BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012
FCC open meeting and Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition conference today http://benton.org/calendar/2012-05-24/
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Presidential Memorandum -- Building a 21st Century Digital Government - public notice
FBI quietly forms secretive network surveillance unit
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Technical Advisory Board For First Responder Interoperability Submits Report to FCC - public notice
OWNERSHIP
Who really won in Facebook's IPO mess - analysis
Questions of Fair Play Arise in Facebook’s IPO Process
Some Big Firms Got Facebook Warning [links to web]
Did banks cross the line in Facebook research calls?
Will Mr. Zuckerberg Have to Go to Washington? - analysis [links to web]
Investors File Suit Against Facebook, Underwriters
Lawmakers look into Facebook IPO
Mark Zuckerberg earns $1.1 billion from selling Facebook shares [links to web]
Jury: Google did not infringe Oracle patents with Android
Motorola Is Now the Apple of Google's Eye
Deutsche Telekom CEO Says T-Mobile USA Merger Is Option
Chicago Sun-Times parent buys Chicago Reader [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
FCC Chairman: Government Airwaves Could Be Answer To Spectrum Crunch
AT&T Shuffles Resources in New York in Push for Faster Data, Fewer Dropped Calls [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
A Most Egregious Act? The Impact on Consumers of Usage-Based Pricing - analysis
Playing to Win: A Google Fiber Playbook for Kansas City - press release
CYBERSECURITY
Electricity Subsector Cybersecurity Risk Management Process - public notice
Al Qaeda Video Calls for Electronic Jihad on Government Computers [links to web]
PRIVACY
New ways to track you via your mobile devices: Big Brother or good business?
TELEVISION
Advocates support Aereo TV
Comcast Asks FCC to Revoke Boston's New License to Reregulate Rates
Local Cable Grows Political Ad Dollars [links to web]
CONTENT
Chamber study finds intellectual property industries produce $5 trillion [links to web]
Ballmer Says China Intellectual Rights Protection ‘Weak’ [links to web]
JOURNALISM
What you know depends on what you watch: Current events knowledge across popular news sources - research
Chicago Sun-Times parent buys Chicago Reader [links to web]
RESEARCH
How Thomas Edison, Mark Zuckerberg and Iron Man are holding back American innovation - analysis
US Supreme Court takes on broad software and method patents, sort of
AGENDA
FCC Announces Tentative Agenda For June Open Meeting - press release
House Subcommittee to hold hearing on international control of the Internet [links to web]
A new frontier for wireless medical devices? [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
The Competition Versus Google - editorial
Google resolute in face of EU ultimatum [links to web]
French Data Regulators to Google: How About Making Your Answers to Our Questions Universally Accessible and Useful?
Google slammed over copyright stance [links to web]
Ballmer Says China Intellectual Rights Protection ‘Weak’ [links to web]
Smartphones Threaten China Web Profit [links to web]
Mexicans Protest Ties Between Politics, Media [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
H-P Shows Age With Layoffs [links to web]
Is Facebook An Advertising Medium? - op-ed [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
BUILDING A 21ST CENTURY DIGITAL GOVERNMENT
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: President Barack Obama]
As the next step toward modernizing the way Government works, I charged my Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) with developing a comprehensive Government-wide strategy to build a 21st century digital Government that delivers better digital services to the American people. Today, the CIO is releasing that strategy, entitled "Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People" (Strategy), which provides agencies with a 12-month roadmap that focuses on several priority areas. The Strategy will enable more efficient and coordinated digital service delivery by requiring agencies to establish specific, measurable goals for delivering better digital services; encouraging agencies to deliver information in new ways that fully utilize the power and potential of mobile and web-based technologies; ensuring the safe and secure delivery and use of digital services to protect information and privacy; requiring agencies to establish central online resources for outside developers and to adopt new standards for making applicable Government information open and machine-readable by default;
aggregating agencies' online resource pages for developers in a centralized catalogue on www.Data.gov; and requiring agencies to use web performance analytics and customer satisfaction measurement tools on all ".gov" websites.
Ultimately, this Strategy will ensure that agencies use emerging technologies to serve the public as effectively as possible. As a Government, and as a trusted provider of services, we must never forget who our customers are -- the American people.
In order to ensure that agencies make the best use of emerging technologies in serving the public, I hereby direct each agency to take the following actions:
(1) implement the requirements of the Strategy within 12 months of the date of this memorandum and comply with the timeframes for specific actions specified therein; and
(2) within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, create a page on its website, located at www.[agency].gov/digitalstrategy, to publicly report progress in meeting the requirements of the Strategy in a machine-readable format.
benton.org/node/124085 | White House, The | CIO Steven VanRoekel | read the strategy | The Hill
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NETWORK SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh]
The FBI has recently formed a secretive surveillance unit with an ambitious goal: to invent technology that will let police more readily eavesdrop on Internet and wireless communications.
The establishment of the Quantico (VA)-based unit, which is also staffed by agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency, is a response to technological developments that FBI officials believe outpace law enforcement's ability to listen in on private communications. While the FBI has been tight-lipped about the creation of its Domestic Communications Assistance Center, or DCAC -- it declined to respond to requests made two days ago about who's running it, for instance -- CNET has pieced together information about its operations through interviews and a review of internal government documents.
benton.org/node/124068 | C-Net|News.com
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD FOR FIRST RESPONDER INTEROPERABILITY SUBMITS REPORT TO FCC
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Technical Advisory Board for First Responder Interoperability was established by the Federal Communications Commission pursuant to Title VI of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Spectrum Act). The Interoperability Board was required to develop recommendations for minimum technical requirements to ensure a nationwide level of interoperability for the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN) and submit those recommendations to the FCC. The recommendations are to be ultimately submitted to the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet). Meeting its statutory requirements, the Interoperability Board formally submitted their recommendations to the FCC on May 22, 2012.
The Interoperability Board worked in consultation with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the National Institute for Standards and Technology, and the Office of Emergency Communications of the Department of Homeland Security. The Interoperability Board also used subject matter experts (SMEs), from both inside and outside the members’ organizations, which proved to be critical to the quality of the Board’s work. The Board’s commitment to seeking the broadest possible input within its constrained schedule aided them it developing a complete set of recommended minimum technical requirements within the scope of the Spectrum Act. These requirements not only seek nationwide interoperability but set a minimal baseline that, if
adhered to, can further an interoperable, multi-vendor network for first responders.
benton.org/node/124070 | Federal Communications Commission | FCC Public Notice
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OWNERSHIP
WHO REALLY WON?
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Allan Sloan]
[Commentary] When Mark Zuckerberg's stated mission to connect and empower people collides with Wall Street's actual mission, which is to empower and enrich the well-connected, guess which mission prevails? Wall Street's, hands down. That's the lesson we can take from the debacle of Facebook's initial public stock offering. It's really sort of funny, if you're into dark financial humor. Facebook (FB) and its underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley, whipped up enthusiasm for the offering, whose initial price range was $28 to $35 a share, but ultimately was increased to $38. Buyers were salivating. The buzz about the offering was deafening. Then, at the last-minute, some big investors were reportedly given access to an analysis saying that the company's prospects weren't quite as rosy as the picture painted in its early disclosure documents. So the big guys, it appears, cut back or even canceled their orders to buy shares in the offering. This late-in-the-game burst of activity may even have had something to do with the Nasdaq foul up that roiled trading May 18, the day the stock debuted. The exit of the well-connected, combined with an increase in the number of shares being offered, left more shares available for individual investors, who paid the full retail price of $38. Then, they got to watch the stock's sickening slide. The well-connected who canceled their IPO orders -- all of which, I'm sure, is perfectly legal on everyone's part -- have had a chance to buy stock in the low 30s rather than at $38.
benton.org/node/124083 | Fortune
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QUESTIONS OF FAIR PLAY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Evelyn Rusli, Ben Protess, Michael de la Merced]
As Washington intensifies its scrutiny of the initial public offering of Facebook, the company’s bankers are facing questions about whether the process — even if perfectly legal — was fair. The concerns center on Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other banks involved in the IPO that shared a negative outlook about Facebook with a select group of clients, rather than broadly with all investors. In the days leading up to Facebook’s debut, analysts at several banks ratcheted down their growth estimates for the social network. The move came after the company told them that quarterly and annual revenue would be on the softer side, said people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly. As is typical in the I.P.O. process, research analysts at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other firms contacted certain clients to discuss their revised expectations, while other big investors called on the banks to get their new take. But ordinary mom-and-pop investors did not have the same access to the valuable information. Now, regulators and lawmakers are taking a closer look. This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division opened a preliminary inquiry into the Facebook offering, a person briefed on the matter said. The Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee have also started informal examinations into the I.P.O. process. The scope of the S.E.C. inquiry is unclear, though the agency’s market abuse unit could examine how nonpublic information was disseminated to certain investors — and whether it conflicted with the company’s public disclosures and regulatory filings. One person close to the matter added that the agency has also heard complaints from investors who did not know how many shares they held, amid technical missteps at the Nasdaq exchange.
benton.org/node/124126 | New York Times
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DID BANKS CROSS THE LINE?
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Andrew Longstreth]
As regulators scrutinize Facebook's problem-plagued stock market debut, they may have to confront areas of securities law that do not always clearly spell out what industry analysts are allowed to tell clients about companies on the verge of going public. Facebook and the Wall Street banks that underwrote its $16 billion initial public offering are facing questions about how and why stock analysts decided to cut their financial forecasts on the company ahead of the IPO. An Internet analyst at lead underwriter Morgan Stanley told clients days before the offering that he had reduced his revenue projections - information that some other investors may not have received. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, which were underwriters on the deal as well, also revised their estimates during Facebook's IPO road show.
benton.org/node/124082 | Reuters
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INVESTOR SUIT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: David Benoit]
Three Facebook investors filed a civil lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, alleging the company and its underwriters failed to properly disclose changes to analysts' forecasts made at the underwriting banks. The suit follows reports that analysts at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group cut their revenue forecasts on Facebook amid the investor roadshow, a change that wasn't widely disseminated. Late May 22, Massachusetts sent a subpoena to Morgan Stanley following the reports. Several other plaintiffs' lawyers have said they filed suits over the offering in other courts throughout the country, but Wednesday's investor suit focused specifically on the revelations about the analysts' changes. The investor suit, which is seeking class-action status, alleges changes made to Facebook's offering document a week before the IPO priced didn't accurately portray the impact on Facebook's revenue growth. Facebook had said in an amended filing that its mobile users were growing rapidly in the second quarter but that advertising revenue wasn't keeping pace. Following that report, several independent analysts issued new projections on revenue that were widely reported.
benton.org/node/124080 | Wall Street Journal
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LAWMAKERS LOOKING AT FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Peter Schroeder]
Banking committees on both sides of Capitol Hill are beginning to take a look at just what went wrong when Facebook took its stock public. Both the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee said that they were looking into the issue, although both stopped short of promising probing investigations or hearings on the matter. "The Banking Committee is seeking to learn more about issues raised in the news regarding Facebook’s IPO by conducting staff briefings with Facebook, regulators and other stakeholders," said committee spokesman Sean Oblack. A spokesman for Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the ranking committee Republican, said his staff was also in talks with regulators and "market participants" as a matter of "due diligence." The relevant House committee is also taking a look at the matter.
benton.org/node/124079 | Hill, The | Politico
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GOOGLE DID NOT INFRINGE ON ORACLE PATENTS
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Bryan Bishop]
Over a week after it began deliberations, the jury has returned a verdict in the patent infringement case between Oracle and Google, finding that the search giant did not infringe upon Oracle's patents with Android. In play were infringement counts on eight different claims across two separate patents: RE38,104 and 6,061,520. Given the decision, there will be no need for a damages phase in connection with the patent claims, and with the recent agreement by Google and Oracle to postpone any damages hearings related to copyright infringement, the jury has now been dismissed from the proceedings altogether. Judge William Alsup thanked the jurors for their hard work before they left the courtroom, noting that "this is the longest trial, civil trial, I've ever been in." It's the final victory in several coups for Google. While the jury did find that Android infringed Oracle copyrights by its use of the structure, sequence, and organization of 37 Java APIs, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether it was covered under fair use, rendering the verdict moot at the moment. The jury found that Google had infringed on only one other copyright count — the use of nine lines of rangeCheck code — though Judge Alsup later ruled that Google had also infringed by its use of eight Java test files in Android, adding a second minor infringement count to Google's plate. While the jury's involvement has come to an end, there are still several outstanding questions.
benton.org/node/124076 | Verge, The
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MOTOROLA-GOOGLE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Rolfe Winkler, Thorold Barker]
Those who thought Google was buying Motorola Mobility just for its treasure trove of patents can think again. Its plan to focus on "fewer, bigger bets, and create wonderful devices that are used by people around the world" sounds rather like that of the competitor to beat. Apple produces few products, but sells a lot of them. Google not only closed its $12.5 billion acquisition of the handset maker, it has also replaced most of the top executive team. Out are Motorola's chief executive, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, strategy chief, chief marketing officer and others. In are a team of replacements from Google itself as well as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Amazon, among other places. So, even if Google does follow through on its plan to run Motorola as a separate business, it is being Google-ized. Strategically, that is a smart move—after all, Apple has become the world's most valuable company by fusing its software and hardware expertise with the iPhone. But it isn't without risks.
benton.org/node/124122 | Wall Street Journal
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DT ON T-MOBILE
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Joseph de Weck]
Deutsche Telekom Chief Executive Officer Rene Obermann said a merger of the T-Mobile USA division is an option, while ruling out revisiting a complete sale after its fallout with AT&T last year. “We do not exclude any option for the T-Mobile unit in the U.S., also not a merger,” Obermann told shareholers today at an annual meeting in Cologne, Germany. “A complete sale is unlikely. You understand that I can’t say more in public on T- Mobile USA.” The comments are the clearest yet on Deutsche Telekom’s plan to hold onto the asset -- at least partially -- five months after a $39 billion proposed sale of T-Mobile to AT&T collapsed because of regulatory resistance. Deutsche Telekom is discussing a merger of T-Mobile with MetroPCS, with other options including an initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said this month. “We don’t see any value creation by T-Mobile USA if it stays as a stand-alone company,” said Alexandre Iatrides, an analyst at Oddo & Cie. in Paris. “The alternatives would be a merger or some kind of network-sharing agreement with MetroPCS or Sprint Nextel.”
benton.org/node/124116 | Bloomberg
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
GOVERNMENT SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: William Laudner]
The US could consider addressing the country’s shortage of airwaves for mobile telecommunications by re-licensing government-held spectrum for commercial use, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said. “We have to do things like look harder and more carefully at government spectrum,” and look for “innovative ways” to share airwaves between the private and public sector, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said at a cable industry conference in Boston. Chairman Genachowski said the spectrum crunch was the positive result of an entrepreneurial economy that resulted in the popularity of bandwidth-intensive applications available to consumers. Mobile congestion is “in the category of problems you want to have,” he said, adding that foreign regulators are increasingly “envious of what they see in the U.S. in terms of broadband innovation.” The FCC chairman also pointed to new efforts by cable operators to introduce usage-based pricing as a “completely appropriate” step to meet consumers’ needs.
benton.org/node/124075 | Wall Street Journal
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
USAGE-BASED BILLING
[SOURCE: Phoenix Center, AUTHOR: George Ford]
Usage-based pricing is increasingly common for broadband services. The evolution in broadband pricing has been long anticipated; customers with widely-variable levels of network utilization impose very different costs on the network and its users, and to pretend that every customer is alike leads to inefficiency. Failing to account for cost differences in such circumstances penalizes customers whose activities do not congest the network. Indeed, the primary function of prices in markets is to provide the correct signals to market participants, guiding their activities into the most valuable and useful paths. When a resource is socially valuable, like capacity on a broadband network, the price system should discourage its careless use.
As shown here, regulatory oversight may not improve well-being even in a case that the proponents of regulation would describe as an egregious example of anticompetitive conduct by broadband providers. Given this, and the fact that there are many economic and business reasons for usage-based pricing that most accept as valid, I conclude that regulatory oversight of usage-based pricing is unlikely to improve social well-being.
benton.org/node/124061 | Phoenix Center
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GOOGLE FIBER PLAYBOOK
[SOURCE: Google, AUTHOR: Ray Daniels, Mike Burk]
[Commentary] The Mayors Bistate Innovation Team (MBIT) in Kansas City released the beta version of their Google Fiber Playbook, full of recommendations on how the citizens and government of Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO can effectively leverage our gigabit network. Our preliminary recommendations in the Playbook highlight the areas in our community where we think Google Fiber can make a real difference. Some of these recommendations include:
Education: Outfit a handful of classrooms for demonstration projects that fully integrate high-speed fiber technology into daily lessons, equipping our students with the most innovative educational resources.
Telehealth Pilots: Work with several hospitals and clinics to provide the technology to perform diagnostic services to people at home and at work, potentially increasing the quality of care for some patients while simultaneously reducing ER wait times and hospital readmissions.
Testbeds for entrepreneurs: Build a technology incubator that invites entrepreneurs to gather in a fiber-rich environment and work together to enhance their current businesses and develop new apps.
Global Roundtables: Conduct a series of global telepresence roundtables to establish Kansas City as an emerging global leader in the new digital economy and accelerate economic development and innovation.
Enhance Convention Center technology: Make our convention center one of the most tech-friendly gathering places in the country.
Develop a robust IT workforce: Work with and train Kansas Citians to become leading IT professionals throughout the US and the world.
[Daniels and Burk are the MBIT co-chairs]
benton.org/node/124056 | Google
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CYBERSECURITY
ELECTRICITY AND CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: Department of Energy, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
This serves as public notification of the publication, by the Department of Energy (DOE) of the Electricity Subsector Cybersecurity Risk Management Process guideline. The guideline describes a risk management process that is targeted to the specific needs of electricity sector organizations. The objective of the guideline is to build upon existing guidance and requirements to develop a flexible risk management process tuned to the diverse missions, equipment, and business needs of the electric power industry.
benton.org/node/124064 | Department of Energy
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PRIVACY
NEW WAYS TO TRACK YOU
[SOURCE: PCWorld, AUTHOR: Christina DesMarais]
Privacy fans, take note: A new technology, called Indoor Positioning System, could push your worry meter to the max. IPS allows pinpoint tracking of any Wi-Fi-enabled device, such as a smartphone or tablet, within a building. This means that an IPS service could easily track you -- right down to, say, the table you're occupying in a mall's food court -- as long as your mobile devices' Wi-Fi is turned on. And, if you're a typical device user, your Wi-Fi is always on, right? In short, we've moved far beyond using regular old GPS for location tracking. Indoor environments are challenging for low-cost location systems such as GPS, because the ways in which buildings are constructed -- not to mention physical obstacles and even people's bodies -- interfere with GPS's ability to pinpoint a location.
benton.org/node/124054 | PCWorld
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TELEVISION
SUPPORT FOR AEREO
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
Public interest advocates at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge are teaming up to defend Barry Diller's Aereo, which has come under fire from broadcasters who are suing the nascent broadcasting time-shifter for copyright infringement. “By providing an antenna to viewers, Aereo does nothing more than make it easier for viewers to access a broadcaster’s free service. By making free TV better Aereo improves and does not disrupt the television industry, and helps carry out the important public goal of preserving the ability of viewers to watch free-to-air TV," the advocates wrote in a brief to the court.
benton.org/node/124119 | Hill, The
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COMCAST PETITIONS FCC
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Top cable operator Comcast has officially asked the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider giving the City of Boston the power to reregulate its rates there, making a case for reinstatement on the grounds that it faces sufficient competition from overbuilder RCN and satellite services. The FCC's Media Bureau recertified the city back in April, citing changed circumstances in the 10 years since RCN was considered sufficient competition under the less stringent local exchange carrier effective competition test. The competing provider test has two prongs. The franchise area must be served by two unaffiliated MVPDs, each offering comparable programming to at least half the market. Comcast says DISH and DirecTV fill that bill -- satellite availability has been used to establish effective competition in numerous markets. The second prong is that at least 15% of the market has to subscribe to an unaffiliated provider. Comcast says that combining DirecTV subs with DISH subs with RCN subs yields a figure of 46,428, which is 18.37% of occupied households according to the 2010 census. Both prongs of the competing provider test are satisfied in Comcast's Boston franchise area, says Comcast.
benton.org/node/124118 | Broadcasting&Cable
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JOURNALISM
NEWS SOURCES AND KNOWLEDGE
[SOURCE: Fairleigh Dickinson University , AUTHOR: ]
According to a follow-up survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind, National Public Radio and Sunday morning political talk shows are the most informative news outlets, while exposure to partisan sources, such as Fox News and MSNBC, has a negative impact on people’s current events knowledge. This nationwide survey confirms initial findings presented in a New Jersey focused poll (from November of 2011). In the study, 1,185 respondents nationwide were asked about what news sources they consumed in the past week and then were asked a variety of questions about current political and economic events in the U.S. and abroad. On average, people were able to answer correctly 1.8 of 4 questions about international news, and 1.6 of 5 questions about domestic affairs. However, the study concludes that media sources have a significant impact on the number of questions that people were able to answer correctly. The largest effect is that of Fox News: all else being equal, someone who watched only Fox News would be expected to answer just 1.04 domestic questions correctly — a figure which is significantly worse than if they had reported watching no media at all. On the other hand, if they listened only to NPR, they would be expected to answer 1.51 questions correctly; viewers of Sunday morning talk shows fare similarly well. And people watching only The Daily Show with Jon Stewart could answer about 1.42 questions correctly.
benton.org/node/124052 | Fairleigh Dickinson University
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RESEARCH
INNOVATION MYTH
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Suzy Khimm]
America needs its heroes, and it’s no different when it comes to innovation. “From Thomas Edison to Iron Man, you have this idea of single combat warriors working feverishly in the threadbare den of solitude,” scientist Eric Isaacs said at a Washington conference, dropping a reference to the Marvel superhero who discovers a boundless source of clean energy. But it’s rarely the case that ideas are born, fully fledged, out of the heads of geniuses, just in time to save the world -- outside the realm of fiction at least. “Romantic myths about creative loners can’t be allowed to overshadow the fact that it’s a big collective enterprise...a multidisciplinary team, a system designed to maximize discovery,” explained Isaacs, who happens to oversee one such facility, Chicago’s Argonne National Lab, the federal government’s first science and engineering research lab. The problem is, the myth of the lone genius toiling away still reigns supreme in the eyes of ordinary Americans and politicians alike. And so policymakers neglect the links in the innovation chain that come after that first Eureka moment. The possibilities often fall by the wayside, leaving scientific breakthroughs in the lab instead of in the hands of consumers or society at large. That was the upshot of the New America Foundation’s event on the future of innovation, research and development, where Isaacs spoke before an audience packed into a narrow conference room. Too often, he argued, the conversation about R&D in Washington ends up stopping at that first phase: funding basic research aimed at letting scientists make their discoveries in peace.
benton.org/node/124072 | Washington Post
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SOFTWARE AND METHOD PATENTS
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Matt Macari]
What does it take to transform an abstract idea into patentable subject matter? How much do you have to add to an abstract idea before its worthy of patent protection? Can abstract ideas turn into patentable subject matter simply by stating that part of it is conducted over the internet? They're seemingly simple questions that warrant complicated answers. And while we shouldn't expect the courts to give us definitive answers to these questions for every case and scenario, the US Supreme Court is tweaking the broad guidelines. Google and Verizon filed a joint amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief in the case of WildTangent v. Ultramercial, asking the US Supreme Court to weigh in on the topic of patenting high-level ideas in the field of technology. The court has now ruled on the issue, sort of — it vacated the lower appellate court's broad interpretation of the subject patent and remanded the case back for further consideration in view of recent Supreme Court precedent. It's not exactly a clear victory for anyone, but we imagine Google and Verizon are quite pleased to see that the issue is getting focused attention from the country's highest court.
benton.org/node/124057 | Verge, The
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AGENDA
FCC MEETING AGENDA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that the following items will be on the tentative agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for Wednesday, June 13, 2012:
Equipment Authorization Rules Regarding Grantee Codes for Certified Radiofrequency Equipment Report and Order: The Commission will consider a Report and Order to modify the equipment authorization rules to increase the supply of codes assigned to parties applying for equipment certification.
4..9 GHz Band Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: The Commission will consider a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to encourage improved spectrum efficiency and greater use of the 4940–4990 MHz (4.9 GHz) band.
benton.org/node/124109 | Federal Communications Commission
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
COMPETITION VS GOOGLE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] Who most deserves the benefits of a competitive marketplace? If the first answer that pops into your head is "the consumer," well, right. Which is all the more reason to look carefully at the latest assault on consumers in the name of "competition." The European Commission this week announced its preliminary conclusions in its antitrust investigation into Google, accusing the company of abusing its dominance in four key areas. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has also been teeing up its own case against Google, probably along similar lines. All of which is starting to look a lot like an antitrust movie we've seen before, in which the interests of consumers are subordinated to those of Google's competitors. The one potential bright spot is that the European Commission, after its Microsoft experience, seems keen to avoid another prolonged punch-up. In making his concerns public before any formal proceedings have opened, Almunia may be hoping to extract concessions from Google without going to the trouble of assembling a proper legal case. On the other hand, tying down Google's search functions in a bid to satisfy Brussels won't necessarily improve the user experience. Search has come a long way in the past decade, but it's still often frustrating and tedious. That suggests there's plenty of room for improvement and competition. Making Google less useful to make competitors happy won't make surfing the Web any better for consumers.
benton.org/node/124106 | Wall Street Journal
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GOOGLE CHIDED
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Paczkowski]
The Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), the French data protection authority investigating Google’s new privacy policy on behalf of the European Union’s 27 member states, isn’t getting the kind of cooperation it would like from the search sovereign. And its patience with the company is wearing thin. So much so that it’s publicly upbraided Google for its lack of forthrightness in responding to the agency’s questionnaires about the new policy. In a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, CNIL head Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said she’s reviewed Google’s response to its questions and found them to be sorely lacking — in clarity and specifics. Answers, too.
benton.org/node/124104 | Wall Street Journal
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