July 2012

Some groups may be hoping to use their Internet freedom declarations to attract to their causes some of the millions of people who participated in the protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). But converting the enthusiasm for Internet freedom into specific policy goals may prove difficult because of how differently people understand what “freedom” means.

Conservatives, for example, decry network neutrality as a government takeover of the Internet, but liberals say the regulations are necessary to protect the openness of the Internet from manipulation by Internet service providers. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and his son, freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), declared their support for an Internet freedom manifesto from the Campaign for Liberty. The manifesto backed by Ron and Rand Paul accuses liberals of distorting the concept of liberty. “Internet collectivists are clever,” the document reads. “They are masters at hijacking the language of freedom and liberty to disingenuously push for more centralized control. 'Openness' means government control of privately owned infrastructure. 'Net neutrality' means government acting as arbiter and enforcer of what it deems to be 'neutral'.”

As top executives pack their blue jeans for this week's annual getaway in Sun Valley, Idaho, times remain tough for many old-media moguls—and even the Internet wunderkinds have seen brighter days.

Investment bank Allen & Co.'s media and technology conference, which begins July 10, features several days of panels, dinners and cocktails where business heavyweights and financiers share ideas. Attendees aren't given schedules until they arrive, but the buzz is likely to center on lingering business challenges facing traditional television as well as Wall Street's frustration with new-media hotshots Facebook and Zynga. Once dominated by traditional media companies, Silicon Valley executives have become fixtures at the annual gathering in recent years as technology companies played a bigger role in the broader media sector. While that shift has put traditional media on the defensive, some tech companies have recently hit a few bumps—an issue likely to come up this week.

Overly aggressive ad networks — which can change users’ phone settings, send notifications and/or covertly access personally identifiable information — are present in five percent of free apps, according to new research by mobile security company Lookout.

Lookout estimates that mobile apps with this kind of privacy-violating adware have been downloaded at least 80 million times, mostly on Android devices. The alleged bad actor ad networks — which include leadbolt, moolah media, appenda and IZP — are most common in personalization apps, to change phone wallpaper or make puzzles, Lookout found.

[Commentary] On July 4, 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into a small cabin near Walden Pond in Massachusetts. He used the next two years to develop “Walden,” a book that contemplates the promise of nature and the perils of progress. If Thoreau were to move to Walden today, would he bring the Internet with him? At first glance, that idea seems silly. Thoreau is, after all, one of the world’s most celebrated skeptics of technological innovation, and his barbs about advances in speedy communications and commerce are legendary.

But there’s a different side to Thoreau’s relationship with technology that’s also worth remembering, since it says so much about our continuing struggle to strike the right balance between individual serenity and an interconnected planet. Ralph Waldo Emerson revealed this aspect of Thoreau in a remembrance after Thoreau’s death. Thoreau, Emerson recalled, went to the Harvard University Library to get some books. The librarian refused to lend them, as did the university president, mentioning that the collection was available only to current students, certain alumni, and residents who lived within 10 miles of campus. Apparently, the management didn’t want treasured volumes wandering too far. But Thoreau, hitting upon a clever argument, noted that the advent of the railroad “had destroyed the old scale of distances,” presumably meaning that books could now travel farther, and more safely, than they once did. By simply following the old rules, Thoreau contended, the library had compromised its mission.