July 28, 2014 (NSA Reform; Municipal Broadband)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, JULY 28, 2014
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Cities Seek FCC Help to Expand Broadband - Kevin Taglang analysis
Cable Companies: Google Threatens Net Neutrality, Not Us
Title II does not prohibit paid prioritization - AEI op-ed
Holding onto the triple play: How costs, caps and contracts will keep ISPs flush
Speedy gigabit Internet may arrive in LA, but don't hold your breath
The Internet is a politically and culturally loaded tool, particularly when it comes to censorship - analysis [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Congress passes cellphone unlocking legislation
Feds clash with T-Mobile, Amazon over mobile charges
Verizon will start restricting LTE speeds for its heaviest unlimited-plan customers
Rev Jackson Backs FCC's Grain Management Waiver [links to web]
T-Mobile: 92% of MetroPCS CDMA subs moved onto GSM network amid shutdown in 3 markets [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
When Media Mergers Limit More Than Competition - analysis
Google Triples Deal Spending to $4.2B in 2014 First Half [links to web]
Writers unite in campaign against 'thuggish' Amazon [links to web]
TELEVISION
Broadcasters Defend “Local” News By Running Same Story Nationwide - American Television Alliance editorial
NAB: Exclusivity Rules Are Crucial
Rep Latta Urges Senators to Pass STELAR [links to web]
Mediacom Exec Asks Sen McCaskill To Widen Bill Data Net [links to web]
NFL Drive to Save Sports TV Blackouts Gains Steam [links to web]
Court Finds FilmOn in Contempt [links to web]
How advertisers can keep pace with the changing television landscape - research [links to web]
TV Viewers Distracted By Other Video Screens [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Outside Money Drives a Deluge of Political Ads
The GOP’s digital dilemma [links to web]
Ready for Hillary's latest tech mines your relationship data
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
FCC Approves Frontier Communications' Acquisition of AT&T's Connecticut Wireline Operations [links to web]
PRIVACY/SECURITY
Data privacy isn’t political -- it’s personal - op-ed
Tech seeks life after death for accounts
Guidance for Schools Issued on How to Keep Parents Better Informed on the Data They Collect on Students [links to web]
FCC Requests Comment On Implementation Of CSRIC III Cybersecurity Best Practices - FCC public notice [links to web]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Working to Ensure Public Safety Has Cutting-Edge, Reliable Communications - NTIA press release [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Silicon Valley sees hope in battle against NSA
A Stronger Bill to Limit Surveillance - New York Times editorial [links to web]
Adapting Old Laws to New Technologies
The government wants to wiretap online communications -- or in some cases hack them
How spy agencies keep their ‘toys’ from law enforcement [links to web]
JOURNALISM
At Front Lines, Bearing Witness in Real Time - analysis
POLICYMAKERS
The Judges Approving the NSA’s Surveillance Requests Keep Buying Verizon Stock
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Privacy fears as Australian surveillance laws are dragged into the digital era [links to web]
Canadian court forces Google to remove search results worldwide, as fears of “memory hole” grow [links to web]
After moving money around, Google paid tiny amount in European taxes
China to Declare Qualcomm A Monopoly [links to web]
Kartik’s Story: Fighting For ICTs To Be Accessible To All - op-ed [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
CITIES SEEKS FCC HELP TO EXPAND BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] Chattanooga (TN) and Wilson (NC) simultaneously petitioned the FCC to pre-empt laws in their states that ban the cities from expanding their high-speed Internet networks. The petitions are a move to lift all statewide bans on municipal broadband networks. More than 130 cities operate their own Internet networks, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance while some 21 states restrict such networks. The state laws restricting municipal broadband have been backed, and sometimes written, by telecommunications companies led by AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Verizon Communications and Comcast. They argue it is unfair for them to compete with government, which doesn’t have to make a profit or pay taxes.
http://benton.org/node/197320
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CABLE COMPANIES: GOOGLE THREATENS NET NEUTRALITY, NOT US
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The real threat to online freedom is from Internet giants like Google and Netflix, according to major cable companies. Those sites could block access to popular content and extort tolls out of Internet service providers, the cable companies warn. The argument is the backward version of the usual fight over network neutrality. In a filing to the Federal Communications Commission, Time Warner Cable claimed that the controversy over Internet providers potentially charging websites for access to special "fast lanes" is a "red herring." The real danger, the cable company claimed, is that Google or Netflix could demand payments from Internet providers. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association wrote that "a relatively concentrated group of large [Web companies] -- such as Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook -- have enormous and growing power over consumers' ability to access the content of their choice on the Internet." The NTCA argued that Google, which handles about 68 percent of all Internet searches, has far more control over access to other sites than any individual broadband provider does. "It makes no sense to focus exclusively on Internet access providers and ignore conduct by [websites] that threatens similar harms," the cable lobbying group wrote.
benton.org/node/197354 | National Journal
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TITLE II DOES NOT PROHIBIT PAID PRIORITIZATION
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Daniel Lyons]
[Commentary] Much of the controversy surrounding the Federal Communications Commission’s network neutrality proceeding involves the issue of paid prioritization: whether an Internet content or application provider can pay for priority delivery or minimum guaranteed speed over last-mile broadband networks. Title II Section 202 prohibits telecommunications providers from engaging in “unreasonable discrimination.” But there’s an important limitation on the scope of Section 202. It does not require that the telecommunications provider offer only a single class of service to all people. Rather, it only prohibits discrimination among “like” services -- services that a customer may view as “functionally equivalent.” In other words, we need to separate differentiation (offering different products at different prices) from discrimination (offering the same product at different prices). [Lyons is an associate professor at Boston College Law School]
benton.org/node/197335 | American Enterprise Institute
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HOW COSTS, CAPS AND CONTRACTS WILL KEEP ISPS FLUSH
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
As customers are finding more entertainment value in broadband -- either because they are spending all night on reddit or because they are streaming movies via Netflix or Apple’s iTunes -- they are increasingly questioning the value of the cable package. And while these people may not be the dreaded cord cutters or cord nevers, they may attempt to cut the costs of cable by going for an economy package or signing up for service and then dropping it a few months later. Together the combination of broadband data caps, contracts and cost reductions are helping cable companies transition from being in the pay TV business to being in the broadband business while attempting to keep their margins intact. It’s a thin line, but it’s one that its rivals in the telecommunications world walked a few years ago as they transitioned from wireline voice to mobile services.
benton.org/node/197380 | GigaOm
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SPEEDY INTERNET FOR LA?
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Paresh Dave]
Seeing little competition and questionable demand, Internet service providers have shrugged at spending the billions of dollars needed to boost US Internet speeds to match other parts of the world. But efforts by Google and a few cities including Los Angeles are provoking an about-face. Time Warner Cable and AT&T have eagerly responded that they too are capable of delivering lightning-fast speeds in Los Angeles and other big, lucrative markets. Though analysts see more posturing than certainty in the announcements, it's clear that online video watchers, technology start-ups and financial companies might see a dramatic upgrade in Internet speeds by the end of the decade.
benton.org/node/197552 | Los Angeles Times
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
CONGRESS PASSES CELLPHONE UNLOCKING LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Andrea Peterson]
The House unanimously voted to make it easier for consumers to take their mobile phone with them when they switch carriers or travel overseas. Because of a quirk in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, "unlocking" cellphones so they can be used on other networks is illegal, as it involves circumventing the technological protections of copyrighted software on the phones. President Barack Obama said, “I applaud Members of Congress for passing the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act. The bill Congress passed today is another step toward giving ordinary Americans more flexibility and choice, so that they can find a cell phone carrier that meets their needs and their budget.”
benton.org/node/197387 | Washington Post | Revere Digital | GigaOm | The Hill | | FCC | White House
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FTC CLASHES WITH T-MOBILE, AMAZON
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Major companies are coming into conflict with federal regulators over the charges made on cellphones, tablets and other devices. In recent months, the Federal Trade Commission has gone after T-Mobile and Amazon, claiming that the companies didn’t properly notify customers about certain charges or refund those charges when customers complained. In both cases, the companies have fired back in public, claiming that the FTC is blaming them for problems that they either never had or have already fixed.
benton.org/node/197550 | Hill, The
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VERIZON WILL START RESTRICTING LTE SPEEDS FOR ITS HEAVIEST UNLIMITED-PLAN CUSTOMERS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
Verizon Wireless has been trying to coax its remaining unlimited data customers onto its tiered plans for years, and starting this fall it’s providing one more disincentive to remain with its grandfathered all-you-can-eat plans. On October 1, Verizon will start throttling back LTE speeds on its heaviest unlimited-plan subscribers when they move into congested cells on its networks. What that means is that when the network gets crowded, Verizon will prioritize 4G customers who buy their data by the gigabyte over unlimited plan customers who fall into the top fifth percentile of monthly data usage.
benton.org/node/197339 | GigaOm
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OWNERSHIP
WHEN MEDIA MERGERS LIMIT MORE THAN COMPETITION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: James Stewart]
[Commentary] A merger between 21st Century Fox and Time Warner would reduce control of the major Hollywood studios to five owners, from six, and major television producers to four, from five. Fox and Time Warner may no longer publish old-media newspapers or magazines, but they certainly disseminate information and opinions that may be even more vital to the “welfare of the public” today than the newspapers of Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black’s era. How many news shows and opinion panels would be produced on TV under the ownership of a Rupert Murdoch, or for that matter, any other media mogul who controlled close to 40 percent of all major film production and nearly 20 percent of all television? To look only at price competition and economic efficiency “makes no sense whatsoever” in the media context, added with Maurice Stucke, a law professor at the University of Tennessee. He posits that any analysis of competition in media mergers should include the impact on “the marketplace of ideas,” where competition “advances truth.”
benton.org/node/197353 | New York Times
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TELEVISION
BROADCASTERS DEFEND “LOCAL” NEWS BY RUNNING SAME STORY NATIONWIDE
[SOURCE: American Television Alliance, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] A Fox affiliate station in Baltimore, owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, released a news story on “retransmission consent.” The story was a one-sided defense of the retransmission consent using numerous quotes from the National Association of Broadcasters and one from the American Television Alliance. It’s unsurprising broadcasters would pass self-serving content as “news.” They’re desperate to save the billions they charge for the “free” TV they claim to defend.
benton.org/node/197392 | American Television Alliance | B&C
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NAB: EXCLUSIVITY RULES ARE CRUCIAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Association of Broadcasters has quantified for the Federal Communications Commission what it says are the significant economic benefits of network nonduplication and syndicated exclusivity rules. In reply comments in the FCC's inquiry into retransmission consent regulations, NAB offered up a Compass Lexecon study of ratings changes for 10 TV stations that did not have the exclusive rights to affiliate and syndicated programming until they petitioned the FCC for waivers that were granted. The study says the stations' Nielsen ratings were projected to be 24.4% higher in prime time than they would have been without that exclusive programming. "Elimination or weakening of the Commissions' exclusivity rules is likely to have an economically significant impact on local stations and their incentives to invest," the study said.
benton.org/node/197324 | Broadcasting&Cable | TVNewsCheck
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
DELUGE OF POLITICAL ADS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ashley Parker]
An explosion of spending on political advertising on television -- set to break $2 billion in congressional races, with overall spots up nearly 70 percent since the 2010 midterm election -- is accelerating the rise of moneyed interests and wresting control from the candidates’ own efforts to reach voters. In the first full midterm cycle where outside groups have developed a sophisticated infrastructure, the consequences are already becoming apparent: a harshly negative tone dictated by the groups and a nearly nonstop campaign season that could cause voters to tune out before Election Day. “They have become a shadow party that’s effectively impossible to dislodge, and they will shape, if not control, the dialogue in key races and therefore nationally,” said Sheila Krumholz, the executive director for the Center for Responsive Politics. “All of this sets the stage for 2016.”
benton.org/node/197565 | New York Times
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DEMOCRATS’ LATEST TECH MINES YOUR RELATIONSHIP DATA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Ready for Hillary, the super political action committee that's laying the groundwork for a potential Hillary Clinton run in 2016, is testing software to determine whether data about social ties can help identify likely grassroots leaders and new supporters. If the insights into online relationships prove useful in the 2014 midterm elections, further experiments could even lead to campaigns picking out the most active organizers before those people even know it. The tool is called Recruiter. While campaigns have largely reached the limits of improving the voter file -- those massive databases of names, e-mail addresses and commercial information that became so important in the 2012 cycle -- the next step is to figure out how to identify and leverage the connections between entries in those files.
benton.org/node/197341 | Washington Post
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PRIVACY/SECURITY
DATA PRIVACY ISN’T POLITICAL
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Ben Young]
[Commentary] Average consumers now worry much more about data security than they once did. Service providers are encountering new questions and can fill a new role. Service providers cannot and should not become political organizations; instead, they should be the enablers for unleashing the true potential of the internet. Right now, that means advocating for customers by protecting their data and keeping them fully informed of where their data is and how it’s being used. It’s the pragmatic business strategy -- but it’s also the right thing to do.
[Ben Young is VP and general counsel at Peer 1 Hosting]
benton.org/node/197546 | GigaOm
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TECH SEEKS LIFE AFTER DEATH FOR ACCOUNTS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Members of the tech industry and estate lawyers are pushing Congress to tweak an e-mail privacy law to ensure that digital accounts don’t die when their users do. With pressure building on Congress to update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Communications Act (ECPA), some are asking lawmakers to explicitly allow people to control who can access their online accounts after they die or become incapacitated.
benton.org/node/197326 | Hill, The
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
HOPE IN NSA REFORM BATTLE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Technology companies and civil liberties groups are becoming more optimistic that the Senate will take major steps to rein in the National Security Agency this year. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is expected to introduce a bill July 29 that would prevent the NSA from obtaining broad swaths of information about people’s phone calls and also create a stronger advocate for civil liberties on the secretive federal court that oversees surveillance activities, which currently only hears arguments from the government. Leahy’s bill also adds new provisions on transparency that would represent big wins for tech firms. It would allow tech companies to disclose more details about the government requests for data they receive, and require the surveillance court to issue clear summaries of how its opinions would impact civil liberties. Tech firms say the Leahy bill, if it is approved by the Senate, would be a big win after a setback in the House, which approved a bill that disappointed them.
benton.org/node/197560 | Hill, The
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ADAPTING OLD LAWS TO NEW TECHNOLOGY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] American law enforcement officials cannot get evidence located in other countries without the help of foreign governments. But can an American company be ordered by a court to turn over information stored on computer servers located in another country? The Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York will consider that question in a narcotics case in which federal prosecutors want access to a Microsoft e-mail account stored in Ireland. The case raises difficult questions about the reach of domestic law and the Internet’s global nature. It also points to significant gaps in American laws, which do not address how data stored abroad should be treated. Privacy protections clearly need to apply even in the age of cloud computing. That is why Congress must make sure that the law keeps up with the times.
benton.org/node/197557 | New York Times
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THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO WIRETAP ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
Law enforcement and intelligence agencies want to be able to wiretap social media, instant message and chat services. But building in ways to wiretap these kinds of communication can lead to less secure systems, say technical experts, including former National Security Agency officials. Some security experts suggest hacking as an alternative, but other experts -- including FBI officials -- say that method poses serious risks. Right now, only phone companies, broadband providers and some Internet phone services are required by law to build in intercept capabilities, but the government wants to extend that requirement to online communication providers.
benton.org/node/197344 | Washington Post
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JOURNALISM
BEARING WITNESS IN REAL TIME
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
[Commentary] For most of recorded history, we have witnessed war in the rearview mirror. It took weeks and sometimes months for Mathew Brady’s, and his associates’, photos of the bloody consequences of Antietam to reach the public. And while the invention of the telegraph might have let the public know what side was in ascent, images that brought a remote war home frequently lagged. Then came radio reports in World War II, with the sounds of bombs in the background, closing the distance between men who fought wars and those for whom they were fighting. Vietnam was the first war to leak into many American living rooms, albeit delayed by the limits of television technology at the time. CNN put all viewers on a kind of war footing, with its live broadcasts from the first gulf war in 1991. But in the current news ecosystem, we don’t have to wait for the stentorian anchor to arrive and set up shop. Even as some traditional media organizations have pulled back, new players like Vice and BuzzFeed have stepped in to sometimes remarkable effect. Citizen reports from the scene are quickly augmented by journalists. And those journalists on the ground begin writing about what they see, often via Twitter, before consulting with headquarters about what it all means.
benton.org/node/197564 | New York Times
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POLICYMAKERS
THE JUDGES APPROVING THE NSA'S SURVEILLANCE REQUESTS KEEP BUYING VERIZON STOCK
[SOURCE: Vice, AUTHOR: Lee Fang]
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (better known as the FISA Court) judges own Verizon stock. On May 28 last year, Judge James Zagel, a FISA Court member since 2008, purchased stock in Verizon. In June of this year, Zagel signed off on a government request to the FISA Court to renew the ongoing metadata collection program. FISA Court Judge Susan Wright purchased Verizon stock on October 22. FISA Court Judge Dennis Saylor has owned Verizon stock. The precise amount and value of each investment is unclear -- like many government ethics disclosures, including those for federal lawmakers, investments amounts are revealed within certain ranges of value. Do the investments constitute a conflict of interest? Federal judges are bound by an ethics law that requires them to recuse themselves from cases in which they hold a financial stake in the outcome, or in cases in which their "impartiality might reasonably be questioned."
benton.org/node/197562 | Vice
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
AFTER MOVING MONEY AROUND, GOOGLE PAID TINY AMOUNT IN EUROPEAN TAXES
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Cyrus Farivar]
Google continues to expand its use of legal, but questionable, tax shenanigans as a way to minimize its overseas tax burden. According to Irish media reports, in 2013 Google Ireland Limited paid an effective tax rate of just 0.16 percent on €17 billion ($22.8 billion) revenue, which came to a mere €27.7 million ($37.2 million). Google paid €11.7 billion in “administrative expenses,” which The Irish Times reports “largely refers to royalties paid to other Google entities, some of which are ultimately controlled from tax havens such as Bermuda.”
benton.org/node/197370 | Ars Technica | Irish Times
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