July 3, 2014 (Cybersecurity; Municipal Broadband; Facebook Experiment)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2014
Headlines will return MONDAY, JULY 7. Enjoy Independence Day.
CYBERSECURITY
Latest cyber security bill riddled with network neutrality loopholes
Talking Cybersecurity - White House press release
Rep Grayson ‘disturbed’ by weak phone networks
BROADBAND/INTERNET
Is municipal broadband more important than net neutrality?
Five things Alabama law says about municipal high-speed Internet [links to web]
Faster, cheaper, better broadband in Baltimore - op-ed [links to web]
The Maine economy is missing a key ingredient: Fiber [links to web]
5 things that you need always-on broadband to accomplish - analysis [links to web]
Microsoft admits to technical error in IP takeover, but No-IP still down [links to web]
WIRLESS/SPECTRUM
T-Mobile Disguising Throttling with New Speed Test Data Cap Exemptions - analysis
T-Mobile: FTC Charges 'Unfounded and Without Merit'
Sen Rockefeller Statement on FTC Action Against T-Mobile - press release [links to web]
Orange Fails to Reach Deal on French Wireless Consolidation
CONTENT
World Cup Mania Shows How Sports Is Driving Biggest Mergers
Facebook Experiments Had Few Limits
Facebook’s study crosses an ethical line - Washington Post editorial [links to web]
We are the product that Facebook has been testing - Financial Times editorial [links to web]
The Facebook Prison Experiment - Wall Street Journal editorial [links to web]
Sandberg: Facebook Study Was ‘Poorly Communicated’
What does the Facebook experiment teach us? - op-ed
The Test We Can -- and Should -- Run on Facebook - op-ed
How to Run Facebook's Mood Manipulation Experiment on Yourself
Amazon Resisting FTC on Policy Change for In-App Purchases
Winner in the Amazon War [links to web]
ADVERTISING
Total US Ad Spending to See Largest Increase Since 2004 - research [links to web]
Facebook To Acquire LiveRail [links to web]
TELEVISION
Antenna firm offers free devices to Aereo customers [links to web]
EDUCATION
Fighting the classroom tech war in Los Angeles [links to web]
JOURNALISM
The AP’s Newest Business Reporter Is An Algorithm [links to web]
Layoffs at Wall Street Journal as Part of Newsroom Re-evaluation [links to web]
The new Bloomberg Media [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Why a government watchdog says your phone calls are private, but your e-mails are not - analysis
Courts issued over 3,500 wiretaps last year [links to web]
Journalists at Odds With Union Over Role of Voice of America
STORIES FROM ABROAD
ISPs, communication firms file legal complaint over UK GCHQ spying
EU's right to be forgotten: Guardian articles have been hidden by Google
Google Alerts British News Outlets About Deleting Their Links
European Commission clears acquisition of E-Plus by Telefónica Deutschland, subject to conditions
Russia may force web firms to store Russians’ personal data within its borders [links to web]
Orange Fails to Reach Deal on French Wireless Consolidation
CYBERSECURITY
LATEST CYBER SECURITY BILL RIDDLED WITH NET NEUTRALITY LOOPHOLES
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Serdar Yegulalp]
The latest cyber security information sharing bill being considered in the Senate strikes many as overly broad and in need of revision. In fact, say some it's worded vaguely enough that it could be used by Internet service providers to sidestep network neutrality provisions in the name of public safety. The wording of the bill -- like with so many of its predecessors that went down to defeat -- is being carefully scrutinized for possible side effects, including being used as a backdoor way for ISPs to undermine net neutrality. For example, throttling Netflix could be classified as a countermeasure as long as a good excuse could be found. A letter jointly authored by a number of civil liberties groups and sent to the bill's sponsors, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), outlines a number of ways the bill could be abused. In addition to worries that Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) could lead to a militarization of the cyber security program, the letter also expresses concerns about how provisions in the bill "could be construed to modify or alter any Open Internet rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. Net neutrality is a complex topic and policy on this matter should not be set by cyber security legislation."
benton.org/node/191748 | InfoWorld
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TALKING CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Michael Daniel]
Cybersecurity touches so much of our lives now that we need a rich and continuing dialogue that includes the broadest possible set of stakeholders. In an overall strategic context, I think that we need to continue to work on how we can flip the economics of cyberspace; specifically, how we can change our overall approach to cybersecurity to more directly address economic and human behavioral factors. For example, we need to figure out how to use economic incentives to create a market for systems that are secure by default and that increase cost of conducting malicious activities in cyberspace. In the end, what makes cybersecurity hard is the non-technical aspects of it. As a result, cybersecurity requires a holistic approach that takes into account human behaviors and economics, as well as the technical factors. [Daniel is the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator]
benton.org/node/191746 | White House, The
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REP GRAYSON ‘DISTURBED’ BY WEAK PHONE NETWORKS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Rep Alan Grayson (D-FL) wants the head of the Federal Communications Commission to do something to protect people’s phone calls. Rep Grayson said he was "disturbed" about devices that can cost as little as $1,800 and secretly pick up calls and text messages. “Americans have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their communications, and in information about where they go and with whom they communicate,” he wrote to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “It is extremely troubling to learn that cellular communications are so poorly secured, and that it is so easy to intercept calls and track people’s phones.” The relatively simple technology known as ISMI catchers operate like a cellphone tower to pick up unique signals from people’s phones to listen in on their conversations and text message chats and nab any emails or contact data on the phones. Aside from criminals and snooping neighbors, spies or terrorists could also use the devices, critics have worried. Even worse, Rep Grayson said, the FCC may have long been aware of how the devices pick up personal cellphone data.
benton.org/node/191983 | Hill, The
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
IS MUNICIPAL BROADBAND MORE IMPORTANT THAN NET NEUTRALITY?
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Andrew Zaleski]
[Commentary] Annoyed by slower broadband speeds offered by a handful of private ISPs, multiple municipalities across the US have established their own public broadband services. Comcast, Verizon, and other major ISPs routinely lobby against cities’ abilities to establish such networks; limits on public broadband have been enacted in 20 states so far. “The cable companies especially have the capital to invest in bringing everyone a fast lane,” says Christopher Mitchell, director of Community Broadband Networks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. “They just don’t want to do that because they effectively have a monopoly on high-speed access.” City-owned fiber-optic networks aren’t cheap, which is why many cities across the US continue to rely on private ISPs. But the public networks that are constructed have their intended effect, Mitchell says: Private ISPs drop their broadband prices and increase broadband speeds. Put aside, for a moment, the notion of “fast lanes” bandied about in the current net neutrality fervor: the real problem is a lack of competition due to much of the US broadband market being controlled by large, private ISPs, a situation well documented by Harvard law professor Susan Crawford in her book Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age. There’s a better way than the interconnection agreements proposed by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. Why not instead undo the barriers facing municipal broadband instead?
benton.org/node/191758 | Fortune
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WIRLESS/SPECTRUM
T-MOBILE DISGUISING THROTTLING WITH NEW SPEED TEST DATA CAP EXEMPTIONS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Aalok Mehta]
[Commentary] On the heels of T-Mobile’s controversial announcement that it will be exempting many popular music streaming services from its data caps, the “Uncarrier” has also confirmed that it will be exempting the Ookla speed test and other online speed testing applications as well. Unlike AT&T and Verizon, T-Mobile does not charge subscribers overage fees when they exceed their data caps. Rather, T-Mobile throttles network speeds for customers who go past a predetermined data allotment. Depending on the type of plan, customers that exceed the “Data Speed Reduction Threshold” can receive maximum speeds ranging from 50 to 128 Kbps -- speeds that don’t even meet the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 1999 definition of broadband. By exempting speed tests from the throttling, T-Mobile is effectively preventing consumers from learning exactly how slow their throttled connections are. Under the new policy, T-Mobile customers who exceed their data caps will not be able to gauge the actual speeds available to them for the vast majority of their daily usage. T-Mobile has justified the move on the basis that it more closely adheres to the true intent of online speed tests. When customers who have hit their caps use the Ookla application, they are trying to measure their true network speed -- not the speed no longer available to them. The inability for customers to estimate the actual speeds they are receiving serves mostly to disguise the carrier’s throttling policies. The decision also harms customers, who will lose the ability to plan their mobile broadband activities around the actual speeds that they are receiving.
benton.org/node/191736 | Public Knowledge
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T-MOBILE: FTC CHARGES 'UNFOUNDED AND WITHOUT MERIT'
[SOURCE: Wireless Week, AUTHOR: Andrew Berg]
T-Mobile refuted charges by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it had bilked customers for hundreds of millions of dollars in erroneous SMS charges. CEO John Legere called the complaints “unfounded and without merit.” The FTC claims that T-Mobile took in 35 to 45 percent of the revenue from SMS services like “flirting tips, horoscope information or celebrity gossip” that typically charge $10 monthly. The Commission also alleges that T-Mobile continued collecting money off these charges even after it had reason to believe the charges were fraudulent. Legere noted that T-Mobile has been fighting to add more transparency to the industry. “We exited this business in late 2013, and announced an aggressive program to take care of customers and we are disappointed that the FTC has instead chosen to file this sensationalized legal action,” Legere wrote. “We are the first to take action for the consumer and I am calling for the entire industry to do the same.”
benton.org/node/191729 | Wireless Week
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CONTENT
WORLD CUP MANIA SHOWS HOW SPORTS IS DRIVING BIGGEST MERGERS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Alex Sherman]
More Americans have watched the US soccer team in this World Cup than ever before. The two biggest announced acquisitions in the world in 2014 are for US pay-TV operators. Yes, there is a connection. AT&T’s bid for DirecTV, and Comcast’s merger with Time Warner Cable, totaling a combined $134 billion, are tied together by a thread that today is driving many of the decisions in the world of pay-TV: Sports. AT&T will buy DirecTV only if the satellite-TV provider renews its exclusive Sunday night package of football games. Time Warner Cable is selling because it’s losing customers rebelling against high cable bills -- caused in part by the soaring cost of obtaining sports rights. The two deals are prime examples of how sports programming’s immense popularity has become both the cause of, and solution to, pay-TV’s slowdown. Much of the value of sports programming for pay-TV operators stems from its immediacy. Unlike shows that can be watched later on Netflix, sports are typically watched in real time. This is great for advertisers, because commercials aren’t as frequently skipped, and it’s great for the pay-TV systems, because online options can’t offer a comparable substitute. The result: More media consolidation is on the way.
benton.org/node/191728 | Bloomberg
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EXPERIMENTS HAD FEW LIMITS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Reed Albergotti]
Facebook's Data Science team is a group of about three dozen researchers with unique access to one of the world's richest data troves: the movements, musings and emotions of Facebook's 1.3 billion users. Until recently, the Data Science group operated with few boundaries, according to a former member of the team and outside researchers. At a university, researchers likely would have been required to obtain consent from participants in such a study. But Facebook relied on users' agreement to its Terms of Service, which at the time said data could be used to improve Facebook's products. Those terms now say that user data may be used for research. "There's no review process, per se," said Andrew Ledvina, a Facebook data scientist from February 2012 to July 2013. "Anyone on that team could run a test," Ledvina said. "They're always trying to alter peoples' behavior."
benton.org/node/192257 | Wall Street Journal
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SANDBERG: FACEBOOK STUDY WAS ‘POORLY COMMUNICATED’
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: R Jai Krishna]
Facebook 's psychological experiment on nearly 700,000 unwitting users was communicated “poorly,” Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s No. 2 executive, said. It was the first public comment on the study by a Facebook executive since the furor erupted in social-media circles. “This was part of ongoing research companies do to test different products, and that was what it was; it was poorly communicated,” Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said. “And for that communication we apologize. We never meant to upset you.”
benton.org/node/191732 | Wall Street Journal | USAToday
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WHAT DOES THE FACEBOOK EXPERIMENT TEACH US?
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: dana boyd]
[Commentary] I’m intrigued by the reaction that has unfolded around the Facebook “emotion contagion” study. As others have pointed out, the practice of A/B testing content is quite common. And Facebook has a long history of experimenting on how it can influence people’s attitudes and practices, even in the realm of research. But why is it that this study has sparked a firestorm? Facebook is not alone in algorithmically predicting what content you wish to see. An entire industry has emerged to produce crappy click bait content to manipulate emotions under the banner of “news.” Somehow, shrugging our shoulders and saying that we promoted content because it was popular is acceptable because those actors don’t voice that their intention is to manipulate your emotions so that you keep viewing their reporting and advertisements. And it’s also acceptable to manipulate people for advertising because that’s just business. But when researchers admit that they’re trying to learn if they can manipulate people’s emotions, they’re shunned. What this suggests is that the practice is acceptable, but admitting the intention and being transparent about the process is not. [boyd is Researcher, Harvard Berkman Center]
benton.org/node/191740 | Medium
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THE TEST WE CAN -- AND SHOULD -- RUN ON FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Kate Crawford]
[Commentary] For a widely criticized study, the Facebook emotional contagion experiment -- which deployed its own type of new techniques -- managed to make at least one significant contribution. It has triggered the most far-reaching debate we’ve seen on the ethics of large-scale user experimentation: not just in academic research, but in the technology sector at large. Perhaps we could nudge that process with Silicon Valley’s preferred tool: an experiment. But this time, we request an experiment to run on Facebook and similar platforms. Rather than assuming Terms of Service are equivalent to informed consent, platforms should offer opt-in settings where users can choose to join experimental panels. If they don’t opt in, they aren’t forced to participate. This could be similar to the array of privacy settings that already exist on these platforms. Platforms could even offer more granular options, to specify what kinds of research a user is prepared to participate in, from design and usability studies through to psychological and behavioral experiments. Of course, there is no easy technological solution to complex ethical issues, but this would be significant gesture on the part of platforms towards less deception, more ethical research and more agency for users. [Crawford is a visiting professor at MIT’s Center for Civic Media, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, and a senior fellow at NYU’s Information Law Institute]
benton.org/node/191971 | Atlantic, The
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HOW TO RUN FACEBOOK'S MOOD MANIPULATION EXPERIMENT ON YOURSELF
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Robinson Meyer]
When news of Facebook’s attempt to emotionally manipulate its users has emerged, debate quickly focused on the experiment’s ethics. Lauren McCarthy, though, kept thinking about the experiment itself. But as discussion went on, she found that “no one was talking about what the study might mean. What could we do beyond the ethics?” Now, she has a preliminary answer. McCarthy has made a browser extension, Facebook Mood Manipulator, that lets users run Facebook’s experiment on their own News Feeds. Just as the original 2012 study surfaced posts analyzed to be either happier or sadder than average, McCarthy’s extension skews users’ feeds either more positive or more negative -- except that, this time, users themselves control the dials. Unlike the Facebook study, which only surfaced posts judged happier or sadder, McCarthy’s software also lets people see posts that use more “aggressive” or “open” words in their feed. The extension, in other words, lets users reclaim some control over their own feed. It lets users discover what it’s like to wrestle with their own attentional algorithm -- as subtle, or as stupid, as it can sometimes be.
benton.org/node/191969 | Atlantic, The
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AMAZON RESISTING FTC ON POLICY CHANGE FOR IN-APP PURCHASES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Greg Bensinger]
Amazon.com is bucking a request from the Federal Trade Commission that it tighten its policies for purchases made by children while using mobile applications. In a letter to the FTC, Amazon said it was prepared to "defend our approach in court," rather than agree to fines and additional record keeping and disclosure requirements over the next 20 years, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. According to the documents, Amazon is facing a potential lawsuit by the FTC, which wants the Seattle retailer to accept terms similar to those that Apple previously agreed to regarding so-called in-app purchases. ) "When customers told us their kids had made purchases they didn't want, we refunded those purchases," said Andrew DeVore, an Amazon associate general counsel. He said Amazon's app store included "prominent notice of in-app purchasing, effective parental controls and real-time notice of every in-app purchase." The FTC said Amazon would need to make the notices more prominent, require passwords for all in-app purchases and make refunds simpler and easier.
benton.org/node/191737 | Wall Street Journal | The Verge
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GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
WHY A GOVERNMENT WATCHDOG SAYS YOUR PHONE CALLS ARE PRIVATE, BUT YOUR E-MAILS ARE NOT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
[Commentary] In a 191-page report, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board said that although the controversial PRISM program (among others) could be unconstitutional, it was mostly fine. Privacy advocates have been quick to criticize the report. Here's why they're so upset, and it's not just because the PCLOB sided with the government: The oversight board apparently thinks collecting call records is out-of-bounds, but somehow sifting through the actual content of your e-mails and Skype calls is A-OK. If that discrepancy strikes you as a little backwards, you're probably not alone. Internet-based communications let you do far more than a simple phone call. Yet the PCLOB believes the former actually deserve weaker protections than the latter. Administration officials have made it a point to say that nobody is listening in on your phone calls. But that may be small comfort when electronic communications have become such a dominant part of US work and personal life.
benton.org/node/191985 | Washington Post
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VOICE OF AMERICA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jon Nixon]
Voice of America journalists who are fighting to maintain what they say is their editorial independence are now at odds not only with Congress, but also with their own union. The union, the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1812, recently endorsed a bill that would change language in the charter for the 72-year-old news agency and require it to actively support American policy. That came as a surprise to some Voice of America employees, who said the legislation would make them mouthpieces for government policy. They want the union to withdraw its letter of support.
benton.org/node/192249 | New York Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
ISPS, COMMUNICATION FIRMS FILE LEGAL COMPLAINT OVER UK GCHQ SPYING
[SOURCE: ZDNet, AUTHOR: Charlie Osborne]
Seven Internet service and communications providers worldwide have filed a legal complaint against the UK's spy agency GCHQ in light of the Snowden revelations. The complaint was filed on July 2 by US firms RiseUp and May First/People Link, the UK's GreenNet, Netherlands-based Greenhost, Zimbabwe's Mango, Korean firm Jinbonet, Germany's Chaos Computer Club and Privacy International in collective action against GCHQ's intelligence activities. The organizations say they are calling for an end to GCHQ's "attacking and exploitation of network infrastructure in order to unlawfully gain access to potentially millions of people’s private communications." The complaint was filed with the UK's Investigatory Powers Tribunal, an organization that investigates complaints against public bodies. The claimants assert that GCHQ's "attacks on providers" are not only illegal, but are destructive and undermine the "goodwill organisations rely on." In addition, the claimants say that the government's actions have damaged trust placed in security and privacy. GCHQ and the NSA's network exploitation and intrusion capabilities, including covert data injections, also come under fire within the complaint.
benton.org/node/191723 | ZDNet
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EU'S RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN: GUARDIAN ARTICLES HAVE BEEN HIDDEN BY GOOGLE
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: James Ball]
When you Google someone from within the EU, you no longer see what the search giant thinks is the most important and relevant information about an individual. You see the most important information the target of your search is not trying to hide. Stark evidence of this fact, the result of a European court ruling that individuals had the right to remove material about themselves from search engine results, arrived in the Guardian's inbox in the form of an automated notification that six Guardian articles have been scrubbed from search results. The Guardian has no form of appeal against parts of its journalism being made all but impossible for most of Europe's 368 million to find. The strange aspect of the ruling is all the content is still there: if you click the links in this article, you can read all the "disappeared" stories on this site. No one has suggested the stories weren't true, fair or accurate. But still they are made hard for anyone to find.
benton.org/node/191744 | Guardian, The
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LINK REMOVAL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Mark Scott]
A week after Google started to remove links to online content in Europe, some examples of the type of information that is to be taken down have started to emerge. A number of British media outlets, including the BBC and The Guardian, say that they have received notification from Google explaining which of their online articles will no longer show up in European online searches. (The links, however, are still available on Google) The links include an article about Stan O’Neal, the former chief of the investment bank Merrill Lynch, and articles related to a Scottish soccer referee. It is unclear whether the individuals specifically mentioned in the articles asked for links to the information to be removed, or whether others had submitted requests to Google.
benton.org/node/192231 | New York Times | Financial Times
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION CLEARS ACQUISITION OF E-PLUS BY TELEFÓNICA DEUTSCHLAND, SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS
[SOURCE: European Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Following an in-depth investigation, the European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Dutch Telecom operator KPN's German mobile telecommunications business E-Plus by Telefónica Deutschland. The approval is conditional upon the full implementation of a commitments package submitted by Telefónica. The Commission had concerns that the merger, as initially notified, would have removed two close competitors and important competitive forces from the German mobile telecommunications market and that it would have further weakened the position of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) and Service Providers to the detriment of consumers. To address these concerns, Telefónica submitted commitments ensuring that new competitors will enter the mobile telecommunications market in Germany and that the position of existing competitors is strengthened. These commitments remove the Commission's concerns.
benton.org/node/191714 | European Commission
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ORANGE FAILS TO REACH DEAL ON FRENCH WIRELESS CONSOLIDATION
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Cornelius Rahn, Marie Mawad]
Orange said it failed to agree on a deal to help the French telecommunications market consolidate, leaving few options as a price war spreads from wireless to landline subscriptions. French phone stocks declined. Orange “believes that it cannot pursue this avenue at the present time” as conditions weren’t met, the Paris-based carrier said, without elaborating. Bouygues, the owner of Bouygues Telecom, is preparing for a future with four carriers in France as “now nothing is happening in this area,” Chief Executive Officer Martin Bouygues told a committee of the French National Assembly. Bouygues Telecom, France’s third-largest mobile operator, was looking for a buyer as profitability and cash generation declined.
benton.org/node/191975 | Bloomberg
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