News of the movement for January 23, 2013


Future of the Internet

Genachowski's Gigabit Gambit

Julius Genachowski has a bully pulpit -- he’s the head of the federal agency charged with overseeing the communications sector -- but it’s all for naught if he won’t use the power he has. He won’t even admonish incumbent ISPs for refusing to build out these essential networks, he won’t say who should build them instead and he won’t name the reasons why the U.S. is falling behind the rest of the world in access, speed and affordability. Those reasons are clear, even if the policy solutions aren’t politically easy.

Josh Levy, Free Press

State of the Internet: The Broadband Future Is Faster, but Still Unevenly Distributed

Akamai, the content-delivery network, has once again issued its assessment of Web traffic based on the requests hitting its servers. The resulting survey shows the world’s broadband getting faster.

Stacey Higginbotham, GigaOM

Google Fiber 'Not a Hobby,' Could Expand

Google Fiber, the Internet search giant's super-fast Internet experiment in Kansas City that operates at a speed 100 times faster than a typical broadband connection, could be coming to a city near you.

Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times

Student Expelled for Hacking After Investigating Security Hole

A college student in Canada was expelled after he investigated a security vulnerability in a computer system that could have exposed the personal data of more than 250,000 students.

Kim Zetter, Wired


Mobile and Beyond

Exposure of Files on Unsecured Wireless No Excuse to Search

An individual who inadvertently exposes the contents of his computer over an unsecured wireless network still has a reasonable expectation of privacy against a search of those contents by the police, a federal judge in Oregon ruled last week.

Jaikumar Vijayan, Computerworld

AT&T Snaps Up Rural Mobile Carrier Alltell for $780 Million

There’s been a bit of a shakeup in the American mobile landscape: Users are moving toward prepaid plans, T-Mobile and MetroPCS have merged and Japanese mobile giant SoftBank has infused Sprint with billions of dollars. AT&T has decided it doesn't want to be left out in the cold: It came to an agreement with southeastern rural provider Alltel to acquire its wireless business for $780 million.

Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica

Tourists' Cellphones Now OK in North Korea -- but Not Local Calls

If you ever wanted to get completely away from talking on your cellphone, the place to go was North Korea. But the fanatically strict North Korean policy against cellphone use by outsiders has begun to crack.

David Colker, Los Angeles Times

The Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs of First-Time Smartphone Buyers

Despite the dozens of smartphones churned out each year by the likes of Samsung, Apple, Motorola, HTC and more, just 55.5 percent of mobile users in the United States have one. But that’s changing, quickly. Two in three American phone buyers will choose a smartphone by 2016, by which point there will be some 1 billion smartphone users worldwide.

Alexandra Chang, Wired


Journalism and Beyond

If Twitter Wants to Be a Media Company, It Needs to Get a lot Better at Relevance

Evidence of Twitter’s ambition to become a media entity continues to accumulate, but if it wants to fulfill its role as a digital-media player, it is going to have to get a lot better at finding relevant content for its users.

Mathew Ingram, paidContent.org

A Downsized Boston Globe Opens Its Space for Community Uses

Among the many changes that Christopher M. Mayer wanted to make when he became publisher of the Boston Globe in 2010 was to transform a particularly unattractive section of the newsroom. Mayer embarked on a search for creative ways to use that space. As a result, the Globe has turned its empty offices into a public community space.

Christine Haughney, New York Times

Journalist Gets 10-Year Prison Sentence for Insulting Thai King

A Thai activist and former magazine editor was given a 10-year prison sentence for insulting the royal family under the country's draconian lese-majeste law, drawing condemnation from international rights groups and the European Union.

Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Reuters

Five Ways Journalists Can Use Social Media to Resurface Old Content

Journalists are finding that social media gives them ample opportunities to breathe new life into archived content. Recently, they've used social networking sites -- while covering deaths, anniversaries, birthdays and ongoing stories -- to resurface old content that their audiences might otherwise never see.

Meena Thiruvengadam, Poynter

Al Jazeera Is Hiring

Looks like someone is hiring. Al Jazeera just posted a list of over 100 job openings on its website for the soon-to-launch new U.S.-based news channel.

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke, New York Observer