May 27, 2010 (Network neutrality is good for ISPs)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2010
Two items on today's agenda -- 1) the NSF Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure and 2) The Net Neutrality/Open Internet Debate: What's Next, What's the End Game? http://bit.ly/bv5bcD
OWNERSHIP
Sen Kohl outlines list of conditions to Comcast-NBC merger
Michael Jordan, Age 73
Murdoch has to become an elitist
Google Apps Should Be $1 Billion Business Within 4 Years
BROADBAND/INTERNET
Network neutrality is good for ISPs
Comcast: More Regulation Could Equal Less Investment
Top ISPs Tell Investors FCC Oversight Won't Harm Broadband Investment
Network Neutrality: Who's In Charge Of The Internet?
Rep. Doyle throws support behind FCC reclassification plan
Our Pop Technology Culture Is In Danger
Regulating the Internet
Georgia Reps on the National Broadband Plan and Small Business
Rep Thompson on the National Broadband Plan
Comcast's New Speed Limit: 105 Mbps?
PRIVACY
After Criticism, Facebook Revises Privacy Settings
Facebook's Settings Don't Quell Critics
House Commerce Leaders Want Answers From Google
Google Balks at Turning Over Data to Regulators
Reputation Management and Social Media: How people monitor their identity and search for others online
WIRELESS
Consumers Experience Mobile Bill Shock and Confusion About Early Termination Fees
Bill Would Require ID For Prepaid Phones
Verizon to offer 4G customers 'buckets' of data
How Craig McCaw Built a 4G Network on the Cheap
MEDIA, ELECTIONS & POLITICS
Vote iQ takes swipe at Facebook as a political platform
In Online Political Ads, Facebook Is Catching Up to Google
Apple's Struggle With Political Apps
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Internet censorship proves counterproductive in curtailing terrorist recruitment
Agency data isn't perfect and transparency isn't enough
HEALTH
Has the Time Come To Embrace Telehealth as a System Solution?
Demand for health information technology graduates on the rise
Could Oversharing Save the Lives of Seniors?
EDUCATION
Connect a School, Connect a Community
Houston hopes $8K-a-year program can save millions in e-Rate funding
TELEVISION
For Some Stations, Mobile Future Is Now
Preschool Programs Replace SOAPnet
STORIES FROM ABROAD
These Headline presented in partnership with:
India Broadband Spectrum Bids Reach $884 Million on Third Day
EU Says Search Engines Violate Rules on Personal Data
EU says telecoms market 'too fragmented'
New legislation could 'reduce cost' of fiber rollout in UK
China's State Council reviews draft Telecom Law
Slim to merge Brazil fixed, mobile business
MORE ONLINE
New media company preaches tech's role in solving world's problems
Vacationers Stay Connected To All Things Internet
OWNERSHIP
KOHL SUGGESTS MERGER CONDITIONS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) has written a letter to Christine Varney, assistant attorney general and head of the antitrust division of the Justice Department, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski saying that if the regulators approve the proposed merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, they should include conditions to prevent injury to consumers and competitors. Those conditions include:
1) The new company makes all Comcast and NBC Universal shows and channels available to all competitors (Time Warner Cable, Verizon's FiOs, DirectTV) on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis. That condition would apply even if the FCC changes its program access rules.
2) Comcast and NBC would put up a "firewall" to prevent information sharing between Comcast and NBC regarding pricing or other contract terms offered by Comcast's competitors to purchase programming.
3) Comcast couldn't block out other programmers who want their content on Comcast. In other words, Comcast can't favor its programming over that of a competitor such as CBS. That condition would stay in place even if the FCC changed its program carriage rules.
4) Comcast couldn't prevent or coerce programmers from keeping their content off Web sites or Internet distributors as a condition for carriage on Comcast. That condition would allow for a reasonable "window" or programming, such as a first-run video, to be exclusive to Comcast, but only for a reasonable period.
5) Comcast would also have to make its NBC and Comcast programs and channels available via the Web to competitors on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms in the same way cable/satellite program-access rules apply.
6) Comcast divests NBC's 32 percent stake in Hulu within a year of the acquisition.
7) Comcast and NBC keep a firewall between advertising in markets where NBC owns and operates a broadcast station.
8) Net neutrality: Comcast couldn't discriminate or degrade the quality on its broadband network, any Internet distribution of programming that competes with Comcast or its TV everywhere program.
benton.org/node/36334 | Washington Post | www.broadcastingcable.com
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MICHAEL JORDAN RIP
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Stephen Miller]
A former Navy nuclear engineer, Michael Jordan set new courses for two of the largest companies in the country. Mr. Jordan, who died Tuesday at age 73, was a top PepsiCo Inc. executive before he transformed Westinghouse Electric Corp. in the mid-1990s from a foundering industrial giant into a leading media company. He renamed it CBS Corp. after acquiring the Tiffany network. And coaxed from retirement in 2003, Mr. Jordan led a turnaround at Electronic Data Systems Inc., an information-technology giant. In each case, the company he had led was sold once he had reshaped it. CBS Corp. went to Viacom in a 2000 deal valued at $44 billion, and EDS to Hewlett-Packard Co. in 2008 for $13.9 billion. "What I like about a crisis situation is you don't have to pussyfoot around," he told the Dallas Morning News in 2007, shortly before retiring from EDS. "When you step into a mess like this, you just start kicking a—, taking names, and changing things." The changes at Westinghouse were profound. When Mr. Jordan was brought in as chief executive in 1993, the venerable manufacturer of consumer goods and defense and nuclear-power equipment was experiencing record losses, largely weighed down by its financial-services subsidiary. Mr. Jordan sold off large parts of the company, then in 1995 surprised analysts when he doubled down on the company's media holdings by acquiring CBS for $5.4 billion in cash. A year later, he acquired Infinity Broadcasting, a national radio giant known for its shock jocks. The transformation of Westinghouse became complete in 1997. He changed its name to CBS and moved the headquarters to New York, ensconcing himself in the office last occupied by the network's builder, William Paley. It had sat empty since Mr. Paley's death in 1990. The office choice was a dramatic gesture for a man whom Fortune had once declared charisma-challenged.
benton.org/node/36348 | Wall Street Journal
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MURDOCH HAS TO BECOME AN ELITIST
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: John Gapper]
[Commentary] By erecting a paywall around The Times and The Sunday Times online, Rupert Murdoch is once more shaking up Fleet Street and leading the way to what he hopes will be a more profitable existence. Radically reducing the readership, becoming more specialist and charging more for news than his rivals is not his style. Yet that is the logic of charging for online access to The Times and Sunday Times; having marched them downmarket, he must march them up again. This is what his head should be telling him to do. Newspapers have found that chasing page views in the hope that advertising will save them is hopeless. Premium news and information providers either have to have another source of revenue like the BBC, Bloomberg and Reuters or a solid subscriber base. The future of general online news is in doubt. But if any titles are to survive, they will have to be more like The Times Mr Murdoch bought in 1981 than the title he publishes today more focused, deeper, with rarer data and information. They will, in short, have to be elite a quality that Mr Murdoch has always hated. The alternative is to keep rushing into a world of low-cost content aggregation and "curation", a fight that will be impossible to win against such low-cost upstarts such as The Huffington Post.
benton.org/node/36349 | Financial Times
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GOOGLE APPS WORTH $1B IN 4 YEARS
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: David Kaplan]
Since 2004, Google's revenues have grown 12 times to $24 billion. Video and Google apps are where the next big growth will likely come from, according to Nikesh Arora, president, Global Sales Operations and Business Development for Google. Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz referred to Google as a "one-trick pony," as it relies on search for 90 percent of its revenues. Arora was amused, saying, "It's a pretty good trick, right?" He then dismissed that, noting that the company is building a lot of new tools and products that will buttress the search revenues in their own right. But search will remain central to digital advertising and Arora sees no reason to disregard it either. "The advertising market is $500 billion worldwide and about $250 billion in the U.S.," Arora said. "In the next five years, 50 percent of the consumption will happen through digital paths. That number is going to grow four-fold during that time."
benton.org/node/36324 | paidContent.org
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BROADBAND/INTERNET
NET NEUTRALITY GOOD FOR ISPs
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Dave Schaeffer]
[Commentary] The Internet has resulted in profound structural changes to the telecommunications industry. It has been able to do what regulators have been unable to do-that is structurally separate the applications layer from the network layer. As a result of this structural separation, we have seen a proliferation of new businesses, new applications, and an improvement in productivity. Previously, networks were constructed for a specific application. And for the first time, the Internet allows new businesses to be created, which do not require the construction of a facilities-based network. We have benefited from an open Internet. The value of the Internet increases as the square of the number of users (Metcalfe's Law) times the number of applications used. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in its recently proposed rules, is attempting to codify that openness and protect consumers. This is a question of truth in advertising. All broadband is not broadband Internet access. It is the policy of our government to promote broadband access, but what is really meant is broadband Internet access, as it is this interconnected network of networks with multiple applications that has created the miracle of communications known as the Internet.
[Dave Schaeffer is the Chief Executive Officer of Cogent Communications and a special guest contributor to FierceTelecom.
benton.org/node/36330 | Fierce
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COMCAST: MORE REGS EQUALS LESS INVESTMENT
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Comcast chief financial officer Michael Angelakis warned regulators at an industry conference Wednesday that any attempt by the government to impose heavy restrictions on the cable broadband business could force companies to turn off the infrastructure investment spigot. Angelakis speaking at the Barclay's Capital 2010 Global Communications, Media and Technology conference in New York, said that Comcast was disappointed that Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski has opted to reclassify broadband as a Title II telecommunications service, which could open the business to more onerous restrictions. Genachowski has vowed to apply a light hand to broadband regulation, and Angelakis said the industry will have to take the chairman at his word. But he said if the regulatory environment becomes "distressed," that could force cable operators, Comcast included, to curtail investment.
benton.org/node/36329 | Multichannel News
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ISPs SAY REGULATION WON'T HURT
[SOURCE: SaveTheInternet.com, AUTHOR: Moira Vahey]
It appears that many of the nation's leading Internet service providers aren't actually worried about the Federal Communications Commission's "Third Way" approach to broadband oversight and its impact on broadband build-out and investment despite what they're telling lawmakers in Washington.
Time Warner Cable COO Landel Hobbs' comments regarding the FCC's proposal during an investor conference on May 19, 2010: "It is a light regulatory touch that their focus is really to put them in a position where they can execute around their national broadband plan, not to rate regulate or crush investment in our sector. That's not at all what we believe. So, I want you to take away as, yes, we will continue to invest, yes, we will participate in the Notice of Inquiries and we will have an open, healthy dialogue with the FCC throughout the whole process."
Sprint Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Vonya B. McCann's statement issued May 6, 2010 regarding the FCC's plans to apply new rules to broadband services: "Sprint appreciates the FCC's statement that any regulation it may assert would be through a light regulatory touch. ...Sprint commends the FCC for the cautious approach it is taking toward this complex subject. The FCC can and should foster similar growth in broadband by focusing its energies on protecting consumers by promoting competition and placing checks and balances on providers with market power."
Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts discussed the issue at the Cable Show in Los Angeles on May 12, 2010, according to SNL Kagan, a business intelligence news source: "I honestly don't believe the government is trying to turn the clock back," Roberts explained, adding that "the government is not a big worry."
SNL Kagan wrote, "Given the potential impact of reclassification on broadband pricing, Roberts said he expects the industry to continue to invest, innovate and work through the government issues."
Windstream Corp. President and CEO Jeffery Gardner's comments, according to SNL Kagan regarding the FCC's broadband oversight during an investor conference, May 18, 2010: Gardner said there has been "a bit of an overreaction" as he believes FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski understands the importance of a light regulatory touch in overseeing broadband networks. "I don't think that there is tremendous financial risk out there with respect to this ... issue. We would prefer less regulation, but as I said I am confident that the chairman understands the issue."
The Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon Wireless Chief Executive Lowell McAdam is saying that Verizon is continuing to invest in its wireless LTE network and that the company has no plans to slow investment in its wireless broadband network as a result of the FCC's move.
benton.org/node/36328 | SaveTheInternet.com
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WHO'S IN CHARGE OF THE INTERNET?
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Terry Gross]
Next month, Congress will meet to discuss proposals to revamp current telecommunication laws that were last examined in 1996. The current laws hardly mention the Internet; the "bipartisan, issue-focused meetings" announced by Sen John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) will examine whether they address current consumer needs. Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it plans to reclassify broadband Internet service as a telecommunications service so that high-speed Internet would be closely monitored by the FCC. The reclassification would also give the FCC control over net neutrality, the idea that information on the Web should be treated equally and cannot be blocked by broadband providers. Journalist Amy Schatz, who covers tech policy and the FCC for The Wall Street Journal, explains the conflicts between the FCC, Internet companies and telecommunications providers like Comcast and Verizon — and how their battle might determine what the future of the Internet looks like. "Basically, the idea here is: Who is going to control those lines that go into your house?" Schatz tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "And there's never really been any rules that talk expressly to Internet lines because we've relied on rules that were [applicable to] phones, but it really gets into a really big issue as more Americans use the Internet to make phone calls or watch movies or just connect with their kids and e-mail and things like that, so it's becoming a really big issue."
benton.org/node/36317 | National Public Radio
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DOYLE SUPPORT RECLASSIFICATION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
In a letter for FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Rep Mike Doyle (D-PA) said to accomplish the goal of bringing more broadband connections across the nation, the Federal Communications Commission must proceed with a plan to redefine high-speed Internet access as a telecommunications service. He also urged Congress to proceed on a proposal by key Democratic lawmakers to update the Communications Act of 1996, which has not properly addressed the role of the Internet. "I look forward to working with you to see to it that the Commission has the proper authority going forward to protect and promote an open Internet where consumers have the ability to access the services they want using the devices they want," Rep Doyle wrote.
benton.org/node/36347 | Washington Post
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OUR POP CULTURE AT RISK
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] We live in a golden age of Pop Technology. Pop Technology is a lot like pop culture, or pop music, except that instead of having a fascination for an object (pet rock), a fashion trend (shoulder pads for women) or a singer (Lady Gaga), the immediate objects of public fascination are standalone Web programs or apps for a device, like an iPhone or an Android. Pop Technology is hip and cool, and may last only for a little while. It's Blippy or Swipely or Billshrink. Some PopTech may catch fire or disappear into a crowded app-scape. My Space was the standard-bearer of social networking until it wasn't. More important, however, is the environment which nurtured the development of all the cool stuff. The crucial question whether those forces will be able to survive or whether they will be beaten into submission.
benton.org/node/36342 | Public Knowledge
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REGULATING THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Botein]
[Commentary] Responding the a New York Times editorial (Broadband and the FCC), Botein says the Times is quite right in concluding that the Federal Communications Commission's latest iteration of its Internet regulatory powers is "a measured attempt to ensure regulatory oversight." One might further question, however, whether the agency's proposed regime involves "classifying broadband access as telecommunications" at all. The commission has not proposed treating broadband as a traditional Title II common carrier, with all of the attendant concerns as to rate regulation, service requirements and so forth. Instead, the FCC is following its longstanding approach to new media. It has chosen a relatively small range of policy goals — generally relating to access guarantees — to keep the medium free from corporate dominance. This approach resembles its early treatment of cable television, mobile radio and Wi-Fi. As in these areas, Congress ultimately will supply the regulatory details.
[Botein is a professor of law and director of the Media Center at New York Law School.]
benton.org/node/36316 | New York Times
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105 MBPS BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
Comcast in June may roll out a residential broadband service -- dubbed "Extreme 105" -- that offers a blistering 105 Megabits per second downstream, which would make it one of the fastest Internet services available in the US. The Extreme 105 service will be $199.95 per month, plus a one-time $249 installation fee, and will use an Arris WBM760 DOCSIS 3.0 modem. In the next 12 to 18 months, Comcast anticipates being able to offer 100-Mbps Internet service to many, if not all, of the markets where it has rolled out DOCSIS 3.
benton.org/node/36345 | Multichannel News
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PRIVACY
FACEBOOK PRIVACY SETTINGS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Facebook is simplifying its privacy controls amid growing unrest from many of its users. Protesters have been organizing campaigns to quit Facebook and privacy groups have complained to regulators after Facebook announced new features last month, including "instant personalization" that tailors other websites to users' Facebook profiles. "A lot of people are upset with us," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged at a news conference Wednesday. He said that as Facebook offered more granularity in its privacy choices, the settings have become too complex for many users. He said Facebook is trying to simplify the controls - and making them apply retroactively and to new services that have yet to launch. Facebook said the changes will be rolled out in the coming weeks. It's not yet clear whether the latest changes will quell user unease. Facebook hopes they do. "One of the big takeaways is just don't mess with the privacy stuff for a long time," Zuckerberg said. In a statement, the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based advocacy group, said that "while more work still needs to be done, these changes are the building blocks for giving people what they want and deserve."
benton.org/node/36333 | Associated Press | paidContent.org | LATimes | GigaOm
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FACEBOOK CRITICS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ben Worthen]
Facebook's new privacy controls don't go as far as some critics would like, suggesting the privacy issue will continue to dog the social-networking site. Privacy advocates called the changes a first step, but said they remain concerned that Facebook doesn't take their concerns seriously. "We've been through this before with Facebook," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Rather than relying on Facebook to police itself and make changes reactively, he said he wants the site to take "a more comprehensive approach to privacy." In addition, he favors legislation that controls how social-networking sites use members' information, similar to privacy laws for email. Joseph Dee, a Toronto man who helped create QuitFacebookDay.com, said in a phone interview he still doesn't trust Facebook. His site has gathered nearly 22,500 pledges from members to quit Facebook on Monday, and Dee said he still plans to hit the "delete" button on his account. "It's progress, but the core issue is still the same," Dee said. "They really want to push people to be more public with their information, and we're not ready for that kind of openness yet. I don't think they respect the way the natural world works."
benton.org/node/36352 | Wall Street Journal | San Francisco Chronicle
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CONGRESS WANTS ANSWERS FROM GOOGLE
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The leaders of the House Commerce Committee are increasing pressure on Google to provide more information about data the Internet firm says it mistakenly collected from private Wi-Fi networks. In a letter Wednesday to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), ranking member Joe Barton (R-TX), and Rep Edward Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the panel, voiced concern about the incident and about Google's attempts to explain it. "We are concerned that Google did not disclose until long after the fact that consumers' Internet use was being recorded, analyzed and perhaps profiled," the lawmakers wrote. "In addition, we are concerned about the completeness and accuracy of Google's public explanations about this matter." They submitted a long list of questions for Schmidt and asked for a response by June 7. The questions included: What communities did Street View vehicles target for data collection from Wi-Fi networks? Were citizens in the affected communities notified about the data collection and offered a chance to consent to the practice? What is Google doing to ensure a similar incident doesn't happen again with new products and services?
benton.org/node/36332 | CongressDaily | The Hill | LATimes
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GOOGLE BALKS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Kevin O'Brien]
Google on Thursday balked at requests from regulators in Germany and Hong Kong to surrender fragments of Internet data and e-mails it had improperly collected from unsecured home wireless networks, saying it needed time to resolve legal issues. In Germany, Google said it was not able to comply with the Hamburg data protection supervisor's request to inspect information the company collected from Internet users by roving cars used to compile its Street View photo map archive. The company, in a statement, implied that German privacy laws, ironically, were preventing it from turning over the information, even to a government agency. In Hong Kong, the privacy commissioner, Roderick B. Woo, threatened unspecified sanctions after Google did not respond to his request to inspect data collected in the territory by the roving cars. Mr. Woo said Google had ignored a Monday deadline to turn over the information. The standoffs increase the chance that Google may face fines and proceedings in Europe and Asia after its cars collected 600 gigabytes of what the company said was fragmentary data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks in 33 countries and Hong Kong. The company has declined to describe the information it collected in more detail, and says it gathered the data inadvertently because of a programming error.
benton.org/node/36353 | New York Times
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REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Mary Madden, Aaron Smith]
More than half (57%) of adult Internet users say they have used a search engine to look up their name and see what information was available about them online, up from 47% who did so in 2006. Young adults, far from being indifferent about their digital footprints, are the most active online reputation managers in several dimensions. For example, more than two-thirds (71%) of social networking users ages 18-29 have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others online. These findings form the centerpiece of a new report from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project that looks at reputation and online identity management in the age of social media. The report is based on a telephone survey conducted in August and September of 2009 of 2,253 adults, ages 18 and older, including 560 cell phone interviews. Reputation management has now become a defining feature of online life for many Internet users, especially the young. While some Internet users are careful to project themselves online in a way that suits specific audiences, other Internet users embrace an open approach to sharing information about themselves and do not take steps to restrict what they share.
benton.org/node/36331 | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project | Report Overview | MSNBC | Los Angeles Times | BusinessWeek
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WIRELESS
MOBILE BILL SHOCK AND ETFs
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
On May 25, the Federal Communications Commission released the findings of an agency survey on the consumer mobile experience. The survey indicated that 30 million Americans -- or one in six mobile users -- have experienced "bill shock," a sudden increase in their monthly bill that is not caused by a change in service plan. It also shows that nearly half of cell phone users who have plans with early termination fees (ETFs) -- and almost two-thirds of home broadband users with ETFs -- don't know the amount of the fees they're accountable for. The survey notes that 83 percent of adults in this country have a cell phone, and 80 percent have a personal cell phone (i.e., one for which their employer does not pay the bill). 58 percent of cell-phone users say they are very satisfied with the number of places they can get a good signal.
The survey finds that of the 30 million Americans who have experienced bill shock:
84 percent said their mobile carrier did not contact them when they were about to exceed their allowed minutes, text messages, or data downloads.
88 percent said their carrier did not contact them after their bill suddenly increased.
The amount of bill shock varies widely but is often sizeable. In the survey, more than a third of people who experienced bill shock said their bills jumped by at least $50, and 23 percent said the increase was $100 or more.
The survey also asked consumers about early termination fees for cell phone and broadband service. Of the respondents with personal cell phones, 54 percent said they would have to pay an ETF should they terminate their contracts before the expiration date, and 18 percent didn't know whether they would have to pay or not. Of those who are subject to an ETF, 43 percent said it was $150 or more, but 47 percent didn't know how much it was. One reason for the confusion is billing practices: Only 36 percent of cell phone customers who are familiar with their bills said that they include "very clear" information on ETFs.
The findings were similar for home broadband termination fees, with some differences. Only 21 percent of home broadband users say that their contracts include an early termination fee. Of those consumers, however, fully 64 percent don't know what the fee is -- a higher level of confusion than for cell phone service.
The survey shows that ETFs are one factor that can keep cell phone customers from switching carriers even when their service is not ideal. Forty-three percent of these customers said ETFs were a major reason they would stay with their current service, almost exactly the same number who said they would be deterred from switching by the cost of setting up a new service or by paying a deposit on a new service.
benton.org/node/36320 | Federal Communications Commission | read the survey | FCC Consumer Task Force
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IDs FOR PREPAID PHONES
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Chris Strohm]
Citing the recent attempt to detonate a car bomb in New York City's Times Square, Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and John Cornyn (R-TX) announced legislation Wednesday aimed at identifying the buyers and users of prepaid cell phones. Their legislation would require buyers of prepaid cell phones to present identification and require phone companies to keep that information on file, similar to what they have to do with users of landline phones and subscription-based cell phones, according to Sens Schumer and Cornyn.
benton.org/node/36344 | CongressDaily
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BUCKETS OF DATA
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Paul Taylor]
Verizon Wireless, the second largest US mobile network operator, signalled a key shift in its tariff on Wednesday when it said it expected to offer customers who sign up for its new 4G mobile broadband service monthly 'buckets' of data rather than more traditional per-minute voice plans with add-on data packages. US network operators including Verizon Wireless see tiered monthly data plans as a way to capitalize on the recent rapid growth in smartphone-related data traffic and wean users off 'unlimited' data plans, while also benefiting from the cost savings associated with 4G networks. Verizon Wireless plans to launch commercial services on a new network based on LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology in 30 to 40 US metropolitan markets by the end of this year, and complete the roll-out within three years.
benton.org/node/36350 | Financial Times
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CLEARWIRE
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Gadi Dechter, Olga Kharif]
Craig McCaw's quest to dominate the emerging era of fourth generation, or 4G, wireless networks began in a Maryland basement office back in 2003. There, McCaw's representatives met with Rudy Geist, a lawyer with only one client, a Spanish-language broadcaster that happened to be the nation's largest licensee of the 2.5-gigahertz frequency of radio spectrum. That band had been given away to schools and nonprofits since the 1960s. In theory, it was to be used for educational TV. In practice, the spectrum mostly languished. McCaw signed a master lease with the Spanish broadcaster, giving a Kirkland (WA) company he founded that year called Clearwire a foothold in about 20 markets. Clearwire would end up with more than 1,000 such leases, for which it will pay about $5 billion over the next three decades. When the Federal Communications Commission in 2005 relaxed regulations on the 2.5-GHz band to encourage wireless broadband, its value exploded. McCaw was then in a position to compete against Sprint and other companies for control of a national portfolio.
benton.org/node/36313 | BusinessWeek
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MEDIA, ELECTIONS & POLITICS
FACEBOOK AS POLITICAL PLATFORM
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
The folks behind the forthcoming political social network Vote iQ took a shot at rival Facebook on Wednesday, arguing the popular site is not suited to hosting political discussions. "The problem with Facebook is it's not terribly conducive to discussions of politics," said Vote iQ vice president and historian Rick Shenkman, explaining that a person's friends on Facebook often include a diverse group, potentially causing disagreements or awkward exchanges. "Political or religious discussions, it's not set up for that." Vote iQ's mission is based firmly in Shenkman's belief that Americans don't know enough about politics or the candidates that represent them. He said the initial target audience is the seven to eight million people classified as "political junkies," but eventually he hopes the site will appeal to older users and other interested voters.
benton.org/node/36341 | Hill, The
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POLITICAL ADS ON FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE
[SOURCE: techPresident, AUTHOR: Nick Judd]
Facebook's share of online political advertising dollars is quickly growing to rival Google's, online political consultants say. The ratio of dollars spent directly on Google advertising to those spent on Facebook advertising could be roughly three to two -- even though Google has been around as a political advertising medium for nearly twice as long. The data is only on do-it-yourselfers, omits the spending from the most recent round of primaries, and also does not include the millions of dollars that have already been spent on online ads that were bought this year through consultants, but those same consultants say that the data is in line with their own observations.
benton.org/node/36340 | TechPresident
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APPLE AND POLITICAL APPS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Joshua Brustein]
Earlier this week, Apple rejected the iPhone app of a Republican opponent to Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, a Democrat, saying it was a personal attack on Mr. Waxman. But on Tuesday, Apple reversed itself and approved the app. It is just the latest in a string of incidents in which Apple has changed its decision on whether to approve an app that arguably made fun of or criticized public figures.
benton.org/node/36339 | New York Times
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