November 2013

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

NO MORSEL TO SMALL FOR NSA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Scott Shane]
For decades the National Security Agency has operated on the principle that any eavesdropping that can be done on a foreign target of any conceivable interest -- now or in the future -- should be done. After all, American intelligence officials reasoned, who’s going to find out? From thousands of classified documents, the National Security Agency emerges as an electronic omnivore of staggering capabilities, eavesdropping and hacking its way around the world to strip governments and other targets of their secrets, all the while enforcing the utmost secrecy about its own operations. It spies routinely on friends as well as foes, as has become obvious in recent weeks; the agency’s official mission list includes using its surveillance powers to achieve “diplomatic advantage” over such allies as France and Germany and “economic advantage” over Japan and Brazil, among other countries. James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, has repeatedly dismissed objections as brazen hypocrisy from countries that do their own share of spying. But in a recent interview, he acknowledged that the scale of eavesdropping by the NSA, with 35,000 workers and $10.8 billion a year, sets it apart. “There’s no question that from a capability standpoint we probably dwarf everybody on the planet, just about, with perhaps the exception of Russia and China,” he said.
benton.org/node/165823 | New York Times
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NSA SPYING IS COSTLY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Steve Johnson]
The continuing revelations about NSA spying on sensitive data kept by Silicon Valley companies are feeding fears that Internet companies in this country -- many located in the San Francisco Bay Area -- could suffer billions of dollars in lost business. Following disclosures earlier this year that the National Security Agency's Prism program had spied on Apple, Google, Facebook and Yahoo, an industry group put the potential cost at up to $35 billion a year by 2016, while an influential tech research firm estimated the damage at a staggering $180 billion a year. And since then, worries about the potential for lost business have stayed high amid the seemingly endless stream of news stories about other NSA snooping. Any economic fallout is likely to add to the growing tensions between Silicon Valley and the U.S. intelligence community, with major tech companies joining a growing chorus of critics who want to limit the NSA's extensive data-gathering. And lost revenue could hurt one of the country's most dynamic industries as it continues to recover fully from the Great Recession.
benton.org/node/165971 | San Jose Mercury News | WSJ
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NATIONAL SECURITY AND SOCIAL MEDIA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: David Nakamura]
At the White House and the National Security Council, most staffers are not permitted to access Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites from their office computers or government-issued mobile phones. Administration officials said the restrictions are aimed at preventing staffers from downloading dangerous malware onto government networks or accidentally uploading sensitive material onto public networks. The rules also serve to discourage White House aides from conducting business on networks that will not archive their communications as required under the Presidential Records Act. Only those staffers who need access as part of their official responsibilities, such as the press division, are permitted to log in from the office, said White House spokesman Eric Schultz, who is among the few with an official Twitter account. But the restrictions have run into the realities of the modern world, in which news often breaks first on social networks while public officials, journalists and policy experts debate the ramifications in real time. Administration officials often find themselves out of the loop, unable to react to the news or take part in the conversation.
benton.org/node/165642 | Washington Post
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WHAT THE NSA AND SOCIAL MEDIA HAVE IN COMMON
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Michael Chertoff]
[Commentary] Recently, much has been written about whether the National Security Agency’s authorized storage of anonymous telephone records should be curtailed on the grounds that it’s too invasive of Americans’ privacy. So it is striking that two recent news stories illustrate a less-debated threat to privacy that we as a society are inflicting on ourselves. Recently, a passenger on an Acela train decided to tweet in real time his summary of an overheard phone conversation by Gen. Michael Hayden, a former director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the CIA (and my current business partner). The same day, a photo was published of Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler at a summer party where he was surrounded by underage youths who apparently were drinking. The ubiquitousness of recording devices -- coupled with the ability everyone has to broadcast indiscriminately through Twitter, YouTube and other online platforms -- means that virtually every act or utterance outside one’s own home (or, in Gansler’s case, inside a private home) is subject to being massively publicized. And because these outlets bypass any editorial review, there is no assurance that what is disseminated has context or news value. The relevant question here is: Are we creating an informant society, in which every overheard conversation, cellphone photograph or other record of personal behavior is transmitted not to police but to the world at large?
[Michael Chertoff was secretary of the Department of Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009]
benton.org/node/165640 | Washington Post
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NSA OVERSIGHT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Debate has continued for months about the information-gathering process of the National Security Agency (NSA) . Now, Congress is starting to act. Lawmakers have offered a raft of proposals in both chambers to shake up various parts of the government’s spying operation. The most prominent comes from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which approved a relatively timid reform plan. On the same day, major technology firms got behind a dueling bill from Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. James F. Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI), who lead the judiciary committees in their respective chambers. Neither offers the right reform package. Lawmakers now can and should demand more transparency and toughen procedures to safeguard Americans’ privacy.
benton.org/node/165819 | Washington Post
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GCHQ AND EUROPEAN SPY AGENCIES WORKED TOGETHER ON MASS SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: Julian Borger]
The German, French, Spanish and Swedish intelligence services have all developed methods of mass surveillance of Internet and phone traffic since 2008 in close partnership with Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) eavesdropping agency. The bulk monitoring is carried out through direct taps into fiber optic cables and the development of covert relationships with telecommunications companies. A loose but growing eavesdropping alliance has allowed intelligence agencies from one country to cultivate ties with corporations from another to facilitate the trawling of the web, according to GCHQ documents leaked by the former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. The files also make clear that GCHQ played a leading role in advising its European counterparts how to work around national laws intended to restrict the surveillance power of intelligence agencies. The German, French and Spanish governments have reacted angrily to reports based on National Security Agency (NSA) files leaked by Snowden since June 2013, revealing the interception of communications by tens of millions of their citizens each month. US intelligence officials have insisted the mass monitoring was carried out by the security agencies in the countries involved and shared with the US.
benton.org/node/165703 | Guardian, The
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GERMAN, BRAZILIAN UN DRAFT URGES HALT TO EXCESSIVE SPYING
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Louis Charbonneau]
Germany and Brazil circulated a draft resolution to a United Nations General Assembly committee that calls for an end to excessive electronic surveillance, data collection and other gross invasions of privacy. The draft resolution, which both Germany and Brazil made public, does not name any specific countries, though UN diplomats said it was clearly aimed at the United States, which has been embarrassed by revelations of a massive international surveillance program from a former US intelligence contractor. The German-Brazilian draft would have the 193-nation assembly declare that it is "deeply concerned at human rights violations and abuses that may result from the conduct of any surveillance of communications, including extraterritorial surveillance of communications." General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, unlike resolutions of the 15-nation Security Council. But assembly resolutions that enjoy broad international support can carry significant moral and political weight.
benton.org/node/165706 | Reuters
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GERMANY LOOKS AT KEEPING ITS INTERNET, E-MAIL TRAFFIC INSIDE ITS BORDERS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Michael Birnbaum]
The news that the National Security Agency has its eye on much of the world’s electronic communications has shocked Germans who have memories of Nazi and Cold War-era spying. Now, an alliance of German phone and Internet companies claims it has a solution: German e-mail and Internet, transmitted within German borders. The proposals -- one for Internet, one for e-mail -- aim to boost the security of Germany’s internal communications by preventing them from bouncing outside the country, which has far stricter privacy regulations than the United States. If a German customer wants to call up a German Web site, there is no reason the data must pass through a server in Virginia, exposing the information to potential surveillance along the way, the advocates say. The same goes for e-mails within Germany. In the United States, technology industry advocates say they are bracing for tough competition from foreign companies that boast they are freer from US intrusion and monitoring than American counterparts. “It’s a very negative trajectory where consumers and businesses, especially foreign businesses, will be reluctant to use US services,” said Daniel Castro, an analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group that is funded in part by the technology industry. Castro published a report in August estimating that US data cloud providers could lose $21.5 billion to $35 billion in business over the next three years. In Germany, Deutsche Telekom, the country’s largest Internet and telephone company, is collaborating on the e-mail project.
benton.org/node/165638 | Washington Post
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ARGENTINA TACKLES MEDIA OWNERSHIP CONCENTRATION
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Rebecca Ellis]
[Commentary] It doesn’t look good for Argentina’s biggest broadcast conglomerate. After four years of battles between Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s government and Argentine multimedia mogul Clarín Group, Supreme Court judges, by a 6-1 vote, declared constitutional a law that forces media companies to shrink their broadcast divisions. Argentina’s media law has been heralded by UNESCO officials as a model of media democratization in an effort to combat public disinformation and media monopolies. The Supreme Court of Argentine sided with the government on curtailing the size large private media conglomerates like Clarín, while maintaining that public media should not be used as a “mere instrument to support government policies, or as a means of eliminating dissenting voices.” The court stressed that the Federal Authority on Audiovisual Communication Services (AFSCA), the government body regulating audiovisual media, “should be independent” and that the law in question “should be applied equitably and using due process.”
http://benton.org/node/165621
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GRUPO CLARIN RECEIVES ULTIMATUM FROM ARGENTINA'S BROADCAST REGULATOR
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Argentina's broadcast regulator has given Grupo Clarín 15 days to formally respond to his latest notice that it must sell off most of its television and radio licenses. "This law must be applied, and what we've done today ... is initiate the process," Martin Sabbatella, head of Argentina’s media regulating agency, said outside Clarín's headquarters, where he personally delivered another ultimatum following the Supreme Court's approval of ownership limits for broadcast media licenses.
benton.org/node/165666 | Associated Press
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ARGENTINA VS CLARIN
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her cronies still pose a threat to the country’s democratic institutions. That became clear Oct 29, when the Argentine Supreme Court, under heavy pressure from the president’s office, upheld a law aimed at destroying one of South America’s most important media firms, Grupo Clarín. The company operates one of Argentina’s biggest newspapers, called Clarín, which has been one of the few media outlets to challenge Fernández’s policies. The law would force the company to auction off cable television and Internet businesses that provide most of its revenue, thus reducing potential funding for Clarín’s newsroom. Government officials have claimed that the law, which a lower court declared unconstitutional, is meant to prevent media monopolies and inject more diversity into news coverage and public debate. That doesn’t explain why other private media companies with multiple properties were exempted from the law, or the trumped-up criminal charges that were brought against Clarín’s owners, or the government’s seizure of the only newsprint producer or its ruthless campaign to starve Clarín and two other newspapers of advertising. The wave of authoritarian populism that swept across Latin America a decade ago is receding, and Argentines who hope to undo the damage done by the Kirchners have reason for hope. They could use help, however, from the hemisphere’s democracies, including the three that along with Argentina are members of the Group of 20. The United States, Brazil and Mexico should be asking whether a nation in the Western Hemisphere that stifles freedom of expression deserves to have its voice amplified through invitations to elite summit meetings. The obvious answer is no.
benton.org/node/165821 | Washington Post
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POLICYMAKERS

WHEELER READY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Tom Wheeler is set to be sworn in as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Nov. 4. Wheeler's former calling card as lobbyist with both the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and CTIA: The Wireless Association drew some early criticism given the White House's seemingly dim view of the profession -- and there was a cautionary word or two last week from clean-government advocate Common Cause on the subject. But his telecom background, combined with his business acumen, proved to be the right combination for the White House and the Senate. It didn't hurt that he had been a tech/communications advisor to the President, so there will be no long learning curve. Communications attorney Andrew Jay Schwartzman said, "I expect him to be a strong manager and a decisive decision-maker. He has the benefit of a vast knowledge of the technologies and structure of the industries subject to FCC jurisdiction." One of Wheeler's first jobs will be to hire or retain bureau chiefs. Among those likely to remain, either in current or new positions, are Wireless Bureau chief Ruth Milkman and Media Bureau chief Bill Lake, both of whom are neck-deep in incentive auction issues. Wheeler is said to possibly have a new Media Bureau chief in mind. Among those Wheeler is said to be eyeing for possible FCC posts include Diane Cornell, formerly of both CTIA and the FCC, and Phil Verveer, a former FCC Cable Bureau chief -- back when there was a Cable Bureau -- and more recently deputy assistant secretary of state for international communications and information policy at the State Department.
benton.org/node/165972 | Broadcasting&Cable
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INTERNET/BROADBAND/TELECOM

MORE THAN JUST PHONES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Matt Wood]
[Commentary] It may sound like something remarkable happened in the House of Representatives o when the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held its hearing on “The Evolution of Wired Communications Networks.” You heard telco giant AT&T agree with advocacy group Public Knowledge about the principles that should guide the transition as technologies advance to carry voice and other communications services over broadband. Those principles include providing universal service, fostering competition, protecting consumers and ensuring reliability during emergencies. You can’t find fault with such worthy objectives. But emphasizing the “telephone transition” is the wrong call. While the technology used to send voice over the public network is changing, we should focus on that network rather than the services it delivers. And that network is under threat. While AT&T is doing a public relations dance, behind the scenes it’s using the technological changes as an excuse to kill off the public network. We need to preserve this vital infrastructure so that voice and other services can be carried over it.
benton.org/node/165815 | Hill, The
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ADVANCING THE BROADBAND AGENDA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn]
Speaking before the National Urban League, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn spoke about the FCC’s efforts to maximize the benefits of high-speed Internet for all Americans. She said the challenges of closing the digital divide are too great for any one person, or organization to solve. But she highlighted recent efforts to improve broadband access and adoption:
The FCC partnered with the Urban League in kick-starting Connect2Compete, the most comprehensive public-private partnership ever, to close the broadband adoption gap. Connect2Compete is tackling each of the barriers to adoption -- affordability, digital literacy, and the fact that some non-adopters don’t think broadband is relevant to their lives.
The FCC reformed the Universal Service Fund and transformed it into the new Connect America Fund which has made significant new funding available by matching hundreds of millions of private sector dollars to quickly expand broadband infrastructure to rural communities in every region of the nation.
President Barack Obama has challenged the FCC to bring high-speed Internet to 99% of U.S. students within five years and “we are answering his call,” Chairwoman Clyburn said.
The FCC is reforming the Lifeline program, which has significantly increased the overall penetration rate for basic phone service. The FCC is now conducting pilot projects to determine the best way to address the broadband digital divide for low-income consumers in the Lifeline program.
benton.org/node/165664 | Federal Communications Commission
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LIFELINE FINES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission proposed $32.6 million in fines against three companies that apparently violated Lifeline program rules. Investigations by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau found that the companies apparently violated the FCC’s rules limiting Lifeline subscriptions to one subscriber per household, and received payments for thousands of consumers that already were obtaining Lifeline service from the same company. This duplicate support is expressly prohibited by federal law. Specifically, Notices of Apparent Liability, or NALs, were issued against:
Conexions Wireless – $18.4 million for apparent violations over the course of eight months in Arkansas, Maryland, and West Virginia.
i-wireless – $8.8 million for apparent violations over seven months in Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, New York, Indiana, and South Carolina.
True Wireless – $5.5 million for apparent violations over eight months in Arkansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Texas.
In each case, the carrier knew or should have known, based on internal data, that the consumers were ineligible because they were already receiving service from that carrier. The penalties proposed in today’s NALs are in addition to full recovery of the universal service funds paid to the carriers for duplicative Lifeline service. The FCC also proposed a penalty of $300,000 against Conexions for its apparent willful and repeated failure to provide timely and complete responses to the FCC’s requests for information, noting that Conexions’ conduct delayed and impeded the Bureau’s investigation.
benton.org/node/165809 | Federal Communications Commission
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

3.5 GHZ LICENSING FRAMEWORK
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
In December 2012, the Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeking comment on a new Citizens Broadband Service in the 3550-3650 MHz band (3.5 GHz Band) for shared, commercial uses, including small cell networks. The NPRM proposed a three-tier, license-by-rule authorization framework that would facilitate rapid broadband deployment while protecting existing incumbent users of the 3.5 GHz Band. This Public Notice builds on the NPRM and elaborates on some alternative licensing concepts described in that document. We refer to these elaborated licensing concepts as the Revised Framework. The Revised Framework describes an integrated approach to dynamically authorizing access to the Priority Access and General Authorized Access (GAA) tiers of the 3.5 GHz Band and represents one logical approach towards implementing the next generation of spectrum management systems in light of the proposals and alternative proposals set forth in the NPRM, the presentations made at the workshop, and the record in this proceeding. The Public Notice also includes examples of possible technical specifications, which could enable multiple networks to coexist in the band within a given geographic area. We seek detailed comment on the Revised Framework and the possible technical criteria. We request that commenters provide technical and cost-benefit analyses to support their positions. Comments due December 5, 2013; replies due December 20, 2013.
benton.org/node/165807 | Federal Communications Commission
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BROADBAND IN MSS SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission proposes modified rules for the operation of the Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC)1 of the single Mobile-Satellite Service (MSS) system operating in the Big LEO S band.2 The proposed changes would allow to deploy a low power broadband network.
benton.org/node/165811 | Federal Communications Commission
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SOONER OR LATER, YOUR WIRELESS CARRIER WILL BECOME JUST A GLORIFIED ISP
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
The distinction between your Internet provider and your cellphone service seems obvious. One helps you connect to YouTube. The other helps connect your calls. But not long from now, your wireless carrier will probably be making much of its money in the same way that your Internet service provider (ISP) does -- by selling you Internet. With the rise of smartphone messaging apps, people are using SMS less frequently than before -- and that's digging into the profits of wireless companies. The good news for carriers is that data-related income is rising. It may not be enough right now, but it's growing. If these trends continue, Internet access may soon become wireless companies' most lucrative service.
benton.org/node/165707 | Washington Post
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TELEVISION/RADIO

FCC’S CLYBURN PROPOSES ENDING FCC SPORTS BLACKOUT RULES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn is not going out with a whimper. She just circulated a proposal to eliminate the sports blackout rule that would allow cable operators to carry some games blacked out on broadcast television and could potentially boost pay-TV leverage in retransmission deals. "Changes in the marketplace have raised questions about whether these rules are still in the public interest, particularly at a time when high ticket prices and the economy make it difficult for many sports fans to attend games," said Chairwoman Clyburn. But, she added, "Elimination of our sports blackout rules will not prevent the sports leagues, broadcasters, and cable and satellite providers from privately negotiating agreements to black out certain sports events." The rule prevents cable or satellite providers from carrying a National Football League game when the over-the-air broadcast is blacked out due to lack of attendance at the game. Broadcasters oppose excising the rule. The NFL agrees and has argued that getting rid of the rule would "undermine the retransmission consent regime and give cable and satellite operators excessive leverage in retransmission consent negotiations."
benton.org/node/165704 | Broadcasting&Cable | FCC Chairwoman Clyburn | GigaOm | Reuters
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NETFLIX NEEDS CABLE, BUT THE FEELING ISN’T ALWAYS MUTUAL
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
Netflix is banking on getting on cable set-top boxes to hit aggressive growth targets in the next few years -- but not every US operator is eager to play ball with a company they view as a rival. In the US, Netflix has been actively exploring deals with operators, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Charter Communications. Striking multiple system operator distribution deals is a matter of finding the right business terms, according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. “I’m really hopeful we can do that with both Comcast and other people in the industry,” he said. But Comcast, for one, is in no rush to add Netflix into the mix. ”Our customers can receive Netflix in a number of ways, so it’s not really a high priority for us,” Comcast Cable president and CEO Neil Smit said.
benton.org/node/165628 | Variety | GigaOm
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REVITALIZING AM RADIO
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking public comment on a number of possible improvements to the Amplitude Modulation, or AM, radio service and the rules pertaining to AM broadcasting. The FCC seeks to revitalize further the AM band by identifying ways to enhance AM broadcast quality and proposing changes to technical rules that would enable AM stations to improve their service. This in turn, the FCC believes, will help AM broadcasters better serve the public, thereby advancing the FCC’s fundamental goals of localism, competition, and diversity in broadcast media. FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn said, “This item represents the next significant step in our effort to buttress AM broadcast service and ease regulatory burdens on AM broadcasters. These steps, along with the changes proposed in today’s item, will help AM radio stay vibrant into the future. Who knows, maybe a future FCC Chairwoman is getting her start at one today.” FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai highlighted the two-stage strategy the commission has adopted: First, the FCC proposes several ways to give AM broadcasters relief in the short term. Second, the commission also invites the American public to share their proposals for the long-term future of the AM band.
benton.org/node/165662 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairwoman Clyburn | Commissioner Pai
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

DONOR DIVIDE
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Byron Tau, Andrea Drusch]
The hottest new startup in Silicon Valley isn’t a tech company; it’s Ro Khanna. The 36-year old attorney and former Commerce Department official, who is challenging six-term incumbent Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) to represent Silicon Valley in Congress, has the overwhelming support of the deep-pocked tech community’s CEOs and venture capitalists. But the tech community’s Beltway arm -- consisting of trade groups, Hill staffers-turned-lobbyists and company political action committees -- is lining up behind Khanna’s opponent, who many political professionals believe is likely to beat the young upstart in next year’s election. Khanna’s donor rolls read like a who’s who of the Bay Area tech community: Google chairman Eric Schmidt, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, eBay CEO John Donahoe, and dozens of other tech or venture capital bigwigs have all cut sizable checks to the insurgent Democrat’s campaign. But the political action committees and trade association PACs for many of those same tech companies have thrown their weight behind Honda -- showering him with donations.
benton.org/node/165956 | Politico
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COMMUNITY MEDIA

CRITICAL INFORMATION NEEDS RESEARCH FIELD TEST
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities (OCBO) selected Columbia, South Carolina to field-test the Research Design for its Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs (Research Design). The site was chosen because it is a medium-sized market that is racially, ethnically and linguistically diverse. Ease of travel for data collection, as well as having a nearby school of communications/journalism, also made it a model site. The selection is the next step in OCBO’s process to ensure the FCC has a vetted research tool that can subsequently be used in markets nationwide. The Commission is obligated under § 257 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, to review and report to Congress on: (1) regulations prescribed to eliminate market entry barriers in the provision and ownership of telecommunications services and information services, or in the provision of parts or services to providers of telecommunications services and information services by entrepreneurs and other small businesses; and (2) proposals to eliminate statutory barriers to market entry by those entities, consistent with the public interest, convenience, and necessity. In order to assess whether government action is needed to ensure that the information needs of all Americans are being met, including women and minorities, it is necessary to understand how the public acquires critical information, how the media ecosystem operates to provide this information, and what barriers exist to participation.
OCBO expects to complete this next phase of its Critical Information Needs Research no later than July 2014.
benton.org/node/165813 | Federal Communications Commission
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PATENTS

ROCKSTAR PATENT CONSORTIUM SUES GOOGLE, AND PRACTICALLY EVERYONE MAKING ANDROID PHONES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Arik Hesseldahl]
If it seemed as though the already insane world of wireless-patent lawsuits couldn’t become any more complicated -- well, it did. As Google and its partners are launching the Nexus 5 and KitKat, the latest version of the Android operating system, a consortium of tech companies had other plans. The so-called Rockstar Consortium -- an alliance of Apple and Microsoft, plus BlackBerry, Ericsson and Sony -- controls a portfolio of some 6,000 patents bought from the bankrupt Canadian telecommunications company Nortel. They paid $4.5 billion for the patents in 2011. The Consortium filed eight lawsuits in a federal court in Texas, accusing Google of infringing those patents. In addition to Google, the defendants in the cases are Samsung, LG Electronics, HTC, Huawei, Asustek, Pantech and ZTE, constituting essentially all the Android smartphone ecosystem. One batch of suits -- mainly the one against Google itself -- go after its mainstream advertising business. The others go after the phones themselves. The Rockstar Consortium may be the ultimate example of patent "privateering" -- when big companies hand off their patents to small shell companies to do the dirty work of suing their competitors. Essentially, it's patent trolling gone corporate.
benton.org/node/165636 | Wall Street Journal | ars technica
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GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE

POLITICS VS TECHNICAL NEEDS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Amy Goldstein, Juliet Eilperin]
The White House’s leadership of the immense project -- building new health insurance marketplaces for an estimated 24 million Americans without coverage -- is one of several key reasons that the president’s signature domestic policy achievement, the Affordable Care Act, has become a self-inflicted injury for the Administration. The project was hampered by the White House’s political sensitivity to Republican hatred of the law -- sensitivity so intense that the president’s aides ordered that some work be slowed down or remain secret for fear of feeding the opposition. Inside the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, the main agency responsible for the exchanges, there was no single administrator whose full-time job was to manage the project. Republicans also made clear they would block funding, while some outside IT companies that were hired to build the Web site, HealthCare.gov, performed poorly.
benton.org/node/165817 | Washington Post
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ADVOCACY

PUSH FOR MORE OPEN MEDIA
[SOURCE: Chronicle of Philanthropy, AUTHOR: Vincent Stehle]
[Commentary] It is important for nonprofits to press for sensible changes in media policy. There are many organizations working successfully to advance the public interest in media and telecommunications. Groups like Free Press and Public Knowledge have spearheaded efforts to demand that access to information remain open for all citizens through advocacy for an open Internet, among many other issues. Often referred to as net neutrality, the principle is that all content carried on the Internet should be permitted to flow freely to all customers. Big media companies often prevail in Washington, where they enjoy a vast advantage in resources for lobbying and advocacy. But there have been several notable victories for public interest advocates. A signal achievement in media-policy advocacy has been the passage of the Local Community Radio Act, which requires the Federal Communications Commission to expand licenses for low-power FM radio stations for nonprofit community groups. The leading advocate for low-power expansion has been the Prometheus Radio Project, which continues to provide guidance to nonprofit organizations that want to obtain a radio license. One other bit of good news: The FCC has extended the deadline for nonprofit groups to apply for these low-power radio licenses to November 14, thanks to the government shutdown: One small bright spot in an otherwise bleak disruption of the workings of the federal government.
[Stehle is executive director of Media Impact Funders]
benton.org/node/165660 | Chronicle of Philanthropy
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Daily Digest

Analysis

November 2013

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Announces Staff Appointment

Gigi Sohn Resigns as Public Knowledge President & CEO Weinberg and Hunter are named Acting Co-Presidents

Mignon’s Greatest Hits

Congress’s NSA dilemma: Oversee or overlook intel

E-Rate 2.0: Can America Win the Race to Capacity?

T-Mobile's Wacky Plan to Trash the Wireless Business Model

November 4, 2013 (Wheeler Ready to Take the Helm at FCC)

Wheeler Ready to Take the Helm at FCC

NSA spying could prove costly to Bay Area and other Internet businesses, experts say