June 2014

In defense of Facebook’s newsfeed study

[Commentary] Did Facebook overstep its bounds when it ran a secret psychological experiment on a fraction of its users in 2012? That's the question at the heart of the most recent Internet firestorm.

The consensus is that Facebook probably did something wrong. But what, exactly? To say this is one more example of Facebook prioritizing power over privacy is to vastly oversimplify what's going on here.

The reality is that people are objecting for a lot of reasons. Whatever your gut feelings about Facebook, don't give into them. Yet.

There has been a vigorous yet healthy debate going on about the convergence of business and academic research, and whether Facebook acted irresponsibly or unethically with its users' data. To understand why, let's unpack some of the charges being lobbed at the social network. Call it a taxonomy of Facebook critiques.

It used people's data for an academic study.

It manipulated people's newsfeeds to make them happy or sad.

The study made it past an institutional review board. How? The IRB looked at the results of Facebook's data analysis and gave it the green light, but evidently didn't consider how Facebook acquired the data in the first place. Was that an ethical lapse? If Facebook were an arm of the government or a federally funded academic institution, then yes. Research conducted in those environments on human subjects require an IRB's approval. But as a private entity, Facebook isn't legally bound by those requirements, nor was the study itself, apparently.
People should've been given the opportunity to opt in or out.

It's creepy.

Facebook Says It’s Sorry. We’ve Heard That Before.

Facebook offered up an apology to its users, after it came to light that the company had manipulated the news feeds of more than half a million people so it could change the number of positive and negative posts that appear from their friends.

This is hardly the first time Facebook has apologized for its behavior. Over its 10-year history, the company has repeatedly pushed its users to share more information, then publicly conceded it overstepped if an upset public pushed back.

California legalizes bitcoin

The virtual currency bitcoin is now legal in California. Gov Jerry Brown (D-CA) has signed into a law a bill that will allow businesses and individuals to use bitcoin in transactions.

The bill -- from Assemblyman Roger Dickinson -- repeals a state ban on using currency that is not “the lawful money of the United States.”

The Assembly's report on the bill notes the popularity of bitcoin -- which "has gained massive media attention recently as the number of businesses has expanded to accept bitcoins for payment" -- as well as the "frequent shopper" reward programs.

After the one-sentence bill passed the Assembly 52-11, Assemblyman Dickson touted the bill as recognizing the popularity of virtual currency.

“In an era of evolving payment methods, from Amazon Coins to Starbucks Stars, it is impractical to ignore the growing use of cash alternatives,” he said.

FCC Seeks Comment On Termination of Certain Proceedings as Dormant

The Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) seeks comment on whether certain docketed FCC proceedings should be terminated as dormant.

The Commission has revised portions of its practice and procedural rules and its organizational rules to increase the efficiency of Commission decision-making, modernize the agency’s processes in the digital age and enhance the openness and transparency of Commission proceedings for practitioners and the public.

The revised rules delegate authority to the Chief, CGB to periodically review all open dockets and, in consultation with the responsible Bureaus or Offices, to identify those dockets that appear to be candidates for termination.

Some T-Mobile Subscribers Complain Using Spotify Is Running Up Data Charges

Some T-Mobile subscribers turned to Reddit to complain about problems with the mobile carrier’s new music freedom program, which allows customers to listen to streaming services without incurring data charges.

A few customers wrote that they had been racking up data charges while listening to Spotify -- a problem they hadn’t encountered while tuning in to other streaming services, such as iHeart Radio or Pandora.

T-Mobile said it doesn’t have any indication that Spotify or any other music applications included in its program are drawing down customers’ high-speed wireless data buckets. A spokesman urged customers who are experiencing problems to contact T-Mobile’s customer care.

France Gives Cold Shoulder to Amazon

In a backlash against the retail giant Amazon, France is preparing to impose new restrictions that would bar online merchants from offering free shipments of discounted books.

New legislation, designed to protect thousands of local bookstores, and nicknamed the anti-Amazon law, was passed by the French Senate. It will not formally take effect until after the president signs it.

But the state’s culture minister, Aurélie Filippetti, has already publicly backed the measure, which has drawn support from conservative and liberal politicians. The minister called the ban “a sign of the deep commitment of the nation to books.”

Federal Communications Commission
July 9, 2014
9:30 am
http://www.fcc.gov/document/further-details-agenda-july-9-inmate-calling...

Opening Remarks (9:30 AM) Chairman Tom Wheeler; Commissioner Mignon Clyburn; Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel

Panel 1 Impact of FCC Reform and Potential Need for Additional Reform – This panel will address the impact of reforms since the 2013 ICS Report and Order and FNPRM, the benefits to consumers, and the potential need for additional FCC and/or state reforms.

Panel 2 Understanding the Provision of ICS in Different Facilities – This panel will focus on understanding the primary cost drivers of providing ICS in different types of correctional facilities.

Lunch Break

Panel 3 Ancillary Charges – This panel will discuss ancillary charges, the types, rates, whether new charges have occurred since the 2013 Order, and potential reforms to limit these charges.

Panel 4 New Technologies – This panel will consider new and emerging forms of communications in correctional settings beyond the traditional wireline telephone call.

Closing Remarks (4:30 PM)

Read more about Inmate Calling Services

FCC Sends Congress Report on Implementation of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010

In accordance with the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA), this Report addresses the status, benefits, and costs of video description in television programming and IP-delivered programming, as informed by consumer and industry experiences since the video description rules became effective, and presents the following findings:

Video description provides significant benefits to individuals who are blind or visually impaired by making key visual components of video programming accessible to them, which allows them greater independence and the ability to follow and understand television programs.
Industry commenters report that they are working diligently to comply with the video description requirements for television programming, yet consumers who are blind or visually impaired perceive there to be a minimal amount of video-described programming available to them.
Overwhelmingly, consumers who are blind or visually impaired desire an increased amount of video description in television programming.
We believe that some of the concerns about the availability of program content with video description will be alleviated in the coming years. The obligation to provide 50 hours of video description expands to additional television markets in July 2015, which will lead to increased video description availability for a greater number of consumers. In addition, rules adopted in the Commission’s emergency information proceeding will result in more video programming providers and distributors having the technical capability to provide and pass through a secondary audio stream, which is used for both video description and aural emergency information. Further, if the Commission determines that the need for and benefits of providing video description for television programming outweigh the technical and economic costs, the Commission has authority two years after the completion of this Report to increase the 50 hours per quarter requirement by up to 75 percent (i.e., up to 87.5 hours per quarter, or roughly 7 hours per week).
Consumers identify concerns regarding the availability of information about which television programs are video-described. In this Report, we encourage industry to coordinate with program guide developers to ensure that consumers are provided with current and accurate information about video-described programming and to promote the availability of websites and other outlets that provide such information.
Consumers express frustration with the quality of customer support service for video description. In this Report, we urge covered entities to provide proper training and dedicated support so that their customer service representatives are able to answer consumer questions about accessing video description on the secondary audio stream.
Consumers also identify technical problems with accessing video description services on consumer electronics equipment. The Commission recently adopted rules requiring the accessibility of user interfaces on digital apparatus and navigation devices used to view video programming to enable individuals with disabilities to access such programming more easily, which will go into effect in 2016. In the interim, we expect that MVPDs and manufacturers of digital apparatus and navigation devices will train their customer service representatives to assist consumers in accessing the secondary audio stream.
The record reveals no significant issues with regard to the technical or creative aspects of creating, distributing, or viewing video description since the adoption of the rules, but we encourage industry to coordinate with consumer groups to address any technical and creative issues that may arise in the future.
The costs of video description are consistent with the expectations of industry at the time of rule adoption, and covered entities do not indicate that the costs of video description have impeded their ability to comply with the video description rules.
Video description for IP-delivered programming would provide significant benefits by making key visual components of such programming accessible to individuals with visual disabilities, which allows them greater independence and ability to follow and understand television programs.
Industry commenters argue that there are currently technical challenges to imposing video description requirements in the context of IP-delivered programming. However, the comments of consumer group National Federation of the Blind (“NFB”), as well as recent comments in the emergency information proceeding, reflect that some technologies have already been developed that could support a secondary audio stream for IP-delivered programming.
Given the lack of detailed comment on this issue, we are currently without sufficient information to assess accurately the costs for video programming providers, distributors, and owners to provide video description in IP-delivered programming.
Given the rapid growth in the number of Americans who consume video programming online and the benefits of video description for individuals who are blind or visually impaired, we will continue to monitor developments on this front, and we hope that industry will take the initiative to develop standards and work toward providing video description of IP-delivered programming.

Europeans flock to be forgotten

More than 250 Europeans a day have been applying to a French website to have past incidents "forgotten" by Google since the service was launched. Called forget.me, the site allows European Union residents to apply to have material removed from Google's European Union search results.

The French firm, ReputationVIP, appears to be the first to take advantage of a groundbreaking Europe's high court ruling on May 13. Under European privacy laws, the court ruled, individuals have the right to request search engines remove links to information about them that is "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purposes for which they were processed."

As of June 30, 2014, 13,000 people had registered on the company's website. They submitted 1,105 right to be forgotten applications requesting the remove of a total of 5,418 links, according to Bertrand Girin, the Lyon, France-based reputation management firm's chief executive officer.

Race at NPR And The End Of 'Tell Me More'

[Commentary] For better or worse, the public affairs programming of NPR appeals mostly to Americans with a college degree, regardless of race or ethnicity.

By this measure, black listeners index exactly the same as their proportion of college graduates in the wider society.

College-educated Latino listeners are lower but within shouting distance. Asians present the opposite picture. Twice as many Asian-American adults listen to NPR news stations as their weight in the population. Among college graduates, however, the proportions converge.

National Public Radio has undertaken a concerted effort to "sound like America." So, if NPR's shows are expected to reflect the interests and voices of all the nation's races and ethnic groups, then clearly it helps to have those groups represented in the newsroom.

Staff breakdowns include my 2012 study and what they were following layoffs announced May 20. The numbers are of reporters, editors, producers, designers and other full time newsroom professionals, and not administrative support. NPR had 365 such professionals after the layoffs.

Benton

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