Morning tech tip sheet: Wednesday, May 5 — Reaction to Boucher, Google/AdMob, and more

by Tony Romm - 05/05/10 11:53 AM ET

Other tech news:

Google defends AdMob deal (Tech Daily Dose)
— From Juliana Gruenwald: “Google Tuesday defended its proposed acquisition of mobile advertising provider AdMob by pointing to comments from other players in the mobile market to bolster its claim that the deal will not harm competition. … The FTC is currently weighing whether to approve Google’s $750 million purchase of AdMob. In a post on Google’s public policy blog, Google Group Product Manager Paul Feng noted that, “We’ve told the FTC about how new and highly competitive the mobile advertising space is, and the FTC has been talking to others in the industry about their views as well.”

EARLIER: Lawmakers ask for FTC briefing, inquiry on deal (Hillicon Valley)

Apple: The Microsoft of Mobile? (Wired) — Eliot Van Buskirk spots a parallel: “Apple could soon be the target of an antitrust investigation by either the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice, according to numerous press reports, with the feds focusing on its new policy requiring developers to write iPhone OS apps using only Apple-approved programming languages. …
Microsoft famously faced a long antitrust case starting in the ’90s. That case centered on the company’s monopoly over the desktop. It started the FTC and later shifted to the Justice Department, which successfully pursued Microsoft in court.”

New technology generates database from spill damage (NYT) — Sarah Wheaton reports: “A technology created to track political violence in Kenya with social media is now being used to log the effects of the oil spill on the Gulf Coast. … Witnesses’ texts, tweets and e-mail messages generate the rainbow of dots on a map and database of spill-related damage at the Louisiana Bucket Brigade’s Web site.”

THE LATEST ON THAT SPILL: BP to honor all ‘legitimate’ claims (E2-Wire)… Reid says spill should ‘expedite’ energy bill (E2-Wire) … Nelson a little embarassed others once chanted ‘drill baby, drill!’ (Briefing Room)

Governments, human rights warriors battle online (AFP) — “Governments are ramping up online attacks on human rights advocates as the Internet becomes a key battleground for fights against oppression and censorship. … “The cyberwarfare is increasing,” Balatarin.com director Mehdi Yahyanejad said Tuesday at an annual Business & Human Rights Summit at the Yahoo! campus in the California city of Sunnyvale. “If you have a blog or an email on a controversial website you are going to get targeted. Governments understand this is an important issue for them.”

H-P to contest India’s $323 million customs claim (Bloomberg) — According to Ketaki Gokhale and Jay Shankar, “Hewlett-Packard Co. said it will contest claims by India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence after the federal agency that monitors violations of customs law said it evaded 14.5 billion rupees ($323 million) of duty…. “HP India refutes the DRI’s position and will challenge its claims through the judicial process,” the Palo Alto, California-based company said in an e-mailed statement today, without giving any other details.”

U.S. IN ON THAT INVESTIGATION TOO: The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission
announced mid-April they would examine whether a company subsidiary paid
$10 million in bribes through back channels to obtain a $35-million
contract with the Russian prosecutor general.

What we’re covering this week…

TUESDAY

New
America Foundation
 FCC: Toothless regulator or cop on the beat? 
Where:
1899 L St., Suite 400 
When: Tues., May 4, 12 – 1:30 p.m; RSVP
required 
Panelists include Hank Hultquist, VP for Federal Regulatory
Affairs at AT&T; Barbara Esbin, a senior fellow at the Progress and
Freedom Foundation; Harold Feld, legal director for Free Press; and
Linda Kinney, a VP at DISH Network.

WEDNESDAY

House
Judiciary Committee 
Full committee hearing on patent reform 
Where:
Rayburn 2121 
When: Wed., May 5, 10:15 a.m.

House
Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil
Liberties 
Hearing on the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 
Where:
Rayburn 2121 
When: Wed., May 5, 2 p.m.

THURSDAY

The FCC’s
Joel Gurin, head of the commission’s Consumer and Governmental
Affairs Bureau, discusses a new initiative involving consumer billing. 
Where:
FCC headquarters 
When: May 6

FRIDAY

American
National Standards Institute and the Internet Security Alliance  
Cybersecurity
briefing on Capitol Hill to present new report 
Where: Cannon 311C 
When:
Friday, May 7, 11:30 a.m. RSVP required