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January 2015

January 6, 2015 (The Biggest FCC Vote Ever)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2015


INTERNET/BROADBAND
   The Biggest FCC Vote Ever - op-ed
   3 big questions remain as network neutrality heads to the end game - analysis
   Rep Blackburn makes network neutrality warning
   How the FCC Plans to Stretch Budget to Support New Broadband Speed Target
   Apps Everywhere, but No Unifying Link

OWNERSHIP
   Group of Telcos to FCC: Comcast/TWC Should Not Continue To Have Access to UNEs at Regulated TELRIC rate

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   “Electrosensitives” flock to Wi-Fi quiet zone as teens set up rogue hotspots [links to web]
   Mobile shopping may be growing, but old-school desktops are still king of online shopping [links to web]
   Apps Everywhere, but No Unifying Link
   Google Lobbies for Cheaper Airwaves

EDUCATION
   OMB OKs FCC E-rate Changes - public notice

TELEVISION
   You Can Finally Get ESPN on the Web, for $20 a Month [links to web]
   Netflix unveils seal of approval for streaming-optimized TVs [links to web]
   CNBC to Stop Using Nielsen for Ratings [links to web]

CONTENT
   Supreme Court justice second-guesses decisive vote in gaming free speech case - analysis [links to web]
   Yes, watching Fox does make you more conservative [links to web]

TRANSPORTATION
   BART scraps Wi-Fi contract, prompting threats of legal action [links to web]
   AT&T Connected Car Strategy: Don’t Be a Dumb Pipe [links to web]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   21st-century censorship - op-ed
   FCC Launches New Consumer Help Center - press release
   19 Years Later, Article by Kagan Echoes at the Supreme Court [links to web]
   Cyberdefense Is a Government Responsibility - op-ed [links to web]

OPEN GOVERNMENT
   Twenty Years of THOMAS - press release [links to web]

AGENDA
   House Minority Leader Pelosi sets out Democrat agenda [links to web]
   Telehealth at top of health IT legislative agenda [links to web]
   Sony hack could be game changer [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   Freshman Rep John Ratcliffe to Lead Cybersecurity Panel [links to web]
    White House Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith Guides President Obama Into the Google Age [links to web]
   Deborah Tate To Direct Administration of Tennessee Courts [links to web]
   NTIA Veteran Joins Wiley Rein [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Lacking Internet, Cubans Rely On 'The Package' For Entertainment [links to web]

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

THE BIGGEST FCC VOTE EVER
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Michael Copps]
[Commentary] We start off the new year with the good news that the Federal Communications will likely vote on net neutrality at its late February meeting. So we might -- just might -- be on the cusp of a decision to reverse the disastrous misclassification of broadband that the FCC made in 2002 for cable modem and a couple of years later for the rest of telecommunications. But good news isn’t done news. I hope no one is sitting back and assuming that just because that 13 year old decision was so dumb, the Commission will surely do the right thing now. Take it from someone who’s been there -- that’s not how the place works. I know five Commissioners who are all that stand in the way of the biggest communications land–grab in history. The legacy and the reputation of the current FCC depend upon what it decides next month. So, too, do our rights as citizens of a democracy that has a lot of work to do and that doesn’t need a hijacked Internet getting in our way.
http://benton.org/blog/biggest-fcc-vote-ever
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3 BIG QUESTIONS REMAIN AS NETWORK NEUTRALITY HEADS TO THE END GAME
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jeff Roberts]
[Commentary] Certain wildcards make the final outcome of a Federal Communications Commission February 26 vote on network neutrality hard to predict. Here are three unresolved questions to watch in coming weeks:
1) How far will Republicans go to stop Title II reclassification? Recent stories suggest Republicans could respond with a burn-it-down approach if FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler dares to reclassify broadband providers as public utilities under Title II. The threatened retaliation includes budget cuts to the FCC, new legislation to stamp out Title II, or obstructionist antics to prevent Chairman Wheeler from conducting an important spectrum auction.
2) What does the public believe (and do they care)?
3) Will Google get on board? If Google does decide to go all in, its endorsement would likely prove to be a game-changer, leading to a shift in lobbying power and causing the rest of the tech sector to follow suit in favor of Title II.
benton.org/headlines/3-big-questions-remain-network-neutrality-heads-end-game | GigaOm
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REP BLACKBURN MAKES NETWORK NEUTRALITY WARNING
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Rep Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) warned that tough network neutrality rules would lead to new taxes and unnecessary hurdles for new companies. Instead of having the government write rules banning companies from slowing or blocking access to particular websites, companies should be allowed to cut deals and determine how best to reach their audience, Rep Blackburn said. “I talk to those innovators every single day,” she said. “They do not want to have to fool with another federal agency. They do not want additional taxes.”
benton.org/headlines/rep-blackburn-makes-network-neutrality-warning | Hill, The
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HOW THE FCC PLANS TO STRETCH BUDGET TO SUPPORT NEW BROADBAND SPEED TARGET
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
When the Federal Communications Commission in December 2014 raised the broadband speed target for the Connect America Fund to 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream, some stakeholders questioned carriers’ ability to meet that target without an increase in the size of the fund, considering that the previous downstream speed target was a considerably lower 4 Mbps. The order raising the target speed has now been made public -- and in it the FCC offers more details about how the new target speed will be implemented, along with the thinking behind the commission’s latest decisions on the CAF program. Two important take-aways are:
1) Despite the new target speed, the number of homes to which price cap carriers accepting CAF money will be required to bring service will not increase much if at all and could actually decrease.
2) Competitive carriers will have the opportunity to bid to deliver broadband to more homes than originally anticipated.
benton.org/headlines/how-fcc-plans-stretch-budget-support-new-broadband-speed-target | telecompetitor
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APP-WEB LINKS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Conor Dougherty]
Navigating the Internet used to mean painstakingly typing the exact address you wanted into your computer. The web browser and the search engine simplified that, giving us the Internet we take for granted today. Now, across Silicon Valley, companies from tiny start-ups to titans like Google and Facebook are trying to bring the same simplicity to smartphones by teaching apps to talk to one another. Unlike web pages, mobile apps do not have links. They do not have web addresses. They live in worlds by themselves, largely cut off from one another and the broader Internet. And so it is much harder to share the information found on them. It is not just a matter of consumer convenience. For Google and Facebook, and any company that has built its business on the web, it is a matter of controlling the next entryway to the Internet — the mobile device.
benton.org/headlines/apps-everywhere-no-unifying-link | New York Times
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CHEAPER AIRWAVES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ryan Knutson]
Having carved out a leading position in the software that runs cellphones, Google is now angling for a role in the networks that connect them. That isn’t to say the Internet giant wants to set up thousands of cell towers to compete with carriers. Instead, it is lobbying US regulators to free up vast amounts of low-cost, mostly vacant spectrum that could serve as an alternative to the big carriers’ services. The plan that Google and others are backing would open up as much as 150 megahertz of spectrum around the 3.5 gigahertz band, pushing to make it usable by all comers without a license while still leaving some of it available for companies to use exclusively. The 3.5 gigahertz airwaves aren’t much use to wireless carriers, because they aren’t good at carrying signals for long distances. But they are useful for delivering heavy loads of data in cities, which could make them viable for a lot of typical wireless needs—the way Wi-Fi is now, but potentially broader and more available.
benton.org/headlines/google-lobbies-cheaper-airwaves | Wall Street Journal
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OWNERSHIP

GROUP OF TELCOS TO FCC: COMCAST/TWC SHOULD NOT CONTINUE TO HAVE ACCESS TO UNES AT REGULATED TELRIC RATE
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Sean Buckley]
If the Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal goes through, the combined company would immediately become one of the largest local service providers in the United States, serving about 16 million residential voice customers. A group of telecommunications companies, including CenturyLink and FairPoint Communications, has told the Federal Communications Commission that if the Comcast and Time Warner Cable merger is approved, they should not be required to provide the combined company access to unbundled network elements to deliver voice services. "Given these realities, it makes little sense for Comcast and Time Warner Cable to continue to have access to UNEs at regulated total element long run incremental cost (TELRIC) rates," the telecommunications companies wrote in the FCC filing. "Given the sheer scale of the combined companies' infrastructure and market capitalization, the post-merger entity would clearly have the scale and scope to invest in any facilities it needs without obtaining them from its competitors at regulated rates."
benton.org/headlines/group-telcos-fcc-comcasttwc-should-not-continue-have-access-unes-regulated-telric-rate | Fierce
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EDUCATION

OMB OKs ERATE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Marlene Dortch]
The Federal Communications Commission published a Notice in the Federal Register on January 5, 2015, announcing that the information collection requirements in section 54.502(b)(2) (School Budget), as amended by its July 23, 2014 Order, has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget and is effective January 5, 2015. The Order maintained E-rate’s current budget of $2.4 billion (adjusted by inflation) and makes available an additional $2 billion to support Wi-Fi over the next two years.
benton.org/headlines/omb-oks-fcc-e-rate-changes | Federal Communications Commission
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

21ST-CENTURY CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Philip Bennett, Moises Naim]
[Commentary] Censorship is flourishing in the information age. Governments around the world are using stealthy strategies to manipulate the media, and are having as much success as the Internet in disrupting independent media and determining the information that reaches society. Moreover, in many poor countries or in those with autocratic regimes, government actions are more important than the Internet in defining how information is produced and consumed, and by whom. Many governments are routing around the liberating effects of the Internet. Like entrepreneurs, they are relying on innovation and imitation. As a result, the Internet’s promise of open access to independent and diverse sources of information is a reality mostly for the minority of humanity living in mature democracies.
[Philip Bennett is director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy. Moises Naim is a distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]
benton.org/headlines/21st-century-censorship | Columbia Journalism Review
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FCC LAUNCHES NEW CONSUMER HELP CENTER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission is launching a new online consumer help center that will more efficiently link consumers to the information they need, as well as make it easier for consumers to file complaints and get responses to their concerns. Improvements brought by the new help center include:
Streamlined, user-friendly complaint filing system
Ready access to helpful information that will empower consumers to resolve some problems on their own
Better communications between consumers and FCC consumer representatives
Ability for consumers to monitor complaints, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Faster delivery of complaints to service providers, enabling them to respond to consumers sooner
The help center will also streamline the process of synthesizing and analyzing consumer
complaint trends, and will make more of that data readily accessible to the public.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-launches-new-consumer-health-center | Federal Communications Commission | FCC | FCC blog
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The Biggest FCC Vote Ever

[Commentary] We start off the new year with the good news that the Federal Communications will likely vote on net neutrality at its late February meeting. So we might -- just might -- be on the cusp of a decision to reverse the disastrous misclassification of broadband that the FCC made in 2002 for cable modem and a couple of years later for the rest of telecommunications. But good news isn’t done news. I hope no one is sitting back and assuming that just because that 13 year old decision was so dumb, the Commission will surely do the right thing now. Take it from someone who’s been there -- that’s not how the place works. I know five Commissioners who are all that stand in the way of the biggest communications land–grab in history. The legacy and the reputation of the current FCC depend upon what it decides next month. So, too, do our rights as citizens of a democracy that has a lot of work to do and that doesn’t need a hijacked Internet getting in our way.

Apps Everywhere, but No Unifying Link

Navigating the Internet used to mean painstakingly typing the exact address you wanted into your computer. The web browser and the search engine simplified that, giving us the Internet we take for granted today. Now, across Silicon Valley, companies from tiny start-ups to titans like Google and Facebook are trying to bring the same simplicity to smartphones by teaching apps to talk to one another.

Unlike web pages, mobile apps do not have links. They do not have web addresses. They live in worlds by themselves, largely cut off from one another and the broader Internet. And so it is much harder to share the information found on them. It is not just a matter of consumer convenience. For Google and Facebook, and any company that has built its business on the web, it is a matter of controlling the next entryway to the Internet — the mobile device.

Cyberdefense Is a Government Responsibility

[Commentary] In 1794 when the commerce of the United States was threatened by “the depradations” of the Barbary pirates, Congress created a Navy. And it sent the Marines to fight our country’s battles on “the Shores of Tripoli.” Today US commerce is threatened by digital Barbary pirates.

The most sophisticated companies with every incentive to protect their crown jewels -- intellectual property, confidential business information or customer records -- are being ransacked and held hostage by cyberterrorists, state-sponsored hackers and highly effective organized cybercriminals. No corporation today is immune or can realistically believe itself adequately protected. The government’s response, hobbled by a misguided view as to who is responsible for protecting US commercial interests and how, is not up to 1794 standards. Regulatory agencies including the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and state attorneys general think that investigating the corporate victims of cyberattacks for putative violations of consumer and investor protection laws is the best way to shore up the economy’s cyberdefenses. There is little evidence this approach is effective.

[Raul is a partner in the law firm Sidley Austin]

Google Lobbies for Cheaper Airwaves

Having carved out a leading position in the software that runs cellphones, Google is now angling for a role in the networks that connect them.

That isn’t to say the Internet giant wants to set up thousands of cell towers to compete with carriers. Instead, it is lobbying US regulators to free up vast amounts of low-cost, mostly vacant spectrum that could serve as an alternative to the big carriers’ services. The plan that Google and others are backing would open up as much as 150 megahertz of spectrum around the 3.5 gigahertz band, pushing to make it usable by all comers without a license while still leaving some of it available for companies to use exclusively. The 3.5 gigahertz airwaves aren’t much use to wireless carriers, because they aren’t good at carrying signals for long distances. But they are useful for delivering heavy loads of data in cities, which could make them viable for a lot of typical wireless needs—the way Wi-Fi is now, but potentially broader and more available.

OMB OKs FCC E-rate Changes

The Federal Communications Commission published a Notice in the Federal Register on January 5, 2015, announcing that the information collection requirements in section 54.502(b)(2) (School Budget), as amended by its July 23, 2014 Order, has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget and is effective January 5, 2015. The Order maintained E-rate’s current budget of $2.4 billion (adjusted by inflation) and makes available an additional $2 billion to support Wi-Fi over the next two years.

CNBC to Stop Using Nielsen for Ratings

Financial news network CNBC will no longer rely on TV ratings specialist Nielsen to measure its daytime audience, beginning in 2015. Instead, it has retained marketing and research firm Cogent Reports for the task.

For years CNBC and its parent company, Comcast’s NBCUniversal, have complained that Nielsen underreports the size and wealth of its audience by failing to track “out of home” viewing in places such as offices and airports. CNBC’s switch to Cogent is the latest barb for Nielsen, which has faced criticism from media companies that it has been slow to adapt its traditional ratings to changing media consumption habits. While many media companies say they are frustrated with Nielsen, CNBC is the first network to opt out of its ratings.

19 Years Later, Article by Kagan Echoes at the Supreme Court

What is the best way for a scholar to influence the Supreme Court through a law review article? Join the court.

In 1996, a young professor named Elena Kagan published an article in The University of Chicago Law Review. It sketched a way to make sense of the Supreme Court’s approach to the First Amendment. Justice Kagan, in her 1996 article, identified the starting point for analyzing whether laws are constitutional. “The distinction between content-based and content-neutral regulations of speech,” she wrote, “serves as the keystone of First Amendment law.” But it is not always easy to tell whether a law is content-based. Since the government is seldom going to announce that it seeks to censor certain messages, the article says, courts must look at how the challenged law works “to flush out illicit motives and to invalidate actions infected with them.”

Op-ed

The Biggest FCC Vote Ever

We start off the new year with the good news that the Federal Communications will likely vote on net neutrality at its late February meeting. So we might—just might—be on the cusp of a decision to reverse the disastrous misclassification of broadband that the FCC made in 2002 for cable modem and a couple of years later for the rest of telecommunications.

House Minority Leader Pelosi sets out Democrat agenda

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) laid out an early legislative agenda that Democrats are hoping will distinguish the party's priorities from those of the Republicans heading into the 114th Congress.

In a letter to her troops, Minority Leader Pelosi outlined the party's focus at the launch of the 2016 presidential cycle, including efforts to increase working class wages, hike infrastructure spending and eliminate tax breaks for companies that move their headquarters overseas. The priorities for her caucus line up with those of President Barack Obama, who signaled an interest in working with Republicans on tax reform and infrastructure spending during a meeting with incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

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