BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
The Open Internet Goes to Court and FirstNet Board Special Meeting http://benton.org/calendar/2013-09-05/
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
NSA review board to meet with privacy, tech groups
Obama to Europe: US not 'snooping' on phone calls, emails [links to web]
When will President Obama get serious about NSA reform? - op-ed
NSA Laughs at PCs, Prefers Hacking Routers and Switches
NRA joins ACLU lawsuit, claims NSA starting 'gun registry' [links to web]
PRIVACY
Privacy Groups Ask FTC to Block Facebook Policy Changes
FTC Says Webcam’s Flaw Put Users’ Lives on Display
We Post Nothing About Our Daughter Online - analysis
Google Sued in Europe-Privacy Test Case
Scientists Expand Scale of Digital Snooping Alert
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Sprint Seeks Early US Airwaves Auction as Rivals Urge Delays
The FCC Veers Off Course on Mobile Auctions - op-ed
Verizon sees few changes to US wireless business
Verizon Puts Call in AT&T's Court - analysis
Why the Google-Motorola deal matters for Microsoft-Nokia - analysis
Why Nokia lost, and Samsung won - analysis [links to web]
IDC: Mobile market to swell to 1.8 billion phones in 2013 [links to web]
Kantar: Apple gains on Android in the US, France and the UK [links to web]
NSA-resistant Android app encrypts and erases sensitive messages [links to web]
Japanese Smartphone Manufacturer Sees an Export Market in Older Users
Nobel winner Coase paved way for your smartphone [links to web]
Microsoft Wins Jury Ruling in Motorola Patent Case [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Taking a Closer Look at Network Neutrality Rules - analysis
Baltimore broadband offers huge potential - op-ed [links to web]
Iowa Governor Seeks Advice on Boosting Broadband Adoption
TELEVISION
Déjà news
Battle with Time Warner won CBS chief Les Moonves' key control over digital distribution
In fight with broadcasters, Aereo has time on its side: Supreme Court ruling unlikely before 2015 [links to web]
Are These TV's Next Big Blackouts?
Court: FCC Program Carriage Rules Don't Violate First Amendment
Dish, Disney Gird for Showdown Over ESPN [links to web]
CONTENT
Microsoft takes aim at Google with Nokia's mapping products
Battle with Time Warner won CBS chief Les Moonves' key control over digital distribution
Paid bloggers for campaigns should be disclosed - editorial
EDUCATION
New Sites Aim to Help Pick Best Ed-Tech Tools [links to web]
Public Libraries Add Multimedia Learning to Digital Mission [links to web]
JOURNALISM
When coverage gets ahead of the facts
Will The Formula For Amazon's Success Carry Over To The Washington Post? [links to web]
Bezos Is a Hit in a Washington Post Newsroom Visit [links to web]
HEALTH
Videogame Improves Cognitive Ability, New Study Says
LABOR
Women in TV Score Incremental Employment Gains, Study Finds
STORIES FROM ABROAD
How Big Is Apple’s China Mobile iPhone Opportunity? - analysis
Syria could be a crucial proving ground for US cyberwarriors
Tax bill quandary in Vodafone-Verizon deal
MORE ONLINE
Innovating to Improve Disaster Response and Recovery - press release [links to web]
Hollywood’s Tanking Business Model [links to web]
A brighter outlook for the media economy [links to web]
Thinking About the Next Revolution [links to web]
As helium supplies dwindle, costs going up, up, up [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
NSA REVIEW BOARD TO MEET WITH PRIVACY, TECH GROUPS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The members of President Barack Obama’s panel reviewing the National Security Agency's controversial surveillance programs will meet with privacy advocates and officials from technology companies in two separate meetings, The Hill has learned. The officials plan to meet at an unclassified conference center that is part of the White House compound but not actually in the White House. Caitlin Hayden, a White House spokeswoman, emphasized that the meeting is not a "White House meeting" or a "meeting with the White House." The list of privacy activists and technology officials who will attend the meetings has not been made public.
benton.org/node/158258 | Hill, The
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WHEN WILL PRESIDENT OBAMA GET SERIOUS ABOUT NSA REFORM?
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Kenneth Roth]
[Commentary] When President Barack Obama speaks about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) controversial electronic surveillance program, he leaves the impression that its existing privacy protections are sufficient, if only we knew enough to appreciate them. That hardly instills confidence. If the President is serious about fixing the enormous overreach of US surveillance, he should take these steps: First, recognize 4th Amendment protection for our metadata. Second, recognize the privacy rights of non-Americans outside the United States. Third, treat privacy rights as implicated as soon as information is collected. Fourth, revamp the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court. Fifth, protect whistleblowers. Sixth, appoint an independent reform commission. [Roth is executive director of Human Rights Watch]
benton.org/node/158256 | Politico
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HACKING ROUTERS AND SWITCHES
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Kim Zetter]
The NSA runs a massive, full-time hacking operation targeting foreign systems, the latest leaks from Edward Snowden show. But unlike conventional cybercriminals, the agency is less interested in hacking PCs and Macs. Instead, America’s spooks have their eyes on the internet routers and switches that form the basic infrastructure of the net, and are largely overlooked as security vulnerabilities. Under a $652-million program codenamed “Genie,” US intel agencies have hacked into foreign computers and networks to monitor communications crossing them and to establish control over them. The NSA’s focus on routers highlights an often-overlooked attack vector with huge advantages for the intruder, says Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer at security firm Beyond Trust. Hacking routers is an ideal way for an intelligence or military agency to maintain a persistent hold on network traffic because the systems aren’t updated with new software very often or patched in the way that Windows and Linux systems are.
benton.org/node/158276 | Wired
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PRIVACY
FACEBOOK PRIVACY POLICY CHANGES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Vindu Goel]
A coalition of six major consumer privacy groups has asked the Federal Trade Commission to block coming changes to Facebook’s privacy policies that they say would make it easier for the social network to use personal data about its users, including children under 18, in advertising on the site. In a letter sent to the agency, the coalition said Facebook’s changes, scheduled to go into effect later this week, violate a 2011 order and settlement with the FTC over user privacy. “Facebook users who reasonably believed that their images and content would not be used for commercial purposes without their consent will now find their pictures showing up on the pages of their friends endorsing the products of Facebook’s advertisers,” the letter says. “Remarkably, their images could even be used by Facebook to endorse products that the user does not like or even use.” The company’s new policy says consumers are automatically giving Facebook the right to use their information unless they explicitly revoke permission — and the company made that harder to do by removing the direct link to the control used to adjust that permission.
benton.org/node/158274 | New York Times | Bloomberg | LA Times | Financial Times
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FTC PRIVACY RULING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wyatt]
The so-called Internet of Things — digitally connected devices like appliances, cars and medical equipment — promises to make life easier for consumers. But regulators are worried that some products may be magnets for hackers. The Federal Trade Commission took its first action to protect consumers from reckless invasions of privacy, penalizing a company that sells Web-enabled video cameras for lax security practices. According to the FTC, the company, TRENDnet, told customers that its products were “secure,” marketing its cameras for home security and baby monitoring. In fact, the devices were compromised. The commission said a hacker in January 2012 exploited a security flaw and posted links to the live feeds, which “displayed babies asleep in their cribs, young children playing and adults going about their daily lives.”
benton.org/node/158273 | New York Times | FT | Washington Post
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FACEBOOK AND CHILDREN
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Amy Webb]
Facebook updated its privacy policy again. It reads in part: “We are able to suggest that your friend tag you in a picture by scanning and comparing your friend’s pictures to information we’ve put together from your profile pictures and the other photos in which you’ve been tagged.” Essentially, this means that with each photo upload, parents are, unwittingly, helping Facebook to merge their children’s digital and real worlds. Algorithms will analyze the people around the kids, the references made to them in posts, and over time will determine their most likely inner circle. Parents are preventing kids from any hope of future anonymity. Myriad applications, websites, and wearable technologies are relying on face recognition today, and ubiquitous bio-identification is only just getting started. In 2011, a group of hackers built an app that let you scan faces and immediately display their names and basic biographical details, right there on your mobile phone. Already developers have made a working facial recognition API for Google Glass. While Google has forbidden official facial recognition apps, it can’t prevent unofficial apps from launching. There’s huge value in gaining real-time access to view detailed information the people with whom we interact. The easiest way to opt-out is to not create that digital content in the first place, especially for kids.
benton.org/node/158272 | Slate
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GOOGLE SUED IN EUROPE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sam Schechner]
Google was hauled into a French court by former Formula One racing head Max Mosley, who wants the Internet giant to scrub its search results of grainy images of a sexual escapade. The images were found to be a privacy breach by a UK court, only to pop up elsewhere online. The case is the latest in a series brought by Mosley and others that test the limits of what individuals can do to control information that appears about them on the Internet. As Europe considers tougher new privacy rules that could contain a "right to be forgotten," the cases could help determine the balance between privacy and censorship in an era of pervasive social-media and government surveillance.
benton.org/node/158271 | Wall Street Journal
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DIGITAL SNOOPING ALERT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Markoff]
Scientists reported that they had taken a step toward bringing improved security to computer networks, developing an encryption technique that will extend protection to a small group of computer users. The researchers at Toshiba’s European research laboratory in Cambridge, England, in a paper published in the journal Nature, wrote that they had figured out a way to allow a group of users to exchange encryption keys — long numbers that are used to mathematically encode digital messages — through an experimental technique known as quantum key distribution. The new technique is believed to be more practical and less expensive than existing technologies. It also extends the scale of the current quantum key systems to as many as 64 computer users from just two users. The system does not prevent eavesdropping — it simply serves as a kind of burglar alarm, alerting computer users that an outsider is listening to a transmission on an optical network.
benton.org/node/158270 | New York Times
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
SPRINT SEEKS EARLY US AIRWAVES AUCTION AS RIVALS URGE DELAYS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
Sprint is pushing regulators to quickly auction airwaves for high-speed mobile data, a move rivals say may leave the third-largest US wireless carrier as the sole bidder. Sprint told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in August that it supports a January auction of frequencies, known as the H Block, which abut its existing airwaves and can improve its high-speed wireless broadband service. T-Mobile US and Dish Network urged the FCC to consider waiting until later in 2014, when additional frequencies can attract more bidders and money. The FCC asked for comments as it prepares the biggest sale of commercially useful frequencies since 2008 -- the year after Apple introduced the iPhone and helped ignite a surge in demand for wireless data. “It gives everybody more flexibility in their bidding strategies, which likely leads to a higher price,” said Tim Farrar, an analyst at research firm TMF Associates. The H Block could raise $1 billion if auctioned alone, compared with $1.5 billion to $2 billion if offered along with other frequencies, Farrar said.
benton.org/node/158244 | Bloomberg
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THE FCC VEERS OFF COURSE ON MOBILE AUCTIONS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Larry Downes]
[Commentary] In early 2012, Congress authorized the Federal Communications Commission to conduct new auctions for radio frequencies (or “spectrum”) urgently needed to expand mobile networks. The auctions are aimed at solving capacity constraints already causing regular headaches for many mobile broadband consumers, a problem the agency’s former chairman, Julius Genachowski, first referred to in 2009 as the “spectrum crisis.” The FCC’s deliberative pace has proven an irresistible lure for some who see the auctions as a chance to make a fast buck. Industry representatives and their proxies are flooding the FCC with proposals to rig the auctions in their own favor, claiming vaguely and implausibly that doing so will benefit US consumers. Self-serving statements from the carriers aside, there is utterly no evidence that crippling spectrum auctions in the name of competition would accomplish any of the Obama administration’s admirable policy objectives for universal broadband. The real risks of tampering with auction design are palpable. According to a recent analysis of past auctions sponsored by the trade group Mobile Future, restrictive and preferential auction rules have consistently translated to losses, not gains, for mobile users. According to some lawmakers and legal scholars, limiting auction participation would also be illegal. At the very least, the proposed restrictions will generate lawsuits aplenty, and with them even more delays. At worst, the FCC will be forced to start over again. Open the auctions to everyone, and let the spectrum go to the highest bidder. [Downes is a consultant on developing business strategies in an age of constant technological disruption]
benton.org/node/158251 | Wall Street Journal
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VERIZON SEES FEW CHANGES TO US WIRELESS BUSINESS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Joshua Freed]
Verizon's $130 billion deal with Vodafone is huge for both companies, although Verizon customers in the US are unlikely to see any big changes to their bills or their service. Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam said that the company's US wireless businesses are working well now, and that he would move slowly on any changes to its structure. "We're very bullish on the growth outlook for the US wireless marketplace," he said. In the most recent quarter, Verizon Wireless added 941,000 devices to its contract-based plans, exceeding expectations and extended a strong run. But almost all of Verizon's wireless gains were customers upgrading to higher-priced plans or adding more devices, rather than an influx of new customers. Verizon said it expects regulators to approve the deal since it already controls its US wireless business. It also needs shareholder approval. It expects the deal to close during the first quarter of next year.
benton.org/node/158245 | Bloomberg
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WHAT’S NEXT FOR AT&T?
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Miriam Gottfried]
Verizon’s deal to buy Vodafone's Verizon Wireless stake gives it access to the division's full cash flows. But the debt that Verizon must assume will likely prevent it from making substantial acquisitions in the near term, offering a window of opportunity for AT&T. Verizon plans to participate in the government's spectrum auction, which it predicts will happen in late 2014 or early 2015. Otherwise, its priority will be paying down the debt, which it says could take two or three years. That likely gives AT&T at least 18 months to make deals unobstructed by its top rival. That could help AT&T out of a bind. It has had trouble winning over the most price-insensitive customers from Verizon, because of the latter's reputation for a superior network. Meanwhile, it is now competing for lower-end customers with resurgent players T-Mobile US and Sprint. One possibility is for AT&T to buy Vodafone's remaining assets, which have an estimated enterprise value of about $95 billion. This would give AT&T entree to Europe, where it could theoretically break from the trend of falling revenues and compressing margins by building a superior network. But that would require heavy investment and could take years to be proven, making it a tough sell to AT&T shareholders. A better option: AT&T bidding for Dish Network. The satellite operator's wireless spectrum would propel AT&T to first place if Dish succeeds in buying LightSquared, according to New Street Research.
benton.org/node/158265 | Wall Street Journal
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WHY THE GOOGLE-MOTOROLA DEAL MATTERS FOR MICROSOFT-NOKIA
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Kevin Kelleher]
[Commentary] People who in 2006 couldn't predict what 2013 would bring to tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Samsung, Nokia, and Motorola are now confidently tweeting the future of Microsoft and Nokia. The deal may very well amount to tying two sinking bricks together. And both Microsoft and Nokia face uphill battles. But at the same time, in the early days of September 2013, the only honest analysis you can give is that a mobile web everyone saw coming yielded a competitive landscape few expected. And if we can't foresee which company will be on top in another several years, the best we can do is look at similar deals that have happened in recent years. Which brings us to Google's purchase of Microsoft, announced a little more than two years ago. At the time, people struggled to understand the sense of it. People speculated, as they do with Microsoft's Nokia investment, it had to do with patents. That Google would simply spin off Motorola's manufacturing operations. At the time, it seemed like the most likely explanation. But Larry Page, Google's new CEO, took a different direction. He held onto the Motorola devices that had been outmoded by Apple's iPhone. Although Motorola has been a drag on Google's earnings since then, the move seems prescient now. Software hasn't just supplanted hardware in the past decade. It needs hardware as an ancillary business. Microsoft's unexpected introduction of the Surface underscored that idea. And now its Nokia deal makes it seem that much more inevitable. In other words, many companies can produce software on their own, but once you get big enough, you need hardware in the mix to stay on top of the game.
benton.org/node/158231 | Fortune
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JAPANESE SMARTPHONE MANUFACTURER SEES AN EXPORT MARKET IN OLDER USERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Pfanner]
The Japanese electronics industry largely missed out on the smartphone revolution. Yet this summer, even as one Japanese company, NEC, exited the business, another one, Fujitsu, announced plans for a new export push. Rather than competing with dominant brands like Samsung and Apple in the mainstream smartphone market, Fujitsu is aiming at a niche — older consumers, who, the company says, are not always served adequately by products like Apple’s iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy series. In partnership with Orange, formerly France Télécom, Fujitsu has started selling a smartphone in France that uses a technology called Raku-Raku, or “easy easy.” The Raku-Raku handset has a touch screen and provides on-the-go Internet access, but it has larger buttons and other features aimed at older people who sometimes struggle with the complexity of conventional smartphones. While aging consumers may be a niche market, they present a growing opportunity in most industrialized countries. In Japan, 39 percent of the population will be 65 or older in 2050, up from 23 percent in 2010, according to the Statistics Bureau of Japan. In France, the 65-and-older cohort will grow to 25 percent in 2050 from 17 percent in 2010, data from the United Nations show. “It’s an underserved market,” said André Malm, an analyst at Berg Insight, a research firm in Gothenberg, Sweden. As for Orange and Fujitsu, the companies say they view the partnership in France as a pilot project; if the Stylistic phone catches on, they say, it will also be offered in other European markets in which Orange operates, like Britain. “For Japanese vendors, it has been challenging to go abroad,” said Michito Kimura, an analyst at the research firm IDC, “but this technology does meet a demand.”
benton.org/node/158249 | New York Times
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT NET NEUTRALITY RULES
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Sherwin Siy]
[Commentary] Verizon is suing to overturn the Federal Communication Commission’s Open Internet Order. The rules do three major things: they (1) require broadband providers to be transparent about their practices; (2) prevent them from blocking sites, and in many cases, applications, services, and devices; and (3) prevent most providers from unreasonably discriminating against certain traffic. The rules are meant to implement the principles of network neutrality. They advance a lot of those principles, but many only partially, because of compromises at the bargaining table. Those various compromises and carveouts were enough to satisfy most of the Internet service providers involved, but apparently not enough for Verizon, which brought the court challenge that will be heard soon. But Verizon can't get the rules overturned just because it doesn't like them—they have to make the case that the rules can't legally be enforced.
benton.org/node/158238 | Public Knowledge
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IOWA GOVERNOR SEEKS ADVICE ON BOOSTING BROADBAND ADOPTION
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]}
Gov Terry Branstad (R-IA) launched a new initiative dubbed “Connect Every Iowan” that aims to improve broadband adoption and availability in the state. Gov Branstad said that broadband “is going to be critically important to economic progress and we want to make sure that we don’t have people left out.” He called for an advisory committee to develop recommendations for Iowa lawmakers about how to expand broadband in the state by December 1.
benton.org/node/158255 | telecompetitor | Des Moines Register
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TELEVISION
DÉJÀ NEWS
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Sasha Chavkin]
Joint-services agreements allow multiple stations in the same market to pool resources. The deals vary widely from agreement to agreement, and often include only marketing or sales teams, which seems harmless enough. But many include sharing news operations. A subcategory of joint-services agreements are called shared-services agreements, and they always involve the sharing of newsgathering resources. The resources shared can vary from news scripts and story packages, to reporters and the merger of entire newsrooms—so that communities end up with fewer local voices, less information overall, and only the illusion of choice. Outlet owners, meanwhile, can end up with more power than the spirit of Federal Communications Commission rules on media ownership consolidation would seem to warrant, as joint-services agreements are excluded from the FCC’s ownership limitations. In an address last February, Ajit Pai, a current FCC commissioner, took a strong stance against the argument that stations should count these agreements toward media ownership limits in individual markets—a decision that would likely put an end to most joint-services agreements. “If the FCC effectively prohibits these agreements, fewer stations in small-town America will offer news programming, and they will invest less in newsgathering,” Commissioner Pai said. “And the economics suggest that there likely will be fewer television stations, period.” Steve Waldman, a former FCC adviser supports the idea of joint-services agreements in some situations. But, he said, the lack of information about them makes it impossible to determine which agreements reflect sensible attempts at efficiency, and which are driven by cost cutting and outsourcing. “The promise of shared services agreements is that we’ll use shared services to eliminate duplicate investment, and then we’ll invest them in investigative reporting and boots on the ground,” he said. “And that isn’t what happened. It’s evolved in some cases into outsourcing the news.”
benton.org/node/158250 | Columbia Journalism Review
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BATTLE WITH TIME WARNER WON CBS CHIEF LES MOONVES' KEY CONTROL OVER DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION
[SOURCE: New York Daily News, AUTHOR: Don Kaplan]
There were millions of losers in the August skirmish between CBS and Time Warner Cable. CBS was not one of them. Time Warner Cable and the 3.2 million viewers whose TV screens went dark when the cable giant unplugged CBS on Aug. 3 turned out to be the ones who got the short end of the stick. Time Warner grudgingly gave in to CBS’ demands for total control over its programming distribution to online devices like iPads, phones and set-top boxes. Those steps promise to give it the ability to “cut the cord” from cable companies. Along with a hefty raise — TWC now will pay CBS around $2 for each subscriber, up from just $.50 (a fee sure to be passed along to consumers) — the network also gained the ability to sell the same content to new distributors, like Intel and Sony, along with other emerging technologies.
benton.org/node/158234 | New York Daily News
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ARE THESE TV'S NEXT BIG BLACKOUTS?
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Jeanine Poggi]
CBS and Time Warner Cable finally agreed on a new contract, ending a month-long blackout of the network in certain markets. But the deal isn't a fix for what's widely considered a broken TV model, meaning CBS probably won't be the last network to go dark this year as battles between content providers and cable and satellite operators intensify. There's certainly little rest ahead for Time Warner Cable, whose deals with both Discovery Communications and Viacom expire before the end of the year. It is playing hardball in particular with Viacom -- whose networks include MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central but also smaller channels like MTV Jams and Palladia. Cablevision has called out Viacom for the way it wields its portfolio, filing a lawsuit in February that claimed Viacom forced Cablevision to pay for 14 low-rated channels if Cablevision also wanted access to core networks like MTV and Nickelodeon. Refusing to carry those smaller channels would have incurred a $1 billion penalty, Cablevision alleged. Pay-TV operators are also increasingly looking for rights to stream programming to their subscribers over the web -- rights that networks may want to sell elsewhere.
benton.org/node/158243 | AdAge
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COURT: FCC PROGRAM CARRIAGE RULES DON'T VIOLATE FIRST AMENDMENT
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The US Court of Appeals has rejected cable operators' First Amendment challenge to the Federal Communication Commission's program carriage regime, but did find that the FCC’s imposition of a standstill on prices, terms and conditions of a contract for which a complainant was seeking renewal was out of bounds. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association had argued that the standstill needed more public vetting before the FCC adopted it. Cable operators had also argued that the rules are content-based and needed to be subject to strict First Amendment scrutiny they had not gotten. The FCC had countered that the rules do not disfavor speech based on content, but instead regulates speech based on "affiliation with a cable operator," which, the FCC pointed out, are the same grounds on which the DC circuit upheld leased access. The court agreed with the FCC on that score.
benton.org/node/158242 | Multichannel News
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CONTENT
MICROSOFT TAKES AIM AT GOOGLE WITH NOKIA'S MAPPING PRODUCTS
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Zach Miners]
Microsoft wants to build a better mobile phone through its acquisition of Nokia's mobile phone business. One way it hopes to do that? By improving its maps applications to better compete against Google's. "An effective alternative to Google" and "more than one digital map of the world" are needed, Microsoft said in a presentation on the strategic rationale for the deal, which was posted to the company's website. Microsoft will acquire several new mapping and location services as part of its acquisition of Nokia's Devices & Services business. Chief among them are Nokia's Here Drive, Here Maps and Here Transit. All three were designed to help people travel more efficiently and reduce carbon emissions in the process. Here Transport was geared toward public transportation, offering public transportation route planning in hundreds of cities around the world, according to the Nokia Apps & Services landing page. Here Maps and Here Drive, meanwhile, were designed to help people in cars "plot the most optimal route to their destination," Nokia said. The three mapping apps were made available for all Windows 8 smartphones in July.
benton.org/node/158236 | IDG News Service
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PAID BLOGGERS
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] How do voters know if the people posting political pitches via blogs, videos and social media are fellow concerned citizens or, as increasingly is the case, paid propagandists? A regulation to tackle that very modern problem is under consideration by the state Fair Political Practices Commission and deserves public support. Regulation 18421.5 would require campaign committees to reveal when they pay someone to create digital content -- for, say, a blog or a Twitter account -- unless that information is provided in the content itself.
benton.org/node/158264 | San Jose Mercury News
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JOURNALISM
WHEN COVERAGE GETS AHEAD OF THE FACTS
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Brendan Nyhan]
We often speculate about how media coverage could make people cynical about politics and government. But new political science research suggests just how significant those effects can be, using Jack Welch’s jobs report conspiracy theory and coverage of the IRS scandal as case studies. The research comes in a pair of papers by Boston University political scientists Katherine Einstein and David Glick. Their findings have important implications for journalists. First, credulous reporting of unsubstantiated conspiracy theory claims has potentially significant consequences. It may not only increase belief in the claims in question, but could also make readers more cynical or distrustful about government—particularly if they don’t reflect carefully on what they have read or heard. Likewise, journalistic coverage of scandal can make the public more vulnerable to conspiracy theories. When scandal allegations are dominating the news, even unrelated claims about government misconduct may seem more plausible. Einstein and Glick’s research shows why it’s essential that journalists stick to the facts rather than letting narratives drive their scandal reporting or giving credence to conspiracy theories. Irresponsible coverage creates the potential for a vicious cycle in which conspiracy theories about an administration help generate scandals that, in turn, reinforce yet more conspiracy theories.
benton.org/node/158230 | Columbia Journalism Review
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HEALTH
VIDEOGAMES AND SENIORS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Evelyn Rusli]
In a groundbreaking new study at the University of California, San Francisco, scientists found that older adults improved cognitive controls such as multitasking and the ability to sustain attention by playing a specially designed videogame—and that the effects can be long lasting. The study is part of a broader effort to understand whether specially designed videogames can help treat neurological disorders, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and even depression. The new study "is a powerful example of how plastic the older brain is," said Adam Gazzaley, a director of the UCSF Neuroscience Imaging Center and a co-author of the study. Gazzaley is also the co-founder and adviser of Akili Interactive Labs, a startup focused on designing these types of videogames. This research turns the traditional view of games on its head.
benton.org/node/158266 | Wall Street Journal
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LABOR
WOMEN IN ENTERTAINMENT
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Brian Lowry]
Women in primetime TV equaled highs in employment on screen and behind the scenes, while continue to lag well behind men by both measures. Assembled by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, the annual report — now in its 16th year — found women accounted for 43% of speaking roles in the 2012-13 measurement period. That represents a modest uptick from the previous year and matches levels recorded on 2007-08, the previous high. Similarly, women accounted for 28% of positions behind the scenes on shows — encompassing series creators, directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and directors of photography — compared to 26% last year, and 21% when the study began in the late 1990s. Despite the modest progress, Martha Lauzen, the center’s executive director, cited various areas of concern. Women of color continue to lag behind in terms of employment opportunities, and jobs for women in broadcast and cable are particularly few in directing (11%) and cinematography (2%). Just under a quarter of exec producers and series creators were women.
benton.org/node/158263 | Variety | The Wrap
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
HOW BIG IS APPLE’S CHINA MOBILE IPHONE OPPORTUNITY?
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Paczkowski]
With 280 carrier partners across more than 100 countries, Apple’s addressable market for the iPhone these days has been estimated by some to encompass upward of four billion subscribers. With a reach that broad, opportunities for big market share gains aren’t as easy to come by as they once were — which is why we may soon see that long-in-the-offing deal to bring the iPhone to China Mobile. If Apple were to ink a deal with China Mobile in the near future, the company could easily sell an additional five million iPhones in the next quarter, based on three percent penetration of the 3G subscriber base of 180 million. And as penetration increased quarter to quarter, iPhone sales would rise accordingly, so that by the time the fourth quarter of 2014 rolls around, China Mobile could be notching iPhone sales of 12.5 million units. Taken together with that year’s other three quarters, Marshall predicts that China Mobile could spike Apple’s iPhone sales by 38.7 million units in calendar 2014. With more than 700 million subscribers, China Mobile is the largest wireless carrier in the world, and, as ISI analyst Brian Marshall notes, it’s one of the few remaining carriers that can really move the needle on iPhone sales. Approximately 180 million China Mobile customers use the company’s 3G network, and Marshall figures that’s a good proxy for gauging the size of the iPhone opportunity it presents for Apple. And that opportunity is massive
benton.org/node/158248 | Wall Street Journal
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SYRIA COULD BE A CRUCIAL PROVING GROUND FOR US CYBERWARRIORS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
If President Barack Obama orders an attack against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, it will likely include cyberattacks. Experts say President Obama is unlikely to order the kind of stand-alone cyberattack against Syria that the United States launched against Iran’s nuclear facilities a few years ago. But digital sabotage could play a significant role in an American military strike if Congress approves an intervention. Syria’s air defenses would likely be among the first targets of any cyberattack, the experts said. US forces could trick the country’s radar system into seeing nothing as American jets passed overhead, or disrupt Syrian missile sites designed to shoot down US aircraft. American engineers also could disable Syria’s power grid remotely while the intervention was ongoing, then bring the system back online. They might take down Syrian command-and-control networks, or, in a move reminiscent of more traditional electronic warfare, jam the Syrian army’s communications or block its propaganda.
benton.org/node/158247 | Washington Post
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TAX BILL QUANDARY IN VODAFONE-VERIZON DEAL
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Cyrus Sanati]
[Commentary] The massive $130 billion Verizon/Vodafone deal is a boon for Wall Street, reportedly netting some $600 million in fees for the legions of bankers, attorneys, and accountants who worked (and continue to work) tirelessly to make the deal a reality. But instead of celebrating, there appears to be grave concern on the Street as to whether or not they will ever see a dime of the money they have been promised. That's because the market is worried that Vodafone may end up backing out of the megadeal if it is forced to pay high taxes on its capital gains. Vodafone confirmed that it would pay $5 billion to the US government but didn't say how much it would pay the UK. This appears to explain why Vodafone's stock fell by as much as 5%, despite the UK wireless provider making off like a bandit in the deal. But it looks like investors and bankers may be worrying too much. A little known provision in the UK tax code could actually end up shielding Vodafone from paying any tax at all. Indeed, the UK Financial Act of 2002 stipulates that corporations selling off subsidiaries don't have to pay any tax on the sale -- zero. As such, Vodafone is saving as much as $15 billion on the sale.
benton.org/node/158253 | Fortune
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