September 2012

Anti-Muslim film puts Christian TV in global spotlight

The Way satellite TV channel creates evangelical Christian programming that beams across the Arabic-speaking world. Until recently, the business was so anonymous that even city officials didn't know the television studio was operating there. But that all changed a few weeks ago, when The Way was revealed as a key filming location for "Innocence of Muslims," whose YouTube trailer has sparked ongoing violent anti-American protests in dozens of cities throughout the Middle East and beyond.

The anti-Islam film has shed light on The Way and other U.S.-based, Arabic-language satellite TV stations whose programming is aimed at converting Muslims to Christianity. Though little noticed in the English-speaking world, the stations' programming had been controversial among Middle Eastern Christians and Muslims — both in the U.S. and abroad — long before the low-budget movie popularized their message.

Social media have big debate plans

The stars of next month’s political debates will be the quartet of candidates taking the stage. But just about every social media outlet is planning to play newfangled supporting roles.

An unlikely triumvirate — Yahoo, AOL and YouTube — is working with the Commission on Presidential Debates to launch “The Voice Of,” depots on each service for people to watch the debates live and exchange views. "The 2012 debates can be the foundation for a season of conversation, and the Internet initiative will provide unprecedented access for citizens to participate in that conversation," said CPD Co-Chairmen Michael McCurry and Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. A counter will appear indicating the combined number of viewers. For example, if 100,000 people are watching, the headline on the sites will read “The Voice Of 100,000.”

Google executive's arrest in Brazil highlights country's 'outdated' Internet laws

The arrest of a top Google executive is reviving a debate about Brazilian laws that hold services such as YouTube responsible for the videos posted on them, making the country a hotbed of attempts to stifle digital content.

Legal experts said that Google violated a judge's order to take down videos on its YouTube subsidiary that target Brazilian political candidates -- and that the judge was completely within the law in issuing the arrest warrant. But they said the arrest of Fabio Jose Silva Coelho, the head of Google's Brazil operations, underscores the need to modernize laws that treat offensive material on the Internet like material that is carried by newspapers, television and radio, holding platforms such as Google responsible for user-provided content. Brazil’s strict electoral laws limit what critics can say on television, radio and the Internet about candidates for office. On several occasions in recent years, media outlets have faced stiff fines for breaking the laws, but few if any officials were arrested. Google's alleged infractions, however, are more widespread, simply because of its omnipresence. Ahead of municipal elections in Brazil next month, Google has received requests in more than 20 states to remove videos that allegedly violate those restrictions.

Sen Mikulski joins chorus calling for cybersecurity executive order

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is urging President Barack Obama to issue an executive order on cybersecurity, saying the country can't wait for Congress to act.

Sen Mikulski is one of the co-sponsors of the Cybersecurity Act, which failed to attract enough Republican support to clear the Senate last month. "I remain a strong advocate for the bill and hope that it will one day be passed by the Senate," she wrote in a letter sent last week. "However, the need for better protection of our nation’s critical infrastructure cannot wait for Senate procedures and politics to work themselves out — we must act now to safeguard our country from potentially devastating attacks to our power grid, financial systems and other vital infrastructure."

Connecticut Congressfolk Ask FCC to Protect Broadcasters

Add members of the Connecticut congressional delegation led by Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to those asking the FCC to protect over-the-air TV service as it prepares to release its notice of proposed rulemaking Friday (Sept. 28) on spectrum incentive auctions. In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, the legislators point to the severe storms that hit the state last year that, in some cases, put cable, Internet and cellphone service providers out of the picture, while broadcasters remained up and providing critical emergency response information.

Advertisers Push For Do Not Sell Internet Registry

As the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that manages the address system on the Internet, gets ready to flood the Web with hundreds of new top level domain names, companies with brands to protect are increasingly worried that it's going to cost them millions of dollars in defensive registrations at the second level. Warning that the ICANN doesn't have an adequate system to protect brand names on the Internet, the Association of National Advertisers appealed once again to the Department of Commerce to put pressure on ICANN at its upcoming board meeting next month in Toronto to adopt stronger trademark protection mechanisms, like a Do Not Sell registry list.

215 Million Active Web Users, Tech Sites Up Visits

By most measures, the Web has never been a more vibrant place for communication, content consumption and commerce. Indeed, a record 278 million U.S. consumers had Internet access as of last month, according to new estimates from Nielsen. Among those connected consumers, about 215 million were actually active online -- spending nearly 29 hours on average browsing the Web.

More Declines Predicted For Newspapers

All the trend lines for newspaper advertising are pointing down, and the latest forecast from eMarketer does nothing to dispel this gloomy picture.

According to the research firm’s most recent report, total ad revenues for newspapers will decline from $22.5 billion in 2012 to $21.5 billion in 2013, $21 billion in 2014, $20.63 billion in 2015, and $20.4 billion in 2016, for a 9.5% drop over the next four years. The drop is due to continuing declines in print advertising, which eMarketer sees falling steadily from $19.1 billion this year to $16.4 billion in 2016 -- a 14.7% drop.

Introducing Facebook Gifts

Now you can give real gifts to your friends on Facebook using Gifts. Choose a gift, attach a card and send. You can post your gift to your friend's timeline or send it privately. Your friend can then unwrap a preview of the gift and it will show up on their doorstep a few days later. You can pay right away or add your payment details later. Your friend provides their address. To make sure they love the gift, they can choose the color, size or flavor that they want, or even exchange it for something else of equal value. There are hundreds of gifts with more added every day: cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, a stuffed animal from Gund, or a digital gift card from Starbucks.

Microsoft: Lack of tech workers approaching 'genuine crisis'

Microsoft unveiled a lobbying push to produce more applicants with the skills to fill technology and engineering jobs. The proposal would boost visas for high-skilled foreign workers and invest millions of dollars in federal funding for education.

Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel and executive vice president, said at a press briefing that the lack of qualified job applicants is "approaching the dimensions of a genuine crisis" for tech companies. He said Microsoft has 3,400 open jobs for researchers, developers and engineers — an increase of 34 percent over last year. "We fear jobs will start to migrate to other countries," Smith said, adding that other countries are putting a higher priority than the United States on preparing students for high-skill jobs.

Benton

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