March 2013

Good News Beats Bad on Social Networks

By scanning people’s brains and tracking their e-mails and online posts, neuroscientists and psychologists have found that good news can spread faster and farther than disasters and sob stories.

“The ‘if it bleeds’ rule works for mass media that just want you to tune in,” says Jonah Berger, a social psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. “They want your eyeballs and don’t care how you’re feeling. But when you share a story with your friends and peers, you care a lot more how they react. You don’t want them to think of you as a Debbie Downer.” Researchers analyzing word-of-mouth communication — e-mails, Web posts and reviews, face-to-face conversations — found that it tended to be more positive than negative, but that didn’t necessarily mean people preferred positive news. Was positive news shared more often simply because people experienced more good things than bad things?

US Probes Microsoft, Partners Over Bribery Claims

Federal regulators are investigating Microsoft's relationship with business partners that allegedly bribed foreign government officials in return for software contracts, according to people familiar with the matter.

Lawyers from the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are examining kickback allegations made by a former Microsoft representative in China, as well as the company's relationship with certain resellers and consultants in Romania and Italy, these people said. The investigation is in a preliminary phase, according to people familiar with the probe, and the government hasn't accused Microsoft or any of its business associates of wrongdoing. Such investigations can end with no charges being filed.

Microsoft has addressed allegations that its partners are being investigated by the U.S. government for engaging in illegal activity, saying that it will “cooperate fully in any government inquiries.”

Whether Microsoft actually gets prosecuted for bribery relating to contracts in China, Romania and Italy may hinge on the "something of value" the software giant may have bestowed on an executive or official to influence his or her discharging of public or legal duties.

Former Rep. Bono Mack heads to K Street

Former Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) is headed to K Street, where the longtime GOP California lawmaker will consult on issues involving technology, Internet privacy and energy for FaegreBD Consulting, the lobby shop announced.

Bono Mack has signed on as a senior vice president at the firm’s Washington office, where she’ll also work on intellectual property rights and entertainment issues, the company said. She is prohibited by federal rules from lobbying for one year. Bono Mack was elected to Congress in 1998, after the skiing death of her husband, entertainer Sonny Bono. For seven additional terms, she represented the Palm Springs area of Southern California. She served on the House Commerce Committee, becoming chairwoman of the panel’s Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade subcommittee in the 112th Congress.

Senate bill would require warrant for e-mail searches

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legislation that would require government officials to obtain a search warrant before accessing e-mails and other private online content.

Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, police only need a subpoena, issued without a judge's approval, to read emails that have been opened or that are more than 180 days old. Privacy advocates argue the law is woefully out of date and that police should need a judge-approved search warrant, based on probable cause, to view private online messages. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2013, would require the government to promptly notify someone if their private online information has been accessed. The government can obtain a court order to delay notification to protect an ongoing investigation. The bill would not exempt civil investigations, covering issues such as antitrust, financial and environmental rules, from the warrant requirement, although it would clarify that regulators can serve subpoenas directly to companies for their records. Privacy advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Democracy & Technology, applauded Sens Leahy and Lee for introducing the legislation.

Cyberwar manual lays down rules for online attacks

A handbook due to be published later this week applies the venerable practice of international law to the world of electronic warfare in an effort to show how hospitals, civilians, and neutral nations can be protected in an information age fight. The Tallinn Manual — named for the Estonian capital where it was compiled — was created at the behest of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, a NATO think tank.

It takes existing rules on battlefield behavior — such as the 1949 Geneva Convention — to the Internet, occasionally in creative or unexpected ways. The manual's central premise is that war doesn't stop being war just because it happens online. Hacking a dam's controls to release its reservoir into a river valley can have the same effect as breaching it with explosives, its authors argue. Legally speaking, a cyberattack which sparks a fire at a military base is indistinguishable from an attack that uses an incendiary shell.

MIT to release documents about activist Swartz

The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that the school will voluntarily release public documents related to the prosecution of free-information activist Aaron Swartz, who hanged himself in January as he faced trial on hacking charges.

The announcement by MIT President L. Rafael Reif comes in response to a March 15 request by lawyers for Swartz's estate to have the U.S. District Court in Boston make the documents public. The documents will be released at the same time as an internal analysis of MIT's role in the Swartz case is made public. No date has been set for the release of that analysis, being conducted by professor Hal Abelson.

C-SPAN Study Finds Almost Quarter of Cable/Satellite Subs Watch Weekly

According to a new study commissioned by C-SPAN, at least 47 million people tune in to the public affairs net at least once a week, with young, politically active viewers the largest segment.

That 47 million is almost a quarter (24%) of those with a cable or satellite subscription and up 4% from the last quadrennial viewership survey. According to the demographic breakdown, the audience is 51% male and 49% female, with 47% of those college graduates. Viewership is highest among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic, with 28% of those watching at least once a week. That is the key TV sales demo, though C-SPAN remains a commercial-free service of the cable industry. Not surprisingly, those viewers are politically active, with 89% saying they voted in the last presidential election and over a third saying they have contacted their House or Senate members. And those members span the political spectrum. The study found that 26% of C-SPAN viewers describe themselves as "liberal," 31% as "conservative" and 39% as "moderate."

Direct Marketing Association Takes Issue With Marketplace Fairness Act

The Direct Marketing Association says a proposed Senate amendment to the 2014 Federal Budget would "conscript American businesses with no presence in a state and force them to become the unpaid tax collectors for that state." The DMA is opposed to the Marketplace Fairness Act, which imposes an Internet sales tax collection obligation on businesses DMA says should not be part of the Federal Budget.

Station Creator Looks to Simplify Online TV

As online video becomes increasingly essential for any publisher, startup Station Creator has a simple proposition with its platform. The San Diego-based company’s M.O. is to remove the barriers to entry for streaming video ranging from cost to tech savvy. The resulting platform has an intuitive, drag-and-drop client-facing interface and a baseline cost of nothing, enabling publishers to scour the Web for sharable content and to pull it in to a customizable playlist. Publishers can also add their original recorded or live streaming content into the mix and sell interstitial ads against the video.

Google Glass Stirs Up Privacy Debate in DC

Several stories are popping up on news sites stirring up privacy panic over Google Glass, a sort of wearable smartphone. While the glasses look relatively unassuming on the user and won't be out for several months, a lot of people are beginning to worry about whether Google will be able to track where you are, what you're looking at, what pictures you're taking and what you're recording, in addition to all the usual information that Google tracks (or shares) across smartphones, websites and e-mail. It's not just the user who might be worried; it might also be those nearby. It's hard to tell if a Google Glass user is taking a picture or recording.

Benton

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