May 4, 2010 (Professors School FCC on Reclassification)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2010
Today: FCC: Toothless Regulator or Cop on the Beat? http://bit.ly/aqG96K
BROADBAND REGULATION
Professors School FCC on Reclassification
Hamlet on 12th Street
Comcast Can Censor This Blog Post ... With FCC's Permission?
Obama FCC Expected to Abandon Net Neutrality, Universal Internet
Free Press Says Not Reclassifying Title II Would Kill Net Neutrality
ISPs Struggle to Deliver Video Traffic While Imposing Bandwidth Caps
MORE ON BROADBAND
A New Deal for broadband: free, wireless
Sen Pryor pushing bill to adapt Internet, tech for deaf, blind
Next mobile bandwidth wave gains momentum
JOURNALISM
Reassert FCC bans on media monopoly
Journalism's Crisis Is Public Media's Opportunity
When Apple Calls the Cops
The Goldman Sachs Grilling Drives News Coverage
ADVERTISING
Privacy advocates target online advertisers
Package-Goods Titans Talking Tough on Network TV Upfront
Short Films, Music Videos Featuring Products Engage Viewers With Brands by Providing Entertainment [Video]
CYBERSECURITY
Sen Whitehouse: Congress needs clarity on who handles cybersecurity threats
Private, government experts wary about cybersecurity
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Agency that initiated open gov process ranks near last in open gov study
Free Speech Through the Foggy Lens of Election Law
US media campaign has failed to influence Cuba, senators say
Police Wiretapping Jumps 26 Percent
TELECOM/WIRELESS
Fairpoint To Try And Weaken Verizon Deal Conditions
Qwest-CenturyTel consumer strategies face questions
Apple faces US antitrust scrutiny
PTC targets Android, others after Apple cleans up App Store
HEALTH
Health law has billions in unfunded HIT mandates
Researchers suggest EHR systems linked to higher costs
MORE ONLINE
Internet Security 101: What not to post on Facebook
Tear away the web's veil of anonymity
Tennessee Man Convicted of Illegally Accessing Sarah Palin's E-mail Account and Obstruction of Justice
Internet Explorer's Market Share Slips: The Beginning of the End?
BROADBAND REGULATION
RECLASSIFICATION LETTER
[SOURCE: authors, AUTHOR: Marvin Ammori, Susan Crawford, Tim Wu]
In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, former White House aide Susan Crawford joins fellow-Professors Marvin Ammori and Tim Wu in supporting the proposition that the FCC has the legal authority to classify the transmission portion of high-speed Internet access -- but not "the Internet" -- as a telecommunications service. From 2000 to 2005, retail cable modem service was arguably legally classified as a telecommunications service. This history underscores the ambiguity of US telecommunications law and the permissibility of either classification. In 2010, the gatekeeper providers of transmission -- the carriers -- are no longer separate entities providing basic, regulated services. There's no robust marketplace of independent Internet service providers. The FCC faces a choice -- it can abandon the idea of supporting high-speed access with the Universal Service Fund and requiring providers of high-speed Internet access to disclose detailed information about costs and speeds. Alternatively, the FCC can reclassify and face a single battle, but it is one the FCC should win if it develops an adequate factual record about consumers' changed perception of Internet access services.
benton.org/node/35334 | authors
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HAMLET ON 12TH STREET
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] The turmoil and angst of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, so long speculated about have now been laid bare. As Genachowski sits in his office at FCC headquarters on 12th St. SW, in Washington and agonizes over this choice, he would do well to pick up the remarkable new book, "Winning the Silicon Sweepstakes: Can the United States Compete in Global Telecommunications," by Penn State Prof. Rob Frieden. This is a book unlike any other, particularly one written by an academic. It is the telecom equivalent of the Emperor having no clothes. It lays out the realpolitik of the FCC, and the picture isn't pretty. "The U.S. regulatory model seems to operate from self-satisfaction and complacency," Frieden found. That observation is only the tip of the iceberg. No one looks good in this book, and the subjects include the FCC, the telecom industry and even his fellow academics. Time after time, Frieden slams the Commission for being lazy, for not doing its homework, for allowing market concentration and calling it competition, for allowing the system to be gamed by incumbents, illustrating his case with examples ranging from the consolidation of the wireless industry to the AT&T-BellSouth merger, to the inconsistent treatment of Internet telephony (VoIP). At the same time that the Commission touted all the wonderful progress in broadband, it wondered if it did enough to stimulate investment. Frieden points out the inconsistency there: "Contradictory appeals to the government to both create incentives for investment and eliminate its involvement in the marketplace point to the ability of some telecommunications companies to game the political system by creating divergent governmental perceptions of reality."
benton.org/node/35333 | Public Knowledge
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CAN COMCAST CENSOR THIS BLOG?
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Marvin Ammori]
[Commentary] A Washington Post article this morning says the Federal Communications Commission may be "leaning toward" siding with the largest phone and cable companies and against an open and universal Internet. The FCC may reconfirm the old George W. Bush decisions giving away FCC authority to protect citizens' right to access the Internet. To do this, the FCC will decide to rest its decisions on hollow legal theories that would give them the appearance of following through on Obama campaign promises, knowing full well the pro-consumer decisions would be reversed after the mid-term elections. In doing so, the Obama FCC would be breaking Obama's most important pledge about the Internet--to support an open Internet.
benton.org/node/35332 | Huffington Post, The
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OBAMA FCC EXPECTED TO ABANDON NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Josh Silver]
[Commentary] It is a testament to the phone and cable industry's overwhelming influence that they seem to have convinced the nation's communications agency to swear off authority to protect Americans' right to open communications. But it is stunning that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski would even contemplate allowing it to stand, given President Obama's repeated pledge to ensure fast, affordable, universal Internet broadband for every American. So what's going on here? If Genachowski gives up on restoring FCC authority, you can be sure he will claim that Internet deployment remains the signature issue of his FCC and that he can still accomplish the goals outlined in the FCC's recently released National Broadband Plan. But unless the FCC puts broadband under what's called "Title II" of the Telecommunications Act, nearly every broadband-related decision the agency makes from here forward will be aggressively challenged in court, and the FCC will likely lose. The phone and cable companies know this, which is why they're going all out to keep the FCC from fixing the problem.
benton.org/node/35331 | Huffington Post, The
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FREE PRESS ON RECLASSIFICATION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Free Press expressed disbelief at a report that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski may be leaning toward not reclassifying broadband Internet service under Title II, though that option has always been on the table. The network neutrality fans were responding to a report in the Washington Post that the chairman was "leaning toward" not doing so, but the story suggested he was also weighing the downside of trying to justify network management and other network neutrality authority under its current Title I classification. A spokesperson for the chairman had no comment on the story, though a source said it did not come from his office. The chairman has kept his cards close to the vest over what the FCC might do in the wake of the federal court smack down of its Comcast/BitTorrent network management decision, but has pledged to find a legal underpinning for both network openness and transparency and a raft of initiatives under the national broadband plan, most prominently the shifting of Universal Service funds from phone service to broadband. But Free Press as much as said it was Title II or the highway.
benton.org/node/35330 | Broadcasting&Cable | The Hill
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ISPs STRUGGLE WITH BANDWIDTH CAPS
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Philip Hunter]
Many Internet service providers are struggling to cope with the rapid growth of video traffic while trying to put a reasonable limit on the amount of bandwidth consumers can use. Bandwidth capping is seen as a way to help pay for new infrastructure by constraining demand on the network while extracting revenue from higher net worth customers who download the most data. However, online applications tend to evolve to fill up the capacity available, creating a situation where there likely never will be a point when pressure on bandwidth within the network ceases. But bandwidth capping also has a quality of service function, to ensure there is enough capacity for critical applications that generate less data streaming than video, such as e-mail. "This phenomenon of fast increasing amounts of video over broadband is going to cause some very significant problems in terms of cost and also user expectations over the next few years," said Simon Orme, director of content services at British Telecom's wholesale division. "We see these huge hockey sticks from the analysts projecting explosive growth, which get worse every time I look at them."
benton.org/node/35329 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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MORE ON BROADBAND
FREE, WIRELESS BROADBAND
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Imagine you were the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission. One day someone came to you with an offer: "Sell us a chunk of spectrum in the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) band (1.9GHz to 2.1GHz). We'll create a fast broadband service with some of it, and with the rest we'll build a free 768Kbps wireless network, rolled out to most Americans over a ten-year period. We'll even pay the US Treasury a percentage of our revenue, and fund the service with our own capital, partnership deals, and ads." Why wouldn't you seriously consider this idea? But there's a catch. The only way that the National Telecommunications and Information Agency's broadband stimulus fund is going to fork over this cash is if the FCC greenlights the use of that spectrum. And while the NBP mentions the free wireless concept, the FCC says it won't make decisions about the AWS band until it has completed a consultation with the NTIA that goes through October 1. That's one day after NTIA is expected to announce its last round of stimulus awards.
benton.org/node/35328 | Ars Technica
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ADAPTING NET FOR DEAF AND BLIND
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) is pushing new legislation that would require technology companies, phone manufacturers and Web vendors to adapt their products to deaf or blind customers. The senator, who chairs a Senate subcommittee on consumer affairs, plans to introduce the "Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act" on Tuesday. The legislation is Pryor's attempt to address accessibility problems that have long made it difficult for disabled persons to use new media and technology tools. The legislation would mandate that all smartphones -- including the iPhone and BlackBerry -- are compatible with most hearing aids. Pryor's bill would also require DVRs and mp3 players to support closed captioning, as most TVs already do, and would authorize new money for a fund to expand broadband service to low-income, disabled persons.
benton.org/node/35321 | Hill, The
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MOBILE BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Paul Taylor, Andrew Parker]
Bandwidth-hungry smartphones led by Apple's iPhone are unleashing a data tsunami on mobile networks that could nurture new business models in the telecoms industry. In the US, two companies - Clearwire and Harbinger Capital - hope the data explosion will give them the chance to make profits through deals with established mobile operators and new entrants to the industry. Clearwire, the telecoms company whose strategic investors include Sprint, Comcast and Google, is building a high-speed mobile data network that will cover 120m people by the end of 2010. While Clearwire is selling services to consumers that give them wireless Internet access on their laptops, the company is heavily focused on reaching wholesale deals with its strategic partners and other companies. The wholesale customers - which could include mobile operators that cannot afford to build their own infrastructure - rent capacity on Clearwire's network. "We do see wholesale as a very big part of our future," said Bill Morrow, Clearwire's chief executive.
benton.org/node/35336 | Financial Times
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JOURNALISM
REASSERT FCC BANS ON MEDIA MONOPOLY
[SOURCE: Seattle Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] America is best served by diverse, independent media, and that goal is nurtured by equally diverse ownership. Unfortunately, decades of timid leadership at the Federal Communications Commission has produced policies that serve big corporations to the detriment of the public. The Obama administration and the FCC have an opportunity to reinforce limits on newspapers monopolizing TV and radio outlets in the same market, and the number of television and radio stations one company can own in the same market. President Obama and FCC chair Julius Genachowski have the opportunity of congressionally mandated four-year reviews of cross-ownership rules to eliminate decades of ambiguity over a fundamental value. Restate, reinforce and exercise limits on newspaper and TV ownership in the same markets. Do not allow corporate giants to gobble up all the TV and radio stations in a market. Endlessly granting waivers does not reclaim the independence of American journalism.
benton.org/node/35327 | Seattle Times
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JOURNALISM'S CRISIS
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Craig Aaron]
[Commentary] You know about the crisis: Tens of thousands of journalists losing their jobs. Local outlets shuttered or reduced to a shell. A "perfect storm" created when the rise of the Internet and the end of local advertising monopolies collided with the economic downturn. Of course, the media's most serious wounds have been self-inflicted. While regulators rubber-stamped one mega-merger after another, the big media companies took on massive amounts of debt. Now they're drowning in it, and they're taking newsrooms down with them. Wherever you point the blame, we face the same daunting reality: There is no longer enough private capital -- in the form of advertising, subscriptions, philanthropy and other sources -- to support the depth and breadth of quality local, national and international news reporting our communities need to participate in a 21st century democracy. And there's the opportunity: This is the moment to re-imagine our old public broadcasting system and rebuild it as a new public media network committed to education, to community service and, most importantly, to local newsgathering. Local news reporting should become one of public media's top priorities, and we should redeploy and redouble our resources accordingly. We need public media to put professional reporters, fact checkers and editors on the beat to keep a watchful eye on the powerful and to reliably examine the vital issues that most Americans can't follow closely on their own.Oh, yes -- we also need to figure out how to pay for it.
benton.org/node/35326 | Huffington Post, The
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WHEN APPLE CALLS THE COPS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: William McGurn]
[Commentary] Jason Chen is a newsman. Or is he? That's just one question raised by the raid on Chen's California home by the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, which carted off some computers and other electronic equipment. The search warrant appears to be the result of an investigation into whether Chen broke the law when he bought an iPhone prototype that an Apple engineer left in a bar where he was celebrating his birthday. Because Chen reported on the new iPhone for his website, Gizmodo.com, the seizure of his computers has renewed a heated debate about whether bloggers are real journalists. Traditionally, many in the mainstream press have disparaged bloggers, though in this case at least some press organizations -- including the parent company that runs Chen's blog -- argue that he is a full-time journalist whose home is his newsroom. The irony is how few connect Chen's First Amendment freedoms to those for corporations that were recently upheld in a landmark Supreme Court ruling. The larger point is that the best guarantee of good, independent journalism has always been the willingness of reporters and editors and publishers to run with the truth, protect their sources, and accept the consequences -- even jail, if it comes to that. In short, we'll all be better served by a First Amendment that remains a fundamental right for all rather than a class privilege for some.
benton.org/node/35339 | Wall Street Journal
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ADVERTISING
PRIVACY ADVOCATES TARGET ADVERTISERS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jessica Guynn]
A coalition of consumer and privacy groups is taking its fight for online consumer privacy to Capitol Hill. In their sights: online advertising practices and behavioral targeting. In a joint letter to Congress, the groups warn that tracking and targeting of consumers have reached "alarming levels." They say they want legislation, not self-regulation. The coalition includes the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumers Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. They made their case one day before Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), chairman of the House subcommittee on communications, technology and the Internet, introduces a consumer online privacy bill. The legislation is expected to address concerns about consumer privacy given the growing use of online behavioral advertising, which involves using data about a consumer's Web surfing habits to target ads to them.
benton.org/node/35325 | Los Angeles Times | CongressDaily
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UPFRONT FIGHTS BEGIN
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Jack Neff]
A more-buoyant economy and strong scatter prices seem to signal a seller's market for what could be an $8.26 billion TV upfront, but heavyweight spenders Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Reckitt Benckiser are sending a far different message: We have credible alternatives to traditional TV advertising, and we're not afraid to use them. Unilever is saying that its level of participation in the upfront will depend in large part on how pricey the market looks, noting that its success stories from other media, particular digital, give it plenty of options for putting money elsewhere. Helping further the point, several Unilever executives will be making a field trip to Silicon Valley this week to visit all of its major players, not just as a learning experience but also in hopes of making deals, said newly minted Chief Marketing Officer Keith Weed.
benton.org/node/35319 | AdAge
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LONG FORM ADS
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Rupal Parekh]
Since Lady Gaga's nearly 10-minute video "Telephone" made its debut a few weeks back, it's garnered 28 million views on YouTube, been watched on MTV.com nearly 500,000 times and shared on Facebook and tweeted directly from the pop star's site some 150,000 times. The video-slash-short film is easily one of the most-popular pieces of longer-form content in recent times, boosting visibility for brands like Miracle Whip and dating site PlentyofFish.com that made appearances in the video. But it's also just one in a growing batch of examples that signal marketers' desire to engage with consumers for longer than the standard 30 seconds.
benton.org/node/35320 | AdAge
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CYBERSECURITY
CONGRESS NEEDS CYBERSECURITY CLARITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) stressed lawmakers needed to address gaps in cybersecurity enforcement that could create confusion over who handles a specific threat. During an interview with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Sen Whitehouse said "boundary issues between the intelligence community and other covert organizations," including the National Security Agency, had to be "made clear so that you don't end up with ball dropping between the two fielders." That specificity would ensure that "everyone knows where their responsibilities begin and end," added Whitehouse, who is heading up a cybersecurity task force commissioned by the Senate Select Intelligence Committee. That effort is on track to deliver a report to lawmakers this summer, the senator said.
benton.org/node/35324 | Hill, The
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WARY ABOUT CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
A new survey finds that while more than 90 percent of private and public sector security experts say cyber attacks pose a serious threat, they differ on whether each side is doing enough to protect their networks. The poll, released Saturday before the start of a worldwide cybersecurity summit in Dallas, found that 70 percent of government officials surveyed said private-sector networks were not secure enough, while only 39 percent of private sector security officials surveyed believed government networks were not secure enough.
benton.org/node/35323 | CongressDaily
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
OMB AND OPEN GOV
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
The agency tasked with spearheading the White House's open-government efforts ranked nearly last in a survey of open-government practices, according to a new report. In an audit of those plans, which all federal agencies released in April, the group OpentheGovernment.org found that the Office of Management and Budget assembled one of the poorest open-government strategies across the entire Obama administration. That news is somewhat ironic, given that OMB under the president's orders issued a guidance in December 2009 calling for all agencies to boost transparency and connect more with voters online.Eight agencies in the new study -- including NASA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Labor -- ranked among the strongest of all plans, exceeding the highest score possible with the help of bonus points for extra work. Another 16 agencies, including the State Department and Commerce Department, fell in the middle tier. However, OMB was ranked among the five agencies considered the "weakest," falling below the Treasury Department and the Department of Defense, and just above the Department of Energy and the Department of Justice.
benton.org/node/35322 | Hill, The | CongressDaily | nextgov
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TELECOM/WIRELESS
FAIRPOINT SEEKS RENEGOTIATED CONDITIONS
[SOURCE: dslreports.com, AUTHOR: Karl Bode]
Given the company all but imploded after taking on Verizon's DSL and landline networks in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, Fairpoint Communications obviously found it difficult to meet the broadband expansion conditions attached to the deal. Fairpoint will be meeting with Maine regulators next week in part to try and get an extension of the first phase of their agreed-to expansion plan from April to December 2010.
benton.org/node/35312 | dslreports.com
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QWEST-CENTURYTEL MERGER
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Dan O'Shea]
It could be another year before CenturyTel's merger with Qwest Communications closes, but it is already clear that some of the most critical strategic decisions the combined company will need to make revolve around consumer services -- and how effectively the company can leverage these services into multiplay bundles to stave of cable TV competition. But how pervasively that scale can be leveraged in all areas of the combined operation remains to be proven. In the past week, much media coverage of the deal has portrayed it as a merger of landline telephone companies. That common link in a declining market is certainly not the only way these two companies would like to be known, but in other consumer segments, such as video and wireless, it is unclear on what the true identity of the merged firm will be based.
benton.org/node/35317 | Connected Planet
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APPLE ANTITRUST INQUIRY
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Chris Nuttall, Richard Waters]
Apparently, US authorities have signalled an interest in a potential antitrust probe into whether the software underpinning Apple's ground-breaking iPhone unfairly locks out competitors. The regulators' interest comes in the wake of a dispute that broke out between Apple and Adobe, a software maker, over the latest version of the iPhone software, which was unveiled last month. Steve Jobs, Apple chief executive, last week took the unusual step of writing a public letter explaining his decision to bar Adobe's software from his company's devices. A decision on whether to open an investigation is at such an early stage that the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have yet to agree on which would take the lead in the matter. A decision is expected within a week.
benton.org/node/35337 | Financial Times | Bloomberg
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PTC TARGETS WIRELESS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Chris Foresman]
Earlier this year, Apple made several changes to the App Store to address complaints that apps with nothing other than a prurient purpose had infiltrated the App Store. Part of the problem was that kids could still access screenshots for "racy" apps. Apple also began removing a number of these apps after it received complaints from the Parents Television Council. Though the group thinks Apple has some room for improvement, it will be focusing its future efforts on other platforms that are growing in popularity, such as Android, which currently lack Parental Controls.
benton.org/node/35318 | Ars Technica
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HEALTH
HIDDEN HEALTH LAW IT COSTS
[SOURCE: GovernemntHealthIT, AUTHOR: Heather Hayes]
Federal, state and local governments will spend more than $5 billion in health information technology and traditional IT by 2015 to comply with the requirements of the new healthcare reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to an analysis of the law by market research firm Input. However, most of the requirements in the new law are unfunded and who will pay what and where the money will come from remains largely unclear, said Angie Petty, a senior analyst at Input. She said the health reform law funds only $1 billion to $2 billion of the health IT and IT requirements defined in the legislation. The expenditures go beyond the $20 billion earmarked for electronic health records, health information exchanges and other health IT solutions in the HITECH portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. But they build on the earlier legislation by putting even greater emphasis on electronic health records and payment systems as critical to the success of health care reform, the firm said.
benton.org/node/35316 | GovernemntHealthIT
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EHR LINKED TO HIGHER COSTS
[SOURCE: ModernHealthcare.com, AUTHOR: Joseph Conn]
Researchers from the business school at Arizona State University, Tempe, say their work suggests electronic health-records systems in hospitals increase hospital costs, nurse staffing levels and the incidence of complications, but lower mortality rates for some conditions, according to a published report. The three-man team from the W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU found IT implementations were associated with 6% to 10% higher cost per discharge in medical-surgical acute care units. They also found relatively lower intensive IT implementations, at Stage 2 on the HIMSS Analytics adoption model, were coincident with 15% to 26% higher registered nurse hours by per day and reduced licensed vocational nurse cost by 2% to 4%. Meanwhile, higher, Stage 3 implementations were associated with 3% to 4% lower rates for in-hospital mortality for certain conditions, the report said.
benton.org/node/35315 | ModernHealthcare.com
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