October 2010

Supreme Court Refuses Invasion Of Privacy Claim Against Google's Street View

The US Supreme Court gave Google some good news in a lawsuit stemming from its Street View feature, which offers detailed photographs of public streets -- including the outside facades of people's houses.

The Supreme Court turned down a request to take up the appeal of married couple Aaron and Christine Boring, who unsuccessfully sued Google for allegedly violating their privacy by displaying a photo of their home near Pittsburgh (PA). The decision means that a ruling by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, dismissing the invasion of privacy claim, will be the last word on that count. The appellate court wrote in January that "no person of ordinary sensibilities would be shamed, humiliated, or have suffered mentally as a result of a vehicle entering into his or her ungated driveway and photographing the view from there." The Supreme Court decision turning down the Borings' appeal shouldn't be surprising, given that U.S. courts tend to back the right to publish information -- even when the subjects of articles aren't happy about the information becoming known.

TV overtakes Internet on advertising in UK

Television regained its place as the UK's largest medium for advertisers in the first half of this year, after being overtaken by online advertising last year.

According to figures released on Tuesday by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, spending on Internet advertising increased by 10 per cent in the first half of the year, to £1.67bn ($2.64bn). The growth rate has picked up from last year, when online spending rose 4.2 per cent, but has fallen behind that of TV and other traditional media for the first time. Television advertising rose 16 per cent in the same period. As a result, TV was the largest medium with a 25.5 per cent share of advertising spending, followed by Internet on 24.3 per cent and press display on 17.9 per cent. TV was not the only traditional medium to bounce back faster than the Internet, which has been the fastest-growing form of advertising for many years. Cinema gained 12 per cent and outdoor was up 16 per cent, according to the IAB/PwC report, though both fell further than online last year. Press classified, direct mail and directories continued to decline. The total market grew by 6.3 per cent in the first six months of the year.

ASR Analytics Will provide BTOP Evaluation

ASR Analytics, a Potomac-based data modeling and decision support services company, has won a nearly $5 million contract to evaluate the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. The four-year deal will provide all services necessary to develop a sampling method, assessment criteria and method of analysis to conduct a thorough assessment of the impact that the BTOP grant awards are having on broadband availability and adoption and in achieving economic and social benefits in areas serviced by the grantees. This requirement is being funded with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

FCC Asks for More Information From NBC in Comcast Deal in Second Request

The Federal Communications Commission asked Comcast and General Electric's NBC Universal to answer more questions about their advertising and broadcast agreements, raising the potential for the merger to take longer to complete.

In a second information request, the FCC wants to know about NBC Universal's top advertising partners, its advertising revenue and cable carriage agreements for NBC and Telemundo broadcast stations. The FCC asked for copies of agreements NBC Universal has to distribute its USA, Oxygen, Chiller and Sleuth through TV-service providers led by Time Warner Cable Inc., DirecTV, Dish Network Corp., Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T.

Comcast, the largest U.S. cable-television company, was asked about agreements with other TV-service providers to carry its programming such as E! and the Golf Channel. Comcast was asked about agreements to carry channels the cable company owns including E!, regional sports networks, the Golf Channel, Style, Versus and Sprout. The FCC lodged 31 information requests for Comcast, and 10 for NBC Universal.

The FCC requested answers from the companies no later than October 18.

Promoting Broadband Policies to Improve our Nation

On October 1, Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn addressed the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference. She predicted that, before the end of the year, the FCC will begin a proceeding to address wholesale reform of the Universal Service Fund to support broadband in hard-to-serve areas.

New Leadership for President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee

President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint James Q. Crowe to be Chairman and Maggie Wilderotter to be Vice Chair of the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.

The NSTAC's goal is to develop recommendations to the President to assure vital telecommunications links through any event or crisis, and to help the U.S. Government maintain a reliable, secure, and resilient national communications posture.

James Crowe is Chief Executive Officer of Level 3 Communications, an international communications company. Mr. Crowe has 25 years of experience in leading companies in various portions of the telecommunications industry. Prior to assuming leadership of Level 3, Mr. Crowe served as Chairman of WorldCom, following that company's merger with MFS Communications Company in 1996. Prior to that, Mr. Crowe was CEO of MFS, a company he founded and took public in 1993. At the time of its merger with WorldCom, MFS was the largest competitive local carrier in the U.S. and Europe. Mr. Crowe serves on the Board of Directors of Level 3 Communications. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Maggie Wilderotter is Chairman and CEO of Frontier Communications, a leading provider of communications services to rural America. Prior to this, she was Senior Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector at Microsoft, Executive Vice President of National Operations for AT&T Wireless Services Inc., and Chief Executive Officer of AT&T's Aviation Communications Division. She also served as Senior Vice President of McCaw Cellular Communications Inc. and was a Regional President. Ms. Wilderotter serves on the boards of Procter & Gamble Co. and Xerox Corporation. She is a member of the Directorship 100, a list compiled by the National Association of Corporate Directors of those having a profound impact on corporate governance. In 2009 and 2010, Ms. Wilderotter was included on Fortune's list of the "50 Most Powerful Women in Business." Ms. Wilderotter holds a B.A. in economics and business administration from Holy Cross College.

News Corp. Donates $1 Million to U.S. Chamber of Commerce

The News Corporation, whose holdings include The Wall Street Journal and the Fox News Channel, has donated $1 million to the United States Chamber of Commerce, the business advocacy group that is among the heaviest anti-Democratic advertisers in this year's elections.

The donation is News Corp.'s second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year. In August, News Corp. confirmed that it had donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. The second donation is sure to add to the political heat that surrounds News Corp. and its potent corporate offspring, the Fox News Channel, which has come under increasing fire from Democrats who have questioned its political motives — accusations that have received especially full-throated answers from the network's stable of opinionated hosts this election season. The Chamber has vowed to spend around $75 million on this year's elections, and the effort has overwhelmingly focused on defeating Democrats, though the Chamber has made exceptions in some races. News Corporation has a political action committee that has donated to both parties this year, as have those of Comcast (which is in the process of acquiring a 51 percent stake in the company that holds NBC News and MSNBC). Time Warner (whose holdings include CNN and Time magazine). and CBS Corp (parent of CBS News). But nothing on record is on the order of the $2 million the News Corporation is now known to have given to the Republican Governor's Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The time for compromise has passed on network neutrality

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission needs to realize what it is: a regulatory agency. Once it grasps that simple concept it should do what regulatory agencies do: regulate.

The FCC has played it safe since Julius Genachowski was installed as chairman by President Barack Obama. Chairman Genachowski has had enough time on the job to know when to get aggressive. That time is now. Congress has given Genachowski an entree to stop the FCC's dithering on network neutrality. The time for compromise has passed. Chairman Genachowski needs to do something. If not, he can expect to be lumped in with the past two chairman — Kevin Martin and Michael Powell — as regulators more concerned about catering to those they regulate than the American public.

More Comments on Pole Attachments

Sometimes, even big telephone and cable companies can love the Federal Communications Commission.

In a proceeding on pole attachments, AT&T points out to the FCC that, with the exception of the electric company commenters, most of the commenters in this proceeding have agreed with the FCC's fundamental premise that rates for pole attachments should be as low and as close to uniform as possible. In fact, these commenters whole-heartedly agree with the FCC's observation that different rates based on the classification of the attacher "distorts attachers' deployment decisions," especially "with regard to integrated, voice, video, and data networks." And they embrace the many other good public policy reasons for adopting a low, uniform broadband pole-attachment rate for all attachers. In spite of the consensus (or maybe because of it), these same commenters, however, resist applying this same reasoning to pole attachments by ILECs. Those who resist applying this reasoning to ILECs attempt to justify their obvious intellectual dishonesty by clinging to the assertion that this result is driven by the terms of § 224. They are mistaken. AT&T believes the FCC has the authority to regulate the rates, terms, and conditions of pole attachments both by a cable television system and by a provider of telecommunications service. AT&T believes it was Congress's intent that pole attachments by ILECs be covered by this grant of authority, because ILECs are included within the term "provider of telecommunications service."

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which represents large cable operators, writes that the FCC's proposal to set a fixed pole attachment rate for broadband services at the higher of the marginal cost proxy or the cable rate under Section 224(d) serves the critical national policies of increasing broadband competition, deployment and adoption and does so in a manner that is true to Section 224(e) and ensures that pole owners are fully compensated for any costs caused by attaching entities.
Comments (AT&T)

Dutch law wants more transparency around rates for consumers

The Dutch government will from 1 October enforce additional transparency requirements for rates offered to the private market. Providers must include an easily findable list of rates on their regular site. Minister Maria van der Hoeven of Economic Affairs said the regulation will enable consumers to better compare different subscriptions and will simplify switching to a fixed or mobile subscription.

Benton

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