December 2010

December 2, 2010 (Proposal on Preserving Internet Freedom and Opennes)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2010

Today's agenda includes 'Do-Not-Track' Legislation, the FCC's Diversity Advisory Committee, FCC Commissioner Copps gives an address "Getting Media Right: A Call to Action" (preview below) http://bit.ly/gV9NK9

BUDGET
House approves short-term spending bill

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   Network Neutrality Headlines FCC's December Meeting
   Preserving Internet Freedom and Openness
   Reaction to Genachowski's New Network Neutrality Proposal
   See also: And Away We Go.....; Why Network Neutrality Will Not Die
   Proposed FCC Net Rules Would Cripple Video Consumption
   No One Happy With FCC Chairman’s Speech, Except Broadband Investors
   Keeping the Net neutral
   Yes, MR. CHAIRMAN, there is a Santa Claus
   FCC Chair Genachowski's "Fake Net Neutrality" Scheme Threatens Internet Freedom, Digital Democracy
   The Real Story Behind the Comcast-Level 3 Battle

INTERNET/BROADBAND
Why the iPad should rival the web
Netflix Offering $100k for TV Episodes

PRIVACY
   Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change
   Privacy Advocates Call FTC Ad-Tracking Regulations ‘Only A Start’
   Proposed Law Would Prohibit Web Collection of Data on Kids

MARKETING
Senate Passes Bill Aimed At Deceptive Online Marketing Tactics

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Sen Kohl Urges Careful Review Of Google-ITA Deal
Google and Europe

WIRELESS
Watchdog cites gaps in security of wireless devices
Local Will Be Prime Driver Of Rise In Mobile Ad Spending

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   White House memo outlines new anti-leak measures
   US Weighs Prosecution of WikiLeaks Founder, but Legal Scholars Warn of Steep Hurdles
   Free Speech is About More Than Copyright Issues
   E-rule-making has potential, but kinks must be ironed out, expert says

MORE NEWS FROM FCC
   FCC's Michael Copps: Journalism is in hour of 'grave peril'
   FCC Presentation on Implementation of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
   FCC Continues Equal Employment Opportunity Audits

POLICYMAKERS
Hopeful GOPers Audition for House Commerce gavel
Facebook Seeks Friends in Washington as Privacy Concerns Mount

JOURNALISM
Fox is quickly becoming the second-chance employer for fiery figures

ED TECH
Digital Learning Council Releases 'Road Map' to Education Overhaul
High-tech school bus extends learning

MORE ONLINE
   Energy Secretary Chu warns US Tech Lead at Risk
   Why 10% of Your Friends on Twitter and Facebook Will Be Nonhuman in Five Years
   Is the age at which kids get cell phones getting younger?
   PBS, 9 Stations Get $2.2 Million Grants
   Direct Project completes first models of simple NHIN
   Report: New state governors likely to align IT agenda with the federal government
   Transformer shows banned video, as debate over museum's censorship rages

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BUDGET

SHORT-TERM BUDGET
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Andy Sullivan]
The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to avert a federal government shutdown by extending temporary funding for another two weeks, giving Democrats time to craft a more lasting solution. The Senate was expected to take up the measure by Friday, when funding for government operations otherwise would expire. Though the fiscal year began on October 1, the government has been operating on last year's budget as Congress has failed to pass the 12 bills needed to fund government operations. The temporary funding has kept national parks open and aircraft carriers afloat, but a wide range of research grants and other new initiatives have been placed on hold. The House voted 239 to 178 to extend the temporary funding arrangement until December 18. Only two Republicans voted for the measure.
benton.org/node/45608 | Reuters
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

NETWORK NEUTRALITY ON DECEMBER AGENDA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
On November 30, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that two items will be on the tentative agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for Tuesday, December 21, 2010:
Open Internet Order: An Order adopting basic rules of the road to preserve the open Internet as a platform for innovation, investment, competition, and free expression. These rules would protect consumers' and innovators' right to know basic information about broadband service, right to send and receive lawful Internet traffic, and right to a level playing field, while providing broadband Internet access providers with the flexibility to reasonably manage their networks.
Next-Generation 9-1-1 NOI: A Notice of Inquiry seeking public input on how to transition the current, voice-only 9-1-1 system to broadband-enabled, next-generation 9-1-1. This transition, recommended in the National Broadband Plan, would revolutionize 9-1-1 service by enabling the public and 9-1-1 call centers to harness the life-saving potential of text, photo, and video in emergencies.
benton.org/node/45585 | Federal Communications Commission
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GENACHOWSKI NETWORK NEUTRALITY PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski]
On Nov 30, Federal Communications Commission Julius Genachowski circulated to the other FCC commissioners draft rules of the road to preserve the freedom and openness of the Internet. "This framework," he said, "would advance a set of core goals: It would ensure that the Internet remains a powerful platform for innovation and job creation; it would empower consumers and entrepreneurs; it would protect free expression; it would increase certainty in the marketplace, and spur investment both at the edge and in the core of our broadband networks." The proposal has five elements:
1) A transparency obligation to ensure consumers and innovators have a right to know basic information about broadband service, like how networks are being managed,
2) A prohibition on blocking lawful content, applications, services, and the connection of non-harmful devices to the network to guarantee the rights of consumers and innovators to send and receive lawful Internet traffic -- to go where they want and say what they want online, and to use the devices of their choice,
3) A bar on unreasonable discrimination in transmitting lawful network traffic to ensure no central authority, public or private, should have the power to pick which ideas or companies win or lose on the Internet,
4) Network management flexibility would allow network providers to deal with traffic that's harmful to the network or unwanted by users, and to address the effects of congestion, and
5) Modified rules for wireless -- including transparency and a basic no blocking rule coupled with close FCC monitoring of the mobile broadband market.
Chairman Genachowski said the rules would be grounded in a variety of provisions of the communications laws, but would not reclassify broadband as a Title II telecommunications service.
benton.org/node/45584 | Federal Communications Commission | B&C - usage-based pricing | ars technica | GigaOm | LA Times
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY AND USAGE-BASED PRICING
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Andrew Wallenstein]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski's network neutrality proposal includes a big red flag that could seriously impact video consumption on digital platforms: usage-based pricing (USP). UBP is, of course, a euphemism for metering; the more content you consume, the more you pay. Given that video is far and away the most bandwidth-intensive data in the pipeline, any application that uses it is going to become more expensive. Think of all the offerings UBP is going to shake up: streaming of films and TV series (Netflix, iTunes), video chat (Skype), live video (UStream). Phone and cable companies have clamored for UBP for a while, and experimented with variations on the model in recent years, most notably AT&T. And there’s no question they were going to have to head in this direction or risk losing control of their networks. But ISPs are going to have to be really careful how they price metered plans if Genachowski’s proposal makes it through.
benton.org/node/45582 | paidContent.org
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KEEPING THE NET NEUTRAL
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Preserving network neutrality — that is, preventing the companies that provide the Internet's infrastructure from picking winners and losers among websites and online services — may sound like the tech-industry equivalent of protecting motherhood and apple pie, but policymakers in Washington can't seem to agree on whether to do it, let alone how. This week, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski laid out another proposal, this time using an ill-fated bill drafted by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rick Boucher (D-VA) as its foundation. The details remain to be seen, but the framework is a good one. The Waxman draft, which was backed by a number of telecommunications and Web-based companies, was designed largely to continue the status quo online: It would have allowed Internet providers to manage their networks within reasonable limits, but not to block legal content, applications or devices. Its most controversial provision would have barred Internet providers from discriminating unreasonably against any lawful type of traffic, which some critics complained would limit innovative business models and traffic-management technology. The provision was neither as vague nor as restrictive as it sounded, however. A similar requirement has long applied to telephone networks, so its meaning has clarified over the years. And the ban wouldn't stop Internet providers from experimenting with new business models, such as creating premium tiers or charging customers based on the amount of data they send and receive. That's a reasonable approach, provided that the rules don't permit broadband providers to undermine their standard Internet offerings in favor of their premium tiers.
benton.org/node/45620 | Los Angeles Times
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REAL COMCAST-LEVEL 3 STORY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Daniel Gooding]
Although the conventional wisdom amongst Internet users is that Comcast is evil and, therefore, Level 3 must be the innocent victim of Comcast’s capricious greed, this is a complex situation without clear-cut heroes or villains — in the network game, the Comcast/Level 3 conflict is business as usual. All of this said, no one here did anything wrong; these disputes aren't uncommon. Well, no one did anything wrong until Level 3 whined to the press and regulators. When you’re on the losing side of a peering dispute, you’re always tempted to complain to regulators about how you've been treated unfairly. Then you remember a regulated peering arrangement is the only thing worse than what we have now. More regulation puts more power in the hands of the big providers, not less, as they have the experience, resources, and the legions of regulatory lawyers necessary to “play the game.” So, how does this play with network neutrality? The short answer is that it’s completely unrelated. Netflix isn't paying a dime to Comcast. Level 3, which sells services to Comcast, is. It’s the price of doing business when you have a large amount of outbound traffic. No user will pay more to watch Netflix movies. Netflix certainly won't see this passed on to them; the low cost of Level 3’s service is what won the deal, and if that goes away, so will Netflix, to greener pastures. Instead, this is a battle where a provider that does no business with consumers (Level 3) will pay money to a company that does provide services to consumers (Comcast). There will be no prioritization of traffic as part of this deal, only delivery. This in no way absolves Comcast of its duty — as good corporate citizens, not to mention a company trying to make a merger happen — to be more transparent, to deal openly with its customers, to improve its levels of service, to provide competitive prices.
benton.org/node/45602 | GigaOm
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

IPAD AND THE WEB
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: John Gapper]
[Commentary] Richard Branson and Rupert Murdoch are entrepreneurs with an admirable record of ignoring conventional wisdom, so it is worth watching when they do the same thing at once. The are launching iPad-only publications. This fits into a bigger debate about whether companies are balkanizing the web to gain economic leverage.
Yet, even leaving business models aside, it is hard to blame them. The truth is that, two decades after Sir Tim Berners-Lee pioneered it, the Internet has proven a poor medium for publishers who originate a lot of news and information. It has gone further than levelling the playing field between old-style publishers and start-ups – it has given the advantage to low-cost information providers. It goes without saying that the Internet has great benefits in terms of the amount of information that can now be accessed directly, rather than being mediated by a newspaper or television news show. The idea that anyone could (if he or she chose) read the 250,000 US diplomatic cables soon to be made available by WikiLeaks would have been inconceivable two decades ago. But there is no such thing as a neutral medium. Just as newspapers, radio and television offered different methods of presenting news and information, with varying degrees of depth, the Internet favours some forms of content over others. People tend to skim the home pages of sites rather than delving deeply because browsers work that way. On a tablet, an edited, in-depth publication has a better chance of competing with the atomized, open-source information flow of the open web. That is what Sir Richard and Mr Murdoch have bet on – that a tablet restores the advantage of depth over breadth. That may not be enough – many people are happy to live in the world of free, distributed information and will prefer it. “If you think that the day of the editor deciding what you read today is dead then these apps will fall apart,” says Benedict Evans, of Enders Analysis. My bet is that the two will co-exist, just as new forms of media have always done with existing ones in the past.
benton.org/node/45615 | Financial Times
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NETFLIX FOR PRIMETIME
[SOURCE: New York Post, AUTHOR: Claire Atkinson]
Netflix is making an aggressive play for in-season episodes of hit TV shows to expand its Web streaming service. Apparently, the company is in talks with studios about gaining access to current episodes of primetime shows and is willing to pay between $70,000 and $100,000 per episode. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has made no secret of his desire to move beyond movie rentals and beef up TV offerings. While the company has added a number of shows, they are mostly episodes from previous seasons. Just last month, Netflix won a groundbreaking deal with NBC Universal to stream comedy show "Saturday Night Live" the day after it airs on the broadcast network. With Netflix ready to put its money where its mouth is -- and a host of rivals such as Apple and Google's YouTube also in the hunt -- a war is breaking out over who controls streaming rights to current episodes. The studios that supply the networks with shows argue they own the streaming rights to in-season shows. But the broadcast networks that make a profit from repeats -- and stand to lose audiences, ad dollars and syndication revenue if viewers can see those same episodes on Netflix -- argue they control the rights.
benton.org/node/45610 | New York Post
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PRIVACY

FTC RELEASES PRIVACY REPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Trade Commission issued a preliminary staff report that proposes a framework to balance the privacy interests of consumers with innovation that relies on consumer information to develop beneficial new products and services. The proposed report also suggests implementation of a “Do Not Track” mechanism likely a persistent setting on consumers’ browsers so consumers can choose whether to allow the collection of data regarding their online searching and browsing activities. The report states that industry efforts to address privacy through self-regulation “have been too slow, and up to now have failed to provide adequate and meaningful protection.” The framework outlined in the report is designed to reduce the burdens on consumers and businesses. To reduce the burden on consumers and ensure basic privacy protections, the report first recommends that “companies should adopt a ‘privacy by design’ approach by building privacy protections into their everyday business practices.” Such protections include reasonable security for consumer data, limited collection and retention of such data, and reasonable procedures to promote data accuracy. Companies also should implement and enforce procedurally sound privacy practices throughout their organizations, including assigning personnel to oversee privacy issues, training employees, and conducting privacy reviews for new products and services. Second, the report states, consumers should be presented with choice about collection and sharing of their data at the time and in the context in which they are making decisions not after having to read long, complicated disclosures that they often cannot find. The report adds that, to simplify choice for both consumers and businesses, companies should not have to seek consent for certain commonly accepted practices. It is “reasonable for companies to engage in certain practices namely, product and service fulfillment, internal operations such as improving services offered, fraud prevention, legal compliance, and first-party marketing,” the report states. “By clarifying those practices for which consumer consent is unnecessary, companies will be able to streamline their communications with consumers, reducing the burden and confusion on consumers and businesses alike.”
benton.org/node/45581 | Federal Trade Commission | LATimes | National Journal | National Journal - Vladeck
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PRIVACY ADVOCATES CALL FTC PROPOSALS A START
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: David Kaplan]
Privacy advocates had some muted praise for the Federal Trade Commission’s call for a “Do Not Track” tool to be applied as a persistent setting on consumers’ browsers, but felt that the recommendations still do not go far enough. In what seems like a major blow to the online ad industry, which has fought for years to keep the current self-policing rules in place, the FTC said that companies’ efforts to address privacy through self-regulation “have been too slow, and up to now have failed to provide adequate and meaningful protection.” For the moment, though, the rules don't seem binding and will depend on Congress, which will continue its hearings on the matter tomorrow, to decide whether to demand more controls over ad targeting. In a conference call organized by privacy groups including the Center for Digital Democracy have joined with two other consumer advocates, U.S. PIRG, and the World Privacy Forum, advocates described themselves as pleased that the FTC is beginning to take a more aggressive stance on the hidden tools that track users’ online usage and targets them with ads. But the “do not track” button the FTC hopes will come into play doesn't seem enforceable just yet. It will take Congress, which is currently in a lame duck session and unlikely to enact anything sweeping, to put teeth behind the recommendations that a tracking blocker be placed on websites and browsers.
benton.org/node/45594 | paidContent.org
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KIDS AND ONLINE PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Steve Stecklow]
Rep Ed Markey (D-MA) plans to propose legislation that, if passed, would go well beyond current federal law that requires websites aimed at children under 13 to obtain parental permission before collecting personal information such as kids' names or email addresses. Markey's staff is working with Common Sense Media, a non-profit that rates movies, television shows, websites and other content aimed at kids. In addition to prohibiting the tracking of kids, the group supports developing an "eraser button" that would allow children and teens to delete information they have posted online about themselves. The group also favors a ban on "behavioral marketing" to kids—ads targeted at children based on their online activities. "For many kids today, the Internet is like online oxygen," says Rep. Markey. "To ensure that kids are protected, I plan to introduce legislation next year that will include a 'Do Not Track' requirement so that kids do not have their online behavior tracked or their personal information collected or profiled. I look forward to working with my colleagues to move this legislation forward."
benton.org/node/45612 | Wall Street Journal
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MARKETING

SENATE PASSES MARKETING BILL
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The Senate has passed legislation aimed at cracking down on deceptive online marketing practices that have led many consumers to unknowningly sign up for products and services they do not want or use. The Senate passed the legislation, offered by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV), by voice vote, while also adopting a manager's amendment to the measure. It emerged from a Commerce Committee investigation into aggressive online marketing tactics by three firms in particular, Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty, that had partnered with some well-known online retail sites to enroll millions of consumers, many without their knowledge, in discount club memberships using tactics that netted more than $1 billion in revenues for these firms and their partners. The committee found that many consumers were deceptively lured to sign up for services offered by these third-party firms with an offer for a discount or reward during the checkout process for an unrelated product or service. As part of their partnership with the online retail sites, the credit or debit card information was passed onto the third-party firms offering the club memberships who then often billed consumers monthly for services many say they did not use or seek. Rockefeller's bill would prohibit companies from using misleading post-transaction advertisements and require them to clearly disclose the terms of their offers to consumers and obtain credit and debit card information directly from a consumer purchasing the service or product. It would bar online retailers and other websites from passing on consumers credit, debit or other billing information to third-party sellers like the three companies identified by the committee.
benton.org/node/45613 | National Journal
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP

KOHL WANTS CAREFUL REVIEW OF GOOGLE-ITA DEAL
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) urged the Justice Department to carefully review Google's proposed acquisition of ITA Software, which provides online travel search software. Sen Kohl said in a letter to Christine Varney, assistant attorney general for antitrust, that while he has not taken a "position on the ultimate legality of this acquisition under the antitrust laws," he said it was important for Justice to examine the concerns raised by several online travel firms. "As an independent provider of air travel search functionality, ITA currently has the incentive to license its service broadly as it has done since its inception. However, the incentives could change if ITA is acquired by Google," Sen Kohl wrote. "Participants in the on-line travel industry are concerned that Google could refuse to make the key components of ITA software available on reasonable terms to other online travel industry participants by raising the price for a renewed license or refusing to license improvements to the software." Sen Kohl also urged the department "to obtain a consent decree to ensure that Google's promise is enforceable and implemented in good faith."
benton.org/node/45601 | National Journal | The Hill | Reuters
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GOOGLE AND EUROPE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The European Commission did the right thing when it opened a formal antitrust investigation into allegations that Google abused its dominant position in online search to help its other businesses at the expense of rivals. It is far from certain that Google has done anything wrong. Still, it is the dominant search engine in the world, and it is no longer just about general search. Google has ventured into a range of other businesses, like comparison shopping, mapmaking and book selling. This raises a concern that it could leverage its clout in search to benefit other businesses at the expense of competitors, tinkering with its secret algorithm to favor Google services and to lower rivals in the search results. The value of a formal investigation is that the European Commission will be able to ask questions and get answers from Google, its rivals, and the companies it does business with to determine whether the company has abused its clout in an anticompetitive way. It is a good place to start. If Google is to continue to be the main map to the information highway, we need to be confident that it will lead us to where we want to go and not to where its business interests lead.
benton.org/node/45617 | New York Times
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WIRELESS

WIRELESS SECURITY GAPS
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
Federal auditors have found holes in the security of wireless technology, including smart phones, Bluetooth devices and laptop computers, that federal employees use regularly in the office and on the go. "Until [agencies] take steps to fully implement leading security practices, federal wireless networks will remain at increased vulnerability to attack, and information on these networks is subject to unauthorized access, use, disclosure or modification," Government Accountability Office auditors wrote in a report. Specifically, they found gaps in security guidelines for computers that are simultaneously connected to agency wired networks and insecure wireless networks. Unless officials configure the dual-connected laptops' security controls a certain way, hackers can compromise the wireless networks to infiltrate an agency's wired networks, GAO noted. In addition, auditors found agencies had insufficient policies on using mobile devices overseas; monitoring for unauthorized, rogue wireless networks; and scanning for unapproved devices. With the exception of the Defense Information Systems Agency, most failed to enforce secure configurations on BlackBerry smart phones, according to the report. The auditors also warned that the Office of Management and Budget and the Homeland Security Department -- which directs federal cybersecurity operations -- might lack visibility into the security posture of the government as a whole. Agencies routinely report on security controls, as required by the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act, but the most recent OMB-DHS reporting guidelines are silent on protections for dual-connected laptops, international travel and central oversight of wireless devices.
benton.org/node/45595 | nextgov | GAO report
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LOCAL MOBILE ADS
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: David Kaplan]
Analysts are feeling ever-more confident in the growth of mobile advertising. The latest comes from BIA/Kelsey, which is predicting that the U.S. mobile ad revenues will grow from $491 million last year to $2.9 billion in 2014. That’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43 percent and is based on expectations for rising mobile search ads, display on both apps and wireless application protocol (wap) sites and text messaging. But the big spending will come in the form of local ads, which now makes up less than half of the mobile ad market. That will change significantly by 2014. In part, the rise of mobile advertising this year had much to do with the introduction of Apple’s iAd system, which was designed to boost the value of apps for developers, marketers and publishers. While Apple’s app offerings, as well as ones for Google’s Android system, are raising the bar for mobile ads, apps will not be the main feature of the mobile ad ecosystem, according to BIA/Kelsey’s numbers. As with the PC-based web, search ads will lead mobile as well. Over the next three years, BIA/Kelsey expects U.S. mobile search ad revenues to grow from $59 million to $1.6 billion (93 percent CAGR), while display ad revenues to rise from $206 million to $803 million (31 percent CAGR). Mindful of the negative backlash that would come to advertisers given messaging rates, SMS ads will remain very small. In ‘09, $226 million was spent on text message ads and the researcher doesn't anticipate it getting any higher than $562 million by 2014 for a 20 percent CAGR. A majority of the growth mobile ads will experience over the next few years will come from an area all of the web is turning to: local. The rise of geo-targeting and other location based services will drive ad dollars significantly higher.
benton.org/node/45586 | paidContent.org
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

ANTI-WIKILEAKS MEASURES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Mark Hosenball]
The White House has set up a special anti-WikiLeaks panel after the embarrassing flood of State Department cables leaked by the website, and its proposals include teams of inspectors who would prowl government agencies looking for ways to tighten security. A four-page draft memo circulated by the White House says President Barack Obama's national security staff has created an "Interagency Policy Committee for WikiLeaks." The panel is charged with assessing the damage caused by the WikiLeaks dump of State Department cables, coordinating various agencies' response to the leaks, and coming up with measures to improve security for classified documents. The National Counterintelligence Executive, which is part of the Office of Director of National Intelligence, will take a lead role in coming up with measures to prevent future WikiLeaks-scale leaking of government secrets.
benton.org/node/45607 | Reuters
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PROSECUTING WIKILEAKS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Charlie Savage]
Calls to prosecute the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, mounted this week as his organization began releasing documents from a cache of 250,000 State Department cables — its third major disclosure of United States government secrets this year. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has confirmed that the Justice Department is examining whether Assange could be charged with a crime, but legal scholars say that such an effort would encounter steep legal and policy difficulties. “There is a haze of uncertainty over all of this,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, an American University law professor who has written about the Espionage Act, a 1917 law that prohibits the unauthorized retention or transmission of defense-related documents. “The government has never brought an Espionage Act prosecution that would look remotely like this one,” he said. “I suspect that has a lot to do with why nothing has happened yet.” Legal scholars say the legal landscape for the protection of government information has been exposed as unprepared for the mass dissemination of leaked electronic documents on the Internet.
benton.org/node/45618 | New York Times
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FREE SPEECH IS MORE THAN COPYRIGHT
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Rick Carnes]
[Commentary] The press and the Internet are awash in stories and commentary about the WikiLeaks story. Everyone, it seems, has something to say about freedom of speech versus national security. Everyone, that is, except the public interest groups that are concerned about 'free speech' only as it relates to their anti-copyright agenda. Where is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's support for Julian Assange? Why hasn't the EFF issued a press statement in his defense since they are obviously in support of WikiLeaks. Where is Public Knowledge's outrage that Pfc. Bradley Manning has been arrested since they have been such rabid advocates of the right to 'share' information over the Internet? Do they only consider that 'right' worth defending in the case of illegal down loaders of movies and music? How about a statement from Free Press? How can they remain silent on perhaps the most important freedom of the press issue in a decade and concentrate instead on an obscure corporate squabble like Level 3 versus Comcast? If there was ever a moment to engage in the discussion of freedom of speech on the Internet this should be their moment. Their silence is deafening.
benton.org/node/45611 | Huffington Post, The
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E-RULEMAKING
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Charles Clark]
Public participation in agency rule-making can be enhanced via promotion on Facebook and dialogue on interactive websites, according to an academic running a pilot program for the Transportation Department. But the "jury is still out" on whether the significant labor such collaboration requires is worth what agencies would gain in fresh ideas and data, she said. Cynthia Farina, a law professor at Cornell University and a principal researcher in the Cornell E-Rule-Making Initiative, gave preliminary results of pilot projects in which her organization performed Web 2.0 outreach and monitored online public participation in two recent federal rule-makings. One involved cracking down on texting by drivers of commercial vehicles, and the other involved delineating the rights of airline passengers. Farina spoke at the National Archives as part of a lecture series celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Federal Register and on the eve of an expected release of new e-rule-making best practices guidance from the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The federal notice and comment process, Farina said, is "ahead of its time" in using peer knowledge procedures to foment collaboration and permit average citizens, interest groups and independent experts to critique proposed rules, ask questions and suggest alternatives. But paradoxically, she added, e-rule-making has not lived up to its potential: "Rule-making looks like a prime candidate for e-government, but looks are deceptive." The two chief reasons are "the limited scope" of participating stakeholders and the tendency of participants to deliver "adversarial monologues" that talk at the agencies rather than with them, she said.
benton.org/node/45600 | nextgov
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MORE NEWS FROM FCC

JOURNALISM'S HOUR OF GRAVE PERIL
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Joe Flint]
In an interview with BBC World News America and in a speech at Columbia University's School of Journalism, Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps charges that the media is falling far short when it comes to serving the public. American media is not "producing the body of news and information that democracy needs to conduct its civic dialogue," Commissioner Copps said. That trend, he added, has to be reversed or "we are going to be pretty close to denying our citizens the essential news and information that they need to have in order to make intelligent decisions about the future direction of their country.” He says his the FCC has allowed much of it to happen through deregulation that cleared the way for a massive consolidation in the industry. Commissioner Copps paints a grim picture of today's media. He notes that more than half of the 50 states have no full-time reporter covering Capitol Hill. He cites a study by the USC Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism's Norman Lear Center showing that the average 30-minute local news broadcast has less than 30 seconds devoted to local government news. "Nowadays, when stations are so often owned by mega companies and absentee owners hundreds or even thousands of miles away — frequently by private equity firms totally unschooled in public interest media — we no longer ask licensees to take the public pulse. Diversity of programming suffers, minorities are ignored, and local self-expression becomes the exception."
benton.org/node/45621 | Los Angeles Times | B&C
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POLICYMAKERS

AUDITIONS FOR COMMERCE CHAIR
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Darren Goode, Robin Bravender]
Reps Fred Upton (R-MI), Joe Barton (R-TX), John Shimkus (R-IL) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL) made their presentations to the GOP Steering Committee in hopes of being named chairman of the powerful House Commerce Committee. The panel, loaded with loyalists to incoming Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), is expected to make its decision by Dec 7. The favorite is Rep Upton, but Rep Barton, who’s fighting to retain his spot as the panel’s top Republican, isn't planning to stand aside. He appeared before the steering panel with the Commerce gavel in hand to show he deserves to remain atop the panel. Rep Barton would need a term-limit waiver to take the chairmanship, but he’s not expected to get one. Rep Upton who’s come under fire from the right pitched his conservative credentials, laying out his plans to assail the Obama administration’s energy and health care policies and slash federal spending. "I'm doing my best to stay on message," Rep Upton told reporters afterward, emphasizing cutting federal spending, using oversight to identify fraud and abuse and not only repealing President Obama's health care plan "but we've got to take it apart brick by brick. And we're going to do that."
benton.org/node/45589 | Politico
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JOURNALISM

FOX HIRES FIRED COMMENTATORS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
Fox News, the leading cable news network, and its business news offshoot, Fox Business Network, have made a habit of signing up reporters and media personalities who've found themselves on the wrong side in employee-employer spats. For Fox, it seems, the more controversy the better.
By hiring the personalities at or near the peak of their notoriety, Fox chief Roger Ailes "is being opportunistic," says Andrew Tyndall, who writes a newsletter, the Tyndall Report, covering television news. "It's a way to play the culture wars." Tyndall jokes that the hiring policy may be turning Fox into "the safety-net network. If you say something outrageous, there's still a paycheck waiting for you." Tyndall says Fox's strategy is to attract conservative viewers by presenting many different conservative personalities and variations of conservative thought. "If you're a conservative, there's no such thing as a single ideology," he says. "Fox has tried to reflect this in many different ways - by class, region, ideology, even tone of voice." Among its star commentators, he notes, are Sarah Palin and former White House adviser Karl Rove, neither of whom seems to care much for the other. But Ellen Brodsky, who runs the Fox-watching Web site Newshounds.org (slogan: "We watch Fox so you don't have to"), has another adjective for the network's personalities: "They seem to be getting really, really inflammatory these days," she says. "I've always thought Fox is political theater more than news, but now they seem to be getting more grotesque. There's no place too far to go if you're bashing Obama."
benton.org/node/45616 | Washington Post
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