August 2010

NETWORK NEUTRALITY

NET NEUTRALITY AND INCOME
[SOURCE: San Antonio Express-News, AUTHOR: Victor Landa]
[Commentary] According to a study done by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, almost two-thirds of African-Americans (64 percent) and Latinos (63 percent) are wireless users of the Internet, and minorities are more likely to own cell phones than are their Anglo counterparts (87 percent of African Americans and Hispanics own cell phones, compared with 80 percent of Anglos). More and more, Latinos go online with their cell phones because it's affordable. The Verizon-Google network neutrality proposal exempts wireless Internet services from Federal Communications Commission oversight. So content over smart phones would be subject to special costs. And this would adversely affect those who depend on affordable wireless technology to access the information that flows through the Internet. Any plan that would charge a premium for certain cell phone Internet content would affect African Americans and Latinos more than any other group of Internet users. It's a bad idea that should never see the light of day.
benton.org/node/41041 | San Antonio Express-News
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WE HAVE A SPEECH PROBLEM
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Timothy Karr]
Sen. Al Franken (D.-MN) warned a packed house Thursday night in Minneapolis that the corporate takeover of our media, and the government's failure to stop it, is one of the most important issues of our time. Sen Franken said our media system is at risk everywhere we turn -- from our free speech online to the growing power of companies who own a massive number of media outlets. Sen Franken was speaking during a hearing featuring Federal Communications Commission Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps. He spoke about recent efforts by Verizon and Google to push a "policy framework" on Washington that transfers control over Internet content from the people who go online into the hands of a few powerful corporations. "We can't let companies write the rules that they're supposed to follow," he said. "Because if that happens those rules are going to be written only to protect corporations."
benton.org/node/41042 | Huffington Post, The
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AN OPEN INTERNET FOR ALL
[SOURCE: Star Tribune, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps]
[Commentary] The Internet was born on openness, has flourished on openness and depends on openness for its future potential. This incredible technology intersects with just about every great challenge confronting our nation -- jobs, education, energy, the environment, news, international competitiveness, health care, equal opportunity. But online freedom of Americans is at risk. Right now, the few companies that provide access to the Internet can control what we see and do online, with or without our knowledge. They tell us not to worry because surely they can agree among themselves to behave appropriately. History teaches us, however, that when technological capability to exercise control combines with a financial incentive to do so, some will try to turn this power to their own advantage.
benton.org/node/41031 | Star Tribune
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LAST WEEK ON THE WEB
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
A plan by two tech giants to regulate broadband topped the online conversation last week as bloggers roundly criticized Google for seemingly softening its support of network neutrality-the concept of treating all Internet traffic equally across a network. For the week of August 9-13, 19% of the news links on blogs were about the net neutrality issue, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. The catalyst was an August 10 op-ed in the Washington Post by Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and Verizon chief executive Ivan Seidenberg in which they endorsed net neutrality with one significant exception. Their proposal would allow service providers to limit uploading and downloading on wireless networks. Initially bloggers dissected the Post piece to make sense of the nine-point plan. Once they concluded that the two companies would support neutrality for wired broadband but not for wireless networks, bloggers accused Google of selling out and violating the company's informal motto, "don't be evil." Social media users-most of whom operate outside of corporate media-have closely followed the net neutrality debate. The issue first ranked among the most-linked to news stories in blogs (5th at 6% of the links) the week of April 5-9, 2010, following a federal court ruling that threatened net neutrality. And it heated up on Twitter the week of May 3-7, 2010 (4th at 8%) as users shared news of the FCC's response - a revised regulation proposal. The rest of the top five subjects among bloggers last week all dealt with hot button political or cultural issues.
benton.org/node/41030 | Project for Excellence in Journalism
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WIRED FOR WHOSE ADVANTAGE?
[SOURCE: Star Tribune, AUTHOR: Donna Champion, Nicole Palya Wood]
[Commentary] When the Federal Communications Commission released its National Broadband Plan earlier this year, the agency's task force estimated that it could cost as much as $350 billion to deploy universal broadband throughout the country. Much of the investment will have to come from the private sector. Currently, the FCC is considering changing broadband regulation, including applying additional rules governing how Internet service providers manage their networks. These proposed changes could decrease incentives for private-sector investment in broadband build-out, should the new regulations be too burdensome. If the FCC chooses to dramatically alter broadband regulations without congressional input, it could result in a lengthy period of uncertainty as companies struggle to understand the economic and legal ramifications of the changes. That uncertainty could have negative consequences for Minnesota's farming, rural and tribal communities, because it is more costly to deploy broadband in rural areas.
[Donna Champion is president of the Minnesota State Grange and Nicole Palya Wood is the legislative director for the National Grange.]
benton.org/node/41040 | Star Tribune
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RIAA ON GOOGLE-VERIZON PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Plenty of people are worried that the Google/Verizon net neutrality proposal has too many exceptions. The recording industry is worried that it doesn't have enough. In a letter sent to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the RIAA and other music trade groups expressed their concern that the riddled-with-gaping-loopholes policy framework nevertheless might put a damper on ISP attempts to find and filter piratical material flowing through the Internet's tubes. Failure to allow for this sort of behavior would lead to an Internet of "chaos." "The music community we represent believes it is vital that any Internet policy initiative permit and encourage ISPs and other intermediaries to take measures to deter unlawful activity such as copyright infringement and child pornography," says the letter. "We all share the goal of a robust Internet that is highly accessible, secure and safe for individuals and commerce. An Internet predicated on order, rather than chaos, facilitates achievement of this goal."
benton.org/node/41022 | Ars Technica
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

VERMONT FOR UNIVERSAL BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Karen Wilkinson]
When Tom Evslin describes Vermonters' access to high-speed Internet, he doesn't sugarcoat their lack thereof. Due to the state's rural nature, about 15 percent of its residents currently rely on dial-up or satellite services to go online, as there's no other option, said Evslin, the state's chief technology officer. Such a telecommunications backdrop has become an obstacle to economic growth and a deterrent to companies eyeing moves to the area, he said. But that backdrop may soon shift to one that attracts such growth, largely due to federal broadband stimulus funds. "Up to this point, lack of broadband and lack of cellular coverage in our rural areas have been a real detriment to economic development, to teaching, to a lot of things, and we wanted to close that gap," Evslin said. "We lag the nation because we're more rural than most states, and rural areas lag the urban areas." And it's financially poised to close that gap, as the Vermont Telephone Co. (VTel) was recently awarded an $81 million broadband stimulus grant and $35 million government-backed loan by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The independent telephone company also is contributing $30 million to the project that's been dubbed the Wireless Open World, which will make wireless Internet available to nearly all of Vermont's unserved homes, businesses and anchor institutions.
benton.org/node/41039 | Government Technology
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OWNERSHIP

INTEL BUYS MCAFEE
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Jordan Robertson]
Intel is making the biggest acquisition in its history with the $7.68 billion takeover of computer-security software maker McAfee, an expensive example of Intel's commitment to serve an increasing array of Internet-connected devices. The deal will help Intel improve the security of its chips by sharpening the software that goes into them. It also opens a new revenue stream for Intel, which will sell security software alongside new chips it's developing for devices such as mobile phones, televisions and even cars. Intel is the No. 1 maker of microprocessors for personal computers and servers. Intel said security is now a fundamental component of online computing, but today's approach to security isn't adequate for the growing availability of Internet connections on mobile phones, medical devices, ATMs, automobiles and elsewhere. The industry needs a new approach that combines software, hardware and services to meet tomorrow's needs, the company said.
benton.org/node/41025 | Associated Press
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COMMENTS ON COMCAST MERGER
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
Comcast should be barred from packaging NBC stations with popular cable channels when selling programming to video providers, an industry group told regulators reviewing the company's purchase of NBC Universal. The Federal Communications Commission needs to restrict Comcast, the biggest U.S. cable company, from selling the TV stations or nine regional sports networks in a bundle with national cable channels it would own such as Bravo and USA Network, the American Cable Association said in a statement. The FCC requirement would "prevent the media giant from harming competitors and their subscribers," Matt Polka, president of the Pittsburgh-based organization, said in an e- mail. The group said 150 of its members are in communities served by NBC stations or Comcast sports networks. The group is seeking to break up the channel packages media companies typically assemble, and "it's improper to apply an industrywide issue to only one company," Sena Fitzmaurice, a Washington-based Comcast spokeswoman, said. Opponents say Comcast-NBC will have an incentive to raise prices and withhold programs from rivals.
Comcast's own filing in the FCC proceeding said that the "myriad public interest benefits including concrete, verifiable public interest commitments - outweigh any potential transaction-specific harms." In an 88-page document, Comcast refuted each of the criticisms of the joint venture -- ranging from higher prices for broadcast channels to restricted program access. Comcast executive vice president David Cohen noted that counter to the criticism of the deal, more that 1,000 comments supportive of the venture have been filed. "The benefits of this joint venture are real," Cohen wrote. "It will bring about a reinvigoration of broadcasting through and infusion of new capital and energy into NBC. We've committed to additional local broadcast content. We've committed to launch new independent channels, including channels with majority ownership by African Americans and Hispanics. We've committed to accelerate the creation of the "anytime, anywhere" future with a wide array of high-quality content. We want to bring these benefits to American consumers as soon as possible."
benton.org/node/41029 | Bloomberg | Multichannel News | CongressDaily | TVNewsCheck
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JOURNALISM

PRESS COVERAGE OF THE POOR
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, AUTHOR: Andrew Kohut et al]
In evaluating news coverage of different groups, pluralities of Americans say that coverage of poor people and Muslims is too negative, while somewhat smaller percentages say the same about coverage of blacks and Hispanics. Among eight groups tested, whites and middle-class people are the only groups that majorities say are treated fairly by the press; 57% say that news coverage of whites is generally fair while 56% say the same about coverage of middle-class people. Notably, about a third (32%) say that coverage of wealthy people is too positive - the highest percentage for any group included in the survey. About as many see coverage of the wealthy as too positive as say it is generally fair (31%).
benton.org/node/41032 | Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

WHO DO MEDIA COMPANIES GIVE TO?
[SOURCE: TVNewser, AUTHOR: Alex Weprin]
General Electric, which owns NBC Universal, gives money through its GEPAC. According to Opensecrets.org, in the current 2010 election cycle, GEPAC has given $581,400 to Democratic candidates in the House and $108,500 in the Senate. That is compared to $302,600 for House Republicans, and $107,000 for Senate Republicans. Before you start screaming "bias!" it appears that GE has a habit of giving more money to whichever party it believes has more power and influence. In 2002, 2004 and 2006, Republicans received more money from the PAC than Democrats. Walt Disney gives to politicians through the Walt Disney Productions Employee PAC. The PAC gave almost the same amount of money to Democrats and Republicans in both House and Senate races, with Democrats receiving just a little bit more than their Republican counterparts. Comcast, which is the nation's largest cable company, and is closing a deal to acquire NBC Universal, gave $572,600 to Democratic House candidates with $461,000 going to Republicans. In the Senate it gave $131,750 to Democrats and $101,500 to Republicans. As with GE, it typically gave more money to Republicans when they were in power. CBS gives money through its CBS PAC, and split donations fairly equally between Democrats and Republicans. The exception is in the Senate, where Democratic candidates received slightly more from the PAC. CNN parent Time Warner gave more money to Democrats than Republicans in 2010, but as with the other PACs, the divide between the two was not huge, and when Republicans were in power, they tended to be ion the receiving end of more money. What should the takeaway from this exercise be? Yes, News Corp.'s donation to the RGA was much larger than any of the PACs spent on House or Senate races, but at the end of the day, these companies seem to be pragmatic with where they give their money.
benton.org/node/41019 | TVNewser
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RUPERT MURDOCH'S REACH
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress, AUTHOR: Eric Alterman]
The News Corp empire is vast and wide, and it deliberately slants the news while shamelessly promoting blatant disinformation in platform after platform all over the world. Ask yourself, why does News Corp continue to publish a newspaper, The New York Post, which loses -- according to Murdoch family sources -- in the area of $50 million a year? Is it because the company is so proud of this terrible tabloid? Hard to believe. And why did Murdoch pay so high a premium to purchase The Wall Street Journal, an "investment" that has already cost the company billions and will certainly keep doing so as its value continues to diminish over time? Murdoch controls so many media properties in so many places that the notion of focusing on one single donation to one group might be considered trivial by comparison. The entire empire is at the disposal of political conservatism. The Republican Governors Association is just one more vehicle.
benton.org/node/41020 | Center for American Progress
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DIGITAL CONTENT

BRANDED CONTENT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Adam Newman]
In "Charley," a nine-minute film by Dee Austin Robertson, a young couple visiting New York for a romantic weekend, Courtney and Ryan (played by Alexia Rasmussen and Brian McElhaney), are first seen through a glass door with an Ace Hotel sign painted on it. Ryan pulls along a suitcase with a strap that bobs behind him like a leash leading a dog, a scene that foreshadows the pet-related tension between the couple: Courtney proceeds to talk obsessively about her cat, Charley, ruining the weekend. The significance of the Ace Hotel sign, however, is not about plot but rather marketing. It is one of three short films set in the hotel that were produced in a three-way deal involving the hotel, Massify -- a social media Web site where filmmakers, actors, crew members and editors showcase their work and coordinate new projects -- and Killer Films, the independent film company whose credits include "Boys Don't Cry" and "I Shot Andy Warhol." Massify announced the contest on its Web site last October, and in five weeks it drew more than 500 script submissions. While Massify members were encouraged to vote for their favorites, it was Killer Films that selected the three to produce. Massify, which began in 2008 and has 65,000 registered members, most in Los Angeles and New York, spent $30,000 to finance all three films.
benton.org/node/41037 | New York Times
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TELEVISION/RADIO

RADIO ROYALTY AGREEMENT
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The music industry is airing out a possible deal with radio broadcasters to settle a decades-old dispute over royalty payments for works played on AM and FM stations, says a spokesman for the musicFIRST Coalition, Marty Machowsky. The tentative agreement now being circulated among recording studios and artists is considered "a tremendous breakthrough." The deal, which would need approval from Congress in performance-rights legislation pending in both the House and Senate, would require radio broadcasters to pay record labels and artists up to 1 percent of net revenues, with smaller stations paying less. The National Association of Broadcasters estimates that would cost broadcasters about $100 million a year -- much less than they would expect to pay under the pending legislation backed by the recording industry. Broadcasters would get a reduction on rates for Internet streaming services and a requirement that FM radio chips be included in all new mobile phones, among other things.
benton.org/node/41021 | CongressDaily | CommLawBlog
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FCC CONTINUES 2010 EEO AUDITS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
On August 18, 2010, the Federal Communications Commission mailed the second of its Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) audit letters for 2010 to randomly selected radio stations. The FCC annually audits the EEO programs of randomly selected broadcast licensees and multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs). Each year, approximately five percent of all radio and television stations and of all MVPDs are selected for these EEO audits.
benton.org/node/41023 | Federal Communications Commission | read the letter | list of radio stations
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

FCC SEEKS PUBLIC SAFETY INPUT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking input on five questions:
1) What are the factors that affect the current state of competition in the provision of public safety communications equipment? Are there any additional barriers to additional manufacturers supplying network equipment to the public safety community for narrowband communications? For broadband communications?
2) How would additional competition in the provision of public safety communications equipment improve narrowband or broadband interoperability? Conversely, what impact does the current state of competition in the provision of public safety communications equipment and devices have on interoperability? Assuming additional competition would benefit public safety interoperability, what actions could the Commission take to improve competition in the provision of public safety communications equipment?
3) What are the limitations of Project 25 in promoting narrowband public safety communications interoperability? What actions, if any, should the Commission take to rectify these limitations?
4) Could open standards for public safety equipment increase competition? What actions could the Commission take to facilitate openness?
5) As the Commission considers requirements for the 700 MHz broadband public safety network, are there any requirements on public safety equipment or network operators that would increase competition in the provision of public safety equipment? How can the Commission's work on requirements for the 700 MHz broadband public safety network be leveraged to promote interoperability between narrowband and broadband networks?
Interested parties may file comments on or before September 20, 2010, and reply comments on or before October 18, 2010. (PS Docket No. 10-168)
benton.org/node/41024 | Federal Communications Commission
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PRIVACY

TRACKING THEM THAT TRACK YOU
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Dave Davies]
One of the fastest-growing online businesses is the business of spying on Internet users by using sophisticated software to track movements through the Web, so that the information can be sold to advertisers. Julia Angwin recently led a team of reporters from The Wall Street Journal in analyzing the tracking software. They discovered that nearly all of the most commonly visited websites gather information in real time about the behavior of online users. The Journal series identified more than 100 tracking companies, data brokers and advertising networks collecting data -- which are then sold on a stock market-like exchange to online advertisers. In a recent conversation with Fresh Air contributor Dave Davies, Angwin explains how consumer surveillance works, how users can disable the tracking software -- and how advertisers are continually evolving to keep up with the data they receive. She notes that many Internet users are unaware that their information is being tracked and then traded.
benton.org/node/41016 | National Public Radio
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GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

IT OVERSIGHT BILL
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
A bill that would overhaul information technology oversight sailed through the Senate but, with time running out before Congress adjourns in October, the House still is assessing whether the measure might impede ongoing projects. The IT Investment Oversight Enhancement and Waste Prevention Act (S. 920) would make permanent many Obama administration technology reforms. It would establish a website for tracking the results of IT investments, similar to the IT Dashboard that federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra launched last year. It also would require agency CIOs to submit quarterly reports on IT systems' costs, schedule and performance against planned benchmarks. But the bill would go further than current practices by granting the Office of Management and Budget permission to hire outside consultants for solving problems. Advisers, for instance, could include retail executives who are experts at supply chain management. Agency heads or OMB officials would be authorized to stop or slash funding for projects beyond repair.
benton.org/node/41027 | nextgov
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HEALTH

SMOKIN' MOVIES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Maggie Fox]
The number of U.S. movies showing people smoking has declined since 2005, but cigarettes still feature in far too many films and could be influencing young people to take up the habit, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. The report's authors -- a team from CDC, the University of California San Francisco and elsewhere -- recommend that movie ratings also consider whether the film depicts smoking and suggested strong advertisements about the dangers of smoking precede movies that show tobacco use. "This analysis shows that the number of tobacco incidents increased steadily after the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the state attorneys general and the major cigarette companies, in which the companies agreed to end brand placement," the authors wrote. They said the Motion Picture Association of America had done little to make changes but noted some studios had made voluntary changes and said Viacom was the first company whose movies rated for youth showed no use of tobacco in 2009. They suggested more policies could encourage filmmakers to do better.
benton.org/node/41018 | Reuters | NPR
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RESEARCH

CENSUS CRITICISM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Sam Roberts]
The Republican National Committee is demanding that the Census Bureau stop being so nosy, or at least stop requiring that Americans comply. The Republican Party isn't taking on the census itself, the count of the United States population made every 10 years, but the more comprehensive American Community Survey. Conducted annually by the bureau, the survey replaced the long version of the census form. It is sent to millions of American homes to collect information on income, education, mortgage debt, marital status, race, religion and more. Burton Reist, a bureau official, said Thursday that it is the nation's "official statistical portrait," used by governments to allocate resources, by businesses to make labor force and investment decisions, and in the distribution of federal money. The Republican Party that the Census Bureau behaves "exactly as a scam artist would, asking very personal questions," and called the survey "a dangerous invasion of privacy," and "overreaching and intimidating." The Republican National Committee said the Census Bureau was "spending millions of tax dollars to violate the rights and invade the personal privacy of United States citizens."
benton.org/node/41038 | New York Times
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COMMUNITY MEDIA
These headlines presented in partnership with:

COMMUNICATIONS IN HUMBOLDT'S PLANS
[SOURCE: Times-Standard, AUTHOR: Sean McLaughlin]
[Commentary] If local visionaries have their way, Humboldt County's General Plan will include a new Communications Element focusing on fundamental policies to develop local communications infrastructure and services to meet local needs. In the General Plan, the county could create a policy framework to support local broadband media for the next generation. With clear vision in the plan, future networks will better serve public safety, health, education, civic engagement, economic development and other community purposes. First, the county's General Plan must affirm that communication is an essential human need, a fundamental human right and the basis of individual and societal development, essential to ensure liberty and justice for all. The General Plan should endorse five important principles: ensuring universal access; supporting digital literacy; preserving net neutrality; protecting the right to privacy and planning for balance in future capacity. [McLaughlin is executive director of Access Humboldt]
benton.org/node/41017 | Times-Standard
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Analysis

August 2010

August 20, 2010 (Intel buying McAfee)

Sen. Al Franken: We Have a Free Speech Problem

Internet access shouldn't be limited by income

The Internet: Wired to whose advantage?

Vermont Aims For Universal Broadband, Cellular Coverage

Census Survey Asks Too Much, Republicans Party Says

Now Playing: A Short Film Starring Branded Content

Revenge of the TV Writers

Pentagon warning on China cyberattacks

Google name service would be cause for alert