June 2012

Nations must talk to halt "cyber terrorism": Kaspersky

Eugene Kaspersky, whose lab discovered the Flame virus that has attacked computers in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East, said only a global effort could stop a new era of "cyber terrorism." "It's not cyber war, it's cyber terrorism and I'm afraid it's just the beginning of the game ... I'm afraid it will be the end of the world as we know it," Kaspersky told reporters at a cyber security conference in Tel Aviv. "I'm scared, believe me," he said.

Google Probe To Be Resolved In 2012, FTC Chairman Says

The Federal Trade Commission will resolve its antitrust investigation of Google “certainly by the end of the year,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. The FTC is “somewhere in the middle” of its probe of whether Google is abusing its dominance as operator of the world’s most popular search engine, Chairman Leibowitz said. Google disclosed on June 24 that the FTC had begun a review of its business practices. The FTC is focusing on whether Google unfairly ranks search results to favor its own businesses and increases advertising rates for competitors, people familiar with the investigation have said. The agency also is examining whether the company is using its control of the Android mobile operating system to discourage smartphone and device makers from using rivals’ applications.

Google Assembles Ad Tech Juggernaut

Google shot a flaming arrow across the entire LUMAscape chart in announcing the DoubleClick Digital Marketing platform. The combined product will roll out over the coming months and serve as an all-in-one for display advertisers. Through the DoubleClick Digital Marketing platform, advertisers can create a rich-media unit; manage direct, programmatic and search buys; and track campaigns’ performance. Of particular note, Google is rolling up Invite Media, the real-time bid management platform it acquired in 2010, into the DoubleClick Bid Manager.

FCC Finalizes June Meeting Agenda

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Wednesday, June 13, 2012. The FCC will consider:

An Order to modify the equipment authorization rules to increase the supply of grantee codes assigned to parties applying for equipment certification.
A Fourth Report and Order and Fifth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to encourage improved spectrum efficiency and greater use of the 4940- 4990 MHz (4.9 GHz) band.

House Appropriations Bill Would Bar FCC's Political Ad Rule

A House Appropriations subcommittee approved legislation that includes a provision that would bar the Federal Communications Commission from implementing a rule requiring television broadcasters to post online how much political candidates pay for television ads.

The language was included in the fiscal year 2013 appropriations bill approved by the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee. Specifically, the bill would bar the FCC from using any of its funds to implement the political ad order, which it approved in April. "The FCC order represents a real compliance cost to broadcasters," Subcommittee Chairwoman Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) said in a statement. "The information in the political file is already available to the public. Anyone who asks for it can get it. This is micromanagement by the FCC, and it leads to important questions about why recipients of campaign dollars are being held to a different standard than the spenders of campaign dollars. Furthermore, I can't support an approach to this issue that singles out television broadcasters but excepts radio, cable TV, satellite radio and TV, newspapers, direct mail, outdoor advertising and the Internet."

Free Press blasted the Appropriations Committee's move. "It's clear that the broadcast industry is pulling out all the stops to bury information about political ad spending on the public airwaves," Free Press Senior Policy Counsel Corie Wright said. "What's more appalling is that some elected officials are willing to help them do it."

Activist Shareholders Cry Foul Over Google's PAC

Northstar Asset Management, a Boston-based activist shareholder group, is urging Google shareholders to back a measure that would put the contribution plans for Google's political action committee NetPAC to an annual vote.

The firm, which holds about $3 million in Google shares, charges that such shareholder oversight is necessary because NetPAC is giving donations to candidates whose stated positions are "inconsistent" with Google's express values," Northstar founder and President Julie Goodridge said. Northstar cites NetPAC contributions to lawmakers including House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), as well as Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Bob Goodlatte (R-0VA), Greg Walden (R-OR), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It also lists votes in opposition to same-sex marriage, against tax incentives for renewable energy, and other legislation designed to regulate carbon emissions. There are no Democrats on Northstar's list.

FCC working with startups, researchers to accelerate mHealth

Trying to give the still nascent mHealth sector a motivational kick in the pants, the Federal Communications Commission has begun working directly with startups and universities to help bring new wireless telemedicine and healthcare technologies to market faster. The FCC convened an mHealth summit in Washington, D.C., bringing together not only some of the big gorillas of telemedicine — Philips, Medtronic and Qualcomm — but also several mHealth startups focusing on specific health applications: TheCarrot, MedApps, Telcare and WellDoc.

The FCC put them those companies in a room with the big regulatory agencies in healthcare: The Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the departments of Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs. The FCC then tasked the whole bunch to provide actionable recommendations on overcoming the technological obstacles and red tape preventing mobile data from revolutionizing the healthcare field. “We know there are barriers to harnessing this technology for the greater good — interoperability, reliability, connectivity, privacy, and security, just to name a few,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said. “Today, we’d like to hear from you on these and other barriers to rapid deployment and find ways to collaborate to help accelerate innovation in this sector.”

Mobile Advertising Hit $5.3 Billion In 2011

The Interactive Advertising Bureau earlier this year estimated U.S. mobile ad spending at $1.6 billion in 2011. Looking beyond U.S. borders, the IAB issued a new report estimating the global mobile advertising market at $5.3 billion, with a wide gap between developed and emerging regions.

Asia-Pacific, for example, represented 35.9% of worldwide mobile ad spend, North America, 31.4%, and Europe, 25.9%. That compares to Latin America, with just 3.5%, and the Middle East and Africa, at 3.2%. The study, conducted by the IAB’s Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence in the U.S., IAB Europe and research firm IHS Screen Digest, also broke out mobile advertising for each region by type: display, search and messaging. Across the board, search accounted for the largest share of mobile ad spending, typically at least double the amount of display for a given area. In North America, spending was more balanced, with search contributing $811 million, display hit $572 million and text message advertising, $295 million for a total of $1.68 billion.

Health IT is Driving Healthcare Consolidation

The cost and time involved in adopting electronic health records is playing a key role in physicians deciding to sell their medical practices to hospital systems, says the editor of Healthcare Technology Online.

The shift away from physician-owned practices to hospital-owned practices eventually will force changes in the EHR market, Ken Congdon wrote. With most EHR vendors and software geared toward independent practices or specialties, he says, “it becomes clear that most of these platforms won’t survive.” Two-thirds of all medical practices were physician-owned in 2005; less than 50 percent were physician-owned in 2009; and less than one-third will be physician-owned by 2015, Congdon wrote.

Deepening the Cybersecurity Bench

The Homeland Security Department announced that it is launching a new effort to develop and recruit the next generation of cybersecurity experts. At a meeting with industry and small business representatives at the White House, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said the Homeland Security Advisory Council is taking steps to improve the nation’s cyber workforce. The new task force, co-chaired by Jeff Moss, founder and director of the Black Hat and DefCon security conferences, and Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, will consider strategies that may include expanding DHS involvement in cyber competitions and university programs, enhancing public-private partnerships and working with interagency partners to develop an agile cybersecurity workforce governmentwide.

Benton

Search