BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2010
We're back, but still catching up. We'll post additional stories today at http://bit.ly/2C0hLW
Today's agenda includes Network Neutrality, Cybersecurity, and Media Ownership http://bit.ly/91vOlq
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC Takes a Close Look at the Unwired
Broadband carriers speak out against FCC regulation
Utility Regulators Propose Key Tweaks In FCC Net Neutrality Proposal
Members of Parliament attack planned broadband tax
CYBERSECURITY
US experts close in on Google hackers
Google Set to Resume Talks With Chinese Officials
PRIVACY
Federal Trade Commission links wide data breach to file sharing
New breed of social sites offer less privacy
Google Buzz may put children at risk, parents fear
OWNERSHIP
Sen. Al Franken wants all Comcast and NBC content available online
Feingold Offers Tough Written Follow-Up to Zucker, Roberts
CBS: Unlikely Guerrilla on The Internet
Apple Bans Some Apps for Sex-Tinged Content
HEALTH
Lab rats with cellphones?
UN warns about tech waste in developing world
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC TAKES A CLOSE LOOK AT THE UNWIRED
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter, Jenna Wortham]
For many Americans, having high-speed access to the Internet at home is as vital as electricity, heat and water. And yet about one-third of the population, 93 million people, have elected not to connect. A comprehensive survey by the Federal Communications Commission found several barriers to entry, with broadband prices looming largest. The commission will release the findings on Tuesday and employ them as it submits a national broadband plan to Congress next month. Of the 93 million persons without broadband identified by the study, about 80 million are adults. Small numbers of them access the Internet by dial-up connections, or outside the home at places like offices or libraries, but most never log on anywhere. In a world of digital information, these people are "at a distinct disadvantage," said John Horrigan, who oversaw the survey for the FCC. Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the FCC, is promoting faster and more pervasive broadband infrastructure as a tenet of economic growth and democracy. The study, conducted last fall, interviewed 5,005 residents by telephone. It indicates that the gap in access is no longer between slower dial-up and faster broadband; the overwhelming majority of people who have Internet access have broadband.
benton.org/node/32406 | New York Times | AP
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BROADBAND CARRIERS OPPOSE RECLASSIFICATION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
The nation's largest Internet service providers on Monday warned the Federal Communications Commission against any possible move that would put them more clearly under the agency's jurisdiction, saying that doing so could deter their investments in broadband networks. The comments from AT&T and Verizon Communications come as the FCC awaits a pivotal decision from a federal appeals court that could undercut the agency's authority over those companies' Internet businesses. A ruling against the agency would likely derail FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's signature policy objectives, including open-Internet rules and the reform of an $8 billion rural telephone fund to provide broadband access in underserved parts of the country. Public Knowledge, a group that advocates digital rights, has urged the FCC to classify those Internet service providers alongside telephone services, which are firmly under the agency's purview. Some analysts say the agency would have to reclassify those services in order to remain relevant as the Web becomes a primary vehicle for communication and entertainment. In a 14-page letter to the agency, AT&T and Verizon were joined by trade groups CTIA and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. They argue that such a move would be "extremist," entailing too many onerous rules for the fast-moving broadband industry.
benton.org/node/32405 | Washington Post | Bloomberg
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NARUC NET NEUTRALITY RESOLUTION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
At its winter meeting in Washington this month, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners sent the Federal Communications Commission a signal that it has its own take on how it should implement network neutrality regulations, which includes applying them to wireless as well as wired broadband. While the group said it supported such regulations, NARUC had a slightly different take on them. The FCC has proposed codifying its four network openness guidelines and adding a fifth nondiscrimination principle and a sixth on disclosure. NARUC supports the four existing principles and the sixth, as well as the fifth if modified to be an "unreasonable discrimination" principle and applied uniformly across delivery platforms. According to a resolution adopted by NARUC, it believes that unrestricted access to content should be provided without "unreasonable discrimination as to lawful choice of content." The FCC has called for a "reasonable network management" carve out, but has used the term "nondiscriminatory," for its fifth principle, which network operators are concerned could tip the scales toward preventing some network management practices necessary to prevent bottlenecks or sustain business models. But NARUC also made clear what it considers unreasonable discrimination, which includes "blocking VoIP applications, denying access to political content, or implementing technical measures that degrade the performance of peer-to-peer software distributing lawful content."
benton.org/node/32404 | Broadcasting&Cable
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PARLIAMENT ATTACKS PROPOSED BROADBAND TAX
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Tim Bradshaw]
The UK government's planned 50 pence monthly tax on telephone lines to pay for superfast broadband has been criticized by a Labour-dominated group of Members of Parliament. The Commons Business Committee said the new tax -- a centerpiece of June's Digital Britain report -- would unduly hit poorer families who were unlikely to pay for faster broadband. It said the "regressive" tax would "place a disproportionate cost on a majority who will not, or are unable to, reap the benefits of that charge". The committee's report also said the scheme, which is expected to raise £175m per year, could distort the market.
benton.org/node/32395 | Financial Times
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CYBERSECURITY
US EXPERTS CLOSE IN ON GOOGLE HACKERS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Joseph Menn]
US analysts believe they have identified the Chinese author of the critical programming code used in the alleged state-sponsored hacking attacks on Google and other western companies, making it far harder for the Chinese government to deny involvement. Their discovery came after another team of investigators tracked the launch of the spyware to computers inside two educational institutions in China, one of them with close ties to the military. A freelance security consultant in his 30s wrote the part of the program that used a previously unknown security hole in the Internet Explorer web browser to break into computers and insert the spyware, a researcher working for the US government said. Chinese officials had special access to the work of the author, who posted pieces of the program to a hacking forum and described it as something he was "working on". The developments will add to the furor over the hacking campaign, revealed last month when Google said its systems had been compromised. It threatened to pull out of China, and secretary of state Hillary Clinton asked the Chinese foreign minister for a probe.
benton.org/node/32403 | Financial Times
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GOOGLE SET TO RESUME TALKS WITH CHINA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jessica Vascellaro]
Google representatives are scheduled to resume discussions in coming days with Chinese officials about the fate of Google's China business, said people briefed on the matter. The schedule and the status of the talks, which are being picked up after a break for the Chinese New Year holiday, are unclear. Among the range of Google officials handling the talks on the ground is Google policy executive Ross LaJeunesse, said people familiar with the matter. Any resolution to the matter of whether Google will be able to operate an unfiltered search engine in the country is likely to be weeks away, said one of the people.
benton.org/node/32402 | Wall Street Journal
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PRIVACY
FTC LINKS DATA BREACH WITH FILE SHARING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
The Federal Trade Commission said Monday that it has uncovered widespread data breaches at companies, schools and local governments whose employees are swapping music, software and movie files over the Internet. The consumer protection agency said it sent nearly 100 letters to organizations where information on customers and employees -- including health and financial data and Social Security and driver's license numbers -- leaked through peer-to-peer Web services. It warned that the security breaches could lead to identity fraud or theft, and it recommended that the groups review their policies and inform affected users. "Unfortunately, companies and institutions of all sizes are vulnerable to serious P2P-related breaches, placing consumers' sensitive information at risk," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a news release. The agency said it has launched separate investigations of some companies as a result of its file-swapping inquiry, but it declined to name those firms or detail the scope of the probes. "Companies should take a hard look at their systems to ensure that there are no unauthorized P2P file-sharing programs and that authorized programs are properly configured and secure," he said. Privacy and consumer advocates have long urged regulators to address the risks posed by peer-to-peer networks. They say that, for example, an employee at a commercial firm could inadvertently publicize unsecured customer data by using a work computer to download music from a Web service such as BitTorrent, BearShare or LimeWire. Those and other peer-to-peer protocols allow users to grab unsecured files from other users' computers. Unless a company protects its data, many sensitive files could get in the wrong hands.
benton.org/node/32401 | Washington Post
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LESS PRIVACY ONLINE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: David Gelles]
While many Internet users are fretting about preserving their online privacy in the age of social networking, a new breed of digital natives is actively stripping away the last vestiges of anonymity. They are broadcasting their thoughts, plans and even their locations and purchases to the web, using new services that post intimate personal information in real time. What began with status updates on Facebook and Twitter has evolved into services such as Blippy, a website which automatically publishes everything a user buys with a credit card to a short, Twitter-like feed for all to see. Launched in December, Blippy has gathered more than 10,000 users who share information on about $250,000 worth of purchases a day.
benton.org/node/32400 | Financial Times
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GOOGLE BUZZ AND CHILDREN
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jessica Guynn]
Parents and privacy watchdogs are sounding the alarm that Google's new social networking tool, called Buzz, may put children at risk. Google had already drawn sharp criticism from privacy watchdogs for the way it rolled out Buzz in millions of Gmail accounts. Privacy expert Kathryn Montgomery, a professor at American University, urged the Federal Trade Commission to address the potential risks to kids. "Google Buzz is a new danger zone for children," Montgomery said. Google said it had no specific plans to tweak Buzz in response to parents' privacy concerns. In a statement, spokesman Scott Rubin said: "We designed Buzz to make it easy to have conversations with your friends about the things that interest you. Keeping kids safe online is very important to us." It can also be tricky. Privacy watchdogs have successfully hounded social networks in the past for not taking sufficient steps to protect children from predators and other dangers. By adding Buzz to its popular e-mail service, Google has brought new attention to how kids use Gmail and raised questions about how they may use it.
benton.org/node/32399 | Los Angeles Times
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OWNERSHIP
FRANKEN WANTS COMCAST-NBC CONTENT ONLINE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Joe Flint]
In written questions to Comcast and NBC Universal regarding their $30-billion proposed marriage, Sen Al Franken -- who has been one of the harshest critics of the deal -- wants Comcast and NBC Universal to promise that it will put all its television shows online. He also wants assurances that shows that the companies put online be made available to every one and not just people who get their Internet service through Comcast. As Sen Franken notes in his questions to the two companies, "The Internet is the future of the media business." The media is pretty much in agreement with that. At the same time, though, the industry is not quite sure yet how to ensure that the Internet isn't also the end of the media business. Whether it is through charging for more content online or adding more advertising or being more selective with what goes online will be determined in the years to come.
benton.org/node/32398 | Los Angeles Times
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FEINGOLD OFFERS TOUGH WRITTEN FOLLOW-UP TO ZUCKER, ROBERTS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sen Russ Feingold (D-WI) had some toughly-worded questions for Comcast and NBCU in a written follow-up to a Hill hearing on the proposed deal, including asking if the companies would be willing to divest all their Internet TV interests, stop bundling channels, and tie cable rate increases to the rate of inflation. It is essentially an anti-media consolidation wish list, according to a copy of written questions submitted to the witnesses following a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing two weeks ago. At that hearing, Feingold raised concerns about the deal with witnesses that included Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts and NBCU President Jeff Zucker. The tone of the written questions was decidedly accusatory.
benton.org/node/32397 | Broadcasting&Cable
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CBS: UNLIKELY GUERRILLA ON THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Martin Peers]
Could CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves be turning into a digital revolutionary? Long an advocate of broadcast television, Moonves would appear to be squarely in the old-media camp. Even so, in recent years he has shown a greater willingness than most of his peers to experiment with digital delivery. CBS has put its programming out on the Web through hundreds of outlets, including Netflix and Web-enabled TV devices. Moonves said last week that CBS is willing to cut the price of shows it sells on Apple's iTunes to 99 cents. Of course, it is easier for CBS to take risks because it doesn't own a big portfolio of cable channels that generate fees from cable and satellite operators. But that is the point. Its lack of big cable channels is arguably now more a strength than a weakness, freeing CBS to try new things. Moreover, because CBS relies for most of its revenue on advertising and sales of its programs to other outlets, it has little choice but to focus on top-rated programming. Other companies, in contrast, generate fee revenue from low-rated channels because they are bundled with bigger ones.
benton.org/node/32396 | Wall Street Journal
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APPLE BANS RACY CONTENT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jenna Wortham]
Apple has started banning many applications for its iPhone that feature sexually suggestive material, including photos of women in bikinis and lingerie, a move that came as an abrupt surprise to developers who had been profiting from such programs. The company's decision to remove the applications from its App Store over the last few days indicates that it is not interested in giving up its tight control over the software available there, even as competitors like Google take a more hands-off approach. When asked about the change, Apple said it was responding to complaints from App Store users. Among the victims of the purge was a game called SlideHer, a puzzle that challenged users to reassemble a photograph of a scantily clad actress. Another, Sexy Scratch Off, depicted a woman whose dress could be whisked away at the swipe of a finger, revealing her undergarments. Such programs often appeared on the store's list of most-downloaded apps.
benton.org/node/32394 | New York Times
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HEALTH
LAB RATS WITH CELLPHONES?
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Christopher Ketcham]
[Commentary] We love our digital gadgets -- "magic" devices that define cool and promise to remake our lives for the better. But there is growing evidence of a dark side to the techno-magic. Your cellphone, and any other wireless device that depends on electromagnetic (EM) microwave radiation to function, may be hazardous to your health. Most of the bad news comes from major labs and research institutions in Europe. What they're reporting is that using cellphones and Wi-Fi transmitters -- which operate using similar frequencies -- can have biological effects on the brain and body. The scientific debate remains heated and far from resolved. But the research to date suggests a number of chilling possibilities as to what EM radiation may be doing to us.
benton.org/node/32393 | Los Angeles Times
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US WARNS ABOUT TECH WASTE
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Jim Gomez, Rod McGuirk]
Sales of household electrical gadgets will boom across the developing world in the next decade, wreaking environmental havoc if there are no new strategies to deal with the discarded TVs, cell phones and computers, a United Nations report said Monday. The environmental and health hazards posed by the globe's mounting electronic waste are particularly urgent in developing countries, which are already dumping grounds for rich nations' high-tech trash, the U.N. Environment Program study said. Electronic waste is piling up around the world at a rate estimated at 40 million U.S. tons (36 million metric tons) a year, the report said, noting that data remain insufficient. China produces 2.6 million U.S. tons (2.3 million metric tons) of electronic waste a year, second only to the United States with 3.3 million U.S. tons (3 million metric tons), it said. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said the globe was ill-prepared to deal with the explosion of electronic gadgets over the past decade.
benton.org/node/32392 | Associated Press
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