November 19, 2014 (Bringing Lifeline into the 21st Century)
“I believe that the federal government should be laying down broadband like Eisenhower laid down interstates.”
- Author and actor John Hodgman
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2014
Today -- ConnectED to the Future and Cambodia: Media Use from Big Screen to Small http://benton.org/calendar/2014-11-19
BROADBAND/INTERNET
Bringing Lifeline into the 21st Century - op-ed
86.6 Million Get Broadband from Top Cable and Telephone Companies in the US - press release
John Hodgman: ‘The government should be laying down broadband like Eisenhower laid down interstates’
Sen Cruz: 'Height of lunacy' to push online sales tax bill [links to web]
Tennessee Leaders Call on the FCC to Axe State Broadband Restrictions
A global Internet needs organizing principles - op-ed
NET NEUTRALITY
Copps Pushes December Vote On Net Rules [links to web]
Jesse Jackson is lobbying the FCC against aggressive network neutrality rules
Smaller Wireless Carriers and Network Neutrality: No Title II, Please [links to web]
The Last Time The FCC Classified A Service As Title II Was 2007. Here’s How It Worked. - analysis
How do you solve a problem like the Internet? Not net neutrality. - Richard Bennett analysis [links to web]
WIRLESS/SPECTRUM
When wireless worlds collide - analysis
Mobidia: LTE Subscribers Consuming Twice as Much Cellular Data as 3G Subscribers [links to web]
TELECOM
Frontier service is so unreliable customers wish they still had AT&T
Bringing Lifeline into the 21st Century - op-ed
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
How the GOP used Twitter to stretch election laws
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Senate Republicans Block Sweeping Overhaul of NSA Program
AT&T demands clarity: Are warrants needed for customer cell-site data? [links to web]
Building a globe-spanning quantum Internet
ClassDojo Adopts Deletion Policy for Student Data [links to web]
Apple and Others Encrypt Phones, Fueling Government Standoff [links to web]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
What is Your Location?: Public Knowledge Petition Pushes FCC to Implement 911 Accuracy Rules - press release
TELEVISION/RADIO
FCC Defends Axing Coordinated Retransmission Among Top Four [links to web]
Commissioner Pai: FCC Should Reject Calls to Ban Redskins Name [links to web]
OPEN GOVERNMENT
There’s a Commerce Department ‘SWAT team’ opening up government data [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
House GOP picks all-male slate of new committee chairs [links to web]
New House Intelligence chief viewed NSA reform as unnecessary [links to web]
Pelosi’s pick wins Round 1 for House Commerce Committee [links to web]
BROADBAND/INTERNET
BRINGING LIFELINE INTO THE 21ST CENTURY
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: John Horrigan]
[Commentary] Last week, Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn outlined five principles to bring the Lifeline program, which subsidizes phone service for low-income Americans, into the broadband age. The principles focus on two things we all care about. First, they call for the FCC to improve how the program functions so that more funds go to those who need it, while lessening administrative burden on the companies that provide the benefit to eligible consumers. Second, the principles provide a vision of what consumers and taxpayers get in return. In Commissioner Clyburn’s words: “Broadband is the greatest equalizer of our time.” Now, such a sweeping statement about a technology some people think is good mainly for viewing cat videos might seem like a stretch. But the statement stands up when thinking about the benefits that come with home broadband access. The opportunities Commissioner Clyburn identifies are familiar to Benton readers: economic and educational opportunity, civic engagement, social inclusion, and more.
http://benton.org/blog/bringing-lifeline-21st-century
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LATEST BROADBAND STATS
[SOURCE: Leichtman Research Group, AUTHOR: Press release]
The 17 largest cable and telephone providers in the US -- representing about 94% of the market -- acquired over 700,000 net additional high-speed Internet subscribers in the third quarter of 2014. These top broadband providers now account for 86.6 million subscribers -- with top cable companies having over 51.2 million broadband subscribers, and top telephone companies having nearly 35.4 million subscribers. Other broadband findings include:
Overall, broadband additions in 3Q 2014 amounted to 135% of those in 3Q 2013
The top cable companies accounted for 83% of the net broadband additions for the quarter versus the top telephone companies
The top cable companies added about 580,000 subscribers, representing 133% of the net additions for the top cable companies in 3Q 2013
The top telephone companies added about 120,000 broadband subscribers in 3Q 2014 -- compared to a gain of about 80,000 in 3Q 2013
Over the past year, there were about 2,930,000 net broadband adds -- compared to about 2,540,000 over the prior year, and 2,925,000 two years ago
benton.org/headlines/866-million-get-broadband-top-cable-and-telephone-companies-us | Leichtman Research Group
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LAYING DOWN BROADBAND LIKE INTERSTATES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
As far back as 2006, author and actor John Hodgman was using postal envelopes to explain how Internet service providers might let content from Google and Amazon through to consumers very easily while discriminating against content from other companies. Now Hodgman is back at it. In an essay on Tumblr, Hodgman takes aim at large telecom companies who can "control what is increasingly a mandatory purchase" for many Americans: access to high-speed broadband that connects them to information, entertainment and economic opportunity. "I believe in capitalism but not monopolies," Hodgman wrote. "I believe in entrepreneurship and I am not against government efforts to foster it. I believe more communities should invest in their own broadband to break regional telecom monopolies. Personally I believe that the federal government should be laying down broadband like Eisenhower laid down interstates. And I believe preferential fast-laning for big companies will decrease competition and quality and ultimately hamper what is poised to be the most important area of economic, cultural, and technological innovation of our time."
benton.org/headlines/john-hodgman-government-should-be-laying-down-broadband-eisenhower-laid-down-interstates | Washington Post | John Hodgman
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TENNESSEE AND STATE BROADBAND RESTRICTIONS
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Brian Heaton]
Without gigabit connectivity, small towns will suffer economic hardships in the coming years, according to elected officials speaking at a rally on high-speed broadband expansion on Nov. 18 in Chattanooga (TN). State representatives, mayors and private-sector leaders all gathered in “Gig City” to support recent petitions to the Federal Communications Commission that would vacate state restrictions on community broadband operations in Tennessee and North Carolina. The pundits stressed that rural areas with limited or no access to broadband will be unable to develop, attract and retain bright young minds and new businesses unless cities are free to operate publicly owned networks. Tennessee State Sen Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) called the Internet “the essential utility of the 21st century,” adding that Tennessee’s restriction on expanding Chattanooga’s gigabit network needs to be lifted. “What needs to [happen] is removing the restriction of the electronic footprint, so anybody who wants to provide accessible, high-speed broadband will not be encumbered by unnecessary regulations,” State Sen Bowling said.
benton.org/headlines/tennessee-leaders-call-fcc-axe-state-broadband-restrictions | Government Technology
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INTERNET ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Daniel Castro]
[Commentary] Neither universalism nor Balkanism can be the guiding star for international negotiations on Internet policy. The former is unworkable given differing national politics and values, while the latter threatens the interconnectivity of the global network and can result in digital trade protectionism. An alternative approach to Internet policy is needed to combine the benefits of each approach while minimizing the drawbacks. Luckily such an intellectual framework is possible. First, nations must agree on the fundamental principle that policies concerning how the core Internet architecture is designed and operated should be universal. We need global, commonly shared standards for the Internet's technical architecture — such as the domain name system — if there is to be a global Internet; otherwise the system would devolve into a series of national-level networks at the expense of global commerce and communications. A multi-stakeholder approach in a global forum, such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), is the best way to develop such standards, since disagreements over the technical architecture of the Internet is complex and can only be resolved if expert stakeholders reach consensus. But countries need to also recognize that for policies that go beyond the Internet's technical architecture, a pure universalist approach will often not work since countries often have different objectives. But there are some areas where Balkanism will lead to significantly reduced global welfare, and this is particularly true with cross-border digital trade. Finally, nations should also look for opportunities to build international consensus on common goals like combating child pornography, spam and malware. Countries interested in addressing these problems should work together to create new forums and agreements to foster cooperation on these issues.
[Castro is a senior analyst with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation]
benton.org/headlines/global-internet-needs-organizing-principles | Hill, The
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NET NEUTRALITY
REV JACKSON VS TITLE II
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
You don't often find a two-time presidential candidate and civil rights leader wading into the sticky business of Internet policy. But the Rev Jesse Jackson visited the Federal Communications Commission to discuss the future of the Internet. Meeting with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Rev Jackson urged the FCC to act on network neutrality, the idea that Internet providers should not be permitted to speed up or slow down certain kinds of Web traffic over others, especially in exchange for money. What Rev Jackson asked for, though, probably won't sit well with some of net neutrality's most outspoken proponents, including President Barack Obama. Rev Jackson "was unequivocal in voicing his opposition to Title II because of its effects on investment in broadband and because of the ultimate impact on minority communities and job creation," said TechFreedom’s Berin Szoka, another participant in the meeting with Chairman Wheeler who has also argued for Section 706. Civil rights and diversity organizations are largely united in their support for Section 706, Jackson said. He added that no matter which legal approach the FCC chooses, the agency's net neutrality rules should not end up marginalizing minorities and the poor. "We got a lot of poor folks who don't have broadband," said Jackson. "If you create something where, for the poor, the lane is slower and the cost is more, you can't survive."
benton.org/headlines/jesse-jackson-lobbying-fcc-against-aggressive-network-neutrality-rules | Washington Post
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HOW CLASSIFICATION WORKS
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] I recognize that this whole “Title II” thing doesn’t happen every day and lots of folks have questions about what the heck does this all mean. As I (and others) have noted in the past, classification doesn’t have to be a big deal. To illustrate this, I will go back to the last time the Federal Communications Commission classified a service -- automatic voice roaming in the wireless world -- as a Title II service. As we will see, this took remarkably little effort. The FCC explicitly rejected the requirement to do rate regulation or a requirement to file tariffs with the prices and did not need to engage in any extensive forbearance. They just said “nah, we’re not gonna do that.” The final adopted rules are less than a page and a half. I will also note that despite classifying automatic voice roaming as a Title II service in 2007 (and classifying mobile wireless phone service as a Title II service in 1993), the wireless industry seems to be doing OK, with more than 300 million subscribers and (as CTIA never tires of telling us) several gagillion dollars’ worth of capital investment.
benton.org/headlines/last-time-fcc-classified-service-title-ii-was-2007-heres-how-it-worked | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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WIRLESS/SPECTRUM
WHEN WIRELESS WORLDS COLLIDE
[SOURCE: The Economist, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] Once, the future of wireless depended exclusively on the mobile-phone companies’ ability to secure enough spectrum in order to beef up their cellular networks. Now, Wi-Fi is emerging as the leading means for delivering ubiquitous connectivity. The widespread adoption of smartphones and tablets is driving this “Wi-Fi first” change of direction. In the United States, 90% of tablet owners bought their devices without a wireless data contract—so confident were they in never needing to access the internet via a mobile carrier’s pricey cellular network. However, while ideal for distributing broadband around the home, Wi-Fi out in the wild still leaves a lot to be desired. Accessing hotspots found in cafes, shopping malls, libraries, airports, sports arenas and hotels can mean risking either identity theft on an open connection, or answering a web-page of queries and handing over credit-card details -- and then paying through the nose for a few hours’ worth of internet access. Even then, download speeds can slow to a crawl as others share the connection’s limited bandwidth. In an ideal world, one might start the day downloading e-mail on a tablet at home; carry on doing so using a smartphone while waiting for a bus or train; finish off the task on a laptop at work or in a coffee shop -- all without having to log on afresh with each change of device and location. If the promise of ubiquitous connectivity is to mean anything, then users will need seamless hand-off from one Wi-Fi hotspot to another, and automatic authentication of their logon and password, no matter the device or network being used. In short, Wi-Fi has to function as transparently as a mobile phone.
benton.org/headlines/when-wireless-worlds-collide | Economist, The
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TELECOM
FRONTIER IN CONNECTICUT
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Telecom company Frontier paid $2 billion to buy AT&T's wireline operations in Connecticut, and now customers who can't get Frontier service wish the deal never happened. Since the changeover, hundreds of customers complained to local news outlets that they could not get Internet and TV service or that they experienced other problems with Frontier. A total of 130 customers complained to the state attorney general's office. Gov Dannel Malloy (D-CT) encouraged affected customers to file complaints with the state's Consumer Protection bureau, which they can do online. Customers may also get a chance to confront Frontier officials in person.
benton.org/headlines/frontier-service-so-unreliable-customers-wish-they-still-had-att | Ars Technica
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
TWITTER AND ELECTION LAWS
[SOURCE: CNN, AUTHOR: Chris Moody]
Republicans and outside groups used anonymous Twitter accounts to share internal polling data ahead of the midterm elections, a practice that raises questions about whether they violated campaign finance laws that prohibit coordination. The Twitter accounts were hidden in plain sight. The profiles were publicly available but meaningless without knowledge of how to find them and decode the information, according to a source with knowledge of the activities. The practice is the latest effort in the quest by political operatives to exploit the murky world of campaign finance laws at a time when limits on spending in politics are eroding and regulators are being defanged.
benton.org/headlines/how-gop-used-twitter-stretch-election-laws | CNN
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
NSA REFORM BLOCKED
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Charlie Savage, Jeremy Peters]
Senate Republicans blocked a sweeping overhaul of the once-secret National Security Agency program that collects records of Americans’ phone calls in bulk. Democrats and a handful of Republicans who supported the measure fell two votes short of the 60 votes they needed to take up the legislation, which sponsors named the USA Freedom Act. Sen Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Republican leader, worked hard to defeat the bill, which had the support of the Obama Administration and a coalition of technology companies, including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. But the vote only put off a fractious debate over security and personal liberties until next year. While a Republican-controlled Senate is less likely to go along with the kinds of changes that were in the bill, which would have ended the NSA's ability to collect bulk phone call data, the debate could further expose rifts between the party’s interventionist and more libertarian-leaning wings.
benton.org/headlines/senate-republicans-block-sweeping-overhaul-nsa-program | New York Times
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QUANTUM INTERNET
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Russell Brandom]
The research and development company Battelle is currently building out a nationwide quantum network that would stretch from Boston to Georgia, eventually reaching all the way to California. A similar project is already under way in China, spanning from Shanghai to Beijing. They're the first networks of their kind, using the essential qualities of light to protect messages in transit. But as the quantum-encrypted networks come to life, they're raising real questions about the future of cryptography. Quantum networks use long encryption keys that are distributed across the network as bursts of light. To establish a key, one party generates random signal and the other listens in: whatever comes out of the network is the new encryption key. But what if someone else is listening in? To protect against interception, the network relies on the observer effect — the principle that light can’t be intercepted without altering the signal itself. For cryptography purposes, that means that if you're using the right protocols, you can ensure no one else is on the line. If everything goes right, it would mean a perfect encryption system, fueled by big, random keys that are impossible to intercept.
benton.org/headlines/building-globe-spanning-quantum-internet | Verge, The
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
911 ACCURACY RULES
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Brynne Henn]
Public Knowledge submitted a petition with over 1,000 signatures asking the Federal Communications Commission to implement its proposed rules to ensure 911 dispatchers know where callers are, even when they call from indoors using their cell phones. This petition comes as a response to concerning reports detailing the current failure of wireless carriers to convey the location of 911 callers. Despite the increasing prevalence of mobile-only households, the carriers have yet to improve or address the widespread reports of failed location accuracy in many states. The FCC must step in to require the basic safety and peace-of-mind that when you call for help, it will come. With this petition, Public Knowledge urges the FCC implement its proposed rules without delay. While we embrace new technologies, we cannot -- and need not -- trade public safety away during technology transitions. Today’s mobile communications infrastructure must ensure that every person -- regardless of race, sex, age, income level, or disability -- has adequate and reliable access to emergency services. Public Knowledge supports and applauds the FCC for presenting these stronger requirements, and we ask that the FCC not waiver in their resolve to ensure first responders can find those in need, no matter how they reach 911.
benton.org/headlines/what-your-location-public-knowledge-petition-pushes-fcc-implement-911-accuracy-rules | Public Knowledge
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