BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010
Transforming the Universal Service Fund for the Broadband Era highlights today's events http://benton.org/calendar/2010-06-24
AT THE FCC
Who is attending these "secret" FCC net neutrality meetings?
Genachowski Taps Gottheimer as Senior Counselor
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Blair Levin gives insight to National Broadband Plan
Models for Community Broadband Adoption
Big Cable Lobby: USF for Broadband Must Be "Tailored"
Commissioner Baker at FCC's Low-Income Pilot Program Roundtable
NTIA Invites Comment on BroadbandMatch Web Site Tool
Google's Latest White Space Push: The Smart Grid
CYBERSECURITY
Senators To Combine Cybersecurity Bills
PRIVACY
Congress looks at mobile location services and privacy
20 percent of Android apps can threaten privacy
Packet-Sniffing Laws Murky as Open Wi-Fi Proliferates
CONTENT
YouTube Declares Victory In Viacom Case
Lawmakers, industry lament costs of online piracy at hearing
Whitehouse: Legitimate Businesses May Enable Piracy
Groups Outline 'Flaws' With ACTA
News giants: limit free riders from rewriting "our" facts
MORE ONLINE
Survey: Staff development is top ed-tech challenge
Government Transparency, Communication and Participation Depend on Modernizing Technology
Geographically segmented regulation of telecommunications
NBC-Comcast marriage gets Chicago mayor's blessing, but many object
Is Apple a Victim of Sour Grapes?
Perils of the Media Presidency
New Fronts Open Up in Smartphone Turf War
Bankruptcy for Tribune Gets Hung Up by Squabbles
Facebook targets China and Russia
Medvedev's Silicon Valley Visit Yields Deal With Cisco
DISCLOSE Act Draws Attention
WiFi Use Grows Strongly in Health Care Industry
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AT THE FCC
WHO'S AT FCC "SECRET" MEETINGS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Anger and confusion remains high over these private "back door" meetings that the Federal Communications Commission has been holding with various "stakeholders" regarding its proposed open Internet rules. Reform groups are still up in arms over the Tuesday gatherings, which appear to have focused on a legislative solution to the problem. Congress, it should be noted, is exploring rewriting the Communications Act in response to the current FCC logjam on the issue. The Washington Post reports that these conferences haven't made much progress; nonetheless, the reform group Free Press has published an ad in that newspaper protesting the sessions. FCC Chief of Staff Edward Lazarus, who we are told summoned various key players to these conferences, has published a list of the attendants. They included Verizon Vice President Thomas Tauke, AT&T Vice President James Cicconi, President of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association Kyle McSlarrow, Google's Alan Davidson, and Skype's Christopher Libertelli. All are key corporate lobbyists. These gents met with Lazarus and two other FCC policy people: Paul de Sa and Zachary Katz. The disclosure of these participants comes via a "Notice of Stakeholder Meetings" letter sent to the agency by Markham Erickson, head of the pro-net neutrality Open Internet Coalition (we're presuming he also attended). "We discussed details relating to prospective legislation relating to open Internet principles," Erickson's letter concludes.
benton.org/node/37197 | Ars Technica
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GOTTHEIMER JOINS GENACHOWSKI'S STAFF
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the appointment of Josh Gottheimer as Senior Counselor to the Chairman. In this capacity, Mr. Gottheimer will serve as the Chairman's strategic advisor on a wide range of policy and legal matters. He will have oversight over the legislative, communications, intergovernmental affairs, and public liaison functions of the agency. Gottheimer will also focus on America's innovation agenda and the steps the FCC can take -- including considering the recommendations in the National Broadband Plan -- to help facilitate American global competitiveness, economic growth, and job creation and to improve the use of 21st century communications networks to improve health care, education, energy efficiency, and public safety.
Gottheimer currently serves as the Executive Vice President, Worldwide at Burson-Marsteller, a global communications firm; before that, he was the Director of Strategic Communications at Ford Motor Company, where he oversaw corporate advertising.
Between 1998 to 2001, Mr. Gottheimer served as Special Assistant to the President and Presidential Speechwriter to President Bill Clinton. Among others, he helped draft the State of the Union addresses in 1999 and 2000, several comedy speeches, and the 2000 Democratic Convention speech. After leaving the White House, Mr. Gottheimer was a Senior Advisor to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. In the 2004 presidential race, Mr. Gottheimer served as Deputy Director of Speechwriting and Senior Policy Advisor to the John Kerry for President Campaign.
benton.org/node/37191 | Federal Communications Commission | TVNewsCheck | The Hill
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
LEVIN ON NBP
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Lindsey Sutphin]
Blair Levin, former executive director of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative at the Federal Communications Commission, spoke about some of the issues that were included and not included in the writing of the National Broadband Plan. He picked out three key initiatives in the National Broadband Plan: spectrum appropriation, the unbundling of cable systems, and universal service. Levin predicted that there will be a spectrum crunch in the United States by the middle of this decade. The allocation of spectrum can take years to implement, and the current idea of "you keep what you own" makes it difficult to free up spectrum. Additionally, technologies like the iPad, smartphones, and other mobile broadband applications are increasing the amount of spectrum users. He proposed that the FCC should regulate spectrum and provide incentives to spectrum holders who are not using their spectrum at maximized efficiency and capacity. He said that the under-utilization of spectrum is restricting spectrum for other uses, and encourages an incentive auction of spectrum, because "Under current law, nobody wins. The American people lose out."
benton.org/node/37196 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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MODELS FOR COMMUNITY BROADBAND ADOPTION
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Mytheos Holt]
At the Roadmap to Adoption Conference a panel discussion was held focusing on models for community broadband adoption, and attempting to answer question such as where to implement such models, who should be targeted and how to manage the programs involved. The panel was led by Karen Archer Perry, of the Federal Communications Commission National Broadband Taskforce, and included Emily Tseng, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program Officer with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and Elizabeth Stock, President of Computers for Youth (CFY). Perry began her speech by explaining the goals underlying the FCC's National Broadband Plan with a special focus on the 1002 goal. "The 1002, our aspirational goal, is that by the year 2020, 100 households have a 20Mbps download speed and a 50Mbps upload speed," Perry said. "The key barriers are cost, literacy and relevance." While Perry agreed with a former speaker that choosing to adopt Broadband was primarily an individual choice, she stressed that that choice took place "in a social context." "That social context is very important. There's a neighborhood effect associated with adoption in that if people in my neighborhood adopt broadband, it's more likely that I will as well," Perry said.
benton.org/node/37195 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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CABLE WANTS USF FOR BROADBAND TAILORED
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Senate Commerce Committee will hear from National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow and three of the five members of the Federal Communications Commission June 24 as the committee ponders migrating the Universal Service Fund to broadband. According to a copy of his testimony, McSlarrow plans to tell the committee that cable operators support considering changes to the program to achieve universal access, but that given the history of "staggering growth" in the fund--almost everybody agrees some reform is needed--"the role of USF in promoting broadband must be carefully tailored to unserved areas and populations." McSlarrow argues that USF subsidies for broadband should only go to areas that don't have broadband facilities. He points out that cable broadband is in 92% of the country. As with the broadband stimulus funds being handed out by the Commerce Department, NCTA is concerned that the USF money not go to overbuild its members. "It would be a poor use of scarce government resources to subsidize a broadband competitor in communities--including many small, rural communities -where cable operators have invested risk capital to deploy broadband services," McSlarrow says.
benton.org/node/37194 | Multichannel News
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BROADBAND LIFELINES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker]
Speaking to a FCC discussion among interested parties about how to design broadband pilot programs for low-income consumers, FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker said, "Broadband affordability is ... not limited to a monthly DSL bill. We will have to take into account the substantial consumer electronic costs of broadband. I checked this morning-I can get a telephone from amazon.com for $9.84. The cheapest netbook is $259, a full function laptop is at least hundred dollars more. 10 percent of non-adopters cite computer costs such as these as their key affordability hurdle, while only 15 percent cite the monthly bill itself. With respect to broadband, we must also recognize that digital literacy and relevancy play equally important roles in the decision of whether or not to subscribe. All of these complexities demonstrate that a pilot program approach - looking before we leap - is particularly appropriate here. There is no magic formula for the type or level of subsidy, and I look forward to learning from this workshop and future efforts how best to structure a low-income support mechanism for broadband."
benton.org/node/37193 | Federal Communications Commission
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BROADBANDMATCH
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration decided to create a tool that would allow larger anchor institutions, smaller satellite organizations, Internet service providers and technical experts to find one another and create mutually beneficial partnerships.
The tool, BroadbandMatch (available at http://match.broadbandusa.gov), allows potential applicants to find partners for broadband projects, helping them to combine expertise and create stronger proposals. Now, in support of the Recovery Act's goals to create jobs, promote economic growth, and encourage participation of socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns, BroadbandMatch includes small disadvantaged businesses desiring to provide goods and services for broadband projects around the country. It is a helpful resource for firms seeking contracting opportunities with BTOP grantees, among other participants, and for purchasers intending to diversify their suppliers.
Current participants will be solicited to continue their participation in the program by opting in; potentially, new participants will be encouraged through publicizing of BroadbandMatch using the press, conferences, and conversations between applicants/grantees and Federal program officers.
The Department of Commerce invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
Written comments must be submitted on or before August 23, 2010.
benton.org/node/37192 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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WHITE SPACES AND THE SMART GRID
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Katie Fehrenbacher]
Two years ago, Google launched its Free The Airwaves campaign in an effort to draw attention to the idea of using "white spaces" — tiny slivers of spectrum vacated by the switch from analog televisions to digital — for wireless broadband. But just recently, the search engine giant, along with partners, has thrown smart grid applications into this mix as the latest effort to win over hearts and minds to the elusive and much-debated white space technology. Will an application like the digital power grid help unlock the massive potential behind the unused TV broadcast channels, which could boost broadband penetration in the U.S., and particularly in crucial rural areas?
benton.org/node/37182 | GigaOm | Connected Planet
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CYBERSECURITY
AGENDA FOR CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: J. Nicholas Hoover]
The Senate will work to combine a number of cybersecurity bills with an eye toward meeting the goal of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) of passing comprehensive cybersecurity legislation sometime this year, Senate staffers said June 23. There is broad agreement between key Senate committees in terms of key elements that need to be included in any comprehensive legislation, Eric Hopkins, professional staff member for the federal financial management subcommittee of the Senate committee on homeland security and government affairs, said at the Symantec Government Symposium, but many details need to be worked out. There's a number of themes common in both the Senate homeland security committee bill sponsored by Sens Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and the Senate Commerce Committee bill sponsored by Sens. John Rockefeller (D-WV) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the two most prominent and comprehensive bills currently circulating. Included in that list are reforms of the Federal Information Security Management Act, clarification of the role of the federal government in preventing cyber-attacks against privately-owned critical infrastructure, delineation of the proper roles of the White House and other agencies in managing cybersecurity within government, and measures to grown and improve the cybersecurity workforce.
benton.org/node/37178 | InformationWeek
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PRIVACY
MOBILE LOCATION SERVICES AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia kang]
Location-based mobile services have captured the attention of regulators and lawmakers who want to know more about how firms such as Foursquare, Twitter, and Apple are using geographic data to provide new services and whether the information is being shared with business partners, including advertisers. on June 24, the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties will examine how location-based services are being tapped by law enforcement authorities to compile data on cellphone users.
benton.org/node/37190 | Washington Post
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ANDROID AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Mikael Ricknäs]
Twenty percent of applications on Android Market let third parties access private or sensitive information, according to a report from security vendor SMobile Systems. SMobile, which develops software for protecting smartphones, has performed an analysis of over 48,000 applications available on Android Market, and looked at what permissions are granted to the application by the mobile operating system. The permissions -- which allow applications to do a multitude of things, including initiating a phone call, reading SMS (Short Message Service) messages or identifying the phone's location -- are there to help people develop useful applications. But applications might also access those kinds of personal data for nefarious purposes, according to SMobile. Besides the 20 percent of applications that let third parties access private or sensitive information, 5 percent of applications have the ability to place a call to any number, and 2 percent of applications can send an SMS to an unknown premium number, in both cases without user involvement. A majority of these applications were developed with the best of intentions and the user data will likely not be compromised, according to SMobile. But there have been cases of the opposite: A bank phishing application that was published by an author by the name of Droid09 was found and removed from Android Market, it said.
benton.org/node/37180 | IDG News Service
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WI-FI AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: David Kravets]
There's a growing legal uncertainty about privacy on open Wi-Fi networks, kicked off by Google's admission its Street View cars intercepted data on unsecured Wi-Fi networks in neighborhoods across the globe. Google, in response to government inquiries and lawsuits, claims it is lawful to use packet-sniffing tools readily available on the Internet to spy on and download payload data from others using the same open Wi-Fi access point. "We believe it does not violate U.S. law to collect payload data from networks that are configured to be openly accessible (i.e., not secured by encryption and thus accessible by any user's device). We emphasize that being lawful and being the right thing to do are two different things, and that collecting payload data was a mistake for which we are profoundly sorry," Google wrote Congress. It's not considered felony wiretapping "to intercept or access an electronic communication made through an electronic communication system that is configured to that such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general public," according to the text of the federal wiretapping statute. Password protected — encrypted Wi-Fi networks — are not considered "readily accessible," Google maintains.
benton.org/node/37179 | Wired
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CONTENT
YOUTUBE BEATS VIACOM IN COURT FIGHT
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Joseph Tartakoff]
U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton has given Google a big win in its long-standing litigation with Viacom. In a decision, embedded after the jump, Judge Stanton grants Google's request for summary judgment, saying that YouTube can't be held liable for copyright infringement because it is protected by provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which essentially say that a provider of online services can't be held liable for content uploaded by its users, with a few exceptions. The judge says that the "burden is on the (copyright) owner to identify infringement," so even if YouTube did have "general knowledge" that users were uploading illegal clips, as Viacom asserted, it wasn't obligated to seek out those videos and take them down. The judge also notes that whenever YouTube was notified that a clip on its site infringed on a copyright, it responded appropriately by quickly removing the video. Viacom is appealing the ruling.
Sherwin Siy, deputy legal director of Public Knowledge, said, ""We are very pleased with the outcome of this case. It shows that the current structure of copyright law works well for even the largest of content-hosting sites. As we have continually said, the burden to point out allegations of infringement is with the content provider, and the burden of taking down material lies with the service provider. Had Viacom won this case, that burden would have shifted dramatically. As the law now stands, prompt compliance with take-down notices shields an online service provider from liability. We hope those policymakers who look continually to make our copyright law more draconian and unbalanced will take this ruling to heart, and note that the current law is working quite well to protect content creators while taking into account the responsibilities of online service providers."
benton.org/node/37174 | paidContent.org | read the ruling | FastCompany | ars technica | Multichannel News | Public Knowledge
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COSTS OF ONLINE PIRACY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
On June 23, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel promised the Senate Judiciary Committee that the government would target foreign websites that facilitate the piracy of movies, music, software and other intellectual property. The oversight hearing came just one day after the White House unveiled its joint strategic plan to combat intellectual property theft. Lawmakers and industry representatives hailed the release claiming online piracy costs the U.S. billions of dollars and thousands of jobs every year. Espinel said America has long been the target of counterfeiters and thieves because of its leadership in fields such as technology, pharmaceuticals, software, filmmaking and video games. Espinel said the plan would increase cooperation among federal agencies and increase the use of diplomatic pressure on foreign governments and trading partners to respect American intellectual property. She said legislative action may also be necessary. Lawmakers pressed Espinel on how she would secure the cooperation of foreign governments to crack down on online piracy, which is particularly harmful to the movie, music and software industries.
benton.org/node/37189 | Hill, The
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BUSINESSES ENABLING PIRACY
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
AT&T, Google and Visa got what could be described as unintentional, unwanted attention from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) June 23 during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when discussion turned to the growing problem of online piracy. Describing piracy as possibly "the biggest transfer of wealth in history," Sen Whitehouse discussed how legitimate businesses can play a role in enabling online piracy. He went on to describe how with a few clicks of a mouse one can use a search engine such as Google to help find the Web sites where illegal content can be downloaded over the networks operated by an Internet service provider like AT&T and how illegal content can be bought using payment systems provided by credit card companies such as Visa. "A lot of legitimate businesses are supporting online piracy," Sen Whitehouse said in asking a panel of private sector representatives whether they are working with these businesses to help combat IP theft.
benton.org/node/37188 | CongressDaily
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FLAWS WITH ACTA
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
A group of public interest groups, foreign lawmakers, academics and others released a statement Wednesday outlining what they describe as numerous flaws with a draft agreement aimed at curbing counterfeiting and piracy being negotiated by the Untied States and several countries. The groups met last week in Washington to "analyze" the public text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement released in April. "ACTA is the predictably deficient product of a deeply flawed process," according to the statement signed by several members of the European Parliament as well as public interest groups from around the world such as the African Commons Project, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Frontiers Australia and Public Knowledge. "What started as a relatively simple proposal to coordinate customs enforcement has transformed into a sweeping and complex new international intellectual property and Internet regulation with grave consequences for the global economy and governments' ability to promote and protect the public interest." They outlined several problematic provisions pointing in particular to the language related to the Internet.
benton.org/node/37186 | CongressDaily
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NEWS GIANTS: LIMIT FREE RIDERS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jacqui Cheng]
Just a day after Google and Twitter called the legal concept of "hot news" obsolete, the major news heavyweights have collectively thrown their hat into the ring in support of the nebulous restriction. The Associated Press, New York Times, Time, Washington Post, Agence France-Presse, Advance Publications, and others submitted their own amicus brief in the ongoing legal case between theflyonthewall.com and Barclays Capital. They aren't taking a side in the dispute, but they do want the ability to tell others not to re-report "their" facts. According to the brief, the news orgs believe the hot news doctrine provides "limited but vital protection" for those who put elbow grease into publishing the news. They argue that they're the ones spending time and money doing the research on a piece of news, and that they should get full control over who can republish the facts while the news is still considered timely. (Facts generally are not protected by copyright.)
benton.org/node/37185 | Ars Technica
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