July 2014

EDUCATION

E-RATE REFORM: MAKING THE CONVERSATION (WI-FI) ACCESSIBLE
[SOURCE: New American Foundation, AUTHOR: Lindsey Tepe]
[Commentary] The E-rate program has been significantly updated for the first time since its inception in 1996. This is a good thing, and kudos to the Federal Communications Commission for taking a first step. But the goal is to connect 99 percent of students to high-speed broadband. To do so, we need speed targets to make that goal meaningful, we need upgraded infrastructure to make that goal possible, and we need more funding to make that goal achievable. There’s clearly still a lot of work to be done.
benton.org/node/196387 | New American Foundation
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MORE ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE

FCC SHOULD IMPROVE THE ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY
[SOURCE: Government Accountability Office, AUTHOR: Mark Goldstein]
The Federal Communications Commission has implemented four industry- wide reforms and the initial phases of two carrier-specific reforms for the Universal Service Fund’s (USF) high-cost program. However, the FCC has encountered delays implementing the subsequent phases and more complex carrier-specific funding reforms that require extensive cost modeling and stakeholder input. This report examines 1) the extent to which the FCC implemented funding reforms, 2) the extent to which the FCC is collecting data to determine the effectiveness of the reforms, and 3) what changes, if any, states have made in USF funding. The Government Accountability Office recommends that the FCC demonstrate how high-cost funds were used to improve broadband availability, service quality, and capacity.
benton.org/node/196365 | US Government Accountability Office | The Hill
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FCC BID TO BOOST BROADBAND COMPETITION FACES ATTACK
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
The Federal Communications Commission will face a lawsuit if it tries to invalidate state laws that restrict the ability of cities and towns to offer Internet service, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) wrote to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Such a move would infringe on states' rights protected by the Constitution, the group claimed. Chairman Wheeler has said he intends to "preempt state laws that ban competition from community broadband," relying on authority detailed in a court decision that overturned the FCC's network neutrality rules. These state laws make it difficult or impossible for municipalities to create their own broadband networks that compete against private Internet service providers like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon.
benton.org/node/196370 | Ars Technica
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MORE ON BROADBAND

PROTESTORS IN LOS ALTOS
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Joe Garofoli]
While President Barack Obama was raising hundreds of thousands of dollars at two Bay Area fundraisers, protesters urged him to keep a promise he made to ensure that the Internet remains a level playing field. Near the intersection of Page Mill and Arastradero Roads in Los Altos, more than 100 protesters waved signs saying, “Don’t kill the Internet” and held a brief rally where Color of Change founder James Rucker, Common Cause’s Ellen Grieco and Electronic Frontier Foundation intellectual property director Corynne McSherry spoke. President Obama “has abdicated his responsibility on this issue, sitting on the sidelines,” said MoveOn organizer Victoria Kaplan. She urged President Obama to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to advocate for net neutrality.
benton.org/node/196619 | San Francisco Chronicle
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SENATE MOVES TO EXTEND BAN ON INTERNET TAXES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Bernie Becker]
Senate Democrats are gearing up to pass a short-term extension of a moratorium on Internet access taxes, according to aides and K Street officials. The Internet Tax Freedom Act expires on Nov 1, and Democratic leaders are pushing to extend the moratorium through 2014. A bipartisan group of senators, including Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), is seeking to merge a proposal barring states from levying taxes on Internet access with a more contentious measure that would give states more power to charge sales tax on online purchases. Aides also stressed that Senate supporters weren’t backing away from their plan to merge the Internet access measure and the online sales tax bill, and that they were setting up a push for the combined bill in the fall or after November’s election.
benton.org/node/196532 | Hill, The
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OPEN INTERNET TRANSPARENCY RULE ENFORCEMENT ADVISORY
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
Providers of broadband Internet access services must disclose accurate information about their service offerings and make this information accessible to the public. This requirement, known as the Open Internet Transparency Rule, has been in full force and effect since 2011. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said, “Consumers deserve to get the broadband service they pay for. After today, no broadband provider can claim they didn’t know we were watching to see that they disclose accurate information about the services they provide. The FCC’s transparency rule requires that consumers get the information they need to make informed choices about the broadband services they purchase. We expect providers to be fully transparent about the details of their services, and we will hold them accountable if they fall down on this obligation to consumers.”
benton.org/node/196375 | Federal Communications Commission | FCC | FCC | FCC | GigaOm | B&C | The Hill | USAToday
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LEVEL 3’S SELECTIVE AMNESIA ON PEERING
[SOURCE: Verizon, AUTHOR: David Young]
Recently, Level 3 decided to call attention to their congested links into Verizon’s network. Unfortunately, they are now the one “trying to get a free ride on someone else’s network” and failing to “keep the interest of their customers paramount.” Fortunately, Verizon and Netflix have found a way to avoid the congestion problems that Level 3 is creating by its refusal to find “alternative commercial terms.” We are working diligently on directly connecting Netflix content servers into Verizon’s network so that we both can keep the interests of our mutual customers paramount.
benton.org/node/196377 | Verizon
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OWNERSHIP

FCC DEM: TELECOM MERGERS THE RESULT OF ONLINE COMPETITION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Mergers in the communications space are a reaction to increasing competition from online and other video providers, according to Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. As online video grows and Internet access increases, “we’re going to all be sovereign and capable of curating all sorts of activities using web-based functions [in] the future,” she said. Without commenting on any specific proposed or reported mergers, Commissioner Rosenworcel said the consolidation in the telecom industry is a reaction to the increased competition traditional video companies face from online video. “I think all of the activity you’re seeing right now is a response to that change,” she said.
benton.org/node/196522 | Hill, The
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MURDOCH THREATENS GOLDEN AGE OF TV
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: John Gapper]
[Commentary] What problem is Rupert Murdoch trying to solve? It is not a paucity of high-quality television. Indeed, the problem is the opposite these days: it is hard to find enough time to watch all of the fine series that pour out of broadcast and cable networks, both subscription and free to air. Nor are the networks in financial trouble. It is a golden age of television, in creative and financial terms. That is the healthy outcome of fierce competition in a market where the barriers to entry have been falling, but it could be placed at risk by a wave of megamergers such as Fox/Time Warner and Comcast buying Time Warner Cable. Before the entertainment industry plunges into a frenetic round of self-reinforcing, defensive consolidation, both US regulators and companies should consider: what is so bad about what we have?
benton.org/node/196610 | Financial Times
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LABOR

TWITTER’S WORKFORCE
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Kristen Brown]
Like most Silicon Valley companies, Twitter's workforce is largely white and male. Just 30 percent of the company's global workers are women. Meanwhile, women comprise a mere 10 percent of Twitter's employees in technical jobs -- ones that are usually high-paying and coveted -- a significantly lower percentage than at other tech companies that have released similar data in recent months. Except for Asians, minorities are similarly underrepresented at Twitter. Among its US workforce, 59 percent of employees are white, while 58 percent of technical staff and 72 percent of leadership positions are held by white employees. Latino employees account for just 3 percent of positions. There are no black people in leadership positions, and a scant 1 percent of technical jobs are held by black employees.
benton.org/node/196615 | San Francisco Chronicle
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LOBBYING

PRESIDENT OBAMA CAMPAIGN DONOR WINS FCC WAIVER FROM AUCTION RULES
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Todd Shields, Jonathan Salant]
A private-equity company owned by a campaign donor to President Barack Obama won a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission that may help it bid in airwaves auctions. Grain Management may not have qualified for benefits reserved for small businesses because airwaves leases to AT&T and Verizon Communications caused it to exceed the program’s income limits. “Certainly there has not been a waiver like this,” Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a Georgetown University law professor, said. “The circumstances have not arisen” with the revenue of the largest wireless providers entering the picture. David Grain contributed more than $60,000 to President Obama’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 2008, and $22,500 in 2012, Federal Election Commission filings show. He was also one of President Obama’s top fundraisers for the 2008 election, bringing in $200,000 to $500,000, according to the campaign. “We are very excited about the waiver” because it appears to relax rules for companies other than Grain, too, and may help small and minority businesses participate in the forthcoming wireless auctions, Nicol Turner-Lee, vice president at the Minority Media & Telecom Council, said.
benton.org/node/196356 | Bloomberg
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LATINOS LOSE WHEN LATINOS ATTACK LATINOS
[SOURCE: Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership, AUTHOR: Martin Chavez]
[Commentary] I was at first saddened when Alex Nogales, head of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, said that Latinos and Latino organizations like the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute who disagreed with him on whether the Federal Communications Commission should apply Title II (otherwise known as “heavy” government regulation) to the Internet or utilize a “light “regulatory touch via Section 706 were “. . . at best misinformed and at worst intentionally distorting facts.” Simply, what Rep Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), most Latino organizations and most experts are saying is don’t apply a decades-old rotary phone regulatory regime to the Internet. If the Internet, through “light” regulation, helped advance causes essential to Latinos without Title II, why is Title II so necessary now? Latinos no longer use rotary phones. In fact, we use smart phones in greater percentages than any other group of Americans, regardless of ethnicity.
benton.org/node/196381 | Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership
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NHMC RESPONDS TO LOBBYIST MARTIN CHAVEZ, QUESTIONS HTTP’S CORPORATE TIES
[SOURCE: National Hispanic Media Coalition, AUTHOR: Alex Nogales]
My friend Marty Chavez of the Ibarra Strategy Group and the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership (HTTP) responded to a statement I recently made highlighting his participation in a very unbalanced event, hosted on July 9, 2014 by the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute and sponsored by Verizon, AT&T and Comcast, where he and others opposed strong Open Internet rules. I had questioned whether or not it is appropriate for him to simultaneously represent the interests of corporate clients while asserting that he is working on behalf of the Latino community. Of the many fabrications, Marty said that ‘most Latino organizations’ oppose the Federal Communications Commission using the sound legal authority found in Title II of the Communications Act to restrict blocking or discrimination online. This is patently false. A number of highly respected Latino organizations have sided with the community and come out in favor of strong Open Internet rules based on Title II authority.
benton.org/node/196379 | National Hispanic Media Coalition
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

GOOGLE JOGS MEMORIES
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Aoife White]
Google risks a fresh round of criticism after its attempts to apply a court ruling giving citizens the right to be forgotten backfired, Ireland’s data watchdog said ahead of an industry summit with European Union privacy chiefs. Google’s policy of telling media when it had pulled links to some stories has resulted in outlets flagging such articles. That may mean more publicity for a person who had asked for a removal from search results in the first place, said Billy Hawkes, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner. “The more they do so, it means the media organization republishes the information and so much for the right to be forgotten,” Hawkes said. “There is an issue there.” His comments follow a similar rebuke by Johannes Caspar, the data regulator for the German state of Hamburg. Jogging memories rather than hiding them is one of the unintended consequences of the top EU court’s ruling that ordered Google and other search engines to take down personal information on request if it’s outdated or irrelevant. Privacy watchdogs from the 28-nation bloc start to grapple with how to build a more coordinated approach.
benton.org/node/196613 | Bloomberg
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GOOGLE TO FIGHT GLOBAL REMOVAL OF LINKS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Murad Ahmed]
Google is braced for a showdown with European privacy watchdogs over demands the continent’s “right to be forgotten” online is extended across the world, with sensitive links stripped from all global versions of the search engine. Executives from Google and Microsoft will meet representatives from Europe’s data protection groups in Brussels on July 24. People with knowledge of the matter said the watchdogs intend to raise a number of issues, arguing the US company’s response to the ruling has been inadequate. Among the calls from the group of 28 national privacy watchdogs is the removal of links from all versions of the search engine. Privacy groups have complained that, because it is technically easy to access international versions of Google, removing links only from European sites is an ineffective response. Google is expected to reject these demands.
benton.org/node/196611 | Financial Times
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OFCOM TO REPEAT SPECTRUM REVIEW
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Daniel Thomas]
The proposed fivefold increase in the cost of using airwaves for mobile services will be reviewed again by Ofcom, the British telecommunications regulator, following warnings that it would hit the industry’s ability to invest.
In submissions to an initial consultation by Ofcom into changes to annual licence fees, mobile network operators argued that the costs of the spectrum used for their services would need to be passed to the consumer. The UK government asked Ofcom to revise the annual fees to reflect full market value of a finite resource essential for mobile and TV broadcast and to incentivise the most efficient use of frequencies. The regulator used the bidding for licences in the 4G auction as a guide.
benton.org/node/196608 | Financial Times
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Daily Digest

Analysis

July 2014

Demographics, tech, and the digital divide

CEO: Startup Rural Broadband Services Corporation Has Big Plans

The IP Transition: Great Expectations Or Bleak House?

TDG: Half of Adult Broadband Users Now Engage Mobile Video Apps at Least Once a Month

Why The NSA Keeps Tracking People Even After They're Dead

When is news reporting fair use under copyright law?

Meet Executive Order 12333: The Reagan rule that lets the NSA spy on Americans

FTC Commissioner Brill warns on mobile health-data gathering

E-rate Timeline

July 24, 2014 (Universal Service)