Techno Bits & Bytes
Google's iPhone Tracking
Benton Foundation on 02/17/2012Google and other advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple's Web browser on their iPhones and computers—tracking the Web-browsing habits of people who intended for that kind of monitoring to be blocked.
What Happens When a 911 Emergency Call Goes Silent?
Benton Foundation on 02/14/2012Open-line calls have long plagued emergency dispatchers, who handle about 240 million calls in more than 6,000 communications centers across the country, according to Trey Forgety, government affairs director for the National Emergency Number Association, a trade group.
Rethinking the soul as the ’Net becomes more lifelike
Benton Foundation on 02/02/2012The question occurred to me as I spent an hour browsing the Web, and on inspection, it seemed to me not entirely nutty. Technology is changing the way we think about all kinds of theological concepts, such as community, prayer, ritual and worship. Why should it not expand our definition of “soul”?
Full-speed ahead for Web domain expansion
Benton Foundation on 01/12/2012Rod Beckstrom, president and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), brushed off criticism of his group's plan to allow for new Web domain endings.
Some Countries Are More Social Than Others, Survey Finds
Benton Foundation on 01/04/2012In the big cities of India and China, it seems, people can’t help being social. Nearly everyone who uses the Internet there is also active on social networks, according to a vast global survey by Forrester Research, and most of them do much more than read and watch what’s posted online.
Using Google’s Data to Reach Consumers
Benton Foundation on 12/23/2011Google and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed Google Flu Trends. What the researchers probably did not predict was that the Google flu data would end up being the cornerstone of an advertising campaign.
IBM predicts 5 tech changes in 5 years
Benton Foundation on 12/19/2011Every year, IBM picks five technologies that it predicts are going to change our lives in the next five years. This year's crop of life changers includes efficient capture of renewable energy, proliferation of biometric identification to authenticate your identity, control of machines with your mind, elimination of the digital divide, and the end of spam.
“A Reordering of the Competitive Universe as We Know It”
Benton Foundation on 12/09/2011We're usually not so dramatic at Headlines, so we borrow our title this week from a quote from Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. It is how he described the biggest news of the month to his client. On December 2, SpectrumCo -- a joint venture between Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks -- entered into an agreement to sell to Verizon Wireless the cable companies’ 122 Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum licenses for $3.6 billion. Comcast owns 63.6% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $2.3 billion from the sale. Time Warner Cable owns 31.2% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $1.1 billion. Bright House Networks owns 5.3% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $189 million. The companies also announced that they have entered into several agreements, providing for the sale of various products and services. Through these agreements, the cable companies, on the one hand, and Verizon Wireless, on the other, will become agents to sell one another's products and, over time, the cable companies will have the option of selling Verizon Wireless’ service on a wholesale basis. Additionally, the cable companies and Verizon Wireless have formed an innovation technology joint venture for the development of technology to better integrate wireline and wireless products and services. That would allow, for example, a consumer to walk into a Comcast store and get a Verizon Wireless plan tacked on to his television, Internet and landline phone service.
FCC’s AT&T/T-Mobile Order
Benton Foundation on 11/30/2011On November 29, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief granted AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s request to withdraw their applications to allow AT&T to acquire T-Mobile spectrum licenses.
Stop Online Piracy Act: Broad bill needs scrutiny
Benton Foundation on 11/17/2011The tech sector came out resoundingly this week against the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bipartisan bill that chips away at critical legal protections that foster online innovation and open communication. I point all this out because, if you were watching the House hearing on SOPA, you'd hardly guess there were so many concerned parties.
Traffic jams, ISPs and network neutrality
Benton Foundation on 11/14/2011In the network neutrality debate, Internet Service Providers like AT&T and Verizon, have said they need to charge content providers for prioritization so they can invest in improving infrastructure: faster internet service for all, they say. But placing a price on prioritizing content creates an inherent disincentive to expand infrastructure.
Senate Commerce Pitches Spectrum for Deficit Supercommittee
Benton Foundation on 10/14/2011The Senate Commerce Committee has offered the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction recommendations for changes in law to reduce the deficit. The Committee requests ...
CenturyLink offers low-cost Internet plan
Benton Foundation on 10/03/2011Internet service provider CenturyLink announced a discounted Internet plan for low-income families. The "Internet Basics" program will offer high-speed Internet for $9.95 a month and a netbook computer for $150 to qualifying families.
LightSquared, FCC face criticism from Republican lawmakers
Benton Foundation on 09/30/2011The Federal Communications Commission’s initial approval of a troubled satellite venture came under fresh criticism as Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) questioned whether the agency’s actions could lead to billions of dollars in costs for taxpayers.
Social media's role in Arab spring still unclear
Benton Foundation on 09/17/2011Something extraordinary happened at the nexus of social media and political action during the Arab spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. But just what happened is less clear.
Plugged In at Last, Regretfully
Benton Foundation on 09/11/2011Cell phone service comes to Renova, Pennsylvania.
Internet Privacy: The Impact and Burden of EU Regulation
Benton Foundation on 09/09/2011Sep 15 2011 - 9:30am - 1:00pmInternet Privacy: The Impact and Burden of EU Regulation
Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade
House Commerce Committee
September 15, 2011
9:30 a.mOnline push fails to reach 8.7 million Britons
Benton Foundation on 09/01/2011The number of adults in the UK using the Internet has increased by just 500,000 in the past year, despite concerted government efforts to get more people online.
USDA Farm Computer Usage and Ownership Report
Benton Foundation on 08/15/2011A total of 62 percent of U.S. farms now have Internet access, compared with 59 percent in 2009. Sixty-five percent of farms have access to a computer in 2011, up 1 percentage point from 2009. The proportion of U.S. farms owning or leasing a computer in 2011, at 63 percent, was up 2 percentage points from 2009. Farms using computers for their farm business remained virtually stable at 37 percent in 2011 compared to 36 percent in 2009.
Case Study: Cybersecurity best practices at Defense
Benton Foundation on 08/01/2011The U.S. military's computer systems are probed by outsiders millions of times a day, while insiders, like a soldier who allegedly extracted heaps of classified files for public consumption on the WikiLeaks website, also pose threats.
AT&T, Verizon and other price cap carriers send broadband USF proposal to FCC
Benton Foundation on 07/29/2011As expected, six of the nation’s largest telcos -- AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, CenturyLink, and FairPoint, and Windstream -- submitted a Universal Service Fund (USF) and inter-carrier compensation (ICC) reform proposal to the Federal Communications Commission aimed at transitioning today’s high-cost, voice-focused fund to one focused on broadband without increasing the overall fund size.
Colleges Join Plan for Faster Computer Networks
Benton Foundation on 07/27/2011A coalition of 28 American universities is throwing its weight behind a plan to build ultra-high-speed computer networks — with Internet service several hundred times faster than what is now commercially available — in the communities surrounding the participating colleges. The project, which is named GigU and will be announced on July 27, is meant to draw high-tech startups in fields like health care, energy and telecommunications to the areas near the universities, many of which are in the Midwest or outside of major cities.
We have smart phones, but do we want dumb screens?
Benton Foundation on 06/29/2011Almost two-thirds of Americans are using more than one computing device — defined as a smartphone, tablet, computer or netbook — according to a poll released this week. Unsurprisingly, the poll, which surveyed 2,000 Americans, found that 83 percent of people want access to their documents in the cloud. Of course they do.
US to Provide Guidelines to Bolster Computer Security
Benton Foundation on 06/27/2011The Homeland Security Department plans to unveil a new system of guidance intended to help make the software behind many services -- be they Web sites or power grids -- less susceptible to hacking.
Dutch Lawmakers Adopt Network Neutrality Law
Benton Foundation on 06/22/2011The Netherlands became the first country in Europe, and only the second in the world, to enshrine the concept of network neutrality into national law by banning its mobile telephone operators from blocking or charging consumers extra for using Internet-based communications services like Skype or WhatsApp, a free text service.
