June 6, 2013 (NSA collecting phone records)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily
Administration defends collecting phone records [links to web]
Operationalizing the Role of Governments in Internet Governance [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Breaking Down the Urban-Rural Broadband Divide - research
President Obama to Seek More Internet Aid for Schools and Libraries
Transforming education digitally - op-ed
PATENTS
How bad is Samsung patent victory for Apple? - analysis
Apple, AT&T Vulnerable to U.S. Ban of Older iPhones - analysis [links to web]
Ruling Won't Break Apple's Skin - analysis [links to web]
Fighting ‘Patent Trolls’ - editorial [links to web]
Make Patent Trolls Pay in Court - editorial [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Wireless industry to back cellphone unlocking bill
Don’t Treat Consumers Like Criminals - op-ed
FCC to vote on cellphone privacy rules
US officials to meet over cellphone thefts
Smartphone Ownership 2013 - research
As smartphone market matures, makers race to wow consumers [links to web]
Padden: Coalition Now Comprises 70 Station Members [links to web]
Collaboration and Compromise - press release [links to web]
Samsung May Have Passed Apple in U.S. — for Now [links to web]
Adware is biggest threat to smartphone security in U.S., report says [links to web]
FreedomPop to Offer Smartphones for Free Wireless Voice & Data Service [links to web]
CONTENT
Apple Says Differences in Publisher Deals Belie E-Book Conspiracy Charges
US v. Apple could go to the Supreme Court - analysis
Institute of Medicine Issues Violence Study Recommendations To Administration
PRIVACY
FTC’s Ohlhausen warns against privacy regulation
FCC to vote on cellphone privacy rules
Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Organization and Delegation of Powers and Duties - public notice [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Koch brother confirms interest in buying newspapers
CYBERSECURITY
Getting China to talk about cyberespionage - editorial
Cyber experts say calling out China may be working [links to web]
China Seen in Push to Gain Technology Insights
President Obama Taps Two for National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee - press release [links to web]
AGENDA
Video Regulation “Certainty,” IP Transition, Net Neutrality Top Lobbyists’ FCC Wish List [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
President Obama Taps Two for National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee - press release [links to web]
Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Organization and Delegation of Powers and Duties - public notice [links to web]
Former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski: 'people have the right to send and receive information over the internet, period' [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Operationalizing the Role of Governments in Internet Governance [links to web]
UK Government demands action on web safety [links to web]
Venezuela Frees US Filmmaker [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Reps Eshoo, Whitehouse Want FCC Update on CALM Act [links to web]
Public Media Stations to Expand Early Learning Projects - press release [links to web]
Global spending for media and entertainment to rise steadily [links to web]
Are you paying the iTunes tax? [links to web]
Report: Netflix Share of Subscription VOD Drops Slightly [links to web]
Google releases economic impact data [links to web]
Liberty Media's John Malone Touts Charter Stake, Cable Power [links to web]
YouTube’s mobile ad revenue triples as mobile views reach 40% in the US [links to web]
US networks bet on comeback for TV poker [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
PHONE RECORDS COLLECTED DAILY
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: Glenn Greenwald]
The National Security Agency (NSA) is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April. The order requires Verizon on an "ongoing, daily basis" to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries. The document shows for the first time that under the Obama Administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing. The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19. Under the terms of the blanket order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered.
benton.org/node/153299 | Guardian, The
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
BREAKING DOWN THE URBAN-RURAL BROADBAND DIVIDE
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: David Beede, Anne Neville]
In a new report, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) delve deeper into the differences between broadband availability in rural and urban areas. This latest report is part of a series from NTIA that examines broadband availability data in greater detail. One key finding of the new report suggests that, in many cases, the closer a community lies to a central city, the more likely it is to have access to broadband at higher speeds. This is significant because some lower-density communities are located closer to the central city of a metropolitan area and have more access to faster broadband speeds than higher- density communities that are more distant from a central city. The report shows that in 2011, 76 percent of residents in exurbs, which generally ring suburbs, had access to basic wireline broadband, defined as advertised speeds of 3 Mbps download and 768 kbps upload. In contrast, 65 percent of very rural residents, who live outside of metropolitan areas, had basic wired service. This disparity between exurban and very rural areas is even greater when it comes to access to much faster broadband service of at least 25 Mpbs. Only 18 percent of very rural residents had access to broadband at this speed compared to nearly 38 percent of exurban residents. There are also significant gaps between exurbs and very rural areas when it comes to access to wireless broadband. The report also found even among urban areas – central cities, suburbs and small towns - the closer communities were closer to central cities, the more likely they were to have access to faster broadband.
benton.org/node/153263 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration | read the report | Multichannel News
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OBAMA TO PUSH FOR E-RATE UPGRADE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wyatt]
President Barack Obama is expected to call on the Federal Communications Commission to expand its program to provide discounted high-speed Internet service to schools and libraries, even if it means increasing the fees that are tacked on to consumers’ monthly phone bills. At an event at a school in Mooresville (NC) on June 6, President Obama will ask the FCC to revamp its Schools and Libraries program, known as E-rate, to help provide institutions with Internet speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second, among the fastest speeds commercially available today. The Obama proposal also calls for schools to use the new funds to pay for wireless networks throughout their buildings and campuses. To pay for the technology expansion, the Administration is calling both for the FCC to improve the efficiency of the current $2.2 billion program and for consumers to be asked to pay up to $5 a year extra, or about 40 cents a month, on their phone bills. The Schools and Libraries program is part of the Universal Service Fund, an $8.7 billion program that distributes money for four uses. Nearly half of the money, $4.2 billion, goes to what is known as the High-Cost program, which helps to pay for telephone and Internet service to rural or remote areas. Administration officials say that while the E-rate program, established in 1996, currently provides low-cost Internet connections to community institutions, the speed of those services is rarely different than home subscribers can receive, about 20 megabits per second. That is fast enough for the average home consumer to stream video, but if dozens of classrooms are trying to view video or listen to digital audio files at the same time, a school’s network will operate much more slowly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/us/politics/obama-to-seek-more-interne...
White House pushes for expanding Internet access in schools (The Hill)
benton.org/node/153331 | New York Times | The Hill
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ERATE 2.0
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA), FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel]
[Commentary] Digital-age broadband and cloud computing are not only revolutionizing our economy, they are transforming education as we know it. In time, traditional classroom teaching tools like blackboards and books are bound to be delivered through high-speed bandwidth. This means students learning about cell technology through a digital rendering in an interactive book. It means using gaming to explore math concepts like the Pythagorean theorem. It means developing videos to experience historical events. If all this sounds gee-whiz and futuristic, consider that these changes have already taken place in so much of our lives. The smartphones in our pockets, growing ubiquity of tablets and arrival of big data have brought us always-on connectivity and endless access to information. They have revolutionized the way we communicate, connect and create at home and at work. It’s time for a similar upgrade in the classroom. Of course, new technologies are already filtering into our schools. But to have really successful digital classrooms, we need bandwidth — and lots of it. We can do something about it by updating an existing program at the Federal Communications Commission called the E-Rate. It is time to update the program for the challenges of the digital age. We should reboot, reinvigorate and recharge the E-Rate program. Call it E-Rate 2.0.
benton.org/node/153278 | Politico
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PATENTS
SAMSUNG PATENT VICTORY
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Chris O'Brien]
News that a U.S. trade agency decided to ban imports of Apple's iPhone 4 and versions of the iPad 2 came as the latest surprising twist in the company's international and epic patent legal battle with rival Samsung. The companies are suing and counter-suing each other in so many courts in so many countries that the impact of any given ruling can be hard to fathom. Throw in appeals to agencies like the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, which issued the finding against Apple this week, and it all gets more tangled. That leaves us to ask: How important is this latest ruling? Apple, not surprisingly, says no big deal. However, Samsung, which lost a big patent verdict to Apple in U.S. federal court last year, was still crowing a bit. "We believe the ITC’s Final Determination has confirmed Apple’s history of free-riding on Samsung’s technological innovations. Our decades of research and development in mobile technologies will continue, and we will continue to offer innovative products to consumers in the United States," the company said. The problem is that "Final Determination" may or may not be final.
benton.org/node/153294 | Los Angeles Times | USAToday
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
CELLPHONE UNLOCKING BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Mike Altschul, general counsel of wireless industry group CTIA, will testify that a House unlocking bill is a "reasonable balance that protects consumers and carriers alike." "Because we were not seeking to limit individuals’ non-commercial ability to unlock their devices, and because the bill preserves the important limitations against bulk unlocking included in the Librarian’s 2010 decision, CTIA can support H.R. 1123," Altschul will say at the hearing of the House Judiciary Committee's intellectual property subcommittee, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. CTIA represents all of the major cellular carriers, including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.
benton.org/node/153325 | Hill, The
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UNLOCKING CELLPHONES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai]
[Commentary] The House Judiciary Committee will hold a much-needed hearing on cellphone unlocking. At stake is whether wireless consumers can be prosecuted for what, not long ago, was considered a routine practice. Let’s go back to the free market. Let’s allow contract law — not copyright or criminal law — to govern the relationship between consumers and wireless carriers. The free market for mobile devices and wireless service has been a dramatic success. As the Federal Communications Commission reported earlier this year, prices in the wireless market are down, and investment is up. More manufacturers are developing innovative mobile devices, and consumers are reaping the benefits. Wireless carriers certainly don’t need the federal government’s help. But in a free market, once a consumer’s contract expires, she should be able to take her device to another carrier. The government shouldn’t tilt the scales with legal penalties; it should leave the mobile marketplace alone.
benton.org/node/153292 | New York Times
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CELLPHONE PRIVACY RULES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Apparently, the Federal Communications Commission will vote later this month on whether to require cellular carriers to better protect their customers' privacy. The regulations would require carriers to take "reasonable precautions" to protect personal information, such as the numbers customers dial, the length of calls and their location. The carriers would be barred, with certain exceptions, from sharing the information with third parties without the customers' permission.
benton.org/node/153287 | Hill, The | WSJ
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CELLPHONE THEFT
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Terry Collins]
Top law enforcement officials from San Francisco and New York plan to meet with some of the largest US smartphone makers next week to help thwart the rise in cellphone thefts and robberies. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that their meeting scheduled to take place in New York City on June 13 will be dubbed a "Smartphone Summit." Gascon and Schneiderman said they plan to meet with representatives from Apple, Google, Samsung Electronics, and Microsoft and urge them to create new technology to permanently and quickly disable stolen smartphones, making them worthless to thieves. In San Francisco, where more than half all robberies involve a cellphone, Gascon has called on the companies to create new technology such as a "kill switch" to render phones useless. His office cites a 27-year old tourist who suffered severe knife wounds to his face and throat two weeks ago after being robbed by two men over his iPhone. In New York, Schneiderman said there was a 40% spike in cellphone thefts last year. Authorities there have coined the thefts of the popular iPhone and other Apple-related products as "Apple-picking."
benton.org/node/153284 | Associated Press | WSJ
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SMARTPHONE OWNERSHIP 2013
[SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project, AUTHOR: Aaron Smith]
A majority of Americans now own a smartphone of some kind. Our definition of a smartphone owner includes anyone who says “yes” to one—or both—of the following questions:
55% of cell phone owners say that their phone is a smartphone.
58% of cell phone owners say that their phone operates on a smartphone platform common to the U.S. market.
Taken together, 61% of cell owners said yes to at least one of these questions and are classified as smartphone owners. Because 91% of the adult population now owns some kind of cell phone, that means that 56% of all American adults are now smartphone adopters. One third (35%) have some other kind of cell phone that is not a smartphone, and the remaining 9% of Americans do not own a cell phone at all.
benton.org/node/153261 | Pew Internet and American Life Project
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CONTENT
APPLE’S E-BOOK DEALS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Paczkowski]
Central to the U.S. Department of Justice’s e-book price fixing case against Apple are the Most Favored Nation (MFN) agreements the company struck with publishers that ensured it would always be able to sell e-books at least as cheaply as rival retailers. The government contends that Apple’s MFN agreements were a crucial part of the company’s conspiracy to raise e-book prices and reap the benefits. But in vetting that argument, it failed to answer a key question about those arrangements prior to trial. Specifically, were they the same for each publisher or were they different? If, as the DOJ argues, Apple was facilitating collusion among a cabal of publishers, you’d think that MFN agreement terms would be identical across the cabal with all participants guaranteed the same terms. But they weren’t. Turns out, Apple negotiated different MFNs with each publisher. And in court, Apple’s lead counsel, Orin Snyder, repeatedly pointed that out. While the core price-matching provision was present in each of the five publisher agreements, guaranteeing Apple the ability to compete at the lowest price, the MFNs themselves were materially different.
benton.org/node/153298 | Wall Street Journal
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CASE HEADED TO SCOTUS?
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Roger Parloff]
It is apparent that the Department of Justice’s case against Apple case raises novel legal questions that could well end up commanding the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court. For casual observers of the case, this had not been so obvious before. That's because the legal questions raised by the conduct of the five publishing companies who were also originally named as Apple's co-conspirators and co-defendants in the case -- Hachette, HarperCollins, MacMillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster -- did not pose comparably challenging questions. Apple had a vertical relationship to all the other players in the alleged plot. As a result, its conduct poses far less familiar factual and legal questions. While there have been prior cases in which vertical players have participated in horizontal antitrust conspiracies, these have usually involved situations where a behemoth vertical player was the instigator and chief beneficiary of the whole scheme—the "ringmaster," as courts have put it. Apple doesn't fit that template, though.
benton.org/node/153293 | Fortune
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IOM VIOLENCE STUDY
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Institute of Medicine (IOM), part of the National Academy of Sciences, issued a report finding that, due to a lack of research focused on guns, "a direct relationship between violence in media and real-life firearm violence has not been established and additional research is necessary," but that existing evidence points to a "significant relationship" between media and some real-world violence. The report reviewed existing research, pointed out where more research could be done, but concluded that even from what it said was “limited” evidence, "a significant relationships exist between violent media exposure and some measures of aggression and violent behavior." The report is a response to President Barack Obama’s executive order -- following the Newtown (CT) school shootings -- requesting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "immediately begin identifying the most pressing firearm-related violence research problems." IOM suggests conducting more research on copy-cat acts and suggestions media violence has been imitated in real life. It suggests such research might "advise media purveyors about changes in frequency or type of violent content to help reduce copy-cat effects or encourage help-seeking behaviors." The report also says that there are possible adverse effects from evening news reports about violent incidents and "ongoing, sensationalized stories about high-profile murders and mass shootings" that "has not been the subject of systematic research...Some evidence exists that these types of news stories are associated with unrealistic perceptions of low community safety as well as, in some cases, secondhand trauma-related fear, depression, feelings of vulnerability, and PTSD."
“The research agenda proposed by the IOM would improve our understanding of this content and how it is linked to behavior," said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV). "This will inform our work to develop policy that protects our children. We should take the IOM proposal seriously and make sure the research into causes of gun violence can begin in earnest. I have always believed that the cornerstone of good public policy is strong facts rooted in objective evaluation.”
benton.org/node/153291 | Multichannel News | Chairman Rockefeller | TVNewsCheck
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PRIVACY
OHLHAUSEN WARNS AGAINST PRIVACY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso, Amrita Khalid]
Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican member of the Federal Trade Commission, warned against overly aggressive government regulation of online privacy. Instead, she said the FTC should support voluntary industry-led efforts to develop privacy protection guidelines. "Self-regulation can also offer consumers more privacy choices," Commissioner Ohlhausen said at the Digital Advertising Alliance's conference. "Voluntary codes of conduct and industry-led enforcement are particularly appropriate in dynamic sectors of the economy where traditional regulation may stifle innovation and slow growth." She said companies should develop the privacy guidelines without "undue government involvement." "Otherwise, industry may lose the incentive to participate and instead take a wait and see attitude about whether Congress would ever impose such requirements through legislation," she said.
benton.org/node/153286 | Hill, The | AdWeek
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OWNERSHIP
KOCH MEDIA BUY?
[SOURCE: Crain’s Chicago Business, AUTHOR: Lynne Marek]
Charles Koch, chairman and CEO at Koch Industries, confirmed that his company is interested in buying newspapers, as long as they can be operated profitably. He declined to say in the Journal report whether the company was interested in buying newspapers operated by Chicago-based Tribune Co., which have been for sale since February. It has been reported previously that Koch and his brother David Koch are interested in buying the Tribune papers, but those remarks were attributed to unnamed sources. In this latest report, Charles Koch disputed previous speculation that he would use newspapers to advance his political interests. "If we got in the media, it would need to stand on its own and have good economics, create real value and create value for the marketplace, or we wouldn't be interested," Koch said. "We wouldn't be interested in putting huge amounts of money in it on the bet that we can have a miraculous turnaround (of newspapers). We see it continuing to decline, the print media."
benton.org/node/153276 | Crain’s Chicago Business
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CYBERSECURITY
GETTING CHINA TO TALK
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Economic espionage in cyberspace is a pressing issue where progress might be possible. To say that China has carried out a massive stealing campaign is not hyperbole, Chinese denials notwithstanding. The intrusions have been increasingly well documented. The United States also carries out cyberspying against China, and a nascent, offensive U.S. cyberwarfare capability is growing. But U.S. intelligence agencies do not steal technology or proprietary information for the private sector. China probably can’t turn off the economic espionage like a switch. There’s plenty of nasty stuff in cyberspace that both countries probably can’t control — malicious code, disruptions and hacking. Both will remain wary military competitors, on the ground and in cyberspace. But President Xi Jinping could agree to a sustained and deeper engagement on the topic, perhaps with an accelerated pace of bilateral working groups, both military and diplomatic. A useful long-range goal for these talks would be an agreement on norms and standards of behavior. They could take off the table some of the most egregious actions, such as grand theft of intellectual property.
benton.org/node/153288 | Washington Post
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CHINA’S PUSH FOR TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wong, Didi Kirsten Tatlow]
A government-financed research institute in the Pearl River Delta boasts an impressive range of specialties, from robotics to nanomedicine to magnetic resonance imaging. But not all the cutting edge developments may be the result of indigenous innovation, according to American prosecutors, who last month charged three Chinese scientists at the New York University School of Medicine with taking bribes to share research findings with their real employers: the Shenzhen institute and a separate Shanghai medical technology company. Though considerable attention has been focused on Chinese cyberespionage efforts, the institute is at the vanguard of a related push to bolster China’s competitiveness by acquiring overseas technology directly from Chinese scientists working in the United States and other developed countries, say American officials and analysts. Those scientists are heavily recruited to return to China or, in some instances, to share their knowledge while remaining overseas, according to the federal court case and a book released last month by three experts who do China research for the United States government.
benton.org/node/153324 | New York Times
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