May 2014

Readers Say a ‘Net Neutrality’ Vote Was Reported Upside Down and Backward

[Commentary] Should a speedy Internet be available to everyone equally or are some users, in Orwell’s terms, “more equal than others”? Should there be “haves” and “have-nots” on the Internet, with the winners being large corporate or commercial users, as opposed to small businesses or regular people?

That’s the essence of the debate behind the high-stakes subject of “net neutrality,” which the Federal Communications Commission voted on recently.

“I’ve long become accustomed to news articles as well as editorials in the Times asserting that black is white or white is black, but for you to insist that the actions of the FCC will protect and enhance Internet neutrality is way over the top,” wrote one reader, William Edwards. And another, Robert Ofsevit, wrote a detailed critique, comparing the headline in The Times, “FCC Vote Paves the Way for New Open Internet Rules” unfavorably with a more direct headline on a Reuters story that ran on Huffington Post: “FCC Votes for Plan to Kill Net Neutrality.”

He wrote: “The writer denigrates and marginalizes ‘some opponents’ of Chairman Wheeler’s plan, and “net neutrality purists” who view the plan as killing net neutrality. In fact, these are not fringe views held only by ‘purists.’” My take: I’m with the critics on this one. While I’m no expert, I don’t think the issues here really are all that muddy. Maybe this makes me a purist, but as I see it, this FCC vote was a clear strike against the commonly understood idea of net neutrality, and The Times should have written and presented it that way.

If a high-quality site like Metafilter can be crushed by Google, what hope do other sites have?

For long-time web users, the layoffs announcement from Metafilter -- a pioneering online community that has been around since 1999 -- was a little like hearing that an old friend is in hospital with a fatal illness: founder Matt Haughey said that due to a dramatic decline in traffic and related advertising revenue, the site has had to lay off several of its moderators and is essentially on financial life-support.

And the name at the center of this drama likely won’t come as much of a surprise: Google. Haughey describes how traffic to the site suddenly cratered in mid-2012, with visits falling by more than 40 percent. At around the same time, Google was rolling out an update to its indexing algorithm -- an update known as Panda -- which was designed to promote high-quality content and down-grade spam sites, as well as those using a variety of search-engine optimization or SEO tricks.

As with most things involving Google and its algorithms, what happened to Metafilter is almost impossible to diagnose, because the search giant’s methods -- and the motivation for any changes -- are a black box. Haughey theorizes that the change occurred around the Panda update and was exacerbated by subsequent updates, but Search Engine Land founder and Google expert Danny Sullivan pointed out that the dramatic drop-off in traffic doesn’t really line up with any of the company’s major algorithm tweaks.

House votes to delay NTIA's Internet shift

The House voted to delay the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s plans to relinquish the United States' oversight of fundamental Internet functions.

In a 245-177 vote -- including 17 Democrats -- the House approved a Republican amendment that would halt the Administration’s plans to end its contract with the company that coordinates Internet addresses. The measure was introduced by Rep John Shimkus (R-IL) as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which just passed. Rep Shimkus’s amendment would require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study before the Commerce Department can proceed with its plans to hand off its oversight role of the system.

The administration has defended its plans, pledging to ensure that the new oversight mechanism will be structured to keep governments and multi-government groups from controlling the Internet. In a floor speech touting his amendment, Rep Shimkus pushed back on those assurances from the Commerce Department.

“While the administration says it won’t accept a proposal that puts the Internet in the hands of another government or government-led entity, there’s no guarantee that won’t happen after the initial transfer takes place,” he said. “But one thing is for sure: Once our authority is gone, it’s gone for good.”

Republican Senators Seek Hearing On ICANN Hand-off

Led by Senate Commerce Committee members Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), nine Republican senators have asked the chairman and ranking member of the committee to hold a hearing on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s planned transition of some Internet domain name (ICANN) functions to a multistakeholder model.

That came the same day that the House agreed to amend the DOTCOM Act to a must-pass defense bill. The Act would require a Government Accountability Office study before that hand-off.

It was primarily backed by Republicans, though 17 Democrats also voted to amend to the National Defense Authorization Act. In a letter to chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Communications Subcommittee chairman Mark Pryor (D-AS), Rubio and company shared House Republican (and some Democrat) concern over the transition, pointing to the "success of the existing bottom-up, multistakeholder approach to Internet governance."

Actually, Democrats opposed to the DOTCOM Act, say that the hand-off is in service of that goal, since it is transitioning from US oversight -- though they argue that has been primarily ceremonial -- to the multistakeholder model.

USDA Announces Funding for Advanced Communications Technology in Rural Areas

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is accepting applications for grants to enhance telecommunications and broadcast services in rural areas.

The funding is available from the Community Connect Grant Program, the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program, and the Public Television Station Digital Transition Grant Program. Through the Community Connect Grant Program, USDA plans to provide up to $13 million to fund broadband in unserved areas to support economic growth and deliver enhanced educational, health care and public safety services.

Awardees must serve an area where broadband does not exist, provide a community center with broadband access, and offer broadband service to all residential and business customers. Also, USDA is making available up to $19.3 million in Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) program grants to fund access to rural education, training and health care resources. The DLT program finances telecommunications-enabled equipment and advanced technologies for people who live and work in rural areas.

AT&T Will Retain U-verse TV, Won’t Force Customers to Switch to DirecTV

AT&T will not force U-verse TV customers to take DirecTV service, if the telco’s $67 billion deal for the satcaster goes through, CFO John Stephens said.

“Customers will have their choice,” said Stephens, speaking at the JP Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom Conference. “They can stay on U-verse. This transaction is not based on freeing up wired capacity.”

AT&T at the end of March 2014 had 5.7 million U-verse TV subscribers, making it the fifth-biggest pay-TV provider in the US. “Our customers are very happy. They’re voting with their feet to stay with us,” Stephens said, noting that the telecommunications company has been adding about 200,000 TV subscribers per quarter.

Is a mandatory kill switch the solution to smartphone theft

How do you stop the growing epidemic of stolen smartphones? Lawmakers in California seem to think it's by mandating providers to sell devices with built-in "kill switch" capabilities that would make stolen phones inoperable.

A key question was left unanswered: Is this the solution to smartphone theft? You'd be hard-pressed to find a consensus among industry experts on the matter.

Repeaters Integral To Next-Gen Mobile Future

Single frequency networks may be the technology that makes it possible for television stations compete with wireless in reaching viewers on their mobile devices.

Proponents say these booster sites can provide strong signals throughout a station’s coverage area. However it comes at a price: capital costs to implement such booster networks could hit $2 million per market.

House Passes Bill Overhauling NSA Phone Program

The US House of Representatives passed a bill overhauling the National Security Agency's heavily criticized telephone-surveillance program -- the first legislative move responding to revelations about the agency's spying by former government contractor Edward Snowden.

The bill, which passed 303-121, would restructure the way the NSA collects and searches Americans' phone records as it investigates terrorism. Instead of collecting millions of Americans' phone records en masse, the NSA will ask phone companies to query their databases for connections to suspicious phone numbers.

The fate of the bill now lies with the Senate, where the measure received a key endorsement from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT)). He said his committee will take up the bill next month.

However, the House bill faced last-minute opposition from lawmakers concerned that the measure's language had been revised in a way that would expand the scope of spy agency data searches.

Critics have vowed to pursue a more restrictive version of the provisions in the Senate.

"While far from perfect, this bill is an unambiguous statement of congressional intent to rein in the out-of-control NSA," said Laura Murphy of the American Civil Liberties Union. "We will fight to secure additional improvements in the Senate."

Video: How net neutrality shifts may impact diversity online

Will the Federal Communications Commission’s proposed new rules governing Internet traffic further hurt those whose views and voices are already underrepresented in mainstream media?

Columbia Journalism Review moderated a 45-minute video chat with media entrepreneurs including Davey D, an independent journalist; Kelly Virella, who founded online hyperlocal magazine Dominion of New York and will soon launch a longform journalism publication called The Urban Thinker; and Loris Taylor, president and CEO of Native Public Media, which promotes healthy, engaged, and independent Native communities in the US through media access, control, and ownership.

The trio discussed how they already face an uphill battle when it comes to grabbing eyeballs and advertising dollars from larger, better-funded and staffed competitors. If the FCC adopts new rules that will allow prioritization of some content -- and some content providers -- over others, it will mean game over for them as well as other digital media innovators, they said.

They also argue that the end of net neutrality would not only deepen the digital divide, but would stifle innovation and creativity by discouraging the development of new media ventures, particularly those founded by people of color or that seek to serve diverse communities.

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