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November 2014

Twitter to Start Tracking Which Apps Its Users Have Downloaded

Twitter will soon be peeking in on your smartphone. Literally.

The social network says it will start collecting data on which apps its users have downloaded onto their phones. The update is opt-out, meaning Twitter will start collecting this information from users automatically unless they explicitly tell it otherwise. Twitter says the reason for the update is simple: It’s trying to learn more about its user base so it can make more money selling ads. The company’s business model is dependent on targeted advertising, and while Twitter can already determine some things about its subscribers based on what they tweet and whom they follow, the information is still limited, especially compared with Facebook’s extensive set of data.

Three Lessons from the History of Digital Television for Broadband Policy Development

[Commentary] Recent work from the scholars who study Internet speeds find the United States has fallen behind in its broadband development. Comparisons with Asian counterparts such as Singapore and South Korea underscores the success that some countries have had in leapfrogging ahead of our nation by offering ubiquitous fiber-to-the-premises capabilities to residential customers. The horse-race nature of this narrative is reminiscent of a similar history that played out on the world stage a few decades ago.

Retracing the chronology of digital television’s development can illustrate that organizing tomorrow’s policies around today’s technologies may be extremely difficult and unwise for the public interest. First, those who support what has been known as an “all-fiber” diet for broadband may well be fast movers but ultimately slower in what surely is a marathon race. Second, Federal Communications Commission decision-making that reflects a static rather than dynamic technological view may be quicker to complete in a rulemaking proceeding, but ultimately may be short-sided once certain premises change -- such as how users actually trade off various types of fixed and mobile broadband experiences. Third, as with digital television, there are powerful market forces at play that align with, rather than undermine, the public interest.

EU Parliament Passes Measure to Break Up Google in Symbolic Vote

Europe’s resentment of the American technology giant Google reached a new noise level as the European Parliament passed a nonbinding vote to break up the company. Although merely symbolic -- the resolution carries no legal weight -- the move came the day after a separate European body sought to further expand citizens’ “right to be forgotten” privacy protections against Google.

Both moves are also playing out against the backdrop of a long-running investigation by the European authorities of Google, on which the European Union’s new antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager, is still getting up to speed. A breakup of Google in Europe will almost certainly not happen, legal experts say. And whether any of the various policy moves afoot will ever significantly curtail the company’s business operations across the region is still too soon to gauge. But taken together, the level of policy-making activity being devoted to the company signifies the growing antipathy to American technological dominance in the European Union even as its citizens grow ever more reliant on its gadgetry and conveniences.

EU panel calls for global ‘right to be forgotten’

A European Union privacy panel wants Google to expand the “right to be forgotten” to the rest of the globe. A panel of privacy regulators called for the search engine to give Web users the power to have Google take down links to embarrassing or outdated content throughout the world. The new guidelines are not binding, but they nonetheless increase pressure on Google and are sure to meet heavy opposition from transparency advocates. “Under EU law, everyone has a right to data protection,” the panel said.

Europe has good reasons to fear Google

[Commentary] What the European Parliament is proposing sounds like Ayn Rand’s worst nightmare. Let’s take Google, one of the best and most cohesive set of web services we have, and fragment it into smaller businesses. Let’s introduce friction and bureaucracy between the various parts so that lesser companies with worse products can have a chance to compete. It feels like a classic case of over-regulation -- penalizing a successful company for the crime of being better than everyone else -- however its fundamental premise is not wrong: Google is too powerful. The Randian nightmare scenario of Google having to break up is unlikely to ever come to pass, but the company does need to change. If Google is to continue serving as the gateway through which most internet queries pass, it must be held to a standard of fairness that’s above and beyond that required of a private company.

Europe should focus on spurring European tech growth

[Commentary] Why isn't Europe able to produce the sort of leading-edge tech companies which seem to routinely come out of the United States, and now, Asia? Where is the European Amazon, Twitter, Samsung or even Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company that recently had the biggest global initial public offering ever?

Rather than going after American companies, the European Commission and Parliament should focus on policy changes that would spur European technology growth. In particular, Europe would benefit from boosting spending on research and development; improving the climate for entrepreneurship; and encouraging consumers and businesses to use more data.

[Mandel is the chief economic strategist at Progressive Policy Institute]

Social media terms and conditions are way too complex, say UK MPs

A UK parliamentary committee has attacked the terms and conditions used by social media services, declaring that they are too complex for users to understand.

It said the unsuitability of the T&Cs had been demonstrated by episodes such as Facebook’s emotion-manipulation study, in which Facebook deliberately made some of its users sad as an experiment. A report by the Science and Technology Committee called on the British government and data protection regulator to develop terms that can actually help users understand how their data is being used. It’s great to see more of a political push for this -- there are already grassroots initiatives to help people understand what the services they use do with their data, such as Terms Of Service, Didn’t Read, but they’re not widely known about. The committee also asked the government to work with business and academia to make sure that apps only request the user data that they need to provide the advertised service, and to better explain to users why they need the permissions they request.

First Responder Network Authority

National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Department of Commerce
December 9 and 10, 2014
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-11-26/pdf/2014-28006.pdf


November 26, 2014 (Broadcast TV Is Thankful for Thanksgiving)

Headlines will return on MONDAY, December 1. Happy Thanksgiving.

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2014


JOURNALISM
   Ferguson prosecutor slams “non-stop” social media while calling for increased attention to race
   What we can learn from Robert McCulloch’s media condemnation - op-ed [links to web]
   Actually, Robert McCulloch, social media is doing a better job than you are - analysis [links to web]
   Ferguson: How can you blame McCulloch for blaming the media? - analysis [links to web]
   What social media did for Ferguson [links to web]
   Eric Holder’s lasting damage to press freedom - op-ed
   Why ‘Serial’ is important for journalism - op-ed [links to web]

INTERNET/BROABAND
   $36B auction shows network neutrality is no threat to investment - analysis
   Carriers Issue Billions in Debt As Spectrum Auction Bids Top $36 Billion [links to web]
   Verizon promises not to sue over net neutrality -- if FCC avoids utility rules
   Mark Cuban made billions from an open Internet. Now he wants to kill it - analysis
   Wikipedia’s ‘complicated’ relationship with network neutrality
   The Many Wars of Tom Wheeler - Holman Jenkins Jr op-ed
   Google And Facebook Rewire The Internet As FCC Dithers - George Anders op-ed
   Netflix and YouTube Now Consume 50% Of The Internet As The Argument For Network Neutrality Weakens - Gene Marks op-ed [links to web]
   Google Fiber files franchise application with Tennessee [links to web]
   California Research & Education Network Gets 100-Gigabit Upgrade [links to web]
   What Internet Users Know about Technology and the Web - research

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   $36B auction shows network neutrality is no threat to investment - analysis
   Carriers Issue Billions in Debt As Spectrum Auction Bids Top $36 Billion [links to web]
   T-Mobile accuses AT&T of lying about data roaming rates [links to web]
   Holiday PSA: Unless you want your family to hate you, turn off your cellphone [links to web]

OWNERSHIP
   Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger is a win for program diversity - Ovation op-ed

HEALTH
   Enabling Humanitarian Use of Mobile Phone Data - research
   Medical and tech researchers see smartphones as health's next frontier

TELEVISION
   TV Tax Paid by Big-Box Blitzers and Small-Business Supporters - op-ed [links to web]
   Netflix Chief Downplays Nielsen Plans to Measure Streaming Service Viewership [links to web]
   TiVo CEO: ‘We’re All For Moving On Beyond CableCARD’ [links to web]
   Why Broadcast TV Is So Thankful for Thanksgiving [links to web]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   2016: Democrats Win White House, FCC - op-ed [links to web]

AGENDA
   Lamest lame duck

POLICYMAKERS
   FCC Names John Schanz Chair Of The CSRIC - press release [links to web]
   Karen Finney joins Media Matters [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   United Nations to vote on anti-mass surveillance resolution [links to web]
   Europe Takes Another Look at Network Neutrality
   US Expresses Concern Over Google Antitrust Debate in Europe

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JOURNALISM

MEDIA AND FERGUSON
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Nancy Scola]
St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch delivered a sometimes combative 25-minute address to announce a grand jury's decision not to indict Ferguson (MO) police officer Darren Wilson for the Aug. 9 shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown. During the announcement, McCulloch focused particular attention on the role of social media in covering the story, which he blamed for misleading the public and making the investigation of Brown's death fraught from the start. He said retellings of the incident on social media were "filled with speculation, and little, if any solid, accurate information." In fact, the most significant challenge in his three-month investigation, he said, was the insatiable 24-hour news cycle and "non-stop rumors on social media," which he said clung to any available scrap of real or imagined insight into the case.
benton.org/headlines/ferguson-prosecutor-slams-non-stop-social-media-while-calling-increased-attention-race | Washington Post | Politico
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ERIC HOLDER AND PRESS FREEDOM
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Kelly O’Brien]
The fact that outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder has prosecuted more people under the Espionage Act than all previous attorneys general combined is an inescapable legacy of his time in office. All of those cases were brought against government workers or contractors accused of leaking classified information to the media, which led Trevor Timm, co-founder of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, to call AG Holder “the worst Attorney General for the press in a generation.”
[O'Brien is a freelance journalist based in Boston]
benton.org/headlines/eric-holders-lasting-damage-press-freedom | Columbia Journalism Review
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INTERNET/BROABAND

SPECTRUM AUCTION AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jeff John Roberts]
When President Barack Obama called for network neutrality, AT&T said the sky would fall. It warned that a policy banning internet providers from giving special treatment to some websites over others would lead companies to stop investing in new network capacity. So much for that. As of Nov 25, an airwave auction by the FCC is still going gangbusters as companies scramble for a series of spectrum licenses that will let them deliver more data and stream more video to consumer cellphones. While most people expected the bidding to exceed the $10 billion reserve price set by the agency, the FCC has already raked in more than triple that -- bids have exceeded $36 billion, and the auction is still going. Companies like T-Mobile, Dish and, yes, AT&T are all participating in the bidding. All of this is occurring despite the fact that the airwaves in question could and (in Gigaom’s view) should be subject to so-called Title II regulation, a type of net neutrality that would ban companies from providing fast lanes for some websites, while slowing down others. In other words, contrary to AT&T’s warning that the specter of Title II would chill investment, what we’re seeing instead is wireless companies -- who have long fought net neutrality tooth and nail -- falling over themselves to buy up resources that will let them offer consumers more internet.
benton.org/headlines/36b-auction-shows-network-neutrality-no-threat-investment | GigaOm
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VERIZON AND SEC 706
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Verizon is trying to convince the Federal Communications Commission that it won't sue to block network neutrality rules as long as they're issued without reclassifying broadband providers as utilities. Yet, Verizon did sue the FCC the last time it crafted net neutrality rules without relying on its utility regulation powers. Verizon Executive VP Randal Milch e-mailed FCC Chairman Wheeler to say Verizon won't sue if the FCC uses Section 706, even though that's exactly what Verizon did last time. Section 706 requires the FCC to encourage the deployment of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans, and it can be used to govern broadband providers' treatment of Internet traffic. Milch's e-mail was made public in an ex parte letter filed with the FCC. Milch wrote that rules based on Section 706 "will not be the object of a successful court challenge -- by Verizon or anyone else."
benton.org/headlines/verizon-promises-not-sue-over-net-neutrality-if-fcc-avoids-utility-rules | Ars Technica
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MARK CUBAN AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Ben Popper]
[Commentary] Over the last few weeks, billionaire and former tech executive Mark Cuban has become increasingly vocal on the subject of net neutrality. He said that he was in favor of creating "fast lanes" on the Internet that would ensure the quality of certain services. It’s worth pointing out what a hypocritical asshat he sounds like, pushing a position that would have been a death blow to the very startup that made him so rich in the first place. The bulk of Cuban’s wealth comes from the sale of a company he created, Broadcast.com. How did he build that company? In 1995, Cuban and fellow Indiana University alumnus Todd Wagner started Audionet, combining their mutual interest in Indiana Hoosier college basketball and webcasting. With a single server and an ISDN line, Audionet became Broadcast.com in 1998. By 1999, Broadcast.com had grown to 330 employees and $13.5 million in revenue for the second quarter. In 1999, during the dot com boom, Broadcast.com was acquired by Yahoo! for $5.7 billion in Yahoo! stock. This is the picture-perfect example of the permission-less innovation that the internet has fostered. A pair of entrepreneurs had an idea and built it using a set of free, open protocols that connected them to tens of millions of consumers. How well would this same idea have worked in a world full of dedicated "fast lanes" on the internet? Terribly.
benton.org/headlines/mark-cuban-made-billions-open-internet-now-he-wants-kill-it | Verge, The | The Verge - sorry
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WIKIPEDIA AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Wikipedia, the Internet's biggest encyclopedia, is a lot like other major sites on the Web: It's been a little hesitant to weigh in on network neutrality, the idea that all Web traffic should be treated equally by Internet service providers such as Comcast or Time Warner Cable. That's because the folks behind Wikipedia actually see a non-neutral Internet as one way to spread information cheaply to users in developing countries. With Wikipedia Zero, users in places like Pakistan and Malaysia can browse the site without it counting it counting against the data caps on their cellphones or tablets. This preferential treatment for Wikipedia's site helps those who can't afford to pay for pricey data -- but it sets the precedent for deals that cut against the net neutrality principle.
benton.org/headlines/wikipedias-complicated-relationship-network-neutrality | Washington Post
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WARS OF TOM WHEELER
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Holman Jenkins Jr]
[Commentary] Frantically all year Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has been trying to save the Internet from President Barack Obama for the benefit (he thought) of President Obama. His method has been pretty obvious to the naked eye: trying to rouse traditional Democratic interest groups to outflank the net-neut wing of the Obama base. In fact, it’s fair to say Wheeler’s frantic efforts came to naught when President Obama suddenly called for the sweeping “Title II” treatment that Chairman Wheeler had been quietly resisting. Nor is it any derogation of Chairman Wheeler to say he partly brought his trouble on himself, after he floated an internal draft (never released) that a media leak characterized as allowing Internet “fast lanes” (whatever that means). No two words were seemingly better calculated to stir up a ditzy segment of the Obama youth vote. But let’s have a moment of political truth. President Obama doesn’t give two hoots about Title II or fast lanes or the overheated regulatory ideas of the net-neut crowd. President Obama has gone to that place presidents sometimes go, where America and its people and their interests are a small indistinct dot in the distance. All that matters is polls, scoring points with the base and presidential vanity.
benton.org/headlines/many-wars-tom-wheeler | Wall Street Journal
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REWIRING THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: George Anders]
[Commentary] In their earliest years, Google and Facebook tolerated the same Internet architecture that suffices for all the rest of us. But as Google and Facebook got bigger, they began to develop their own proprietary workarounds -- so they could get unimaginably big volumes of data to individual users as quickly, reliably and cheaply as possible. Think of Henry Ford, in the 1920s, building his own steel mills and buying up his own iron-ore reserves, so that he could achieve fuller control of everything needed to make his cars. For the Internet’s biggest content companies, the modern-day version of controlling the whole value chain involves creating an Internet backbone of sorts, installing thousands of servers in locations closer to customers, and, in Google’s case, rolling out direct-to-customers Internet service. Right now, Google and Facebook are focused mostly on making the Internet work better for their own services. But it wouldn’t surprise me if, a few years from now, one or both companies aggressively marketed their Internet-infrastructure expertise to others, for a price. Articles have expressed surprise that Google and Facebook are saying almost nothing about net neutrality these days. Is that really so surprising? While everyone else is shouting about last decade’s problems, the big guys are quietly creating the next decade’s solutions.
benton.org/headlines/google-and-facebook-rewire-internet-fcc-dithers | Forbes
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PEW STUDY
[SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project, AUTHOR: Aaron Smith]
American Internet users’ knowledge of the modern technology landscape varies widely across a range of topics, according to a new knowledge quiz conducted by the Pew Research Center as part of its ongoing series commemorating the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web. The survey -- which was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 1,066 internet users -- includes 17 questions on a range of issues related to technology, including: the meaning and usage of common online terms; recognition of famous tech figures; the history of some major technological advances; and the underlying structure of the Internet and other technologies. Substantial majorities of internet users are able to correctly answer questions about some common technology platforms and everyday Internet usage terms. But relatively few Internet users are familiar with certain concepts that underpin the Internet and other modern technological advances. Only one third (34%) know that Moore’s Law relates to how many transistors can be put on a microchip, and just 23% are aware that “the Internet” and “the World Wide Web” do not, in fact, refer to the same thing.
benton.org/headlines/what-internet-users-know-about-technology-and-web | Pew Internet and American Life Project
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OWNERSHIP

OVATION, COMCAST AND TIME WARNER CABLE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Charles Segars]
[Commentary] Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT) wrote the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission, asking them to consider how the proposed combination of Comcast and Time Warner Cable would impact independent programmers and our choices on TV. As the CEO of one of the leading independent programmers and someone who has been in the indy business for many years, I can say the transaction is an unequivocal win for anyone who values diversity and new perspectives on TV. Here’s why. First, the proposed deal will bring more quality options to more viewers, on better, faster networks. Second, Comcast’s technological leadership has also bolstered our network – and those of the many other independents that it carries. Third, while Comcast is a tough negotiator who demands that anyone seeking carriage prove their value and present a workable business model that makes sense, it is also a fair partner, paying competitive rates and expanding distribution when warranted. And unlike other MPVD’s, Comcast doesn’t make a practice of dropping networks in carriage fee disputes.
[Segars is chief executive officer of Ovation.]
benton.org/headlines/comcasttime-warner-cable-merger-win-program-diversity | Hill, The
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HEALTH

MOBILE PHONE DATA
[SOURCE: Brookings, AUTHOR: Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye, Jake Kendall, Cameron Kerry]
Mobile phones are now ubiquitous in developing countries, with 89 active subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Though many types of population data are scarce in developing countries, the metadata generated by millions of mobile phones and recorded by mobile phone operators can enable unprecedented insights about individuals and societies. Used with appropriate restraint, this data has great potential for good, including immediate use in the fight against Ebola. privacy challenges and regulatory barriers are making humanitarian data-sharing much harder than it should be for mobile phone operators and are significantly limiting greater use of mobile phone metadata in development or aid programs and in research areas like computational social science, development economics, and public health.
benton.org/headlines/enabling-humanitarian-use-mobile-phone-data | Brookings
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MOBILE HEALTH
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Eryn Brown]
By some estimates, 90% of adults in the United States have access to cellphones, which makes mobile health, sometimes called m-health, promising terrain for innovation -- particularly when it comes to targeting hard-to-reach groups such as young, gay black men. “History will show that the mobile phone will be one of the most profound influences for improving public health ever invented,” said Dr. Kevin Patrick, director of UC San Diego's Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems. “The potential is huge.” But for that promise to pan out, researchers, medical providers and technology companies need to find a sweet spot combining user appeal with tools that deliver valuable information and clear medical benefits. That's no simple task.
benton.org/headlines/medical-and-tech-researchers-see-smartphones-healths-next-frontier | Los Angeles Times
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AGENDA

LAME DUCK CONGRESS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Burgess Everett, Manu Raju]
Congress left for Thanksgiving without checking anything big off its to-do list during the lame duck, leaving just 10 days to fund the government when they come back in December and likely pushing big items like authorizing force against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants and the confirmation of an attorney general into 2015. As Republicans take the reins of both chambers of Congress for the first time in nearly a decade, their new agenda will be consumed with leftover business, a reality check for many in the party who had hoped to come out swinging in the new year on tax reform, trade deals, energy legislation and changes to Obamacare. When Congress returns in December, not only will lawmakers have to figure out the length of a government funding bill, they must decide whether to extend a package of expiring corporate and individual tax breaks and reauthorize a terrorism insurance program. If those items slip into next year, they’ll just be added onto the pile.
benton.org/headlines/lamest-lame-duck | Politico
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

EUROPE AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Mark Scott]
Just as the United States takes steps to secure people’s unfettered access to the Internet, Europe may soon backtrack on its own proposals. Some European lawmakers are pushing to loosen the rules somewhat, allowing companies to potentially charge for faster access to their networks. A draft proposal circulated among the members of the European Union, released by European Digital Rights, a Brussels-based advocacy group, would remove the strict definition of net neutrality from new European telecom legislation that is expected to be finalized sometime in 2015. The proposal, circulated by Italy, which currently holds the six-month presidency of the European Union, suggests allowing broadband and telecom companies to manage traffic across their networks (and potentially offer faster speeds to companies that are willing to pay a premium) as long as they provide a minimal level of access for all online content.
benton.org/headlines/europe-takes-another-look-network-neutrality | New York Times
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GOOGLE ANTITRUST DEBATE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Tom Fairless]
The US waded into a European debate over a possible breakup of Google, expressing concern about the politicization of antitrust investigations. In an unusual move, the US mission to the European Union said in an e-mail that it had “noted with concern” the Parliament’s draft resolution. “It is important that the process of identifying competitive harms and potential remedies be based on objective and impartial findings and not be politicized,” it said. Legal experts echoed those comments, describing the Parliament’s move as highly unusual and warning it risked setting a dangerous precedent.
benton.org/headlines/us-expresses-concern-over-google-antitrust-debate-europe | Wall Street Journal | The Hill
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The Many Wars of Tom Wheeler

[Commentary] Frantically all year Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has been trying to save the Internet from President Barack Obama for the benefit (he thought) of President Obama.

His method has been pretty obvious to the naked eye: trying to rouse traditional Democratic interest groups to outflank the net-neut wing of the Obama base. In fact, it’s fair to say Wheeler’s frantic efforts came to naught when President Obama suddenly called for the sweeping “Title II” treatment that Chairman Wheeler had been quietly resisting. Nor is it any derogation of Chairman Wheeler to say he partly brought his trouble on himself, after he floated an internal draft (never released) that a media leak characterized as allowing Internet “fast lanes” (whatever that means). No two words were seemingly better calculated to stir up a ditzy segment of the Obama youth vote. But let’s have a moment of political truth. President Obama doesn’t give two hoots about Title II or fast lanes or the overheated regulatory ideas of the net-neut crowd.

President Obama has gone to that place presidents sometimes go, where America and its people and their interests are a small indistinct dot in the distance. All that matters is polls, scoring points with the base and presidential vanity.

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