October 2012

Clearwire May Delay Network Buildout as Comcast Converts Stake

Clearwire warned it might delay the buildout of its next-generation network, while another major investor may be heading for the door.

Comcast has converted its holding in the struggling mobile-broadband provider into commonly traded shares, but it hasn't yet indicated whether it plans to sell the 6% stake, according to a regulatory filing. Other investors -- such as Time Warner Cable and Google -- already have sold off their stakes in Clearwire, which is seeking partnerships or asset sales to raise cash amid plans to build a wireless network using LTE technology. Network partner Sprint Nextel remains its biggest shareholder by far. In the filing, Clearwire also said it is evaluating its next-generation network plans in order to align spending with expected revenue, and "may elect to delay a portion of our deployment schedule accordingly."

Knight Foundation Donating $3 Million to Connect2Compete

Connect2Compete (C2C), the cable operator-backed public-private partnership for broadband deployment and adoption to low-income households, is getting a $3 million infusion from the Knight Foundation.

C2C was launched by the FCC last November, expanding on Comcast's Internet Essentials model of providing low-cost broadband -- $9.95 a month -- digital literacy education and a low-cost computer to every home with a school-age child who qualifies for the nation's free-lunch program. C2C had a three-year goal of raising $20 million to help provide those computers, access and training, and is now over a third of the way there including a $3 million donation from the foundation of Mexican telecommunications entrepreneur Carlos Slim in May. The Slim donation is to help fund a digital literacy ad campaign in conjunction with the Ad Council, which produces and distributes PSAs by putting together donated creative with donated ad time from broadcasters, cable operators and others. "Low-income and minority Americans disproportionately find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide - excluded from the $8 trillion digital economy and all of its benefits. So it is extremely gratifying to have the long-term support of the Knight Foundation to bridge that divide," said C2C CEO Zach Leverenz.

US high-tech companies ramping up exports: survey

Most U.S. high-tech companies expect to export more cell phones, tablets and other electronics over the next two years to growing middle-class populations in developing nations, citing free trade pacts and rising labor costs abroad, a survey found.

About 85 percent of U.S. high-tech executives polled said the Obama Administration was somewhat or very likely to meet its goal of doubling exports by 2015. Just 40 percent of executives were as optimistic two years ago after the export target was set. The third annual survey was conducted by IDC Manufacturing Insights for United Parcel Service, the world's largest package delivery company.

Advertisers to FTC: We're Not Going Back on 'Do Not Track'

Advertisers are dismissing charges that they are somehow backing off their commitment made last February to honor a uniform browser feature that would give consumers the choice to opt-out of ad tracking on the Internet. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz said that advertisers were exploiting a loophole in the definition of “Do Not Track” to allow tracking for market research and product development. But nothing could be further from the truth, shot back Stu Ingis, a partner with Venable, who represents the Digital Advertising Alliance. “It’s utter nonsense,” he told AdWeek. So exactly what did the advertising community agree to when it stood shoulder to shoulder on the podium during the release of the FTC’s final privacy report with Leibowitz and other White House administration officials?

FTC Charges Artist Arena With Violating Kids' Online Privacy

The Federal Trade Commission filed suit against Warner Music’s Artist Arena -- which operates fan sites for music artists such as Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and Rihanna -- for violating the online privacy of 100,000 children under the age of 13. Filed in the federal district court for the southern district of New York, the FTC is asking for a $1 million penalty plus a civil injunction against Artist Arena. According to the FTC’s complaint, the fan sites collected a host of personal information from children, including their birth date and email addresses, and gave them access to the site. Children were then asked to provide even more personal information before the site obtained parental consent as required under the Children’s Online Privacy Act.

Innovation and Social Change for Girls and Women: Bridging the Gender and Technology Divide

[Commentary] Women are estimated to account for just 25 percent or less of Internet users in Africa, 22 percent in Asia, 38 percent in Latin America, and a mere 6 percent in the Middle East. Addressing this divide is part of Intel’s core business objectives and our strategic corporate vision to, “Connect and enrich the lives of every person on earth” using technology.

Economic empowerment and education are two key drivers of innovation as well as girls’ and women’s advancement. With our partners, Intel provides educational programs, out of school learning opportunities, technology access, entrepreneurship training, and scholarships to empower women and girls and enable them to fully engage in the 21st century economy. When women receive training in digital literacy, entrepreneurship, and business skills, they can elevate themselves professionally and break through the challenges they face. Creating an enabling environment, driving research to assess the gender gap, spreading awareness, supporting programs to equip girls and women with technology tools, and innovative partnerships are all integral elements to bridging this gender and technology divide.

[Renee Kuriyan is Director of Social Impact, Corporate Responsibility Office, Intel Corporation]

The Next Big Battle in Internet Policy

[Commentary] For two years, network neutrality, the nation’s most high-profile and contentious Internet policy conflict has taken a backseat to other debates—privacy investigations by the Federal Trade Commission, cybersecurity orders from the White House, proposed copyright legislation like SOPA and PIPA, software patents in courts, and censorship abroad. After nearly a decade of (rarely productive) debate, net neutrality—restrictions on Internet service providers to ensure consumers experience freedom online—has rarely been in the news since early 2011. But that quiet won’t last much longer. We have merely been in an extended intermission, and soon we will watch the third act in this play unfold. At stake is access to the mobile Internet on the handhelds and tablets in our pockets—as well as access by the chips increasingly embedded in our clothes, toasters, and heart monitors.

Act I: Dial-up, from Internet’s birth to circa 2005
Act II: High-Speed Broadband, 2005-2010
Act III: Mobile and Everything Else, 2012-?

[Ammori is a Bernard L. Schwartz fellow at the New America Foundation and a visiting scholar at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet Society]

Should TV Stations Refuse To Air Political Ads That Make False Claims?

If a television or radio station determines that a political ad is false, should it refuse to run the ad?

That's exactly what the nonpartisan group Free Press is calling on stations to do. "They certainly could reject some of them," said Matt Wood, the group's policy director. At the very least, they could do more fact checking, he said. Free Press's new report, Left in the Dark, analyzes political ads in several swing-state markets: Charlotte (NC); Cleveland; Las Vegas; Milwaukee; and Tampa (FL). It says viewers are seeing more political ads than ever before, but television stations only rarely fact check any of the ads. And even when television stations conduct fact checks, that story is overwhelmed by a flood of TV ads. In Denver, there was one minute of fact checking for every 162 minutes of campaign ads.

Changes to the way we identify Internet users

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has been gathering national-level data on Americans’ internet use for more than 12 years. As the nature of internet use has changed over time, we have adapted our question wording to reflect new behaviors. In our surveys this summer, we added a question about mobile internet connectivity to help us capture internet users who may access the internet on mobile devices. Find out more about these changes in this explanation.

The real problem with Apple’s maps isn’t the maps; it’s Apple’s whole strategy

Apple’s MapGate problem—in which millions of frustrated customers discovered that the maps app on Apple’s iPhone 5 can hardly identify major landmarks, much less give directions—isn’t just a glitch. It’s a symptom of the fact that the company made a substantially different bet on the future from Google, whose maps app came with previous versions of the iPhone. The bet revolves around cloud computing, the use of massive data-processing centers to which other computers can connect over the internet. As management consultant Kontra (and yes, that’s the only public-facing name he goes by) notes on his blog, Apple has never created a heavyweight cloud-based system, unlike all of its rivals.

Benton

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