December 2012

Joint defense measure seeks to disarm hackers

Lawmakers are poised to greenlight a defense bill that would add millions of dollars to federal cybersecurity programs while requiring contractors to inform the government in the event of a cyberattack.

The conference report on the House and Senate floors preserves notable increases to Pentagon programs meant to stave off foreign hackers and research new ways to defeat them. But the reconciled 2013 bill also includes new cybersecurity reporting and procurement rules that many in the tech industry are just now reviewing. he House and Senate are barreling before Christmas toward passage of the National Defense Authorization Act after lawmakers from both chambers huddled for weeks to reconcile significant differences between their bills. Many of the disputes have focused on thorny political matters like indefinite detention and not technology policy.

Netflix Facebook Sharing Bill Clears Senate, Waiting For Obama’s OK

The Senate passed a bill that would give Netflix the go-ahead to facilitate “frictionless sharing” of users’ viewing history with Facebook or other online services. The House passed the same legislation earlier in the week, which means it now just needs a signature from President Barack Obama. Facebook has pushing for the legislation, designed to update the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act, for more than a year.

Kids and digital media: removing the fears

[Commentary] Among 6-to-12-year-olds, the top wish in gifts is a mobile device – either a tablet computer or a smart phone. And the top two bestselling video games (names withheld on purpose) involve military shooting. Add these two together and parents may wonder how they can better safeguard their children from the head-spinning advances in digital devices and digital media. They are not alone.

The difficult part for regulators is to balance the protection of children against the risk of slowing innovation in digital media. The new FTC rules, for example, require the industry to make more efforts to avoid collecting a wider range of “personal information” about young children. The agency looked at 400 popular apps for children on the Apple and Google platforms and found only 20 percent disclose their policies on data collection. Yet the industry’s response is to warn of a slowdown in developing new products. Parents, however, still must be the front line for dealing with new media. As Clark found in her studies, parents (mainly mothers) must put more “emotional work” into their relations with their children to overcome their anxieties about digital media. New tools and rules can help parents, but managing the level of burdens and benefits is really up to them.

Doctors Move to Webcams

Virtual doctor visit services—which connect patients from their homes with physicians whom they meet via online video or phone—are moving into the mainstream, as insurers and employers are increasingly willing to pay for them.

In the latest sign, WellPoint Inc., the nation's second-biggest health insurer, plans to offer a new service in all of its employer and individual plans that will allow people to consult with physicians on-demand, using laptop webcams or video-enabled tablets and smartphones. The insurer says the video consults will appeal to clients looking for "convenience and accessibility of care," said Ken Goulet, executive vice president. But such services—which backers say can save money when they avoid costly emergency room trips—are generating tension with some state regulators and doctor groups. They argue that the remote visits can make sense when a patient is communicating with his or her regular doctor, but care may suffer when patients are connecting with a physician who may be in another city or state.

Gambling Industry Bets Virtual Money Turns Real

Americans can't yet play slot machines on their smartphones. But that isn't stopping the gambling industry from getting them in the habit. Gambling companies have been acquiring and cutting deals with firms that develop simulated casino games for devices like the iPhone, a bet that they will be able to build a user base that could pay off if online betting is legalized in the US.

New York Police Department to Use Internet to Try to Stop Mass Shootings

Top intelligence officials in the New York Police Department met to examine ways to search the Internet to identify potential “deranged” gunmen before they strike, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said.

“The techniques would include cyber-searches of language that mass-casualty shooters have used in e-mails and Internet postings,” Commissioner Kelly said. “The goal would be to identify the shooter in cyberspace, engage him there and intervene, possibly using an undercover to get close, and take him into custody or otherwise disrupt his plans.” Kelly said the technique was similar to those being used to spot terrorists’ chatter online. The new searches would target “apolitical or deranged killers before they become active shooters,” he said.

TV Rights Split Soccer Clubs

The English Premier League, home to the country's best soccer teams, is at the top of its game. It recently negotiated huge price increases outside the U.K. for broadcast rights to its matches, and it's drawing top players from all over the world as megarich foreign owners pour money into their teams. But some English clubs complain that the foreign largesse isn't benefiting all teams equally, while others say it's hurting the sport.

In a sign of the EPL's global appeal, the league sold overseas TV rights for 2010-2013 games for a total of £1.4 billion ($2.25 billion). That dwarfs the sums secured by other leagues in Europe, including Spain's La Liga, home to Barcelona and Real Madrid. It's now negotiating regional deals to show Premier League matches overseas for the next three seasons, and it has already secured big price increases. But in contrast to other leagues in Europe, the EPL shares the money from its deals equally among its 20 clubs. Liverpool, the club from the Beatles hometown, says the arrangement hurts it. If it could negotiate its own overseas broadcast packages, it believes it would profit from its global popularity, a result of its 1980s heyday.

Children’s Online Privacy Rules: Winners and Losers

Now that the Federal Trade Commission has published its updated privacy protections for children online, Facebook may finally open its site to children under 13, industry analysts say. But those very same new rules, they say, may prompt some small app developers to pull out of the children’s market altogether.

The revised rules, widen the list of children’s personal information that will require parental permission to collect. It will now include children’s photos, videos or voice recordings, the IP addresses of their computers and the locations of their mobile phones. The updated rule also requires social networks, advertising networks and other third parties to get parents’ permission before knowingly collecting data from children’s sites and apps. But the rules have radically different implications for big Web sites and small app developers. The final children’s online privacy rule uses an “actual knowledge” standard for collecting information about children. That means social networks and ad networks that collect information from children without knowing that their software is operating on a children’s site or app will not be liable.

Instagram Walks Back Ad Language, but Leaves the Door Open

Instagram has taken another step to mollify users who balked at the photo-sharer’s recent terms of service changes. But it has left itself plenty of room to maneuver.

Co-founder Kevin Systrom says the company will change part of its new contract with users that deals with advertising, and will use the same language the company has always employed. But to be clear: Instagram still plans on introducing advertising to the service. And that advertising could conceivably incorporate users’ photos. And to be clearer: Instagram’s original language already said that. If you don’t want to see ads on the service, or want to be assured that your stuff won’t show up in an ad, you’re going to want to look somewhere else.

MPAA’s Dodd: Film studios ready to 'do our part' after shooting

Motion Picture Association of America chief Chris Dodd said the film and television industry wants to "do our part to help America heal" from the shooting in Newtown.

"As chairman of the MPAA and on behalf of the motion picture and television studios we represent, we join all Americans in expressing our sympathy as well as our horror and outrage at this senseless act of violence," Dodd said. His statement comes as lawmakers have called for Congress to take a closer look into whether violent video games, movies and TV shows are contributing to aggressive behavior. "Those of us in the motion picture and television industry want to do our part to help America heal. We stand ready to be part of the national conversation.”

Benton

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