May 2014

Poor infrastructure holds back Nigeria’s broadband revolution

After the astonishing growth in adoption of mobile phones, all eyes are on the next phase of the telecoms story in Africa. Nigeria’s transition from zero to 70 percent mobile penetration in just over 10 years highlights the potential in frontier markets. In the recent recalculation of Nigeria’s GDP, the telecoms sector’s share shot up to almost 9 percent, although some think the real figure could be even higher. If broadband internet penetration -- currently less than 10 percent -- grows at the same pace as mobile telephone services, it would give a massive boost to an economy that suffers from the country’s poor physical communications.

Valuable Humans in Our Digital Future

Some advice to the class of 2014: Be human. It pays. In just the last nine years, the prices of many once-luxury manufactured goods have fallen sharply, affording the poor a more rewarding life. Prices of things associated with actually escaping poverty, like college, health care and child care, have soared. Increasingly, the most valuable things in our world involve people looking at you, touching you and understanding you.

Media Slant: A Question of Cause and Effect

What determines whether a newspaper leans left or right? If a paper serves a liberal community, it is likely to lean left, and if it serves a conservative community, it is likely to lean right. In addition, once its political slant is set, a paper is more likely to be read by households who share its perspective. Religiosity also plays a role in the story. In regions where a high percentage of the population attends church regularly, there are more conservatives, and newspapers have a conservative slant. The bottom line is simple: Media owners generally do not try to mold the population to their own brand of politics. Instead, like other business owners, they maximize profit by giving customers what they want.

[Mankiw is a professor of economics at Harvard]

The Great Unwatched

Is anybody watching online video ads?

By many estimates, more than half of online video ads are not seen, either because they are buried low on web pages or run in tiny, easily ignored video players on those pages, or run simultaneously with other ads. Vindico, an ad management platform company, deemed 57 percent of two billion video ads surveyed over two months to be “unviewable.” Getting what you think you’ve paid for in this realm is harder than it appears.

Jury Orders Samsung to Pay $119 Million to Apple in Patent Case

Apple won a small victory in its latest patent dispute with Samsung, but largely failed in its attempt to slow competitors to its landmark iPhone.

A federal-court jury ruled that some Samsung devices infringed on two Apple software patents, but didn't infringe on two others; the judge had earlier ruled that Samsung infringed on a fifth patent. The jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $119.6 million in damages, far short of the $2.2 billion Apple had been seeking, and less than the $930 million Apple was awarded in an earlier trial in the same courtroom. The same jury ruled that Apple infringed on one Samsung patent and awarded Samsung $158,400. One legal analyst called the verdict a victory for Samsung. "This amount is less than 10% of the amount Apple requested and probably doesn't surpass by too much the amount Apple spent litigating this case," said Brian Love, assistant professor at Santa Clara University School of Law. "Apple launched this litigation campaign years ago with aspirations of slowing the meteoric rise of Android phone manufacturers. It has so far failed to do so, and this case won't get it any closer."

The FCC is accusing this company of cheating the deaf

The Federal Communications Commission announced that it will issue a $11.9 million fine against Purple Communications, for allegedly improperly billing a government fund dedicated to providing assistive communication services to the deaf, hearing-impaired and those with speech impairments.

Purple is one of several companies authorized by the government to provide government-supported services for those communities, by way of the telecommunications relay fund. Broadly, this fund reimburses companies that provide transcription services and other services to the deaf. Companies that provide these services are reimbursed for every minute that they provide them. They are required to verify that those who use their services have legitimate names and mailing addresses. The FCC has been concerned about abuses within the program. In its statement, the FCC said that Purple was reimbursed for providing some of its services to "customers with names that were so clearly false that they could not have been the actual names of eligible users." These names included “sdfsdf cicwcicw,” “ Myname Yourname,” and “Lot$a Money," according to the release.

The FCC Chairman’s Many Excuses

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has been defending his latest network neutrality proposal, but t’s get one thing straight: He is not backing off his plan to hand the keys to the Internet over to the cable and phone industries.

The chairman told the cable industry to “put away the party hats” because he’s not actually going to kill network neutrality. But his proposal is the same plan offered by the largest cable and phone companies, which have tried to kill network neutrality for almost a decade. Since 2006, the phone and cable industries have proposed a world where they won’t “block” any websites, but they will simply create a lane for all websites and then charge anyone who wants better service for a fast lane. They have fought a nondiscrimination rule for at least eight years, using tens of millions of dollars. The tolls for the fast lane may be tied to bandwidth or a company’s revenue. Finally, the cable and phone giants want this world to have no clear rules -- just vague principles about what might be “commercially reasonable,” which is an invitation for small companies to sue the giants if they’re unhappy. Since the cable and telephone companies have more FCC lawyers than most companies have employees, they will scare off most potential companies suing and then beat the rest in “FCC court.” That’s basically what the chairman is backing -- the often proposed AT&T/Verizon plan.

[Ammori is a Future Tense fellow at New America, a practicing lawyer, and a visiting scholar at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet Society]

White House seeks legal immunity for firms that hand over customer data

The White House has asked legislators crafting competing reforms of the National Security Agency to provide legal immunity for telecommunications firms that provide the government with customer data.

In a statement of principles privately delivered to lawmakers some weeks ago to guide surveillance reforms, the White House said it wanted legislation protecting “any person who complies in good faith with an order to produce records” from legal liability for complying with court orders for phone records to the government once the NSA no longer collects the data in bulk. The brief request, contained in a four-page document, echoes a highly controversial provision of the 2008 FISA Amendments Act, which provided retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies that allowed the NSA to access calls and call data between Americans and foreigners, voiding lawsuits against them. Barack Obama’s vote for that bill as a senator and presidential candidate disappointed many supporters. A congressional aide said the telecommunications companies were expected to “fight hard” for the provision to survive in any surveillance bill. Those firms, including Verizon and AT&T, have typically kept far more silent in public about NSA surveillance and their role in it than internet giants, like Yahoo and Google, which have pushed for reforms.

VOA reform push sparks propaganda fears

The House is moving to overhaul the handful of taxpayer-funded media organizations, but critics say the changes would turn the Voice of America into a tool for pro-western propaganda.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed a bill to make “dramatic reforms” to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees the government-backed outlets. One of the highest profile changes in the new bill is an explicit statement that news at the Voice of America, the US’s flagship foreign broadcaster, “is consistent with and promotes the broad foreign policies of the United States.” Lawmakers said that US organizations operate at a disadvantage and need leeway to promote and explain American policies, as other state-funded broadcasters do. But the legislation has raised concerns the outlet could turn into a propaganda machine.

Netflix takes leading role in DC

Now starring in its own Beltway drama: Netflix.

The TV and movie giant long ago piqued Washington’s interest with its “House of Cards” series and Hollywood star appeal. But the company, which has only a small office in town, is now taking a leading role in DC’s biggest tech policy debates.

Netflix has become a vocal opponent of Comcast’s bid for Time Warner Cable, and it’s pressing the Federal Communications Commission to enact stronger network neutrality rules that ensure all Web traffic is treated equally. While Netflix has notched a modest lobbying win in the past -- shepherding a video privacy reform through Congress in 2012 -- its recent aggressive push on major issues presents the company with a new kind of political challenge, pitting it against deep-pocketed Washington veterans with experience navigating the corridors of power. Comcast, for example, has more than 100 lobbyists deployed here, dwarfing Netflix’s tiny two-person shop. Netflix hasn’t said whether it plans to ramp up its D.C. operation. For now, it’s relying on brand recognition rather than brute force to convey its message. And its willingness to embrace strong positions on the Comcast deal and net neutrality, at a time when many other Web giants remain quiet, has earned Netflix early praise from public interest groups that share its convictions. “It’s really helpful to have Netflix on our side,” said John Levy, campaign director at Free Press. “It means a lot Netflix is willing to go out there and speak up for itself.” But those who know Netflix well say it’s ill-equipped for the kind of extensive -- and expensive -- ground game in Washington required to build a case with regulators and lawmakers.

Benton

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