Public Wi-Fi. Free domestic calls. And even the opportunity to video-chat from the street. The classic New York City pay phone is getting a high-tech upgrade next year that will provide wireless Internet throughout the five boroughs.
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office announced that some 6,400 pay phones will be replaced by so-called “LinkNYC” devices, sleek structures with a 24-hour, 150-foot-radius Wi-Fi, phone capabilities free of charge and streaming digital advertisements providing what officials anticipate will be at least $20 million in ad revenue annually.
The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers, a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging a large number of innocent Americans, according to people familiar with the operations.
The US Marshals Service program, which became fully functional around 2007, operates Cessna aircraft from at least five metropolitan-area airports, with a flying range covering most of the US population, according to people familiar with the program. Planes are equipped with devices -- some known as “dirtboxes” to law-enforcement officials because of the initials of the Boeing unit that produces them -- which mimic cell towers of large telecommunications firms and trick cellphones into reporting their unique registration information. The technology in the two-foot-square device enables investigators to scoop data from tens of thousands of cellphones in a single flight, collecting their identifying information and general location, these people said. People with knowledge of the program wouldn’t discuss the frequency or duration of such flights, but said they take place on a regular basis.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) pressed the Justice Department for more information on a program that collects Americans’ cellphone data using airplanes equipped with technology that mimics cellular towers.
"The sweeping nature of this program and the likely collection of sensitive records belonging to innocent consumers raise a number of important questions about how the Department protects the privacy of Americans, particularly those with no connection to unlawful activities," he wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder. Sen Markey said the information could be an important tool for law enforcement. He added in a statement accompanying the letter, however, that the public is "rightfully disturbed" by the pervasiveness of collection in recent years.
The Federal Communications Commission’s plan to collect data about rural call completion, adopted a year ago, is now one step closer to implementation.
The FCC on November 4 adopted an order on reconsideration that makes one key change to its data collection plan. Long-distance carriers will not have to report data about intraLATA toll calls that are carried entirely over their own network or intraLATA toll calls that are handed off directly to the terminating local exchange carrier or to the tandem switch that the terminating LEC’s end office subtends. The change was made in response to a petition from USTelecom and ITTA. “We find that modifying our original determination will significantly lower providers’ compliance costs and burdens without impairing the commission’s ability to obtain reliable and extensive information about rural call completion problems,” the FCC wrote. The next step is for the Office of Management and Budget to review the data collection plan.
The Lifeline Program just had a great week. And that could be great news for a lot of people and for the future of this country. With true leaders like Federal Communications Commission members Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel leading the way, I am very excited to see what the future holds. Commissioner Clyburn, a long-time Lifeline champion, laid out concrete principles that she believes will help guide the transition of Lifeline into the broadband age. Then Commissioner Rosenworcel advocated for modernizing the Lifeline Program. In addressing the “Homework Gap” – or the extreme difficulty and disadvantage that students who lack broadband at home confront when trying to complete homework assignments – she said, “he good news is we can do something about it. We can study innovative broadband adoption programs across the country. I think we can learn more from them. At the same time, we need to take a fresh look at the FCC’s Lifeline program. Because I think we can modernize the Lifeline program and close the Homework Gap.”
Simply put: The time is right. For years, administrative shortcomings have jeopardized the Lifeline Program; leaving it open to abuse and attacks. However, in recent years, the FCC has gone to great lengths to protect and improve the program – and it has been very successful in doing so. Recent reforms have drastically cut the amount of waste, fraud, and abuse, and the FCC has firmly established itself as the “cop on the beat,” signaling to providers that it will take any issues, including issues pertaining to breaches of consumer privacy, very, very seriously. Now that the ship has been righted, it is time to move the program into the 21st century and bring it into the broadband age. But also, we have reached a tipping point when it comes to broadband adoption in this country. Make no mistake, as things stand right now, we are leaving people behind.
Kevin Taglang is travelling again, so this week we share an editorial from our chairman, Charles Benton, on the big news surrounding the E-rate program.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler outlined a proposal to increase funding for the E-rate program which reduces the telecommunications costs of schools and libraries. The following statement may be attributed to Charles Benton, the Chairman of the Benton Foundation:
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2014
This week’s events http://benton.org/calendar/2014-11-16--P1W
BROADBAND/INTERNET
Network neutrality: Strife in the fast lane - analysis
President Obama and Justice Scalia, United on Broadband as a Utility - analysis
Net neutrality battle lines drawn - editorial
Regulating the Internet threatens entrepreneurial freedom
FCC Commissioner Pai says Web Rules Would Risk Battle
FCC Asks AT&T for Details on Plans to Halt Fiber Expansion
What a Tangled Web Obama Weaves - WSJ editorial [links to web]
The Web Is Dying; Apps Are Killing It - analysis
Triple Play deals can be ditched for a-la-carte bundle - San Jose Mercury News editorial [links to web]
EDUCATION
FCC Chief Aims to Bolster Internet for Schools
Privacy Concerns for ClassDojo and Other Tracking Apps for Schoolchildren
CONTENT
Sirius XM Has Setback in Lawsuit [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
AT&T Seeks Some Southern Exposure - WSJ analysis [links to web]
BROADBAND/INTERNET
STRIFE IN THE FAST LANE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: David Crow]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission faces two important decisions: how to proceed on net neutrality and whether to approve Comcast’s takeover of Time Warner Cable. Both have huge implications for broadband in the US, and will affect a swath of media and telecoms groups, as well as millions of consumers -- including those on the wrong side of the digital divide. One option the FCC is considering to address these concerns is asking Comcast to do more to close the digital divide as a condition of approving its takeover of Time Warner Cable. It could require the cable group to offer cheap deals to a much wider pool of poor families, and to senior citizens and those with disabilities. But an increasing number of investors are betting the deal will fall apart if the FCC follows President Obama’s advice and reclassifies broadband as a public utility, reasoning it would be a lot less attractive if regulation gets tougher.
benton.org/headlines/network-neutrality-strife-fast-lane | Financial Times | FT - Matthew Garrahan
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BROADBAND AS UTILITY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wyatt]
In National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services (No. 04-277), the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the Federal Communications Commission correctly decided that the changed market conditions under which the Internet was developing warranted different treatment of broadband. But attached to the Supreme Court opinion is a strong dissent written by Justice Antonin Scalia, one that puts him on the same side with President Barack Obama. The gist of the majority’s opinion was that broadband companies did not “offer” a telecommunications service by itself to consumers. Rather, the majority wrote, the service was integrated within more complex services and not offered on a stand-alone basis. Justice Scalia disagreed, joined by two others, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice David H. Souter, who is now retired. “It seems to me,” Justice Scalia wrote, “that the analytic problem pertains not really to the meaning of ‘offer,’ but to the identity of what is offered.” “It would be odd to say that a car dealer is in the business of selling steel or carpets because the cars he sells include both steel frames and carpeting,” he wrote. “Nor does the water company sell hydrogen, nor the pet store water (though dogs and cats are largely water at the molecular level).” What is sometimes true, however, is not always true, Justice Scalia said, and the basis of broadband Internet service is the transmission of digits from one point to another – in other words, a telecommunications service.
benton.org/headlines/president-obama-and-justice-scalia-united-broadband-utility | New York Times
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BATTLE LINES DRAWN
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] President Barack Obama put the full weight of his administration behind the notion that all users of the Internet should be treated equally. Then -- surprise! -- Republican leaders came out for precisely the opposite. They urged the Federal Communications Commission not to treat the net's infrastructure providers as common carriers the same as power or water lines. The tech industry is divided on this, but we come out on the side of equal access, known as net neutrality. Broadband companies would like to be able to charge higher prices to content providers for faster Internet access, setting out the prospect of a two-tiered Internet for large companies and start-ups. Companies like Netflix would be able to afford higher fees for high speed, passing them on to customers in their well-established business. But higher fees would raise the barrier to entry for small companies and make it difficult to compete. This in turn would limit users' access to information by discouraging providers or by having to deal with show speed access to sites they like or rely on.
benton.org/headlines/net-neutrality-battle-lines-drawn | San Jose Mercury News
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SEN CRUZ OP-ED
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX)]
[Commentary] Call it the American Dream 2.0: Four basic principles should guide policymakers, in a bipartisan manner, to preserve America’s leadership role in developing the future of the Internet. First, we must abandon the idea of further taxing Internet access and sales. Second, we should dismiss all plans to give nations hostile to human rights and democracy more influence over Internet policy. Third, we must promote growth in the technological sector, a consistent bright spot for the US economy. But we won’t realize more of that dynamic growth unless we keep the Internet free from the kind of unnecessary regulation that is strangling our health-care, energy and banking industries. And one of the biggest regulatory threats to the Internet is “net neutrality.” Fourth, we must recognize that our constitutional rights are digital rights, too. The same commitment to the principles of liberty that made the United States the greatest economic superpower that the world has ever seen must prevail in the virtual world as well.
benton.org/headlines/regulating-internet-threatens-entrepreneurial-freedom | Washington Post
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PAI AND O’RIELLY
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
Federal Communications Commissioner member Ajit Pai said imposing strong open-Internet rules backed by President Barack Obama would bring lengthy litigation. “The end result of all this is going to be years of regulatory uncertainty” and “serious damage to our nation’s broadband market,” said Commissioner Ajit Pai. The President has “an important voice” and his views will be fully considered, said fellow FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-commissioner-pai-says-web-rules-would-risk-battle | Bloomberg
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AT&T FIBER EXPANSION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wyatt]
When Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T‘s chairman and chief executive, said that the company would halt some of its plans for fiber-optic expansion until federal regulators decided on a net neutrality policy, at least one important party was listening: the Federal Communications Commission. On Nov 14, the FCC sent a letter to AT&T asking for details and documentation of what fiber projects would be halted. The FCC official who signed the letter, Jamillia Ferris, oversees a significant part of the agency’s review of AT&T’s proposed $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV, which the FCC must approve for the deal to go forward.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-asks-att-details-plans-halt-fiber-expansion | New York Times | WashPost | Bloomberg
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APPS VS WEB
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Mims]
[Commentary] The Web -- that thin veneer of human-readable design on top of the machine babble that constitutes the Internet—is dying. And the way it’s dying has farther-reaching implications than almost anything else in technology today. Think about your mobile phone. All those little chiclets on your screen are apps, not websites, and they work in ways that are fundamentally different from the way the Web does. It isn’t that today’s kings of the app world want to quash innovation, per se. It is that in the transition to a world in which services are delivered through apps, rather than the Web, we are graduating to a system that makes innovation, serendipity and experimentation that much harder for those who build things that rely on the Internet. And today, that is pretty much everyone.
benton.org/headlines/web-dying-apps-are-killing-it | Wall Street Journal
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EDUCATION
E-RATE PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wyatt]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to propose a 62 percent increase in the amount of money the agency spends annually to wire schools and libraries with high-speed Internet connections. The goal is for fiber optic lines to reach to every school and a Wi-Fi connection in every classroom. He will propose that the annual cap on spending for school Internet needs be raised by $1.5 billion, to $3.9 billion, according to an FCC official who spoke on condition of anonymity but was authorized to release details of the proposal. The initiative is part of a continuing overhaul of the Universal Service Fund and its educational component, known as E-Rate. The new spending would lead to an increase of roughly 16 percent in the monthly fee on consumers’ phone bills. FCC officials say consumers would pay less than $2 a year in additional fees per phone line, or less than $6 extra per household, on average; currently the average household pays about $36 a year. But the amount an individual household pays can vary widely, with fees assessed on both home and mobile service. Businesses pay into the program as well.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chief-aims-bolster-internet-schools | New York Times
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CLASSDOJO
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Natasha Singer]
Some parents, teachers and privacy law scholars say ClassDojo, along with other unproven technologies that record sensitive information about students, is being adopted without sufficiently considering the ramifications for data privacy and fairness, like where and how the data might eventually be used. These critics also say that the carrot-and-stick method of classroom discipline is outmoded, and that behavior apps themselves are too subjective, enabling teachers to reward or penalize students for amorphous acts like “disrespect.” They contend that behavior databases could potentially harm students’ reputations by unfairly saddling some with “a problem child” label that could stick with them for years.
benton.org/headlines/privacy-concerns-classdojo-and-other-tracking-apps-schoolchildren | New York Times
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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to propose a 62 percent increase in the amount of money the agency spends annually to wire schools and libraries with high-speed Internet connections. The goal is for fiber optic lines to reach to every school and a Wi-Fi connection in every classroom.
He will propose that the annual cap on spending for school Internet needs be raised by $1.5 billion, to $3.9 billion, according to an FCC official who spoke on condition of anonymity but was authorized to release details of the proposal. The initiative is part of a continuing overhaul of the Universal Service Fund and its educational component, known as E-Rate. The new spending would lead to an increase of roughly 16 percent in the monthly fee on consumers’ phone bills. FCC officials say consumers would pay less than $2 a year in additional fees per phone line, or less than $6 extra per household, on average; currently the average household pays about $36 a year. But the amount an individual household pays can vary widely, with fees assessed on both home and mobile service. Businesses pay into the program as well.
In National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services (No. 04-277), the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the Federal Communications Commission correctly decided that the changed market conditions under which the Internet was developing warranted different treatment of broadband. But attached to the Supreme Court opinion is a strong dissent written by Justice Antonin Scalia, one that puts him on the same side with President Barack Obama.
The gist of the majority’s opinion was that broadband companies did not “offer” a telecommunications service by itself to consumers. Rather, the majority wrote, the service was integrated within more complex services and not offered on a stand-alone basis. Justice Scalia disagreed, joined by two others, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice David H. Souter, who is now retired. “It seems to me,” Justice Scalia wrote, “that the analytic problem pertains not really to the meaning of ‘offer,’ but to the identity of what is offered.” “It would be odd to say that a car dealer is in the business of selling steel or carpets because the cars he sells include both steel frames and carpeting,” he wrote. “Nor does the water company sell hydrogen, nor the pet store water (though dogs and cats are largely water at the molecular level).” What is sometimes true, however, is not always true, Justice Scalia said, and the basis of broadband Internet service is the transmission of digits from one point to another – in other words, a telecommunications service.
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