Google, AT&T and Free Press to provide President-elect Obama with broadband access strategy

The Washington Post writes that “President-elect Barack Obama has said getting affordable high-speed Internet service to every American home would create jobs, fuel economic growth and spark innovation. Yesterday, representatives from technology and telecommunications companies, labor unions and public interest groups frequently at odds with one another agreed to provide the next president with a roadmap for how to accomplish those goals.  That map could include tax breaks, low-interest loans, subsidies and public-private partnerships to encourage more investments in upgrading and building out high-speed networks, representatives from Google, AT&T and public interest group Free Press said during a panel discussion on broadband policy that also served as a coming-out party for their newly formed coalition.”

ComputerWorld reports that “[o]pponents to the [Australian] government's Internet content filtering scheme will take to the streets in a series of protests planned in Australia's capital cities.  The protests, organised by members from activist groups including the Electronic Freedom Project and Digital Liberty Coalition, will be held at Sydney's Town Hall, Brisbane Square, Melbourne's State Library, Adelaide Parliament House, Perth's Stirling Gardens and at Tasmania's Parliament Lawns.  […]  The government initiative, funded as part of the government's $125.8 million cyber safety plan, will impose mandatory ISP-level Internet content filtering nation-wide, and will block Web pages detailed in two blacklists operated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).”

PCMag.com has an interesting article on the effect the Lori Drew cyber-bullying will have on online anonymity. 

Internetnews.com reveals that “[t]he financial crisis, now officially a recession, isn't slowing some tech giants' interest in acquisitions. Investment officials from a cross section of tech heavyweights agreed in a panel discussion here that the economic downturn isn't swaying their interest in doing deals.  ‘We won't shy away from deals because of the economic climate, but we won't get into a business we don't want to be in,’ said Dan'l Lewin of Microsoft at the AlwaysOn Venture Summit.  Lewin also made a distinction between today and the dot-com bust earlier in the decade.  ‘This is a little different than the dot-com bubble,’ he said. Echoing comments made by others on the panel, Lewin noted many of today's Internet startups are more focused on providing value and generating revenue than the earlier dot-com crowd was. ‘You don't see as many companies with 150 people, with ten on a business development team swapping nothingness,’ he said, eliciting a few laughs from the investors in the audience.”

According to the International Herald Tribune, “[t]he chairman of the Chinese sovereign wealth fund said Wednesday that China had no plans for further investments in Western financial institutions, nor did it have any plans to ‘save’ the world through economic policies.  The comments by Lou Jiwei, chairman and chief executive of China Investment Corp., are the clearest signal yet that after sustaining heavy losses on investments in Blackstone Group, Morgan Stanley and Barclays, state-run Chinese institutions and the nation's leaders are turning their attention inward.  ‘Right now we do not have the courage to invest in financial institutions because we do not know what problems they may have,’ Lou said as part of a panel discussion on the second and final day of the Clinton Global Initiative conference here.  Asked whether China might pursue economic policies aimed at rekindling economic growth worldwide, Lou said Chinese leaders had a narrower focus.”