April 21, 2011 (AT&T; Apple)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2011
Benton: Celebrating 30 Years with a Focus on the Future http://benton.org/sites/benton.org/files/Benton-30th.pdf
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Department of Agriculture Announces Broadband Investments To Spur Job Creation and Economic Opportunity in Rural America - press release
Does Place Really Matter? Broadband Availability, Race and Income - research
Broadband Accessibility, Affordability, and Adoption
Broadband Breakfast Panel Zooms In On Broadband Adoption
How Kansas City Won Over Google - analysis [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
FCC's Genachowski touts spectrum auctions, skirts merger questions
HP Joins Call For Incentive Auctions [links to web]
FCC Seeks Input on World Radiocommunication Conference Recommendations [links to web]
More people ditching home phone for mobile
AT&T Holds the Line on Subscribers
Cellular South CEO pans AT&T, T-Mobile merger
AT&T Snags Tauzin to Lobby for Cell Phone Merger
Apple’s Quarter By The Numbers: 18 Million iPhones, 4.69 Million iPads [links to web]
LightSquared momentum continues with Cellular South deal [links to web]
China Mobile Users Pass 600 Million, Fueled by Rural Areas [links to web]
PRIVACY
How Apple tracks your location without consent, and why it matters
CONTENT
Directors yell 'Cut!' on studios' premium VOD plans [links to web]
PokerStars and Full Tilt Poke Settlement with Department of Justice - press release [links to web]
Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books [links to web]
Cheapest E-Books Upend the Charts [links to web]
Sites Retool for Google Effect [links to web]
CHILDREN & MEDIA
FTC: Video game retailers stricter on age rules than music, film
In Online Games, a Path to Young Consumers
MIT Creates The One Video Game You'll Be Thrilled To See Your Kid Get Hooked On [links to web]
TELEVISION/RADIO
Michael Copps' Excellent Adventure
AT&T: U-verse Now $6 Billion Annual Business [links to web]
Appeals Court Affirms That Dish Must Disable DVRs In TiVo Case [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
New social media and the 2012 election: Waaaaay beyond Facebook 2008
Obama at Facebook: Politicking in new media age
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Internet 'Right to be Forgotten' debate hits Spain
Internet 'Right to be Forgotten' debate hits Spain [links to web]
Ugandan Government To Order Blocking of Facebook, Twitter To Quash Protests
South Korea May Make Text Messages Free to Curb Inflation [links to web]
UK cybersecurity spending plans revealed [links to web]
EU rule on web ‘cookies’ bears £500,000 fine [links to web]
China Mobile Users Pass 600 Million, Fueled by Rural Areas [links to web]
China clears sale of Motorola unit to NSN [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
White House effort to bolster startups gets new Google, Microsoft support [links to web]
Security lags cyberattack threats in critical industries, report finds [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
RURAL BROADBAND LOANS
[SOURCE: Department of Agriculture, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Department of Agriculture announced support for telecommunications projects in seven states to improve broadband service to rural residents and businesses. In all, USDA is announcing almost $40 million in loans for projects in Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, Montana and Oklahoma. The telephone companies and cooperatives that have been selected to receive the financing will construct more than 1,000 miles of Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) systems. USDA Rural Development funded more than 16,000 miles of FTTP projects during fiscal year 2010 to upgrade, expand or replace networks and perform system maintenance. Projects selected include an $8.7 million award to the Alhambra-Grantfork Telephone Company, in Alhambra, Ill., to build an FTTP system and make system improvements to serve new and existing consumers. Woodhull Telephone Company, in Woodhull, Ill., has been selected for a $3.4 million loan to lay 111 miles of fiber optic cable. In southwest Oklahoma, the Medicine Park Telephone Company has been selected for a $4.2 million loan to lay 41 new miles of fiber and copper cable in two subdivisions and finance digital equipment for improved central office switching. The funding also will be used to purchase excavation equipment and five acres of land where a warehouse will be constructed. Funding for each project is contingent upon the recipient meeting the terms of the loan agreement.
benton.org/node/56549 | Department of Agriculture
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DOES PLACE REALLY MATTER?
[SOURCE: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, AUTHOR: Ying Li, Nicol Turner-Lee, Samir Gambhir, Mikyung Baek]
New research assessing broadband availability mapping data released by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The study includes analyses of wireline and wireless access in high minority, low-income communities in three locations -- South Carolina, Chicago and Los Angeles. Among the findings:
while the availability of broadband in these communities is increasing, levels of adoption still remain relatively low;
the differences in broadband deployment can not be explained by race alone; and
despite the availability of mobile broadband in low-income, high minority areas, wireless coverage is still inconsistent within regions.
benton.org/node/56617 | Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
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BROADBAND ACCESSIBILITY, AFFORDABILITY, AND ADOPTION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn]
Speaking at the Internet2 Spring Member Meeting, Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn focused on the interrelation between accessibility, affordability, and adoption . "[I]f we create incentives for more service providers to deploy networks in underserved areas," she said, "this should lead to competition, which should make services more affordable. More affordable services, in turn, encourage more consumers to adopt advanced communications services such as broadband." She warned that without access to affordable IP-based broadband service, the most challenged communities will fail to enjoy the significant opportunities that broadband service access has to offer. Commissioner Clyburn views Internet2 as an essential organization to efforts that consistently further the goals set forth in the National Broadband Plan.
benton.org/node/56624 | Federal Communications Commission
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PANEL ON BROADBAND ADOPTION
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Rahul Gaitonde]
National Telecommunications and Information Administration Deputy Administrator Anna Gomez offered the keynote address before panelists explored how to best to expand broadband adoption and maximize access. “Expanding broadband is key to the Obama Administrations mission to expand innovation,” Deputy Administrator Gomez said, kicking off the event. Gomez presented an overview of the recently released Digital Nation report, the largest and most in-depth study of broadband use and access ever conducted by the Commerce Department. The Census Department gathered and analyzed the data in conjunction with the NTIA. The report found that while adoption rose 5 percent between 2009 to 2010; many households in America still do not subscribe to broadband speeds fast enough to do common Internet activities, such as watch streaming video. “This lack of access and speed mean that one third of Americans are cut off from the growing digital economy,” Gomez said. “Not having access to broadband cuts citizens off from vital resources.” While there are many reasons why consumers do not adopt broadband, Gomez said that the Digital Nation report found that most non-adopters claim lack of interest as their main reason. “We found that 28 percent of non-adopters claim lack of interest. This makes our targeted adoption programs through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program even more important than we anticipated,” Gomez went on. “Many of our sustainable broadband projects are providing us key information on how these targeted populations are starting to use broadband. We intended to take the information we learn and expand it to programs across the nation.”
benton.org/node/56561 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
GENACHOWSKI AT ECONOMIC CLUB
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Hayley Tsukayama]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski was eager to talk about spectrum issues in a question-and-answer session before the Economic Club of Washington, but evaded questions about a proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile. Chairman Genachowski touched briefly on several other topics on the FCC’s radar, such as mobile payments. When asked whether there should be a tax on Internet purchases, he said anything that discourages investment and private investment should be looked at extremely carefully. He said the FCC did not have open proceedings on mobile payments, but said that the government must “get it right” or the United States will fall behind other countries.
benton.org/node/56625 | Washington Post
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MOBILE BROADBAND AND TELEVISION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski]
Reps. Matheson, Bishop and Chaffetz wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski with questions about the proposal to reallocate some broadcast television spectrum for mobile broadband. Specifically, the asked:
How will the spectrum re-allocation and resulting reduction in channels impact Utahns who currently utilize over-the-air television provided by translator stations?
Is the spectrum re-allocation and resulting reduction in channels likely to lead to many of the translator stations in Utah no longer remaining in operation?
If many of the translator stations in Utah no longer remain in operation after the spectrum re-allocation takes place will free over-the-air television continue to be an option for rural residents who had been served by one of these translator stations, or will they be forced to either pay for subscription television service or go without?
What provisions is the FCC prepared to make to ensure that free over-the-air television continues to be available to residents of rural communities in Utah and throughout the nation at the completion of this spectrum re-allocation process?
On March 29, Chairman Genachowski replied saying that the FCC is in the preliminary stages of reviewing how it could structure an incentive auction in the broadcast TV bands if Congress grants it the authority. This review includes evaluating the potential impact on translators that provide service to otherwise unserved areas. We are aware of the unique circumstances presented in Utah and will work closely with local broadcasters to ensure that any restructuring o[ the TV bands accounts for the need to preserve free, over-the-air television service across the State. Our goal is to provide new and exciting opportunities for mobile broadband while protecting viewers currently relying on over-the-air TV. I
benton.org/node/56543 | Federal Communications Commission | Members of Congress
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MORE DITCH LANDLINE PHONE
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR:Mike Snider]
Cellphones are becoming the only home phones in an increasing number of US households, a trend intensified by challenging economic conditions, according to a new report released from the National Center for Health Statistics. More than one in four U.S. homes, or 26.6%, had only a wireless phone as of June 2010, up from 13.6% in 2007. And the percentage of wireless-only homes increased in every state, ranging from 35.2% in Arkansas to 12.8% in Rhode Island and New Jersey. "The phrase 'home telephone number' is going the way of rotary dial phones and party lines," says Stephen Blumberg at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. The trend toward wireless-only homes shows no sign of slowing down, it said. Low-income homes and those in poverty are more likely to be wireless-only homes, according to the researchers, who used data from tens of thousands of respondents to the National Health Interview Survey and the Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey in tracking the state and national trend. "States such as Arkansas, Mississippi and Kentucky have a higher proportion of households living with low income," Blumberg says, "and giving up a landline is one way to save money." Renters are also more likely to have wireless-only households.
benton.org/node/56568 | USAToday
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AT&T AND SUBSCRIBERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Martin Peers]
Little wonder AT&T was so keen to buy T-Mobile USA. As AT&T's first quarter results showed, without such a deal, the cost of maintaining wireless-subscriber growth could become painful. AT&T said its net additions of "postpaid" subscribers -- those valuable customers with contracts -- plummeted 88% to 62,000 from a year earlier. Among other things, that likely reflected the impact of Verizon Wireless finally getting to sell the iPhone. But the results could have been much worse. There was only a slight drop in the number of new customers AT&T lured with the iPhone. And wireless churn among postpaid customers, or the percentage canceling their service every month, rose only fractionally. Excluding the impact of last year's Alltel deal, only about 143,000 extra customers appear to have canceled in the quarter, out of a total postpaid subscriber count of 68 million. Investors shouldn't celebrate yet. Holding the line on subscriber losses wasn't cheap. AT&T launched aggressive marketing efforts to sell more smartphones, including a cut-price $49 iPhone 3GS offer announced shortly before Verizon started selling the iPhone 4. AT&T acknowledged the additional subsidy costs from higher smartphone sales was largely why wireless operating expenses rose 16.8%. That sent operating income down 5.3% despite higher revenue. And it is a good bet a number of iPhone users on AT&T, unhappy with network-congestion problems, are waiting either for their contracts to end or for the next version of the iPhone before they switch to Verizon
benton.org/node/56645 | Wall Street Journal | WSJ - wireless growth | NYTimes
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CELLULAR SOUTH PANS AT&T DEAL
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Hayley Tsukayama]
Cellular South CEO Hu Meena has come out strongly against the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, saying that the deal would hurt the wireless industry. “Over the past several weeks, we have carefully reviewed this proposed transaction,” Meena said. “We can find nothing good about it.” “It’s bad for consumers. It’s bad for jobs. It’s bad for competition,” he said. The CEO was unanimously elected as the president of the Rural Cellular Association on April 19. The RCA represents wireless telecommunications companies who serve rural areas.
benton.org/node/56557 | Washington Post
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Chairman Genachowski's Response to Members of Congress Regarding Mobile Broadband Opportunities in Television Broadcast Bands
TAUZIN HELPING AT&T
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Kathy Kiely]
In the effort to sell Congress on its proposed takeover of T-Mobile, AT&T has just landed a big-name lobbyist: former Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA). The Louisiana Republican will be jumping into the heated debate over an industry he once helped regulate: Tauzin served as chairman of the House Commerce Committee, and earlier headed the House telecommunications subcommittee. He is now with the law firm Alston & Bird. Tauzin joins a team of AT&T lobbyists as a skeptical Congress gears up to scrutinize the proposed merger. He brings some unique advantages. Tauzin began his 25-year career in Congress as a Democrat and finished as a Republican. He served on the leadership teams of both parties. "I built some great relationships that continue to this day," he said. A member of Congress in 1984, when AT&T was forced to break-up, Tauzin says that for all the competition that move fostered, "I'm not sure that divestiture and breaking the Bell system was the greatest thing we could have done. There's great advantage, obviously, in size and capability in terms of international communications."
benton.org/node/56555 | National Journal
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PRIVACY
APPLE TRACKS YOU
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jacqui Cheng]
If you haven't yet enabled encrypted backups for your iPhone or iPad, now's definitely the time to start. Two security researchers have discovered a simple way to map out where you've been almost anywhere in the world -- without any hacking involved. The information comes from a location cache file found within your iPhone's backups on your Mac or PC, bringing out serious privacy concerns and opening the door for a jealous spouse, thief, or even a crafty trojan to take a detailed look at your whereabouts. And it's information that no one should have access to -- not even law enforcement, barring a court order. Researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden revealed their findings ahead of their presentation at the Where 2.0 conference taking place in San Francisco. The two discovered that the iPhone or 3G iPad -- anything with 3G data access, so no iPod touch -- are logging location data to a file called consolidated.db with latitude and longitude coordinates and a timestamp. The data collection appears to be associated with the launch of iOS 4 last June, meaning that many users (us at Ars included) have nearly a year's worth of stalking data collected. In order to drive the point home, the two developed an open source application called iPhone Tracker that lets anyone with access to your computer see where you've been.
benton.org/node/56621 | Ars Technica
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CHILDREN & MEDIA
FTC STUDY FINDINGS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
An undercover investigation by the Federal Trade Commission found video game retailers are the most vigilant in enforcing the age restrictions for games intended for mature audiences, compared to those selling music, DVDs and movie tickets. The FTC recruited unaccompanied 13- to 16-year-olds to attempt to buy R-rated movie tickets, DVDs, music CDs with parental advisory labels (PAL) and games rated "M" (suitable for those ages 17 and older) between November 2010 and January. Only 13 percent of the shoppers were able to buy M-rated video games, an improvement from the purchase rate of 20 percent in 2009. In contrast, 64 percent of the teens were able to buy music CDs with PALs, 38 percent purchased R-rated DVDs and a third were able to buy R-rated movie tickets.
benton.org/node/56566 | Hill, The
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ONLINE GAMES AND MARKETING TO CHILDREN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Matt Richtel]
Like many marketers, General Mills and other food companies are rewriting the rules for reaching children in the Internet age. These companies, often selling sugar cereals and junk food, are using multimedia games, online quizzes and cellphone apps to build deep ties with young consumers. And children are sharing their messages through e-mail and social networks, effectively acting as marketers. When these tactics revolve around food, and blur the line between advertising and entertainment, they are a source of intensifying concern for nutrition experts and children’s advocates — and are attracting scrutiny from regulators. The Federal Trade Commission has undertaken a study of food marketing to children, due out this summer, while the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity has said one reason so many children are overweight is the way junk food is marketed. Critics say the ads, from major companies like Unilever and Post Foods, let marketers engage children in a way they cannot on television, where rules limit commercial time during children’s programming. With hundreds of thousands of visits monthly to many of these sites, the ads are becoming part of children’s daily digital journeys, often flying under the radar of parents and policy makers, the critics argue.
benton.org/node/56648 | New York Times
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TELEVISION/RADIO
MICHAEL COPPS
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Patrick Maines]
[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission member is now in his 10th and final year as commissioner and he still isn't happy with the state of media and the journalism it supports. If he and the rest of the FCC couldn't fix things during the last decade, perhaps the problem all along hasn't been consolidation or avarice as he argues. Maybe it’s been that what ails the media, and the way forward, are more complex than to be availing of the kind of nostrums Commissioner Copps has been peddling. Maybe the problem is that the Internet has upset the business model of almost all of the “old media,” denying them, most importantly, the kind of ad revenue that has been their lifeblood. Seen from this perspective, exhortations to deny the efficiencies of consolidation, or to require more stringent “public interest” obligations, or to recommend greater funding of public broadcasting are not just irrelevant, they’re appalling. [Maines is president of the Media Institute]
benton.org/node/56640 | TVNewsCheck
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
NEW MEDIA AND THE 2012 ELECTION
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Gloria Goodale]
President Obama’s town hall meeting from Facebook’s California headquarters is a giant reminder of the role social media played in his first national campaign. He was the undeniable king of digital outreach back in 2008, but much has changed since then. For starters, the Republicans have had four years to catch up on all those nifty tools, from Twitter to texting. For another, those years – enough for a freshman to finish college – are a lifetime in the world of social media innovation. So, as the 2012 election heaves into view, just what are the new tricks and tips in the political digisphere toolkit? “We will see many of the same tools President Obama used in 2008, with many more refinements,” says Anna Ruth Williams, Senior Account Manager at Communications 21, a social media strategy firm in Atlanta. The biggest shift, she says, is the central importance of mobile communications – as in, cell phones, smartphones, and iPads. “We saw the first generation of mobile applications in 2008 and 2010,” she adds, “but in 2012 we will see far more sophisticated uses.”
benton.org/node/56638 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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OBAMA AT FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Julie Pace]
President Barack Obama sought to connect with younger voters with a town hall meeting at the headquarters of Facebook, the hugely popular social networking site. President Obama, who already has more than 19 million fans on his official Facebook page, was taking questions at the start of a West Coast trip aimed at building support for his deficit-reduction plans and raising money for his re-election campaign. In town hall meetings in California and Nevada, he will be pitching his prescription for reducing the deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases for the rich. The president's three-day trip is his most extensive travel since he announced his 2012 bid earlier this month. That campaign could set new fundraising records as President Obama courts high-dollar donors as well as young people, many of whom were among the small donors who buoyed his 2008 campaign.
benton.org/node/56637 | Bloomberg | Politico -- Obama and Zuckerberg | Politico -- Obama and Facebook
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
EU DATA RETENTION LAW BLASTED ON PRIVACY ISSUES
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Jennifer Baker]
The European Union's data retention law has come under scrutiny, with a new report saying that it poses significant risks to individuals' right to privacy. The European Commission published its report on the Data Retention Directive on April 18 and concluded that "retained telecommunications data play an important role in the protection of the public against the harm caused by serious crime." However, transposing this directive into law has proved difficult in many EU member states and the resulting uneven playing field has created difficulties for telecommunications service providers. Under the directive, telecom companies must retain the data necessary for identifying the source (sender), destination (recipient), date, time and duration, type, equipment and, for mobile telephony, the location of the equipment. This applies to e-mail as well as phone calls and text messages. This information must be available to be handed over to national police on a case-by-case basis. However the text of the Data Retention Directive does not in itself guarantee that data is stored, retrieved and used in line with the right to privacy and protection of personal data, according to critics. As a result, courts in Germany, the Czech Republic and Romania, found that national laws transposing the rules were unconstitutional. The three countries are currently trying to work out how to comply with the directive while still maintaining privacy rights.
benton.org/node/56615 | Associated Press
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UGANDAN GOVERNMENT TO ORDER BLOCKING OF FACEBOOK, TWITTER TO QUASH PROTESTS
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Kit Eaton]
The Ugandan government, facing social unrest over high food and fuel prices, will order its Internet service providers to block Twitter and Facebook. It's the latest move in controlling social media to control a popular social movement. According to an official from the government of Uganda Twitter and Facebook are being used to foment public protests, which the opposition has dubbed "walk to work," and it's had enough. If there's more unrest, it will exercise its authority by writing to the nation's ISPs to force them to block access to these social networks and thus prevent more unrest. If there's more unrest, it will exercise its authority by writing to the nation's ISPs to force them to block access to these social networks and thus prevent more unrest. The protests are an expression of the public's unhappiness at soaring prices of essentials like food and fuel, and the government has used strong-arm tactics from the police and army to try to suppress them.
benton.org/node/56608 | Fast Company
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