March 1, 2012 (Moving Forward with the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012
The Mobile World Congress ends today while the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee meets in DC http://benton.org/calendar/2012-03-01/
AGENDA
FCC Releases March Open Meeting Agenda - press release
PRIVACY
Moving Forward with the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights - press release
Do-Not-Track Plan a Good First Step for Digital Privacy - op-ed
What Google learned from SOPA
How 105 Companies are Tracking Me on the Web
PointRoll Sued For Circumventing Privacy Settings [links to web]
Google Wins. He's Giving Up On Privacy
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Broadband stimulus scandals: Missteps in the buildout, and what's at stake
For Impatient Web Users, an Eye Blink Is Just Too Long to Wait
Millennials will benefit and suffer due to their hyperconnected lives - research
ICANN plays the name game with domain names [links to web]
Colorado Eyeing ‘No Access’ Broadband Map [links to web]
Chattanooga Invites Innovators to Play [links to web]
NCTA, CTIA, US Telecom Outline Cybersecurity Bill Priorities [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
All Mobile Traffic Isn't Equal
inMobi: Mobile Users Spending More Time With Devices Than With TV
Clearwire CEO Sees 4G Opportunities Where Rival LightSquared Stumbled [links to web]
Mozilla's 'modest' proposal: Dump the smartphone OS [links to web]
Smartphones Have Led, and Desktops Will Follow [links to web]
Cable Firms Warm to Outdoor Wi-Fi [links to web]
TELEVISON
Cord Cutting Can Wait: Subscription TV Added 343,000 Subs in Q4 [links to web]
What You Need to Know About Interactive TV [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
When Will Social Media Elect a President? - op-ed
Elections, Economy Top Public's News Interest - research [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Facebook pushes advertisers to get creative and social with ads [links to web]
Senator Levin claims Facebook is using loophole to avoid taxes [links to web]
How the e-book landscape is becoming a walled garden - analysis [links to web]
Deciphering the madness of the Murdoch method [links to web]
Google Web Grows in New York City [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Major update to government-wide cyber manual takes on WikiLeaks [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
FCC, Sen Grassley seek way around impasse
Snowe's exit shakes up Senate panels
Chairman Walden Appoints Members of Bipartisan Cybersecurity Working Group, Announces Upcoming Hearing
FTC Attorney to Join Microsoft
STORIES FROM ABROAD
James Murdoch steps down as News International head [links to web]
Why U.S. Prosecutors Won’t Be Filing Corruption Charges Against News Corp - analysis
AGENDA
FCC AGENDA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that the following items will be on the tentative agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 21, 2012. The FCC will consider:
Review of the Program Access Rules Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking exploring whether to retain, sunset, or relax the exclusive contract
prohibition of the program access rules and whether to revise the program access rules to better address alleged violations.
Creation of a Low Power Radio Service Report and Order: a Report and Order to implement a market-specific FM translator processing scheme, adopt application caps to prevent trafficking, and modify policies to expand opportunities to rebroadcast AM stations on FM translators.
Creation of a Low Power Radio Service Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Report and Order: A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding proposals to implement the
Local Community Radio Act and to strengthen the LPFM service, including second adjacent channel waiver procedures, interference remediation requirements, and modification of eligibility, ownership, and selection standards.
Promoting Interoperability in the 700 MHz Commercial Spectrum Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning the potential for harmful
interference to Lower 700 MHz B and C Block operations if the Lower 700 MHz Band were interoperable and whether, if such interference exists, it can be reasonably mitigated. The NPRM also seeks comment on the best course of action should the Commission determine that interoperability would cause limited or no harmful interference to Lower 700 MHz B and C Block licensees, or that such interference can be reasonably mitigated.
Advanced Wireless Service in the 2 GHz Band Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Notice of Inquiry: A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing service, technical, assignment, and licensing rules for flexible terrestrial use of spectrum currently assigned to the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) in the 2 GHz band. The Commission will also consider a Notice of Inquiry regarding an alternative band plan involving additional spectrum at 1695-1710 MHz that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has proposed to reallocate from Federal to commercial use.
benton.org/node/115662 | Federal Communications Commission
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PRIVACY
MOVING FORWARD ON PRIVACY
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Lawrence Strickling]
At the request of the White House, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration will soon begin convening interested stakeholders -- including companies, privacy advocates, consumer groups, and technology experts -- to develop and implement enforceable codes of conduct that specify how the principles in the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights apply in specific business contexts. But first we want your input. We are seeking your views on what issues should be addressed through the privacy multistakeholder process and how to structure these discussions so they are open, transparent, and most productive. As you will see in our Request for Public Comments, we think the first topic for stakeholder discussion should be a discrete issue that allows consumers and businesses to engage and conclude multistakeholder discussions in a reasonable timeframe. We list some options for an initial topic, including how to apply the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights’ Transparency principle to the privacy notices for mobile apps. We also invite commenters to discuss lessons learned from existing multistakeholder processes in the Internet policy and standards realms as we finalize the arrangements for the privacy discussions.
benton.org/node/115640 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration | Request for Public Comments
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DO-NOT-TRACK IS GOOD FIRST STEP
[SOURCE: Time, AUTHOR: Daniel Krimm]
[Commentary] The recent agreement between the White House and tech companies on a voluntary “do-not-track” (DNT) system for web browsing — accompanied by a framework for a more comprehensive vision of the nation’s privacy policies — is a modest but positive step forward in the broader context of personal data privacy. Most importantly, this announcement articulates a clear set of values and goals from the highest level of government, and establishes an institutional precedent that brings public and private interests together, prior to any legislative action. The DNT agreement is by no means a comprehensive fix-all, but it provides a meaningful entry point to address the broader issues that have evolved over several decades. If this first step is not followed by movement toward real legislation, it will leave important privacy issues unresolved. But this is the clearest vision of a privacy mission to come from a U.S. administration, and it established a multi-stakeholder process to get the ball rolling, two important prerequisites to real action. It also places the burden of proof with those who want something different.
benton.org/node/115639 | Time
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COMPANIES TRACKING ON THE WEB
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Alexis Madrigal]
This morning, if you opened your browser and went to NYTimes.com, an amazing thing happened in the milliseconds between your click and when the news about North Korea and James Murdoch appeared on your screen. Data from this single visit was sent to 10 different companies, including Microsoft and Google subsidiaries, a gaggle of traffic-logging sites, and other, smaller ad firms. Nearly instantaneously, these companies can log your visit, place ads tailored for your eyes specifically, and add to the ever-growing online file about you. There's nothing necessarily sinister about this subterranean data exchange: this is, after all, the advertising ecosystem that supports free online content. All the data lets advertisers tune their ads, and the rest of the information logging lets them measure how well things are actually working. And I do not mean to pick on The New York Times. While visiting the Huffington Post or The Atlantic or Business Insider, the same process happens to a greater or lesser degree. Every move you make on the Internet is worth some tiny amount to someone, and a panoply of companies want to make sure that no step along your Internet journey goes unmonetized. Even if you're generally familiar with the idea of data collection for targeted advertising, the number and variety of these data collectors will probably astonish you. Allow me to introduce the list of companies that tracked my movements on the Internet in one recent 36-hour period of standard web surfing. My complete list includes 105 companies, and there are dozens more than that in existence. You, too, could compile your own list using Mozilla's tool, Collusion, which records the companies that are capturing data about you, or more precisely, your digital self.
benton.org/node/115657 | Atlantic, The | National Public Radio
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WHAT GOOGLE LEARNED
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Dan Mitchell]
Google today implements its controversial new privacy policy, which ties together more than ever before data gathered from users' online activities across all of its properties -- search, Gmail, Google Plus, Picasa, Google Maps, etc. -- to better target ads based on users' interests. There is plenty of blowback, of course. But that might have been mitigated, at least somewhat, by Google's ad campaign, "Good to Know," which comprises cute line drawings to explain and promote the new policy. "Online privacy has never looked more cuddly," decided Advertising Age. Or maybe privacy intrusion has never looked more cuddly is a better way to put it. Google of course is putting the best possible face on what is, after all, a highly controversial, possibly troubling move. But the campaign might be unique in terms of taking such actions directly to the people, circumventing lawyers, interest groups and politicians to the extent possible. "Good to Know" was launched in Europe before the anti-SOPA campaign reached full volume, culminating in an online movement of people and companies that resulted in Web blackouts and other protests the led to the anti-piracy legislation's being shelved. Google took part, though only with a message on its site stating its opposition to the bill. But the company must have been pleased by the effort's success, since it offered further evidence that in many cases, direct-to-the-public publicity campaigns can be highly effective.
benton.org/node/115666 | Fortune
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PRIVACY FATIGUE
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Linton Weeks ]
That's it. They win. He's giving up on privacy. Trying to maintain privacy in contemporary America is just too time consuming, too complicated, too exhausting. He can't tell the good guys from the bad guys anymore. He doesn't know whom to trust. There are so many relentless assaults coming at all angles — from closed-circuit cameras to GPS trackers to online cookies to spammers, hackers, malware makers, spyware spinners, identity thieves and countless other assailants — he cannot fight them all anymore. They never sleep. They are always evolving, always pushing, always changing privacy settings and terms of service agreements. Privacy fatigue, they call it. Google is not the first company to wear him out; it's just the latest. On March 1, the omnipotent digital empire is rolling out new privacy rules. New default settings will allow Google to cross-reference a logged-in user's activity among its vast and varied Internet presences, which include the elegant Google search engine, the cool YouTube video repository and the impressive inner workings of Android phones.
benton.org/node/115628 | National Public Radio
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
BROADBAND STIMULUS
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Samantha Bookman]
How are broadband stimulus funds being used in the United States? Are providers and contractors meeting the goals set out in their respective network buildouts? While many broadband expansion projects are moving forward, others never got off the ground. Let's take a look at some notorious missteps in U.S. broadband expansion.
Louisiana dithers, and loses an $80.5 million grant
North Florida jeopardizes its middle mile build
Political opposition ends funding in Tallahassee
Wisconsin hands their funding back
benton.org/node/115656 | Fierce
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MILLENNIALS AND THEIR CONNECTED LIVES
[SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project, AUTHOR: Janna Anderson, Lee Rainie]
In a survey about the future of the internet, technology experts and stakeholders were fairly evenly split as to whether the younger generation’s always-on connection to people and information will turn out to be a net positive or a net negative by 2020. They said many of the young people growing up hyperconnected to each other and the mobile Web and counting on the internet as their external brain will be nimble, quick-acting multitaskers who will do well in key respects. At the same time, these experts predicted that the impact of networked living on today’s young will drive them to thirst for instant gratification, settle for quick choices, and lack patience. A number of the survey respondents argued that it is vital to reform education and emphasize digital literacy. A notable number expressed concerns that trends are leading to a future in which most people are shallow consumers of information, and some mentioned George Orwell’s 1984 or expressed their fears of control by powerful interests in an age of entertaining distractions. These findings come from an opt-in, online survey of a diverse but non-random sample of 1,021 technology stakeholders and critics. The study was fielded by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center between August 28 and October 31, 2011.
benton.org/node/115624 | Pew Internet and American Life Project
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FASTER WEB
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr]
Remember when you were willing to wait a few seconds for a computer to respond to a click on a Web site or a tap on a keyboard? These days, even 400 milliseconds — literally the blink of an eye — is too long, as Google engineers have discovered. That barely perceptible delay causes people to search less. “Subconsciously, you don’t like to wait,” said Arvind Jain, a Google engineer who is the company’s resident speed maestro. “Every millisecond matters.” Google and other tech companies are on a new quest for speed, challenging the likes of Jain to make fast go faster. The reason is that data-hungry smartphones and tablets are creating frustrating digital traffic jams, as people download maps, video clips of sports highlights, news updates or recommendations for nearby restaurants. The competition to be the quickest is fierce. People will visit a Web site less often if it is slower than a close competitor by more than 250 milliseconds (a millisecond is a thousandth of a second).
benton.org/node/115677 | New York Times
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
MOBILE TRAFFIC
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Anton Troianovski]
One of Europe's biggest wireless companies recently started offering a new plan in France: For less than $14 a month, customers could get unlimited Web browsing on their phones. The catch -- the Internet was limited to Twitter and Facebook. Every 20 minutes spent on any other website cost nearly 70 cents. France Telecom SA's Orange Group is one of several wireless carriers around the world experimenting with slicing up the Web into limited offerings and exclusive deals they hope will bring marketing advantages or higher profits. Such tests remain the exception not the rule. Still, they show that the "open Web" ideal that has long governed Internet use is starting to break down as more and more surfing takes place on mobile devices. Telecom executives, tired of being the "dumb pipes" through which valuable Internet traffic flows, say they need to cut such deals to make investing in expensive mobile-data networks worthwhile. But entrepreneurs seeking to devise new mobile offerings worry the shifting rules of the game will favor well-heeled companies that can afford carriers' new terms. The moves by carriers to allow special access to some websites have also drawn criticism from "network neutrality" advocates, who say the entire Web should be equally accessible to users. In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission has adopted network neutrality rules that are stricter for landline networks than mobile ones.
benton.org/node/115674 | Wall Street Journal
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MOBILE USERS SPENDING MORE TIME WITH DEVICES
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Steve Smith]
A new global study of mobile media consumption from one of the world’s largest mobile ad networks finds that mobile subscribers are spending more of their media time each day with handsets than with television. In a survey of over 20,000 device users across eight major regions, respondents claimed to spend 27% of their media time in a typical day on devices but 22% in front of a TV screen. And yet both TV and phone still fall behind the 32% of time spent in front of a connected computer. In all users who are spending a total of 7.2 hours a day consuming media, 119 minutes is with the phone.
benton.org/node/115659 | MediaPost
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
SOCIAL MEDIA AND ELECTIONS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Andy Kessler]
[Commentary] New technologies have always altered campaigns and usually in mysterious ways. Facebook and Twitter are already rivers of political banter. Our friends find dirt and post it without thinking twice. So it tends to be partisan, extreme and divisive—more like a cocktail party than the evening news. But campaigns can't just do "media buys" of $10 million on Facebook and expect anyone to notice. TV ads are effective because they're intrusive, and this year we'll see $3 billion worth of them, up from $2.1 billion in 2008. Social networks are more subtle media. Those with social-media "influence" are most likely to help campaigns convert interest into votes. Finding them in the haystack of the real world is tedious and expensive. But harnessing fast servers and constantly upgraded algorithms to find them on social networks is already happening—and it'll definitely sway who becomes our next president.
benton.org/node/115675 | Wall Street Journal
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POLICYMAKERS
END TO FCC IMPASSE?
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm, Kim Hart]
Lawmakers are working on a face-saving resolution to a standoff between Sen. Chuck Grassley and the Federal Communications Commission that has kept the panel down by two members for months now. Sen Grassley threatened to block the confirmation process over the FCC’s refusal to hand over documents related to the agency’s review of LightSquared, the broadband company that’s been in a bloody regulatory battle for more than a year. But the Iowa Republican may now be able to secure the information he seeks through a workaround that doesn’t violate the FCC’s refusal to turn over the material. But even if Sen Grassley were to lift his hold on the nominations, there’s no guarantee their journey to the FCC will speed up. There’s a larger stalemate between Democrats and Republicans over agency nominations, largely stemming from the controversy over Richard Cordray’s appointment to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Senate Republicans successfully filibustered Cordray’s nomination, but President Barack Obama last month used a recess appointment to bypass Congress.
benton.org/node/115667 | Politico
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SNOWE’S EXIT SHAKES UP COMMERCE COMMITTEE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Alexander Bolton]
The surprise announcement that Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) will retire at the end of this year has roiled the line of succession to two of the Senate’s most powerful committees. Snowe’s retirement would have bigger implications if Republicans recapture the Senate majority and control of the chamber’s panels. Commerce Committee: Snowe’s retirement puts Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), co-founder of the Senate Tea Party Caucus, in line to become the ranking Republican on Commerce, as current ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) has also announced her retirement. Sen DeMint is known as an agitator for conservative causes, ready to block Senate floor action to advance his arguments. He said the committee promotion would allow him to focus on legislating. “I’d look forward to that — if we can get ourselves to some kind of trajectory toward balancing the budget — to get back to legislating,” Sen DeMint said. “I’d rather legislate than agitate.” Sen DeMint said he will push legislation to rewrite rules for broadcast and cable television that he called “antiquated.” Sen DeMint will advocate for consolidating federal agencies and “looking at how we can reconstruct the whole Commerce Department.”
benton.org/node/115670 | Hill, The
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CYBERSECURITY WORKING GROUP
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) appointed members of the subcommittee to serve on a bipartisan Communications and Technology Cybersecurity Working Group to examine the current landscape and lay the foundation for the subcommittee’s efforts to address cybersecurity. The Working Group is tasked with identifying existing legal impediments to securing communications networks against cyberthreats and incentive-based approaches to encourage private-sector companies to work with each other and the public sector. Members of the Working Group include: Subcommittee Vice-Chair Lee Terry (R-NE), Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH), Rep. Michael Doyle (D-PA), and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden will serve as an ex-officio member of the working group. Vice-Chairman Terry and Ranking Member Eshoo will co-lead the group. At the conclusion of its work the group will report its findings to Chairman Walden.
benton.org/node/115669 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee
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RANDALL LONG
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Thomas Catan]
A senior Federal Trade Commission attorney who led several of the agency's antitrust investigations into Google has been hired by the company's archrival, Microsoft. Randall Long, a deputy assistant director in the agency's Bureau of Competition, will become a director of regulatory affairs in Washington (DC) at the end of March, Microsoft said. In recent years, Microsoft has emerged as Google's chief legal antagonist, working publicly and privately to get antitrust cops in Washington and Brussels interested in Google's activities. As part of his new job, Long will likely continue those efforts before the FTC and other agencies. At the FTC, Long focused on mergers and hasn't been part of a group at the agency now conducting a wide-ranging antitrust investigation into Google's business practices. But it remains unclear how much access he may have had to nonpublic information about the investigation in his role at the FTC. As the lead staff attorney in the AdMob case, Long recommended that the commission challenge the deal, people familiar with the matter said. Ultimately, the commission narrowly decided to allow the deal, largely because the unexpected entry of Apple into the market upended their legal case.
benton.org/node/115672 | Wall Street Journal
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
NO US CHARGES AGAINST NEWS CORP
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Jeff Roberts]
[Commentary] What if the scandal involving bribery, phone-hacking and News Corp landed in an American courtroom? It would be a great story. But despite the best efforts of some media outlets to wish the story into existence, it’s not going to happen. For two weeks, the British newspaper The Guardian (disclosure: until a month ago, we were owned by Guardian News & Media) has been beating the drum about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law that makes it illegal for U.S.-based companies and executives to obtain business by bribing foreign officials. Media pundit Michael Wolff, for instance, yesterday opened a piece by noting the obvious—that the FCPA is not designed for events like the UK hacking scandal. But Wolff nonetheless embarked on a speculative tour de force of how the FCPA could technically apply and how Team Murdoch is rejigging its legal strategy to fight off the Americans. He concludes by egging on the U.S. feds. Give me a break. Attempting to prosecute part of the UK media establishment would be a bridge too far, even for a Justice Department that has acquired a reputation for over-zealous and politicized FCPA investigations.
benton.org/node/115637 | paidContent.org
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