November 2010

INTERNET/BROADBAND

DARKENING BROADBAND SKIES
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Ryan Kim]
What keeps a man like Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski up at night? Try 40th out of 40. That's the US ranking in broadband improvements from 1999-2009 according to a study last year by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. The bottom line is Genachowski is worried that the US is not keeping pace with global broadband competition and is in danger of losing its competitive advantage. In an interview at the Web 2.0 Summit, Chairman Genachowski apparently rehashed a speech he gave on Monday and cited the move by Applied Materials to relocate its CTO Mark Pinto to Beijing, something he chalked up to America's technology challenges. "The question we have to ask ourselves is how long before another company moves their CTO away before we fix this," he said at the Web 2.0 Summit. Chairman Genachowski said the U.S. is struggling to contend with some of the forward-looking policies and progress of the 20th century, which are making it harder to push ahead with broadband in the 21st century. He flogged the need for spectrum and reiterated the need to take some of the spectrum set aside for the television industry and move it over to serve the needs of mobile broadband, a process the FCC is working on with broadcasters. The dependence on copper for voice and DSL has also hampered the growth of broadband, which he said requires "fatter pipes."
Chairman Genachowski also blamed Google and Verizon for slowing down the process of agreeing on network neutrality rules. "I would've preferred if they didn't do exactly what they did when they did it." "It had the effect of slowing down some other processes," he said, noting that the FCC's own efforts were making progress. He confirmed that the contentious rules are still on the way. "That'll happen," Chairman Genachowski said of creating network neutrality rules, which would constrain how phone and cable companies manage Internet traffic on their networks. Chairman Genachowski also touted network neutrality regulations as one of the most important policies the country can adopt to improve its broadband deployment efforts, which he described as lagging behind other countries.
On Nov 15, Google CEO Eric Schmidt made his own assessment of the issue: "We spent a lot of time with the FCC. Indeed, the FCC was in a series of meetings with them that I was in." What he had wrought was not what he intended to reap. "Unfortunately, election fever took over,. Nothing will happen until January-February, or a while longer. All we were trying to do was move the ball a little bit forward."
benton.org/node/45170 | GigaOm | C-Net|News.com | The Hill | paidContent.org
Recommend this Headline
back to top

COPPS AT NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Michael Copps]
Speaking to the National Congress of American Indians on Nov 17, Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps noted the FCC's recent work with Tribal Governments to bring Native communities access to the enabling communications technologies necessary to prosper in the 21st Century. He announced that on March 3, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission will convene a Tribal Issues Commission Meeting in Washington, DC, focusing exclusively on the issues that matter to Indian Country. The event will immediately follow NCAI's Executive Council Winter Session. The Chairman and other Commissioners will be in attendance and will examine ways-through our regulatory and other processes-to identify and remove the barriers to deployment of services on and near Tribal lands.
benton.org/node/45138 | Federal Communications Commission
Recommend this Headline
back to top

NARUC WANTS BTOP/BIP OVERSIGHT FUNDING
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners approved a resolution urging Congress to provide two key agencies with the funding they need to oversee two grants programs aimed at helping to spur broadband access and adoption. At its annual meeting in Atlanta, NARUC adopted two telecommunications resolutions. The first calls on Congress to provide the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service with the funding they need after the continuing resolution passed by Congress expires on Dec. 3 to provide adequate oversight of the programs used to distribute broadband funding from the 2009 economic stimulus package. The group said the funding could be allocated by adding a provision to the next continuing resolution Congress passes to provide both agencies with broadband oversight funds or by passing the fiscal year 2011 spending bills that fund the agencies. The group also approved a resolution urging the Federal Communications Commission to crack down on "traffic pumping" by some telecommunications firms. It involves charging excessive access fees to complete calls by driving up call volumes by working with high-traffic Web sites that may offer conference calling services or adult chat lines.
benton.org/node/45174 | National Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

NETWORK NEUTRALITY

PUSHING FOR NETWORK NEUTRALITY ACTION
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Sam Gustin]
With the patience of his natural allies wearing thin, and a hostile new Congress taking over in January, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is under intense pressure to make good on his and President Obama's pledge to force fairness rules on the nation's Internet service providers. But to do so, Chairman Genachowski will have to buck a Republican-controlled House and unilaterally move to undo Bush-era deregulation. He has few options in order to restore and extend so-called network neutrality -- the principle that Internet providers shouldn't pick favorites on the web, control what software people use, or discriminate against rival content. The network neutrality debate has become a flash point for the broader discussion about how the Internet will be regulated and how services like web phone calls and streaming video will be treated. Public interest groups are cautiously hopeful that Genachowski will act before the new Congress is seated, at which time the environment for the FCC and net neutrality advocates will become much more difficult. But network neutrality isn't even on the agenda for November -- the FCC meets once a month. That means the agency has one shot, the December meeting, to make it so. The agenda for December should be public by Nov. 24. That's cutting it very close, but interest groups that want the FCC to assert itself aren't giving up hope -- at least not publicly.
benton.org/node/45169 | Wired
Recommend this Headline
back to top

COPPS TO FIGHT FOR NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Albuquerque Journal, AUTHOR: Astrid Galvan]
It is the Federal Communications Commission's job to enforce network neutrality, Commissioner Michael Copps told hundreds of New Mexicans at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Tuesday, and the agency will fight to do so. Network neutrality is the principle that all content on the Internet should be treated equally, and that Internet service providers cannot discriminate between different types of content, according to Save the Internet.com, a coalition that helped organize the event. "The Internet was born on openness, it flourished on openness and it depends on openness for its continued success," Commissioner Copps said. The town hall meeting, which organizers said drew more than 400 people, was live-streamed on savetheinternet.com, formed by a coalition that contends that cable and telephone companies want to act as "gatekeepers," deciding which sites load quickly and which don't, and imposing taxes. It was aimed at minority groups like Latinos and Native Americans. Commissioner Copps said the FCC will continue to fight to enforce net neutrality. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in spring ruled the FCC does not have authority to censure cable companies that interfere with Internet traffic.
benton.org/node/45139 | Albuquerque Journal | FCC Commissioner Copps
Recommend this Headline
back to top

BAKER ADVISES TO PICK BATTLES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Federal Communications Commission member Meredith Baker reiterated her opposition to a controversial proposal to increase the FCC's power, suggesting the FCC needs to be more "judicious" in picking its battles. Commissioner Baker, a Republican, panned the proposal from Democratic FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to place broadband Internet service under "Title II" rules, which are stricter than the current framework. "More judicious self-selection of the issues and proceedings we tackle would help us become a more predictable agency that fosters greater legal certainty, which can translate into private sector investment and jobs," she said. "The Title II fight has underscored that this agency has limited authority and cannot create jurisdiction on its own," she said.
benton.org/node/45168 | Hill, The
Recommend this Headline
back to top

VERIZON: FEDS SHOULD NOT RULE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Verizon Communications, ahead of a change in Congress, urged self-regulation of the Internet as the Federal Communications Commission attempts to assert more authority over broadband service providers like it. Tom Tauke, Verizon's executive vice president of public affairs, said in a meeting hosted by the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association, that so-called network neutrality rules proposed by the FCC and its push to govern broadband service providers "have resulted in court rebukes and considerable uncertainty." "After haggling over the issue for over five years, we are essentially in the same place we were when this debate started," Tauke said. "There still is no identifiable problem to be solved, and instead, as predicted, technology and market forces are ensuring that access to the Internet is open to consumers, as well as to developers of content and services."
benton.org/node/45150 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CABLE

IS THERE A ROLE FOR GOVERNMENT IN RETRANSMISSION DISPUTES?
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee]
On November 17, the Senate Communications, Technology, and the Internet Subcommittee held a hearing on television viewers, retransmission consent, and the public interest. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said, "Television is a powerful force. But I believe the system we have for developing television content, packaging that content, and distributing it to consumers is broken. It may serve companies well. But it does not serve us well as consumers. And I believe it serves us even less well as citizens." Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) that when consumers keep coming back to Congress saying they are being screwed, it is time to do something. "Regular everyday people get caught in the middle," he said, "and that is precisely what brings us here today." Sen Kerry called the hearing after drafting a bill that would impose fines for bad-faith bargaining, mandate standstill agreements that keep TV station signals on the air during retrans impasses, and would make the Federal Communications Commission a mediator, but not arbitrator, of the disputes. Sen Kerry has said that at the end of the day, the broadcaster will retain the right to pull a signal when there is a "good faith" impasse, but that the end of the day would come only after the FCC stepped in to evaluate both parties demands and recommend, or not recommend, outside arbitration. At the hearing, Kerry said he wanted to make sure that his commitment was not to any particular legislative option, but to consumer protection. Without more transparency and FCC oversight, he said, independent programming will be crowded out and prices will continue to rise.
Before the hearing, the American Cable Association wrote Chairman Kerry saying American Cable Association the lobbying group shared Kerry's view that the regulatory regime is broken and does not protect consumers. Free Press said it was glad the subcommittee was looking to prevent "blackouts" during future retrans fights. The Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO) called on the subcommittee and the FCC to reform retransmission consent. ivi TV, the over-the-top video provider that is streaming station signals without having negotiated retrans payments, said "Consumers should not be used as pawns any longer in big media's chess game over control of the public airwaves. Instead of fewer options and higher fees. [T]hey should have more control over their own entertainment options, which is possible with innovations like ivi TV."
benton.org/node/45181 | US Senate Commerce Committee | Chairman Rockefeller | Multichannel News | B&C -- ACA, Free Press, OPASTCO, ivi TV | Reuters | B&C - Kerry closing | WashPost
Recommend this Headline
back to top

COMCAST COMMENTS
[SOURCE: Chicago Media Action, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission held a public forum in Chicago on July 13, 2010, on the proposed merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, which included a public comment period for members of the public. Chicago Media Action analyzed the comments delivered by 69 commenters in that comment period and has released the results of that analysis. Among the key findings:
Only eight persons who commented specifically approved the proposed Comcast/NBC Universal merger.
None of those who spoke approvingly of Comcast mentioned any reasons relevant to the proposed merger in favor of it; the only reasons offered were discursions to the question of the merger, mostly by Chicago-area nonprofit organizations who received Comcast support.
34 commenters offered a wide range of criticism and concerns of the proposed merger, and represented a more diverse set of concerned groups and individuals.
benton.org/node/45141 | Chicago Media Action | read the report
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CABLE SUBSCRIBERSHIP FALLING
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: David Goetzl]
Cable operators suffered their greatest three-month decline in TV subscribers in 30 years, according to one research firm. Still, there is no widespread evidence of cord-cuttng across the industry -- as both telcos and satellite operators picked up enough subscribers to mitigate an overall drop in those willing to pay for TV service. SNL Kagan estimates that cable operators lost 741,000 basic video customers in the July-September quarter, compared to the April-June period this year, the largest drop for a quarter since Kagan began tracking the figures in 1980. And of the approximately 100 million homes that pay for service, cable's aggregated share continued to decline, falling from 62.9% in the third quarter of 2009, to 60.3% this year for the period. But as the cable slide occurred, the combination of telcos AT&T and Verizon, and DBS operators Dish Network and DirecTV, posted an increase in subscribers. So overall -- on the critical gauge on potential cord-cutting -- there was an industry-wide drop of 119,000 subscribers, according to Kagan.
benton.org/node/45164 | MediaPost | TVNewsCheck
Recommend this Headline
back to top

BROADCASTING

LOW POWER RADIO
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Michele Combs, Timothy Karr]
[Commentary] Republicans, Democrats and nearly every one across the political spectrum agree that opening our radio dial to more local voices is good for the country. That's why 86 Republicans and Democrats joined together to sponsor the Local Community Radio Act in the House, where it sailed through on a voice vote. And it's why Republican Sen. John McCain (AZ.) joined with Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell (Wash.) to introduce the act in the Senate. Groups as different as Free Press and the Christian Coalition agree that passing the Local Community Radio Act should be a no-brainer. It would free up unused radio spectrum for hundreds and possibly thousands of new local stations. Known as Low Power FM (LPFM), these stations operate at 100 watts or less and broadcast just a few miles into local communities. They're typically run by colleges, churches, schools and nonprofits to provide local information and perspectives not available elsewhere on the dial. The Local Community Radio Act has only an upside. Passing it would be a meaningful step toward bipartisanship at a time when our nation desperately needs to go beyond politics as usual to a place where we can all work together. [Michele Combs is the vice president of communications for the Christian Coalition of America. Timothy Karr is the campaign director for Free Press the national media reform group.]
benton.org/node/45163 | Hill, The
Recommend this Headline
back to top

GOP MOVES TO DEFUND NPR
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jordan Fabian]
House Republicans announced they plan to force a floor vote on defunding National Public Radio in response to the firing of analyst Juan Williams. House Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Rep Doug Lamborn (R-CO) said that cutting funds to NPR was the winner of the conference's weekly "YouCut" contest, in which the public votes online on spending items they want eliminated. When NPR executives made the decision to unfairly terminate Juan Williams and to then disparage him afterwards, the bias of their organization was exposed," the two said. "Make no mistake, it is not the role of government to tell news organizations how to operate. What is avoidable, however, is providing taxpayer funds to news organizations that promote a partisan point of view. Eliminating taxpayer funding for NPR is precisely the kind of commonsense cut that we have to begin making if we want to fundamentally alter the way business is conducted in Washington."
benton.org/node/45162 | Hill, The
Recommend this Headline
back to top

RELIGIOUS BROADCASTERS WANT HELP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Religious Broadcasters President Frank Wright said that government-funded broadcasters have become the poster-children for "government directed charity," while religious nonprofits have not taken "a dime of tax money" and served the spiritual needs of millions of the public through shelters, soup kitchens, rescue missions, military support groups, pregnancy centers, reading programs and anti-crime efforts. "While some are saying that public broadcasters like NPR and PBS are the only trusted media outlets," said NRB SVP and General Counsel Craig Parshall, "they are forgetting one crucial component of the non-profit media world: non-commercial religious broadcasters, and in particular, Christian radio and television." Parshall says that, unlike NPR and PBS, religious broadcasters are not asking for a bailout. And while there has been talk recently about phasing out federal noncom funding, he points out that there has also been talk about "super-funding" noncommercial media as a way to respond to the sea change in the commercial news model brought about by the Internet and a tanked economy. Rather than creating a giant government-run media elite, NRB says, it should be helping religious broadcasters, which he calls an underappreciated resource. That help, says NRB, could come in the form of allowing them more latitude in on-air fund-raising for other nonprofits, and more latitude in program sponsorships from corporate underwriters.
benton.org/node/45147 | Broadcasting&Cable
Recommend this Headline
back to top

NEW JERSEY PUBLIC BROADCASTING TO GO DARK
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Employees at New Jersey Network received 45-day layoff notices as the public television and radio network prepares to move off the government payroll. Whether the station (which broadcasts over the air in Camden, Trenton, New Brunswick and Montclair) moves off the air on Jan. 1, when it stops receiving state funding and the layoffs take effect, remains to be seen. The notices went out to 130 employees; 17 additional employees who are paid through a private foundation are also expected to receive layoff notices, said Janice Selinger, the acting executive director of NJN public television. If the governor's office and Legislature don't act before Jan. 1, the station would go dark. However, both branches have "expressed the sentiment that they want us to thrive and continue," Selinger said, adding that the station just started a new series and continues to fundraise, although that has become more difficult, she said.
benton.org/node/45161 | Associated Press
Recommend this Headline
back to top

WIRELESS

CAMPAIGN AGAINST CELL PHONE BOOSTERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Kate Murphy]
Cellular signal boosters, or repeaters, cost from $250 to $1,000, depending on how much they increase a signal. They work by first capturing cell signals through an external antenna, ideally affixed to the roof of a dwelling. A coaxial cable then transmits the signal inside the house to an amplifier and internal antenna, which strengthen and retransmit it to cellphones. But in March, CTIA-The Wireless Association, which represents cellular service providers, filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission demanding stricter regulation of signal boosters. The FCC is considering whether to let an estimated one million homeowners continue to use them. Boosters have been around for about a decade, but they have not been widely used. And when they were used, it was mostly in commercial settings. But the popularity of bandwidth-hogging smartphones and poor reception in urban and rural areas have prompted homeowners to fill their homes with the electronics needed to pull in a reliable signal. Supported by separate filings by AT&T and Verizon, the CTIA claims that boosters interfere with cellular networks and disrupt service to customers. As a result, CTIA has asked the FCC to require that "the use of signal boosters be coordinated with and controlled by commission licensees and the sale and marketing of such devices be limited to authorized parties." In other words, CTIA wants cellular service providers to control who makes boosters, who sells them and to whom. Not surprisingly, the leading manufacturers of cell signal boosters like Wilson Electronics and Wireless Extenders do not like this idea.
benton.org/node/45180 | New York Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top

VERIZON RETHINKS PRICING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Roger Cheng, Shayndi Raice]
Verizon Communications is exploring ways to charge consumers based on the speed of their wireless data connection in addition to the amount of data they use. Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg said that such a pricing change would be made possible by the carrier's migration to a fourth-generation, or 4G, network. The network, which promises higher top speeds, will be available in 38 cities by year end. Seidenberg said, however, the carrier hasn't committed to any plans yet. US carriers are beginning to tinker with the limits of how many websites, videos and songs a person can download each month on their cellphone. But Verizon is considering another option: delivering faster data speeds at premium prices.
benton.org/node/45179 | Wall Street Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

PRIVACY

PRIVACY AND CORPORATIONS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Free Press has filed a friend of the court brief in a case that could determine how much information large companies, including media companies, have to make public. The group said it had filed the brief with the Supreme Court in support of the Federal Communications Commission's contention that AT&T should have to make public documents on equipment and services provided through the FCC's E-rate program, which supplies broadband to schools and libraries. The High Court is hearing a challenge to a Third Circuit ruling that there was a corporate privacy right that shielded the documents from a Freedom of Information Act request by AT&T's competitors. The documents related to AT&T's discovery, and the FCC's ensuing investigation, of possible AT&T overcharges to the government program in New London, Conn. The FCC asked AT&T to produce the records as part of the investigation, which it did. CompTel, the association industry association representing competitive communications providers and suppliers, filed a FOIA to get access to the information and AT&T objected. the FCC rejected that objection, and AT&T took its case to federal court.
benton.org/node/45160 | Broadcasting&Cable
Recommend this Headline
back to top

DO NOT TRACK LIST
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
How would a Do Not Track registry work? Not quite like the popular Do Not Call list its name implies, experts say. The latter is a phone list that's off limits to telemarketers. The former would be a tool on Internet browsers designed to block third-party companies from collecting information on the Web sites a user visits. "It employs a very different approach; the developing consensus is not around a list or registry," said Stanford University computer science researcher Jonathan Mayer. Rather than entering their names on a centrally maintained list, Internet users who don't want advertisers and other firms to follow them on the Web, would use technology to block tracking -- specifically, a tool on their Web browsers. DoNotTrack.us, a collaboration by Stanford Universities offers one idea for how such a tool would work: Whenever an Internet browser requests content or sends data using HTTP, the protocol that underlies the Web, it can optionally include extra information, called a "header." Do Not Track simply would add a header indicating that the user does not want to be tracked.
benton.org/node/45149 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top

DEEP PACKET INSPECTION PAPERS
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Susana Schwartz]
Continuous Computing has published three policy management white papers commissioned from industry analyst Disruptive Analysis. The white papers take a good look at Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) in mobile broadband networks -- always an interesting topic because it pits operator necessity for traffic management and targeted services against consumer desire for privacy assurances. But simultaneous to that desire is the consumer desire for more compelling, personalized content, for which they are willing to sacrifice -- at least it seems -- some level of privacy. Though DPI is one of those technologies that quickly raises a lot of eyebrows because of its potential for abuse, its use will no doubt increase for traffic management, targeted marketing of products to consumers, and tailored advertising campaigns -- all necessary if operators are to grow revenues from the explosion of smartphones, tablets and other devices. The pressure to enforce policies, and do real-time charging and traffic management will mean operators will have to become more subscriber and device-aware to better understand the usage patterns of users and the impacts on network elements.
benton.org/node/45158 | Connected Planet | Continuous Computing
Recommend this Headline
back to top

PIRACY

INTERNET PIRACY BILL ON AGENDA
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Several groups are pushing the Senate Judiciary Committee to act Thursday on legislation that would crack down on online piracy and counterfeiting. The legislation, sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is on the committee's agenda for its Nov 18 markup along with several nominations and other bills. Only one of the nominations is viewed as controversial at this point. Several sources say they expect the committee to get to the online piracy bill if it can muster the necessary number of members needed to report legislation out of committee. Leahy said earlier this week that "he'd love" to move the bill at Thursday's markup. The committee released a lengthy list of supporters. They included letters of support sent Wednesday from the Newspaper Association of America and a group of trade unions. "We appreciate the leadership you have shown with your efforts to move this legislation through the Senate and urge you to continue to push for its enactment during the time remaining in the 111th Congress," according to the letter from such labor groups including the American Federation of Musicians, Communications Workers of America, International Brotherhood of Electrical Engineers and the Teamsters. "The industries most directly impacted by these rogue websites are among the most vibrant and important in the country; the entertainment and manufacturing sectors provide excellent wages and benefits to American working families and in these very difficult economic times are precisely the types of jobs we cannot afford to lose."
benton.org/node/45159 | National Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

DIGITAL CONTENT

GOOGLE BOOK DEAL
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Ben Hall]
Google and Hachette Livre have struck a groundbreaking deal allowing the world's second largest retail book publisher to control the scanning and electronic sale of its out-of-print French language titles. The agreement, covering about 50,000 mostly forgotten works of French literature and non-fiction still under copyright, is unlikely to bring in big revenues for the French group, which is owned by Lagardère. But it is a symbolic victory for publishers around the world trying to protect their businesses against the encroachment on their territory of the Internet. Google and Hachette, France's leading publisher by sales, said on Wednesday they hoped their agreement would serve as a blueprint for other French publishers and for other countries, including Spain. Under the agreement, Hachette will decide which of its out-of-print titles it wants Google to scan and whether these should be available for sale or for search. This gives it more direct control in Google's book digitization project than English-language publishers would have under a proposed US settlement, which is still awaiting Department of Justice approval.
benton.org/node/45178 | Financial Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top

NEW PTC REPORT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
Online video services such as Hulu are failing to protect kids from explicit content, according to a new report from the watchdog Parents Television Council. The PTC gave Hulu a grade of "D" on protecting children from harmful content, the highest grade out of four services evaluated. Hulu features television shows and content from NBC Universal, Fox and Disney. The other services evaluated by the PTC were Comcast's Fancast, AOL's Slashcontrol and online video streaming from AT&T. Of the 602 videos evaluated during the a three-week period, 46 percent were unrated and available to all users. The sites also failed to notify users when shows contained sex, violence or explicit language. "Our report clearly shows that these corporate entertainment behemoths, which invest millions of dollars promoting their online video distribution outlets, are failing to protect kids on the Web," said PTC President Tim Winter. "The content ratings and parental control devices they tout as a solution to indecent material on television are not being applied to similarly-indecent material on their websites."
benton.org/node/45148 | Hill, The | PTC
Recommend this Headline
back to top

POLICYMAKERS

BACKING FOR BARTON
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Eliza Krigman]
In the latest salvo of the battle for the gavel of the powerful House Commerce Committee, Republican members of the House wrote their fellow colleagues to support Rep Joe Barton's (R-TX) bid for chairmanship. Reps Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and John Shimkus (R-IL), two of the signatories, had previously been identified as candidates for the position but have now made their deference to Rep Barton formal. Other lawmakers signing the letter are Reps. Ralph Hall (R-TX), Joe Pitts (R-PA), Lee Terry (R-NE), Michael Burgess (R-TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Steve Scalise (R-LA). "Under Joe's leadership, and despite being outnumbered and outgunned, we subjected the Democrats' health bill to 17 days of brutal markup, including a 10-day retreat by the Democrats to regroup despite their overwhelming superiority of numbers," the letter states. Democrats "won, but it was stubborn, intelligent Joe Barton who made certain that they'd won a Pyrrhic victory." The letter also pointed to Barton's pushback on cap-and-trade and credited him with killing current Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman's network neutrality bill.
benton.org/node/45145 | National Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

RESEARCH

THE COMING COMMUNICATIONS BOOM
[SOURCE: Progressive Fix, AUTHOR: Michael Mandel]
This policy memo brings together three important strands of current policy debate: jobs, innovation, and regulatory policy. Most distressingly, America's great strength—its innovative sector—actually lost jobs during the 2000-2007 business cycle. This sector includes everything from aerospace to pharmaceuticals to telecommunications to software. Some individual industries added employees, but collectively the innovative sector lost almost 700,000 jobs from 2000 to 2007, before the bust hit. That performance was far worse than anyone expected: In 2001, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published projections implying that the innovative sector would create 1.7 million net new jobs by 2007. In other words, the innovative sector had a shortfall of 2.4 million jobs relative to expectations, even before the bust. There are promising signs, however, of a rebound in one part of the innovation sector: communications. Internet companies, along with firms engaged in wireless telecom and computer systems design, seem to be emerging as "job leaders" in the next economic expansion. Unfortunately, these companies are also embroiled in struggles with federal agencies and among themselves over whether more regulation is required to police competition in communications.
benton.org/node/45166 | Progressive Fix
Recommend this Headline
back to top

STORIES FROM ABROAD

UK ABANDONING NET NEUTRALITY?
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Josh Halliday]
UK communications minister Ed Vaizey said Internet service providers should be allowed to abandon network neutrality and prioritize users' access to certain content providers. The move away from network neutrality in the UK will prove controversial as it opens the door for ISPs to favour some websites in terms of the volume and speed of the delivery of their content to users, while others given lower priority could see their Internet traffic suffer. Vaizey said ISPs should be free to favour one content provider over another as long as they inform customers in order to manage Internet traffic. "Under the new provisions providers must present information about their service, including the nature and extent of their traffic management policies and their impact on service quality in a clear, visible and easy to understand form for all their customers," Vaizey told a telecoms conference hosted by the Financial Times in London. He said a lightly regulated Internet was "good for business, good for the economy and good for people". "Consumers should have the ability to access any legal content or service. Content and service providers should have the ability to innovate and, most importantly, to reach users," Vaizey added. Vaizey said that early responses to Ofcom's consultation showed there was "broad agreement on the need for traffic management." He added "there is not yet evidence of any impact either on competition or consumers from traffic management." "We are still at an early stage here. Such impacts and harms could arise in the future, and greater transparency is required to combat this," Vaizey said.
benton.org/node/45143 | paidContent.org
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CHINA HIJACKED NET TRAFFIC
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: JJ Sutherland]
For almost 20 minutes this spring Internet traffic from sensitive US agencies was re-routed to go through Chinese servers. In total about 15 percent of the entire world's traffic went through those servers, but it does seem targeted at US government and military sites, according to a new report released today by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The report reads: "This incident affected traffic to and from U.S. government (''.gov'') and military (''.mil'') sites, including those for the Senate, the army, the navy, the marine corps, the air force, the office of secretary of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and many others. Certain commercial websites were also affected, such as those for Dell, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and IBM.116" The commission comfortingly goes on to say that it has no idea "what, if anything, Chinese telecommunications firms did to the hijacked data."
benton.org/node/45144 | National Public Radio | read the report
Recommend this Headline
back to top

INDIAN AUCTION RIGGED
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Heather Timmons]
An auction to provide cellphone services in India's booming market was rigged to favor a few companies, the government asserted Nov 16. The comptroller and auditor general of India say in a 96-page report that the agency in charge of cellular licenses, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, arbitrarily moved up deadlines in a 2008 auction of new bandwidth for phone operators. The Communications Ministry also rejected calls from the prime minister and the Ministry of Law for greater scrutiny and awarded licenses to operators in a way that "lacked transparency and fairness," the report says. The questionable practices cost the Indian government 1.76 trillion rupees ($39 billion) in revenue, auditors say. The report, issued after a nine-month investigation by the auditor and the Central Bureau of Intelligence, seems to focus on the Communications Ministry and a handful of operators, including Reliance Communications.
benton.org/node/45157 | New York Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CYBER DEFENSE ON PRIORITY LIST
[SOURCE: DefenseNews, AUTHOR: Julian Hale]
Cyber defense is set to be on a top 10 list of capabilities to be agreed at the upcoming NATO summit in Lisbon, a NATO official said Nov. 16. The list, which will be made public, sets out areas that NATO countries will prioritize for investment. The list is also expected to include helicopter transport, strategic air transport, wide body aircraft for long-range transport, counter-IED technologies and training, and medical support. NATO already has a cyber defense capability in the form of its Computer Response Incidence Center (CIRC), manned on a 24 hours/seven days a week basis, which helped Estonia when it suffered a series of Internet attacks a few years ago. The official said that NATO was "increasingly worried by the growing number and sophistication of cyber attacks on military and civilian infrastructure," adding that NATO deals with "about five major cyber incidents per day."
benton.org/node/45142 | DefenseNews
Recommend this Headline
back to top

MY IDEAL SUBURB
[SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, AUTHOR: ]
Australians value access to the Internet over public transport links and schools in their ideal suburb, new research shows. Homeowners want to live in a suburb wired with the latest technology and surrounded by good restaurants more than they want access to good buses, trains or education facilities, a study by The Buzz Insurance claims. A safe suburb is the most valued attribute of all, considered as "extremely" or "very" important by 95 per cent of the online survey of 957 Australians aged 25 to 64. Access to the latest technology like broadband and pay TV came in as the second most desirable attribute (83 per cent), followed by services like shops, cinemas, cafes & restaurants (77 per cent). The My Ideal Suburb study undertaken by Newspoll also found people want a good coffee or movie nearby over being close to good quality schools.
benton.org/node/45156 | Sydney Morning Herald
Recommend this Headline
back to top

BBC PLANS TO COUNTER ISPs
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Richard Waters, Ben Fenton]
The BBC has issued a veiled threat to Internet service providers not to degrade the quality of its iPlayer service, following a clear signal from the government that it will give network owners more leeway to favour some online services over others. Speaking at a Financial Times conference, Erik Huggers, BBC director of future media and technology, said his team was developing software that would warn broadband users if their ISP was degrading the quality of their iPlayer using a red, amber and green system. He said the system would be rolled out only if it became necessary to allow "consumers to see that their ISP is behaving appropriately". He said it was "highly unlikely" the BBC would agree to pay more to ISPs to guarantee the quality of its video service. The prominence of its services would give the BBC sufficient influence to keep ISPs in line, he said, though companies offering weaker online services would have to rely on vaguer assurances from the government designed to prevent discrimination.
benton.org/node/45172 | Financial Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top

Benton

Search

Benton

Daily Digest

Analysis

November 2010

The reinvention of public libraries

Library to be outsourced, Farmers Branch council decides

Singapore rules that all buildings must have access to national broadband network

Government panel opts not to force NTT to spin off fiber unit

November 18, 2010 (Clouds Darkening Broadband Skies)

Is There a Role for Government in Retransmission Disputes?

Cellphone Carriers Try to Control Signal Boosters

Verizon Rethinks Pricing

Google and Hachette in landmark deal

House Republican wants leaders to end 'painful to watch' Commerce Committee fight