October 3, 2013 (What the Media are Ignoring in Government Shutdown Coverage)
“Telecom policy is simply not going to make a difference in the fossil record.”
-- Federal Communications Commission attorney-adviser
http://benton.org/node/161627
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013
THE SHUTDOWN
What the US Media Are Ignoring in Government Shutdown Coverage
Are you an ‘essential’ federal employee?
Congress is harming the federal workforce - op-ed
TV Mergers Worth Billions Put On Hold as FCC Shuts Down [links to web]
Key part of EHR incentive program halted due to government shutdown
Potential Ripples of Stretched Cyber Support During Shutdown [links to web]
Government shutdown closes websites, affecting data journalists [links to web]
Sequestration Slows IT Hiring for Months; Shutdown Stops It Entirely [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
NSA Experiment Traced US Cellphone Locations
DOJ: Tech firms would aid terrorists by revealing NSA requests
Tech companies pledge to keep fighting NSA secrecy
Sen. Feinstein vows to kill Leahy's NSA bill
Here’s why one of the most conservative members of the House wants to rein in the NSA [links to web]
Lavabit Founder Waged Privacy Fight as FBI Pursued Snowden [links to web]
Shuttered e-mail service linked to Ed Snowden raises funds for legal fight [links to web]
How Internet Censorship Actually Works in China
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
FirstNet Finishing Up Active First Year
Police group slams Motorola Solutions on FirstNet
NAB To Hill: Broadcasters Remain Key First Informers
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Memo to WaPo: Price discrimination does not imply monopoly - analysis
How the industrial Internet will help you to stop worrying and love the data - op-ed [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
The Washington Post closes sale to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
CONTENT
No Consensus Among Scholars on Media Violence - op-ed
User-Generated Content Is Here to Stay - op-ed [links to web]
DIVERSITY
Black Americans find their voice on Twitter forums
PRIVACY
Americans share personal info in risky ways [links to web]
These Massive Data Facilities Could Be Targets of Government Spying [links to web]
TELEVISION
A Lesson for Congress on Retrans Negotiations? - analysis
JOURNALISM
What the US Media Are Ignoring in Government Shutdown Coverage
Have the Media Failed Us on Climate Change? - press release [links to web]
Government shutdown closes websites, affecting data journalists [links to web]
EDUCATION
K-12 Leaders Shift From Protectors of Status Quo to Change Agents [links to web]
CHILDREN & MEDIA
What inner city kids know about social media, and why we should listen - op-ed
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
‘Sign this petition’: How political groups are turning their data testing tools on social media
TELECOM
TracFone Responds to FCC Action on Lifeline Abuses - press release
POLICYMAKERS
Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, Call for Applications - public notice
Orlando Tapped to Top CBS Govt. Affairs In DC [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Microsoft investors want Gates out as chairman [links to web]
Why Shareholders Want Gates Out [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
How Internet Censorship Actually Works in China
Time to open up UK white space – the final frontier for spectrum - op-ed
Google and Microsoft back UK trial to use ‘white space’ bandwidth [links to web]
Portugal Telecom and Brazil's Oi to Merge [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
The Most Destructive, Unpredictable Force in Tech -- You - analysis [links to web]
THE SHUTDOWN
WHAT THE US MEDIA ARE IGNORING IN GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Kathy Gill]
[Commentary] Writing in It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism, Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein argue: “[T]he Republican Party continues to demonstrate that it is an insurgent force in our politics, one that aspires to rewrite the social contract and role of government developed and affirmed over a century by both major political parties.” Mann and Ornstein contend that media "continues, for the most part, to miss this story." It's not just that media miss key elements of the story, it's how media frame the story; after all, research shows that words and tone do shape opinion.
benton.org/node/161593 | Huffington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
ESSENTIAL FEDERAL EMPLOYEE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: ]
The Washington Post asked federal workers if they think their role is “essential.” “If you could make a pitch to your boss for why you should continue working during a partial shutdown, what would it be?” A Federal Communications Commission attorney-adviser answered: “It's nearly impossible for anything I work on to have a life-or-death impact on the public, so I'm not 'essential' in the true sense of the word. Telecom policy is simply not going to make a difference in the fossil record. But neither is most of the policy work that Congressional staffers do. If THEY couldn't be deemed 'essential' and allowed to continue working through the shutdown, Congress would NEVER play these games and allow a shutdown to happen. But most members of Congress won't feel the financial pain that the average federal employee feels, nor will their staff; playing politics with other people's money is no big deal to them because it doesn't hurt their day-to-day work lives or wallets.” Who is essential? “Anyone who works on things that impact the public health and safety - e.g., the folks who insure that antenna towers are properly secured and marked for safety purposes, the folks who monitor signal leakage to prevent interference with public safety frequencies, that sort of thing. ”
benton.org/node/161616 | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CONGRESS IS HARMING THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Max Stier]
[Commentary] Congress should be tutored on a fundamental principle taught to doctors: First, do no harm. Lawmakers’ inability to pass a timely funding bill has caused a federal government shutdown, denying Americans important services and damaging the livelihoods of 2 million federal workers. This political breakdown follows the epic budget battles that resulted in “sequestration” — the arbitrary, across-the-board cuts that were meant to be so draconian that Congress would surely act before they could take effect. These budget reductions are saving money but at a high cost. Congress is harming the federal workforce. People are being asked to do their jobs without appropriate resources. They are being furloughed. Pay freezes have been in effect for three years. Morale is plummeting. Would anyone run a business this way? Would you encourage your children to devote their careers to public service? We will never get what we want out of our government if all we do is tear it down. Democrats and Republicans are fighting like King Kong vs. Godzilla — and we are the city getting destroyed around them.
[Stier is president and chief executive of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service]
benton.org/node/161615 | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
KEY PART OF EHR INCENTIVE PROGRAM HALTED DUE TO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
[SOURCE: ModernHealthcare.com, AUTHOR: Joseph Conn]
A key function of the electronic health-record (EHR) incentive payment program was shut down along with much of the federal government. Multiple operations of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology stopped, according to a 13-page HHS contingency staffing plan. They include administration of the Certified Health Information Technology Product List, or CHPL, a public repository of complete and modular EHR systems that have been tested and certified to standards developed by the ONC. Providers must use only products from the list to qualify for “meaningful use” of EHRs and receive payments under the program, which has thus far paid out $16.2 billion to hospitals, physicians and other eligible professionals.
benton.org/node/161607 | ModernHealthcare.com | Government Health IT
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
NSA EXPERIMENT TRACED US CELLPHONE LOCATIONS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Charlie Savage]
The National Security Agency in 2010 and 2011 conducted a secret pilot project to test the collection of bulk data about the location of Americans’ cellphones, but the agency ultimately decided against putting such a program into play for now, according to intelligence officials. The existence of the pilot project, which has not previously been reported, was recently declassified by James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, but it has not been publicly disclosed. His statement to be read at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing if he is asked is one paragraph long and contains scant details. The response says that the NSA does not currently collect locational information under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the provision that forms the asserted legal basis of its once-secret program that is collecting logs of all domestic phone calls from telephone companies. “In 2010 and 2011, NSA received samples in order to test the ability of its systems to handle the data format, but that data was not used for any other purpose and was never available for intelligence analysis purposes,” the draft response says, adding that the NSA has promised to notify Congress and seek the approval of a secret surveillance court in the future before any locational data was collected using Section 215.
benton.org/node/161603 | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
DOJ: TECH FIRMS WOULD AID TERRORISTS BY REVEALING NSA REQUESTS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Tech companies would violate surveillance laws and help terrorists avoid detection if they reveal government requests for data, the Department of Justice (DOJ) told the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. In a motion, the US government responded to requests from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook and LinkedIn to publish more information about the national security-related requests for user information they receive. The companies argued that they should be able to release information about the number and types of requests they receive from the US government, as well as the number of accounts affected by those requests, so long as they don’t disclose the specific targets. The Justice Department said that's an “implausible reading” that “ignores the forest for the trees.” “The companies’ narrow focus on individual targets ignores that the disclosures would risk revealing the Government’s collection capabilities as they presently exist and as they develop in the future,” DOJ wrote. If terrorists have information about which companies are turning over information to the government, they would be able “to infer when the Government has acquired a collection capability on new services” and “which platforms and services are not subject to surveillance or are subject to only limited surveillance,” the response said.
benton.org/node/161614 | Hill, The | WSJ
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
TECH COMPANIES PLEDGE TO KEEP FIGHTING NSA SECRECY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello, Brendan Sasso]
Google, Microsoft and Yahoo will continue to fight the US government for the ability to publish more information about requests from the government for user data. The companies — along with Facebook and LinkedIn — have asked the government if they can publish more information about the national security-related requests they get for user data. The government responded in a motion filed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, saying the companies would help terrorists avoid detection and harm national security efforts by publishing more info. A Google spokesman said the company is “disappointed” and called for greater transparency in the FISC process, as the government’s motion was partially redacted.
benton.org/node/161617 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
FEINSTEIN VOWS TO KILL LEAHY'S NSA BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Two powerful Senate Democrats are poised for a battle over the National Security Agency's surveillance powers. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said he will push legislation to end the NSA's controversial program to collect records on all US phone calls. He argued that the program invades Americans' privacy rights while doing little to thwart terrorist attacks. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, argued that the phone data program is critical for protecting national security. "I will do everything I can to prevent this program from being canceled," Chairman Feinstein said during the hearing. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) appeared to side with Chairman Feinstein, arguing that people have little privacy interest in their phone records. "The records are in the possession of the phone company. They're the phone companies' records — they're not your personal records," Sen. Sessions said.
benton.org/node/161619 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
FIRSTNET FINISHING UP ACTIVE FIRST YEAR
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Brian Heaton]
FirstNet crawled toward its goal of developing a nationwide public safety broadband network at the start of the year, spending its first few months naming board members and conducting business operations. But by spring, the entity ramped up with a flurry of activity, setting the stage for what looks like a whirlwind 2014. Starting in May, FirstNet conducted six regional consultation workshops where representatives met with state and local government agencies about their existing public safety communication projects. In addition, FirstNet has issued RFIs for broadband technology, created a regional operational model aligned with the 10 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regions and approved a $194 million budget for 2014. According to TJ Kennedy, deputy general manager of FirstNet, the moves were made to better support outreach activities in 2014, including state consultation meetings.
benton.org/node/161611 | Government Technology
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
MOTOROLA AND FIRSTNET
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Telecommunications giant Motorola Solutions drew the ire of a national police group after one of the company’s consultants urged Virginia cops to contact state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli with criticisms about a $7 billion project to create a new post-Sept. 11 wireless network for first responders. The consultant met in September with Virginia representatives of the Fraternal Order of Police, documents and sources indicate. In a follow-up email after the meeting, the consultant urged the trade union’s members to relay concerns about the network to Cuccinelli, the state’s Republican candidate for governor, as well as Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), who heads a subcommittee that determines its budget. Motorola Solutions has labored extensively this year to highlight flaws with the network, known as FirstNet, which could cut into one of the company’s key sources of revenue. But a company spokesman said it never sent the consultant and that he isn’t a lobbyist. And the consultant in question, Col. Kenneth Morckel, who works with the Ohio-based First Response Enterprises, said he didn’t travel to Virginia on behalf of Motorola Solutions. “Most of the conversation,” he said, “revolved around my involvement” with the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
benton.org/node/161624 | Politico
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
NAB TO HILL: BROADCASTERS REMAIN KEY FIRST INFORMERS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
A National Association of Broadcasters witness told a House subcommittee that TV and radio remain key to the nation's emergency alert system. WFMZ-TV President and GM Barry Fisher told Congress that while targeted wireless emergency alerts are an important part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency toolkit that does not reduce the importance of broadcasting as a ubiquitous emergency information delivery system that can reach areas where cell service may not go, or where it has been knocked out. Fisher's testimony came in a FEMA reauthorization hearing in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management. Congress is considering legislation to improve emergency alerts via the broadcast and cable Emergency Alert System (EAS), Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and the IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert and Warning System). "When the power goes out, when phone service is limited and the Internet goes down, broadcasters are always there and are always on the air," he said in his opening statement.
benton.org/node/161613 | Broadcasting&Cable
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
INTERNET/BROADBAND
MEMO TO WAPO: PRICE DISCRIMINATION DOES NOT IMPLY MONOPOLY
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Eisenach]
[Commentary] In a blog post at the Washington Post’s “The Switch” site, the usually reliable Timothy Lee set out to analyze pricing in the market for Internet access services. I have a lot of respect for Tim, but his blog contains some pretty fundamental economic errors that need to be set straight. Most important, the blog buys into the long-discredited notion that price discrimination implies monopoly power. Economists have understood since at least the early 1980s that price discrimination can and does occur in competitive markets where there are large sunk costs. Not only that, but it is widely understood that price discrimination in such markets is not only possible, but necessary, and not only innocuous, but welfare maximizing. Jonathan Baker wrote (a decade ago): “Competitive price discrimination is probably found most commonly in high-technology markets and other industries with low marginal cost, high fixed costs, and some product differentiation.”
benton.org/node/161609 | American Enterprise Institute
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
OWNERSHIP
THE WASHINGTON POST CLOSES SALE TO AMAZON FOUNDER JEFF BEZOS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
Amazon founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos formally took over as the owner of The Washington Post, officially ending 80 years of local control of the newspaper by the Graham family. Bezos’s $250 million purchase was completed as expected with the signing of sale documents. The signing transfers the newspaper and other assets from The Washington Post to Nash Holdings, Bezos’s private investment company. Bezos, who founded the online shopping company in 1994 and became a billionaire in the process, has vowed to continue the newspaper’s long history of independent journalism. His technical and marketing savvy, long-term outlook and lack of an apparent ideological agenda made him an attractive steward for the paper, Post chief executive Donald E. Graham said in August, when an agreement in principle was first disclosed. At the same time, Bezos, 49, has the deep pockets to sustain an enterprise that has been buffeted for years by declining readership and advertising, especially in the printed Post.
benton.org/node/161598 | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CONTENT
NO CONSENSUS AMONG SCHOLARS ON MEDIA VIOLENCE
[SOURCE: Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Christopher Ferguson]
[Commentary] The notion that media violence plays even a partial role in mass shootings is scientifically dead. Whether young or old, male or (rarely) female, it is severe mental illness, not media exposure that is the commonality among mass shooters. Speaking as a researcher in the field, the evidence linking violent media to even mild acts of aggression is inconsistent. Evidence for a causal effect, even in part, on serious societal violence is generally lacking. So why does this social narrative persist? Part of it has been the poor historical performance of professional advocacy groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association in faithfully communicating the research to the general public. [Dr. Ferguson is Department Chair of Psychology at Stetson University]
benton.org/node/161592 | Huffington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
DIVERSITY
BLACK AMERICANS AND TWITTER
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: April Dembosky]
Like most early Twitter users, many young black Americans initially took to microblogging to follow celebrities or send short, quick messages to friends on their phones, but the site has since grown to become an important forum to discuss broad issues around race in America. Black people constitute 12 percent of the US population but make up 26 percent of Twitter users in the US, according to a recent report from the Pew Research Center. Black Americans took to Twitter early and fast, for a variety of technological, cultural and historical reasons. Mobile phone technology played a huge role. Smartphone adoption was relatively high among black Americans and with mobile operators offering separate texting and data plans, Twitter quickly became a way to send short, quick messages to friends without incurring texting charges. The style of public dialogue on Twitter, says Omar Wasow, a politics professor at Princeton University and co-founder of Black Planet, a social network, also closely mirrors behavior in traditional black gatherings.
benton.org/node/161623 | Financial Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
TELEVISION
A LESSON FOR CONGRESS ON RETRANS NEGOTIATIONS?
[SOURCE: CommLawCenter, AUTHOR: Scott Flick]
[Commentary] Admittedly, national budgetary policy is more complex than most (but perhaps not all) retransmission negotiations, but then the adverse impact of the accompanying disruption is vastly greater as well. Unlike a retransmission dispute, however, where the public can fully restore service with a set of rabbit ears, nothing I can buy at my local Radio Shack will open the national parks or allow Federal Communications Commission staffers to return to their desks to process my applications. Given the high stakes, it is interesting that there are actually far more protections against failed negotiations in the retransmission context than in the congressional context. For example, unlike Congress, parties to retransmission negotiations are subject to the FCC's rule requiring good faith negotiations. While those who assert that the current retransmission process is broken frequently argue that merely policing the negotiation process to ensure the parties are negotiating in good faith is not enough, it seems like those rules might actually be fairly useful in the current congressional conundrum. For example, a party violates the FCC's good faith rule if it refuses to show up for negotiations, unreasonably delays negotiations, refuses to put forth more than a single unilateral proposal (the "take it or leave it" approach), or fails to respond to a proposal by the other party. Some might argue that such restrictions limit a party's freedom to negotiate, but all retransmission negotiations are conducted within that regulatory framework, making retransmission negotiations more regulated than most, and giving proponents of adding yet further layers of restrictions a high hurdle to jump.
benton.org/node/161604 | CommLawCenter
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CHILDREN & MEDIA
WHAT INNER CITY KIDS KNOW ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA, AND WHY WE SHOULD LISTEN
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: Jacqui Cheng]
[Commentary] Are actual teachers -- that is, those employed by the school system -- tapped into the wealth of information from their students made available through social media? Likely not. The teachers I know are often discouraged, and sometimes downright forbidden from, interacting with their students on social media. While these policies are in place to help protect both teachers and students from all manner of things, this wall of separation may be keeping teachers from truly knowing their students in a time when teens need a mentor more than ever. At a six-week workshop at Chicago’s first “Civic Innovation Summer,” a summer program designed to keep inner city kids off the streets and to learn technology skills, the adult techies learned that these teenagers were extremely savvy with privacy on social media, sometimes to the point of bafflement. And they know we’re all watching; according to their exit surveys, most students were happy to hand over their Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/SnapChat names, saying they felt comfortable with adults learning more about the realities of their teenage lives. Whether our teens will eventually regret the things they post online is the wrong debate to have—or, at least, it’s a debate we should have later on. Instead, we should be asking ourselves why we, as a society, discourage the real teachers, counselors, and principals from seeing a full picture of what their students are up to and what can be done to help. [Cheng is Editor at Large at Ars Technica]
benton.org/node/161588 | Medium
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
‘SIGN THIS PETITION’: HOW POLITICAL GROUPS ARE TURNING THEIR DATA TESTING TOOLS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
President Barack Obama's reelection campaign famously sent different e-mails to randomized groups of followers to determine which language would generate the best response. It also, to a lesser extent, helped popularize the idea of Web site testing — diverting a fraction of a site's visitors to an alternate version whose performance can be measured against the standard. Now we've reached the next evolution of that political strategy: applying those same sorts of tests to social media. "Testing is critical, especially for smaller clients," said Serenety Hanley, a former Republican National Committee technology director who now runs a boutique social media consulting firm. "The smaller the client, the more vital it is to maximize their dollars." Serenety works with nonprofits and campaigns designing targeted Facebook ads and promoted posts. She then compares the performance of those posts against one another using tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Insights — information that helps campaigns understand which tactics are the most effective. Other groups have resorted to building their own social testing programs in-house. Among them is MoveOn.org, the progressive advocacy organization. While it doesn't seem as though Facebook supports segmenting your audience for more targeted tests, MoveOn can still pool together the aggregate data on links A and B and compare them at a high level.
benton.org/node/161599 | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
TELECOM
TRACFONE RESPONDS TO FCC ACTION ON LIFELINE ABUSES
[SOURCE: TracFone, AUTHOR: Press release]
TracFone Wireless issued the following statement on behalf of its SAFELINK WIRELESS service for income-eligible households under the federal Lifeline program: “Last night [Tuesday, Oct 1, 2013], we learned that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is disputing TracFone Lifeline wireless billing involving less than $8,000 and involving fewer than 850 people. With almost 4 million Lifeline customers, obviously this is a very small percent. We will respond to the FCC at the appropriate time. However, we do not believe that our conduct violated any rules or that the proposed FCC action is warranted. We will have no additional statement on this matter until we submit our response to the FCC.”
benton.org/node/161585 | TracFone
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
POLICYMAKERS
COMMERCE SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE, CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Kathy Smith]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking applications from persons interested in serving on the Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC or committee) for a two-year term. The CSMAC provides advice to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information on a broad range of issues regarding spectrum management and policy. Applications must be postmarked or electronically transmitted on or before November 15, 2013.
benton.org/node/161612 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
STORIES FROM ABROAD
HOW INTERNET CENSORSHIP ACTUALLY WORKS IN CHINA
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Kentaro Toyama]
A fascinating pair of studies led by political scientist Gary King uses rigorously observed patterns of censorship on Chinese social media to show just how systematically the Community Party works to avoid grassroots gatherings of any kind. Two points stand out among their findings. First, China’s censorship infrastructure is incredibly efficient: Objectionable posts are removed with a near-perfect elimination rate and typically within 24 hours of their posting. Second, King and his team found that Chinese censors focus on posts that refer to, instigate, or are otherwise linked to grassroots collective action such as protests, demonstrations, and even apolitical mass activities, and that the regime seems comparatively more comfortable with criticism of the government. King suggests at least two reasons for this. First, allowing some criticism might mollify citizens who want to blow off some steam, thereby keeping them from expressing these feelings more violently. Second, this relative leniency is a useful way for the central government to learn about problems that require attention. King cites the political scientist Martin Dimitrov, who argues that “regimes collapse when its people stop bringing grievances to the state”—because they no longer see the state as legitimate. Calls to collective action, however, are regarded as dangerous and are not tolerated at all—even when they have little to do with politics. “In some ways, it’s the same in America,” he continues. Large technology companies in the United States are required by law to monitor and censor illegal content such as child pornography, and, as recent revelations about NSA spying reveal, Washington has the ability to pressure businesses to get information it wants.
benton.org/node/161618 | Atlantic, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
OPEN UK WHITESPACE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Ed Richards]
[Commentary] Billions of machines talking to each other automatically, using tiny slivers of unused radio waves to improve the environment, healthcare and transport. This may seem like the stuff of science fiction, but the UK is taking an important step in the development of a new wireless technology. Ofcom has announced the participants in a pilot that could lead to a nationwide rollout of “white space” technology next year. White spaces are the unused gaps in the radio spectrum all around us. Using them will make the UK one of the first countries to test a technology that could help to avert a global data capacity crunch. The work to ensure a future pipeline of spectrum to meet the demands is unrelenting. Britain must innovate to develop new technologies – like white spaces – that make the best use of this resource. We must match technical innovation with creativity and flexibility in the way that we manage spectrum. We must always look for opportunities to reuse spectrum more efficiently, including future release of prime spectrum, and we must seek new opportunities to share and to exploit existing allocations. By doing so we can help develop one of the world’s leading wireless economies.
[Richards is chief executive of Ofcom, the UK telecommunications regulator]
benton.org/node/161622 | Financial Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top