BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2009
A busy Monday kicks off a busy week before Washington breaks for the holidays. http://bit.ly/7ht58l
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Senate Judiciary Committee Passes Shield Law, Protects Bloggers
Open Government Directive is Disappointing
Ready for Open Government? Part 2
OSTP to Launch Public Forum to Discuss Options for Improving Public Access to Results of Federally Funded Research
Feds Launch Internet Healthcare Initiatives
Transparency Bill Moves Onward
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
What the Open Internet Means for Democracy
Network Neutrality and Quality of Services Divisive Topics at FCC Workshop
Network Neutrality and the 21st Century First Amendment
Net Neutrality, "TV Everywhere," and Other Cable Industry Assaults on Open Television
AT&T's Network Neutrality doublethink
BROADBAND/INTERNET
Our technology is new, our democratic challenge is the same
Who'll Define 'Universal Service'?
Elected Officials Say Broadband Plan Must Give Role to States and Localities
World Bank Official: Developing Countries Want National Broadband Insight
Telecordia Proposes Center for Broadband and Information Networking R&D
Target Broadband Research at Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing
GOP Senators Call Broadband Stimulus Projects Questionable
Two Internet Policy Groups Strengthen Ties
WIRELESS
GAO Says FCC Needs to Improve Oversight of Wireless Phone Service; Congress Agrees
Seven smartphone predictions for 2010
How AT&T May Limit Your Mobile Data
DIGITAL CONTENT
Apple Plots Reboot of iTunes for Web
EFF voices concerns about Facebook privacy changes
Apple, Google Rivalry Heats Up
AOL finally regains independence from Time Warner
Tension mounts in e-reader saga
BUDGET AND MONEY
Technology a winner in conferees' consolidated spending bill
Cost estimates for Local Community Radio Act of 2009 (S.592); Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2009; CALM Act
TELEVISION
Children Now, UCC Want FCC To Look Into Shows Stations Say Meet Educational Requirements
Spectrum, Kids TV High On FCC's Agenda
Comcast, NBCU: A case of media conglomeration (video interview)
Cable Industry Executive Quotes to Remember in 2009
POLICYMAKERS
New Staff at FCC
NIST gets new director at a critical time for the agency
JOURNALISM
'Editor & Publisher' to Cease Publication After 125 Years
A Minaret Ban and "Climate-gate" Stir Online Discussions
MORE ONLINE
Advocate Alleges 'Racial Labeling' in Targeted Online Ads
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
SENATE JUDICIARY PASSES SHIELD LAW
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wendy Davis]
Benjamin Franklin was more than just one of the country's Founding Fathers. He was also a blogger. At least that's how Franklin was described during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about whether a reporters' shield law should exclude bloggers, citizen journalists and other nonprofessionals. The committee voted to pass the proposed law, the Free Flow of Information Act, after rejecting an amendment proposed by Sens Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) that would have defined journalists as people working for news organizations. Some commentators said the amendment's definition was so restrictive that it could have excluded even professionals who wrote for online-only publications. The proposed shield law itself is relatively narrow, providing only that journalists can sometimes protect the identity of their sources. Sen Feinstein said at the hearing that she favored a narrow definition of journalist because including amateurs and others would mark a "weakening of the profession of journalism." But other lawmakers successfully countered that bloggers, freelancers and amateur writers should have the same opportunity to protect their sources as professionals on staff. The bill still must be voted in the full Senate then reconciled with a different version passed in the House.
benton.org/node/30483 | MediaPost | B&C | AP
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OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE IS DISAPPOINTING
[SOURCE: Gartner, AUTHOR: Andrea DiMaio]
[Commentary] The new Open Government Directive confirms the "asymmetry of government 2.0" -- i.e. the fact that governments take a one-way only approach to government 2.0 (data from government to citizens and engagement from citizens to government), losing sight that the information and engagement flow in the opposite direction too (information is created elsewhere that government needs to be aware of, and government employees engage with external communities). It is quite clear that the suggested approach is for agencies to address participation and collaboration on their turf and on their terms.
benton.org/node/30471 | Gartner
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READY FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT? PART 2
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Allan Holmes]
The White House issued its long-awaited open government directive on Tuesday, setting deadlines for agencies to publish more data online, improve the quality of that information and create a culture of openness. The reaction to the directive has been mostly positive, but some technology specialists say agencies could find it difficult to meet deadlines. That is only part of the story, however. According to the survey, agencies also might have to overcome managers' apathy toward reaching out to citizens, as well as the problem that the processes to do so aren't developed yet. In our first segment, many managers said they supported open government in theory, but they weren't completely sold on the idea. Add to that -- as we show in the second part here -- the fact that federal managers are not frequent users of social networking tools either in their job or for personal reasons, and you have the makings of some sizable obstacles that the Obama administration will have to overcome to create that culture of openness. What does this mean for the future of the president's open government initiative? We want to know what you, the managers who will be asked to create this new public space, think. Nextgov has teamed with the federal social networking site GovLoop to discuss the survey's findings. We invite you to read through the latest set of results here, then click on the link on this page or in the slide show to access GovLoop to post your thoughts, reactions, beliefs and respond to your colleagues' opinions.
benton.org/node/30470 | nextgov | Part 1
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OSTP LAUNCHES PUBLIC FORM ON ACCESS TO RESEARCH
[SOURCE: The White House]
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is launching a public consultation on Public Access Policy. The Administration is seeking public input on access to publicly-funded research results, such as those that appear in academic and scholarly journal articles. Currently, the National Institutes of Health require that research funded by its grants be made available to the public online at no charge within 12 months of publication. The Administration is seeking views as to whether this policy should be extended to other science agencies and, if so, how it should be implemented.
benton.org/node/30469 | White House, The | benton.org
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FEDS LAUNCH INTERNET HEALTHCARE INITIATIVES
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: Mitch Wagner]
The Department of Health and Human Services launched three Internet initiatives designed to promote the sharing of research information, improve collaboration, and encourage swine flu prevention. The programs are an implementation of President Barack Obama's principles for promoting open government through transparency, participation, and collaboration, said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. HHS will stream information about biomedical research innovations as part of the National Assets for High-Tech Economic Growth program. The agency will provide real-time access to information on technologies available for licensing from the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration intramural laboratories and the NIH's Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. In the second initiative, HHS is launching IdeaLab, a collaboration Web project for employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Anyone working at CDC can post an idea or request help with a project, and other CDC employees can post their comments, solutions, and similar experiences. And HHS is running the YouTube Know What to Do About the Flu and Prevention Contest, to reach the population most vulnerable to H1N1--teens and young adults--and encourage them to take proactive actions such as washing hands and getting flu shots. More than 250 videos were submitted. Ten finalists were selected and put to a public vote to determine the overall winner, which was featured on national television.
benton.org/node/30468 | InformationWeek
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TRANSPARENCY BILL MOVES FORWARD
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
A House committee on Thursday passed a bill that would make it easier for citizens to download and search information on the finances of companies given government money. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee agreed to add the measure to a bill that is moving faster, S. 303, the 2009 Federal Financial Management Improvement Act. The financial transparency bill, known as the Government Information Transparency Act, H.R. 2392, now goes to the House for full consideration.
benton.org/node/30478 | nextgov
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY
WHAT THE OPEN INTERNET MEANS FOR DEMOCRACY
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Steve Waldman]
How would the world have been different for the past decade if we hadn't had an open Internet? For instance, would the world know about Neda, the Iranian woman who was murdered during democracy protests? That video was captured on the spot by a citizen, quickly loaded on the Internet and then spread (for free) as bloggers and news organizations posted YouTube embeds. Over and over again, a journalist or citizen saw the video and, through the radical pro-democracy step of simply hitting Control C, Control V, spread Neda's story. It's not just in foreign lands that an open Internet helps promote democracy. The same basic dynamic has been repeated over and over in the U.S. In the last national elections both sides made effective use of virally-spreading videos and information. On the local level, citizens use digital tools to find out information about their governments and communities. Concerned citizens, community activists, and political parties across the ideological spectrum increasingly use the open Internet to obtain pertinent information about government policies, hold their elected leaders accountable, and spread their message to others. Putting aside the question for now of how to guarantee openness, it does seem clear that the ability of the Internet to encourage democracy, empower grass roots Americans and people around the world, requires a profoundly open system.
benton.org/node/30467 | Federal Communications Commission
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NET NEUTRALITY AND QUALITY OF SERVICE
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Eli Evans]
The importance of quality of service and the divisive effect of Net neutrality rules were key topics at the Federal Communication Commission's Technical Advisory Process Workshop on Tuesday. "The fundamental issue," said Paul Sanchirico of Cisco Systems, "is 'is my behavior affecting your experience?' When it's congested, I want to make sure I'm protecting everyone's experience. There's a greater good." Sanchirico suggested methods for improving network performance. Fundamental to maintaining quality of service (QoS) is establishing the prioritization of information packets. By marking the packets and then queuing them in certain parts of the bandwidth based upon their priority performance can be improved, Sanchirico said. The risk associated with this method, however, is that elimination of queued packets will be concurrent across the network, and create dangerous instability. He discussed a system, called Weighted Random Early Detection, that helps resolve this problem by dropping packets, again based upon their priority level, before destabilizing waves of network traffic appear.
benton.org/node/30466 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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NET NEUTRALITY AND FIRST AMENDMENT
[SOURCE: Balkinization, AUTHOR: Marvin Ammori]
[Commentary] Network neutrality is just one of the many important free speech questions being decided not in Supreme Court decisions but in laws yielding a "legislated First Amendment." Congress and the FCC enact these telecommunications, media, copyright, and privacy laws shaping our speech networks. These laws, effectively, make tweeting or posting on Balkinization more or less possible. Network neutrality, for example, ensures the Internet remains place where, in the Supreme Court's words, "any person with a phone line can become a town crier with a voice that resonates farther than it could from any soapbox." But both sides of the network neutrality debate invoke the First Amendment. On the one hand, network neutrality advocates argue that the policy advances First Amendment values through freedom of speech for all—democratic participation, autonomy, a marketplace of ideas, checking power, speech diversity. Network neutrality, in short, translates the First Amendment for the 21st Century. On the other hand, opponents claim that network neutrality violates the First Amendment rights of phone and cable companies. If the FCC gets it right, a network neutrality rule would preserve the practical freedom of speech Americans experience every day. The FCC's policy likely will have far greater effect on how Americans speak with one another and participate in our democracy than many Supreme Court cases anthologized in First Amendment textbooks. The FCC hearing next week will help highlight that point—and hopefully put a nail in the coffin of arguments around the First Amendment rights of cable and phone companies to block speech.
benton.org/node/30465 | Balkinization
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NET NEUTRALITY AND TV EVERYWHERE
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Marvin Ammori]
[Commentary] Internet TV could actually inject much-needed competition in a TV market long dominated by cable companies. Having more competitors in the game would lower prices, increase innovation, and create new job opportunities for entrepreneurs in the businesses they build. More importantly, with Americans watching Internet TV on their living-room TV television, TV becomes more democratic. Users would have more choice for speech and news. They could more easily share and tag video, and even produce their own channels without having to negotiate with and get a special deal from a cable operator. The cable operator would no longer be the gatekeeper of television. Cable companies (of course) don't want this threat of competition. They won't go down without a fight. In fact, cable companies have spent many years fighting the emergence of Internet TV. Let's review the three previous tactics, all of which have resulted in consumer outrage, draft legislation, and/or Federal Communications Commission proceedings.
benton.org/node/30464 | Huffington Post, The
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AT&T'S NET NEUTRALITY DOUBLETHINK
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Bill Snyder]
[Commentary] George Orwell would be proud of AT&T's latest series of ads. The company is attempting to convince us that it favors Net neutrality and an open Internet, when in fact it is lobbying hard for the opposite result. More than semantics are at stake here. The new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is moving to put teeth into a series of rules that would do much to guarantee real Net neutrality. Naturally, the big carriers oppose this. But given the political climate in the country and their companies' record of alienating consumers and businesses that need an open Internet, AT&T's spinmeisters know that it can't just come out and say what it really means. Instead, the company cleverly disguises its real intent with a campaign aimed at convincing the public that, as Orwell put it in "1984," ignorance is strength. OK, that's a bit harsh. But there is going to be a big fight about this in 2010, and whether we are IT professionals, consumers, or both, we need to know exactly what's going on.
benton.org/node/30463 | InfoWorld
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BROADBAND/INTERNET
OUR TECHNOLOGY IS NEW, OUR DEMOCRATIC CHALLENGE IS THE SAME
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Michael Copps]
Speaking at the Practising Law Institute, Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps said, "Folks are beginning to realize that all this talk about broadband is not just techno-speak from broadband geeks. More and more of us now understand that broadband-accessible, affordable, open broadband-is the Great Enabler of our time." He noted that broadband is a critical component to many of the great challenges the nation faces. He evoked the famous quote from Thomas Jefferson who when talking about newspapers said that, if given the choice, he would prefer newspapers without government over a government without newspapers. But offered the rest of the quote, too: "But I should mean that every man should receive those papers, and be capable of reading them." Commissioner Copps said, "Isn't that something? Jefferson is talking about deployment-getting those newspapers out ubiquitously. And he's talking about adoption-people knowing how to read, recognizing the value, and making use of the information infrastructure. Our technology is new -- our democratic challenge is exactly the same."
benton.org/node/30462 | Federal Communications Commission | WashPost
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WHO'LL DEFINE 'UNIVERSAL SERVICE'?
[SOURCE: Daily Yonder, AUTHOR: Sharon Strover, Nick Muntean]
[Commentary] Today, most of us think of "universal service" as a right — a moral, and frequently legal guarantee of a nation's citizenry to be provided with access to basic technological goods and services like electricity, telephone and, now, broadband. Yet the notion of universal service itself is not, in fact, universal. Not only has our nation's technological infrastructure changed dramatically throughout the past 150 years, so too have the rationales and interests of what universal service means. With Congress potentially set to redefine the legal criteria for universal service early next year, we might pause for a moment to reflect on the term's changing meanings and consider how universal service should be refashioned for the 21st century to best serve the pressing needs of rural communities. New definitions of universal service should be designed to provide quality, affordable telephone and broadband access to those citizens overlooked by the logic of the marketplace. We must ensure that universal service does not again simply become an empty slogan that legally protects and perpetuates the status quo.
benton.org/node/30485 | Daily Yonder
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BROADBAND PLAN MUST HAVE STATE AND LOCAL ROLES
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Chris Naoum]
Mayors and state elected officials emphasized the value and importance of local engagement in initiatives designed to promote high-speed Internet access at a Wednesday morning workshop at the Federal Communications Commission. Three Commissioners plus Chief Diversity Officer Mark Lloyd gathered to discuss the particular role that local and state governments have in promoting broadband for under-served communities. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn reminded the audience that that the local officials play a key role in recognizing where there are broadband gaps and in bridging the disconnect in trust between the communities and the federal policy makers. Eugene Grant, mayor of Seat Pleasant (MD) and vice president of the National Conference of Black Mayors, echoed Clyburn's words. He said mayors and city governments are in the best positions to assess needs of their communities, and to be the most proactive.
benton.org/node/30458 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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WORLD BANK OFFICIAL: COUNTRIES WANT BROADBAND INSIGHT
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Winter Casey]
Developing countries frequently ask the World Bank for advice on how to roll out a national broadband strategy, said a speaker Thursday at a Federal Communications Commission workshop on the benefits of global broadband connectivity. Valerie D'Costa of the World Bank's Information for Development Program said there is a need for more "creative and collaborative models to be developed" for developing countries to look to when considering a national broadband rollout. These models should focus on ways to be cost effective, pro-competitive and help grow local markets, said D'Costa. She previously served as director of the international division for Singapore's government agency charged with the development, promotion, and regulation of the countries information and communications technology sector. D'Costa said Singapore tends to look at broadband issues "holistically" and weighs how all related issues for one action will help the country and build up its connectivity. Singapore is strongly supportive of public-private partnerships, she added.
benton.org/node/30484 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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GOP SENATORS CALL BROADBAND STIMULUS PROJECTS QUESTIONABLE
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: ]
Sens John McCain (R-AZ) Tom Coburn (R-OK) are claiming that a number of stimulus funds allocated to technology-related projects have been wasted, mismanaged, or directed toward shortsighted projects. According to the lawmakers, poor investment choices include funding for a broadband Internet infrastructure map, a digital television ad campaign and a California computer system. The lawmakers claim that the $350 million awarded to states from the Department of Commerce to build a map of its broadband Internet infrastructure, duplicates existing maps. "Rather than spend $350 million on the project, one firm said it could map the whole nation for $3.5 million - one percent of the cost. Or, anyone with a computer could Google it - for free," concludes a summary of the report.
benton.org/node/30491 | BroadbandBreakfast.com | Senators' report
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TWO INTERNET POLICY GROUPS STRENGTHEN TIES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Geoffrey Fowler]
Two organizations that help set technical policy for the Internet are strengthening their ties. The Internet Society, known as ISOC, plans to donate $2.5 million over three years to the World Wide Web Consortium, known as W3C, to aid its development efforts, the groups said. The groups also plan to work more closely together. Both organizations promote what they call open technical standards, which are free for use by anyone, as opposed to technology developed and controlled by individual companies. For example, the W3C—which oversees the programming language used by Web sites—says its efforts help prevent sites from working on only one Web browser. The W3C is also working now to develop standards for sharing video files over the Web.
benton.org/node/30490 | Wall Street Journal
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WIRELESS
FCC NEEDS TO IMPROVE OVERSIGHT OF WIRELESS PHONE SERVICE
[SOURCE: Government Accountability Office, AUTHOR: Mark Goldstein]
The Government Accountability Office surveyed adult wireless phone users and found 84 percent of users are very or somewhat satisfied with their wireless phone service. But GAO's survey results and analysis of Federal Communications Commission complaint data indicate that some wireless phone service consumers have experienced problems with billing, certain contract terms, and customer service. While the percentages of dissatisfied users appear small, given the widespread use of wireless phones, these percentages represent millions of consumers. To improve wireless phone service oversight, GAO recommends that the FCC should improve its outreach to consumers about its complaint process, related performance goals and measures, and monitoring of complaints. To improve coordination with states in providing oversight, the FCC should develop guidance on federal and state oversight roles, seeking statutory authority from Congress if needed, and develop policies for communicating with states. GAO conducted the report in response to a request by Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) when he chaired the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. Rep Markey requested that GAO review consumers' satisfaction and problems with wireless phone service and efforts to oversee consumer complaints.[more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/30486 | Government Accountability Office | Highlights | See GAO survey | House Commerce Committee | CongressDaily
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SEVEN SMARTPHONE PREDICTIONS
[SOURCE: Computerworld, AUTHOR: Matt Hamblen]
What will happen with smartphones in 2010? 1) Smartphones will grab an even bigger share of the overall mobile phone market. 2) AT&T will lose its exclusive rights to sell the iPhone. 3) The Android mobile operating system will take off. 4) Mobile application stores will continue to balloon. 5) Location-based services will get their due on smartphones. 6) The Federal Communications Commission will compromise with wireless carriers on network neutrality. Regulators will give wireless carriers some sort of permission to restrict huge data downloads by a few users who sap bandwidth from the vast majority of users. The result will be that carriers will inevitably charge much more for large data downloads. 7) More types of devices, like e-readers, will emerge.
benton.org/node/30453 | ComputerWorld
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HOW AT&T MAY LIMIT YOUR MOBILE DATA
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Mobile operators are overwhelmed by data usage on their networks, but rightly fear that implementing restrictions could lead to widespread public dissent, or even worse, force users to suddenly stop using the oh-so-profitable mobile data services. Instead of beating bandwidth hogs with a stick, perhaps they can offer a carrot to get them to take it easy on the network. Carriers have more tools now than ever to train users to think of mobile broadband as a scarce resource rather than a fat pipe for everything. So instead of forbidding video across the network or applying caps, carriers like AT&T could implement tiers of data usage that offer fast service for VoIP, video and web surfing for up to a certain number of gigabytes. The high-end plan could offer 5GB per month, and after that point users could pay more to keep their traffic flowing along quickly or they could surf at best-effort rates.
benton.org/node/30480 | GigaOm
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DIGITAL CONTENT
APPLE PLOTS REBOOT OF ITUNES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ethan Smith, Yukari Iwatani Kane]
Apparently, Apple, the company that restructured the music industry around its iTunes service, is exploring an overhaul of the way it sells and stores music that is aimed at extending its influence to the Web. The key vehicle for the move is Apple's newly acquired music-streaming service La La Media Inc. for which Apple paid $85 million. Where Apple's iTunes requires users to download music onto a specific computer, Lala.com lets users buy and listen to music through a Web browser, meaning its customers can access purchases from anywhere, as long as they are connected to the Internet. Apple is considering adopting that same model for songs sold on iTunes, a change that would give consumers more ways to access and manage their iTunes purchases—and wouldn't require them to download Apple's software or their purchases. That new business model extends Apple's grip on the music business, giving it the ability to sell music through search engines and other Web sites and broaden its reach beyond people who come to its virtual store. Apple's acquisition and integration of Lala reflects not just a shift in strategy for the company, but a paradigm shift for music consumption. Here's how: 1) Browser-based services are eclipsing desktop software as a way to hear music on a computer. 2) Apple is threatened by mobile applications that do what iTunes cannot. 3) The transition toward streaming rather than owning is slow, but real. 4) Apple is still betting on owning music in a new way, rather than subscribing to it. 5) Older MP3 players aren't connected to the future. Lala's model becomes much stronger inside of Apple's system, while Apple gains flexibility to give music fans more options. Just as the turn of the last decade marked a shift to MP3s from CDs, as the aughts draw to a close, consumers are ready for cloud-based music to displace file ownership, partially if not completely. And with this acquisition, digital music's largest player is accepting that change.
benton.org/node/30481 | Wall Street Journal | GigaOm
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EFF VOICES CONCERNS ABOUT FACEBOOK PRIVACY
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Robert McMillan]
Facebook's revamped privacy settings will push more user data onto the Internet and, in some cases, make privacy protection harder for Facebook users, digital civil liberties experts said. While acknowledging that many of the changes unveiled Wednesday will be good for privacy, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Attorney Kevin Bankston said the social-networking giant is also removing some important privacy controls that it should have kept. "I think you're better off in some ways and worse off in some ways," he said. "It's really a mixed bag." Ari Schwartz, chief operating officer of the Center for Democracy and Technology, offered a similarly mixed review. According to him, giving people more control over who sees their individual posts is a good thing, but the new default privacy settings will push a lot more information into the public realm. That "actually has a negative effect on privacy," he said.
benton.org/node/30461 | IDG News Service | Washington Post | Inside Facebook
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APPLE, GOOGLE RIVALRY HEATS UP
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jessica Vascellaro, Yukari Iwatani Kane]
Google Inc. and Apple Inc., which have long thrived without treading on one another's turf, are vying to acquire some of the same Silicon Valley start-ups and developing products that put themselves in more direct competition. Google was in serious discussions to acquire online-music company La La Media Inc. before Apple won the deal this month for $85 million, people familiar with the matter said. Apple also pursued a deal for mobile-advertising company AdMob Inc. say people familiar with the matter; Google agreed to buy the start-up in November for $750 million. The twin pursuit of the start-ups reveal that the two tech titans have further plans to move deeper into each other's business: Apple wanted to get into advertising, while Google sought a music service.
benton.org/node/30489 | Wall Street Journal
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AOL FINALLY REGAINS INDEPENDENCE FROM TIME WARNER
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR:]
AOL resumed life as an independent Internet company Thursday as it completed its spinoff from Time Warner Inc. and closed the book on one of the most disastrous business combinations in history. Today's AOL is much different from the company once known as America Online, which got big in the 1990s by selling dial-up Internet access and then used $147 billion of its inflated stock to buy Time Warner. AOL, which is now worth about $2 billion, is trying to get most of its money from running advertisements on its portfolio of Web sites. Those sites include the AOL.com home pages, Mapquest and tech blog Engadget. AOL isn't keeping the entertainment site TMZ, which is staying in Time Warner. When AOL bought Time Warner in 2001, the companies bet that Time Warner's TV and magazine content would complement AOL's Internet business. Instead, broadband Internet connections began to kill off AOL's main source of revenue and drag down the whole company. The company was once known as AOL Time Warner but dropped AOL from the name in 2003. That was a sign of what was to come: Time Warner announced AOL's spinoff last May after years of trying to integrate the two companies. Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes issued a "goodbye and don't let the door hit you on the way out" memo acknowledging the official spinoff of AOL and reiterating the company's commitment to content.
benton.org/node/30488 | Associated Press | www.latimes.com
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TENSION MOUNTS IN E-READER SAGA
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
E-readers, those thin, portable devices that can hold the texts of hundreds of books and newspapers, were supposed to be a feel-good story for consumers this holiday season. Amazon dropped the price of its Kindle — which dominates the market — by about $40 to $260 as competitors introduced comparably priced alternatives. There also are Barnes & Noble's Nook, an expanded line of Sony Reader models and others from companies including Irex, Spring Design, Netronix and iRiver. Sales are expected to soar for the devices, which display text on a screen about the size of a paperback. So everyone lives happily ever after with a technology that could change how we read, right? Hardly. The e-reader saga is turning into a business thriller, as publishers and consumer electronics companies try to stop Amazon from amassing more power in this fast-growing field. It broke the digital market wide open in 2007 when it released the Kindle and offered thousands of e-books, including best sellers, priced at $10. Publishers "don't want Amazon to be the only game in town," says Jim Milliot, senior editor at Publishers Weekly. "They view e-books and e-book readers as inevitable, but they don't really know how it's going to shake out."
benton.org/node/30487 | USAToday | Price comparison
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BUDGET AND MONEY
TECH IN BUDGET
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Bob Brewin]
Among the high points for information technology in the Consolidated Appropriations Act approved by the House on Thursday are: 1) appropriations for the Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor and State departments, 2) a mandate that the Federal Communications Commission conduct an auction of cellular spectrum so police and fire departments nationwide could have their own interoperable communications network, 3) Justice received most of what it requested for its Tactical Law Enforcement Wireless Communications project, receiving $206.1 million for fiscal 2010, and boosted the budget for the Integrated Wireless Network by $21.1 million, with the condition that the money be spent on modernization of land mobile radio systems and not cellular systems, 4) a $140.3 million cybersecurity budget for the FBI, 5) $27.4 million for cybersecurity funding for Justice, and 5) $61.3 million for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
benton.org/node/30479 | nextgov | The Hill
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TELEVISION
ARE STATIONS MEETING E/I OBLIGATIONS?
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Children Now and the United Church of Christ have asked Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski to act on two complaints pending for four and five years, respectively, challenging the shows a trio of TV stations offered up as meeting FCC educational kids show requirements. Chairman Genachowski has opened a proceeding into content control technologies as part of a broader review of kids TV rules in the digital age. In a letter to the chairman, the groups note the proceeding, but push for resolution of their petitions to deny license renewals for three stations to both demonstrate that the FCC is serious about its educational/informational (E/I) requirement and to give broadcasters more guidance on what will and won't pass muster. UCC and Children Now have long been critical of the self-certification process and of the shows broadcasters argue are E/I compliant. That self-certification has led to some interesting calls, including billing The Flintstones as a history lesson or a baseball pre-game show as educational because it teaches how to throw a curve ball.
benton.org/node/30482 | Multichannel News
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SPECTRUM, KIDS TV HIGH ON FCC'S AGENDA
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Michael Berg]
In the main 2009 legislation to jump-start the ailing economy, Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission to recommend a first-ever comprehensive National Broadband Plan to Congress by Feb. 17, 2010. As a result, development of the plan has been the main focus of the new FCC headed since June 29 by Chairman Julius Genachowski. Indicators of this broadband focus include, so far, more than two dozen proceedings soliciting public comment and about 40 workshops and hearings where expert witnesses have testified on a wide range of broadband-related topics, all to inform the commissioners and FCC staff who will develop and present the plan 10 weeks from now. Either as part of the wide-ranging broadband activity or in addition to it, the FCC has several open proceedings focusing on aspects of TV broadcasting: 1) Relinquishing of TV Broadcast Spectrum for Wireless Broadband Uses and 2) Empowering Parents and Protecting Children in an Evolving Media Landscape.
benton.org/node/30492 | TVNewsCheck
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POLICYMAKERS
NEW STAFF AT FCC
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the appointment of Joel Gurin as Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Thomas Wyatt as Chief of the Office of Workplace Diversity. Stuart Benjamin will be joining the Commission as the agency's first Distinguished Scholar in Residence. He will reside in the Office of Strategic Planning and will work on spectrum reform, First Amendment issues, and long-term strategy.[more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/30460 | Federal Communications Commission
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NEW NIST DIRECTOR
[SOURCE: Government Computer News, AUTHOR: William Jackson]
Patrick Gallagher, confirmed last month as director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, believes the agency he is taking over has become an economic enabler for a nation increasingly dependent on information technology and the ability to securely share and use information. "I find NIST to be at a critical juncture right now," Gallagher said. "It is 108 years old with a more important mission than ever: Ensuring trust in the exchange of data." For evidence, Gallagher points to the growth of cybersecurity as a high profile issue during the past decade and it has become a primary concern of NIST's largest laboratory. New projects such as Smart Grid technology and health IT also have become priorities for sustainable economic development. Gallagher said this type of rapid development of technical capabilities will become more common as we increasingly depend on science and technology to solve our problems.
benton.org/node/30454 | Government Computer News
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