February 2015

NETWORK NEUTRALITY

FCC TO PROPOSE STRONG 'NET NEUTRALITY' RULES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler intends to seek a significant expansion of his agency’s authority to regulate mobile and fixed broadband providers, a move that would fully embrace the principle known as “network neutrality.” Apparently, Chairman Wheeler intends to change the way both mobile and fixed broadband firms are regulated. Rather than being lightly regulated information services, they would become like telecommunications companies, which would subject them to greater regulation on everything from pricing to how they deploy their networks. A key element of the rule would be a ban on broadband providers blocking, slowing down or speeding up specific websites in exchange for payment, a practice known as paid prioritization. The proposal would also give the FCC the authority to regulate deals on the back-end portion of the Internet. The FCC would decide whether to allow so-called paid peering deals based on whether it finds them just and reasonable, the standard under Title II.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-propose-strong-net-neutrality-rules | Wall Street Journal
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FCC WILL NOT RELEASE RULES EARLY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
The Federal Communications Commission will not publicly release open Internet regulations before they are voted on on Feb 26. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler formally denied a request from congressional Republicans to release the text of those network neutrality rules when they are circulated among the commissioners. Releasing the draft rules early “runs contrary” to past FCC procedure under Democratic and Republican leadership, Chairman Wheeler asserted. “If decades of precedent are to be changed, then there must be an opportunity for thoughtful review in the lead up to any change,” Chairman Wheeler wrote in the letter to Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD), House Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and House Communications and Technology subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR).
benton.org/headlines/fcc-denies-gop-request-early-release-web-rules | Hill, The
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CHAIRMAN THUNE AND CHAIRMAN UPTON URGE PRESIDENT OBAMA TO WORK WITH THEM ON INTERNET RULES
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) and House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) sent a letter to President Barack Obama seeking his partnership to establish permanent protections for an open Internet and avoid protracted litigation -- goals that can only be achieved through legislation. The Chairmen wrote, "We believe there is an opportunity to work together to provide legislative certainty to the net[work] neutrality goals you articulated on November 10, 2014. We have put forward legislation that seeks to codify the principles you highlighted in your statement, including prohibiting blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. This legislation places these principles into law, without the uncertainty of litigation that [Federal Communications Commission] action would entail. Working together to craft sustainable protections will have lasting benefits for our country and Internet users alike. Finding an agreement on enforceable authority for the FCC will have a profound, positive impact on Internet users, edge innovators, and infrastructure investment -- all without the legal uncertainty that exists absent clear statutory guidance."
benton.org/headlines/chairman-thune-and-chairman-upton-urge-president-obama-work-them-internet-rules | US Senate Commerce Committee | Reuters
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REPUBLICANS ARE OFFERING A DEAL ON NET NEUTRALITY. DEMOCRATS SHOULD TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
[Commentary] Democrats and liberal activists think they can get what they want on network neutrality without new legislation. Meanwhile, the Republicans who favor compromise face pressure from purists who oppose any legislation that would impose network neutrality regulations on the Internet. That's a shame. The Internet deserves a more certain resolution to the net neutrality fight than Washington is giving it. The whole point of network neutrality regulations is to create a predictable environment for online content producers. Network neutrality rules that could expire in 2017 won't give Internet content providers the same kind of confidence that permanent rules could provide. A legislative compromise would leave both sides unsatisfied, but it would also provide some certainty about how the Internet will be regulated in the future. That would give content companies and network providers alike the confidence to invest, knowing that their plans won't be disrupted by another change in the rules.
benton.org/headlines/republicans-are-offering-deal-net-neutrality-democrats-should-take-it-seriously | Vox
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VERIZON TO FCC: DON'T ADD MIDDLE MILE DISCLOSURE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Verizon sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission saying that the FCC's current transparency rules covering how Internet service providers manage their networks strike the "right balance," and the FCC doesn't need to make them more "complex" by adding middle-mile interconnection congestion to the disclosures. Verizon outlined in the letter its desire for the FCC to confine disclosure requirements to last-mile networks, not the exchange of traffic in the middle mile. Verizon said congestion in the middle mile can result from deliberate choices by various parts of that ecosystem, including edge providers like Netflix.
benton.org/headlines/verizon-fcc-dont-add-middle-mile-disclosure | Multichannel News
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NET FIX: TITLE II, THE TWO WORDS THAT TERRIFY THE BROADBAND INDUSTRY
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Roger Cheng, Ben Rubin]
Title II, a provision in the country's 81-year-old telecommunications law, could be used to tighten regulations on the telecommunications and cable industries. Here's why they're not happy about it. For starters, there's Section 201, which gives the Federal Communications Commission the right to dictate the prices Internet service providers can charge for their services. The providers fear the FCC may set rates too low to allow them to recoup the costs associated with building out their networks. That, in turn, would deter them from making future investments, they argue. If the FCC gets its way, Internet service will fall under the same centuries-old principle that has been applied to everything from shipping lanes to roller coasters: common carriage. Uncertainty about the FCC's rules has unsettled broadband providers. "The whole market is on tenterhooks wondering what's happening," said Steven Shepard, a Director of Educational Programs at USC's business school. A little bit of clarity will go a long way to settling the industry's nerves, no matter the outcome.
benton.org/headlines/net-fix-title-ii-two-words-terrify-broadband-industry | C-Net|News.com
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WHAT STARTUPS ARE LOOKING FOR IN NET NEUTRALITY RULES
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Evan Engstrom]
[Commentary] Title II is merely the tool that enables the Federal Communications Commission to craft strong network neutrality rules; the FCC must then choose to use that tool to enact meaningful, enforceable rules. While it seems unlikely that the FCC would reclassify only to put forth weak rules, the devil is in the details. Consumers and small businesses that will suffer from net neutrality violations simply cannot afford to hire attorneys and lobbyists to engage in legal battles with some of the largest companies in America. The rules the FCC enacts should err on the side of the startups and consumers by allowing for streamlined and affordable processes to challenge discriminatory practices by ISPs, ensuring that the rules are not merely a dead letter.
[Evan Engstrom is the Policy Director at the nonprofit Engine]
benton.org/headlines/what-startups-are-looking-net-neutrality-rules | Revere Digital
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MORE INTERNET/BROADBAND

IS UNRESTRICTED INTERNET ACCESS A MODERN HUMAN RIGHT?
[SOURCE: Foreign Policy, AUTHOR: David Rothkopf]
[Commentary] Just as it took the invention of the printing press to trigger a deliberation on freedom of expression, technological changes today are so profound that they demand a reconsideration of what constitutes a fundamental right. It is difficult, if not impossible in some places, to participate fully in today’s world without an open, available Internet. This will become even truer as access is increasingly required to win and perform jobs, gather news, participate in politics, receive education, connect with health-care systems, and engage in basic financial services. (Coin and paper money, one of those few technologies mentioned in the US Constitution, will fade in importance in coming decades, outmoded by mobile banking.) Rules that will empower and enable more and more people to tap into the full promise of human existence, while not simultaneously undercutting and diminishing that promise, are being made possible by technological advances, but they will not actually come to be if leaders do not act to create them -- if governments leave it to the happenstance of progress to sort out tensions among the modern ingredients of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The conversation about necessary action is already coming too late. The longer it takes to kick into high gear, the longer humans will continue hurtling toward a new economic and social reality. Simultaneously, there will be much slower progress toward ensuring that the gains this reality brings are not offset by the tragedy of too few people benefiting or by the planet’s gradual but irreversible degradation.
benton.org/headlines/unrestricted-internet-access-modern-human-right | Foreign Policy
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FCC CHAIRMAN WHEELER STATEMENT ON COMMUNITY BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler]
Communities across the nation know that access to robust broadband is key to their economic future -- and the future of their citizens. Many communities have found that existing private-sector broadband deployment or investment fails to meet their needs. They should be able to make their own decisions about building the networks they need to thrive. After looking carefully at petitions by two community broadband providers asking the Federal Communications Commission to pre-empt provisions of state laws preventing expansion of their very successful networks, I recommend approval by the Commission so that these two forward-thinking cities can serve the many citizens clamoring for a better broadband future.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-wheeler-statement-community-broadband | Federal Communications Commission
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WE DON'T NEED TO DEFINE BROADBAND
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Scott Wallsten]
[Commentary] There is no bright speed line between "broadband" and "not broadband." Instead, any standard should be based on studies of consumer demand and explicitly stated policy objectives. Such an approach would yield a more nuanced view of broadband that would ultimately be more useful to informed policymaking. A useful standard must take into account consumer preferences and explicit policy objectives. Drawing a virtual line in the sand and declaring any service on one side to be unacceptable doesn't consider either of those especially deeply. Any definition, like competition analysis, should take into account consumer demand.
[Scott Wallsten is Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute]
benton.org/headlines/we-dont-need-define-broadband | Hill, The
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

FCC'S WI-FI STOP-BLOCK ORDER LEAVES OTHER QUESTIONS UNANSWERED
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Monica Alleven]
While the Federal Communications Commission is cracking down hard on Wi-Fi blocking and blasting Marriott International's request to do just that, the FCC so far hasn't addressed other questions that Marriott and the American Hotel & Lodging Association put forth in their petition in 2014. Hotels like the Marriott use network management systems made by various vendors, including Aruba Networks, Cisco and Ruckus Wireless, that allow a hotel to manage its Wi-Fi networks. And even though the petition turned into something of a public relations nightmare, the petitioners and some vendors continue to seek clarity on what network management tools and techniques are allowed. Aruba's equipment, for example, allows a Wi-Fi network operator to identify what types of devices are on its network, where the devices are accessing the network, and the bandwidth they consume. Aruba's platform also uses wireless access points to scan the radio frequency environment for unauthorized devices that are interfering or potentially could interfere with the Wi-Fi operator's network. As to why the FCC is acting on this topic now, some believe the question wasn't posed before the commission until now. No one came to the FCC and said: Will you give us permission to interfere with Wi-Fi operations? Once someone asked that question, the FCC gave its answer.
benton.org/headlines/fccs-wi-fi-stop-block-order-leaves-other-questions-unanswered | Fierce
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FCC COMMISSIONER PAI STATEMENT ON ABUSE OF THE DESIGNATED ENTITY PROGRAM
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai]
The [Federal Communication Commission’s] Wireless Telecommunications Bureau disclosed that two companies in which DISH has an 85 percent ownership stake claimed over $3 billion dollars in taxpayer-funded discounts when purchasing spectrum in the AWS-3 auction. Those discounts came through the FCC’s designed entity (DE) program, which is intended to make it easier for small businesses to purchase spectrum and compete with large corporations. DISH, however, has annual revenues of almost $14 billion, a market capitalization of over $32 billion, and over 14 million customers. Its participation makes a mockery of the DE program. I call upon Chairman Wheeler to immediately launch an investigation into these multi-billion dollar subsidies. One analyst was quoted in a recent press story as saying, “[DISH] just created $3.3 billion worth of value [for itself]. Now we will see if they get away with it or not.” For the sake of the FCC’s integrity, American taxpayers, and genuinely struggling wireless entrepreneurs, I hope not. Moreover, the Commission must reform its rules to stop abuse of the DE program. The American people should be outraged about this. I certainly am. And I am determined to do everything in my power to stop it from happening again.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-commissioner-pai-statement-abuse-designated-entity-program | Federal Communications Commission
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AUCTION HANDOUTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Large telecommunications companies have repeatedly taken advantage of rules meant to help small, rural, female- and minority-owned businesses buy licenses for airwaves for wireless phone and data transmission, including in a recent auction that raised nearly $45 billion for the government. Congress and the Federal Communications Commission should crack down on such abuse. With just four national cellphone companies controlling about 98 percent of the market, Congress and the commission need to do more to encourage competition in the wireless industry. They can start by cutting off subsidies to corporations that don’t need the help.
benton.org/headlines/government-handouts-wireless-auctions | New York Times
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TELEVISION

HOW CABLE NEGLECTS ITS 'RED-HEADED STEP-SISTER'
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Bunnie Riedel]
[Commentary] I’ve worked in an obscure media public policy world that only a telecom geek could possibly appreciate. That world is Public, Educational and Government (PEG) access television, or as I say, “the red-headed step sister of television.” For the entirety of those 17 years, I have watched as members of the cable industry have tried everything they can to destroy PEG access television, to literally wipe it off the face of the earth, all the while claiming with bravado they mean no such thing and they mean no harm. In an email from a Time Warner Cable government relations employee to a City Councilman in a Western state, the employee told the councilman not to support legislation that American Community Television has been working on for five years, The Community Access Preservation Act (CAP Act), which would preserve and protect PEG access television. In the email, the TWC employee said PEG support drives up prices, and satellite doesn’t have to provide PEG support, therefore PEG stifles innovation, growth and competition. Never mind that that’s a bald faced lie, it was yet another assault by the cable industry on democracy, free speech and government transparency. Our charge to the cable industry is, stop lying and come up with hard, cold evidence that PEG causes any of the harms you claim it does. (You won’t, because you can’t.)
[Bunnie Riedel is Executive Director of American Community Television]
benton.org/headlines/how-cable-neglects-its-red-headed-step-sister | Multichannel News
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SECURITY/PRIVACY

DATA COLLECTION RULES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Sanger]
A year after President Barack Obama ordered modest changes in how the nation’s intelligence agencies collect and hold data on Americans and foreigners, the Administration will announce new rules requiring intelligence analysts to delete private information they may incidentally collect about Americans that has no intelligence purpose, and to delete similar information about foreigners within five years. The new rules will also institutionalize a regular White House-led review of the National Security Agency’s monitoring of foreign leaders. Until the disclosures in the early summer of 2013 by Edward J. Snowden, the former NSA contractor whose trove of intelligence documents is still leaking into public view, there was no continuing White House assessment of whether the intelligence garnered from listening to scores of leaders around the world was worth the potential embarrassment if the programs became public.
benton.org/headlines/president-obama-tweaks-rules-data-collection | New York Times
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BUDGET

PRESIDENT OBAMA WANTS $105 MILLION TO IMPROVE AGENCIES' DIGITAL FOOTPRINT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
President Barack Obama’s budget request includes $105 million to expand a digital strike force modeled on the team that turned around HealthCare.gov. The money will create digital teams in 25 top agencies, the White House said. The effort aims to replicate the US Digital Service, an initiative launched by a former Google executive in 2014 to make the government more responsive to the public. In addition to creating the agency teams, the new money will also beef up the core US Digital Service to assist those new arms and help agencies better monitor how they use tech services and defend against cyberattacks.
benton.org/headlines/president-obama-wants-105m-improve-agencies-digital-footprint | Hill, The
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FCC REFORM

DELEGATED AUTHORITY: SERIOUS OBJECTIONS AND SOLUTIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly]
[Commentary] The [Federal Communication Commission]’s rules reserve new or novel issues for a Commission vote -- and there are good reasons for doing so. That way the full Commission has the opportunity to set precedent on matters of first impression that can have significant and long-lasting legal and policy consequences. It is also helpful for the Commissioners, with their broader perspectives, to act on issues that may have implications for other segments of the communications industry. Moreover, it ensures that parties that want to challenge final FCC decisions are able to do so in a timely manner. It does little good to have a decision be decided at the bureau level when everyone knows the result will be appealed to the full Commission (unless the goal is to intentionally fail to act on an application for review). Fixing the delegation process should be a priority for the Commission. If the Commission is unwilling or unable to do so, I trust the Congress will review the issue in further detail.
benton.org/headlines/delegated-authority-serious-objections-and-solutions | Federal Communications Commission
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February 2015

Investing in America’s Future through R&D, Innovation, and STEM Education: The President’s FY 2016 Budget

Verizon Customers at Super Bowl XLIX Rack Up More than 25 Million Wireless Data Connections

February 3, 2015 (FCC to Propose Strong Net Neutrality Rules)

President Obama Tweaks the Rules on Data Collection

FCC denies GOP request for early release of network neutrality rules

Would FCC Plan Harm Telecom Investment? Even Industry Opinion Is Mixed

Videogame Firms Power Up Networks for Online Players

Government Handouts at Wireless Auctions

Channel in Bahrain Goes Silent After Giving Opposition Airtime

UK’s rural communities losing out in push to superfast broadband