December 16, 2013 (NSA review to leave spying programs largely unchanged)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013
Today: FCC's Consumer Advisory Committee and The Role of Circumvention Tools in Internet Filtering Countries http://benton.org/calendar/2013-12-16/
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Officials Say US May Never Know Extent of Snowden’s Leaks
NSA review to leave spying programs largely unchanged, reports say
White House declines to split NSA, Cyber Command
By cracking cellphone code, NSA has capacity for decoding private conversations
Protecting Americans’ phone data in a high-tech world - editorial
NSA deputy director steps down [links to web]
PRIVACY
Internet’s Sad Legacy: No More Secrets - analysis [links to web]
Google Pulls Privacy Feature it Says Wasn’t Supposed to Be in Android in First Place
A Movement To Bake Online Privacy Into Modern Life, 'By Design' [links to web]
How a simple photo lays bare the personal details of ordinary people [links to web]
INTERNET/TELECOM
The Big Phone News from the FCC - analysis
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Sprint Preparing a Bid for T-Mobile US
Can Sprint really buy T-Mobile? - analysis
It’s too soon to end the Uncarrier experiment - analysis
A Few Thoughts on the Sprint/T-Mobile Merger Rumors - editorial [links to web]
House panel eyes next steps for cellphone unlocking
Huawei Pulls Back on Network Side, but Still Hopes to Build U.S. Brand for Phones [links to web]
10 Surprising Things Connected to the Internet [links to web]
Video Boom Forces Verizon to Upgrade Network [links to web]
TELEVISION/RADIO
Charter Prepares Takeover Offer for Time Warner Cable
Proposed bills seek to rewrite retransmission rules [links to web]
Sens Baldwin and Markey Preserve Public Access to Local Television Channels, Ensure Diversity of Programming - press release [links to web]
Public Knowledge Seeks Appeals Court Review of FilmOn Injunction [links to web]
Cablevision says broadcasters overreaching in Aereo case [links to web]
MMTC, Rainbow/PUSH Push FCC to Act on Multilingual Warnings [links to web]
NPR Gets $17 Million in Grants to Expand Coverage and Develop Digital Platform
Netflix Says Binge Viewing is No 'House of Cards' [links to web]
NFL, DirecTV Extend Pact in $4 Billion Deal [links to web]
Verizon Is Said to Be Near Deal to Buy Intel’s TV Service [links to web]
NCTA To Jump Into Retransmission Reform Fight [links to web]
Rogers NHL Deal to Draw Government Scrutiny, Moody’s Says [links to web]
JOURNALISM
A Letter that Fails to Inform - op-ed
The FCC Should Stay Out Of TV Newsrooms - editorial
NPR Gets $17 Million in Grants to Expand Coverage and Develop Digital Platform
EDUCATION
15 Million Students Learned to Program, Thanks to Hour of Code [links to web]
ACCESSIBILITY
FCC Seeks Comment on Application of the IP Closed Captioning Rules to Video Clips - public notice
POLICYMAKERS
Rep. Bobby Rush’s Englewood tech center dream dead, where did $1 million go? [links to web]
NSA deputy director steps down [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Arms deal sets limits on cyber technologies
Rogers NHL Deal to Draw Government Scrutiny, Moody’s Says [links to web]
European telecoms: Consolidation in a revenue-constrained sector will not be easy [links to web]
Huawei Pulls Back on Network Side, but Still Hopes to Build U.S. Brand for Phones [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Consumer Study Suggests Apple's iBeacon Could Work for Retailers [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
EXTENT OF LEAKS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Mark Mazzetti, Michael Schmidt]
American intelligence and law enforcement investigators have concluded that they may never know the entirety of what the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden extracted from classified government computers before leaving the United States, according to senior government officials. Investigators remain in the dark about the extent of the data breach partly because the NSA facility in Hawaii where Mr. Snowden worked -- unlike other NSA facilities -- was not equipped with up-to-date software that allows the spy agency to monitor which corners of its vast computer landscape its employees are navigating at any given time. Six months since the investigation began, officials said Mr. Snowden had further covered his tracks by logging into classified systems using the passwords of other security agency employees, as well as by hacking firewalls installed to limit access to certain parts of the system.
benton.org/node/170241 | New York Times
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NSA REVIEW TO LEAVE SPYING PROGRAMS LARGELY UNCHANGED, REPORTS SAY
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: Spencer Ackerman]
A participant in a White House-sponsored review of surveillance activities described as “shameful” an apparent decision to leave most of the National Security Agency’s controversial bulk spying intact. Sascha Meinrath, director of the Open Technology Institute, said that the review panel he advised is at risk of missing an opportunity to restore confidence in US surveillance practices. “The review group was searching for ways to make the most modest pivot necessary to continue business as usual,” Meinrath said. Headed by the CIA’s former deputy director, Michael Morrell, the review is expected to deliver its report to President Barack Obama, although it is less clear when and how substantially its report will be available to the public. National security council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said she would have no further comment “on a report that is not yet final and hasn’t yet been submitted to the White House”. Leaks about the review group’s expected recommendations to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal strengthened Meinrath and other participants’ long-standing suspicions that much of the NSA’s sweeping spy powers would survive. The Times quoted an anonymous official familiar with the group saying its report “says we can’t dismantle these programs, but we need to change the way almost all of them operate”. Civil libertarians in both parties and both houses of Congress are backing a bill, the USA Freedom Act, that would prevent the NSA's bulk collection of Americans’ data without individualized, court-approved suspicion of wrongdoing. The Obama administration has yet to take a formal position on the bill, which supporters claim has 120 congressional co-sponsors but has yet to pass. The Open Technology Institute’s Meinrath said he told White House chief of staff Denis McDonough that the bulk surveillance revelations represented a “reputational crisis” for the US. “I think the Obama administration is going to be shocked in their own special way by just how little impact this has in turning around public perception of what they’re doing,” he said.
benton.org/node/170226 | Guardian, The
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WH DECLINES TO SPLIT NSA, CYBER COMMAND
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
The Obama Administration has decided against separating the leadership of the National Security Agency and the Pentagon’s premier force in cyberspace, a move that all but ensures continued military leadership of both entities. The White House began studying the potential divorce when Gen. Keith Alexander indicated he would retire from the helm of both organizations early next year -- but a spokeswoman for the Administration, Caitlin Hayden, said the current setup “is the most effective approach to accomplishing both agencies’ missions.” The move guarantees that any future director of both the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command must remain a military officer, a senior Administration official later confirmed. For now, the Administration believes the existing setup is critical to both counterterrorism and cybersecurity. “NSA plays a unique role in supporting Cyber Command’s mission, providing critical support for target access and development, including linguists, analysts, cryptanalytic capabilities and sophisticated technological infrastructure,” said Hayden. “These capabilities are essential in enabling DoD cyberspace operations planning and execution.” “Without the dual-hat arrangement, elaborate procedures would have to be put in place to ensure that effective coordination continued and avoid creating duplicative capabilities in each organization,” she continued.
benton.org/node/170117 | Politico
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BY CRACKING CELLPHONE CODE, NSA HAS CAPACITY FOR DECODING PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Craig Timberg, Ashkan Soltani]
The cellphone encryption technology used most widely across the world can be easily defeated by the National Security Agency, an internal document shows, giving the agency the means to decode most of the billions of calls and texts that travel over public airwaves every day. While the military and law enforcement agencies long have been able to hack into individual cellphones, the NSA’s capability appears to be far more sweeping because of the agency’s global signals collection operation. The agency’s ability to crack encryption used by the majority of cellphones in the world offers it wide-ranging powers to listen in on private conversations. US law prohibits the NSA from collecting the content of conversations between Americans without a court order. But experts say that if the NSA has developed the capacity to easily decode encrypted cellphone conversations, then other nations likely can do the same through their own intelligence services, potentially to Americans’ calls, as well.
benton.org/node/170224 | Washington Post
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PROTECTING PHONE DATA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] As long as your mobile phone is on, your wireless carrier keeps track of your location. It’s relatively easy, technologically and legally, for law enforcement to obtain and sort through phone companies’ so-called geolocation records. State and local police -- not just federal officials -- are collecting these records in investigations that have nothing to do with national security, the domain in which debates on surveillance have occurred lately. Lawmakers -- state and federal -- should draw new lines. Some have already proposed requiring a warrant for geolocation data. It’s worth debating under which circumstances that might make sense; for example, long-term tracking, whether of individual suspects or lots of people using the same cell tower, would be a good candidate for a higher legal standard. Other proposals include requiring that geolocation requests be as narrowly tailored as possible, with clear explanations for their requested scope. Requirements should not be too burdensome in emergency situations -- following a kidnapping, say. But law enforcement officers could be required to produce a reviewable, after-the-fact document explaining why they invoked emergency powers. Most important is to prevent the misuse of innocent Americans’ location records caught up in any dragnet search. There should be strict procedures on handling and retaining tower-dump information; anything irrelevant to a bona-fide investigation should be ignored and then discarded. Once police find the needle, they shouldn’t go searching through the rest of the haystack.
benton.org/node/170239 | Washington Post
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PRIVACY
GOOGLE’S PRIVACY FEATURE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ina Fried]
With the latest update to Android, Google has removed a hidden feature that had been used to allow phone owners to more tightly control which personal information could be accessed by applications. Google isn’t commenting directly on the feature’s removal, but the company has indicated that it had inadvertently included experimental code within Android 4.3 that enabled it. Google won’t say when or if the feature might return. The move isn’t winning Google any love from privacy advocates who see yanking the feature as a step back for consumers. Google maintains that the feature could cause apps to crash since it allows for certain permissions to be revoked.
benton.org/node/170220 | Wall Street Journal
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INTERNET/TELECOM
THE BIG PHONE NEWS FROM THE FCC
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
The big phone news from this week’s Federal Communications Commission meeting? Cellphones on planes? Cellphone unlocking? No, no. The news we’d like to highlight is about your home, landline phone. There’s big plans to help it move into the digital era. You may be wondering about all the fuss over a phone you and your family may rarely use anymore. The FCC recently released research that found that last year, about one in seven households with plain old telephone service delivered over copper wires dropped their landlines. And over the last four years, 33.6 million (or 43 percent) of American households with copper landlines gave them up. Many households – 42 million in 2012 alone – have decided to subscribe to voice-over-IP (VoIP) service and now over 40 percent of all landlines are VoIP. Incumbent telephone companies and their supporters say it makes no sense for them to sink more dollars into “legacy” networks when the future is in broadband infrastructure. But millions of people still rely on traditional phone service and the FCC is now in the beginning stages of what will be a years-long process to help the nation switch from the old telephone network to broadband. Many are calling this the IP, for Internet Protocol, transition. Significant concerns are being raised whether IP-enabled technologies can deliver the type of services consumers have come to expect in an affordable, open and competitive way.
http://benton.org/node/170106
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
SPRINT PREPARING A BID FOR T-MOBILE US
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ryan Knutson, Eyk Henning, Thomas Gryta]
Sprint is working toward a possible bid for rival T-Mobile US, people familiar with the matter said, setting the stage for a giant telecom merger that if permitted by regulators would leave the US wireless market dominated by three big companies. Sprint is studying regulatory concerns and could launch a bid in the first half of 2014, the people said. A deal could be worth more than $20 billion, depending on the size of any stake in T-Mobile that Sprint tries to buy. A merger of the third and fourth largest US carriers would create a sizable competitor to industry leaders Verizon Wireless and AT&T. But it would likely face tough opposition from antitrust authorities, who worry consumers could suffer without a fourth national competitor to keep a check on prices. Sprint hasn't yet decided whether to move ahead with a bid. Going forward despite regulators' concerns would be highly risky. Any pursuit of a bid by Sprint could be aimed at testing antitrust officials' reaction to a deal, and a bad reaction could put an end to the effort.
benton.org/node/170215 | Wall Street Journal | Bloomberg | USAToday | GigaOm | The Verge | The Hill | USAToday
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CAN SPRINT BUY T-MOBILE?
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Chris Ziegler]
[Commentary] A resurgent T-Mobile underpinned by aggressive pricing and a boisterous CEO, a new Sprint backed by hyper-fast data and a Japanese telecom giant, and the duopoly -- AT&T and Verizon -- up to its usual antics: just when it seemed like we'd finally reached some semblance of stability in the US wireless market, we hear the news that Sprint may be ramping up to make a bid for T-Mobile. If the report holds water and Sprint elects to proceed, we could be in for an unexpectedly turbulent 2014 (and beyond) for the American wireless landscape, as regulators and executives spar over the viability and wisdom of allowing the United States' number three and four carriers to combine. And who would win that battle? For the Federal Communications Commission, it’s primarily a question of whether a consolidation would help or harm competition. Two years ago, with Sprint and T-Mobile both hemorrhaging subscribers, teaming up might have put the two in a better position to square off against the Big Two; since then, though, the smaller carriers have gotten their desperately needed LTE efforts off the ground. T-Mobile has started adding customers; Sprint hasn't, but it's now backed by SoftBank's wallet and ambition. In other words, it's fair to call T-Mobile and Sprint more "competitive" now, at least by some metrics -- and that makes a merger, which would bring the United States down to just three national wireless providers, less appealing in the eyes of competition-minded regulators. But regulation aside, none of this touches on the technical nightmare that engineers at Sprint and T-Mobile would face in combining their networks.
benton.org/node/170213 | Verge, The
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SPRINT/T-MOBILE?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
[Commentary] It's been two years since AT&T's attempted purchase of T-Mobile fell apart. Now, T-Mobile is reportedly in Sprint's crosshairs. Whether Sprint succeeds in buying T-Mobile will depend a lot on the Federal Communications Commission. While the regulatory approval process could sink the proposed deal over antitrust concerns, the FCC may also conclude that a merger would preserve wireless competition. Either way, the report suggests that T-Mobile is still a big, tasty morsel -- and that's a sad thing, because with the least to lose of the four major carriers, T-Mobile has been the most willing to challenge the rest of the industry's modus operandi. The business needs a T-Mobile. Its "uncarrier" attitude offers an important foil to the likes of Verizon and AT&T. The company's tactics, which include divorcing handset prices from contract payments, free international data roaming and a habit of openly needling AT&T, have won it hundreds of thousands of new subscribers recently, with more growth likely on the way. T-Mobile expects to finish the year having added 1.8 million post-paid customers. Merging with Sprint wouldn't necessarily be the end of all that. But the deal potentially puts a relatively young and important experiment at risk.
benton.org/node/170235 | Washington Post
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HOUSE PANEL EYES NEXT STEPS FOR CELLPHONE UNLOCKING
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
The House Judiciary Committee could have more to do on the issue of “cellphone unlocking.” The committee, which has worked on the issue before and is in the middle of a broad review of copyright law, may take up the issue again. Many in Congress applauded the announcement that five top cellphone carriers — AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular — have reached an agreement that will allow their users to keep their devices when they switch between the five companies’ networks when technologically possible as a significant gain for consumers, but some are saying the agreement isn’t enough. According to a House Judiciary aide, Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) “welcomes the agreement” and “is in the process of reviewing this agreement and determining if legislation is necessary.” In a statement, Committee member Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) called the carriers’ agreement a “partial win” for consumers but said, “The process that necessitated the FCC having to take action remains heavily flawed.” Rep Chaffetz said he would work “with Chairman Goodlatte to help advance legislation that will remove the threat of felony charges for unlocking a cell phone.”
benton.org/node/170209 | Hill, The
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TELEVISION/RADIO
CHARTER PREPARES TAKEOVER OFFER FOR TIME WARNER CABLE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Gelles]
Charter Communications is preparing to make an offer of less than $135 a share for Time Warner Cable, according to people briefed on the matter. The offer, which is likely to come in the form of a so-called bear hug letter, will consist of a mix of cash and Charter stock. It will set the wheels in motion for a new round of consolidation in the cable operator industry. Such a deal would have an equity value of around $38 billion. Charter could make its offer very soon. Charter believes it can get away with offering what is a small premium above the current trading price.
benton.org/node/170208 | New York Times | B&C
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GRANTS FOR NPR
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Jensen]
National Public Radio has amassed nearly $17 million in grants to increase substantially its coverage of education and global health and development, and finance creation of a new mobile and web platform that is expected to allow it to reach more listeners and better compete with outside aggregators of public radio content. The grants come just three months after NPR, which is facing a $6 million deficit in its budget of $183 million for the 2014 fiscal year, said it would cut 10 percent of its staff. An NPR spokeswoman said the new funding, because it is dedicated to projects, would not reduce the deficit. Four foundations are making grants: the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wallace Foundation and the Ford Foundation. There are also three individual gifts, including $1 million from Paul G. Haaga Jr., who in September was named NPR’s interim chief executive, and his wife, Heather. Almost $10 million of the new funding will go to development of what NPR calls a “seamless local-national listening platform” that will allow listeners to switch smoothly from, say, a clock radio to a web-enabled car. Some larger public radio stations, as well as NPR, already have mobile apps, but listeners who want to aggregate programs and podcasts from numerous sources often use outside services, such as TuneIn or Stitcher, both of which also include commercial content. NPR’s new mobile app, which is being developed with six local stations and is expected to go into public testing next year, will wrap together on-demand local and national public radio content to create playlists, partly driven by algorithms and using geo-targeting to pull in local news.
benton.org/node/170247 | New York Times | LA Times
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JOURNALISM
A LETTER THAT FAILS TO INFORM
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Michael Copps]
[Commentary] I write not in glee but in disappointment over a letter that Reps Fred Upton and Greg Walden and 14 other Republican Members of the House sent to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler on December 10. The letter claims that the FCC is attempting to dictate content on the airwaves, reinstitute the “Fairness Doctrine” and undermine the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The signatories take particular aim at the idea that the FCC should be doing any research and analysis about the information needs of communities. In truth, the FCC clearly has both the statutory authorization and a judicial mandate to do what it is proposing to do. When the Upton-Walden letter charges that gathering needed information is nothing but an ill-disguised effort to stifle free speech and dictate content, it is ignoring history, Congressional mandate, and clear court commands. Certainly we can discuss the parameters of any study that is proposed. But that is very different from denying the Commission’s authority and responsibility to study and analyze how broadcast stations are performing their stewardship obligations.
http://benton.org/node/170119
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THE FCC SHOULD STAY OUT OF TV NEWSROOMS
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Harry Jessell]
[Commentary] Among the many things wrong with the Federal Communication Commission's proposed study of local media, the most egregious is its intention to interview newspeople on how they do their jobs. It's one thing to profile the media in a market to see how it could be opened up to more players. It's something entirely else to muck around in the editorial decision making of broadcasters and other media. The FCC has awarded the research contract to Social Solutions International for an initial study in Columbia (SC), one of a planned six apparently. I know broadcasters have been trained since they were pups to jump when the FCC says jump, but just because the study is being done for the FCC doesn't imbue SSI or any other contractor with some special power. To the TV broadcasters of Columbia, I would say that if SSI comes calling, asking a bunch of questions about how you produce the news, politely decline and point the researchers to the public files. Nothing is compelling you to cooperate. If the FCC somehow tries to strong-arm the Columbia stations into cooperating, then I would hope that every member of Congress cracks down hard on the agency. If the FCC wants to know who owns what in Columbia, it can check its own database. And if it wants to know what's keeping small businesses from entering the broadcasting business in Columbia, I can tell you right now: money. For $50 million-$60 million, you probably could buy WIS, Raycom's NBC affiliate, the market leader. If that's too rich, consider one of the market's unaffiliated TV stations for couple of million or an FM station for a million or so. An AM daytimer? Sure, and maybe for less than what the FCC is paying SSI. There you go, FCC. No charge.
benton.org/node/170205 | TVNewsCheck
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ACCESSIBILITY
FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON APPLICATION OF THE IP CLOSED CAPTIONING RULES TO VIDEO CLIPS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau seeks updated information on the closed captioning of video clips delivered by Internet protocol (“IP”), including the extent to which industry has voluntarily captioned IP-delivered video clips. In the IP Closed Captioning Order, pursuant to the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (“CVAA”), the FCC imposed closed captioning requirements on the owners, providers, and distributors of IP-delivered video programming. The Commission determined that the IP closed captioning rules initially should apply to full-length programming and not to video clips, but it also stated its belief that Congress intended “to leave open the extent to which [video clips] should be covered under this section at some point in the future.” Specifically, the FCC noted that statements in the legislative history of the CVAA that Congress “intends, at this time, for the regulations to apply to full-length programming and not to video clips or outtakes,” suggested that Congress only intended to exclude video clips initially. Given Congress’s intent to “update the communications laws to help ensure that individuals with disabilities are able to . . . better access video programming,” the FCC stated that it may later determine that this intent is best served by requiring captioning of IP-delivered video clips. Although not required by the IP Closed Captioning Order, the FCC also encouraged video programming owners, providers, and distributors to provide closed captions for IP-delivered video clips, especially news clips. The Commission stated that if it finds that consumers who are deaf or hard of hearing are denied access to critical areas of programming, such as news, it may reconsider the need for a requirement to provide closed captioning on video clips to achieve Congressional intent.
benton.org/node/170198 | Federal Communications Commission | B&C
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
ARMS DEAL ON CYBER TECHNOLOGY
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Sam Jones]
Western governments have agreed to enact harsher export controls on sensitive cyber technologies as part of one of the world’s armament agreements. Additions to the Wassenaar Arrangement, hammered out in Vienna, will require technology companies to get permission from governments to sell a range of security and surveillance software. The 41 Wassenaar signatories – which include the US, UK, Russia and most EU states – have agreed to curb sales of internet “communications surveillance systems” and “intrusion software” – the kind of programs used by agencies such as the US National Security Agency and UK’s GCHQ. Any software that mines metadata – information such as addresses or call lengths, as part of the “envelope” of electronic communications – will be restricted, as well as programs designed to home in on an individual’s internet activity and data. The agreed text also calls for curbs on software that entails “mapping the relational network of an individual or of a group.” Exceptions are provided for companies using such software for marketing or consumer-monitoring purposes. Certain types of malware, particularly software designed to inflict damage on computers, networks or the real-world machinery they control, will also be restricted.
benton.org/node/170245 | Financial Times
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