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April 2013

Is the media to blame for the brain injuries of hockey players?

Why is hockey such a violent and dangerous sport? Medical researchers from Canada have an answer: Blame the media. “Media reports of an issue such as TBI in sport can contribute to an altered culture,” they write in a study published online in the journal PLOS ONE. TBI stands for traumatic brain injury, and it’s become a major public health concern in recent years. It happens when sudden trauma causes the head to hit an object and damages the brain. A concussion is an example of TBI, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains. Researchers used computers to identify several themes among the stories, which were verified and refined by humans.

The analysis turned up some interesting patterns:

  • Both American and Canadian papers left the impression that violence and TBIs are just part of the game of hockey, a risk that can’t be avoided.
  • American newspapers used to report on TBI only when it affected star players; in more recent reports, they have highlighted the issue even when the injured players were journeyman.
  • Sports sections in both countries used to describe protective gear as a way to keep players safe; now they see protective equipment as part of the problem because it makes players feel invulnerable, prompting them to take bigger risks.
  • Canadian newspapers have long blamed the National Hockey League for failing to enforce rules intended to keep players safe. Their American counterparts have begun calling on the league to strengthen rules intended to prevent TBI. The study authors point out that both takes are at odds with the idea that fights are integral to the game.
  • Recent reports in the American papers have emphasized the need to get violent play out of youth hockey.
  • Canadian papers have been making the case that hockey doesn’t need fights to be exciting to fans. As the Toronto Star put it in 2010, “Canadians were just treated to some amazing hockey at the Olympics and nowhere was fighting or head-hunting seen. The game can survive and thrive without it.”

A Failing Grade for Broadband

[Commentary] The Internet is becoming as critical to student success as textbooks and blackboards—in many parts of the country, even basic homework assignments require access to the Web. This reflects not only a greater variety of educational resources available online to students, but also the rising importance of digital literacy as a fundamental skill. But even as companies create innovative new educational technologies—like cloud-based literacy programs, Skype-based tutors, and virtual math games—many policymakers and entrepreneurs are overlooking a critical factor that stands in the way of widespread adoption of these tools: adequate and universal broadband infrastructure. Without it, people in most parts of the United States are unable to use some of the most innovative educational technologies out there. As the tech leaps ahead and our infrastructure stays the same, the problem will only worsen. Entrepreneurs often suggest that innovation can happen only when government stays out of the way. But in order for innovative education technology to have widespread adoption, the government will need to play a role in supporting the development of next-generation networks and ensuring that they are accessible to everyone, everywhere.

[Danielle Kehl is a policy researcher focusing on broadband policy, internet governance, spectrum allocation, and ICT4D at the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute. Benjamin Lennett is the policy director for the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation.]

'Real World' Social Media Helps Students Bond, Say Researchers

As technology becomes ever more ubiquitous in children's social lives, new research suggests fundamental skills still apply, particularly in environments that mirror real life. Children's online social lives were a big topic at the annual Society for Research in Child Development conference in Seattle. Several new studies presented there suggest that while socializing virtually can make it harder for students to make deep connections with one another, situations that more closely mimic the real world—such as video-chat or avatar environments—can lead to more natural engagement.

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

Trying to end your relationship with some prominent online services can be like breaking up with an overly attached romantic partner — they make it pretty hard to say goodbye. And with good reason — more users are beneficial to a company’s bottom line, which often depends on generating revenue by selling you targeted advertisements.

Possibly no social network understands this better than Facebook, whose chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, proudly announced last October that his site had surpassed one billion active users. “Their business model is about getting users to create content,” said Jeremiah Owyang, an industry analyst with the Altimeter Group. “It’s users who are creating content, liking things, and, ultimately, a brand sees this and comes to deploy advertising dollars. The product is us.”

At Children’s Hospital, video games are part of the prescription

A look at a new approach to pain therapy under development at the Children’s National Medical Center. Video games are a part of treatment, but provide welcome distraction from patient pain she’s in. The desire to get through higher levels with better scores spurs patients to push themselves. But doctors are able to use the games as more than a simple distraction tactic, said Sarah Rebstock, a pediatric anesthesiologist and clinical director of the hospital’s pain medicine program.

In collaboration with D.C.-based Interface Media Group, Rebstock and others at the hospital designed games that can target specific muscle groups and measure progress as a part of the therapy. The games, which operated on Microsoft’s Xbox and its Kinect controller, include two games that work the upper body and one that players control by shifting their weight from side to side. The Kinect, which responds to players’ movements to control games, also allows medical staff to take exact data about how patients’ range or dexterity have improved over the course of a treatment. It measures movement on three axes — horizontal, vertical and back-and-forth — and looks at 20 other data points such as the angle of players’ arms to assess how they’re doing in treatment.

April 18, 2013 (CISPA; Internet Freedom Bill; Boston)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

Copyright, Privacy and an FCC Meeting on today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2013-04-18/


CYBERSECURITY
   CISPA amendment could address top privacy concern
   Mike Rogers: CISPA Cybersecurity Bill Opponents Are Teens In Their Basements [links to web]
   House Intel leaders: Cybersecurity bill will not allow cyber snooping
   CISPA critics bolstered by Obama veto threat [links to web]
   New Tool Can Help Agencies Assess Cyber Skills [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   House Commerce Committee approves Internet freedom bill
   The Plot to Block Internet Freedom - op-ed
   Sen Reid Seeks to Expedite Online Sales Tax Bill
   Tax Internet Sales, Stimulate Growth - op-ed
   White Paper: Don't Graft Legacy Regulations on IP Voice
   Verizon Shareholder Proposal on Open Internet Issues Receives Support from Leading Proxy Advisor ISS
   Google Fiber—On the Silicon Prairie, the Silicon Hills, and now the Silicon Slopes - press release
   From 3G Wireline to NG Wireline: Towards a Policy of Bandwidth Abundance
   Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Angela Simpson at Broadband Communities Summit - speech
   We are all bandwidth hogs now

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   The Shame of Boston's Wireless Woes
   Spectrum Policy Should Promote Competition - op-ed
   CDC to study use of mobile tech in surveys [links to web]
   FTC Files Its First Case Against Mobile Phone "Cramming" - press release [links to web]
   Marco Rubio Forced To Clarify That He Is Not Giving Away Free Cellphones [links to web]

PRIVACY
   FTC Chair Stuns Advertisers
   FTC Seeks Input on Privacy and Security Implications of the Internet of Things - press release
   Sen. Rockefeller to push for Do Not Track at hearing
   Poll: Targeted Advertising is Not The Bogeyman [links to web]

TELEVISION
   Bundling no more? Netflix, Hopper chip away at traditional TV [links to web]
   Time Spent Watching Free VOD TV Content Jumps 40%: Rentrak [links to web]
   Younger TV Viewers Moving Offline [links to web]
   Pay-TV operators start streaming live TV outside home [links to web]

CONTENT
   Bill That Would Have Created Mass Media Violence Commission Defeated [links to web]
   Republican Gun Bill Includes Media Violence Research [links to web]
   Digital Public Library of America Opens Access to Resources [links to web]

JOURNALISM
   The FBI Criticizes the News Media After Several Mistaken Reports of an Arrest
   Getting it wrong in Boston - analysis
   News Media Weigh Use of Photos of Carnage [links to web]

GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
   The Government Didn't Shut Down Cell Service in Boston. But With SOP 303, It Could Have.
   On big data, the Boston Marathon and civil liberties - analysis
   Citizen Surveillance Helps Officials Put Pieces Together

LOBBYING
   Facebook flexes political muscle with provision in immigration bill [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   A Fighter for the Public Interest at the FCC - op-ed [links to web]
   How to Pick an FCC Chair Who Gets It - op-ed [links to web]
   FCC Commissioner Clyburn announces Staff Change - press release [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Internet copyright rulings quashed
   EU steps up single telecoms market plan
   Apple Ordered to Remove Obscene Content From China Store

MORE ONLINE
   Meet Rep. Steve Israel – The Man Who Wants to Turn Congress Against 3D Printing - editorial [links to web]
   Teaching Teens About Tech [links to web]

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CYBERSECURITY

CISPA PRIVACY CONCERNS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
One of privacy advocates' top concerns with a cybersecurity bill could be addressed in an amendment that is circulating among stakeholders. The proposed amendment to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) would ensure that the Homeland Security Department (DHS), a civilian agency, would be the first recipient of cyber threat data from companies. The amendment would mark a significant concession by the sponsors of CISPA, House Intelligence Committee leaders Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD). The two lawmakers are said to be working on the amendment with House Homeland Security Committee leaders Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Bennie Thompson (D-MS). The amendment was filed just before the House Rules Committee met on April 16 to determine which amendments to CISPA would be voted for on the floor. A copy of the amendment — which does not include any lawmakers' names — has been circulating among stakeholders and on the Hill. The amendment is designed so that companies would only be able to receive the liability protection from future lawsuits granted under the bill if they share malicious source code and other online threats with DHS first. DHS would be able to pass on that threat data to relevant agencies. Companies would still be able to share cyber threat data with the National Security Agency and other departments under existing information-sharing efforts.
benton.org/node/149988 | Hill, The | The Hill
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CISPA WILL NOT ALLOW CYBER SNOOPING
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Pete Kasperowicz]
Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Intelligence Committee offered assurances that legislation allowing companies to share information on cyber threats with the government would not allow the government to collect data on private customers. Consumer privacy remains a major concern related to H.R. 624, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). But in lengthy remarks on the House floor, Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) said the bill was designed with privacy in mind. "We believe this: this bill will not work if Americans don't have confidence that it will protect your privacy and civil liberties," Chairman Rogers said. "This is not a surveillance bill," he added. "It does not allow the national security agencies, or the Department of Defense, any of our military organizations, to monitor our domestic networks. It does not allow that to happen, we would not allow that to happen."
benton.org/node/150021 | Hill, The
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

INTERNET GOVERNANCE BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The House Commerce Committee unanimously approved legislation to support Internet freedom. Republican committee leaders agreed to change the language of the bill after Democrats expressed concern that it could undermine existing polices, including the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality regulations. To address the Democrats' concerns, Republicans struck the phrase making it formal U.S. policy to "promote a global Internet free from government control." Democrats worried that a person or company could have used the language to sue to overturn regulations or laws. In addition to the network neutrality rules, Democrats warned the language threatened efforts to combat online copyright infringement, child pornography and cyberattacks. The bill approved by the committee states only that it is U.S. policy "to preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet.” Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the top Democrats on the committee and communications subcommittee, respectively, applauded the Republicans for revising the legislation.
benton.org/node/149991 | Hill, The | House Commerce Committee | Broadcasting&Cable
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THE PLOT TO BLOCK INTERNET FREEDOM
[SOURCE: Foreign Policy, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Lee Bollinger]
[Commentary] The Internet has created an extraordinary new democratic forum for people around the world to express their opinions. It is revolutionizing global access to information: Today, more than 1 billion people worldwide have access to the Internet, and at current growth rates, 5 billion people -- about 70 percent of the world's population -- will be connected in five years. But this growth trajectory is not inevitable, and threats are mounting to the global spread of an open and truly "worldwide" web. The expansion of the open Internet must be allowed to continue: The mobile and social media revolutions are critical not only for democratic institutions' ability to solve the collective problems of a shrinking world, but also to a dynamic and innovative global economy that depends on financial transparency and the free flow of information. The threats to the open Internet were on stark display at last December's World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai, where the United States fought attempts by a number of countries -- including Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia -- to give a U.N. organization, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), new regulatory authority over the Internet. Ultimately, over the objection of the United States and many others, 89 countries voted to approve a treaty that could strengthen the power of governments to control online content and deter broadband deployment. We believe that the Internet should remain free of gatekeepers and that no entity -- public or private -- should be able to pick and choose the information web users can receive. That is a principle the United States adopted in the Federal Communications Commission's 2010 Open Internet Order. And it's why we are deeply concerned about arguments by some in the United States that broadband providers should be able to block, edit, or favor Internet traffic that travels over their networks, or adopt economic models similar to international sender pays. We must preserve the Internet as the most open and robust platform for the free exchange of information ever devised. Keeping the Internet open is perhaps the most important free speech issue of our time. [Bollinger is president of Columbia University]
benton.org/node/149960 | Foreign Policy
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ONLINE SALES TAX BILL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Siobhan Hughes]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is setting up online sales tax legislation for a possible vote on the Senate floor after the chamber completes work on gun legislation. On April 16, Sen Reid began the process of moving an online sales tax bill to the Senate floor on an expedited basis, without going through the committee process. A Senate Democratic aide said the move makes the bill a candidate for a vote after gun legislation, although he cautioned that debate over gun control could drag out and delay an online sales tax vote until May. Another Senate aide said that no final decisions have been made.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/04/17/reid-pushes-online-sales-tax-bill/
Reid signals he'll bring sales tax bill to Senate floor (The Hill)
benton.org/node/149985 | Wall Street Journal | The Hill
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ONLINE SALES TAX
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Arthur Laffer]
[Commentary] At the state level, there are reforms that can alleviate the problems associated with declining sales-tax bases and, at the same time, allow the states to move closer to a pro-growth tax system. One such reform would be to have Internet sellers collect the sales taxes that are owed by in-state consumers when they purchase goods over the Web. So-called e-fairness legislation addresses the inequitable treatment of retailers based on whether they are located in-state (either a traditional brick-and-mortar store or an Internet retailer with a physical presence in the state) or out of state (again as a brick-and-mortar establishment or on the Internet). Addressing e-fairness from a pro-growth perspective creates several benefits for the economy. A gross inequity is addressed—all retailers would be treated equally under state law. It also provides states with the opportunity to make their tax systems more efficient and better aligned toward economic growth, as well as improve the productivity of local retailers. The principle of levying the lowest possible tax rate on the broadest possible tax base is the way to improve the incentives to work, save and produce—which are necessary to reinvigorate the American economy and cope with the nation's fiscal problems. Properly addressing the problem of e-fairness on the state level is a small, but important, step toward achieving this goal. [Laffer is the chairman of Laffer Associates and regarded by some to be “The Father of Supply-Side Economics.”]
benton.org/node/150037 | Wall Street Journal
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POTS TO IP TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Applying legacy interconnection regulations to Internet voice traffic is not "needed, practical, nor efficient," according to a white paper from Analysis Mason partner Michael Kende. The paper concludes that "Internet services themselves are not just undermining the basis for traditional regulation, but also providing guidance for how network interconnection is achieved in the absence of regulation."
benton.org/node/150017 | Multichannel News | Analysis Mason press release
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VERIZON SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: OpenMIC, AUTHOR: Press release]
A shareholder proposal asking Verizon Communications to issue a report about the risks confronting the company because of its positions on net neutrality and open Internet issues has received support from the leading advisor to institutional investors. The shareholder proposal can be voted on by Verizon shareholders either by proxy over the next two weeks, or in person at the company's annual meeting on May 2. ISS Proxy Advisory Services issued a FOR recommendation to its clients in support of the proposal, concluding:
"Given the public and sensitive nature of net neutrality and open Internet issues, shareholders would benefit from additional, specific information about how Verizon is managing these public policy concerns. Providing such information would not be unduly burdensome and could help shareholders assess the company's management of potential risks related to these issues. Therefore, this proposal merits shareholder support."
benton.org/node/149958 | OpenMIC
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GOOGLE FIBER TO PROVO, UTAH
[SOURCE: Google, AUTHOR: Kevin Lo]
The Google Fiber team is in Provo, Utah, where Mayor John Curtis just announced that we intend to make Provo our third Google Fiber City. Utah is already home to hundreds of tech companies and startups, and many of them are based in Provo. In fact, the Provo area ranks second in the nation in patent growth, and is consistently ranked as one of the top places to live and do business in the U.S. We believe the future of the Internet will be built on gigabit speeds, and we’re sure the businesses and residents of Provo already have some good ideas for what they’d build with a gig. In order to bring Fiber to Provo, we’ve signed an agreement to purchase iProvo, an existing fiber-optic network owned by the city. As a part of the acquisition, we would commit to upgrade the network to gigabit technology and finish network construction so that every home along the existing iProvo network would have the opportunity to connect to Google Fiber. Our agreement with Provo isn’t approved yet—it’s pending a vote by the City Council scheduled for next Tuesday, April 23. We intend to begin the network upgrades as soon as the closing conditions are satisfied and the deal is closed.
benton.org/node/150005 | Google | ars technica | WSJ
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GIG.U AT BROADBAND COMMUNITIES SUMMIT
[SOURCE: Gig.U, AUTHOR: Blair Levin]
Speaking at the Broadband Communities Summit, Gig.U Executive Director Blair Levin talked about moving the Washington debate about tax hikes and budget cuts to the Silicon Valley frame – how do we make everything faster, cheaper and better. Unlike in wireless, where one can envision 5G, 6G and other incremental wireless generations, we have known for some time what the end state, or the NG wireline network, would be. It is a fiber-¬‐based conduit with upgrades made possible not by new conduit but by electronics at the edge and advances in software.
benton.org/node/150003 | Gig.U
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NTIA AT BROADBAND COMMUNITIES SUMMIT
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Angela Simpson]
Speaking at the Broadband Communities Summit, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Angela Simpson shared her views about the importance of broadband to economic development; and information about the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), which is the broadband grant program the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in the Department of Commerce is currently administering and how BTOP projects are advancing the goals of economic development and job creation. And she emphasized that while infrastructure is important, digital literacy also has a key role to play. Finally, she shared some lessons learned from BTOP and some ideas for next steps.
benton.org/node/150002 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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BANDWIDTH HOGS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Demand for international bandwidth grew 39 percent last year, and at a compounded annual rate of 53 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to Telegeography. The interesting bit here is that the growth is coming not just from developed regions, but all regions of the world. Cheaper mobile phones with access to the web are certainly a part of that demand growth in developing nations, while in more traditional technology markets, hotspots, larger applications and cloud computing are to blame. Whatever the reason for demand, carriers are responding accordingly, with new submarine cables connecting more countries than ever before.
benton.org/node/149976 | GigaOm
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

WIRELESS WOES
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Anthony Townsend]
Almost immediately after Monday's tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon, the city's cellular networks collapsed. As cell service sputtered under a surge of calls, runners were left in the dark, families couldn’t reach loved ones, and even investigators were stymied in making calls related to their pursuit of suspects. Admirably, Boston residents and businesses responded quickly by opening up Wi-Fi hotspots to help evacuees communicate with loved ones. But most, even the super-connected elite, were knocked offline. We shouldn't be surprised by the collapse of Boston's cellular networks. The same thing happens every time there is a crisis in a large city. On an average day, Americans make nearly 400,000 emergency 911 calls on their mobile phones. Yet during large-scale crises this vital lifeline is all-too-frequently cut off. The culprit is usually congestion.
benton.org/node/149968 | Atlantic, The
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SPECTRUM POLICY AND COMPETITION
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Jon Peha]
[Commentary] We all benefit when commercial companies compete for our business. Competing in the cellular market is unusual in that it depends on access to a limited resource: spectrum. No firm can enter the cellular market in Pittsburgh (except as a reseller) unless it can get Pittsburgh spectrum. Carriers already offering service there also often want more spectrum when they expand capacity, as adding spectrum allows them to expand at a much lower cost. I hope that someday there will be a vibrant market for spectrum where firms can buy what they need when they need it, but at this point, spectrum suitable for cellular service can be hard to get. You can wait around for government to take spectrum that is currently used for something else, reallocate it for cellular use, and auction it, but those auctions are infrequent and unpredictable. You can try to get spectrum from a firm that already has some, but there are typically few holders of cellular spectrum in a given region, and they are all probably rival cellular carriers who would be happier if you just went away without offering a competing service. There are solutions. To protect competition even as more diverse spectrum bands become available, we could adopt a screen that places different weights on each MHz of spectrum depending on the frequency. When it applies property taxes, government does not treat a square mile filled with Mississippi swampland the same as it treats a square mile filled with Manhattan skyscrapers. There is no reason it has to treat 10 MHz of spectrum at 900 MHz the same as 10 MHz of spectrum at 5 GHz in a spectrum cap or screen. [Peha is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University]
benton.org/node/149966 | Public Knowledge
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PRIVACY

FTC CHAIR STUNS ADVERTISERS
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
In her first speech before the advertising industry, newly minted Federal Trade Commission Chairman Edith Ramirez called once again for a universal solution for Do Not Track. While Chairman Ramirez didn't say the Digital Advertising Alliance's self-regulatory program was not enough, it was implied in her remarks. "Consumers await a functioning Do Not Track system, which is long overdue," Chairman Ramirez said. "We advocated for a persistent Do Not Track mechanism that allows consumers to stop control of data across all sites, and not just for targeting ads." The chairman urged the advertising industry to work with the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) to develop a DNT standard that is browser-based, championing Microsoft's Do Not Track browser and Mozilla’s plan to block third-party cookies. Ramirez's position on Do Not Track stunned the attendees at the American Advertising Federation’s annual advertising day on Capitol Hill, who thought they had responded to the FTC’s call two years ago to develop a program that allows consumers to opt-out of targeted ads.
benton.org/node/149981 | AdWeek
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PRIVACY, SECURITY AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The staff of the Federal Trade Commission is interested in the consumer privacy and security issues posed by the growing connectivity of consumer devices, such as cars, appliances, and medical devices, and invites comments on these issues in advance of a public workshop to be held on November 21, 2013 in Washington (DC). FTC staff seeks input on the privacy and security implications of the following:
What are the significant developments in services and products that make use of this connectivity (including prevalence and predictions)?
What are the various technologies that enable this connectivity (e.g., RFID, barcodes, wired and wireless connections)?
What types of companies make up the smart ecosystem?
What are the current and future uses of smart technology?
How can consumers benefit from the technology?
What are the unique privacy and security concerns associated with smart technology and its data? For example, how can companies implement security patching for smart devices? What steps can be taken to prevent smart devices from becoming targets of or vectors for malware or adware?
How should privacy risks be weighed against potential societal benefits, such as the ability to generate better data to improve health-care decisionmaking or to promote energy efficiency? Can and should de-identified data from smart devices be used for these purposes, and if so, under what circumstances?
benton.org/node/149979 | Federal Trade Commission
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PUSH FOR DO NOT TRACK
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) will hold a hearing April 24 to push for a feature that would allow users to opt out of online tracking. “I strongly believe that consumers should be able to manage whether online companies collect their personal information,” he said. "Industry made a public commitment to honor Do-Not-Track requests from consumers but has not yet followed through," Chairman Rockefeller said. "I plan to use this hearing to find out what is holding up the development of voluntary Do-Not-Track standards that should have been adopted at the end of last year.” Chairman Rockefeller has introduced legislation that would mandate a Do Not Track option.
benton.org/node/150035 | Hill, The
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JOURNALISM

FBI CRITICIZES NEWS MEDIA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Bill Carter]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation scolded several news outlets for mistakenly reporting that an arrest had been made in the Boston Marathon bombings, and warned that such unverified reporting could have “unintended consequences” for its investigation. Numerous organizations, including The Associated Press, The Boston Globe and several local Boston television stations, erroneously reported Wednesday afternoon that an arrest had been made, or that a suspect was in custody, citing unnamed law enforcement sources. Two of the reports came from CNN and the Fox News Channel. “Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate. Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting,” the FBI said in a statement.
benton.org/node/150041 | New York Times
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GETTING IT WRONG IN BOSTON
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Meghan Daum]
[Commentary] As social media sites have pelted out news of the Boston bombing, playing fast and loose with the numbers of the dead and injured and amplifying hearsay into a cacophony of confusion, one tweet seemed to say it all: "Dear Journalism: Get yourself together and report verified facts or don't report anything at all." A good deal of the story of the Boston bombing has been as much about how we're telling it as what we know. We've proved the perils of micro-reporting — tiny, unverified bursts of information — as an alternative to synthesized, more comprehensive articles. The wave of innuendo has been generated not just by amateurs but by professionals, who are now expected to deliver the play-by-play while they're still figuring out what happened. And like it or not, we're told, this is the direction things are going.
benton.org/node/150038 | Los Angeles Times
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GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

SOP 303
[SOURCE: Mother Jones, AUTHOR: Adam Serwer, Nick Baumann]
Shortly after the horrific explosions that interrupted the Boston Marathon, the Associated Press reported that the government had shut down cellphone service in the area. That wasn't true—but it's not impossible. "No one in Washington or in any statehouse or bunker anywhere can press a button and shut down phone service," explains Harold Feld, vice president at Public Knowledge, an advocacy group focused on communications and technology policy. But although there's no physical kill switch, there is Standard Operating Procedure 303, a secret agreement between telecommunications giants and the government that outlines "a shutdown and restoration process for use by commercial and private wireless networks during national crises," according to a government report on the subject. The government can shut down cellphone service—but it didn't do so in Boston. Because SOP 303, also known as the Emergency Wireless Protocols, is classified, the public doesn't know under which specific conditions a shutdown could occur. But in 2006, the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), a group of major telecom company executives and government officials, issued a report that revealed some details about SOP 303. The committee's report explained that the National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications (NCC), an emergency telecom coordination body set up by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, would serve as a clearinghouse for requests to shut down wireless networks "within a localized area, such as a tunnel or bridge, and within an entire metropolitan area."
benton.org/node/150009 | Mother Jones
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BOSTON MARATHON AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Derrick Harris]
[Commentary] For all the concerns over mobile phone logs, video footage and other data collection that could potentially be used to survail American citizens, it’s times like this that I think we see their real value. According to a Los Angeles Times article about the bomb attack at the Boston Marathon, the FBI has collected 10 terabytes that it’s sifting through in order to seek out clues about what exactly happened and who did it. Maybe I’m just a techno-optimist, but I find this very reassuring. It’s reassuring because I’ve spoken with so many smart people over the years who can do amazing things with data. Ten terabytes isn’t a huge data set by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s plenty to work with if it’s of high quality. It’s very possible there are some needles in that haystack of call logs, and I’m optimistic the analysts within the FBI — possibly with some outside help — will be able to find them.
benton.org/node/150015 | GigaOm
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CITIZEN SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Geoffrey Fowler, Joel Schectman]
As surveillance technology has spread from security cameras to smartphones in every pocket, it has sparked privacy concerns. At the same time, the technology has proved helpful to criminal investigations—including the one focused on this week's Boston Marathon explosions. On April 17, a government official said the Federal Bureau of Investigation used surveillance video from a Lord & Taylor department store and restaurants near the bomb site, as well as photographs from average citizens, news organizations and others to help identify a suspicious person at the marathon. That followed officials earlier in the week asking the public to share digital video and photos, which the FBI processed along with surveillance-camera footage from businesses near the finish line. Investigators planned to go through "every frame of every video," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said. The use of such technology in the Boston investigations highlights how, since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the adoption of surveillance technology and the amount of data gathered has grown considerably. Still, video and photo facial-recognition technologies remain in their infancy.
benton.org/node/150039 | Wall Street Journal
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

INTERNET RULING
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Robert Cookson]
British citizens can browse the internet without fear of litigation, after the Supreme Court quashed a previous ruling that had exposed millions of people to claims of copyright infringement. The UK’s highest court ruled that when a person viewed a web page on their computer, the temporary copies made on screen and in the internet cache were exempt from copyright infringement. The ruling, which lawyers expect to be applied across the EU, is part of a long-running dispute between the Newspaper Licensing Agency, which represents newspaper publishers, and a news aggregation service called Meltwater. The case is the latest example of how courts around the world are being asked to make big decisions about the future of copyright law during a period of substantial technological evolution. To the surprise of many, the High Court and the Court of Appeals previously ruled that the temporary copies made through the process of displaying a web page on a computer is a violation of UK copyright law if made without the explicit consent of the copyright owner. But in its latest judgment, the Supreme Court said the previous rulings were “unacceptable” and would have made “infringers of many millions of ordinary users of the internet across the EU who use browsers and search engines for private as well as commercial purposes.”
benton.org/node/150032 | Financial Times
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SINGLE EU TELECOMS MARKET
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Daniel Thomas, James Fontanella-Khan]
European regulators are planning to aggressively accelerate plans to create a single regional telecoms market to help push through the far-reaching reforms before the end of European Parliament. A blueprint for the hard-hit European telecoms industry will now be published in June, months ahead of an original deadline in the autumn, with hopes that regulations can be implemented before the end of the year. Setting up a single European telecoms market has become the top priority for Neelie Kroes, Europe’s digital commissioner, and Brussels is keen to accelerate the process to get the plan approved before the European Parliament elections in 2014. The move could wrong-foot some in the industry who had been preparing their proposals, and in some cases opposition, for the original deadline in October.
benton.org/node/150031 | Financial Times
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APPLE’S CHINA STORE
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Lulu Yilun Chen]
Apple, which apologized this month in China after being criticized by state-run media for poor customer service, was ordered by the government to remove obscene content accessed through its online applications store. The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications named Apple among 198 websites ordered to remove content, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday, without providing details of the material. The order to delete content in Apple’s China online store that offers applications for use on the iPhone and iPad follows more than a dozen stories in the state-run People’s Daily in the past month accusing Apple of arrogance and poor customer service. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook apologized on April 2 for warranty and repair policies and promised to improve training and support in its biggest market after the US.
benton.org/node/150030 | Bloomberg
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The FBI Criticizes the News Media After Several Mistaken Reports of an Arrest

The Federal Bureau of Investigation scolded several news outlets for mistakenly reporting that an arrest had been made in the Boston Marathon bombings, and warned that such unverified reporting could have “unintended consequences” for its investigation.

Numerous organizations, including The Associated Press, The Boston Globe and several local Boston television stations, erroneously reported Wednesday afternoon that an arrest had been made, or that a suspect was in custody, citing unnamed law enforcement sources. Two of the reports came from CNN and the Fox News Channel. “Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate. Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting,” the FBI said in a statement.

News Media Weigh Use of Photos of Carnage

Even for a society comfortable with blood and gore in its movies and video games, the bombings at the Boston Marathon have sparked a new debate among news organizations about when images are too gruesome to display.

The biggest controversy brewed around The Daily News of New York, which covered up a bloody wound on a victim’s leg in the photograph it ran on its front page on April 16. As photojournalists on blogs and Facebook discussed how changing these photographs violated their standards, the paper’s spokesman issued a statement defending its decision. It said “the rest of the media should have been as sensitive as The Daily News.” The decision to alter some photographs did not appear to be influenced by concerns from advertisers.

Citizen Surveillance Helps Officials Put Pieces Together

As surveillance technology has spread from security cameras to smartphones in every pocket, it has sparked privacy concerns. At the same time, the technology has proved helpful to criminal investigations—including the one focused on this week's Boston Marathon explosions.

On April 17, a government official said the Federal Bureau of Investigation used surveillance video from a Lord & Taylor department store and restaurants near the bomb site, as well as photographs from average citizens, news organizations and others to help identify a suspicious person at the marathon. That followed officials earlier in the week asking the public to share digital video and photos, which the FBI processed along with surveillance-camera footage from businesses near the finish line. Investigators planned to go through "every frame of every video," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said. The use of such technology in the Boston investigations highlights how, since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the adoption of surveillance technology and the amount of data gathered has grown considerably. Still, video and photo facial-recognition technologies remain in their infancy.

Getting it wrong in Boston

[Commentary] As social media sites have pelted out news of the Boston bombing, playing fast and loose with the numbers of the dead and injured and amplifying hearsay into a cacophony of confusion, one tweet seemed to say it all: "Dear Journalism: Get yourself together and report verified facts or don't report anything at all."

A good deal of the story of the Boston bombing has been as much about how we're telling it as what we know. We've proved the perils of micro-reporting — tiny, unverified bursts of information — as an alternative to synthesized, more comprehensive articles. The wave of innuendo has been generated not just by amateurs but by professionals, who are now expected to deliver the play-by-play while they're still figuring out what happened. And like it or not, we're told, this is the direction things are going.

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