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Benton media news digest – February 2010

NETWORK NEWS AT A CROSSROADS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter, Bill Carter]
With news available more places than ever, on cable channels and Internet sites, and with revenue challenged by heavy dependence on shrinking advertising dollars, the future for the news divisions at ABC and CBS remains deeply insecure. "Long term, it's going to get harder for these guys to exist as they are currently constructed, with the exception of NBC because it can offload the costs on MSNBC," Michael Nathanson, an industry analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said. The economic problems facing ABC News and CBS News in many ways mirror those faced by newspapers, which have been similarly afflicted by a drop in advertising revenue. The reaction — severe cuts in personnel and other costs — also looks to be the same. But can you shrink your way to prosperity? Andrew Heyward, the former president of CBS News who is now a news media consultant (NBC News is one client), said of the ABC cuts: "The real issue after this is what is going to drive growth? How do you generate more profit? And this doesn't address that." The easy answer would seem to lie in NBC's structure, because in contrast to its competitors, that news organization is flush, making an estimated $400 million in profit a year.
benton.org/node/32690

UNIVERSAL PHONE APPS?
Online Publishers Assn: Apple's App Store dominance is being assaulted. At the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, a group of 24 cell carriers and handset makers announced a new alliance to build an app platform that would unite all the fragmented app stores. Dubbed the Wholesale Application Community (WAC), the alliance includes rivals such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, as well as device makers LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. While marketers and publishers would be thrilled to have one simple path to creating apps that run on various services and phones, skeptics weren't so sure. "The initiative is nonetheless doomed from the start," wrote GigaOm's Colin Gibbs. "Carriers have a well-earned reputation for not playing nice with one another, and it will be impossible to herd all those cats." Despite the hurdles, there is an obvious need for such an alliance. "A global app store, whether built and operated by WAC or another coalition, is a better option than the mishmash of competing standards and services that most mobile users face today," wrote PC World's Jeff Bertolucci.

LESS PRIVACY ONLINE Feb 28
[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 US$250,000 worth of purchases a day.
benton.org/node/32400

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

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

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

THE STRONGEST OPEN INTERNET PROTECTIONS
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Malkia Cyril]
[Commentary] Full broadband adoption and open Internet protections are both possible -- if, and only if, the Federal Communications Commission defines broadband as a universal service and ensures the strongest possible protections for an open Internet. Communities of color and the poor cannot thrive with less. It's time for our voices to be heard. The truth is, strong open Internet protections encourage investment and deployment, because they prevent ISPs from profiting from artificial scarcity; and nothing about network neutrality will prevent ISPs from charging heavy users more. The only reason additional costs would be dumped on poor and working class consumers is if private companies are given too much rope to hang us with. We can prevent that by ensuring the FCC imposes strong non-discrimination protections in network neutrality rules, thereby limiting corporate control over the Internet. I support -- and I believe Mr. Steele would agree -- stopping corporate bullies, not rewarding them with more control. It's clear that the civil rights mandate is to ensure full broadband access and adoption while defending representation online. Many members of the civil rights community agree that the best way to narrow the digital divide is to define broadband as a universal service, and codify the strongest open Internet rules possible that narrowly define reasonable network management and ensure that every voice and idea has a chance by preventing the blocking or prioritizing of content based on profit. But some in the civil rights community are legitimately concerned that limiting the ability of wealthy corporations to increase their profit through broad and discriminatory management of their networks might have a negative impact on broadband build out and access for communities of color, the poor, and other historically disenfranchised groups. As a result, they are hesitant to support rules that may curtail the flexibility of corporate media giants to block or prioritize content to make money. But the fight for an o pen Internet is a fight for our mothers, our children, and our future. Let's not be confused. The fight for an open Internet is an inter-generational fight that requires all members of the civil rights community -- veterans and leaders of a new generation -- to have the foresight and clarity to respond effectively to a new generation of media problems and opportunities. None of us should be willing to cede representation to get access, or accept any less than the strongest Open Internet protections possible.
benton.org/node/32539

NEWSPAPERS STILL TOP SOURCE OF LOCAL INFO
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Jennifer Saba]
More people go to newspapers Web sites for complete local information than any other source, according to a new survey from the Newspaper Association of America and comScore. Of the more than 3,000 adults surveyed, 57% chose newspaper Web sites as the top source for local information. However, the survey reveals that the competition is moving in. While 57% of identified newspapers as the top source of local information, 54% cited online portals while 53% went with local TV web sites. The respondents also rely more on portals for local information (31%) followed by local newspaper Web sites (23%)and local TV Web sites (22%). Newspapers have a tiny lead when it comes to being the most trust worthy local source. Thirty-three percent said newspaper sites while 32% said local TV Web sties. The source used most often by respondents by content type? Newspaper Web sites had only 30% of the vote for local news versus 31% for local TV sites. Newspaper Web sites bested other sources for local classifieds: 39% of respondents look to newspapers Web sites for that category -- far and away more than the next source, specialty Web sites at 14%.
benton.org/node/32529

ITALIAN GOOGLE VERDICT
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jacqui Cheng]
An Italian court has convicted three former Google executives of violations of Italy's privacy code early Wednesday morning. The decision comes after months of back and forth on the case, all of which began with a video uploaded by some delinquent teenagers of themselves beating on a classmate with Down Syndrome. Though the judge in the case absolved the executives of defamation charges (and a fourth was found not guilty of all charges), the verdict is shocking and is likely to have serious repercussions for sites that host user-generated content in Italy. The three-minute video was uploaded in 2006 and had a short lifespan on Google Video Italia, as complaints were quickly lodged and it was pulled within hours. That didn't stop an Italian Down Syndrome support group called Vivi Down from arguing that it should never have appeared in the first place. The group filed a complaint that resulted in a two-year investigation, and eventually, Milan public prosecutor Francesco Cajani agreed that the Google execs had violated Italian law by allowing the video to be uploaded. The four executives in question were Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer, senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond, former chief financial officer George Reyes, and London-based Google Video exec Arvind Desikan. As Google has pointed out repeatedly, none of these executives had any involvement in the video and only learned about its existence after it had been removed. Nonetheless, Desikan was the only one of the group who was not convicted, while Drummond, Fleischer, and Reyes were all found guilty of privacy violations and received suspended six-month jail sentences.
benton.org/node/32523

FORMULAS AT HEART OF GOOGLE COMPLAINT
[SOURCE:  Financial Times, AUTHOR: Maija Palmer, Chris Nuttall]
Algorithms are the "secret sauce" behind Google's business, much like the recipe for Coca-Cola, and an important background to the antitrust complaints filed against it at the European Commission. They are highly complex mathematical formulae. Google's algorithm draws on 200 factors and is tweaked 400 times a year by an army of engineers, which the company uses to determine how to rank the search results it displays on its Internet search site. Google rankings can be vital to a company's business. About 67 per cent of Internet users go to its search engine to locate information, and most will only click on links on the first page of Google's search results. A low ranking means invisibility. The secretive nature of the algorithm is at the heart of the antitrust complaints the company faces in Brussels. Companies find it hard to understand why their rankings go up and down, and Google stands accused of manipulating the formula to discriminate against competitors.
benton.org/node/32555

IBM SURVEY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
IBM surveyed 8000 consumers and 60 telecom company executives to get a sense of Internet-related trends over the next decade, showing that broadband will continue to evolve and expand while traditional communications infrastructure -- those copper lines we've used to make phone calls for decades -- will rapidly disappear. IBM predicts that the use of land lines will decrease by 95 percent in the next five to 10 years. Conversely, usage of mobile and wireless broadband will increase by 98 percent during the same period. The company also found that consumers will demand open platforms, where they can access content on all types of devices. In fact, 70 percent of those surveyed said they want to access content on any device-- a computer, TV, phone or netbook--from any provider. Interestingly, IBM found that 65 percent of consumers expect their telecom provider to maintain their role as simply providing Internet and wireless services. Only one in five consumers expect telecom providers to have a role in the retail and delivery of online content services.
benton.org/node/32648

THE EMPEROR'S CLOTHES
[SOURCE: The Economist, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] The obstacles in the way of media moguls are especially big. Advertising is swiftly migrating online, and moving away from media companies as it does so. The Internet retains the power to disintermediate (that is, bypass media firms by bringing products straight to consumers) and de-aggregate (turning albums into tracks and newspapers into articles). Few have worked out a way of making money from putting content online. Nor is it clear that a willingness to spend on media-playing devices is a wholly good sign. Consumers bought lots of iPods in the past few years. But they did not spend much money on music. And there is always the threat that media moguls will go on another buying spree. The industry has a history of splashy mergers and acquisitions, particularly involving technology outfits, which end up destroying value. So let the content cocks crow. But if they start talking about synergies, run for the hills.
benton.org/node/32612

POLITICAL HACKTIVISTS TURN TO WEB ATTACKS
[SOURCE: BBC, AUTHOR: ]
Political activists are increasingly using net attacks as a means of protest, reveals a report. Since late 2009, environmental, political and ideological groups have become significant users of attacks that swamp sites with data. The groups are well resourced and use innovative techniques said Prolexic, a security firm that combats the attacks. Its findings come as cyber-activists block Australian government websites in protest at plans to filter content. Prolexic estimates about a total of nine million computers are used to mount the data flooding attacks.
benton.org/node/32253

THE LOBBYING-MEDIA COMPLEX
[SOURCE: The Nation, AUTHOR: Sebastian Jones]
Since 2007 at least seventy-five registered lobbyists, public relations representatives and corporate officials -- people paid by companies and trade groups to manage their public image and promote their financial and political interests -- have appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, CNBC and Fox Business Network with no disclosure of the corporate interests that had paid them. Many have been regulars on more than one of the cable networks, turning in dozens -- and in some cases hundreds -- of appearances. For lobbyists, PR firms and corporate officials, going on cable television is a chance to promote clients and their interests on the most widely cited source of news in the United States. These appearances also generate good will and access to major players inside the Democratic and Republican parties. For their part, the cable networks, eager to fill time and afraid of upsetting the political elite, have often looked the other way. At times, the networks have even disregarded their own written ethics guidelines. Just about everyone involved is heavily invested in maintaining the current system, with the exception of the viewer. While lobbyists and PR flacks have long tried to spin the press, the launch of Fox News and MSNBC in 1996 and the Clinton impeachment saga that followed helped create the caldron of twenty-four-hour political analysis that so many influence peddlers call home. Since then, guests with serious conflicts of interest have popped up with alarming regularity on every network. Just examine their presence in coverage of the economic crash and the healthcare reform debate, two recent issues that have engendered massive cable coverage.
benton.org/node/32235

PRODUCT PLACEMENT IS YOUR FAULT
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Brian Steinberg]
At the Association of National Advertisers' annual TV & Everything Video Forum, speaker after speaker lined up example after example of shockingly intrusive pacts that placed -- nay, shoved -- commercial messages deep into programming. Taken individually, these moves from commercial break to in-program content seem fun, novel, even entertaining. Placed together in this fashion, however, the parade of in-show appearances by paying advertisers took on the form of something more pernicious.  Never has it been more clear that commercials and content are fast becoming one and the same, wholly indistinguishable from each other. What's going on? 1) Media outlets, roiled by the recession and changes in the TV business, have bent, even broken, many of their own rules. 2) Advertisers have had it with trying to game ad breaks. 3) We have no one to blame but ourselves -- We say we hate ads. We say we love "American Idol," "24" or "The Closer." Yet we ignore the fact that the ads are the main reason we get to watch those shows for a relatively minimal cost.
benton.org/node/32232

IS THERE A MASTER METRIC FOR EVALUATING PUBLIC MEDIA?
[SOURCE: MediaShift, AUTHOR: Jessica Clark, Katie Donnelly]
[Commentary] How are Public Media 2.0 projects measuring their success in informing and engaging publics? We've identified five elements to explore; each of these elements represents a measurable category of activity that helps media projects convene publics around issues:
Reach: How many people encounter the project across various screens and streams: TV, radio, streaming audio, blogs and websites, Twitter, iTunes, mobile applications, and more?
Relevance: Is the media project topical within the larger news cycle? Is it designed to stay relevant over several news cycles? Is it particularly relevant to targeted publics concerned with a specific issue, location, or event?
Inclusion: Does the project address a diverse range of targeted audience, not just in terms of race, but in terms of gender, age, class, geographical location and beliefs? How open is the architecture for participation, collaboration and discussion?
Engagement: Does the project move users to action: to subscribe to a site, contribute material, to write a letter in response, to pass on a link, donate time and money, sign a petition or contact a leader?
Influence: Does the project challenge or put the frame on important issues? Does it target "influentials"?Is it "spreadable" or buzzworthy?
benton.org/node/32365

NET NEUTRALITY: A COMPLEX TOPIC MADE SIMPLE
[SOURCE: ComputerWorld, AUTHOR: Matt Hamblen]
What is Network Neutrality'? At its core, the Net neutrality movement in the US refers to efforts to keep the Internet open, accessible and "neutral" to all users, application providers and network carriers. In theory, this means, for example, that one carrier would not be allowed to discriminate against an application written by a third party by requiring its users to rely on the carrier's own proprietary voice applications. A carrier's walled-garden browser, which allows access to only certain Web sites, is also not seen as neutral by many neutrality proponents. The term Net neutrality is clearly politically laden. It isn't used that much by the Federal Communications Commission in its deliberations on the matter. Traditional carriers don't use the term that much either, since they often argue there is nothing wrong with the openness of the Internet, something Google and a variety of public interest groups dispute.
benton.org/node/32336

COPYRIGHT REFORM ACT
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Press release]
Saying that, "We need a bolder vision that starts to break down the barriers to free culture ­ that starts to break the vise grip the few and powerful have on ownership," Public Knowledge President and Co-Founder Gigi B. Sohn announced a new five-part Copyright Reform Act. Sohn said the discussion draft for the model legislation proposes five changes that "are to intended update copyright law for the digital age and in doing so tip the balance back in favor of the constitutional mandate that copyright protection 'promote the progress of science and the useful arts.'"
The general topics for copyright change are to:
1) strengthen fair use, including reforming outrageously high statutory damages, which deter innovation and creativity; 2) reform the DMCA to permit circumvention of digital locks for lawful purposes; 3) update the limitations and exceptions to copyright protection to better conform with how digital technologies work; 4) provide recourse for people and companies who are recklessly accused of copyright infringement and who are recklessly sent improper DMCA take-down notices; and 5) streamline arcane music licensing laws to encourage new and better business models for selling music.
benton.org/node/32302

NEW MEDIA CAN HELP FIGHT REPRESSION
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Chisa Fujioka]
An increase in online journalists and freelancers has made the press more vulnerable to repression, but new media are also helping raise awareness about such attacks, a watchdog group said on Tuesday. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in its annual report, released at a Tokyo news conference, that freelancers and local reporters faced more risk of attack from dictators, repressive governments and militant groups because they did not have media organizations to back them. But blogs, social networking sites and other new forms of media have also helped fight censorship, although there were exceptions such as in China.
benton.org/node/32287

POLITICIANS AS NEWS ANALYSTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
Television and politics have always been intertwined, but never to this degree, TV executives and journalism professionals say. It would seem that the so-called revolving door for political operatives has been extended to the politicians themselves, at a time when cable news is more politically charged than ever. To viewers, it seems to be an endless televised political campaign, with former, and possibly future, politicians biding their time giving sound-bite versions of stump speeches. The benefit for the part-time, but highly paid, pundits is clear: it increases their visibility. "It makes sense for candidates to seek out positions in niche cable, because it is a direct pipeline to voters," said Jonathan Wald, a former senior vice president at CNBC and an adjunct professor at Columbia's journalism school. "It's an automatic affinity group." The benefit to the viewers is less clear. Some experts say the arrangements can cloud the objectivity of the news organizations. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/32277

BOOK PUBLISHERS AND KINDLE
[SOURCE:  Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR:]
Since Amazon debuted its first Kindle e-book reader late in 2007, the reaction within the book industry has been a mix of welcome and scorn. Welcome because of the potential to tap an entirely new market -- before a wave of digital piracy similar to the one that decimated the music business. Scorn because of fears that the online retail giant, which already has a commanding share of the market for printed books, might use its leverage to seize control of the new market and push down prices even further. Publishers have been fighting back and seemed to score an important victory recently, with Amazon reportedly agreeing to a model that would let publishers set higher prices for e-books sold for the Kindle. Analysts say a truce is likely but won't do much harm to Amazon even if the company raises the prices of e-books from $9.99, which has helped make the Kindle a major hit. The Seattle company discloses little data about its Kindle business, but it is widely estimated that Amazon loses money on most e-books that it sells for that price. Higher prices would mean a better margin for the business even if the sales volume takes a small hit, experts say. But concerns persist about whether publishers will give any ground on e-book prices. In theory, the companies should still make good profits on e-books at lower prices, because they are saving on printing, binding and distribution, costs that make up an estimated 10% to 12% of a hardcover book's price. Ironically, the company that has thrown the biggest wrench into Amazon's plans is the very company that Amazon was trying to emulate -- Apple.
benton.org/node/32284

E-BOOKS NEED A COMMON LANGUAGE
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Troy Wolverton]
[Commentary] I never need to worry about whether I can read a book. As long as a book's a book, that is — printed on paper, in English. I know I can pick it up and read it no matter how long it sits on my shelf after I bought it. But as we move into the era of e-books, that assumption no longer holds. In certain cases, you can't read the electronic book you buy from one store on a device supported by a competing store. Similarly, you can't read e-books you borrow from your library if you don't have the right kind of device. And there's a chance you won't be able to read the e-books you buy today on the e-book reader you own several years from now. Does anyone in the books business realize how dumb this is? Seems not. Because just when the situation seemed to be getting better, it suddenly got worse.
benton.org/node/32265

FACEBOOK DIRECTS MORE ONLINE USERS THAN GOOGLE
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Benny Evangelista]
A big part of the Facebook experience is how friends and family share Web links to interesting news stories, photos, videos and Internet sites. This "friend-casting" of information has helped propel Facebook into a major force in directing traffic around the Web. According to Web measurement firm Compete Inc., Facebook has passed search-engine giant Google to become the top source for traffic to major portals like Yahoo and MSN, and is among the leaders for other types of sites. This trend is shifting the way Web site operators approach online marketing, even as Google takes steps to move into the social-media world. Some experts say social media could become the Internet's next search engine.
benton.org/node/32264

NETWORKS CRITICIZED FOR AIRING LUGE VIDEO
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: David Bauder]
NBC and other networks were criticized Saturday for broadcasting the disturbing video of a Georgian luger who died after flying off the track and slamming into a steel beam during an Olympic training run. NBC said callers complained and Twitter was aflame with disgust. Much of the criticism centered on the network showing the footage at the beginning of its coverage of Friday's opening ceremony for the Vancouver Games, even though video of Nodar Kumaritashvili's death aired on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news programs. News organizations frequently weigh the imperative of depicting the reality of the world they cover with concerns about whether images would be too disturbing for the public. In this case, the networks warned viewers and used the video. NBC, in a departure from its usual policy of holding onto video because it is the U.S. Olympics rightsholder, let other networks use it.
benton.org/node/32263

LOCAL TV FOR DEVICES ON THE MOVE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Taub]
Who has time to sit on the couch and watch TV anymore? In the last 10 years, broadcasters have lost 25 percent of their audience. So to win back some viewers, the industry has a plan to grab their attention while they are on the move. Beginning in April, eight television stations in Washington (DC) will broadcast a signal for a new class of devices that can show programming, even in a car at high speed. In all, 30 stations in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington have installed the necessary equipment, at a cost of $75,000 to $150,000. "Younger generations want programming on the go," said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. "To access TV on a cellphone, on a laptop or in the car is a game changer for local broadcasters. It will provide a renaissance for over-the-air broadcast TV." If enough people watch using the mobile TV technology, known, for lack of a more marketable name, as "ATSC Mobile DTV Standard," local stations will be able to charge more for commercials and increase their revenue.
benton.org/node/32260

US RANKED 2ND ON USEFUL CONNECTIVITY SCORECARD
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The United States is one of the highest, but no longer the highest ranking country in terms of "useful connectivity," according to a new report authored by Professor Leonard Waverman of the University of Calgary in conjunction with consulting group LECG and commissioned by Nokia Siemens Networks. The study, now in its third year, aims to provide relative measures of useful connectivity for 50 countries. The term "useful connectivity" is defined as a combination of infrastructure, complementary skills, software and informed usage that makes information and communications technology (ICT) a driver of productivity and economic growth. The U.S. received a score of 7.77, based on six rankings, each of which rates the top performer in a category as a 10, with all other countries rated in relation to the top performer. The six criteria included business, government and consumer infrastructure, as well as business, government and consumer usage and skill levels. The U.S. which was ranked number one in last year's study, was number two this year, after Sweden, which had a ranking of 7.95.
benton.org/node/32190

WI-FI TURNS BUS INTO STUDY HALL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Sam Dillon]
Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in Vail, a desert exurb of Tucson (AZ), and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates). But on this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops. Morning routines have been like this since the fall, when school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92's sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students call it the Internet Bus, and what began as a high-tech experiment has had an old-fashioned -- and unexpected -- result. Wi-Fi access has transformed what was often a boisterous bus ride into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared. Internet buses may soon be hauling children to school in many other districts, particularly those with long bus routes. The company marketing the router, Autonet Mobile, says it has sold them to schools or districts in Florida, Missouri and Washington (DC).
benton.org/node/32200

IT STINKS TO BE KING
[SOURCE: MediaBizBlogger, AUTHOR: Tom Cunniff]
[Commentary] Content isn't King. It's common as dirt, and worth about as much. Accountants at News Corporation, The New York Times, Time Warner and CBS have been forced to write down tens of billions of dollars in assets. The costs of producing and distributing content have shrunk to essentially zero. There are no barriers to entry for Web publishers: in half a day you can set up a WordPress blog and start running Google ads. The result? The world is absolutely drowning in content, and the laws of supply and demand are kicking in, hard.
benton.org/node/32183

GOOGLE BOOKS AND COPYRIGHT
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Larry Downes]
The debate of Google Books raises concerns about US copyright law. There are millions of out-of-print books still protected by copyright, and negotiating separate deals with the rights holders would be complex and expensive. But that's not the most serious issue. As the Justice Department acknowledges, any company hoping to offer digital access to works published in the last century faces the initial, and perhaps impossible, challenge of actually identifying who currently holds the right in the first place. As it notes, "for many works, especially out-of-print works, rights clearance may not be possible as a practical matter." What the government agency doesn't mention is that the source of this "orphan works" problem is the government itself. Over the last hundred years, legislators have repeatedly extended the "limited" copyright monopoly and applied those extensions retroactively. But given the short commercial life of most printed books, many rights holders made no provision for inheritance or transfer of the remaining term of their copyrights--terms that may have even been extended after their death. The result is that millions of out-of-print books with no real hope of returning to print have gone into a kind of limbo. They are still protected by copyright, but no one knows who owns the rights.
benton.org/node/32182

CHINA ALARMED BY INTERNET SECURITY THREAT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Sharon LaFraniere, Jonathan Ansfield]
While much of the rest of the world frets about Chinese cyberspying abroad, China is increasingly alarmed about the threat that the Internet poses to its security and political stability. In the view of both political analysts and technology experts here and in the United States, China's attempts to tighten its grip on Internet use are driven in part by the conviction that the West -- and particularly the United States -- is wielding communications innovations from malware to Twitter to weaken it militarily and to stir dissent internally. State media have vented those concerns more vociferously since Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last month criticized China for censorship and called for an investigation of Google's assertion that its databases had been the target of a sophisticated attack from China. "China wants to make clear that it too is under serious attack from spies on the Internet," said Cheng Gang, author of the Global Times article. Despite China's robust technological abilities, its cyberdefenses are almost certainly more porous than those of the United States, American experts say. To cite one glaring example, even Chinese government computers are frequently equipped with pirated software from Microsoft, they say. That means many users miss out on security upgrades, available to paying users, that fix security breaches exploited by hackers.
benton.org/node/32207

POLITICIANS, THE PRESS, AND FOREIGN POLICY
[SOURCE: Foreign Policy, AUTHOR: Stephen Walt]
[Commentary] Over the past few years, media critics like Glenn Greenwald, Mark Danner, and Michael Massing have exposed some of the sloppiness, incestuousness, and group-think that routinely afflicts mainstream media coverage of world events, especially in the realm of foreign policy and national security. Even "faux news" outlets like Jon Stewart's Daily Show have contributed to greater awareness of media failings, mostly by pointing out biases and inconsistencies in a ruthlessly funny fashion. Yet no matter how useful such critiques are, they need to be complemented by more systematic scholarly studies of the complex relationship between media coverage, public opinion, and actual foreign policy decisions. On that topic, Matthew Baum and Tim Groeling have recently published an excellent book entitled War Stories: The Causes and Consequences of Public Views on War (Princeton University Press). Drawing on a wide array of empirical evidence (including opinion surveys, media content, and foreign policy decisions), they argue that the interaction between elites, media, and public opinion is a three-way process in which each group's behavior is essentially strategic. Politicians try to use media to advance their aims; the media picks stories in order to maximize audience (or in some cases, to advance an ideological agenda), and therefore tend to favor stories that are novel or surprising (like when a prominent senator criticizes a president from his own party). Similarly, the public does not just consume the news passively; readers and viewers use various cues to gauge the credibility of different sources.
benton.org/node/32179

GMAIL BLOCKED IN IRAN
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Rhoads, Chip Cummins, Jessica Vascellaro]
Iran's telecommunications agency announced what it described as a permanent suspension of Google Inc.'s email services, saying a national email service for Iranian citizens would soon be rolled out. It wasn't clear late Wednesday what effect the order had on Gmail services in Iran, or even if Iran had implemented its new policy. Iranian officials have claimed technological advances in the past that they haven't been able to execute. A Google spokesman said, "We have heard from users in Iran that they are having trouble accessing Gmail. We can confirm a sharp drop in traffic, and we have looked at our own networks and found that they are working properly. Whenever we encounter blocks in our services we try to resolve them as quickly as possibly because we strongly believe that people everywhere should have the ability to communicate freely online." An Iranian official said the move was meant to boost local development of Internet technology and to build trust between people and the government.
benton.org/node/32156

AUSTRALIA'S NON-NEUTRAL INTERNET
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
If you want a good look at what a non-neutral Internet looks like, take a gander at Australia where bandwidth caps are common. But Australian Internet service providers take the idea one step further by setting up partnerships with entertainment services and music download companies. Any data usage directed at one of these favored services doesn't count against the monthly bandwidth cap. This is quite clearly non-neutral behavior in any sense of the term. ISPs shape traffic when the quota is reached, meaning that all traffic to non-partner sites is slowed dramatically, while the favored services continue at full speed. This isn't an outright "blocking" of other websites, which can be freely accessed until the cap is reached, but the effect is quite similar. How are high-bandwidth services like video streaming going to compete against those services favored by an ISP? How will new players ever gain market share?
benton.org/node/32104

US NEEDS FASTER INTERNET
[SOURCE: CNN, AUTHOR: John Sutter]
A Q&A with Google Policy Analyst Derek Slater in which he offers insights about increasing today's sluggish Internet speeds and why a unified Web can change peoples' lives. Google long has been an advocate of a single Web, one that's free of government censorship and barriers to information access. That's not the reality in today's world however.  Governments from China to France put various roadblocks in the information superhighway to serve their interests, filter speech or protect copyrights. And high-speed Internet connections haven't reached all corners of the globe -- not even all parts of the United States.
benton.org/node/32100

YOUTUBE KILLING FLAT-RATE MOBILE BROADBAND PRICING
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Video is driving the projected increase in both mobile and wired broadband — but it's not the proliferation of video that's the problem for mobile operators so much as the relative ease with which consumers can now access it. Indeed, while mobile operators have long faced traffic congestion at cell sites thanks to peer-to-peer traffic, the widespread availability of video in formats that the average consumer can watch has changed the industry. And that's causing mobile operators to rethink their pricing plans. In short, YouTube may be the death of unlimited mobile broadband on handsets. Given that mobile resources are constrained by a variety of things, including the spectrum allotted to carriers, it's likely that mobile broadband providers will eliminate flat-rate pricing for mobile broadband as a way to keep profits and network quality up while data use expands. When that happens should we blame YouTube — or profiteering mobile operators?
benton.org/node/32096

TWITTER COURT CRACKDOWN
[SOURCE: Baltimore Sun, AUTHOR: Andy Green]
[Commentary] During the November trial of former Mayor Sheila Dixon, journalists and others watching the proceedings sent a constant stream of short updates to Twitter and other social media platforms about every twist and turn of the case. Those updates bounced instantly around the web from one circle of acquaintances to another as ordinary citizens added comments and debated one of the most important events in recent Baltimore civic life. When the jury finally delivered its verdict, the stream of tweets and re-tweets multiplied into the thousands within minutes. Everyone was interested, and everyone had something to say. You might call that civic engagement. But the Baltimore Circuit Court called it unacceptable. The day after Ms. Dixon agreed to a plea that included her resignation from office, Marcella A. Holland, the administrative judge for Baltimore City, issued an order banning "the use of any device to transmit information on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In or any other current or future form of social networking from any of the courthouses within the Circuit Court for Baltimore City." The order is predicated on the assumption that posting to Twitter is effectively the same as having television cameras broadcast court proceedings, which is already banned throughout the state. That analogy is false, and it exposes a misunderstanding of social networking and of the reasons why the courts have been justified in placing limited restrictions on the media in the first place.
benton.org/node/32089

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(c) Benton Foundation 2003. Redistribution of this email publication -- both internally and externally -- is encouraged if it includes this message:
Communications-Related Headlines are compiled, summarized and edited by Rachel Anderson (rachel@benton.org), Andy Carvin (andy@benton.org) and Charles Meisch (charlie@benton.org) of the Benton Foundation -- we welcome your feedback. Based in Washington DC, the Benton Foundation's mission is to articulate a public interest vision for the digital age and demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems. Other projects at Benton include:
Digital Divide Network (www.digitaldividenetwork.org)
Digital Opportunity Channel (www.digitalopportunity.org)
OneWorld US (www.oneworld.net/us)
Sound Partners for Community Health (www.soundpartners.org

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