News from U.K. - Regulations and competition

Three tidbits to pass along -

The mad rush to establish a  press oversight/regulatory body by Royal charter has been sidetracked.  The Prime Minister's office announced that their proposed charter will not be presented to the Queen later this month, as previously scheduled.
  The delay comes after strong negative reactions from the press, and the presentation of an alternative charter for a self-regulatory body to the Privy Council.  The Privy Council posted the newspaper industry's proposal for open content.  After the initial comment period (ends May 23, 2013), the council will consider whether to hold a full consideration of both proposals before making a recommendation and forwarding a Charter to the Queen.

One of the UK Newspaper Society's concern with the original charter proposal was the lack of any clear statement against government interference.  That concern was supported by a new Transparency Report from YouTube, which showed that UK government and police requests for removal of YouTube videos doubled in 2012.  These requests were made for alleged violation of national security or hate speech laws, or were critical of police practices.  The 124 cited requests did not include requests based on copyright violation or court orders.  Google reported rejecting about half of the requests.
  Some of the examples provided were basically requests to remove content that officials thought made them look bad.  If that's the standard that the government's hoping to be applied under the proposed News Regulatory body, that's something to worry about.

BT, formerly known as British Telecomm, announced a deal with the Press Association to provide news and editorial content for their relaunched website.  BT's been transitioning from phone service provider to online content service, having acquired ESPN's UK sports channels earlier and sports licensing deals with major European soccer associations.  The Press Association is UK's national news agency, providing news feeds to newspapers, newsrooms, and businesses across UK and Ireland.

PA's managing director, Tony Watson, said: "The agreement with PA and BT represents a significant moment in our evolution from traditional content supplier to provider and manager of multi-platform content and solutions."

Sources - Royal charter for press regulation delayed by ministers,  The Drum
UK requests removal of 124 YouTube videos,  CBR
Deal with Press Association will provide news and editorial content on relaunched BT website,  The Drum

Not just for Dr. Who fans

A fun little tidbit I stumbled across -

Now you can order your own modern version of Dr. Who's versatile Sonic Screwdriver.  This version doesn't do quite everything that the Doctor's sonic screwdriver was portrayed as doing over the long history of the program - now in it's 33rd season and 11th incarnation of the Doctor.  It can, however, work as a gestures-based remote control for "Earth-based domestic entertainment equipment".
  While there doesn't seem to be any assembly required, it is a learning remote - which means you'll have to manually input the signals for up to 39 remote control functions.

   There's been a lot of interest lately on incorporating remote sensing of hand gestures (or other body movements) as a means of user input, many utilizing Microsoft's new Kinect platform.  Apple's been incorporating touch gestures for signalling in it's systems, and most of us are now familiar with mobile devices rotating screen orientations automatically as they are turned.  I expect we'll be seeing more and more gestures-based input from smaller mobile and personal devices in the future.

Sources  -  Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver Is Your New TV Remote,  Mashable Tech
Hand-Gesture Technologies Wave Bye to Desktop Mouse, Wall Street Journal

BBC joins sports, businesses in Twitter limits.

The BBC is one of the latest groups seeking to ban or limit Twitter use by talent & staff.  Their argument is similar to what a number of sports groups have used - they don't want early leaks to reveal sensitive information that might spoil their marketing plans or reveal information that may reduce the value of their products.  The proposed policy would focus on limiting premature release of information such as storyline spoilers, casting news, or breaking news - information they want to control releasing, in order to maximize its impact or value to the BBC.

A classic hometown example of this rationale was the Southeastern Conference's plan, in 2009,  to ban social media use by fans in stadiums - they feared that revealing scores or highlights might reduce the value of their football television contract.  After two days of ridicule by press and fans, they reversed themselves, only "discouraging" fans from posting video clips during the game.

Still, concerns about controlling information flow are driving many groups and companies to develop policies to limit in-house use of Twitter and other social media.  A recent survey of businesses in Britain showed that almost half have limited social media use while on the job; the most commonly cited concern (45%) being fears about business reputation.  Similar concerns have driven may sports teams to develop social media use policies for players and other personnel; while not outright bans, the goal is to restrict certain types of information from being leaked. It's even gotten to the point where politicians try to ban social media from events (a recent example being Britain's Royal Wedding).  A more extreme example is the efforts of several nations (Egypt, China, Syria) to ban social media, particularly during times of social unrest, and the bizarre case of France telling broadcasters not to use the words "Twitter" or "Facebook" on the air.

One of the benefits, or curses, of the modern digital media world, is that it makes controlling information more difficult - not impossible, but difficult and costly.  Losing control over the message is a limit on power, and it's understandable that those in power seek to maintain and enhance it.  But what limits power to one group can also be rephrased as a shift in power to others, to their benefit.  Today, and going forward, the ability to bypass gatekeepers and those who seek to control information flows is ubiquitous - the genie's out, and those who used to be able to compel message control will need to turn to persuasion and gaining the cooperation of participants.  Which, I think, is a good thing.

Sources: "BBC acts to stop Twitter leaks by stars and writers," The Guardian
"Companies ban Twitter from workplace," The Telegraph
An old academic paper of mine that addresses control in information systems - "The Macrosocial Impact of Communication Systems: Access, Bias, Control"