October 31, 2013 (Happy Halloween)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2013 (Happy Halloween)
Nothing on today’s calendar – it’s spooky http://benton.org/calendar
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say
PRISM already gave the NSA access to tech giants. Here’s why it wanted more. - analysis
Analysis: NSA's data grab ought to boost privacy concerns
Former Facebook lawyer calls latest NSA revelations “shocking” [links to web]
Here’s why NSA officials never seem to stop talking about 9/11 [links to web]
An NSA fix - op-ed
Tap on Merkel Provides Peek at Vast Spy Net [links to web]
American Intelligence and the 'High Noon' Scenario - op-ed [links to web]
Mr. President, We Can Handle the Truth - op-ed
Sen. Franken calls transparency hearing with Google and 'top administration officials' [links to web]
Redesigning Commerce.gov - press release [links to web]
PRIVACY
Who Has The Right To Know Where Your Phone Has Been?
No US Action, So States Move on Privacy Law
Who tracks the trackers that track you online? You can, with Lightbeam. [links to web]
The Man Turning The Privacy Tables On Mark Zuckerberg [links to web]
GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
6 tech hurdles for fixing Obamacare
Annoyed Obama demands fix
Obamacare site flaws due to government's innovation problem - analysis [links to web]
White House Vastly Overstates Federal Transparency, Auditors Report
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
FCC Seeks Comment On National Public Safety Telecommunications Council's 4.9 GHZ National Plan Recommendations Final Report - public notice [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
To Some (Broadcasters), Selling Spectrum Could Makes Sense
Sprint CEO calls network neutrality 'a hard concept to get my head around'
EU researchers create prototype for a server-free future Internet [links to web]
ABI: Android Extends Smartphone Lead Despite Windows Surge [links to web]
A tale of two Internets of things: Connectivity will invade your home and office in different ways [links to web]
Infonetics Predicts Small Cell Mobile Backhaul Surge [links to web]
INTERNET/TELECOM
The Lawmaker's Internet Trick or Treat
The End of the Wired Telephone Network is Coming...But Not Soon Enough - op-ed
CONTENT
Digital-media use to average 15.5 hours a day by 2015, study predicts [links to web]
TAXES
Stiff resistance to state technology taxes
ACCESSIBILITY
CVAA: Cable Ops Won't Have to Provide New Guide Info
POLICYMAKERS
Interim FCC chief Clyburn put focus on consumers and the poor
Wheeler FCC Ready To Roll On
Tough Job Ahead for New FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler
Senate Delay on FCC Commissioners Shows Need for New Rules Around Confirmations - press release
COMPANY NEWS
Facebook Status: Big Gains, but Worries Ahead [links to web]
Intel Explores Sale of TV Venture to Verizon [links to web]
Comcast Shows Growth in Internet Subscribers [links to web]
Sprint’s Hesse Shows Off Post-SoftBank With a “Spark” of Speed [links to web]
STRORIES FROM ABROAD
NSA Fallout Hits AT&T's Ambitions In Europe
Court blocks Deutsche Telekom plans to cap Internet speed
UK Creates New Regulator for the Press
Phone-hacking trial: three ex-News of the World staff plead guilty [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
NSA INFILTRATES LINKS TO YAHOO, GOOGLE DATA CENTERS WORLDWIDE, SNOWDEN DOCUMENTS SAY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Barton Gellman, Ashkan Soltani]
The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials. By tapping those links, the agency has positioned itself to collect at will from among hundreds of millions of user accounts, many of them belonging to Americans. According to a top secret accounting dated Jan. 9, 2013, NSA’s acquisitions directorate sends millions of records every day from Yahoo and Google internal networks to data warehouses at the agency’s Fort Meade headquarters. In the preceding 30 days, the report said, field collectors had processed and sent back 181,280,466 new records -- ranging from “metadata,” which would indicate who sent or received e-mails and when, to content such as text, audio and video. NSA documents about the effort refer directly to “full take,” “bulk access” and “high volume” operations on Yahoo and Google networks. The NSA’s principal tool to exploit the data links is a project called MUSCULAR, operated jointly with the agency’s British counterpart, GCHQ. The infiltration is especially striking because the NSA, under a separate program known as PRISM, has front-door access to Google and Yahoo user accounts through a court-approved process.
benton.org/node/165332 | Washington Post
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WHY NSA WANTED MORE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Andrea Peterson]
[Commentary] The National Security Agency already had robust front door access to those companies via PRISM. So why did it need a back door? There are some obvious reasons: The operations take place overseas, where many statutory restriction on surveillance don't apply -- and where the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court (FISC) has no jurisdiction. In fact, the FISC ruled a similar, smaller scale program involving cables on US territory illegal in 2011. So if the NSA decides to harvest that data on foreign soil, it can skip most of the oversight mechanisms. Data are an essentially global commodity, and the backup processes of companies often mean that data is replicated many places across the world. So just because you sent an e-mail in the US, doesn't mean it will always stay within the nation's borders for its entire life in the cloud. The NSA may have preferred its back-door method of accessing the data because it was less visible to the technology companies holding the data. By accessing data without the knowledge of tech companies, it didn't have to worry that the volume of data iit was accessing could raise privacy alarm bells within those companies.
benton.org/node/165337 | Washington Post
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ANALYSIS: NSA'S DATA GRAB OUGHT TO BOOST PRIVACY CONCERNS
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Byron Acohido]
The latest revelation of how government spies tap into the personal data that US consumers so blithely place into the control of the Internet's advertising giants is the most profound yet. "This is the first real evidence of deep intrusions by [the National Security Agency] and [the UK’s] GCHQ into the internal networks of major Internet companies," says Dave Jevans, chief technology officer of mobile security firm Marble Security. "By essentially copying all traffic that flows through these networks, the intelligence agencies can see everything that happens at these companies." MUSCULAR appears to give government snoops access to not just contact lists and address books -- Snowden’s recent revelation -- but all e-mail and business documents, including Google docs used by hundreds of thousands of companies. The steady flow of revelations from the Snowden document may be having the effect of keeping convenience-minded consumers more attuned to the intensive harvesting of their every online move by Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Microsoft, AOL and other major and minor players treating consumer privacy as a free profit-making resource. Consumers and companies should not take this lightly. "We can assume a whole new level of threat," Jevans says. "The NSA and GCHQ must have insiders either working at Google and Yahoo, or in the datacenters where their servers are housed." Global companies could be susceptible to similar government snooping and should assess the security of data transfers between various datacenters, he added.
benton.org/node/165330 | USAToday
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AN NSA FIX
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Rep Adam Schiff (D-CA)]
[Commentary] Since the disclosure of highly classified National Security Agency programs in June, the nation has engaged in a heated debate over electronic surveillance, particularly as it affects the privacy of the American people. The need to strike a balance between security and privacy is a constant challenge, and it's the mark of a free society that we debate that balance vigorously and in public. Perhaps the most controversial revelation in the material leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is the size and shape of the so-called bulk phone metadata collection program, which was the focus of a House Intelligence Committee hearing. That program in its current form should be brought to an end by the Administration. The Administration and the NSA would be wise to restructure it in a way that protects our privacy. If they fail to act, it's likely that Congress -- where legislation already has been introduced -- or the courts will do it for them.
benton.org/node/165448 | Los Angeles Times
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MR. PRESIDENT, WE CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH
[SOURCE: Foreign Policy, AUTHOR: David Rothkopf]
[Commentary] The newly adopted argument for US spying on foreign allies was that the President had no idea this was going on and that it was stopped. Now we weren't just spying on the Germans and others -- we were lying to them. And the White House was asking the American people to accept ignorance as its excuse. What a fine choice. Either the President didn't know about programs he should have been aware of, or he knew and not only OKed the overreach, but then lied about it. This astonishingly lame response was then compounded by an idea that the President was considering reforms that would ban eavesdropping on presidents and prime ministers of allies. Quite apart from raising the tough question of who our "real" allies are or defining who is fair game for spying, this policy tweak is not reform but spin. What if there were 20 allies who qualified? Does this mean we solve the NSA surveillance overreach problem by exempting a small, pre-selected group out of hundreds of millions from the data and phone-records eavesdropping and warehousing efforts of the US government? However, the core issues of the gross and excessive surveillance associated with the NSA revelations are not about spying on friends. Wholesale harvesting of the emails and phone records of Americans is a dangerous departure from the principles of limiting government access to private information that has existed since the beginnings of the republic. Creating back doors by which Americans can be eavesdropped on via collecting overseas data resources is another worrisome dimension of these programs. Serially violating the privacy of tens of millions of foreign citizens is another. So is the suggestion that the threat of terrorism warrants such sweeping violations.
benton.org/node/165302 | Foreign Policy
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PRIVACY
WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHERE YOUR PHONE HAS BEEN?
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Larry Abramson]
You probably know, or should know, that your cellphone is tracking your location everywhere you go. But whether law enforcement officials should have access to that data is at the center of a constitutional debate. Matt Blaze, a professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania, says location tracking is key to how the cell system operates. "As you move around, your phone is constantly checking to see whether the tower that it's currently registered with is the best one, or whether there's a better tower with a stronger signal coming in range," he says. Cellphone companies store that information so they can deliver better service. That's handy for the police. Law enforcement agencies across the country already subpoena phone location data regularly.
benton.org/node/165300 | National Public Radio
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STATE PRIVACY LAWS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Somini Sengupta]
State legislatures around the country, facing growing public concern about the collection and trade of personal data, have rushed to propose a series of privacy laws, from limiting how schools can collect student data to deciding whether the police need a warrant to track cellphone locations. Over two dozen privacy laws have passed this year in more than 10 states, in places as different as Oklahoma and California. Many lawmakers say that news reports of widespread surveillance by the National Security Agency have led to more support for the bills among constituents. And in some cases, the state lawmakers say, they have felt compelled to act because of the stalemate in Washington on legislation to strengthen privacy laws. For Internet companies, the patchwork of rules across the country means keeping a close eye on evolving laws to avoid overstepping. Many companies have an internal team to deal with state legislation. And the flurry of legislation has led some companies, particularly technology companies, to exert their lobbying muscles -- with some success -- when proposed measures stand to harm their bottom lines.
benton.org/node/165438 | New York Times
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GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
6 TECH HURDLES
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Jessica Meyers]
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius described an Obamacare website pushed out too early and still wading through technical problems, even as she defended the site’s security and vowed to fix the mishaps. The website never crashed, she said, and it has undergone significant improvement since its Oct. 1 launch. People no longer receive blank screens when they log on, thanks to double the number of servers and nonstop work rewriting code. Here’s what the hearing revealed about what went wrong with the technology and hurdles ahead:
Testing: Responding to a barrage of lawmaker questions, Sec Sebelius confirmed that HHS failed to conduct enough testing to ensure the entire system would work and revealed that parts of the website did not get “loaded” until the third week of September.
Security: Sec Sebelius assured lawmakers that consumer information on the website is safe and dismissed accusations of a HealthCare.gov “breach.” But a “sort of skilled hacker” did find a means to access certain personal information from the website, she said, adding it was “a theoretical problem that was immediately fixed.”
Privacy: The Administration is working with contractor CGI to change “boilerplate language” on HealthCare.gov that suggests Americans should not have a total expectation of privacy, Sec Sebelius said. “It’s an error that needs to be taken down and we should be held accountable for protecting privacy.”
Window browsing: Sec Sebelius said officials turned off the browsing feature two weeks before the website’s launch to ensure HealthCare.gov would work. But its removal, which forced people to register first before reviewing options, appears to have helped cause the traffic overload.
Outages/Verizon: Verizon Terremark’s data center went down and affects the federal data hub that determines eligibility information for state-run and federal exchanges.
Cost: The Administration has spent about $118 million on the HealthCare.gov website itself and about $56 million on additional IT to support it, Sec Sebelius said.
benton.org/node/165341 | Politico
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ANNOYED OBAMA DEMANDS FIX
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Amie Parnes]
An agitated President Barack Obama has expressed frustration to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about the faulty ObamaCare enrollment website. President Obama behind closed doors has made clear to Sec Sebelius that it’s her responsibility to fix what has become an unwanted second-term blunder, according to senior administration officials. White House officials say the strong words from President Obama don’t mean Sec Sebelius is necessarily in the doghouse, but that she’s responsible for fixing the problem. According to one senior administration official, “She’s in a tough spot. She’s on the hook.” “His management style isn’t to berate people,” one senior administration official said. “It’s to make people do better. It’s not just directed at Kathleen; it’s directed at everybody.” He had made clear, according to aides, that he would like Sec Sebelius to stay on while the website issues are resolved. “She and the team will get this done,” one senior administration official said, without predicting how long that might take.
benton.org/node/165417 | Hill, The
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WHITE HOUSE VASTLY OVERSTATES FEDERAL TRANSPARENCY, AUDITORS REPORT
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Joseph Marks]
The US has only completed half the commitments it made in 2011 under an international government transparency agreement, an independent auditor found recently. That’s in stark contrast to a March 2013 report in which White House officials claimed the government had completed 24 of its 26 original commitments to the Open Government Partnership. The government has made minimal progress at declassifying benign national security records or using new technology to make it easier for people to request documents under the Freedom of Information Act, according to the independent assessment. The White House claimed to have fulfilled both commitments, citing a presidential order to establish a National Declassification Center and several new websites that receive and manage Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Those initiatives have largely failed, so far, to make government more transparent to citizens, according to the independent assessment.
benton.org/node/165327 | nextgov
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
TO SOME, SELLING SPECTRUM COULD MAKES SENSE
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Price Colman]
For some group owners, especially those with multiple stations in major markets, the Federal Communications Commission’s upcoming incentive auction is starting to look like an opportunity to reap a cash windfall. LIN Media CEO Vince Sadusky and CTO Brett Jenkins acknowledged that the station group might sell some of its TV spectrum in the FCC’s planned incentive auction. It would be a way of turning Class A low-power stations and full-power duopoly stations into cash, Sadusky said. "[W]e think that there could be a value creation capability option." Both LIN and Meredith say they’re considering participating. And for others like Ion and Univision, the financial rewards are very tempting.
benton.org/node/165314 | TVNewsCheck
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SPRINT AND NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Dieter Bohn]
"Regulatory issues" are apparently a vexing problem for Sprint’s Dan Hesse right now, which makes sense as he's the CEO of a major wireless company with ambitions to launch a service that competes with wireline broadband providers. When asked if Sprint would consider offering data plans that looked more like those available abroad, Hesse said he was interested. Specifically, the topic on the table was "Zero Rating," which is industry parlance for an app or service that doesn't count against a customer's data cap. Could Sprint start making deals with the likes of Netflix, Facebook, or others for Zero Rating service? Here's Hesse: “My belief is yes, that there are a number of business models. Whether it's ... service providers [who pay] for better throughput through your network [or something else]. There's gotta be a business model for it. Things like Zero Rating, which is nothing but a benefit, actually, what's not to like if you have a special relationship with a particular application developer?” Hesse may see it that way, but whether regulators at the Federal Communications Commission would too is an entirely different matter. Hesse, as you might expect, isn't a fan of network neutrality at all -- at least as it applies to wireless services. He went to far as to put the phrase in scare quotes as he spoke on the subject: “[Wireless spectrum] it is a finite resource ... but again I'm a carrier guy so it's hard for me to even understand, it truly is and I've been looking at ‘Net Neutrality’ for a long time. It's actually a hard concept for me to get my head around. It's like telling the airlines you can't sell first class seats.”
benton.org/node/165435 | Verge, The
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INTERNET/TELECOM
INTERNET LAW
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
What are the worst laws threatening the Internet? NetChoice has a list for that. For the fifth year, NetChoice, a public policy organization that promotes Internet innovation, has surveyed the legal landscape and identified the laws and proposed laws that could potentially undermine key elements of Internet freedom and commerce.
A small change in the Communications Decency Act could make Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and other social nets responsible for inappropriate posts.
A new California privacy bill (CA SB 568) chills advertising on the Internet.
Infringing on the right to public photography makes it harder to find criminals. Laws under consideration in Michigan and Massachusetts would limit the collection and retention of license plate reader technology widely used by law enforcement.
A federal Internet sales tax bill, called the Marketplace Fairness Act, could cripple e-commerce.
Some states want to impose new taxes on travel services. Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and Oregon are creating new taxes on the services provided by online travel sites and local travel agents.
New legislation wants to take control of your online accounts when you die. You may want to know how you want your online accounts handled, but several states are considering bills that allow a court-appointed executor to counter your wishes.
benton.org/node/165436 | AdWeek
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THE END OF THE WIRED TELEPHONE NETWORK IS COMING
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Larry Downes]
A New York Times article cited complaints from some residents (one, actually) of Mantoloking, an island off the coast of New Jersey that was badly hit by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. The problem? Verizon, one of the companies that provides voice communications for Matoloking, had decided not to rebuild the island’s copper telephone network, which was destroyed by the hurricane. Instead, the company offered residents a wireless phone service, at least as a short-term fix. “Verizon decides then and there to step on us,” the article quotes the resident. In a column, the Wall Street Journal’s Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. took issue with efforts to turn Mantoloking into an “object of pity” for being left without telephone service as a “second blow” after the hurricane. Verizon isn’t rebuilding destroyed Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) networks because they are cruel, but because there are already better options. Indeed, natural disasters aside, most Americans have already made the switch to digital telephony, and have done so on their own schedule and for all the right reasons. The Internet’s packet-switching architecture, open standards, non-proprietary protocols, peered networks and digital hardware are clearly better than separate, closed networks based on older analog technologies. They are also cheaper to operate and maintain. Competition among Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers is fierce, and prices are falling. As the number of homes yet to cut the cord to the PSTN network continues its precipitous drop, the endgame is now in sight. Even the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the old network under rules largely unchanged from the days of the government-sanctioned telephone monopoly, has called for its quick and orderly retirement. But there’s a catch. Decades-old regulations still on the books require the continued operation of the decaying and obsolete analog network, no matter how few users it still has and regardless of cost. The legacy PSTN rules have unintentionally created an enormous black hole for regulated network operators.
benton.org/node/165321 | Forbes
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TAXES
STIFF RESISTANCE TO STATE TECHNOLOGY TAXES
[SOURCE: Pew/Stateline, AUTHOR: Elaine S. Povich]
As the nation moves from a tangible goods-based economy to a service-based economy, a few states are trying to keep revenues robust by taxing technological services such as software upgrades and cloud computing. But a backlash from the high-tech industry has quashed most efforts. As a result, the US has a patchwork quilt of state taxes on technological services. Some states that have tried to impose such taxes have failed spectacularly, and most have not tried at all. According to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank that studies taxes, only 10 states (Connecticut, New Mexico, Hawaii, South Dakota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia tax all writing or updating of software. Only New Mexico, Hawaii and South Dakota levy their general sales taxes on all software services. States with sales taxes do, however, levy those taxes on software that is sold on CDs or other hard storage materials. About half the states also tax "canned" (non-altered) software that can be downloaded, according to the Tax Foundation. Elia Peterson, an analyst with the foundation, said in a recent paper that states are reluctant to tax computer services in large part because it "is an especially mobile industry and could easily move to a lower tax state."
benton.org/node/165316 | Pew/Stateline
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ACCESSIBILITY
CVAA: CABLE OPS WON'T HAVE TO PROVIDE NEW GUIDE INFO
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission has decided not to require cable operators to add new information to their onscreen program guides as part of a congressional accessibility mandate, according to a source familiar with the as-yet unreleased rules for what is billed as the last major element of its implementation of the Communications Video Accessibility Act (CVAA). Cable operators will have three years from the Office of Management and Budget's sign-off of the implementation order to comply, but mid-sized and smaller operators will have up to five years. The rules deal with the accessibility for the blind and visually impaired of onscreen guides, and does not require that all boxes be compliant, only that compliant devices be made available upon request. While larger cable operators will have three years to comply, the FCC will allow systems with 400,000 or fewer subs and not owned by one of the two largest operators up to five years to comply -- they must request an extension--and systems of 20,000 or fewer subs no matter who owns them.
benton.org/node/165414 | Broadcasting&Cable
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POLICYMAKERS
FCC ACTING CHAIRWOMAN MIGNON CLYBURN
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Four years ago, Mignon Clyburn arrived in Washington as a regulatory newcomer to take a seat on the Federal Communications Commission. She faced immediate skeptics because of her high-profile father, Rep James Clyburn (D-SC), a former House majority whip. In her six months leading the FCC, she has pushed through consumer-friendly regulations to reform prison phone rates and to provide more access to technology in rural areas. The regulations, some industry experts note, are modest in their scope compared with controversial policies the agency has taken on, such as network neutrality. But the 51-year-old commissioner says those policies are significant because they directly affect consumers, particularly minorities, low-income families and rural residents. “These are my people,” she said in a recent interview. “My duty is to empower communities, particularly those like mine that are often overlooked.” With recently confirmed FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler expected to be sworn in on Nov 4, current-Chairwoman Clyburn will remain a member of the FCC and said she will work with her fellow Democratic chairman and maintain a focus on consumer protections.
benton.org/node/165440 | Washington Post
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WHEELER FCC READY TO ROLL ON
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Doug Halonen]
Former cable and wireless phone lobbyist Tom Wheeler will take the helm of the Federal Communications Commission as chairman on Nov. 4 following his requisite swearing in. An FCC source said Wheeler and Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn spoke to discuss how best to orchestrate the changing of the guard. “They both talked about the importance of a smooth transition,” the source said. No word yet on his staff, but Diane Cornell, vice president of government affairs for mobile satellite giant Inmarsat; Phil Verveer, a former State Department executive; and Ruth Milkman, chief of the FCC’s Wireless Bureau could play roles. Cornell, a former FCC staffer, worked as vice president of regulatory policy for Wheeler when he headed the wireless industry’s CTIA lobbying group in Washington. Verveer, who stepped down as deputy assistant secretary of state for international communications in January this year, is a former FCC Cable and Common Carrier Bureau chief and veteran communications lawyer.
benton.org/node/165415 | TVNewsCheck
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TOUGH JOB AHEAD FOR NEW FCC CHAIRMAN TOM WHEELER
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The Federal Communications Commission, which has been run by just three commissioners for several months, will soon be back up to full force after the Senate confirmed Tom Wheeler as the new FCC chairman and long-term Congressional staffer Michael O’Rielly as FCC commissioner. Wheeler noted that the telecommunications industry is in the middle of important changes. Wheeler is generally viewed favorably by telecom industry stakeholders, who perceive that he is already up to speed on key telecom industry issues. O’Rielly comes to the FCC from his position as an adviser to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the Republican minority whip. “Both nominees are highly qualified for their positions,” said Walter B. McCormick Jr., president and CEO of USTelecom, adding that “we look forward to working with them on the critical issues that face the nation’s communications industry and consumers.” McCormick didn’t specify the “critical issues,” but I think most telecom industry stakeholders would agree that they include such thorny items as the TDM-to-IP transition, Universal Service reform, retransmission rights, and spectrum policy.
benton.org/node/165309 | telecompetitor
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SENATE DELAY ON FCC COMMISSIONERS SHOWS NEED FOR NEW RULES AROUND CONFIRMATIONS
[SOURCE: Common Cause, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Senate’s slow path to confirming two new members of the Federal Communications Commission strengthens the case for new rules reforming the filibuster and stripping individual senators of the power to delay or block action on both nominations and legislation, Common Cause said. Tom Wheeler, the new FCC chairman, and new commissioner Michael O’Rielly "were screened and endorsed by a bipartisan majority in the Commerce Committee," Copps said. "The delays they experienced speak again to the crying need for rules reform. It’s past time for the Senate to behave like a responsible legislative body, one in which presidential nominees are thoroughly but promptly scrutinized and either confirmed or defeated based on their fitness for office." Wheeler’s nomination has been ready for a floor vote since July 2013 but action on both him and O’Rielly was delayed for weeks when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) used a Senate custom to put a "hold” on Wheeler. "It’s a sad state of affairs when a minority of the minority party in the Senate can paralyze government," said Copps, a former FCC commissioner.
benton.org/node/165410 | Common Cause
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
NSA AND AT&T
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Anton Troianovski, Thomas Gryta, Sam Schechner]
AT&T’s ambitions to expand in Europe have run into unexpected hurdles amid the growing outcry across the region over surveillance by the National Security Agency. German and other European officials said any attempt by AT&T to acquire a major wireless operator would face intense scrutiny, given the company's work with the US agency's data-collection programs. Resistance to such a deal, voiced by officials in interviews across Europe, suggests the impact of the NSA affair could extend beyond the diplomatic sphere and damage U.S. economic interests in key markets. AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson has signaled repeatedly in recent months that he is interested in buying a mobile-network operator in Europe, highlighting the potential for growth on the continent at a time when the US company faces headwinds at home. Europe's anger over the NSA's collection of electronic communications has reduced the likelihood a European deal could happen anytime soon.
benton.org/node/165443 | Wall Street Journal
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DT INTERNET CAPS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Harro ten Wolde]
Deutsche Telekom will not be able to cap Internet connection speeds when customers exceed data limits on flat-rate packages, a German court ruled. The district court of Cologne said the plans would place an "unreasonable disadvantage to the customers" as they count on Internet for a fixed price at stable connection speeds. The case was brought to court by consumer lobby group Verbraucherzentrale NRW, which said in a statement that after this ruling there was no legal basis for an Internet speed cap.
benton.org/node/165433 | Reuters
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UK PRESS REGULATOR
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ainsley Thomson]
The British government's plan to regulate the press cleared its final hurdle Oct 30 by gaining the formal consent of Queen Elizabeth. Her approval came just hours after a group of newspaper publishers, who said the plan could threaten press freedom, failed to block it with a last-ditch legal challenge. Through a Royal Charter, a document issued by the queen, the government created an independent regulator empowered to make print publications that have voluntarily agreed to the charter issue apologies and/or corrections if they break its code of conduct. The regulator can impose fines of as much as £1 million ($1.6 million) for serious breaches. Though there is no penalty for publications that don't sign on to the charter, a publisher who doesn't could face greater liability, such as in libel cases.
benton.org/node/165428 | Wall Street Journal
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