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November 2013

Coalition urges congressional leaders to support NSA curbs

A coalition of more than 70 advocacy groups, trade associations and tech companies wrote to congressional leaders, encouraging them to support the surveillance-limiting USA Freedom Act. The letter -- sent to the Senate and House majority and minority leaders, and the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House Judiciary and Intelligence committees -- urges members to support reforms that would increase transparency and privacy protections for intelligence programs.

Signatories of the letter include Reddit, Dropbox, Mozilla, Hewlett-Packard, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Democracy and Technology. Specifically, the letter asks recipients to support reforms that would require more transparency from the government on surveillance programs, allow companies to publish more information about the government requests for user data they receive, focus surveillance on terrorists and spies, and ensure surveillance programs “honor both Constitutional and human rights.” “Toward this end, we welcome introduction in the House and Senate of the USA Freedom Act — legislation which promotes these goals,” the coalition said.

(Nov 21)

Op-ed

The Long Arm of the National Security-Communications Industry Complex

[Editor's note: Kevin Taglang is traveling today so instead of our normal weekly round-up we share instead the latest op-ed from former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. The Benton Foundation publishes articles penned by Commissioner Copps each month for our Digital Beat Blog.]

This is a story about more than just the national security implications of government surveillance, but it begins there.

November 22, 2013 (The National Security-Communications Industry Complex)

[Editor's note: Kevin Taglang is traveling today so instead of Headlines we share instead the latest op-ed from former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. The Benton Foundation publishes articles penned by Commissioner Copps each month for our Digital Beat Blog.]

The Long Arm of the National Security-Communications Industry Complex

This is a story about more than just the national security implications of government surveillance, but it begins there.

The New York Times reported in a front page story earlier this month that the Central Intelligence Agency is paying AT&T in excess of $10 million annually for information from the company’s telephone records, including the international calls of U.S. citizens. The article pointed out that this work "is conducted under a voluntary contract, not under subpoenas or court orders compelling the company to participate, according to officials." The story adds yet another chapter to the still-unfolding revelations about National Security Agency surveillance. Every week seems to bring new reports about the close and almost seamless ties that bind the several intelligence agencies to the huge telecom and broadband companies that bestride our nation’s communications infrastructure.

When I became a Member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2001, I assumed I would be privy to at least a credible amount of information about what the companies under FCC oversight were doing behind the scenes. My expectations went unfulfilled.

Did I expect the nation’s most sensitive intelligence information to be shared with me? No, I did not. But would it have been helpful for me to know more about how the industry executives who visited me on a whole range of non-national security communications industry issues were at the same time working hand-in-glove with the White House and these secretive agencies on a far more intimate and confidential basis than I was? Yes, absolutely.

Warnings about various special interest-government complexes hearken back to President Dwight Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell speech wherein he warned of the dangers that the military-industrial complex held for democratic government. Historians consider Ike’s admonition as a high-point of his Presidency. Since that speech almost 53 years ago, the influence of special interests and corporate power has only grown -- at the White House, in Congress, and among the federal agencies.

Maybe I’m a slow learner, or maybe I just wasn’t supposed to know, but it finally dawned on me that the CEOs and top management who came calling on me at the FCC were far better informed and connected than I was -- because their companies were the ones running these sensitive monitoring and surveillance operations in behalf of the national security agencies. It was, very often, their workers and their technologies that drove the process. Meanwhile, industry leaders themselves served on such influential but hush-hush boards as The President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.

As I began to grasp the power of these huge companies to leverage their influence on non-national security matters, I also began to understand that my influence as a Commissioner at an independent federal agency was more limited than I had thought. In a lengthy July 25, 2013 article in the National Journal, Chief Correspondent Michael Hirsh traced in considerable detail how our nation’s leading telecom and tech companies supported -- and even helped create -- the “surveillance state.” It is, of course, a story going back long before Iraq and Afghanistan to the days of World War II, and it’s the stuff of a thriller novel -- except it’s not that entertaining.

Hirsh tells how the NSA became an influential voice in the evolution of our communications systems, becoming a “major presence” in such seemingly non-defense decisions as industry mergers and consolidations. But these transactions weren’t “non-defense” to the intelligence agencies. On the contrary, it was easier and more efficient for the agencies to deal with huge industry players where the number of decision-makers was narrowed and where the sheer power of size helped get the national security job done.

It wasn’t news to me that these huge companies wielded far-reaching power all across Washington. I just didn’t realize how much power until I had been there a while. Then I began to think: what difference does it make if one or two Commissioners at the FCC don’t approve of a pending merger between telecom giants? (And, goodness knows, there are plenty of such transactions!) I conjured up images of a national security agency meeting at the White House and someone saying, “This guy Copps down at the FCC is opposed to this merger.” And I could envision a White House or national security type saying, “So what? These companies are working with us on all kinds of secret projects, and that takes precedence over any Commissioner’s worries about diminishing competition in communications or about consumer protection.”

And so the consolidation bazaar rolls on, companies continue to merge, and we find ourselves in a world wherein a few dominant players drive the last spikes into the coffin of competition. I am not arguing that national security concerns alone brought us to this point; there are plenty of other reasons that Big Telecom wants to grow even bigger. I am saying that both parties to this national security-communications industry complex derived great benefits (in their eyes) from this partnership. I am saying the tentacles of this cooperative enterprise reach widely and deeply into many aspects of our national life. And I am saying the American people need to know more -- much more -- about this.

We can argue the pros and cons of national security surveillance, and it is a debate worth having. But this debate needs to be informed by facts. Maybe we can’t have all the facts in all their detail, but certainly we need more than we presently possess. There is a point where national security depends upon secrecy. There is also a point where national security depends upon sunlight. The balance is sadly out-of-whack right now, and we are paying the price in the loss of government credibility both at home and abroad.

Finally, we need to conduct this discussion in a broader context because it is part of even larger issues. Every day brings non-national security revelations about companies developing and deploying new ways to invade our personal space, capture every available fact about our daily lives and habits, and share them for purely commercial benefit. This is not an issue separate from what I have been discussing in this piece. And, as deeply troubling as the privacy and consumer issues are, the implications for democracy are just as severe. Open communications are a prerequisite of self-government. Any short-circuiting of this openness diminishes the ability of free people to chart their own democratic future.

Michael Copps served as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from May 2001 to December 2011 and was the FCC's Acting Chairman from January to June 2009. His years at the Commission have been highlighted by his strong defense of "the public interest"; outreach to what he calls "non-traditional stakeholders" in the decisions of the FCC, particularly minorities, Native Americans and the various disabilities communities; and actions to stem the tide of what he regards as excessive consolidation in the nation's media and telecommunications industries. In 2012, former Commissioner Copps joined Common Cause to lead its Media and Democracy Reform Initiative. Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.

November 21, 2013 (More Gigabit Networks May be in the Pipeline)

Due to travel schedules, Headlines will next arrive in your In Box if the afternoon of Monday, November 25.

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013


OPEN GOVERNMENT
   FCC Chairman Wheeler Meets with Public Interest Groups

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   US and UK struck secret deal to allow NSA to 'unmask' Britons' personal data
   Senators want to use Defense bill to force NSA disclosures
   Profit, Not Just Principle, Has Tech Firms Concerned With NSA
   Investors Ask AT&T, Verizon to Show Government Data Requests
   The Surveillance Industry Index: An Introduction - press release [links to web]
   President Obama's Very Ironic Tribute To Press Freedom - analysis [links to web]
   China Central TV: champion of the people with a blurred picture

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Gig.U: More Gigabit Networks May be in the Pipeline
   In Chicago, Blair Levin reflects on Gigabit Garden - speech
   Pluses and Minuses of Wheeler’s IP Transition Post - analysis [links to web]
   The beginning of the end - op-ed [links to web]
   NTCA Statement on IP Transition - press release [links to web]
   Google launches Project Link, will build fiber internet networks in developing areas
   Launch Event Highlights Allied Fiber’s Open Access Network [links to web]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Padden: FCC Has Auction Order 'Substantially Drafted'
   NHMC To FCC: Auction Likely To Decrease Diversity
   WBA: 22% of the mobile data capacity created in 2014 will come from Wi-Fi [links to web]

EDUCATION
   Online Courses Fail to Reach Poor Students as Richest Benefit
   Transition to Online Testing Sparks Concerns [links to web]
   How school leaders can empower the digital transition [links to web]

TELEVISION
   Republican: House won't take up online video bill [links to web]
   HBO’s no-cable experiment goes nowhere: Netflix handily beats HBO Nordic in Sweden [links to web]

HEALTH
   Lawmakers Clash Over Mobile Medical App Regulation [links to web]

LABOR
   The White House and “Warriors 4 Wireless” Partners Announce New Commitment to Connect Veterans to High-Tech Jobs - press release [links to web]
   Tribune to Cut Nearly 700 Newspaper Jobs as Part of Restructuring [links to web]

CYBERSECURITY
   How Somebody Forced the World’s Internet Traffic Through Belarus and Iceland
   Chinese Hackers Seen Exploiting Cloud to Spy on US [links to web]

PATENTS
   Samsung Seeks to Have Current Apple Case Put on Hold Following Patent Office Action [links to web]
   Software patent reform just died in the House, thanks to IBM and Microsoft [links to web]

GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
   Is it Time for a Secretary of Technology? [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   Chairman Wheeler Names Admiral David Simpson Chief of PSHSB - press release [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   China Central TV: champion of the people with a blurred picture
   ITU Telecom World 2013 Forum kicks off Conversations between government, UN agencies and industry - press release [links to web]
   Lions go digital: The Internet’s transformative potential in Africa - research [links to web]
   German court chides Google over its vague privacy policy and terms [links to web]

MORE ONLINE
   Silver Spring’s Smart City Play [links to web]

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OPEN GOVERNMENT

CHAIRMAN WHEELER MEETS WITH PUBLIC INTEREST ADVOCATES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler met with public interest groups to talk about his agency plans including his pledge of support for an open Internet. The meeting was described by attendee Harold Feld of Public Knowledge as a good, frank discussion but long on high-level generality and short on specifics. Several of the public interest group representatives brought up key issues they want the FCC to be mindful of, including diversity, a request that Wheeler get out of Washington more often, and, for Feld's part, concerns about making data more available, particularly on mergers. Chairman Wheeler recognized that the FCC needs to collect more data to know what was going on in the industry, in particular with regard to minority ownership, said one attendee. He said that was something the agency needed to focus on. He said he wanted to make sure of diversity not only in the media context, but in the IP transition to insure that the minority communities are not passed by. Chairman Wheeler acknowledged that there were some in the group who were doubtful of his credentials as a regulator who would put consumers first -- he is a former lobbyist for the cable and wireless industries. But he said it was important for him to recognize that competition sometime requires regulation to promote it. He remembered when he had been on the opposite side of the desk from the chairman trying to make his case. He said he was interested in pragmatic results, signaled that his approach would be to try and get industry to move voluntarily but recognizing that that "was not always going to happen."
Others present included representatives of Free Press, the Benton Foundation, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council, The Leadership Council on Civil Rights, the United Church of Christ, and the NAACP.
benton.org/node/168095 | Broadcasting&Cable
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

US AND UK STRUCK SECRET DEAL TO ALLOW NSA TO 'UNMAKS' BRITONS' PERSONAL DATA
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: James Ball]
The phone, Internet and e-mail records of UK citizens not suspected of any wrongdoing have been analyzed and stored by America's National Security Agency under a secret deal that was approved by British intelligence officials, according to documents from the whistleblower Edward Snowden. In the first explicit confirmation that UK citizens have been caught up in US mass surveillance programs, an NSA memo describes how in 2007 an agreement was reached that allowed the agency to "unmask" and hold on to personal data about Britons that had previously been off limits. The memo says the material is being put in databases where it can be made available to other members of the US intelligence and military community. Britain and the US are the main two partners in the 'Five-Eyes' intelligence-sharing alliance, which also includes Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Until now, it had been generally understood that the citizens of each country were protected from surveillance by any of the others.
benton.org/node/168082 | Guardian, The
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SENATORS WANT TO USE DEFENSE BILL TO FORCE NSA DISCLOSURES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Mark Udall (D-CO) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) are pushing an amendment to the Defense authorization bill that would require more disclosures about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs. It is unclear whether the amendment will receive a vote. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) has said that the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is not the appropriate venue for a debate over the NSA. The senators' amendment would require the attorney general to release all Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rulings that found that the government had violated the law or the Constitution. The director of national intelligence would have to submit a written report to Congress answering a series of questions about NSA surveillance. The director would have to produce a public version of the report, but would be allowed to redact sensitive information. The report would have to provide details about a now-defunct NSA program to track Americans' cellphone location data in bulk.
benton.org/node/168081 | Hill, The
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PROFIT, NOT PRINCIPLE, HAS TEC FIRMS CONCERNED WITH NSA
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Tom Gjelten]
Along with privacy advocates and the national security establishment, there is another set of players with strong views on the National Security Agency surveillance programs: US technology companies. Google and five other companies weighed in on the surveillance debate, sending a letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, supporting legislation to reform National Security Agency surveillance programs. Their intervention was in part prompted by the news that the NSA had apparently managed to penetrate some of their data centers in Europe. The companies had previously given the NSA access to some of their users' data in the United States under court order, but the interception in Europe was done without their knowledge. "The companies now are seeing something that they didn't see before," says Robert Boorstin, formerly the policy director at Google. "The intelligence agencies are hacking into them." The companies' concerns, however, are as much about profits as principles. They now have business interests at stake. US tech companies, including Google, are doing more business overseas, and customers in some of those markets are saying the American firms' associations with NSA surveillance activities will cost the companies some of that business. At greatest risk are the US companies' prospects in the delivery of cloud computing services, such as Google's Gmail or Amazon's web hosting. Foreign customers of those services have to trust the US companies with their data, and several governments are considering measures that would restrict tech firms in their overseas operations. "We're seeing a number of countries saying, 'US companies are not wanted or potentially not allowed [here],' " says Daniel Castro, a senior analyst who has followed the cloud computing industry for the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. "Or [the US companies] are going to have a higher cost of doing business than domestic firms."
benton.org/node/168059 | National Public Radio
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INVESTORS ASK AT&T, VERIZON TO SHOW GOVERNMENT DATA REQUESTS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Scott Moritz, Freeman Klopott]
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Trillium Asset Management LLC filed shareholder proposals asking AT&T to report government requests for customer information. Trillium also presented a similar measure at Verizon. The resolutions would have the two biggest US phone carriers report what information was shared with American or foreign governments and how often, along with what efforts the companies made to protect the privacy of their customers, said Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a New York-based political advocacy group. The investors are pushing for more openness after reports that major Internet companies and US carriers have cooperated with government agencies by sharing some customer data. In June 2013, the Guardian newspaper reported on a secret court order directing New York-based Verizon to collect call data. “Transparency allows investors to make informed decisions about corporate behavior,” said DiNapoli, trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund. “Publishing regular reports on requests for information from governments would be an appropriate response to shareholder and customer concerns about trust and privacy in the digital world.” Bob Varettoni, a Verizon spokesman, said the company has received the proposed resolution and declined to comment on the request.
benton.org/node/168088 | Bloomberg | NYTimes
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

GIG.U: MORE GIGABIT NETWORKS MAY BE IN THE PIPELINE
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The Gig.U initiative aimed at bringing gigabit connectivity to university communities has had some significant successes and appears poised for more, according to a new report issued by Gig.U. Seven university communities -- primarily in North Carolina -- are currently reviewing responses to requests for proposal (RFPs) for ultra-high-speed networks, the report notes. These include Champaign-Urbana, IL; Raleigh, NC; Durham, NC; Chapel Hill, NC; Cary, NC; Carrboro, NC; and Winston-Salem, NC. In addition, two communities -- College Station, TX, and Louisville, KY -- have requests for information pending. “In ten years, whether a city has faster, cheaper, better broadband networks will affect everything it does,” the report notes. The report also recaps the status of ultra-high-speed network projects that are underway, including: Cleveland; Orono and Old Town, ME; Gainesville, FL; East Lansing, MI; Chicago; Seattle; Blacksburg, VA; Morgantown, WV. The experiences of communities pursuing gigabit networks have provided lessons for other communities with similar plans, the report notes. Lessons include:
Organizing community resources and stakeholders are essential for making projects economically viable
Start with a clear understanding of how your city’s rules and assets affect deployment costs
The right time to start thinking about how to improve network economics is today
Success depends on quick decision-making
There is no one-size fits all solution
Scale matters
Experiments don’t always work the first time
Local leadership is the single most important ingredient for success
benton.org/node/168093 | telecompetitor | GigU
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IN CHICAGO, BLAIR LEVIN REFLECTS ON GIGABIT GARDEN
[SOURCE: Gig.U, AUTHOR: Blair Levin]
A number of individual communities, such as Chattanooga, Lafayette, Louisiana, and Longmont, Colorado, have deployed next-generation networks and now a number of other communities, from Missoula, Montana to Baltimore, Maryland, are started working on bringing new investment in faster, better, cheaper networks in their communities. And now, Los Angeles announced a plan for a Gigabit RFP that looks like it builds on RFPs done by a number of Gig.U communities. From these Gigabit pioneer communities, three strategies have emerged that any community can use to improve the economics of next generation deployments. These strategies are:
Asset utilization and improvement. Every city has assets that, if better utilized or improved, could lower the cost of deploying next generation networks. Communities should inventory assets that affect deployment costs, including rights of ways, ducts and conduit and building access, as well as procedures making that information available to potential providers.
Regulatory flexibility to accommodate new business models. Essential policies that enabled private capital driven Gigabit projects include letting individual neighborhoods determine where the service is offered through pre-commitments and expediting permitting and inspections.
Demand Identification. The pre-commitment tactic noted above also serves to identify demand as does using web sites that both pushes and pulls information, and targeted transparency efforts to aggregate demand for higher bandwidth.
benton.org/node/168092 | Gig.U
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GOOGLE LAUNCHES PROJECT LINK, WILL BUILD FIBER INTERNET NETWORKS IN DEVELOPING AREAS
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Jacob Kastrenakes]
Google has unveiled a new initiative called Project Link that aims to spread Internet access to developing areas across the globe. Through the project, Google will begin building fiber optic networks in areas that don't already have access to fast and reliable Internet. The fiber will connect existing, local networks to the undersea cables that pipe internet between continents, which Google says will allow the area's Internet service providers and mobile operators to begin expanding and improving their services.
benton.org/node/168083 | Verge, The
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

PADDEN: FCC HAS AUCTION ORDER 'SUBSTANTIALLY DRAFTED'
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, says that the Federal Communications Commission has an order on incentive auction rules "substantially drafted" and is waiting on resolving only a couple of issues. Saying it was based on “information," Padden said: "I believe there is a very lengthy order," which is awaiting decisions on "key policy issues" to be directed by the new chairman and commissioners. He wants the FCC to make its proposed 2013 deadline for the rules and 2014 deadline for the auction. Barry Umansky of the Digital Policy Institute had suggested that the FCC was unlikely to come out with auction rules by the end of 2013, which has been its goal. National Association of Broadcasters spectrum auction point man Rick Kaplan was fine with not rushing it -- "any rush is self-imposed," he said. Kaplan said it has always been odd to him that the FCC was signaling the order had to be out by 2013 and the auction by 2014, given that Congress gave the FCC 10 years to complete the auction and repacking. He also pointed out that the FCC has to hold several other spectrum auctions. He said his hope is that FCC Chairman Wheeler will take the deadline pressure off the auction, while not delaying it artificially.
benton.org/node/168091 | Broadcasting&Cable
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NHMC TO FCC: AUCTION LIKELY TO DECREASE DIVERSITY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Hispanic Media Coalition has advised the Federal Communications Commission to monitor television station sales in the run-up to the incentive auction and be ready to deal with the auctions potential impact on diversity, which it says will not be good. In a meeting with FCC staffers for Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, NHMC President Alex Nogales said he thought the auctions would reduce the number of minorities and women who own TV stations, both via the lure of the payout in the auction or from spectrum speculators in advance of the auction. The FCC will be looking for spectrum primarily in urban markets and most likely from independent stations since major market affiliates have mostly signaled they are staying in the business. In those major markets, those independent stations the FCC is most likely to woo are also more likely to be owned by minorities and women.
benton.org/node/168090 | Broadcasting&Cable
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EDUCATION

ONLINE COURSES FAIL TO REACH POOR STUDENTS AS RICHEST BENEFIT
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Nicole Ostrow]
Most people taking free online courses worldwide are among the best-educated and wealthiest of the population, casting doubt on the idea that the classes will benefit the disenfranchised, a survey showed. More than half of those taking massive open online courses, or MOOCs, were men and the majority were already employed, according to Ezekiel Emanuel, vice provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania. The survey of about 35,000 participants in more than 200 countries is one of the first to look at who is taking the classes. It shows a disparity between actual users and those that MOOC founders have said may benefit from putting college curriculum online, Emanuel said. More efforts are needed, including better access to technology, electricity and basic education, to help the disadvantaged gain access, he said. “If you are privileged you already have access to computers,” Emanuel in a telephone interview. “The ‘have-nots’ are not going to have access to this. It’s not so easy to shorten that barrier. Maybe over the next 10 to 20 years that will go down but, for the moment, MOOCs are likely to increase disparities in-country.”
benton.org/node/168087 | Bloomberg
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CYBERSECURITY

HOW SOMEBODY FORCED THE WORLD'S INTERNET TRAFFIC THROUGH BELARUS AND ICELAND
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Arik Hesseldahl]
In 2013 someone -- it’s unclear who -- diverted Internet traffic from some 150 cities around the world through networks in Belarus and Iceland. The troubling disclosure came from the research company Renesys. The attack -- and Renesys maintains that it was an attack -- targeted large Internet carriers in every major city in the US and numerous major cities in Europe and around the world. The targets of the attack have been notified. The motivation was likely a financial one. But there is a way to stop this from happening again. Renesys CTO Jim Cowie said the really big Internet service providers -- the ones who resell their traffic to smaller regional and national providers -- should be watching for when smaller players advertise false routes. “If big ISPs monitored their customers and filtered their traffic when they advertise these false routes, this would be over. This kind of attack could not occur. … In each one of these attacks there was someone, usually a very large ISP, who failed to filter.”
benton.org/node/168063 | Wall Street Journal
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

CHINA CENTRAL TV
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR:]
A series of televised public pre-trial confessions have aired on China Central Television, the state-owned national broadcaster, in recent months and have included British and US citizens being paraded before the camera to admit their crimes. The performances, reminiscent of an earlier age in which political “struggle sessions” and show trials were the norm, have raised concerns inside China about the damage that they cause to the government’s stated goal of improving the rule of law. But they have also raised an important question about the role of the state broadcaster and the balance it must strike between being a global media organization, a commercial moneymaking venture and a political mouthpiece for the ruling Communist party. The question is increasingly important to multinationals such as Apple, KFC, Volkswagen, Starbucks and Samsung, which have all been targeted in the past year by the broadcaster and accused of varying degrees of malfeasance or unfair practices in the Chinese market.
benton.org/node/168084 | Financial Times
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FCC Chairman Wheeler Meets with Public Interest Groups

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler met with public interest groups to talk about his agency plans including his pledge of support for an open Internet.

The meeting was described by attendee Harold Feld of Public Knowledge as a good, frank discussion but long on high-level generality and short on specifics. Several of the public interest group representatives brought up key issues they want the FCC to be mindful of, including diversity, a request that Wheeler get out of Washington more often, and, for Feld's part, concerns about making data more available, particularly on mergers. Chairman Wheeler recognized that the FCC needs to collect more data to know what was going on in the industry, in particular with regard to minority ownership, said one attendee. He said that was something the agency needed to focus on. He said he wanted to make sure of diversity not only in the media context, but in the IP transition to insure that the minority communities are not passed by. Chairman Wheeler acknowledged that there were some in the group who were doubtful of his credentials as a regulator who would put consumers first -- he is a former lobbyist for the cable and wireless industries. But he said it was important for him to recognize that competition sometime requires regulation to promote it. He remembered when he had been on the opposite side of the desk from the chairman trying to make his case. He said he was interested in pragmatic results, signaled that his approach would be to try and get industry to move voluntarily but recognizing that that "was not always going to happen."

Others present included representatives of Free Press, the Benton Foundation, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council, The Leadership Council on Civil Rights, the United Church of Christ, and the NAACP.

WBA: 22% of the mobile data capacity created in 2014 will come from Wi-Fi

Mobile operators will be adding a lot of broadband capacity to their networks in the coming year, but not all of its coming from their new 4G networks. More than a fifth (22 percent) of new data capacity will come from Wi-Fi networks, according to a Wireless Broadband Alliance survey of its global carrier and vendor members.

Anyone who owns a smartphone or cellular-connected tablet likely already is shunting a good deal of their mobile traffic onto home, work and other publicly accessible Wi-Fi networks. But what the WBA is talking about are carrier-owned and carrier-managed hotspot networks stuck in places where consumers would normally resort to their 3G and 4G connections.

Gig.U: More Gigabit Networks May be in the Pipeline

The Gig.U initiative aimed at bringing gigabit connectivity to university communities has had some significant successes and appears poised for more, according to a new report issued by Gig.U.

Seven university communities -- primarily in North Carolina -- are currently reviewing responses to requests for proposal (RFPs) for ultra-high-speed networks, the report notes. These include Champaign-Urbana, IL; Raleigh, NC; Durham, NC; Chapel Hill, NC; Cary, NC; Carrboro, NC; and Winston-Salem, NC. In addition, two communities -- College Station, TX, and Louisville, KY -- have requests for information pending. “In ten years, whether a city has faster, cheaper, better broadband networks will affect everything it does,” the report notes. The report also recaps the status of ultra-high-speed network projects that are underway, including: Cleveland; Orono and Old Town, ME; Gainesville, FL; East Lansing, MI; Chicago; Seattle; Blacksburg, VA; Morgantown, WV. The experiences of communities pursuing gigabit networks have provided lessons for other communities with similar plans, the report notes.

Lessons include:

  • Organizing community resources and stakeholders are essential for making projects economically viable
  • Start with a clear understanding of how your city’s rules and assets affect deployment costs
  • The right time to start thinking about how to improve network economics is today
  • Success depends on quick decision-making
  • There is no one-size fits all solution
  • Scale matters
  • Experiments don’t always work the first time
  • Local leadership is the single most important ingredient for success

In Chicago, Blair Levin reflects on Gigabit Garden

A number of individual communities, such as Chattanooga, Lafayette, Louisiana, and Longmont, Colorado, have deployed next-generation networks and now a number of other communities, from Missoula, Montana to Baltimore, Maryland, are started working on bringing new investment in faster, better, cheaper networks in their communities. And now, Los Angeles announced a plan for a Gigabit RFP that looks like it builds on RFPs done by a number of Gig.U communities. From these Gigabit pioneer communities, three strategies have emerged that any community can use to improve the economics of next generation deployments:

  1. Asset utilization and improvement. Every city has assets that, if better utilized or improved, could lower the cost of deploying next generation networks. Communities should inventory assets that affect deployment costs, including rights of ways, ducts and conduit and building access, as well as procedures making that information available to potential providers.
  2. Regulatory flexibility to accommodate new business models. Essential policies that enabled private capital driven Gigabit projects include letting individual neighborhoods determine where the service is offered through pre-commitments and expediting permitting and inspections.
  3. Demand Identification. The pre-commitment tactic noted above also serves to identify demand as does using web sites that both pushes and pulls information, and targeted transparency efforts to aggregate demand for higher bandwidth.

Padden: FCC Has Auction Order 'Substantially Drafted'

Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, says that the Federal Communications Commission has an order on incentive auction rules "substantially drafted" and is waiting on resolving only a couple of issues.

Saying it was based on “information," Padden said: "I believe there is a very lengthy order," which is awaiting decisions on "key policy issues" to be directed by the new chairman and commissioners. He wants the FCC to make its proposed 2013 deadline for the rules and 2014 deadline for the auction. Barry Umansky of the Digital Policy Institute had suggested that the FCC was unlikely to come out with auction rules by the end of 2013, which has been its goal. National Association of Broadcasters spectrum auction point man Rick Kaplan was fine with not rushing it -- "any rush is self-imposed," he said. Kaplan said it has always been odd to him that the FCC was signaling the order had to be out by 2013 and the auction by 2014, given that Congress gave the FCC 10 years to complete the auction and repacking. He also pointed out that the FCC has to hold several other spectrum auctions. He said his hope is that FCC Chairman Wheeler will take the deadline pressure off the auction, while not delaying it artificially.

NHMC To FCC: Auction Likely To Decrease Diversity

The National Hispanic Media Coalition has advised the Federal Communications Commission to monitor television station sales in the run-up to the incentive auction and be ready to deal with the auctions potential impact on diversity, which it says will not be good.

In a meeting with FCC staffers for Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, NHMC President Alex Nogales said he thought the auctions would reduce the number of minorities and women who own TV stations, both via the lure of the payout in the auction or from spectrum speculators in advance of the auction. The FCC will be looking for spectrum primarily in urban markets and most likely from independent stations since major market affiliates have mostly signaled they are staying in the business. In those major markets, those independent stations the FCC is most likely to woo are also more likely to be owned by minorities and women.

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