October 9, 2014 (We're going to end up breaking the Internet)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for OCTOBER 9, 2014
Spectrum Management Advisory Committee Meeting http://benton.org/calendar/2014-10-09/
GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
Google’s Schmidt: 'We're going to end up breaking the Internet'
Appeals court wrestles with secret US demands for telecom records
PRIVACY/SECURITY
The key to keeping cyberspace safe? An international accord. [links to web]
Internet of fails: What's wrong with connected devices [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Half of Offline Americans Live in Rural Areas
FCC’s Wheeler: “We Now Return To Our Transition of the Phone System Already In Progress.” - analysis
Tim Berners-Lee, Web Creator, Defends Net Neutrality
64 Days to a Tax Increase - WSJ editorial [links to web]
Pride, prejudice and precluding infrastructure competition for government-owned networks - AEI op-ed [links to web]
US investigates West Virginia fiber cable project [links to web]
Who’s making money on the Internet? Comparing ROIC across Internet sectors - Richard Bennett analysis [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Kentucky city threatens to block Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger
Comcast Shareholders Vote 99 Percent in Favor of Stock Issuance Attached to Time Warner Cable Merger [links to web]
Rep Cárdenas: Proposed Comcast-Time Warner merger has 'chilling effect' on opposed voices [links to web]
WIRELESS
New Yorkers’ Wireless Bills Among Most Tax-Heavy in US
AT&T to Pay $80 Million to FTC for Consumer Refunds in Mobile Cramming Case - press release
Wireless data caps more about profit than congestion - ars technica analysis
The greatest myth about phones is that you are in control - analysis [links to web]
CHILDREN AND MEDIA
‘Broad Consensus’ that Media Violence Can Lead to Increased Child Aggression
Teens are officially over Facebook [links to web]
CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
Fighting for communication's future - Todd Wolfson op-ed
CONTENT
TV Spending Drives Website Traffic, Revenues: Study [links to web]
Jimmy Buffett to Spotify: Give recording artists a raise [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Democrats seize air supremacy in Senate battlegrounds - research
The science behind why our inboxes are so full of political losers [links to web]
Pandora starts PAC for political giving [links to web]
DIVERSITY
Marc Andreessen gives $500,000 to diversify high tech [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Work Continues Toward the #CommActUpdate - House Commerce Committee press release [links to web]
GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
WE’RE GOING TO BREAK THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
The integrity of the Internet could be at risk if Congress does not act to rein in the National Security Agency, Google’s Eric Schmidt warned. Speaking alongside other tech executives and Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) at a Silicon Valley event, Schmidt said the revelations about US surveillance could prompt countries to wall off their networks. “The simplest outcome: We’re going to end up breaking the Internet,” Schmidt said, “because what’s going to happen is governments will do bad laws of one kind or another, and eventually what’s going to happen is: ‘We’re going to have our own Internet in our own country, and we’re going to do it our way.’ ” Top officials including Attorney General Eric Holder have criticized tech companies like Google and Apple for making their phones inaccessible to anyone except the owner -- even police with a warrant. But the companies are only taking natural steps to respond to the spying, Schmidt said. “The people who are criticizing this should have expected this,” he said.
benton.org/headlines/googles-schmidt-were-going-end-breaking-internet | Hill, The | The Hill – phone locks
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COURT HEARING
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Dan Levine]
A US appeals court grappled with a lawsuit challenging the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ability to force Internet and telecommunications firms to turn over customer records without revealing the government's demands. A lower court judge in San Francisco previously ruled such gag orders were unconstitutional in a lawsuit filed by an undisclosed telecom company. At a hearing, a three-judge 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals panel in San Francisco weighed whether the First Amendment allowed recipients of so-called "national security letters" to discuss them. Judge N.R. Smith, a George W. Bush nominee, asked whether the government should have a greater responsibility to lift the gag order on its own. That would ease the burden on telecom companies who currently have to go to court, he said. Douglas Letter, an attorney for the US Department of Justice, said the FBI does not have the resources to continuously review thousands of national security letters to determine if secrecy is still warranted. "The bureau would not be able to function," Letter said.
benton.org/headlines/appeals-court-wrestles-secret-us-demands-telecom-records | Reuters | Bloomberg
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
RURAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: Daily Yonder, AUTHOR: Tim Marema]
Americans who don’t use the Internet have more than just their lack of digital communication in common. They are also more likely to be rural, elderly and poor. About 48% of the 50 million Americans who haven’t gone online in the last year live in nonmetro areas, according to a new report from McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm. In contrast, only about 15% of the overall U.S. population lives in nonmetro areas. That means the average rural resident is three times more likely to be offline than the average urban resident. Eighty percent of people who don’t use the Internet are lower income, and more than half of the offline population is aged 55 and up.
benton.org/headlines/half-offline-americans-live-rural-areas | Daily Yonder
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WHEELER RETURNS TO IP TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] In the last two days, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has made back-to-back speeches that on their surface appear as dissimilar as could be. First, he gave a speech at the Fall 2014 COMPTEL Show. The next day, he gave this speech at the 32nd Annual Everett Parker Lecture. Dig a little deeper, however (and keep in mind what I have previously said about Chairman Wheeler signaling what he wants to do if anyone actually pays attention) you notice some startling commonalities between these two speeches. Notably, this is the first time Chairman Wheeler has brought up the transition of the phone network in a serious way in a long time. And, in both speeches, he made it very clear that transition of the phone system to an all IP platform does not end the FCC’s role. To summarize my takeaways:
Chairman Wheeler wants to shift the FCC back into working on the IP Transition despite the fact that AT&T is not going to have its pilot project ready until the second half of 2015. It is, after all, the thing he came to the FCC to do in the first place before net neutrality and Comcast/TWC essentially hijacked 2014.
While the nature and form of regulation will change, the FCC will continue to play a critical role -- during the transition and after the transition -- both in promoting competition and protecting consumers.
That Network Compact Chairman Wheeler keeps talking about? He really means it. When he leaves the FCC, he wants to leave an agency that still protects network users under this fundamental set of values.
benton.org/headlines/fccs-wheeler-we-now-return-our-transition-phone-system-already-progress | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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TIM BERNERS-LEE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Mark Scott]
Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, has big plans for the future of the Internet. Greater use of online data, faster computers to take care of day-to-day tasks and more collaboration among people around the world are all possible, Berners-Lee told an audience at a technology conference in London. But the British computer scientist warned that this future would happen only if people continued to have unfettered access to the basic infrastructure that powers the Internet. “It’s all predicated on a neutral network,” said Berners-Lee, in a reference to the heated debate around so-called net neutrality, a principle according to which everyone should have equal access to online content. “Net neutrality is really, really important,” he added. “Never before have you had something in the system that could throttle your app.” The intervention of the founder of the World Wide Web, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, comes as both sides of the net neutrality debate are sharpening their claws.
benton.org/headlines/tim-berners-lee-web-creator-defends-net-neutrality | New York Times
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OWNERSHIP
LEXINGTON VS COMCAST/TWC
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Comcast has to convince the federal government to approve its purchase of Time Warner Cable (TWC), but so far the government advancing the most aggressive opposition may be in Lexington, Kentucky. The city is served by Time Warner Cable, and it isn't happy with the service. The city council "voted unanimously during a council work session … to put two resolutions denying transfer of ownership on the agenda for [an upcoming] council meeting." Comcast's purchase of Time Warner Cable includes a sale of certain territories to Charter. Charter would take over in Lexington after the deal. Lexington's cable franchise agreement with TWC expired in 2012, but hasn't been renewed.
benton.org/headlines/kentucky-city-threatens-block-comcasttime-warner-cable-merger | Ars Technica
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WIRELESS
TAXES AND WIRELESS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Scott Moritz]
About 17 percent of the average US wireless bill goes to federal, state and local taxes and fees, according to a report by the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research organization. The combined rates are even higher for mobile-phone users in the states of Washington at 24.4 percent, Nebraska at 24.3 percent and New York’s 23.6 percent. Governments on the hunt for more revenue are turning to wireless customers as a source of funding, according to Scott Mackey and Joseph Henchman, the authors of the study. It’s a big pool of customers to draw fees from with more mobile phones in the US than people, according to the CTIA wireless association.
benton.org/headlines/new-yorkers-wireless-bills-among-most-tax-heavy-us | Bloomberg
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AT& CRAMMING
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
As part of a $105 million settlement with federal and state law enforcement officials, AT&T Mobility LLC will pay $80 million to the Federal Trade Commission to provide refunds to consumers the company unlawfully billed for unauthorized third-party charges, a practice known as mobile cramming. The refunds are part of a multi-agency settlement that also includes $20 million in penalties and fees paid to 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as a $5 million penalty to the Federal Communications Commission. In its complaint against AT&T, the FTC alleges that AT&T billed its customers for hundreds of millions of dollars in charges originated by other companies, usually in amounts of $9.99 per month, for subscriptions for ringtones and text messages containing love tips, horoscopes, and “fun facts.” In its complaint, the FTC alleges that AT&T kept at least 35 percent of the charges it imposed on its customers. Consumers who believe they were charged by AT&T without their authorization can visit www.ftc.gov/att to submit a refund claim and find out more about the FTC’s refund program under the settlement. If consumers are unsure about whether they are eligible for a refund, they can visit the claims website or contact the settlement administrator at 1-877-819-9692 for more information.
benton.org/headlines/att-pay-80-million-ftc-consumer-refunds-mobile-cramming-case | Federal Trade Commission | more from FTC | Washington Post | LA Times | Recode
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WIRELESS DATA CAPS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
[Commentary] Wireless carriers like to say that monthly data caps are necessary to prevent heavy users from slowing down less active ones. I won't argue that data caps have no positive impact on wireless networks -- they can prevent the most egregious overuse of what is a limited resource. But it's a crude tool at best, targeting monthly averages with no regard for whether the network is congested at a particular time or place. Recent actions and statements from carriers suggest this is the case: data caps are largely a profit play, not an efficient means of preventing network problems. “If you try to use monthly volumes as a way of managing congestion, you never do a very good job of it,” said Sandvine cofounder and CTO Don Bowman. Sandvine is known for its research on Internet traffic and its products that help Internet providers (including Comcast) manage network congestion. Data caps “are more about defining a differentiated value than they are about protecting the network or protecting the other users on the network,” Bowman said. “You don’t want to launch a lower price point and have your higher users jump down into it.”
benton.org/headlines/wireless-data-caps-more-about-profit-congestion | Ars Technica
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CHILDREN AND MEDIA
MEDIA VIOLENCE
[SOURCE: Time, AUTHOR: Melissa Locker]
The vast majority of parents, pediatricians and media researchers all believe that violent movies, video games and television shows can lead to increased aggression in children, according to a new study published in the journal, Psychology of Popular Media Culture. In the past, there was a perception that the field was divided about whether children’s behavior could be affected by violent content. This study dispels that notion completely by showing that, in fact, there is broad consensus that violent content can lead to more aggression.
benton.org/headlines/broad-consensus-media-violence-can-lead-increased-child-aggression | Time
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CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
FIGHTING FOR COMMUNICATION’S FUTURE
[SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer, AUTHOR: Todd Wolfson]
[Commentary] While we were impressed with the honesty and rigor of our conversation with [Federal Communications Commission Tom] Wheeler, we were disappointed that the meeting was held behind closed doors, particularly in light of the fact that Comcast and its contemporaries visit the commission each and every day. Public meetings are one of the few ways in which everyday people have any chance of counteracting the oversize influence that corporations like Comcast have in American politics. As [Chairman] Wheeler thinks of the dozens of people he met with …, we hope he'll remember the millions filing comments in support of real net neutrality, and the thousands filing against the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger and in support of diverse local media ownership. And we hope he'll make himself available to hear these voices before it's too late.
[Wolfson is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University and co-founder of Media Mobilizing Project]
benton.org/headlines/fighting-communications-future | Philadelphia Inquirer
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
ELECTION ADS
[SOURCE: Center for Public Integrity, AUTHOR: Dave Levinthal, Michael Beckel]
When it comes to winning US Senate races’ television ad wars, Team Blue has seized the advantage a month before Election Day. Democratic candidates and their liberal allies aired more TV ads than their conservative opponents in seven out of nine top battleground states, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of preliminary estimates from Kantar Media/CMAG, an advertising tracking service. Democrats proved particularly dominant in the US Senate races being waged in Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana and Michigan, where they bested Republicans by sponsoring hundreds more TV spots throughout each state, the analysis indicates.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/10/08/15899/democrats-seize-air-supr...
Money talks: Key dollar amounts behind the TV ad wars in state elections (Center for Public Integrity – 5 things to know)
benton.org/headlines/democrats-seize-air-supremacy-senate-battlegrounds | Center for Public Integrity | Center for Public Integrity – 5 things to know
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