March 3, 2015 (Sen Barbara Mikulski)
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BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015
Understanding the Cyber Threat and Implications for the 21st Century Economy – and more on today’s agenda https://www.benton.org/calendar/2015-03-03
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
Victory - Michael Copps op-ed
Chairman Walden makes plea on net neutrality bill
5 reasons the FCC might be wrong about net neutrality - analysis
Net neutrality could hinder efforts to safeguard Web, worry security experts [links to web]
Court Drama Beckons for Broadband - analysis
A Legal House of Cards: Why the FCC Will Lose in Court on Title II Internet (80%) - Scott Cleland analysis [links to web]
Why can’t the Internet be more like the electric company? - Richard Bennett’s bitter op-ed [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
After net neutrality: Could Comcast's big merger be in jeopardy?
FCC probes whether Comcast restricted online video
Comcast-Time Warner Deal Critics Ramp Up Opposition
H-P to Buy Aruba Networks for $2.7 Billion [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Google Plans to Be a Wireless Carrier, but at Small Scale
The mobile revolution hidden in net neutrality - analysis
Congress Steps Back Into Wi-Fi-Related Spectrum Fight - analysis
Why the iPhone confounds disruption theorists - analysis [links to web]
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
The week ordinary users beat the Internet [links to web]
OPEN GOVERNMENT
Hillary Clinton Used Personal E-mail Account at State Dept, Possibly Breaking Rules
The Process of Governance: The FCC & the Open Internet Order - Jon Sallet press release
PRIVACY/SECURITY
Taming the Beast: The White House and FCC Throw Down the Gauntlet - op-ed
Congress to blame if NSA program lapses, Clapper warns [links to web]
Clapper: Maintaining Phone Call Surveillance is like Buying Insurance [links to web]
Google quietly backs away from encrypting new Lollipop devices by default [links to web]
Blackphone Announces New Privacy-Oriented Phone and Tablet [links to web]
President Obama seeks reboot of China cyber laws [links to web]
TV
FCC Chairman Wheeler’s Response to Members of Congress Regarding Access to Local and Rural Video Content [links to web]
FCC Committee To Seek CableCard's Successor [links to web]
FCC Rebuffs Critics of Broadcasters’ Educational Programming for Children - public notice [links to web]
Inability To Skip Commercials Frustrates Video on Demand Owners [links to web]
Dodger Fans Face Second Season With No Games on TV Amid Fee Rift [links to web]
CONTENT
Judge halts movie industry-backed probe against Google [links to web]
Google has developed a technology to tell whether ‘facts’ on the Internet are true [links to web]
TELECOM
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission deregulates Verizon landline service in Philadelphia area [links to web]
FCC Chairman Wheeler's Response to Rep. Coleman Regarding Rates for Inmate Telephone Calls [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
Senator Barbara Mikulski, Maryland Democrat and Role Model, to Retire in 2017 [links to web]
FCC Chairman Wheeler Still a Dingo, but a ‘Good Dingo,’ John Oliver Says [links to web]
Creating more geeks at the Federal Trade Commission [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
After Net Neutrality Vote, FCC Chairman Wheeler Turns to Salesmanship
Closing gender gap in mobile phone usage could add $170 billion to market [links to web]
Broadband as an Essential Component of Sustainable Development - Alcatel-Lucent op-ed [links to web]
Facebook CEO touts Internet.org progress, trumpets success of free tier of service [links to web]
Zuckerberg Goes on Charm Offensive for Internet.org [links to web]
Free Wi-Fi On Buses Offers A Link To Future Of 'Smart Cities' [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
US millennials post ‘abysmal’ scores in tech skills test, lag behind foreign peers [links to web]
Could 'North' become the new Silicon Valley? [links to web]
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
VICTORY
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Michael Copps]
[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said it best at last week’s historic FCC meeting: “The Internet is simply too important to allow broadband providers to be the ones making the rules.” Amen. All the fog-it and smog-it rhetoric of the big Internet Service Providers since Feb 26’s vote cannot cloud the core issue. The question at the heart of this vote was simply whether the public agency charged since the 1920s with protecting consumers, competition, and innovation in telecommunications still retains these vital responsibilities in the advanced telecommunications world of the twenty-first century. Will there be some place to turn when a few too-powerful Internet gatekeepers try to short-circuit the most dynamic communications tool in all of history? When they block, throttle, or degrade online sites they might not like? Or limit our ability to get the news and information we need in order to maintain our democracy? Are we to stand helplessly by as Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T favor their friends with express lanes on the Internet autobahn while consigning the rest of us to the bumpy dirt roads of yesterday’s technology?
https://www.benton.org/blog/victory
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CHAIRMAN WALDEN MAKES PLEA ON NET NEUTRALITY BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) asked the White House to turn off Democrats' "shock collars" and let members negotiate a legislative deal on net neutrality. Chairman Walden made another plea for congressional Democrats to come to the negotiating table following the Federal Communications Commission's approval of regulations to reclassify the Internet under authority governing traditional telephones. "I'm hopeful now that the commission has acted that Democrats will have their shock collars turned off and they'll actually be able to cross the line and work with us," he said. "I am at a loss for how to make my plea any clearer to my colleagues," he said in prepared remarks. "Please work with us to draft a bill. What the FCC did last week is ill advised, illogical, and illegal. And while there are other tools at Congress’s disposal to express our displeasure with this action, I remain firmly committed to a bipartisan legislative solution." Additionally, Chairman Walden said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s timeline for drafting new net neutrality rules does not hold up, judging from a meeting the two had in November. "And in that meeting, Chairman Wheeler assured me that he was committed to net neutrality without reclassification of broadband," Chairman Walden said. "This stands in stark contrast to press reports of Chairman Wheeler’s ‘summer epiphany’ and decision to impose net neutrality through reclassification as a telecommunications service." Chairman Walden also speculated that a few people at the White House "helped, probably, write" the proposal.
benton.org/headlines/chairman-walden-makes-plea-net-neutrality-bill | Hill, The
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5 REASONS THE FCC MIGHT BE WRONG ABOUT NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jonathan Vanian]
On the Structure Show podcast, Mark Cuban discussed network neutrality and why the new rules are bad for the Internet and bad for competition.
1) The Internet is working fine the way it is
2) Government bureaucracy is worse that Internet service provider dominance
3) Don't worry about broadband providers. Worry about Google and Apple
4) Net neutrality laws could end up like patent laws
5) Remember Janet Jackson's infamous wardrobe malfunction? That's the FCC for you.
benton.org/headlines/5-reasons-fcc-might-be-wrong-about-net-neutrality | GigaOm
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COURT DRAMA BECKONS FOR BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Miriam Gottfried]
[Commentary] If the Federal Communications Commission’s new network neutrality rules are upheld, broadband providers may end up spending even more time in the courtroom. Among the rules’ potentially more onerous terms are provisions allowing regulators to determine whether a provider’s pricing and practices are “just and reasonable” and whether they constitute “unreasonable discrimination.” If consumer groups, Internet companies or other parties believe a broadband provider to be acting in violation of these relatively vague categories, they can file a complaint with the FCC. But they can also simply take the matter up in court. Indeed, Title II, the provision of telecom law that governs broadband under the new rules, allows parties wishing to challenge providers’ prices or business practices to sue them in any district court in the US instead of going to regulators. Those found to be in violation of the law could be responsible for damages, including paying attorneys’ fees. For cable and telecom companies, one fear beyond the long arm of government is that this could also lure plaintiffs’ lawyers to file class-action suits on behalf of broadband customers.
benton.org/headlines/court-drama-beckons-broadband | Wall Street Journal
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OWNERSHIP
AFTER NET NEUTRALITY: COULD COMCAST'S BIG MERGER BE IN JEOPARDY?
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
The tough regulations for network neutrality are a wild card when it comes to the $45 billion merger of the nation’s two biggest cable companies, industry observers say. On the one hand, some analysts argue that the new Federal Communications Commission regulations will eliminate many of the harms that might come from combining Comcast and Time Warner Cable, giving regulators reason to approve the deal. But if the new rules are a symptom of a larger trend at the FCC of cracking down on big companies, it could spell trouble going forward. “I think we’ve seen an FCC that has been much firmer with the broadband industry than a lot of people expected a year ago,” John Bergmayer, a senior staff attorney at Public Knowledge, said. “It shows that you have an FCC and a chairman at the FCC who is really not afraid to take on established industry [and] do what he thinks is right.”
benton.org/headlines/after-net-neutrality-could-comcasts-big-merger-be-jeopardy | Hill, The
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FCC PROBES WHETHER COMCAST RESTRICTED ONLINE VIDEO
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Federal regulators overseeing Comcast's proposed merger with Time Warner Cable want to know if the cable giants put limits on companies' streaming video options. The Federal Communications Commission asked eight major programmers including Walt Disney Co., Viacom and CBS whether or not the companies placed any "restrictions or limitations" on their ability to distribute TV shows over the Internet. The Justice Department -- which is also charged with reviewing the $45 billion merger proposal -- is doing its own investigation into whether the merger would hurt competition for online video.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-probes-whether-comcast-restricted-online-video | Hill, The
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COMCAST-TIME WARNER DEAL CRITICS RAMP UP OPPOSITION
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz]
Critics of Comcast’s move to acquire Time Warner Cable renewed calls for federal regulators to kill the deal, saying new net neutrality rules adopted last week wouldn’t protect consumers from harm. “Higher prices. Fewer choices. Worse customer service. That’s what we’ll end up with if Comcast is allowed to take over Time Warner Cable,” Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, said in full-page ads that began running in Washington, DC, newspapers on March 2. The consumer group also launched a radio ad campaign with a 60-second spot on a DC local news radio station. The campaign marks the start of a more concentrated effort on both sides of the deal to influence regulators, who are expected to begin focusing more intensely on reviewing both Comcast’s Time Warner Cable deal and AT&T’s proposed acquisition of DirecTV. Justice Department lawyers have been busy reviewing both deals for months, but senior Federal Communications Commission officials have been spending much of their time recently on net neutrality.
benton.org/headlines/comcast-time-warner-deal-critics-ramp-opposition | Revere Digital
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
GOOGLE PLANS TO BE A WIRELESS CARRIER, BUT AT SMALL SCALE
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Ina Fried]
Google confirmed it plans to start offering its own brand of wireless service later in 2015, but said it will do so only at a small scale to show carriers new possibilities. “We don’t intend to be network operator at scale,” Google’s Sundar Pichai said in a speech at Mobile World Congress. Rather, Pichai likened what Google is doing as akin to its Nexus hardware program, where it also dabbles but leaves the mass market to the larger players. Google has also taken a similar approach in home broadband, where it offers ultra-high-speed Google Fiber service, but only in a handful of cities. To offer wireless service, Google will need to lease capacity from one or more existing carriers, with Google acting as what is known as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, or MVNO. Pichai said that the company has already reached out to several.
benton.org/headlines/google-plans-be-wireless-carrier-small-scale | Revere Digital | Washington Post
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THE MOBILE REVOLUTION HIDDEN IN NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Nilay Patel]
[Commentary] At the Mobile World Congress, Google's Sundar Pichai took the stage to talk about Google's plan to run its own tiny mobile carrier "in the coming months" -- not to compete with the big guys, but to push them on network innovation. "I think we're at the stage where we need to think of hardware, software, and connectivity together," said Pichai. "We want to break down the barriers on how connectivity works." And that's really the revolution when it comes to net neutrality -- putting mobile networks under the same rules as wired networks will be a total game-changer. When the FCC rolled out a largely similar net neutrality plan in 2010, it explicitly excused mobile from the rules because of a "spectrum crunch" that turned out to a be a total head fake. And I'm still not really sure what the hell this was supposed to mean. But what's clear now is that mobile internet access is actually just internet access, full stop. A huge number of Americans use mobile phones as their primary internet device, and phones are often the only internet device for poor people and minorities. Those numbers aren't going to swing back towards wired access -- mobile is too important. And that means enforcing net neutrality on mobile networks is more important than ever.
benton.org/headlines/mobile-revolution-hidden-net-neutrality | Verge, The
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CONGRESS STEPS BACK INTO WI-FI-RELATED SPECTRUM FIGHT
[SOURCE: CommLawBlog, AUTHOR: Laura Stefani]
As a general rule, the Federal Communications Commission is in the driver’s seat when it comes to spectrum management in the US. But that doesn’t mean that Congress can’t, and won’t, occasionally engage in some aggressive backseat driving. And so it is that several members of Congress have reintroduced legislation -- S.424 in the Senate, H.R.821 in the House -- strongly suggesting the direction the FCC should take with respect to the 5.9 GHz band (i.e., 5860-5925 MHz). The bills would require the FCC to “provide additional unlicensed spectrum in the [5.9 GHz band] under technical rules suitable for the widespread commercial development of unlicensed operations in the band”, provided that the Commission first determines that such use won’t cause harmful interference to existing licensees of that band. The bills also provide detailed specifications, and an accelerated timetable, governing how the FCC must make that determination.
benton.org/headlines/congress-steps-back-wi-fi-related-spectrum-fight | CommLawBlog
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OPEN GOVERNMENT
SEC CLINTON’S E-MAIL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Schmidt]
Hillary Rodham Clinton exclusively used a personal e-mail account to conduct government business as secretary of state, State Department officials said, and may have violated federal requirements that officials’ correspondence be retained as part of the agency’s record. Clinton did not have a government e-mail address during her four-year tenure at the State Department. Her aides took no actions to have her personal e-mails preserved on department servers at the time, as required by the Federal Records Act. It was only two months ago, in response to a new State Department effort to comply with federal record-keeping practices, that Clinton’s advisers reviewed tens of thousands of pages of her personal e-mails and decided which ones to turn over to the State Department. All told, 55,000 pages of e-mails were given to the department. Mrs. Clinton stepped down from the secretary’s post in early 2013. Her expansive use of the private account was alarming to current and former National Archives and Records Administration officials and government watchdogs, who called it a serious breach.
benton.org/headlines/hillary-clinton-used-personal-e-mail-account-state-dept-possibly-breaking-rules | New York Times | WSJ
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THE PROCESS OF GOVERNANCE: THE FCC & THE OPEN INTERNET ORDER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Jon Sallet]
The Federal Communications Commission’s recent adoption of new Open Internet rules has received unprecedented attention and, along with national debate about the outcomes, has generated significant interest in the process by which the FCC, like other independent regulatory agencies, creates rules. In particular, people want to know when the new rules will be released for public review. The answer is tied to a broader question of governance: How does the FCC best create an enforceable rule that reflects public input, permits internal deliberation, and is built to withstand judicial review? As with its substantive decisions, the answer is simple -- by following Congress’ blueprints. As with governance generally, the goal is obvious: To engage in effective, informed action that furthers the public interest.
benton.org/headlines/process-governance-fcc-open-internet-order | Federal Communications Commission
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PRIVACY/SECURITY
TAMING THE BEAST: THE WHITE HOUSE AND FCC THROW DOWN THE GAUNTLET
[SOURCE: International Association of Privacy Professionals, AUTHOR: Omer Tene]
[Commentary] The release by the White House of its long-anticipated Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act (CPBR), together with the historic decision by the Federal Communication Commission to classify Internet service providers as public utilities, are the latest attempt by the US government to tame the online beast. In both cases, government sides with individual consumers trying to rebalance a playing field that many view as tilted in favor of a consolidated corporate power. In this sense, I have recently written that privacy is the new antitrust. The role that antitrust played in the wake of the Industrial Revolution is being captured by privacy in the Digital Age. Privacy has become the boundary, the limiting principle, the litmus test for the delicate balance between the tremendous benefits and formidable risks of a dizzying array of technological innovations.
[Omer Tene is an associate professor at the College of Management School of Law, Israel]
benton.org/headlines/taming-beast-white-house-and-fcc-throw-down-gauntlet | International Association of Privacy Professionals
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
AFTER NET NEUTRALITY VOTE, FCC CHAIRMAN WHEELER TURNS TO SALESMANSHIP
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Mark Scott]
Only days after voting to regulate broadband Internet service as a public utility, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is now trying to convince other global regulators and some of the world’s telecom operators that these so-called open Internet rules will not hinder how the web works. Chairman Wheeler’s sales pitch at the Mobile World Congress included a dinner held by the Spanish king. At the dinner, Chairman Wheeler said several senior executives from global carriers tried to corner him to understand the implications of Feb 26’s vote. He also will speak at the industry event on March 3rd to outline what can be learned from the American experience with passing rules for an open Internet, a concept often called net neutrality. “I’ve tried to balance two things,” said Chairman Wheeler, who was wearing gilded cufflinks in the shape of cellphones. “We have to have open innovation, and we have to provide incentives for carriers to build and expand their networks.”
benton.org/headlines/after-net-neutrality-vote-fcc-chairman-wheeler-turns-salesmanship | New York Times
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