May 2014

AT&T's Direct Route into Cable Fray

Tying up with AT&T could make sense for DirecTV, whose subscriber-growth rate has fallen year over year since 2010. As a satellite provider, DirecTV lacks its own broadband offering, which puts it at a disadvantage to cable peers. AT&T's fiber broadband could fill that gap. For AT&T, buying DirecTV would give it access to the satellite company's free-cash flow. That could be valuable, as roughly 85% of AT&T's free cash flow is expected to go toward its dividend in 2014. And doubling down on video would make AT&T less exposed to wireless at a time when aggressive promotions by T-Mobile US have been shaking up the industry. But buying DirecTV, which has an enterprise value of $59.5 billion, would hardly solve all of AT&T's problems. AT&T would be tying itself to a business in structural, if gradual, decline. Doing a deal also would mean passing up the opportunity to buy the satellite-TV company that also comes with a sizable swath of wireless spectrum: Dish Network. Getting Dish to the bargaining table may, in fact, be AT&T's primary goal in talking to DirecTV.

Trapped into paying extra for cable TV sports

[Commentary] Racism isn't widespread among sports team owners. Greed is. Exhibit A: The $8 billion charged by the Dodgers for broadcast rights to their games knowing full well that pay-TV companies would have to pass along this sky-high cost to all customers.

Time Warner Cable is the Dodgers' partner in crime. It paid that whopping sum for exclusive rights to distribute the Dodgers channel to other pay-TV companies, assuming, like the team, that it would get away with sticking both fans and non-fans with an extra $4 to $5 fee every month. The harsh reality, however, is that most Southern California pay-TV customers already are forking out big bucks for local sports that they may never watch. I've long advocated for a la carte pricing — paying only for the channels you want. And I still believe that's the only equitable way to offer a service. Why should consumers be forced to pay for products they don't want? Until we get there, though, it seems obvious that sports programming needs to be broken out into its own premium tier. Those who want sports can pay for it. Those who don't, won't.

Snooping reports' pileup problem

Could surveillance reform succumb to death by a thousand blue-ribbon panels? That’s what some are fearing as bookshelves in congressional offices, lobbying suites and newsrooms across Washington begin to sag with the accumulation of snooping-related reports and recommendations unveiled since Edward Snowden’s stunning disclosures last June about widespread National Security Agency gathering of US telephone data.

The White House added two more studies to the growing stack May 1: assessments of the risks and dangers inherent in collection and mining of so-called “big data” by both government and the private sector. One writeup came from Obama advisers and Cabinet officials like counselor John Podesta, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Another came from a 20-member council of outside experts on technology issues. The teeming pile of reports stands in contrast to the few tangible signs of legislative progress on many of the issues the various boards have focused on. That disconnect is fueling concerns in some quarters that there’s plenty of diagnosing going on and, so far, little in the way of treatment.

Tech industry wants surveillance focus after ‘Big Data’ report

The tech industry is calling on the Obama Administration to focus on limiting government access to online data after a White House report focused on commercial users of consumer data.

Tech companies and trade groups applauded the White House’s “Big Data” report -- which largely focused on how companies collect and use large amounts of consumer data -- but encouraged President Obama to focus on reforming national security and law enforcement surveillance. Specifically, members of the tech industry focused on the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), a 1986 law that allows law enforcement officials to access stored emails without a warrant. ‘Now that the Administration has issued its report, it should turn its attention to the most pressing privacy priorities facing American consumers by working to adopt ECPA reform with no exceptions and to reform the government’s surveillance laws and practices,” Internet Association CEO Michael Beckerman said. Beckerman’s group includes Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and Amazon. Ed Black, CEO of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, also called for quick action on ECPA reform. “ECPA reform is ready for action now,” he said in a statement, asking Congress to ensure “that the standard of protection for online content, such as email in the cloud, is consistent with that afforded in the physical world.” Black’s trade group includes Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and FourSquare.

Trying To Limit The Collection Of Personal Data Would Be A Lost Cause

Preventing companies and government agencies from gathering embarrassing or damaging personal information about you may be a fool’s errand, a White House panel on privacy in the age of big data said. Instead, lawmakers and regulators should focus their efforts on preventing the dissemination or other use of damaging personal data, according to the report from the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology Policy.

In some cases that damaging data may be as personal as an individuals’ genome that, if shown to a potential employer, could lead to job discrimination based on her likelihood of developing a degenerative disease. In other cases, organizations may collect the most common characteristics of terrorists or criminals, which could lead to discrimination against people who have those characteristics but are neither terrorists nor criminals. The report follows a three-month study led by White House Counselor John Podesta on how the explosion of new data sources and new tools to gather intelligence from them will affect Americans’ privacy.

US and Germany Fail to Reach a Deal on Spying

The effort to remake the intelligence relationship between the United States and Germany after it was disclosed last year that the National Security Agency was tapping Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone has collapsed, according to German officials, who say there will be no broad intelligence sharing or “no-spy” agreement between the two countries when Chancellor Merkel arrives at the White House on May 2.

For a number of months, German officials said the chancellor could not visit Washington until there was a resolution, including what they called a “restoration of trust” between the allies. But the talks hit the rocks as soon as they began. Germany demanded a no-spy agreement that would ban the United States from conducting espionage activities on its soil. That led to a series of tough exchanges between the president’s national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, and her German counterpart, Christoph Heusgen.

Turkey's Erdogan: One of the World's Most Determined Internet Censors

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned his democratically elected government into one of the world's most determined Internet censors.

His political party passed laws letting him shut down websites without a court order and collect Web browsing data on individuals. He put a veteran spy in charge of Turkey's telecommunications regulator. He also has blocked dozens of websites. Twitter was banned for two weeks in late March and early April, and Google's YouTube video-sharing service has been dark since March 27. An opposition newspaper columnist and academic was sentenced to 10 months in jail for a tweet that insulted the prime minister, while 29 defendants are on trial on allegations that include using tweets to organize protests and foment unrest last year. "Let people say whatever they want, we will take care of this ourselves," Erdogan said after blocking Twitter. Tensions were high May 1 as protesters clashed with police trying to enforce a ban on the traditional march to Istanbul's Taksim Square, long symbolic as a place of dissent on May Day. Some critics of Erdogan say privately that they feel more nervous about making antigovernment statements. In cafes and bars here, people compare technical workarounds aimed at dodging the government's website blockages and surveillance efforts.

Suit Claims Google’s Deals With Android Device Makers Violates Antitrust Laws

A federal class action suit filed charges that Google’s deals with Android device makers hurt competition and violate antitrust laws.

The suit, brought on behalf of two consumers as well as other Android device makers say that the Mobile Application Distribution Agreements that Google has with device makers that use its Gmail, YouTube and other proprietary apps hurt competition. The so-called MADA contract came up recently in the Apple vs. Samsung suit as Google has agreed to partially indemnify Samsung for some patent claims based on commitments that are part of the contract.

NAB to FCC: Rescind New Vetting Of Station Sharing

The National Association of Broadcasters says the Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau's guidance on how it would review TV station sharing arrangements is illegal ("arbitrary and capricious") and has asked the commission to rescind it within by May 8.

According to a copy of a letter from NAB to the commission dated May 1, NAB says the public notice, Processing of Broadcast Television Applications Proposing Sharing Arrangements and Contingent Interests, is arbitrary and capricious. NAB points out that in its March 31 decision to make TV station joint sales agreements (JSAs) over 15% attributable as ownership interest included no decision on any other kind of sharing agreement and, in fact, expressly said that vote “does not disturb other sharing agreements, such as those that allow stations to share facilities, provide local news production assistance, or share administrative and technical personnel, and any operational efficiencies and related potential public interest benefits created by these agreements will continue.” Given that statement, said NAB, "The Public Notice’s pronouncement that the Media Bureau immediately will regulate SSAs with contingent interests by applying different and greater scrutiny cannot be reconciled with the approach adopted in the March 31 Decision." In addition, said NAB, the bureau's actions are "fatally premature" because the FCC is, in effect, regulating on "speculation and conjecture" since the FCC has not adopted the standards the public notice suggests the FCC will use. "In sum, the Public Notice violates the Administrative Procedure Act. It cannot be squared with the March 31 decision, reflects unreasoned action, and sends conflicting signals to broadcasters as to the rules of the game for sharing arrangements," says NAB. It wants the FCC to withdraw the notice and stop applying the stricter standards to sharing arrangements.

Apple, Facebook, others defy authorities, notify users of secret data demands

Major US technology companies have largely ended the practice of quietly complying with investigators’ demands for e-mail records and other online data, saying that users have a right to know in advance when their information is targeted for government seizure.

This increasingly defiant industry stand is giving some of the tens of thousands of Americans whose Internet data gets swept into criminal investigations each year the opportunity to fight in court to prevent disclosures. Prosecutors, however, warn that tech companies may undermine cases by tipping off criminals, giving them time to destroy vital electronic evidence before it can be gathered. Fueling the shift is the industry’s eagerness to distance itself from the government after disclosures about National Security Agency surveillance of online services. Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google all are updating their policies to expand routine notification of users about government data seizures, unless specifically gagged by a judge or other legal authority, officials at all four companies said. Yahoo announced similar changes in July. As this position becomes uniform across the industry, US tech companies will ignore the instructions stamped on the fronts of subpoenas urging them not to alert subjects about data requests, industry lawyers say. Companies that already routinely notify users have found that investigators often drop data demands to avoid having suspects learn of inquiries.

Benton

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