In defense of infrastructure

• At a campaign event in Seattle yesterday, President Barack Obama made the argument that government investment creates jobs — because, well, the Internet. From his remarks, per the White House:

  We love the free market. We believe in rewarding entrepreneurship and risk. But when I hear my opponent and some of these folks talk as if somehow nobody had anything to do with the success of these businesses and our entrepreneurs, I have to remind them that we -- we the people -- invested in creating the Internet that allowed Microsoft and Google and Facebook to thrive. There's not a business in this country that's not benefiting from roads and bridges and airports -- the investments we make together. Every time we've got a kid who's getting a great education in a public school and able to go to get an outstanding education at a public university, we're contributing to the possibilities of the free market succeeding. And that’s the right vision for our future. That’s the reason I'm running for President, because I believe in that vision. I believe in that vision.

Silence

• "Romney bully" was a top search on Google yesterday, even as Mitt Romney's Facebook and Twitter accounts were at first somewhat silent.

The anger of the Internet

• Politico looks at the increased efforts of activists targeting Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) for sponsoring SOPA.

One-click donations, now on sale

• Adweek profiles Blue State Digital's mobile Quick Donate platform, the software behind the Obama campaign's one-click donation tool, which can also collect via text message.

Around the web

• Several civil liberties and free market groups are urging the Senate to reject a cybersecurity bill preferred by the White House.

• Michael Mandel, a chief economic strategist at the Progressive Policy Institute, suggested that sudden economic growth fueled by the smartphone/communications boom could hurt Romney.

• The S.E.C. has updated its website.

• The Department of Defense has approved six models of the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones for use on its networks.

• Facebook is offering a new crisis prevention reporting service, particularly aimed at preventing suicide, aimed at members of the U.S. Military.

• A Reuters reporter is skeptical about the new online Social Security statements.

• Groups supporting Americans abroad will still offer an earlier version of the overseas voter registration form online over controversy that a new form requires citizen to explicitly state if they plan to return to the U.S. The groups are supporting a Clear Language for Overseas Voter Enfranchisement effort to draft a new version with input from groups representing overseas Americans.

• Public Knowledge is asking the FCC to publicly reveal details about a Verizon plan to launch a research operation with cable companies.

• The Knight Foundation and Mozilla are providing $1 million in funding to Amara, a project that allows for crowd-sourced video translation.

• Craig Silverman at Poynter and Megan Garber at the Atlantic traced why the debunked story alleging that Abraham Lincoln had a filed a patent for a Facebook-like service was so popular.

• New York City's Green Book register of city officials will go online today.

• New York state legislators now want to make the viewing of online child pornography a crime, after a court found that it was not illegal if such material was not actively downloaded.

• Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is slightly ahead of his Democratic challenger, a poll finds.

• The Texas Tribune looks at a significant amount online impersonation going on in Texas campaigns.

• The New York City Housing Authority is exploring ways to protect elevators and boiler systems from cyber-attacks.

• A New York judge found that IP addresses cannot be used to identify copyright infringers.

• The Wall Street Journal updates on the debate over an Internet-critical rally planned by Orthodox Jews at New York's Citi Field.

• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) has vetoed the establishment of an online health insurance exchange that would fulfill a requirement created in the Affordable Care Act.

• The city of Hollywood, Florida has purchased robocall software to call the numbers on illegally posted advertisements:

  "These people want us to call them, so let's call them so much their head spins," said [Mayor] Bober, who bought a $300 software program in March that makes robocalls to the businesses. The volume of calls has reached as high as 20 calls each to 90 businesses in a day ... The robocalls, which leave pre-recorded messages, have been so successful that city officials say they've seen a 90 percent reduction of signs in some areas. "This is a message from the City of Hollywood Police Department," the message says, going on to say signs were placed illegally and alerting companies they will receive these phone calls until the signs are removed and the owners address the code violation.

• Students at the University of Hawaii are worried about the privacy implications of the university's move to Gmail.

• In its final release of its new social-network oriented search results, Bing did not include a feature that would have allowed users to share all their Internet searches with their friends.

• Occupy Wall Street supporters have opened a co-op style print shop and tech venture in Brooklyn.

• The Massachusetts MBTA is offering maps of some of its stations for Android smartphones.

• The European Parliament has voted to impose new caps on cross-border charges for mobile phones, including data, call and text services.

• Over 100 German authors, musicians and artists have begun a campaign, starting with a public letter, criticizing what they see as an attack on the idea of intellectual property in particular from the Pirate Party, which is facing election in the state of Northrhine-Westphalia Sunday. Filtering software used by some schools in Northrhine-Westphalia appears to be blocking the website of the state's Pirate Party because their election program discusses the legalization of cannabis. Der Spiegel suggested that the focus on personalities in the election indicated an "'Americanization' of German politics." Techdirt noted that the mayor of a city in East Germany changed his political affiliation from independent to the Pirate Party.

• A Dutch court has ordered the country's Pirate Party to stop publicizing ways and links to sites for circumventing a block on the Pirate Party.

• Outgoing French Industry and Energy Minister Eric Besson said he would leave Twitter with the defeat of President Sarkozy.

• British Home Secretary Theresa May denied that police and intelligence agencies would be monitoring online communications in real time as part of a proposed Internet surveillance law. The Open Rights Group is encouraging its supporters to contact Members of Parliament over the law.

• The British government is planning a unified government website with a single logo.

• Prince Charles gave the weather forecast for BBC Scotland yesterday, in video that then circulated around the web.

• The Swiss Federal Council indicated that it would not sign ACTA at this time.

• Norwegian police arrested two teenagers accused of hacking attacks against a Norwegian bank, the police security service, as well as betting and news sites.

• According to a U.S. funded study, increased internal communication via cell phones and access to news media is giving North Koreans greater access to foreign media and worldviews.

  Access to technology has picked up rapidly in recent years, fueled by cheap imports from China. Some 74 percent of those interviewed had access to a TV when they lived in North Korea, and 46 percent had access to a DVD player. Computers, portable USB drives and illegal Chinese mobile phones that can make international calls — unlike local cellphones — also have begun entering the country in substantial numbers, especially among the elite.

• The Tablet highlights a new English language Mideast-oriented news site that partners with regional news publications.

• Google and other groups are supporting a new $1 million African News Innovation Challenge.

• Apple plans to share the costs with its supplier Foxconn to improve conditions in the company's Chinese factories.

• Chinese microblogs have been blocking the term "ferrari" after outcry over an incident in which a car damaged a 600-year-old Ming Dynasty wall in the city of Nanjing.

• Algeria saw somewhat higher election turnout than expected, even though some Algerians on Facebook, skeptical of the elections, wished one another "happy no-vote day."