Mediagazer: Q&A: FTC's Top Technologist Talks Data Tracking (Kate Kaye/ClickZ)

3:15 PM ET, December 22, 2010

Top News:

Approval Talks Delay Comcast-NBC Deal — The long-awaited completion of the takeover of NBC Universal by Comcast will have to wait until the new year. — The outgoing NBC Universal chief executive Jeffrey Zucker sent a memo to staff members Wednesday afternoon explaining that regulatory approval …

Discussion: Adweek, Company Town and Hillicon Valley

James Barron / New York Times:

Times Sues City Police, Saying Information Has Been Illegally Withheld — The New York Times has sued the New York Police Department, saying the department had routinely violated a state law that requires government agencies to provide information to the press and the public.

Discussion: Yahoo! News, New York Observer, On Media's Blog, FishbowlNY, Gothamist, mediabistro.com and New York Magazine

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

The Daily Telegraph: the scoop, a whistleblower, and the denials — Coverage of the News Corporation/BSkyB merger has been a sensitive subject for the newspaper — Vince Cable's true opinion on the proposed £8bn News Corporation/BSkyB deal was of no small interest to the owners …

Discussion: BBC, Telegraph, Editors Weblog, Press Gazette, The Staggers, BBC College of Journalism Blog and Media Week

Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:
News Corp. Gets Antitrust Approval for BSkyB Bid, But ‘War’ is Declared

Discussion: Telegraph, Press Gazette, Guardian, Media News, The Lede and Media Week

Alan J. Heavens / Philly.com:

Stan Wischnowski named Inquirer's top editor — Stan Wischnowski, a veteran journalist who has presided over The Inquirer's front page for a decade, was named the newspaper's editor Tuesday by publisher Gregory J. Osberg to applause from reporters, editors, and photographers gathered for a holiday party in the newsroom.

Discussion: Media Decoder, MediaPost and mediabistro.com

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

F.C.C. Approves Net Rules and Braces for Fight — Julius Genachowski, the F.C.C. head, center, with Michael Copps, left, and Robert McDowell. — 8:52 p.m. | Updated Want to watch hours of YouTube videos or sort through Facebook photos on the computer? Your Internet providers …

Sam Gustin / Epicenter:
FCC Passes Compromise Net Neutrality Rules

Discussion: Salon, Media Nation, DailyFinance, Memex 1.1, Geekosystem and Free Press

Kate Kaye / ClickZ:

Q&A: FTC's Top Technologist Talks Data Tracking — When the Federal Trade Commission says “do-not-track,” what does it mean exactly? What types of online data is the agency referring to in its proposal for a browser-based mechanism allowing consumers to opt-out from tracking?

Discussion: paidContent and AdExchanger.com, more at Techmeme »

Scott Rosenberg / MediaShift Idea Lab:

Will Murdoch's The Daily Evolve Corrections for a New Platform? — We're entering one of those fertile, exciting periods when the fundamentals of publishing are, yet again, undergoing massive revisions thanks to new technology. — This time the trigger takes the form of the growing understanding …

Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

Community and Context: Thoughts on Closing Comments — This afternoon, several of our readers questioned our decision to close the comment thread on Jaron Lanier's post about WikiLeaks, “The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy.” The discussion transformed into an extended Twitter conversation …

Discussion: Poynter

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Time Inc. realigns sports and news operations — Romenesko Misc. — Mark Ford has been promoted to executive vice president of Time Inc. and president of its newly created Sports Group, and John Q. Griffin — former publishing president at the National Geographic Society …

Discussion: MediaFile, Media Decoder and FishbowlNY

Al Tompkins / Poynter:

How journalists can mine census data for stories about their changing communities — Tuesday, the U.S. Census Bureau rolls out the first data in a long string of releases that will keep journalists busy for more than a year. The government has a new widget that will help you see the changes …

Discussion: Editors Weblog, Capitol Alert, Politics Daily and newsfeed.time.com

Robert Ambrogi / Robert Ambrogi's LawSites:

Bloggers Beware of Demand Media's Demand for Ownership — [See my update about this: Clarification on Demand Media: Two Contracts.] — Way back in 2006, I accepted an invitation to enroll this blog in something called the BlogBurst Network. It described itself as “a syndication service …

Tomoko A. Hosaka / Associated Press:

Sony launches subscription music streaming service — Sony looks to the clouds for new online music service in challenge to dominance of iTunes — Related Quotes — TOKYO (AP) — Sony Corp. on Wednesday launched a music streaming service in a bid to boost sales of its consumer electronics …

Discussion: The Next Web, Engadget, Technologizer and MediaMemo, more at Techmeme »

Joelle Diderich / WWD Media Headlines:

Memo Pad: YSL's Moroccan Passion... Barneys' List... MOROCCAN PASSION: Yves Saint Laurent is going back to its founder's Moroccan sanctuary. For the luxury brand's spring 2011 campaign, Stefano Pilati had model Arizona Muse pose in the gardens of Bled Roknine, a Thirties-style villa in Marrakech …

Robert D. Hof / Technology Review:

Searching for the Future of Television — Google and the geeks from Silicon Valley aim to revolutionize the 70-year-old TV industry. Conquering the Internet was easy in comparison. — Nearly every week from last February until mid-May, Google trotted wide-eyed visitors into a small room …

Discussion: appmarket.tv, Free Press and Rob Hof's Blog

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Hearst's inside track on Elle of a mag deal — Bids are due this week in the big selloff of Elle and other magazine titles in the worldwide stable of the Lagardére Group, which is hoping to sell everything outside of its native France to the highest bidder.

Keach Hagey / On Media's Blog:

Gregg Birnbaum joins POLITICO — Gregg Birnbaum, the former New York Post political editor who recently left that paper after 17 years after a widely reported newsroom spat, has signed on as a senior editor at POLITICO. — He will be based in New York and start off concentrating on breaking news coverage …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, New York Observer and FishbowlDC