1. Monthly archive
  2. October 2014

October 2014

A Q&A With Tim Wu, Father of Net Neutrality, on What the FCC Should Do

A Q&A with Columbia Law School Professor Tim Wu. He is a former adviser to the Federal Trade Commission and, more recently, a candidate for Lt. Governor in New York. He has also offered informal advice to the Federal Communications Commission for more than a decade about how to handle Internet regulatory issues.

What’s the best path forward now on network neutrality? “I think that it’s been clear for a long time that the most straightforward and safest legal path is using Title II authority. I think that the time has come where Americans think of broadband as an essential service or necessity,” he said.

Why Libraries [Still] Matter

[Commentary] Libraries remain crucial to free and open societies, and not simply because their traditional services within academia, from curation to preservation to research, remain in high demand by scholars.

More broadly, they crucially complement the Web in its highest aspirations: to provide unfettered access to knowledge, and to link authors and readers in new ways. Here’s why. First, information may be easy to copy, but it’s also easy to poison and destroy. Second, libraries are natural places to help keep the markets for information honest, and they can even participate in them themselves. In a world suffused with so much transient information as to inspire epistemic paralysis, we acutely need libraries’ power, independence, and ethos: institutions conceived to fight on behalf of their patrons, which is to say for the public and for the preservation and intelligibility of the public record.

[Zittrain is the George Bemis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and Director of the Harvard Law School Library]

Roughly 75% of mobile app ads are just promoting other apps

Have a look at your smartphone apps. Notice anything peculiar about the ads? In the majority of cases, the only things they're advertising are ... other apps.

Estimates vary, but analysts say a significant majority of ads in mobile apps simply promote other apps. Karsten Weide, an analyst with IDC, pegs the total at between 60% and 75%; mobile ad company Fiksu says it's between 50% and 85%, depending on the time of year. What does all this mean for the future of the app business? If most of the advertising dollars are coming from within the industry, is this a bubble about to burst? Quite the opposite, industry experts say -- the numbers show app makers and advertisers simply haven't yet figured out how to tap this promising business.

Google wants to turn urbanites into beta testers of a ‘Physical Web’

Google is hard at work attempting to build what it is calling the Physical Web -- a connected network of physical objects accessible through the Web browser.

What's striking is that Google's vision is an intensely urban one, suggesting that city dwellers will be at the vanguard of the development of the long-promised Internet of Things. Scott Jenson, a designer on the project, writes: "Our core premise is that you should be able to walk up to any 'smart' physical object (e.g. A vending machine, a poster, a toy, a bus stop, a rental car) and interact with it without first downloading an app. The user experience of smart objects should be much like links in a web browser: i.e. just tap and use."

Kano Lets Kids Build Their Own Computers and Learn to Code

Kano is a $150 kit that allows kids -- or curious adults -- to snap together a tiny computer in a clear plastic case with a bright orange keyboard and a tinny speaker. Once connected to a monitor or TV, the Kano can teach its user how to code, in a simple fashion, starting with making modifications to classic games like Snake, Pong and Minecraft. It can also do a lot more: Get on the Web, stream music and videos, send and receive email, even run productivity suites. You can download home-made modifications to games made by other Kano users. And your kid can upload his or her own work to share with others.

Hands-free phone calls are distracting too

New research by the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the University of Utah found that voice-activated technology that many automakers market as a safety feature can cause "potentially unsafe" driver distractions. The group called on developers and manufacturers to make these systems "less complicated, more accurate and generally easier to use." Bob Darbelnet, chief executive officer of AAA, said drivers can overlook stop signs, pedestrians and other cars while using voice technologies "because their minds are not fully focused on the road ahead."

The Best Government Websites for 2014

Government Technology’s annual Best of the Web contest ranks 32 state and local websites as leaders in digital information and services.

October 7, 2014 (Transitions to IP are Not a License to Limit Competition)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2014

Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture and Breakfast and another panel on net neutrality at the FCC http://benton.org/calendar/2014-10-07/


INTERNET/BROADBAND
   FCC’s Wheeler: Transitions to IP are Not a License to Limit Competition - speech
   USTelecom Petitions FCC To Drop 'Archaic' Regulations
   Big phone companies are racing to abandon old copper networks. The FCC says, ‘not so fast.’
   Municipal Broadband: A Bad Deal For Taxpayers - op-ed
   The Dark Side of Net Neutrality
   GreatLand to FCC: We'll keep Internet Essentials
    See also: Comcast to Follow 1 Million Who’ve Fled Bankrupt Detroit [links to web]
   Google Fiber Leaves a Digital Divide

TELEVISION
   TV Broadcasters Await Spectrum Valuations From FCC
   Here’s the single biggest thing holding Google Fiber back
   DirecTV, NFL Extend 'Sunday Ticket' Package [links to web]
   ESPN, TNT Score $24B NBA Renewals [links to web]

WIRELESS
   The Fourth Major Era of Computing Kicks In - op-ed
   Carriers Double Caps On Data to Poach Users [links to web]

LABOR
   Authors Guild Met With DoJ to Seek Investigation Into Amazon's Practices [links to web]

OWNERSHIP
   Facebook’s bill for WhatsApp climbs to $21.8 billion [links to web]

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   AT&T Says It Fired Employee Who Gained Access to Customer Data [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   Blair Levin Joins Brookings as a Nonresident Senior Fellow - press release [links to web]
   Facebook taps DC office head to manage global policy [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Egypt Seizes Newspapers to Censor an Article [links to web]
   Canadian Newspaper Ownership Consolidation [links to web]
   Europe Digital Nominee Demands Stronger US Data Rules [links to web]

back to top

INTERNET/BROADBAND

IP TRANSITION AND COMPETITION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler]
Let me be clear: transitions to IP are not a license to limit competition. The three keys to preserving network competition are access to last-mile facilities, the future of copper networks, and VoIP interconnection. In September, I made a point that is worth repeating. Communications policy has always agreed on one important concept: the exercise of uncontrolled last-mile power is not in the public interest. This has not changed as a result of new technology. That is as true for businesses and other enterprise customers as it is for consumers. There is no choice between embracing technological change and protecting values.
benton.org/headlines/fccs-wheeler-transitions-ip-are-not-license-limit-competition | Federal Communications Commission | B&C
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


ARCHAIC REGULATIONS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
USTelecom filed a petition asking the Federal Communications Commission not to apply legacy regulations to incumbents in the new IP world, regulations like sharing newly built conduit with competitors, that don't apply to cable operators and competitive carriers. The petition argues argue that the business services market is increasingly competitive, citing Comcast/Time Warner Cable's merger as an example of how it could get even more competitive -- the cable operators have been pitching the deal as a way to strengthen business services broadband vis a vis AT&T and Verizon. Among the legacy regulations they want axed are ones that require them to continue to maintain traditional networks, which they say takes away from investment in new services their customers want. USTelecom wants the FCC to forbear (not enforce) the following regulations:
Outdated provisions in Sections 271 and 272, and the related equal access rules;
Rule 64.1903 structural separation requirements;
The requirement that an ILEC provide an unbundled 64 kbps voice channel where it has replaced a copper loop with fiber;
Section 214(e)(1) eligible telecommunications carrier (“ETC”) requirements where a price cap carrier does not receive high-cost universal service support;
The remaining Computer Inquiry rules;
The Section 224 and 251(b)(4) requirement that ILECs share newly deployed entrance conduit; and
Rules prohibiting the use of contract tariffs to offer special access and high capacity data services in the absence of pricing flexibility.
benton.org/headlines/ustelecom-petitions-fcc-drop-archaic-regulations | Multichannel News | The Hill
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


WHEELER AND COPPER RETIREMENT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said he would introduce measures to make sure the nation's copper infrastructure is phased out responsibly -- part of a series of principles aimed at keeping incumbent phone companies from trampling over smaller, competitive carriers in the dash toward greener fiber pastures. One question the FCC will ask is whether incumbent carriers should sell their copper to the competitive carriers rather than simply leaving the technology by the wayside. The agency will also explore what maintenance requirements, if any, should be imposed on copper cabling that does not get retired. These and other moves, according to Chairman Wheeler, will limit the opportunity for incumbents to gain too much of an advantage over smaller companies. Chairman Wheeler repeated his now familiar slogan: "competition, competition, competition." Industry officials have said the slogan has been met with few specifics from Chairman Wheeler -- but the new efforts may be a sign of change.
benton.org/headlines/big-phone-companies-are-racing-abandon-old-copper-networks-fcc-says-not-so-fast | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


MUNICIPAL BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Patrick Gleason]
[Commentary] The inherent problem with municipal broadband is that government entities are incapable of fairly competing in the free market, as they are taxpayer-backed and therefore able to charge less for a service than it actually costs. Private businesses cannot do this, as doing so would result in bankruptcy. The costs of building out and maintaining broadband networks are considerable. It is not a fiscally sound use of scarce taxpayer dollars for governments to compete with billion dollar networks already in existence. State legislators have the right and responsibility to protect economic and fiscal interests of their constituents. The concern that municipal broadband puts a risky and unsustainable burden on the backs of taxpayers is justified based on experience.
[Gleason is Director of State Affairs at Americans for Tax Reform]
benton.org/headlines/municipal-broadband-bad-deal-taxpayers | Forbes
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


THE DARK SIDE OF NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: US News and World Report, AUTHOR: Tom Risen]
Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) fears applying the Federal Communications Commission’s phone carrier authority (Title II) to the Internet may allow the FCC to censor website content. When asked to explain these fears, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler would not comment on the Communications Act provision, simply responding, “Title II is on the table.” Fortunately the FCC is unlikely to expand all parts of Title II to Internet providers or apply it in a way that would allow it to censor Web content, explains Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge. The FCC already selectively applies its Communications Act authority to phone carriers on a case-by-case basis if the “application of a particular provision makes no sense,” he says. “There is a profound disingenuousness on the part of the cable operators and telecommunications companies and trade associations … who are therefore intimately familiar with how utterly unremarkable this is in practice to pretend that this is whacko, crazy stuff,” Feld said about Internet censorship fears. (Oct 1)
benton.org/headlines/dark-side-net-neutrality | US News and World Report
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


INTERNET ESSENTIALS
[SOURCE: Redistributing the Future, AUTHOR: Bill Callahan]
GreatLand says it will continue Comcast's Internet Essentials program, which provides $10-a-month broadband service to families of schoolchildren who qualify for subsidized school lunches. And Charter Communications, which proposes to take over Time Warner Cable markets in Ohio, Kentucky, and metropolitan Milwaukee, says it also plans to start offering low-cost service for low-income households.
benton.org/headlines/greatland-fcc-well-keep-internet-essentials | Redistributing the Future
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


GOOGLE AND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Alistair Barr]
When Google launched its fast Internet service in Kansas City in 2012, the Web giant said it wanted to spread broadband widely and close the “digital divide.” But a survey suggests the company is far from achieving that goal. The survey, in six low-income Kansas City (MO) neighborhoods, found that just 10% of residents subscribe to Google’s Fiber service. An additional 5% use a slower version that is free for seven years, after a $300 installation fee. By contrast, 42% of the residents surveyed in five nearby middle- and higher-income neighborhoods signed on to Google Fiber. An additional 11% took the slower version. Both surveys were conducted door-to-door by research firm Haynes & Co.; the one involving middle- and higher-income neighborhoods was commissioned by brokerage firm Sanford C. Bernstein.
benton.org/headlines/google-fiber-leaves-digital-divide | Wall Street Journal | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

TELEVISION

INCENTIVE AUCTION
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Joe Flint]
For years, the broadcast station industry generally greeted the idea of selling off their spectrum warily, if not with outright hostility, but the Federal Communications Commission’s planned auction is changing the equation. Broadcasters who choose to relinquish their spectrum -- which would then be sold off to wireless carriers -- could come away with a cut of up to 85% of revenue from the auction, FCC and industry sources say. The preliminary estimate is that the auction could bring in $45 billion. Larry Patrick, who heads a broadcast industry-focused brokerage, said in some cases the FCC’s valuations for spectrum are twice what the station owners had been hoping for.
benton.org/headlines/tv-broadcasters-await-spectrum-valuations-fcc | Wall Street Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


GOOGLE FIBER AND TV
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Laying down high-speed fiber is expensive. Digging trenches in the ground and stringing cables along utility poles is expensive. Getting permission to do all that is expensive. But it turns out that all of that is a fraction of the cost of offering TV programming, according to the head of Google Fiber, Milo Medin. And it's a cost Google can't avoid paying. Video "is the single biggest impediment" to Google Fiber's deployment, Medin told an audience at the COMPTEL telecom conference. "It is the single biggest piece of our cost structure." Why is Google so down on TV? Because as important as Internet access is, Americans still love their triple-play bundle. You can't sell Internet these days without also offering a TV package. "If you're going to pull customers to your broadband and other services, you've got to lead with video," said Jeff Gardner, the chief executive of Windstream. But in video, Google has a distinct disadvantage. Not only does it lack its own programming, in contrast to big incumbents such as Comcast that own large content production operations, but Google is also paying a lot more for programming than some other players.
benton.org/headlines/heres-single-biggest-thing-holding-google-fiber-back | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

WIRELESS

FOURTH MAJOR ERA OF COMPUTING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Andy Kessler]
[Commentary] We’re now on our fourth major era in computing. The original mainframe computer of the 1960s automated back offices and transactions, bringing efficiency and lowering costs. That cycle ended in the early 1990s when the personal computer picked up steam. By the mid-1990s the Web was helping to automate interaction between companies and their customers, allowing people to buy goods and services through the magical Internet. The mobile era began this summer, as there are now more mobile users than desktop users, with 1.8 billion surfing the Web on their smartphones. Having a personal computer in your pocket is changing the tech world because, unlike a computer, a smartphone is always there when you need it. [Kessler is a former hedge-fund manager]
benton.org/headlines/fourth-major-era-computing-kicks | Wall Street Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

Big phone companies are racing to abandon old copper networks. The FCC says, ‘not so fast.’

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said he would introduce measures to make sure the nation's copper infrastructure is phased out responsibly -- part of a series of principles aimed at keeping incumbent phone companies from trampling over smaller, competitive carriers in the dash toward greener fiber pastures.

One question the FCC will ask is whether incumbent carriers should sell their copper to the competitive carriers rather than simply leaving the technology by the wayside. The agency will also explore what maintenance requirements, if any, should be imposed on copper cabling that does not get retired. These and other moves, according to Chairman Wheeler, will limit the opportunity for incumbents to gain too much of an advantage over smaller companies. Chairman Wheeler repeated his now familiar slogan: "competition, competition, competition." Industry officials have said the slogan has been met with few specifics from Chairman Wheeler -- but the new efforts may be a sign of change.

AT&T Says It Fired Employee Who Gained Access to Customer Data

AT&T fired an employee who inappropriately gained access to customer information this year, possibly including Social Security and driver’s license numbers. AT&T also sent affected customers a letter with an apology. In the letter, AT&T said the employee inappropriately gained access to some customer information in August. It also said any unauthorized charges made to customer accounts would be reversed, and affected customers would be eligible for a free year of credit monitoring services. The roughly 1,600 affected customers will find out if access was made to their accounts only if they are contacted by AT&T. The company declined to give the employee’s specific role at the company.

© 1994-2026 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.