July 2014

EDUCATION

SEN THUNE STATEMENT AHEAD OF FCC E-RATE VOTE
[SOURCE: Senate Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Sen John Thune (R-SD)]
Since [Federal Communications Commission] Chairman [Tom] Wheeler first announced his $5 billion Wi-Fi stimulus proposal, I have been concerned that he cannot realistically expect to pay for it without forcing Americans to pay more for communications services or diverting E-Rate funds that support necessary connectivity in our nation’s schools, particularly in rural areas. While I disagree with some of my Democrat colleagues who believe the FCC should simply increase the existing cap on E-Rate funding, they are correct that Wi-Fi’s ‘impact cannot be felt where there is no broadband to support it.’ I also share the National Education Association’s opposition to raiding Priority I E-Rate funds to support Wi-Fi. Chairman Wheeler should focus the FCC’s E-Rate reforms on protecting the program’s core mission of connectivity, realizing honest savings, and deploying real dollars, rather than promising future spending that could undermine E-Rate’s effectiveness or increase the economic burden on American ratepayers. … If Chairman Wheeler is unable to move forward with reforms that have the bipartisan support of his FCC colleagues, he should postpone Friday’s scheduled vote and work to achieve such an outcome later this summer. Moving forward in a partisan manner, relying on untested budget assumptions, and shifting E-Rate’s priority from connectivity to Wi-Fi will only erode the Chairman’s and FCC’s stature, and potentially jeopardize support for E-Rate.
benton.org/node/193797 | Senate Commerce Committee | B&C
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

MOFFETT: FCC'S BROADBAND REDEFINITION WOULD SKEW PENETRATION NUMBERS
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Jim Barthold]
A Federal Communications Commission proposal to raise the definition of broadband will skew penetration statistics, according to a report from MoffettNathanson. The FCC is studying whether to raise the bar for broadband from 4 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps up to 10 or as much as 25 Mbps down and effectively disqualifying DSL as broadband. "Raising the FCC standard will naturally lower the number of people who have 'broadband' (i.e. penetration will fall, at least initially)," wrote Craig Moffett. The change will also have wider implications because "it will reduce the portion of the country for which broadband is deemed 'available,' arguably bolstering the case for FCC authority to do something about the shortfall." The FCC, in addition to throwing into question what areas are and are not receiving broadband, will also probably reshape the overall market share landscape, Moffett wrote. "Cable's share will, on paper, appear to rise. Importantly, so too will that share of the country where cable is deemed to be the only available option, bolstering arguments for FCC authority to intervene in the absence of effective competition," Moffett wrote.
benton.org/node/193645 | Fierce
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NTCA FINDS FAST RURAL SCHOOL BROADBAND
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
It appears that the rural-rural broadband gap applies to schools as well as the broader Internet marketplace. That seems the best explanation for two substantially different measurements of average school bandwidth in surveys conducted by NTCA -- The Rural Broadband Association and EducationSuperHighway, an advocacy organization focused on bringing better broadband to the nation’s schools. The NTCA released the results from a survey of its rural telecom service provider members which found that schools served by those companies, on average, purchase broadband connections delivering 65 Mbps downstream and 13 Mbps upstream. But EducationSuperHighway, which surveyed schools nationwide, found a median bandwidth of 33 Mbps. These results might seem surprising, considering that broadband is generally available more broadly and at higher speeds in metro areas than in rural areas because it is less costly to deploy broadband in metro areas. That phenomenon is known as the rural-urban gap. But FCC researchers also have noted a rural-rural gap: Rural areas served by small independent telcos generally have better broadband availability and higher speeds than rural areas where the incumbent local carrier is one of the nation’s larger carriers such as AT&T or Verizon.
benton.org/node/193642 | telecompetitor
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WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA EAST TO FCC: BAN PAID PRIORITY, PERIOD
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Writers Guild of America East says the Federal Communications Commission should prohibit paid priority and that presuming it to be commercially unreasonable, as FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said would be his presumption if the results were disadvantaging competitors, is not enough. WGAE also says the FCC should broaden network neutrality to prohibit paid priority deals for edge provider access to distribution networks, the "paid peering" arrangements that the Comcast/Netflix deals has put a spotlight on. "The willingness of Netflix to pay Comcast/NBCU and Verizon huge fees to ensure swift and smooth streaming is economically rational for all the entities (and therefore commercially reasonable)," said WGAE in explaining how a commercially reasonable standard might not protect consumers. "Netflix’s product is made substantially more attractive to customers as a result, and Comcast/NBCU and Verizon gain enhanced revenues. Unfortunately, this also means that customers face upward price pressure, and content creators and distributors who do not pay for this prioritization have a substantially more difficult time attracting viewers."
benton.org/node/193675 | Broadcasting&Cable
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A THREAT TO INTERNET FREEDOM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Knappenberger]
[Commentary] The last few months have been critically important for the future of Internet freedom and access. The concept of “network neutrality” has been so central to our experience of the Internet, and such a driving force for innovation and expression, that most of us have taken it for granted. This Op-Doc explains the basic idea: when you visit a website, the phone or cable company that provides Internet access shouldn’t get in the way. Information should be delivered to you quickly and without discriminating about the content.
[Knappenberger is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker whose documentaries include “The Internet’s Own Boy” and “We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists.”]
benton.org/node/193960 | New York Times | watch the documentary
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SAFEGUARDING FREE SPEECH IN THE DIGITAL AGE
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: Tim Karr]
[Commentary] Network neutrality is simple: It means that Internet users have the right to connect with anyone else on the network without their service providers discriminating, censoring or otherwise interfering with their communications. The Federal Communications Commission is the agency with the power to prevent companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon from blocking content or favoring certain websites over others. But so far it’s been reluctant to act on behalf of Internet users. So an issue drawing broad support across the country is being held hostage by a political climate that’s controlled by special interests and spin. An industry-friendly columnist writing for the Wall Street Journal even called net neutrality “a government takeover of the Internet.” Not at all. Net neutrality was baked into the DNA of the Internet at its inception. It’s allowed us to decide where we go on the network without access providers hindering our movement. Guaranteeing net neutrality doesn’t let the government seize control of the network. Instead, it preserves the very democratic idea that the Internet is a space shared and shaped by its millions of users. But false claims persist.
[Karr is an online, free speech advocate at Free Press]
benton.org/node/193958 | Medium
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FLASH NETWORKS SURVEY
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Andrew Burger]
An annual LTE survey conducted by Israeli mobile Internet optimization and monetization company Flash Networks at the most recent LTE World Summit found that 69 percent of operators and 74 percent of subscriber respondents believe that “mobile operators should be allowed to offer a fast lane connection to premium content providers.” Flash Networks found that although only 63 percent of mobile operators hold themselves responsible for an unsatisfactory quality of experience, 84 percent of subscribers believe that operators are responsible for network stalls and buffers. On the other hand, 80 percent of operators optimize or plan to optimize video and data to adapt to network conditions. “These responses,” according to Flash Networks, “suggest that while operators are reluctant to admit responsibility, they recognize that video quality is vital to customer satisfaction.”
benton.org/node/193957 | telecompetitor
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RADIO/TELEVISION

FCC IDENTIFIES TENTATIVE SELECTEES IN 79 GROUPS OF MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE APPLICATIONS FILED IN THE LPFM WINDOW
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
In this Public Notice, the Federal Communications Commission considers 79 groups of mutually exclusive (MX) applications filed in the recent low power FM (LPFM) window and uses a point system to tentatively select applications for grant. The tentative selectees, i.e., the single applicant with the highest point total or the applicants tied for the highest point total from each MX group, are identified. The FCC has initiated a 30-day period for filing petitions to deny against the applicants tentatively selected and a 90-day period for the filing of voluntary time-share proposals (point-aggregation requests) and major change amendments. The LPFM point system awards a maximum of six merit points, based on six criteria, with one point awarded under each criterion: (1) established community presence of at least two years; (2) commitment to originate local programming; (3) commitment to maintain a main studio; (4) commitment to originate local programming and to maintain a main studio; (5) diversity of ownership; and (6) tribal applicants serving tribal lands.
Once the petition to deny period has run, FCC staff are directed to conduct a final study of each tentatively selected application in accordance with the FCC Media Bureau’s routine processing procedures. In the case of tied applications, the final study will not be conducted until the tie has been eliminated through amendment, settlement and/or time-share procedures.
benton.org/node/193653 | Federal Communications Commission | Attachment A | Attachment B
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AEREO LAYS OUT NEW SURVIVAL STRATEGY IN LETTER TO JUDGE
[SOURCE: Hollywood Reporter, AUTHOR: Eriq Gardner]
In a letter to US District Judge Alison Nathan, Aereo hints at a new plan. "Under the Second Circuit’s precedents, Aereo was a provider of technology and equipment with respect to the near-live transmissions at issue in the preliminary injunction appeal," writes its lawyers. "After the Supreme Court’s decision, Aereo is a cable system with respect to those transmissions." And the implications of Aereo now wrapping itself under the cable system banner? "If Aereo is a 'cable system' as that term is defined in the Copyright Act, it is eligible for a statutory license, and its transmissions may not be enjoined (preliminarily or otherwise)," continues its lawyers. Aereo reports that it is proceeding to file the necessary statements of account and royalty fees, and asserts that the Supreme Court's decision has overruled the 2nd Circuit decision in Ivi, a predecessor digital TV transmitter which once attempted to gain legitimacy through the paying of compulsory license fees. Even if the judge doesn't accept the argument, Aereo says there are still issues to be addressed about the "scope" of any preliminary injunction.
benton.org/node/193789 | Hollywood Reporter
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A SUPREMELY BROKEN AEREO
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Gus Hurwitz]
[Commentary] Even though it reaches the correct outcome, the Supreme Court’s Aereo opinion is staggeringly, and confusingly, bad. The court’s “looks like cable” analysis fails to address the difficult questions about the meaning of the Copyright Act; rather, it has added to existing confusion. The most perplexing and problematic aspect of the Supreme Court’s opinion is that it never uses the term “primary transmission.” A primary transmission is a signal broadcast to the public that is later retransmitted by another service (a secondary transmission). Section 111(f) of the Copyright Act defines this term, and notes expressly that any streams broadcast by a broadcast television station are primary transmissions. The Act then defines “secondary transmission” as the “further transmitting of a primary transmission simultaneously with the primary transmission.” This is precisely what Aereo was doing: it made a secondary transmission of a primary transmission. The implication -- supported by one of the most basic principles of statutory construction -- is that any secondary transmission is in fact a copyright violation unless it falls into one of the listed exceptions. In their briefs, the parties argue, obliquely, over whether Aereo is making a secondary transmission. Regardless of their purpose, the parties’ briefs would have made the Justices sufficiently aware of Section 111’s framework to find answers to their questions there.
[Hurwitz is an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law]
benton.org/node/193624 | American Enterprise Institute
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CONTENT

BUSINESSES AND PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS CHALLENGE COPYRIGHT PROPOSALS ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE AGREEMENT
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Press release]
Public Knowledge, its partners in the global Our Fair Deal coalition, and a diverse international network of businesses, creators, innovators, start-ups, educators, libraries, archives, and users have released two new open letters to negotiators of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is a highly secretive, supranational agreement reported to include copyright provisions that could significantly constrain access to information, impede legitimate online activity and innovation, and impair freedom of expression online. Members of the Our Fair Deal coalition are especially concerned that rules proposed in the intellectual property (IP) chapter of the TPP would reduce the ability of ordinary people to access information - seriously hindering innovation both on and offline. Copyright provisions remain a major sticking point for the negotiations, and the coalition has warned negotiators about the negative impacts these provisions would have on their respective countries.
benton.org/node/193626 | Public Knowledge
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TELECOM

PRISON CALLING RATES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is pressuring state governments to make it more affordable for prisoners to make phone calls. “The FCC has both the duty and the authority to act … if the states do not or cannot,” FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said during an agency workshop on inmate calling. Last year, then-Acting Chairwoman Clyburn took steps to bring down the price of interstate calling for prisoners, including setting a temporary interstate rate cap. Now the FCC has its eyes set on making that interstate rate cap permanent, addressing ancillary fees and bringing down calling prices for in-state calls, Commissioner Clyburn and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said.
benton.org/node/193953 | Hill, The | FCC Commissioner Clyburn
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LABOR

ONE SURPRISING STATISTIC THAT INFLUENCES GENDER EQUALITY IN TECHNOLOGY JOBS
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Lydia Dishman]
Can the key to getting more American women into tech jobs be in the hands of mayors across the country? It’s an interesting proposition that Anita Garimella Andrews, vice president of client analytics services at RJMetrics recently uncovered when digging into the data surrounding the persistently low percentage of female tech workers. It turns out that in cities with a concentration of technology companies that also have female mayors, there’s more equality among tech workers. Case in point: Las Vegas, the city leads the country with women making up the majority (over 64%) of its tech workforce. Its mayor is Carolyn Goodman, who’s held the position since 2011, and incidentally has a daughter who graduated from Stanford and worked in IT. The US average is only 29% according to the RJMetrics survey of the top 50 cities in tech as determined through Meetup data. That’s a bit higher than the 26% of women in computer or mathematical occupations that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported for 2013. Other cities with female mayors didn’t have the scale tip so dramatically toward women employed in tech, but were still higher than the national average. Among them: Oakland 46.8%, Houston 34.25%, Palo Alto 30.19%, Baltimore 29.65%.
benton.org/node/193665 | Fast Company
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CHILDREN AND MEDIA

TV WATCHING AND COMPUTER USE IN US YOUTH AGED 12 -- 15, 2012
[SOURCE: Department of Health and Human Services, AUTHOR: Kirsten Herrick, Tala Fakhouri, Susan Carlson, Janet Fulton]
Key findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the NHANES National Youth Fitness Survey, 2012:
Nearly all (98.5%) youth aged 12 -- 15 reported watching TV daily.
More than 9 in 10 (91.1%) youth aged 12 -- 15 reported using the computer daily outside of school.
In 2012, 27.0% of youth aged 12 -- 15 had 2 hours or less of TV plus computer use daily.
Among youth aged 12 -- 15, girls (80.4%) were more likely to use the computer 2 hours or less daily when compared with boys (69.4%).
Fewer non-Hispanic black youth aged 12 -- 15 (53.4%) reported watching 2 hours or less of TV daily than non-Hispanic white (65.8%) and Hispanic (68.7%) youth.
Excessive screen-time behaviors, such as using a computer and watching TV, for more than 2 hours daily have been linked with elevated blood pressure, elevated serum cholesterol, and being overweight or obese among youth. Additionally, screen-time behavior established in adolescence has been shown to track into adulthood. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-supported Expert Panel and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend that children limit leisure screen time to 2 hours or less daily. This report presents national estimates of TV watching and computer use outside of the school day.
benton.org/node/193659 | Department of Health and Human Services
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HEALTH

HOSPITALS NOT BILKING MEDICARE USING ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS
[SOURCE: Kaiser Health News, AUTHOR: Eric Whitney]
A new study says there's no need to worry about hospitals using their new electronic medical records to generate bigger bills and boost their income. It's been a concern since at least 2012, when the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services sent hospitals a strongly worded letter warning them against using electronic records inappropriately. The letter followed reporting by the Center for Public Integrity and the New York Times that found hospitals that used electronic records were billing Medicare for significantly more than hospitals still using paper records. Computers, the theory goes, make it easier to charge for more procedures or more expensive procedures than a paper record would. Dr Ashish Jha, a researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, and Julia Adler-Milstein at the University of Michigan designed a study to compare billing records from 393 hospitals with electronic records to 782 hospitals still using paper records. “To my surprise, we found nothing,” says Jha. “We found that electronic health records didn't really change billing practices at all.” He concludes the study with advice for policymakers: “This worry about excessive billing, the empirical evidence says this should not be a big focus of attention.”
benton.org/node/193622 | Kaiser Health News
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ADULTS WITHOUT LANDLINES ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE SMOKERS AND HEAVY DRINKERS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Hayley Tsukayama]
New results released by the Centers for Disease Control reveal that two of every five American households have ditched their landlines for cellphones -- and there are interesting differences between the health of households that still have landlines and those that are wireless-only. The data are part of a preliminary study from the National Health Interview Survey, a part of the CDC's statistics department that regularly conducts tens of thousands of phone and in-person interviews to get a snapshot of Americans' health. In 2003, the agency decided to also look at how many households have landlines to better tailor its survey. Since then, it's become the most prominent government agency collecting the data. Overall, 39.1 percent of adults are in wireless-only households; that number goes up to 47.1 percent when the figure also includes children. You may expect that young adults are primarily driving the trend toward households that only use cellphones -- something that has certainly been true in the past. But 2014 marked the first time that, by a slim majority, adults 35 and older make up the largest portion of households that rely solely on cellphones. In line with other studies looking at the demographics of technology use, Hispanic adults are also far more likely to be living in households that only had wireless phones.
benton.org/node/193637 | Washington Post
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CYBERSECURITY

CHINESE HACKERS PENETRATE OPM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Schmidt, David Sanger, Nicole Perlroth]
Chinese hackers in March broke into the computer networks of the United States government agency that houses the personal information of all federal employees, according to senior American officials. They appeared to be targeting the files on tens of thousands of employees who have applied for top-secret security clearances. The hackers gained access to some of the databases of the Office of Personnel Management before the federal authorities detected the threat and blocked them from the network, according to the officials. It is not yet clear how far the hackers penetrated the agency’s systems, in which applicants for security clearances list their foreign contacts, previous jobs and personal information like past drug use.
benton.org/node/193946 | New York Times
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CONGRESS IS ABOUT TO VOTE ON A TERRIBLE NEW CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Russell Brandom]
There's a new cybersecurity bill making its way through Congress, sponsored and written by Sen Diane Feinstein (D-CA), and critics are already calling it a new backdoor for surveillance by the National Security Agency. The Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing Act of 2014 (CISA) was just approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee, putting it on track for a Senate vote soon. But like its controversial predecessors, the bill is coming under fire as a step backwards in the fight for surveillance reform. The bill's primary effect would be a new requirement for sharing information on "cyber threat indicators," a vague term that could refer to anything from an ongoing hack to a vulnerability in commercial software. Once a company makes a report to the government with information about a threat indicator, CISA would require broad sharing across federal agencies, including with the NSA, which would be given a more central role in threat management under the new scheme. Advocacy groups have seized on the reporting requirements as a troubling expansion of NSA access to private networks. The Center for Democracy in Technology says the provision "risks turning the cybersecurity program it creates into a back door wiretap." CDT also notes the bill lacks many crucial privacy protections that were included in previous cybersecurity acts. The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls the bill "fatally flawed," and raised concerns that it would create a new pipeline of data from independent companies to the NSA.
benton.org/node/193647 | Verge, The
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

EU BEGINS QUESTIONING FACEBOOK RIVALS OVER WHATSAPP DEAL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sam Schechner, Tom Fairless]
European Union antitrust officials have started questioning rival firms about Facebook's proposed $19 billion acquisition of messaging service WhatsApp, ahead of a formal review that could be a test case for how to apply EU competition law to the new world of social media. Officials at the European Commission, the EU's central competition authority, have in recent weeks sent detailed questionnaires to several technology and online-messaging companies, asking about the merger's effect on competition in their markets, according to people familiar with the matter. The questionnaires also drill down into a relatively new area for merger reviews: how the companies control and use personal data when they offer services, some of the people said. The commission's questioning of rivals comes before the EU opens a formal merger review that will provide one of the first in-depth looks at the app economy and social media through the lens of competition law, antitrust lawyers and technology executives say.
benton.org/node/193787 | Wall Street Journal
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EUROPEAN TELECOM CONSOLIDATION
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Tony Barber]
[Commentary] Two mergers -- one approved, one still in the works -- do not make a summer in Europe’s telecommunications industry. The month of July is nevertheless sending hopeful signals that the sector’s long cold spell will give way to warmer weather. At last, Europe is finding a formula to reconcile the twin objectives of consolidation and consumer protection. Compared with their US and Chinese rivals, Europe’s large telecoms companies are compelled by fragmented market conditions to operate with one hand tied behind their back. But a serious attempt to set straight Europe’s cockeyed telecoms industry is in motion. Arguably, it is already irreversible, though not yet far-reaching enough. Europe is filled with more than 100 fixed and mobile operators, most not very big and some not especially profitable. At times, governments treat the sector as little more than a cash silo whose function is to lighten their fiscal burdens in spectrum auctions. Funds for investment in new technology are accordingly less abundant.
benton.org/node/193942 | Financial Times
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Daily Digest

Analysis

July 2014

Cutting the High Cost of Digital Living

Op-ed

It's Not About "Can We?" It's About "Will We?"

July 10, 2014 (E-Rate; Broadband; Net Neutrality; Chinese Hackers)

‘A Threat to Internet Freedom’

Safeguarding Free Speech in the Digital Age

Network Neutrality Survey Finds Fast Lane Support

FCC pushes states on prison calling rates

Start-Ups Make Political Organizing Mobile-Ready

Bitcoin Foundation Hires Lobbying Firm

House GOP social media contest: Lights, camera, action