News of the movement for January 16, 2013


Journalism and Beyond

Big Media Behaving Badly

America’s biggest media companies are on a roll this month. Usually fancy new gadgets -- not old-school media giants -- are the focus of the Consumer Electronics Show. But this year the talk at CES was all about CBS.

Josh Stearns, Free Press

Somali Journalist Arrested After Interviewing Rape Victim

A Somali journalist has been under arrest for almost a week because he interviewed a woman who claimed she had been raped by members of the Somali Army. The woman was also detained briefly and her husband is also reported to have been held.

Roy Greenslade, Guardian

RMPBS, KUVO and I-News Merge, Redefining Colorado Public Media

Public media outlets in Colorado are hoping to find strength in numbers. Rocky Mountain PBS signed a merger agreement with the investigative reporting service I-News and with public radio station KUVO, designed to "redefine public media" in Colorado, RMPBS President and CEO Doug Price said. The three organizations will share newsgathering and other resources.

Joanne Ostrow, Denver Post

News Flash for Media: You Can't Sell Photos Grabbed from Twitter

The AFP v. Morel lawsuit was widely reported because it was one of the first cases to explore the intersection of copyright law and Twitter's terms of use. Nearly three years after the lawsuit began, a key opinion has been issued, ruling in favor of Morel and against AFP. The French newswire did manage to win a limitation on damages, but it could still be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Joe Mullin, Ars Technica


Save the Internet

Beyond Aaron Swartz: We Don't Need Martyrs … But Changes

Like the other cases brought against hackers across the country, the case against Aaron Swartz isn’t just about technology providing new means for people to act independently and enact democracy. It isn’t even really about justice and national security. It’s about a broader, systemic battle. It’s about power.

Danah Boyd, Wired

Prosecutor in Aaron Swartz Hacking Case Comes Under Fire

A politically ambitious Justice Department official who oversaw the criminal case against Aaron Swartz has come under fire for alleged prosecutorial abuses that led the 26-year-old online activist to take his own life.

Declan McCullagh, CNet

Our Legal System Didn't Give Aaron Swartz a Chance

The Justice Department's pursuit of the 26-year-old Internet activist for a victimless crime points to an ugly truth about prosecutorial abuse.

Wendy Kaminer, The Atlantic

Congresswoman Introduces Draft Bill to Amend U.S. Hacking Laws

Zoe Lofgren believes that the existing Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is too vague in its current form and needs tightening up. Her proposal? Aaron's Law.

Addy Dugdale, Fast Company


Future of the Internet

One-Fifth of Women in Developing World Countries Think Internet Use Is Inappropriate for Them

A study on women and the Internet has found some interesting trends. Researchers, who consulted with the U.S. State Department and U.N. Women, found that one-fifth of the women in some countries feel that it would be inappropriate for them to use the Internet. The report issues a call to double the number of women and girls online in developing countries from 600 million today to 1.2 billion in three years.

Addy Dugdale, Fast Company

Space Satellite Connects Rural Health Clinics to Broadband

To connect mobile health units in the hills of rural New England with broadband access, policymakers are looking up -- all the way to space.

Dylan Scott, Government Technology

U.S. Internet Suffers When the Refs Blow the Calls

Descended from an age in which everyone had access to regular telephone service at reasonable rates, broadband access has devolved into an industry that functions at the whim of a few big corporations. These companies are "regulated" by the equivalent of replacement refs who have allowed an industry to get out of control and allow companies to do what they want regardless of the harm to society.

Art Brodsky, Huffington Post


Mobile and Beyond

Eshoo to Reintroduce Wireless Bill in Coming Weeks

Rep. Anna Eshoo said that she intends to reintroduce legislation in the coming weeks that's aimed at ensuring consumers have complete information about pricing and service conditions before they sign up for for a mobile wireless contract.

Jennifer Martinez, The Hill

Why I’m Thinking of Ditching My Precious iPhone for an Android

After several years as a devoted Apple iPhone user, I have been tempted by the dark side -- I am considering giving up my beloved iPhone for an Android device, and the main attraction is the openness of the ecosystem that Android takes advantage of.

Mathew Ingram, GigaOM

We're Falling in Love with Our Phones

Siri: humble assistant -- and close friend? A survey of 1,000 cellphone owners commissioned by Nuance, a provider of voice-recognition software, suggests that people are developing closer relationships with the virtual assistants on their smartphones. In the past decade, we've embraced software as a service. Will software as soulmate be next?

Bianca Bosker, Huffington Post

iPhone 5S, Low-Cost iPhone 5 to Debut This Summer

Apple could have a busy summer if the latest iPhone forecast from one analyst comes true. The company will launch an iPhone 5S and a revamped version of the iPhone 5 in June or July, predicts KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Lance Whitney, CNET