May 25, 2010 (Let's Rewrite the Communications Act)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2010
Today is Future of Music Coalition DC Policy Day http://bit.ly/deWg34
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Updating the Communications Act
Democrats Take Aim at Title II
See also:Dozens of Democrats in Congress to Stand Against Network Neutrality
Republican senators not happy with FCC's "Third Way"
Members of Congress and Genachowski Share Thoughts on Network Neutrality
Congress Can Act, But Let The FCC Do Its Job
Despite ads, government doesn't want to control Net
Cutting the final cord
With Bandwidth Demand Booming, a New Kind of Optical Network Is Born
Hutchinson raises Concerns About Harbinger Spectrum Deal
Mixed feelings greet on-the-go Net access
PRIVACY
Consumers Union Calls For Changes To Privacy Draft
Facebook Responds
Facebook Fracas Hits California Race
FTC Taking 'Close Look' At Google Wi-Fi Incident
EFF wants federal investigation of Google Street View flap
OWNERSHIP
Time to end the cross-ownership debate and ensure media diversity
Boucher Asks FCC to Modify Media Ownership Rules
TiVo: What's Next In A Google TV World?
Google Reveals How It Splits Ad Sales
HEALTH
Blumenthal Says Doctors Will Embrace Change
The Wellness Industry as an Echo of the Internet in the 1990s
EDUCATION
Cyber Education: Achieving Obama's Vision
JOURNALISM
A Site Collects Complaints About Media
Newspapers' Web Traffic on the Rise
Gushing Oil and Voter Anger Top the News
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Pentagon tries to steer media coverage on Iraq
House Republicans plan online community, to find a voice and set the tone
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Ireland's Eircom to cut broadband over illegal downloads
CNN-YouTube Tie-Up Broke UK Broadcasting Rules
UK investigates online advertising market
MORE ONLINE
State Department moves from telegrams to wikis
Silicon Valley Rebound Pressures Tech Hiring
Deal-making is back in Silicon Valley
Beware Typhoid Adware
INTERNET/BROADBAND
UPDATING THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
On May 24, Sen John Rockefeller (D-WV), the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA), the Chairman of the House Commerce Committee, Sen John Kerry (D-MA) -- the Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet -- and Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA) -- the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet -- announced they will start a process to develop proposals to update the Communications Act. As the first step, they will invite stakeholders to participate in a series of bipartisan, issue-focused meetings beginning in June. A list of topics for discussion and details about this process will be forthcoming.
The last big update, in 1996, was short on broadband issues, a point its drafters have lamented. The move would also come as a growing number of congressional Democrats and Republicans are pushing the FCC to rethink its reclassification of broadband under the act's Title II common carrier provisions and wait for Congress to give some new direction on broadband regulation.
A drive to rewrite the law in 2006 died in the Senate after Democrats objected that it lacked rules on network neutrality, which would bar Internet service providers from interfering with subscribers' Web traffic.
A spokesperson for Sen Kerry said: "Senator Kerry believes that this process is complimentary to the efforts at the FCC, not a substitute for them. The deliberative process, both here and at the agency, will help inform and enhance our respective responsibilities to write and execute law and regulation that encourages innovation, inclusion, and consumer protections."
Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, said, "We are very pleased to see this expression of Congressional interest in updating the Communications Act. The world has changed considerably since 1996, and Congress should be looking at how the law should accommodate today's technology and marketplace. We look forward to participating in this process. At the same time, because this appears to be the start of a long process, we believe, as do Chairmen Rockefeller and Waxman, that the Federal Communications Commission has the authority to carry out its plan to set some rules of the road for the Internet, protecting consumers and encouraging innovation and economic activity online."
Free Press Research Director Derek Turner said, "We appreciate congressional interest in updating the Communications Act, and welcome Congress' oversight in ensuring that our communications laws benefit consumers. We believe the current structure of the Communications Act, as revised over the years, provides a flexible framework for reaching the goals of competition, innovation and openness during a time of rapid technological change. The FCC's recent move to fix the classification mistakes of the Powell and Martin Commissions simply restores the legal structure established by Congress for our country's communications networks."
benton.org/node/36149 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | Reuters | Bloomberg | The Hill | B&C | TechDailyDose | Public Knowledge | Free Press
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DEMOCRATS TAKE AIM AT TITLE II
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Free Press is looking to get out in front of a couple of letters being circulated among Republicans and Democrats taking aim at Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski's plan to classify the transmission portion of broadband as a Title II telecommunications service subject to at least a few of the common carrier regulations applied to such services. One letter is from Gene Greene (D-TX) and at least 73 other House Democrats, who say the Title II proposal will jeopardize jobs and deter investment. Addressed to the chairman, the letter says that they have "serious concerns" about the plan. A source familiar with the letter said that it currently has 74 signatures, all Democrats, and will be sent soon.
benton.org/node/36148 | Broadcasting&Cable
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REPUBLICAN SENATORS NOT HAPPY WITH THIRD WAY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
Senate Republicans voiced their displeasure Monday with the Federal Communications Commission's plans to reclassify broadband Internet access as a telecom service. Thirty-seven Republican Senators signed a letter to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski decrying his "third-way" plan for regulating broadband access, arguing the approach would discourage private investment and harm consumers. In the letter the Senators reject the FCC's basis for reclassifying broadband as a telecom service and claim that doing so would not increase broadband deployment as promised. The letter states that rather than relying on fact-based analysis as promised, the FCC's efforts "appear to be solely relying on the unsubstantiated fear that broadband service providers may harm consumers at some future date." It also charges the FCC with "operating under the misguided notion that there is a lack of competition among broadband service providers."
benton.org/node/36146 | Hill, The
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LET FCC DO ITS JOB
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] If Congress wants to bring parties together and come up with some telecommunications reform proposals that can then be turned into legislation next year some time, then that effort should proceed with all deliberate speed. But the evidence is starting to mount that such a process will be contentious, to say the least, and could easily develop into gridlock. It's the FCC that's taking the realistic view of the broadband world now, for a change. They should be able to move ahead with their plans to protect consumers, preserve the digital economy and protect the open Internet. Any assistance Congressional leaders want to provide would be most welcome.
benton.org/node/36145 | Public Knowledge
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GOV DOES NOT WANT TO CONTROL NET
[SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, AUTHOR: Ced Kurtz]
Ads paid for by Americans for Prosperity claim the government is trying to "take over" the Internet and must be stopped. As with many TV political ads, and this is a political ad, there is a healthy serving of exaggeration and hardly a teaspoon of truth. At one time, the government did control the Internet. The Internet began as a military-sponsored network called ARPAnet. So when the military wholly owned it, what did it do with it? They gave it to the public. Think about what controlling the content of the Internet means. Increasingly most of what is on the Web is not created in this country nor does it reside on computers in this country. Even controlling content within a country is almost impossible. China is trying and so far has managed to drive Google out and garner international condemnation. In fact, I'd be willing to say that the Internet is now so fecund with content and so sprawling geographically that it is beyond control, even by governments. So the next time you see that ad (if it is still on after the election), know what it really is about. It really is about whether the companies that sell you the Internet should be unregulated. Or whether the government should assure that all users are treated equally by those ISPs and that they cooperate in making high-speed Internet service available to everyone in the country. What it's not about is government control of the Internet. That's total paranoid nonsense.
benton.org/node/36142 | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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CUTTING THE FINAL CORD
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Vince Vittore]
[Commentary] Five years ago, I was asked whether or not consumers would be willing to cut off their wireline data service in favor of a mobile-only option. At the time it seemed absurd. Wireless options, while offering mobility, were slower, unreliable and astronomically expensive compared to DSL and cable. Fast forward and suddenly it's not such a silly question. With hundreds of devices -- smartphones, tablets, netbooks and notebooks -- coming off the shelf with built-in connectivity and service providers increasingly heading toward unlimited data plans, the assumption that consumers will always have a wireline data service is looking outdated. Somewhere between 10% and 15% of consumers will make some kind of move to eliminate a portion of their pay TV in the next 12 months. So does this mean the pay TV world, be it cable operators, satellite providers or IPTV operators, is about to implode? Hardly. In most cases, we don't anticipate most of that 10%-15% to take the most radical step and completely cut off service. Instead, we envision more consumers dropping premium channels, limiting the number of movies they purchase via video on demand or pay per view and dropping to the most basic levels of service. In place of those premiums and VOD/PPV movies, consumers will use the plethora of new devices, including Google TV, Roku boxes, connected Blu-Ray players and, most importantly, gaming consoles to find content via Hulu, YouTube and the dozens of sites dedicated to niche or not so niche content. Indeed, the number of consumers with gaming consoles outnumbers even the largest MSO subscriber counts, and those consoles have far more processing power than even the most advanced set-tops.
benton.org/node/36130 | Connected Planet
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PRIVACY
CU CALLS FOR CHANGES TO PRIVACY BILL
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Consumers Union is calling on House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) to make several major changes to draft privacy legislation released earlier this month. Boucher's draft was roundly criticized by privacy advocates who said it would codify the current notice and choice self regulatory system in place now, a point Consumers Union noted as well in a letter Monday to Chairman Boucher. "Although Consumers Union believes the bill to be an important step towards generating an extensive public conversation on online privacy, there are certain features of the proposal that cause us concern," Ellen Bloom, Consumers Union's director of federal policy, wrote. "First and foremost, the bill appears to exclusively rely on the notice and choice model, which has been shown to be particularly ineffective in protecting consumer privacy online." Consumers union also criticized provisions that would allow some third-party ad networks to abide by the measure's opt-out regime if they meet "minimal requirements." Bloom said Consumers Union believes "this loophole will permit an enormous percentage of data sale transactions to escape coverage." The group also criticized the draft for barring consumers from suing firms that violate their privacy, for lacking "meaningful security standards" for data breaches, and for pre-empting stronger state laws.
benton.org/node/36141 | CongressDaily
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FACEBOOK RESPONDS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Facebook built its base of nearly 500 million users on the notion that it was a place for people to connect with each other and post their likes, dislikes, photos, activities with as wide a circle as they chose to define. Facebook, in turn, used that information to show users advertisements based on their tastes. But Facebook has become the focus of an increasingly heated debate over whether it was keeping its end of the bargain and giving users an easy, straightforward and consistent way to set their limits. It has regularly revised its privacy settings, made them harder to find and massaged the way it describes the meaning of privacy. Leaving Facebook for good is a complex chore. These are legitimate concerns. After a public outcry, Facebook is responding to them by revising some of its privacy policies. Facebook's existence is predicated on people wanting to share information about their lives. It should trust that users who want to share everything will and not force the hand of those who don't want to.
benton.org/node/36157 | New York Times
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FACEBOOK PRIVACY AND CA ELECTION
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Letzing]
The dust-up over Facebook's privacy practices is becoming a political headache for the company's former privacy chief in his campaign for California attorney general. The social-networking service, which has nearly 500 million users, has come under criticism lately over privacy issues, including a glitch this month that gave users unintended access to their friends' private instant messages, and a new feature that lets the company share information about which websites users visit. Such privacy concerns have prompted push-back from some Facebook users, and privacy advocates and U.S. lawmakers have urged the Federal Trade Commission to examine the closely held firm's practices. Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg says the social network is planning new privacy controls. Chris Kelly's opponents in the June 8 Democratic primary had generally avoided the Facebook privacy issue. But in a volley last week, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris made clear she intended to make use of the fracas surrounding Kelly's former employer.
benton.org/node/36156 | Wall Street Journal
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FTC LOOKING A GOOGLE PRIVACY BREECH
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz says his agency is taking a "very, very close look" at Google's recent admission that it had been collecting more Wi-Fi data as part of its Street View service than it previously disclosed. During a May 20 hearing before the Senate Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee on the FTC's budget, Chairman Leibowitz was asked about the Google Wi-Fi controversy by ranking member Sen Susan Collins (R-Maine) if the FTC was investigating the matter. Chairman Leibowitz said while the agency does not comment on investigations until they are over, "I can certainly tell you, we're going to take a very, very close look at this." He added that Google officials had already talked to FTC staff about the incident. "Obviously this is just one example ... of why consumers have very serious privacy concerns about data that's being collected. So we are going to take a look at it. Absolutely," Leibowitz said.
benton.org/node/36140 | CongressDaily
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EFF WANTS INVESTIGATION OF GOOGLE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
A prominent civil liberties watchdog has added its voice to those calling for a federal investigation of Google following the company's recent admission of privacy violations related to its "Street View" product. The nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski last week requesting an investigation of privacy issues arising from "Street View," which provides "360 degree street level imagery" of US cities. "The company routinely and secretly downloaded user communications data and the company routinely and secretly mapped private communication hotspots. Moreover, they said not a word about the Wi-Fi data collection during the three-year privacy debate over Street View," wrote Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC. "This is why the FCC must undertake an investigation."
benton.org/node/36139 | Hill, The
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OWNERSHIP
MEDIA OWNERSHIP DEBATE
[SOURCE: Seattle Times, AUTHOR: Ryan Blethen]
[Commentary] The media cross-ownership debate should be settled by now. Unfortunately, it is acting up again like a slow stubborn disease fed by the greed of big media companies. The question of how much is too much for one media company to own should have been answered in 2007. At the end of that year the Federal Communications Commission wrapped up an exhaustive review of its cross-ownership rules. It held public hearings across the country. The feedback was overwhelmingly in favor of not relaxing cross-ownership rules. The FCC also commissioned studies, which again shed an unflattering light on media consolidation. It would make sense then that the FCC would look at the studies, listen to the public and tighten up its long-standing consolidation rules. Didn't happen. Instead, former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin decided to monkey with the rules, making it easier to own a newspaper and broadcast outlet in the same market. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps was vocally opposed to the rule change in 2007. His position has not changed in 2010. He says there is a crisis in news that has been driven by consolidation and that the Internet hasn't created a plethora of news-generating outlets. "We can't just delude ourselves with how we're going to create new models on the Internet," Copps said. "Most of the news is going to still come from newspapers and broadcast outlets." He's right. The FCC knows this. The court should understand this. The 3rd Circuit and the FCC have a chance to finally kill the cross-ownership debate and ensure the United States has a diverse media.
benton.org/node/36138 | Seattle Times
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GOOGLE AD SALES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Scott Morrison]
Google revealed how it splits advertising revenue with search and content publishers, a move made in response to calls from publishers and regulators for greater transparency. The Internet company said in a blog post Monday that it pays publishers 68% of the revenue Google collects from advertisers for ads that appear adjacent to content on the publishers' sites. Google said it pays publishers that add a customer search engine to their websites 51% of the revenue it collects from those search ads. Google long had resisted calls to reveal its revenue split. But it recently proposed to do so in Italy in response to an antitrust probe sparked by Italian newspaper publishers' complaints that Google was abusing its dominant position in the country.
benton.org/node/36153 | Wall Street Journal
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HEALTH
DOCTORS WILL EMBRACE CHANGE
[SOURCE: Kaiser Health News, AUTHOR: Irene Wielawski]
As the Obama administration's National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Dr. David Blumenthal is guiding the deployment of up to $27 billion in federal stimulus money over 10 years to help health care professionals and organizations overcome the uneasiness that underpinned his own resistance to change at his hospital. Dr Blumenthal has spent the last year refining Congress' blueprint to encourage doctors and hospitals to adopt EMRs. He says those who "get on board" will be paid more by Medicare and Medicaid, beginning in 2011. But in 2016 the subsidies disappear and those still using paper records risk sanctions, including reduced Medicare fees. Some critics say five years isn't enough time for health care professionals to achieve a government standard called "meaningful use." In late 2009, federal officials announced a preliminary definition of that standard, but it is still being refined. Nonetheless, it is expected to tie any increased Medicare or Medicaid payments to doctors or hospitals using EMRs to enhance delivery of care by ensuring that the systems have capabilities such as electronic prescribing that would warn against dangerous drug interactions and electronic access to information such as records of immunizations and mammograms that could also cut out unnecessary procedures. Proponents, including Blumenthal, say the health care system has dallied long enough on EMRs, and that having an electronic infrastructure for better system-wide information exchange is critical to achieving goals of medical care quality and cost-control.
benton.org/node/36128 | Kaiser Health News
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EDUCATION
CYBER EDUCATION
[SOURCE: Education Week, AUTHOR: Michael Kaiser]
President Barack Obama has said that America faces "few more urgent challenges than preparing our children to compete in a global economy." Being able to understand and make use of the world's vast telecommunications infrastructure is certainly part of that preparation. So it was no surprise when the White House issued its Cyberspace Policy Review last May that the document contained a call for the nation to "initiate a K-12 cybersecurity education program for digital safety, ethics, and security; expand university curricula; and set the conditions to create a competent workforce for the digital age." This month marks the one-year anniversary of the president's cyber education pronouncement. Given recent media attention on cyberbullying, inappropriate texting, and teenagers' hacking into school computers to change grades, it would be reasonable to think that cybersecurity is a topic being widely discussed in schools. But that is not the case.
benton.org/node/36129 | Education Week
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA COVERAGE OF IRAN
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Walter Pincus]
The Pentagon may be sharply reducing its combat forces in Iraq, but the military plans to step up efforts to influence media coverage in that country -- as well as here at home. "It is essential to the success of the new Iraqi government and the USF-I [U.S. Forces-Iraq] mission that both communicate effectively with our strategic audiences (i.e. Iraqi, pan-Arabic, international, and U.S. and USF-I audiences) to gain widespread acceptance of core themes and messages," according to the pre-solicitation notice for a civilian contractor or contractors to provide "strategic communication management services" there. Calling strategic communications "a vital component of operations in Iraq," the notice says one goal is "to effectively build U.S. decision makers' and the public's understanding of Iraq's current situation, future and strategic importance as a stabilizing presence and ally against terrorism in the Middle East."
benton.org/node/36151 | Washington Post
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AMERICA SPEAKING OUT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Perry Bacon Jr, Paul Kane]
House Republicans will unveil today a Web site they will use to solicit policy ideas from the public, the first step in the development of a platform that they will present to voters this fall. Called "America Speaking Out," the site borrows from the approaches of popular Web sites such as Wikipedia and Amazon.com. Starting this week, people will be able to go to the site, submit ideas, rate those of others, and post their comments on Facebook and Twitter through the site. The most prominent users will earn "badges," though the GOP has not yet determined what rewards people could get. House Republicans also will go on the site and interact with users. Up to a dozen staff members will be monitoring the Web site, party aides said, both to keep it running properly and to filter out inappropriate messages. The Web site formally starts the GOP's process of touting its own vision and policies to voters, after spending most of the last 16 months bashing President Obama and congressional Democrats.
benton.org/node/36155 | Washington Post | House Republicans
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
IRELAND CUTTING NET SERVICE
[SOURCE: Irish Times, AUTHOR: John Collins]
Eircom will begin a process that will lead to cutting off the broadband service of customers found to be repeatedly sharing music online illegally. Ireland is the first country in the world where a system of "graduated response" is being put in place. Under the pilot scheme, Eircom customers who illegally share copyrighted music will get three warnings before having their broadband service cut off for a year. The Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma), whose members include EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner, reached an out-of-court settlement with Eircom in February 2009 under which the telecoms company agreed to introduce such a system for its 750,000 broadband users. The mechanism by which it operates was challenged in the courts by the Data Protection Commissioner.
benton.org/node/36132 | Irish Times
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UK INVESTIGATES ONLINE ADVERTISING
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Maija Palmer]
Internet companies such as Google and Yahoo could face tougher scrutiny in the UK, after the Office of Fair Trading said that more needed to be done to ensure that targeted advertising on the Internet did not violate consumer rights. The OFT said consumers needed to be informed more clearly when information was being gathered about their online browsing habits, and to be given more opportunity to opt out of the process. The OFT's findings on online behavioral advertising are the first sign that the watchdog could be considering bringing formal regulation to what has previously been a self-governing industry. The OFT warned that it was particularly likely to step in if companies not only used targeted advertising but also varied the price of goods they displayed to different customers according to previous online purchasing behavior or geographic location.
benton.org/node/36152 | Financial Times
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