News of the movement for August 10, 2012


Money, Media and Elections

Seeking Political Ad Sleuths!

We're launching the next phase of our ongoing work to shine much-needed sunlight on this year's unprecedented political ad spending. We're announcing the Political Ad Sleuths: Campus Challenge, a nationwide effort in which Free Press and allied organizations will work with college faculty and students to find out who’s behind all the political ads dominating our airwaves.

Josh Stearns, Free Press


Media Policy at the FCC

FCC Ruling Will Save Verizon Wireless Customers Big Bucks

Last week, the FCC handed down a decision that could save millions of Verizon Wireless subscribers up to $240 a year.

Joel Kelsey, SavetheInternet.com

FCC Denies Comcast Stay Request in Tennis Channel Program Complaint

According to the Tennis Channel, the FCC has denied Comcast's request for a stay of the Commission's decision against the cable operator.

John Eggerton, Multichannel News


Future of the Internet

Markey Unveils Draft of Wireless Bill

In the wake of an investigation that revealed over 1.3 million law enforcement requests for mobile phone info from providers, Rep. Ed Markey released a draft of a bill, the Wireless Surveillance Act of 2012, that would put some limits on those requests, including requiring a court order for location tracking.

John Eggerton, Multichannel News

Occupy Broadband

Where are the signs demanding ubiquitous and reliable high-speed Internet access?

Ryan Burns, The Journal

Global Average Connection Speed on the Internet Up by 25 Percent

The Internet keeps getting faster. The First Quarter, 2012 State of the Internet report from content-delivery network vendor Akamai is once again showing acceleration in Internet-access speeds around the world.

Sean Michael Kerner, Enterprise Networking

FTC Hits Google with $22.5 Million Fine Over Safari Hacks

The Federal Trade Commission confirmed that it has imposed a record-breaking fine on Google over the search giant’s decision to circumvent privacy settings on the Apple's Safari browser.

Jeff John Roberts, GigaOM

iOS 6 Could Provide Seamless FaceTime from Wi-Fi to Cellular

The eagle-eyed crowd at Apple Insider spotted a new setting in the latest iOS 6 beta called "Wi-Fi Plus Cellular." When enabled, the feature should allow iOS 6 devices to keep synchronizing data when initially on a Wi-Fi network that either slows down or loses its signal. Interestingly, FaceTime is one of the apps that can be synchronized on Wi-Fi or cellular.

Kevin C. Tofel, GigaOM

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile Unite for the Future of Payments

The mobile payments industry is still very much like the Wild West -- there's little law and order, and plenty of gunslingers itching to strike gold. But a new committee could finally civilize the mobile-payments wild lands.

Devindra Hardawar, Venture Beat


Journalism and Beyond

Covering the Sinai Peninsula

A degree of confusion is to be expected whenever news of a sensitive security matter breaks in a remote region. But the ongoing crisis in the Sinai demands deep reporting on the economic, military and political dynamics at the root of the instability.

Jared Malsin, Columbia Journalism Review

More Journalism Majors Finding Jobs After Graduation

The job picture is looking better for college grads who majored in journalism and mass communications, at least in the short term. The percentage of graduates who reported finding full-time employment within six to eight months rose to 62.2 percent in 2011, up four percentage points in a year and the second year of increases.

Steve Myers, Poynter

Are Tablet-Only Publications Dead?

Is there a future for tablet-only publications? The last few weeks have cast an ominous shadow over this niche industry following substantial staff cuts at News Corp.'s Daily and a decision by the Huffington Post to give up on charging for its iPad magazine after just five issues.

Charlie Warzel, AdWeek