More and more Canadians are discovering that they no longer need traditional TV: 16 percent of Canada’s adult population streams all their TV from online sources, according to a recent comScore survey. An additional 35 percent watch both traditional TV and online video, according to the survey, and an additional 35 percent only watch traditional TV, reports the Canadian Press.
Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance
Senate Commerce Committee
July 17, 2013
10 am
The hearing will explore the consumer protection implications of the legalization of intrastate online gaming.
Lawmakers tasked with overseeing national security policy say a pattern of misleading testimony by senior Obama Administration officials has weakened Congress’s ability to rein in government surveillance.
Members of Congress say officials have either denied the existence of a broad program that collects data on millions of Americans or, more commonly, made statements that left some lawmakers with the impression that the government was conducting only narrow, targeted surveillance operations. The most recent example came on March 12, when James R. Clapper, director of national intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the government was not collecting information about millions of Americans. He later acknowledged that the statement was “erroneous” and apologized, citing a misunderstanding. On three occasions since 2009, top Justice Department officials said the government’s ability to collect business records in terrorism cases is generally similar to that of law enforcement officials during a grand jury investigation. That comparison, some lawmakers now say, signaled to them that data was being gathered on a case-by-case basis, rather than the records of millions of Americans’ daily communications being vacuumed up in bulk. In addition, two Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee say that even in top-secret briefings, officials “significantly exaggerated” the effectiveness of at least one program that collected data on Americans’ e-mail usage. The Administration’s claims are being reexamined in light of disclosures by National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, reported by The Washington Post and Britain’s Guardian newspaper, of broad government surveillance of Americans’ Internet and phone use authorized under secret interpretations of law.
Nearly three in four American smartphone users surveyed said they are within five feet of their devices the majority of the time, according to the 2013 Mobile Consumer Habits study conducted by Harris Interactive for Jumio, a mobile verification and payments company.
More than a third said they use their device at movie theaters and 12% said they even use it while in the shower. But perhaps most unusual is the fact that almost 1 in 10 users, or 9% of respondents, said they have even used their smartphone during sex. "So it should be no surprise that 12% believe their smartphone gets in the way of their relationships," the press release for the study said. The number of adults using their smartphones during sex rises to one in five when looking only at the 18 to 34 age group.
The Senate Commerce Committee announced a draft bill aimed at improving the nation's defenses against hackers.
The draft, which is backed by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and ranking member John Thune (R-SD), is an attempt to forge a compromise on cybersecurity after repeated attempts to pass legislation through the Senate failed last term. Chairman Rockefeller expects to mark up the legislation later this month, according to a committee aide. The draft bill would task the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a Commerce Department agency, with developing voluntary cybersecurity standards and best practices for critical infrastructure, such as banks and power plants. The legislation also aims to improve cybersecurity research, education and public awareness.
Yahoo has asked a secret court to unseal its argument in a 2008 case protesting government surveillance. Those documents would prove that the company fought back against the National Security Agency's data gathering program, Yahoo said. Yahoo is the latest Internet giant to ask a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court for permission to reveal more information about their efforts to protect their users' privacy. Microsoft and Google have asked the court for permission to publish statistics about how infrequently they turn over user data to the government.
Liberty Media Chairman John Malone urged fellow billionaire Charlie Ergen to combine Dish Network with DirecTV to get the advantages of bigger bulk in the pay-TV business.
“It would be good if DirecTV could combine with Echo or Dish or whatever Charlie calls it now just because scale economics in the media business drives down costs and makes it possible for larger investment,” Malone said in an interview at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. “You need larger -- I’m not saying monopoly players -- but you need larger players.” Malone is the largest individual -- as opposed to institutional funds -- shareholder in DirecTV with 27.7 million shares, or 5 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. He was DirecTV’s chairman from 2008 to 2010 after acquiring 38.5 percent of the El Segundo, California-based company in a 2007 asset trade for Liberty’s stake in News Corp. A DirecTV-Dish combination would have 34 million U.S. video customers, making it the world’s largest pay-TV company, ahead of Comcast Corp. and Malone’s European cable asset holding company Liberty Global Plc. Merging would give the new company leverage in negotiations with programmers, such as Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner Inc., to limit content price increases. DirecTV said earlier this year programming costs would rise more than 10 percent in 2013.
Over six months after Penguin settled with the Department of Justice in the e-book pricing case, retailers have begun discounting its e-books.
In addition, because Random House and Penguin are merging, Random House has to comply with the terms of the settlement as well, and Random House spokesman Stuart Applebaum told Publishers Lunch that this will happen by the end of July.
The Apple e-book decision is full of interesting information about antitrust law and emerging markets. But in addition to that, the opinion – drawing on internal emails and in-court testimony – offers a compelling description of how publishers see their world.
At least three things jump out:
TDS Telecommunications announced completion of its first American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus-funded broadband Internet project. Now, about 150 households near Orchard Farm (MO) have access to high-speed Internet service.
About 3 miles of fiber optics cabling was installed and three cabinets (which protect the advanced network electronics) were placed throughout TDS’ Orchard Farm Telephone Co. to provide high-speed Internet access to more residents. TDS is receiving partial funding for 42 of their 44 projects, including this one, from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) as part of the ARRA. This is TDS’ third ARRA broadband stimulus project accessible by residents—and the first to be 100 percent complete. TDS ARRA projects around Chatham, Mich. and Wind Lake, Wis. are accessible to a portion of households; these two projects are expected to be completed by the end of the year.
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