] An angry Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate leaks he says are designed to portray President Barack Obama as a strong leader on national security issues. Without going that far, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says that recent leaks "endanger American lives and undermine America's national security." She is proposing, among other things, that Congress provide "additional authorities and resources … to identify and prosecute those who violate various federal laws and non-disclosure agreements by revealing highly classified information." Although she did not advocate prosecuting journalists, the senator probably spoke for many of her colleagues when she told CNN that part of the problem was that "we have an enormously smart constituency of journalists … who piece things together." So far most of the outcry has been directed at the administration, not the media, but in similar controversies in the past, critics have not been so discerning. So we would urge Congress — and the administration — not to criminalize the reporting of information that may have come into the possession of the media because a government official was indiscreet.
benton.org/node/125402 | Los Angeles Times
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POLICYMAKERS
SEC JOHN BRYSON
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Blankstein]
Authorities are investigating a series of traffic collisions in the San Gabriel Valley (CA) involving U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson, authorities said. Sec Bryson was found unconscious in his vehicle and has been hospitalized, officials said. Sec Bryson was driving a Lexus in the 400 block of South San Gabriel Boulevard shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday, when he allegedly rear-ended a Buick as it was waiting for a train to pass, according to a statement released by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and the San Gabriel Police Department. After briefly stopping to talk to the three men inside the Buick, Sec Bryson left the location in the Lexus and then struck the Buick a second time, authorities said. The men followed Bryson's car and called 911 to ask for police assistance. Sec Bryson continued to drive his Lexus into Rosemead, which is patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. There, he allegedly crashed into a second vehicle near the intersection of San Gabriel Boulevard and Hellman Avenue. There authorities found him alone and unconscious behind the wheel of his car.
benton.org/node/125389 | Los Angeles Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
SWISS STREET VIEW RULING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Kevin O’Brien, David Streitfeld]
Switzerland’s highest court upheld Google’s basic right to document residential street fronts with its Street View technology, but imposed some limitations on the kinds of images the company can take. The ruling leaves the service legally intact in Switzerland, which has some of the strictest privacy safeguards in the world. Swiss regulators and Google both said they were pleased with the decision. The Swiss ruling did not involve the collection of private Internet data but focused on the conditions for Street View cars to photograph the country’s streets. In its ruling, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, the Bundesgericht, said Google did not have to guarantee 100 percent blurring of the faces of pedestrians, auto license plates and other identifying markers captured by Google’s Street View cars; 99 percent would be acceptable. The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., says its technology blurs faces and license plates in 99 percent of cases. While the Swiss court sided with Google on the adequacy of its digital pixilation methods, the panel upheld several conditions demanded by the national regulator. Those conditions would require Google to lower the height of its Street View cameras so they would not peer over garden walls and hedges, to completely blur out sensitive facilities like women’s shelters, prisons, retirement homes and schools, and to advise communities in advance of scheduled tapings.
benton.org/node/125375 | New York Times
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GOOGLE-EU UPDATE
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Adam Mazmanian]
Google has until the beginning of next month to indicate to the European Union's top antitrust official that it is willing to negotiate remedies to allegations of anti-competitive business practices, or else face a formal complaint and possible fines. If negotiations don't yield an acceptable remedy, "formal proceedings will continue through the adoption of a Statement of Objections," said E.U. Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia, in a speech at a legal conference in St. Gallen, Switzerland. "I want to give the company the opportunity to offer remedy proposals that would avoid lengthy proceedings," Almunia said. "By early July, I expect to receive from Google concrete signs of their willingness to explore this route."
benton.org/node/125373 | National Journal
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APPLE TO SETTLE IN AUSTRALIA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Paczkowski]
Apple is facing a penalty of more than $2 million Australian for allegedly misleading consumers by promoting the 4G capabilities of the new iPad despite its incompatibility with Australia’s sole 4G network, run by Telstra. Apple agreed to pay A$2.25 million in fines and A$300,000 in legal fees to settle the case brought against it by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, though the presiding judge, Mordecai Bromberg of the Federal Court in Victoria, is unsure whether that’s a sufficient penalty. He has declined to approve the settlement until he’s told how many customers felt they’d been misled by the “iPad + 4G” branding Apple used in Australia, and learns more about the company’s finances.
benton.org/node/125369 | Wall Street Journal
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GOOGLE FIGHTS BACK IN CHINA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: L Gordon Crovitz]
[Commentary] Two giants on the world stage are battling over the future of information. One is an authoritarian regime suppressing access to modern technology. The other is an information company fighting back without support from its home country. The conflict between China and Google is shaping up as the first war of the digital era. Google recently launched a pair of counterattacks, last week informing Gmail account holders when "state-sponsored attackers" compromise their emails. Gmail users get this pop-up message: "Warning: We believe state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to compromise your account or computer. Protect yourself now." Users are told how to do so, including with a new login process. Governments that stifle information lose the benefit of the doubt with their own people. Even Beijing may not be able to suppress information forever. Chen Guangcheng, the blind legal activist who took refuge in the U.S. Embassy and was eventually allowed to come to the U.S., last week told the Council on Foreign Relations: "I think even over the last few years as the Information Age has developed so quickly, China's society has gotten to the era where if you don't want something known, you better not do it."
benton.org/node/125387 | Wall Street Journal
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EU PRIVACY RULES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sam Schechner]
European officials are mounting a new push to clarify -- and enforce -- rules involving small Internet files that can be used to track users, exposing the slow progress of Europe's plan to implement far-reaching privacy rules. Digital-privacy agencies from the European Union's member countries hashed out new recommendations late last week for how to apply European data-privacy laws to so-called cookies, the common Internet files that websites use to remember things about users. The cookies can also be used by central aggregators to track users' online behavior on the Web. The new guidelines, expected to be released as early as this week, regulators say, more clearly distinguish between relatively innocuous cookies that websites can deploy without users' permission, and those for which regulators want websites to get user consent. Likely to stay on the consent-needed list: the cookies that are used to track users' Web browsing in order to show the users targeted ads.
benton.org/node/125385 | Wall Street Journal
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