November 2014

Net neutrality battle lines drawn

[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.

Regulating the Internet threatens entrepreneurial freedom

[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.

FCC Commissioner Pai says Web Rules Would Risk Battle

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.

Network neutrality: Strife in the fast lane

[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.

FCC Asks AT&T for Details on Plans to Halt Fiber Expansion

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.

What a Tangled Web Obama Weaves

[Commentary] Treating the Internet like a utility won’t achieve the president’s supposed goal, so why pursue it?

The Web Is Dying; Apps Are Killing It

[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.

Triple Play deals can be ditched for a-la-carte bundle

[Commentary] It's time to blow up the Triple Play.

For the third time in four years, I find myself shopping for cable, Internet and phone service. As with Comcast two years ago, the promotional deal I received from AT&T is about to run out, and my bill is set to increase by about $50 a month. I'd like to stick with AT&T, but the company didn't seem terribly interested in keeping me as a customer -- the best deal they offered me would cost $25 more a month than I'm paying now. Unfortunately, the company's rivals weren't offering any stellar deals either. In fact, what I found was pretty disappointing -- I'm almost certainly going to be paying more over the course of my next service deal than I'm paying now, no matter which option I choose. But the big difference from my last two rounds of Triple Play shopping is that it now pays to build your own bundle from different providers rather than buying all three services from one company.

Privacy Concerns for ClassDojo and Other Tracking Apps for Schoolchildren

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.

Sirius XM Has Setback in Lawsuit

A federal judge in New York has ruled against Sirius XM over an obscure copyright issue that has galvanized the music industry: royalties for recordings made before 1972. Judge Colleen McMahon of United States District Court in Manhattan rejected Sirius XM’s motion for summary judgment, saying the Turtles have performing rights to their recordings under New York State law. Sirius XM has until Dec. 5 to dispute remaining facts in the case, the judge wrote, otherwise Sirius XM will be ruled liable for infringement. “In short, general principles of common law copyright dictate that public performance rights in pre-1972 sound recordings do exist,” Judge McMahon wrote.

Benton

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