August 2013

Lobbying and new spectrum: One last shot for LightSquared

[Commentary] Most industry observers considered LightSquared's fate sealed when it filed for bankruptcy back in 2012 after failing to receive government approval to launch its cellular network in the face of interference concerns with GPS. But the company has been diligently pursuing an alternative path to bring its business plan to market.

It is unclear who is going to win the lawsuit that LightSquared founder Phil Falcone filed against Dish chairman Charlie Ergen for allegedly attempting to purchase LightSquared’s debt in secret, but more than a fight between two billionaires, it is about possession of who has possession of the wireless spectrum and government agencies may have to share spectrum with private companies. That is why LightSquared has spent $1.3 million on federal lobbying to share 5MHz of airwaves currently used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In exchange, LightSquared would give up its right to use terrestrial signals in the 10MHz closest to GPS. The FCC granted it authority to test the feasibility of spectrum sharing with NOAA. What’s more, it could help the government in other ways if this works out. “There is much more interest to prove now that spectrum sharing among federal and commercial users is possible,” said Harold Feld, a senior executive at the consumer interest group Public Knowledge. It also helps that a handful of major trade associations—including CTIA, the Competitive Carrier Association, and the Computer and Communications Industry Association—have expressed some support for the new proposal and there has been no voiced opposition from the GPS industry. But time is working against LightSquared.

The bankruptcy court judge plans to rule on a reorganization scheme this December, and Dish has already put enough money on the table to make the lenders whole. In all likelihood, the FCC will only push to make sure the spectrum goes to good use, not to help any particular company.

DOJ Softens Proposed Apple E-Book Injunctions, Slightly

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is willing to temper the proposed remedies in its e-book price-fixing case against Apple, but not all that much.

The DOJ submitted a revision of its proposed injunction, dialing it back slightly in order to limit the possibility that changes in the publishing and technology industries might cause it to “outlive its usefulness and unnecessarily harm Apple.” Under the terms of the revised proposal, the length of the injunction will be shortened to five years from 10, and the restrictions placed on deals Apple can strike with publishers will stand for two to four years, rather than five. Hardly the significant adjustments for which Apple has been angling, slagging the remedies variously as “draconian,” “intrusive,” and “wildly out of proportion to any adjudicated wrongdoing or potential harm.” But the DOJ is clearly unwilling to back down from what it feels are necessary and justified sanctions against a player it feels can’t be trusted.

How the NSA’s boss can believe his agency’s own propaganda

[Commentary] Stanford legal scholar Jennifer Granick had a July 30 dinner with National Security Agency director Keith Alexander and she described how Alexander explained to her, with a tone of slight exasperation, that the NSA’s domestic surveillance programs operate within the law and under the strict supervision of the courts. Over the next three weeks the public would learn otherwise. An internal audit would show rampant privacy violations at the agency, while a FISA court opinion found that the NSA had broken the law and repeatedly misled the court. “How does a good man sit across from you at the dinner table and assure you the government is properly constrained,” Granick wonders, “when in reality it lies and disregards even the most anemic purported safeguards?”

Lee believes what motivates high-level executives to believe their own propaganda is that people tend to seek employment with institutions they admire. And that those who question the policies of the institutions they work for are effectively marginalized, as was the case with former NSA senior executive Thomas Drake who now works in an Apple Store after becoming a whistleblower within that organization. Alexander has remained convinced of his organization’s ideology, allowing him to continue up the career ladder to the well-protected position he is in now, where he rarely encounters the critical scrutiny of the likes of Granick.

Wiring the planet could be a $14 billion opportunity for Facebook

[Commentary] Mark Zuckerberg recently embarked on a laudable, altruistic mission to bring Internet access to the 5 billion people in the world who don’t have it. But here’s what the Facebook CEO’s white paper didn’t tell you: If 5 billion new people got online, Facebook could make in the ballpark of $3.5 billion in the first quarter.

That won’t surprise cynics who smelled a lucrative business opportunity in Zuckerberg’s talk of “connectivity” and “human rights.” That business opportunity will lie largely in mobile, since most people in developing countries get Internet through their phones. While Facebook’s “next 5 billion” campaign could mean more ad revenue for Facebook, the target may fall short. It’s unlikely that 5 billion people will actually get online, cautions Nate Elliott, an analyst at Forrester who focuses on social media. Even in developed markets, total online adoption is around “80ish percent.” And plenty of people are on Facebook in emerging markets already, 100 million on feature phones alone.

NSA punished analysts over privacy

Apparently, the National Security Agency took disciplinary actions against analysts who intentionally overstepped their legal authority, according to a government official familiar with the actions.

The agency informed Congress of the privacy violations and subsequent punishments. It is unclear whether any NSA analysts lost their jobs over the incidents. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said that there has only been about one case per year of intentional privacy violations. "These incidents were not related to FISA, and in most instances did not involve an American’s information. I have been informed by NSA that disciplinary action has been taken, and I am reviewing each of these incidents in detail," she said.

TV Station Ownership’s 45% Solution

[Commentary] Getting rid of the outdated UHF discount is fine if Congress would simultaneously raise the ownership cap to 45% so groups can contend with new marketplace challenges.

Broadcast viewership continues to be eroded not only by cable, but also by the Internet. The latter has evolved into a full-blown TV medium. What it lacks in picture quality, it more than makes up for in its interactivity. So the cable stations are in a running battle for survival. None should be held back from accumulating more stations and benefitting from the economies and negotiating clout that come from size. It may be a coincidence that a Democratic FCC chairwoman (Mignon Clyburn) has decided that it's "appropriate" to go after the UHF discount at the same time it becomes critical to Sinclair's business strategy. Or maybe it isn't.

Appeals court overrules Apple-Samsung judge, allows more document sealing

The openness of the Apple v. Samsung patent trial had limits that are becoming clear post-trial. US District Judge Lucy Koh wanted to unseal more documents post-trial, but she was sharply overruled by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

During the trial, the two warring corporations unsealed many documents under Koh's eye. But there remained, at the end of the trial, a set of documents that the parties and the judge could not agree about. Those documents related to per-product pricing information on Apple products, as well as certain market research reports, among other things. Apple "cannot both use its financial data to seek multi-billion dollar damages and insist on keeping it secret," Judge Koh wrote back in October. "The public’s interest in accessing Apple’s financial information is now perhaps even greater than it was at trial." A three-judge appeals panel disagreed. "There is no doubt that this case generated an extraordinary amount of public interest," wrote the panel. "But it does not necessarily follow that the public has a legally cognizable interest in every document filed."

Google Wants To Be Your Dictionary

From now on, Google's word search results will include synonyms, sample sentences, and some description of the word's etymology. But word scholars will point out that Google's not necessarily making it clear where it's sourcing this information from, and that it thus risks becoming an incorrect de facto source of "truth" on some words' meanings. That's important when the origins and even correct uses of some words are disputed. The move may also be challenged by well-known dictionary brands, many of which have online portals that are now rendered less useful by Google.

Patients care what their electronic health data is used for, survey shows

Patients do care about what becomes of their health information after it's used for their treatment, and they care more about what it's used for than who's using it.

That's according to a survey report published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association summarizing research aimed to measure patient preferences about sharing their electronic health information for so-called “secondary uses.” Generally speaking, the comfort level dropped for public health organizations' use of the data and fell even further for marketers. University hospitals were viewed more favorably and out-ranked public health departments, which typically fared better than drug makers.

NFL Pressure Said to Lead ESPN to Quit Film Project

Pressure from the National Football League led to ESPN’s decision to pull out of an investigative project with “Frontline” regarding head injuries in the NFL, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.

ESPN, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, pays the NFL more than $1 billion a year to broadcast “Monday Night Football,” a ratings juggernaut and cherished source of revenue for Disney. “Frontline,” the PBS public affairs series, and ESPN had been working for 15 months on a two-part documentary, to be televised in October. But ESPN’s editorial and production partnership with “Frontline” began to take a turn after a trailer for the documentary was released Aug. 6. According to observers who wished to remain anonymous because they were prohibited by superiors from discussing the matter publicly, several high-ranking officials convened a meeting. The meeting was apparently combative, where league officials conveyed their displeasure with the direction of the documentary, reflecting the NFL’s lack of support for the documentary project.

According to NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, the league declined to make NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell available for interviews. “Frontline” has interviewed several NFL doctors, but Aronson-Rath said three members of the NFL’s head, neck and spine committee canceled on-camera interviews after originally agreeing to them. Raney Aronson-Rath, the deputy executive producer of “Frontline,” said that until Aug 16, there had been no hint of trouble between “Frontline” and ESPN. She said that “Frontline” had worked “in lock step” with Vince Doria, ESPN’s senior vice president and director of news, and Dwayne Bray, senior coordinating producer in ESPN’s news-gathering unit. But in recent conversations with Doria and Dwayne Bray, senior coordinating producer in ESPN’s news-gathering unit, she was first told that ESPN did not want its logo to be connected to the films. “It didn’t appear that it was their decision,” she said.

Benton

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