March 5, 2012 (FCC reviews government shutdown of wireless networks)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2012 (Happy Casimir Pulaski Day!)
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
FCC reviews government shutdown of wireless networks
New York City to Mandate Open Data [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC Deals Setback to Dish Wireless Network Plans
A Week in Barcelona - analysis
AT&T Pushes Its Customers To Upgrade From 2G Network, Phones
AT&T's app developer billing scheme: Will app makers buy in? - analysis
Apps Seek to Help Phone Users Track Data [links to web]
On LightSquared, Defense Department official urged synch up with GPS lobby
Spectrum Bridge CTO: Spectrum Legislation Won’t Hamper White Spaces Initiatives [links to web]
Why retailers want to take the wheel on mobile payments [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
New Data for the National Broadband Map - press release
Man Convicted for helping Thousands Steal Internet Service - press release [links to web]
Kansas City businesses dream big with Google Fiber, despite uncertain availability [links to web]
PRIVACY
FTC's Brill: 'Do Not Track' Means Do Not Collect Data
Being tracked by Google isn’t bad — it’s actually good - analysis
Commerce Privacy Report Likely to Spur Lawsuits
Google responds to reader questions about privacy changes [links to web]
Mozilla's Big Plans For Tracking Who Tracks You Online [links to web]
EFF publishes mobile user privacy bill of rights [links to web]
Senator Schumer asks FTC to probe Apple, Android [links to web]
Actress’s Privacy Lawsuit Challenges the Internet Movie Database [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
White House pans GOP cybersecurity bill [links to web]
Don't underestimate cyber terrorism threat, security experts say [links to web]
CONTENT
Is this SOPA, the sequel?
Public Knowledge Plugs Place Shifting
How Newspapers are Faring Trying to Build Digital Revenue - research
MLB TV Rights for New Postseason Round not Determined; At Bat 12 Released [links to web]
Random House Sharply Increases Library E-Book Prices [links to web]
Court Filings Suggest Google Fighting Feds Over Megaupload E-mails [links to web]
Bloggers Replace Mom's Recipe Box As Source Of Food Knowledge [links to web]
Google's Chrome drops share for second straight month [links to web]
Finding Your Book Interrupted ... By the Tablet You Read It On [links to web]
Instruction for Masses Knocks Down Campus Walls [links to web]
TELEVISION
How Tablets Will Soon Top TVs For Most Video Viewing [links to web]
TV Sourcing and Viewing Continues to Change - analysis [links to web]
DVRs and Streaming Prompt a Shift in the Top-Rated TV Shows [links to web]
Plans for 'TV Everywhere' Bog Down in Tangled Pacts [links to web]
MEDIA & ELECTIONS
We Know How to Spell Relief - editorial
Political Broadcasting 2012: Things Change - analysis [links to web]
JOURNALISM/NEWS
Five Companies Steer All News - op-ed
How Newspapers are Faring Trying to Build Digital Revenue - research
News Corp Staving Off a Scandal [links to web]
TELECOM
Kentucky’s So-Called “AT&T Bill” Could Instigate Landline Demise
EU regulation hampers investment, survey says [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Apple Claims Credit for 514,000 U.S. Jobs [links to web]
Apple’s Job Creation Data Spurs an Economic Debate [links to web]
Limbaugh Advertisers Flee Show Amid Storm [links to web]
No More Innovation for the Fun of It - analysis [links to web]
NEWS FROM ABROAD
German Court Tosses Pair of Apple, Samsung Suits [links to web]
Spain refers Google privacy complaints to EU's top court [links to web]
News Corp Staving Off a Scandal [links to web]
News Corp. Probe Turns to Russia [links to web]
EU regulation hampers investment, survey says [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
FCC REVIEWS SHUTTING DOWN NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
The Federal Communications Commission will review the intentional shutdown of wireless networks by government authorities, after transit officials in the San Francisco Bay Area shut down cell phone networks amid protests. The FCC said it would take comments from the public on the practice, saying there hasn’t been enough discussion around the debate over how public safety concerns are balanced with free speech rights. “Any intentional interruption of wireless service, no matter how brief or localized, raises significant concerns and implicates substantial legal and policy questions,” the FCC said in its notice. “We are concerned that there has been insufficient discussion, analysis, and consideration of the questions raised by intentional interruptions of wireless service by government authorities.”
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said: “Our democracy, our society, and our safety all require communications networks that are available and open. Any interruption of wireless services raises serious legal and policy issues, and must meet a very high bar. The FCC, as the agency with oversight of our communications networks, is committed to preserving their availability and openness, and to harnessing communications technologies to protect the public.”
Comments are due April 30, 2012; reply comments are due May 30, 2012 [GN Docket No. 12-52]
benton.org/node/116433 | Washington Post | read the FCC’s Public Notice | FCC Chairman Genachowski | NYTimes | Politico | National Journal | The Hill | B&C | Public Knowledge
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC DENIES DISH PLAN
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Anton Troianovski, Amy Schatz]
Dish Network's hopes to start building a new wireless network have been dealt a setback by the Federal Communications Commission, which denied the satellite-TV provider's request for a needed waiver and opted instead for a formal deliberation that will take until the end of the year. Dish needs FCC approval to use satellite spectrum to support a ground-based cellphone network and had hoped to receive a waiver this month. The FCC's decision isn't likely to doom Dish's plans but will push them back— something Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen warned last week would make the project riskier. The FCC aims to conclude its so-called rule-making process by the end of the year after taking public comment on changing how those airwaves are used. Dish said it was disappointed with the FCC's decision but said it would work with the commission to get the needed approvals. Ergen has said the company needs to package mobile wireless services with its pay-TV offerings to stay competitive with cable operators and phone companies that already can offer such bundles. Dish agreed to acquire the spectrum licenses last year, when it spent $2.8 billion buying satellite operators DBSD and TerreStar Networks out of bankruptcy court. The FCC approved the sale March 2.
benton.org/node/116380 | Wall Street Journal | The Hill
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A WEEK IN BARCELONA
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] The Mobile World Congress convened in Barcelona, Spain, this week. The agenda-setting event is where wireless network operators, cellphone manufacturers, content providers, advertising gurus, and Internet players gather to assess the nearly $2 trillion wireless industry. Although we like the shiny new devices launched at the event as much as anyone, we’ll focus instead on trends in the business and the changes sought in regulation of the industry. We noted a bit of defensiveness as event kicked-off. You might find the defensiveness surprising. Here in the US, 88% of US adults are now cell phone owners and a total of 46% of all American adults are smartphone users. But most companies, the Wall Street Journal reported, would be looking to explain in Barcelona one of two things -- "why they haven't done as well as they thought, or what they will be doing differently in order to do better," said Neil Mawston, a telecom analyst at Strategy Analytics. So there was a lot of talk about revenue-building strategies, financial services in a mobile world, and how to capture more of the connected consumer's time and money.
http://benton.org/node/115771/
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AT&T PHASING OUT 2G
[SOURCE: Dow Jones, AUTHOR: Greg Bensinger]
AT&T wants customers using older 2G phones to upgrade. In recent weeks, the carrier has begun sending out notices to some customers still accessing the erstwhile cellular network to swap out their devices for newer ones that can run on 3G networks. "Your current, older-model 2G phone might not be able to make or receive calls and you may experience degradation of your wireless service in certain areas," AT&T cautioned in the letter. An AT&T spokesman, Mark Siegel, said the carrier hoped to use some of the 2G spectrum for new technologies. The carrier is spending billions to build out a new, fourth-generation mobile broadband network and to bolster its 3G service with a speedier technology known as HSPA+. It is racing to keep pace with rival Verizon Wireless, which has rolled out 4G LTE to cover nearly triple the number of Americans AT&T reaches today. "We're simply urging them to upgrade to a new device if they want to," Siegel said. Siegel said the carrier sent the notices to customers in the New York metropolitan area and may send them to other customers. He noted the program was voluntary, affected a small number of subscribers and most 2G phones would continue to work.
benton.org/node/116402 | Dow Jones | GigaOm | AT&T – remember when?
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AT&T’S APP DEVELOPER BILLING
[SOURCE: NetworkWorld, AUTHOR: Brad Reed]
AT&T's trial balloon of charging app developers for bandwidth their users consume might not stay in the air very long. The question is whether a significant number of app developers would agree to pay a premium so that consumers would be able to use their apps without fear of incurring data overage charges. AT&T’s John Donovan told the Wall Street Journal that app developers that use data-heavy services could reach a wider audience if users were able to access their applications unhindered. "Why don't we go create new revenue streams that don't exist today and find a way to split it with them," Donovan explained. Gerald Faulhaber, a professor of business and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, says AT&T's reasoning is perfectly sound and that no application developer will be forced to pay AT&T if they don't feel they their users will feel inhibited by bandwidth limits. "It seems clear that AT&T is offering this as an 800-type service that firms can buy or not buy, as they choose," he says. "If a firm wants to give customers the option of downloading an application without risk ... then this would be a good marketing tool for them. Otherwise, the firm wouldn't buy it. Lots of firms, big and small, offer their customers 800 telephone service and it is a win-win. Why not do the same on the Internet?" The big problem from AT&T's perspective is that it's unlikely to get big-time app developers to sign up for its new payment scheme if it's the only carrier to offer it.
benton.org/node/116395 | NetworkWorld
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TEAMING UP VS LIGHTSQUARED
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Eliza Krigman]
A Department of Defense official urged his colleagues in 2010 to "synch up" with the GPS industry in order to defeat LightSquared's plans to build the nation's first wholesale broadband network, according to an e-mail obtained by POLITICO. The e-mail came as the Global Positioning System Industry Council was preparing to brief the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on LightSquared's proposal. "We need to synch up with them prior to them briefing NTIA to make sure we are in lock step," the DoD official wrote to colleagues in the Dec. 29, 2010 e-mail. He added: "Especially since they are our allies." LightSquared has argued that it was treated unfairly in the testing process, and the e-mail is sure to provide the company new ammunition.
benton.org/node/116406 | Politico
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
NEW DATA FOR BROADBAND MAP
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Anne Neville]
Just over a year ago, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration unveiled the National Broadband Map – an unprecedented, interactive map that shows what high-speed Internet services are available in the United States. Powered by a searchable database of more than 20 million records, the map is the most extensive set of U.S. broadband availability data ever published. NTIA partners in the states collect new data every six months from nearly 1,800 broadband providers nationwide. Just as the NTIA did last September, it is again updating the map with the latest information. You can help too: NTIA’s crowdsourcing feature enables you to confirm the accuracy of data or let us know if you spot an error. Just type in an address into the search bar and then select “expand all” to see your options for providing feedback. The NTIA passes this information back to the states to help with future data collections.
benton.org/node/116422 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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PRIVACY
DO NOT TRACK MEANS DO NOT COLLECT
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wendy Davis]
Speaking at Fordham Law School privacy conference, Federal Trade Commission member Julie Brill said, “For me, one of the most critical points is that Do Not Track is not just Do Not Target ... but also, when the consumer so chooses, Do Not Collect.” She added that while she was pleased with the Digital Advertising Alliance's stance on browser-based do-not-track tools, she intends to "closely watch industry’s progress in creating a robust solution to effectuating consumers’ choices, including whether choices provided to consumers address the collection of their information in the first instance, and not just the receipt of targeted ads." Commissioner Brill did not elaborate on whether she envisions exceptions for analytics, fraud detection or other purposes. Commissioner Brill also questioned whether "heightened protections" for consumers are needed when companies used relatively mundane data to draw conclusions about sensitive conditions. She referenced recent newspaper articles about how Target deduced certain consumers' pregnancies, and said the practice raised concerns even if the predictions were based on "innocuous data," like the purchase of lotions and newborn-size diapers.
benton.org/node/116411 | MediaPost
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GEING TRACKED BY GOOGLE
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Mathew Ingram]
Should Google’s moves be cause for alarm? Hardly. For one thing, the new policy is not much of a change from the company’s previous policies (as some observers have pointed out) — but more than that, tracking users is one of the fundamental building blocks of web services, and it arguably makes the web better, not worse. In a nutshell, this is the point that we need to keep in mind when thinking about Google’s tracking of users, or Facebook’s data-collection policies or even Twitter’s moves to sell historical data to analytics providers: namely, that those kinds of activities are what fund the services we use. Google and Facebook both run dozens of multibillion-dollar server farms that hold all of that free email and photo hosting that users are so enamored of (Facebook alone holds more than 140 billion photos). That’s one reason why Google’s only opt-out feature is to simply not use the company’s services at all. The tracking and analytics and the services themselves are so intertwined it’s probably impossible to disentangle them.
benton.org/node/116432 | GigaOm
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PRIVACY REPORT AND LAWSUITS
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
A Q&A with privacy attorney Paul Bond, a partner in the data privacy, security and management practice of Reed Smith. The Commerce Department's privacy paper setting forth a consumer privacy "bill of rights" reads like a typical policy report, but may be potent ammunition for plaintiffs’ attorneys. Any company doing business on the Internet—especially companies marketing and advertising to consumers—could find itself in court over privacy issues. Bachman asks Bond to find out what companies can expect and what they should do to guard against a potential onslaught of class-action suits based on the Commerce Department's report.
benton.org/node/116424 | AdWeek
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CONTENT
SOPA, THE SEQUEL?
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Dan Mitchell]
After failing in his effort to circumvent both the Constitution and the basic workings of the Internet with Stop Online Piracy Act, Rep Lamar Smith (R-TX) has reverted to an old gambit -- But what about the children? -- with another bill, this one aimed at people who download child pornography. The trouble is, it would put at risk the basic privacy rights of everyone who uses the Internet. The Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011 would force Internet service providers to maintain data on all of their customers - Internet protocol addresses, email accounts, credit card numbers -- and allow law enforcement to access that information without a warrant. The name of the bill, of course, is meant to allow Rep Smith and his allies to cast opponents as not being concerned about the safety of children. Any legislators concerned about citizens' Fourth Amendment rights would be forced to vote against "protecting children from Internet pornographers." Of course, people who view child pornography online are arrested every day in breathtaking numbers. It's hard to do anything on the Internet without a record of it showing up somewhere -- and often, it's publicly accessible, such as when people use file-sharing software. Teams of law-enforcement officials across the land constantly monitor the Internet for such trafficking.
benton.org/node/116386 | Fortune
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PLACE SHIFTING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Public Knowledge told the Copyright Office that the movie studios are off base and that allowing DVD owners to circumvent copy protections and make personal copies for other media, like computers, will not spur more online video piracy. PK pointed out that the studios would still be free to go after pirates who copy copy-protected DVDs for illegal purposes -- mass distribution -- just not individuals "place shifting" their DVD collections from one device they own to another.
benton.org/node/116426 | Broadcasting&Cable | Public Knowledge
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HOW NEWSPAPERS ARE FARING TRYING TO BUILD DIGITAL REVENUE
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Tom Rosenstiel, Mark Jurkowitz]
A new study, which combines detailed proprietary data from individual newspapers with in- depth interviews at more than a dozen major media companies, finds that the search for a new revenue model to revive the newspaper industry is making only halting progress but that some individual newspapers are faring much better than the industry overall and may provide signs of a path forward. In general, the shift to replace losses in print ad revenue with new digital revenue is taking longer and proving more difficult than executives want and at the current rate most newspapers continue to contract with alarming speed, according to the study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. Cultural inertia is a major factor. Most papers are not putting significant effort into the new digital revenue categories that, while small now, are expected to provide most the growth in the future. To different degrees, executives predict newsrooms will continue to shrink, more papers will close and many surviving papers will deliver a print edition only a few days a week. But some papers are performing quite differently than the norm, some much better and some far worse. These variances suggest that the future of newspapers, rather than being determined entirely by sweeping trends, can be significantly affected by company culture and management-even at papers of quite different sizes.
benton.org/node/116454 | Project for Excellence in Journalism | New York Times | Wall Street Journal
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MEDIA & ELECTIONS
WE KNOW HOW TO SPELL RELIEF
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Tired of sleazy political ads? They are unlikely to go away. But Ohio voters had a brief moment of relief last year when more than a score of local TV stations exercised a rarely used authority and pulled down a loathsome ad that had pirated content from a rival ad, reversed its message and misled the public. The stations were able to take the action because the federal law guaranteeing that a candidate can air any message, however mendacious, in the name of free speech does not apply to third parties that place political ads. These groups — including the “super PACs” now inundating the primaries’ airwaves — can be challenged by local stations to either prove their ads’ accuracy or be denied airtime. To encourage more truth in political advertising, the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania has a campaign — “Stand by Your Ad” on Flackcheck.org — urging voters to complain to their local TV stations when they believe they are being lied to in third-party ads. The Web site posts examples of egregious ads and the e-mail addresses of the people running the relevant stations.
benton.org/node/116383 | New York Times
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JOURNALISM/NEWS
FIVE COMPANIES STEER ALL NEWS
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Steve Rubel]
[Commentary] Prior to the digital age, there were three companies that, acting like undersea currents, steered all news. Namely, I am referring to the big three TV networks. Even if you didn’t own a TV, back in the 1970s and 80s your news was indirectly influenced by what other journalists saw on ABC, CBS or NBC. They dominated because they controlled the largest distribution channels. Today, at least in the United States, a similar dynamic exists - even in a digital age. There are now five companies that influence all news we see, hear and read. Just as before, they do so by controlling the largest distribution channels. Also just like before, even if you don’t own an modern device, your news has been influenced indirectly by one or more of these players. That’s where the similarities end, however. The entire dynamic is different today and rapidly changing with advances in technology.
Twitter and Facebook dominate the “spreadable media” spectrum. News in short, increasingly visual formats rides along one or both of these currents, winding around the world from sea to sea. Apple, Amazon and Google operate the three largest platforms where people go to find long-form news.
benton.org/node/116377 | paidContent.org
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TELECOM
KENTUCKY CARRIER OF LAST RESORT BILL
[SOURCE: JSI Capital Advisors, AUTHOR: Cassandra Heyne]
Proposed legislation in Kentucky, Senate Bill 135, may hasten the demise of landline service in the state. Although opponents of the bill argue that rural and low-income consumers could be stranded without any reliable and affordable telecommunications options, the “bigger picture” of this bill is that it appears to be aligned with the push by some telecom industry players to phase out the PSTN in the next decade. However, absent any federal rules mandating such a phase-out or implementing a timeline, this bill could be premature and detrimental for rural and low-income consumers in Kentucky. Senate Bill 135 essentially proposes to end Carrier of Last Resort obligations, particularly for AT&T, Windstream, and Cincinnati Bell. A February 16 Kentucky.com article explains that AT&T has lobbied hard for this bill to be passed, and the legislation has earned the nickname “The AT&T Bill.” Kentucky.com also notes that AT&T has a powerful lobbying machine in Kentucky, with 31 legislative lobbyists and state campaign donations of $91,000 since 2007. AT&T and proponents of the bill argue that it is “unfair to burden them with state regulations and service requirements that don’t apply to their cable and wireless competitors;” and there is basically no point in providing landline service to new customers if they are eventually going to migrate to wireless or VoIP anyway. AT&T argues that it “must follow where the market leads,” and being relieved of the obligation to provide landline service will open up new opportunities to invest in wireless and broadband. What AT&T does not say is why they cannot invest in wireless and broadband anyway, without a rule that allows them to escape COLR obligations.
benton.org/node/116391 | JSI Capital Advisors
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