When Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) walks onto the debate stage in Cleveland (OH), his campaign team will already have a series of social media ads pre-purchased to appear only to a select group of influential viewers: journalists. Sen Paul, who has a strong social media presence and fan base, will have 10 staff members dedicated to social media response, and will spend up to $50,000 in advertising in the space. As the debate unfolds, these promoted tweets, to the selected groups of journalists and others, will aim to rebut other candidate's responses, or expand on Paul's own with infographics, videos and more. "We've got lists of journalists who we will be promoting content to throughout the night, as well as obviously voters in the early states. There's a huge rapid response element," said Vincent Harris, who helps run the Kentucky senator's digital communications.
Whichever candidate lands the biggest punch against Donald Trump, social media will without question be a big winner come Aug 7, as what happens at the debate reverberates across Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, which is co-sponsoring the debate alongside Fox News. Between immediate rebuttals, surrogate support and targeted responses, the debate stage is just the first part of what is a multidimensional strategy for debate night. Campaigns will be leveraging social media to bolster their own messages (or attempt to tear down their rivals'), but the medium will also allow them to completely flood the zone beyond the few minutes each candidate will have on stage. Several campaigns have already bought ad placements on Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat. Nearly every major social media platform is planning a presence at the debate, and the fight will be over which tag line, gaffe or moment turns into the viral sensation that gets GIF-ed, Vined and Youtubed until election day in 2016.
The US Postal Service is betting a new device will soon enter hi-tech homes, alongside the self-adjusting thermostats, text-enabled washing machines, and fridges notifying owners when groceries run out: the smart mailbox. It's the future of mail delivery, according to USPS’ Office of the Inspector General: a mailbox, equipped with tiny sensors that can collect data on mail delivery and pick up time, or outside temperature. The owners might control the box's internal temperature and locking mechanism through a smartphone app. The smart mailbox is just one element of the Postal Service's larger vision for the Internet of Things, a term for a connected network of devices and sensors.
In a report about that vision -- dubbed the "Internet of Postal Things" -- the Inspector General's Office, in collaboration with IBM, paints a picture of post office systems that auto-fill paperwork for customers as they walk in, delivery vehicles that monitor themselves for maintenance, and sensors that notify package recipients upon delivery, among other scenarios. The IG's office recommended the Postal Service "start experimenting with Internet of Things technologies" to modernize its business, "as well as develop new business models to stay relevant in the digital age.” A more advanced technological infrastructure could prepare the agency for same-day delivery and real-time rerouting for packages, options which "have the potential to grow in importance as consumers continue to buy more items online," the report said. For instance, sensors in a smart mailbox could scan a barcode or read an RFID tag on a letter, which could confirm delivery and replace the hand scan and delivery signature process, the report said. If the mailbox were temperature controlled, employees could deliver groceries or temperature-sensitive medicine. These new mailboxes could also make the agency money. "If 5 percent of the 117 U.S. million households rented such a box for $3 a month, the product would generate $210 million a year in revenue," the report said.
Revenues for 5G services will exceed $65 billion by 2025, according to a forecast from Juniper Research. That would be up from a forecast $100 billion in 2020, the year the first commercial 5G roll-outs are expected. Surpassing $65 billion by 2025 would mean global 5G service revenue would account for 7 percent of operator-billed services overall, Juniper points out in a press release. According to Juniper’s “5G Market Strategies: 4G LTE Evolution, Spectrum Analysis & Opportunities 2015-2025,¨ 5G services will be widespread from 2025 onward. Regulators will allocate 5G spectrum over a period of years, as has been the case with 4G. A minimum $25 billion will be invested in 5G technology research, development and trials over the next five years, Juniper estimates. The number of active 4G LTE connections will exceed 3 billion globally by 2020.
[Commentary] We are on the cusp of a new era in information technology. While consumers and entrepreneurs are excited to explore the potential capabilities and applications that lie within it, regulators in the US and Europe are fighting back. Fueled by strong skepticism of technological progress, at least by established tech companies, these regulators could end up banishing western economies into the backwaters of the information age. Internet marketing researcher Mark Schaefer explains that the impact of the Internet on our lives has gone through three phases and is now entering its fourth. The first phase was the World Wide Web, which emphasized being present on the Internet. Then came the search-engine phase, which emphasized being discovered. The third, and current, phase is the utility phase, where social media and mobility provide extra value to what people already want in their lives. The fourth phase is the “immersion phase,” where tech learns about a person from many aspects of life and work and uses this knowledge to actually anticipate needs.
Regulations emerging in Europe and the US are in conflict with this technological progress. These regulations will effectively prohibit ISP involvement in these new innovative services. This is a significant loss, as ISPs are willing and able to provide customers (on both sides of the market!) with network capabilities optimized for the individual company or consumer. The FCC’s tendency to extract economic rents in exchange for merger approvals raises the cost of technological change. It also increases risk as companies wonder whether the regulator will extract payments when companies try to innovate through mergers.
[Mark Jamison is the director and Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida]
Tens of thousands of people in the southeastern US went without cellphone service Aug 4 for about five hours. For some, that even meant they couldn't call 911. The outage hit parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. It's not exactly clear what caused the incident. State officials say years of deregulation have made it nearly impossible for authorities to find out details from telecommunication companies. State regulators say they have no way of knowing if the problem stemmed from neglect of the infrastructure, an accident, or sabotage. What is known comes from statements made by the major phone carriers -- Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T. All of the carriers say the problem started at a part of the infrastructure that's buried in the ground, and is owned and operated by AT&T.
Derek Turner, with the nonprofit watchdog group Free Press, says most cellphone providers still have to rely on some older networks. "What a lot of people don't realize is that a cell tower connects your calls to a wire and usually that wire is owned by the legacy monopoly phone company," he says. Tim Schwartz, a spokesman for the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, said, "My understanding is that it was a router issue." "It just failed to work and so they just had to replace it." And it is likely these agencies will never be able to tell us more than the phone companies choose to reveal. According to Schwartz, "the wireline and wireless service in particular is market-regulated here in Tennessee. So the TRA, the Utility Commission, does not have jurisdiction over these issues." Turner of the Free Press says that the telecommunication companies have been lobbying for years to get rid of the federal and state regulations that once covered telephone service. "They've tried to sell policy makers on this idea that once we switch over to all IP based communications that there won't be any need for ongoing regulatory oversight," says Turner.
Apple's ResearchKit apps aren't restricted to US users anymore. Starting Aug 6, people who live in Hong Kong and the UK will be able to access the MyHeart Counts app, which collects data on physical activity and cardiac risk factors for a heart disease study run by Stanford University. This is the first ResearchKit app to get an international release. Until recently, the ResearchKit software platform -- a platform designed to let scientists create iPhone apps to recruit study participants -- could only be used to run studies in the US. Since its launch in March, the MyHeart Counts app has enrolled more than 41,000 US participants. But that's just the beginning; the researchers behind the study want to make MyHeart Counts the largest study of measured physical activity and cardiovascular health to date. The international release is no doubt part of their efforts to reach that goal.
A study from Rutgers University suggests that there are substantial differences in the quantity and quality of the local journalism produced within communities of different sizes and income levels. In this study, researchers examined the journalistic infrastructure, output, and performance in the New Jersey communities of Newark (NJ), New Brunswick (NJ), and Morristown (NJ). The researchers analyzed one week of online journalism output across these three communities, focusing on both the home page content and social media (Facebook and Twitter) postings for all television, radio, print, and online journalism sources that could be located within these communities.
The results indicate substantial differences in the journalism infrastructure, output and performance across these three communities, particularly when controlling for differences in population size. In terms of infrastructure, the results show substantial differences, when controlling for population size, in terms of the number of journalism sources operating within each of these three communities. Newark, for instance, contains .58 journalistic sources per 10,000 capita; compared with 2.36 for New Brunswick and 6.11 for Morristown. While it is difficult to generalize from a study of only three communities, these findings potentially point to a problem in local journalism, in which lower-income communities may be underserved relative to wealthier communities. The researchers intend to address this issue further by applying the methodology and performance metrics developed for this project to a larger sample of communities, an effort to better understand the factors related to the health of local journalism.
The New York Times surpassed one million digital subscribers on Aug 6, the company announced. The milestone for digital-only subscriber came less than four-and-a-half years after the paper launched its pay model. The digital number is in addition to 1.1 million print-and-digital subscribers and comes as the Times has invested significant resources to digital and video over the years as it tries to evolve its “Gray Lady” legacy to translate in the digital era.
“This is a major milestone for our digital consumer business, which we launched in 2011 and has continued a strong and steady growth trajectory,” Mark Thompson, president and CEO, said. “It puts us in a unique position among global news providers. We believe that no other news organization has achieved digital subscriber numbers like ours or comparable digital subscription revenue. It’s a tribute to the hard work and innovation of our marketing, product and technology teams and the continued excellence of our journalism.” “Times journalism has a broader reach and wider impact now than at any time in our history,” Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., The Times’s publisher, added. “It is for our many readers around the world, in particular for our many loyal paying subscribers, that we remain fully committed to a continued investment in original, quality journalism and in the innovative tools needed to extend its influence.”
On August 6, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules aimed at protecting consumers through the transitions from legacy copper networks. The following may be attributed to Benton Foundation Policy Director Amina Fazlullah:
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2015
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Rep Walden to Chairman Wheeler: Don’t favor unlicensed users over LPTV
The Internet of Things and the Importance of Unlicensed Spectrum - Public Knowledge analysis
FCC decision on auction discounts may derail Dish’s plans to compete
Cities with Best Mobile Performance: Atlanta, Chicago Top List [links to web]
AT&T blames cellphone outage on hardware [links to web]
Sinclair Puts A Value On Its Spectrum [links to web]
The Dawning of High Mobility - op-ed [links to web]
TELEVISION
How Jon Stewart’s ‘Daily Show’ Exit Will Deal Big Blow to TV News
Rep Walden to Chairman Wheeler: Don’t favor unlicensed users over LPTV
The Fight That Changed Political TV Forever - op-ed
Sinclair Puts A Value On Its Spectrum [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Trump dominating Google searches [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Helping Seniors Bridge the Digital Divide - analysis
The Internet could end up like TV
Everything's faster in Texas: Google Fiber is coming to San Antonio - Google press release [links to web]
Windstream Accepts Nearly $175 Million in Annual Support from CAF to Expand Rural Broadband - FCC press release [links to web]
SECURITY
Senate delays vote on cybersecurity bill to September [links to web]
State-Sponsored Hackers Targeting Mobile Devices, Former FBI Data Intercept Chief Says [links to web]
BUDGET
White House Tech Consulting Team Fights for Funding
POLICYMAKERS
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai Announces New Staff Appointment [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
REP WALDEN TO CHAIRMAN WHEELER: DON'T FAVOR UNLICENSED USERS OVER LPTV
[SOURCE: Katy on the Hill, AUTHOR: Kathryn Bachman]
The Federal Communications Commission should not sacrifice low power TV and translators in order to provide more unlicensed spectrum in the broadcast incentive auction. That was the message delivered in a letter Aug 4 to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler from House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and House Commerce Chairman Emeritus Joe Barton (R-TX). The FCC is set to vote Aug 6 on critical spectrum auction procedures that will determine how TV stations are repacked in a smaller portion of the spectrum band. However, it is unclear how the repacking will affect low power television (LPTV) and translators, which serve significant portions of the western US, putting the fate of these broadcast outlets up in the air. “While the commission was granted significant flexibility to repack broadcast stations to optimize the recovered spectrum in the 600 MHz band, the commission itself recognized that it had the responsibility to ‘help preserve the important services’ provided by LPTV and translators. I am concerned that the current focus on white spaces and unlicensed services outside of the duplex gap and guard bands may unnecessarily harm the communities served by LPTV and translators,” the lawmakers wrote. When asked about his plans for LPTV and translators at the House Communications Subcommittee hearing, Chairman Wheeler said there were multiple things the commission could do, but that the statute did not explicitly address LPTV and translators.
benton.org/headlines/rep-walden-chairman-wheeler-dont-favor-unlicensed-users-over-lptv | Katy on the Hill
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THE INTERNET OF THINGS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF UNLICENSED SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Ariel Diamond]
[Commentary] On July 29, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on “Wireless Broadband and the Future of Spectrum Policy,” where Ranking Member Bill Nelson observed, “[t]oday, there are more wireless devices in this country than there are people.” Meanwhile, on the other side of the Hill, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee was holding a hearing at the exact same time on the Internet of Things, discussing the impact of electronic devices on public policy. Both hearings made it clear that the need for more unlicensed spectrum is immediate, because billions of devices depend on it. The Senate hearing participants discussed unlicensed spectrum, but the discussion of how to profit from and relicense spectrum dominated the conversation. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel was one of the witnesses at the hearing and championed changes in unlicensed policies in her testimony, saying that we need “[n]ot just more licensed spectrum - but also more unlicensed spectrum. In short, we need more Wi-Fi.” Commissioner Rosenworcel was particularly on-point for unlicensed spectrum. She pointed out that historically, legislative processes have overlooked the value of unlicensed spectrum – a history that repeated itself that day. Relicensing spectrum from agencies, creating incentives for spectrum holders to relinquish their spectrum, and identifying additional bands all dominated the Senate Committee’s policy discussion at the hearing. Unlicensed spectrum took the back seat. The two committees had disconnected visions of the role of unlicensed spectrum in the future, but there is no reason for that disconnect to continue. More unlicensed spectrum must be opened up to support the devices that demand it. The Internet of Things is growing and consumers expect connectivity at a low price. In these conversations about the “future of spectrum,” it is in everyone’s interest for Congress to come together and prioritize unlicensed spectrum, so that innovation and the growth of modern technologies can continue.
benton.org/headlines/internet-things-and-importance-unlicensed-spectrum | Public Knowledge
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FCC DECISION ON AUCTION DISCOUNTS MAY DERAIL DISH'S PLANS TO COMPETE
[SOURCE: Katy on the Hill, AUTHOR: Kathryn Bachman]
In his heart, Dish chairman, president and CEO Charlie Ergen wants to take on AT&T and Verizon. But those dreams may be over, now that the Federal Communications Commission is likely to disallow $3.3 billion in auction discounts claimed by two companies that Dish backed with cash in the recent AWS-3 auction. “Our bet was, based on the rules of the [AWS-3] auction, that they were set up for us to do exactly what we did to compete with AT&T and Verizon,” Ergen said. “That this is exactly what they want us to do, to be disruptive in the marketplace.” The FCC is circulating a draft order that would deny $3.3 billion in auction discounts to Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless, two entities in which Dish has an 85 percent non-controlling interest. In the order, the FCC concludes that Dish does indeed have a controlling interest. Absent the discount, Dish would be on the hook for the $3.3 billion if the companies want to keep the spectrum. Dish has made a big bet on spectrum to offset the company’s struggling core pay TV business. In the quarter, Dish lost 81,000 pay TV subscribers. Since the FCC is likely to say “no” to the 25 percent discount, Ergen said that creates “more risk than anticipated,” to go in and compete in the wireless business. “We’ll get pushed more towards a sale or lease of spectrum. We’ll take a little bit of a shorter view,” he said.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-decision-auction-discounts-may-derail-dishs-plans-compete | Katy on the Hill | Broadcasting & Cable | The Hill
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TELEVISION
HOW JON STEWART'S 'DAILY SHOW' EXIT WILL DEAL BIG BLOW TO TV NEWS
[SOURCE: The Wrap, AUTHOR: Jordan Chariton]
As Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” run draws to a close on Aug 6, there is one of the host’s favorite foes that should be concerned: The TV News industry. Stewart has elevated the news business more than any other entertainment personality over the last two decades and now the industry’s biggest marketer is closing shop. “I think Jon Stewart leaving The Daily Show is a loss for anyone who laments the lack of journalistic integrity on most of the cable news networks,” said Scott Blakeman, a political comedian. Blakeman, who’s appeared on Fox News and MSNBC over the years, points to the large impact Stewart has had on making cable news not just a news vehicle, but platforms with larger than life personalities who need to be kept in check. “In recent years the show insightfully and hilariously skewered the dumbing down of cable news, as well as the wildly inaccurate ranting of Fox News. While Fox was a prime target of the show’s satire, Stewart took aim at CNN and MSNBC as well, in addition to local and national broadcast news.”
benton.org/headlines/how-jon-stewarts-daily-show-exit-will-deal-big-blow-tv-news | Wrap, The
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THE FIGHT THAT CHANGED POLITICAL TV FOREVER
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Robert Gordon]
[Commentary] They came loaded for bear. William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal, representing the political poles in America, sat in front of the ABC News cameras in 1968 and, though hired to discuss the events of each party’s political conventions and their path toward their presidential tickets, these men each arrived with the intention of taking down the other. For the good of the nation. During the summer 1968 Republican and Democratic conventions, the United States was in turmoil, the chasm between youth culture and the establishment widening as the war in Vietnam dragged on, killing kids, killing civilians, killing hope. In March of that year, two weeks after the My Lai Massacre, President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek reelection. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in April. Bobby Kennedy was assassinated two months later. Riots raged across the United States, in cities large and small. Major publications gave serious consideration to the possibility of a new U.S. civil war.
[Robert Gordon is the producer and co-director of the new documentary "Best of Enemies"]
benton.org/headlines/fight-changed-political-tv-forever | Politico
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
THE INTERNET COULD END UP LIKE TV
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Weise]
Far from being a place of freedom, innovation and information, the Internet is dying, Stanford University's Jennifer Granick told a packed house at the Black Hat computer security conference on Aug 5. "It's not the level playing field that we once thought it would be," she said. The openness and freedom that originally made it so disruptive is fading, being replaced with a centralized, regulated entity. The Internet, she fears, will end up like TV. "It's going to be this slick, stiff, controlled, closed thing," said Granick a lawyer and director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society at Stanford University. She gave the opening keynote address at the conference, which in 2015 has drawn more than 10,000 security researchers to Las Vegas (NV). A long-time writer on computer crime and security, electronic surveillance and consumer privacy, Granick has also defended several well-known hackers against what she feels was over-zealous government prosecution. Granick painted a picture for the audience of what the Internet could look like in 20 years if nothing is done. To overcome this, hackers, programmers and those building Internet systems need to make them decentralized, add in encryption to make it harder for governments to snoop on citizens and fight against laws that muzzle free speech." And if that doesn't work," Granick said to applause, "we need to smash it apart and make something new and better."
benton.org/headlines/internet-could-end-tv | USAToday
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HELPING SENIORS BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Cecilia Garcia, Bob Harootyan]
[Commentary] Pew Research Center recently issued a report on who is online and who is not. Seniors are most likely to be offline, with 39 percent reporting they do not use the Internet. Yet, there has been significant progress in getting seniors online. In 2000, 86 percent of adults age 65+ were offline. This progress is due in part to baby boomers entering the age 65+ group, but also to the work of many organizations across the country working diligently to help seniors overcome the obstacles they face in broadband adoption. Here are just a few of them.
[Cecilia Garcia, former Executive Director of the Benton Foundation, is a communications advisor with an extensive background in public affairs, television production and advocacy. Bob Harootyan is the research manager at Senior Service America, Inc. (SSAI), where he directs internal and external projects related to low-income older workers and the aging workforce.]
https://www.benton.org/blog/helping-seniors-bridge-digital-divide
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BUDGET
WHITE HOUSE TECH CONSULTING TEAM FIGHTS FOR FUNDING
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Jason Shueh]
For weeks the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has not answered questions about 2016’s funding for the US Digital Services (USDS). The silence may be connected to a controversy involving the USDS and a group of Silicon Valley technologists who are trying to overcome skepticism and partisan pushback from Congress. On July 23, a Senate appropriations committee approved a spending bill that cuts roughly three-fourths of President Barack Obama’s $20.2 million funding request for IT initiatives. Much of this funding was tied to the USDS operating budget. The setback was preceded by yet another in June, when appropriators in the House of Representatives whittled away the president’s request for $105 million to establish USDS branches within 25 major agencies, with each asking for $1 million to $10 million apiece. In a statement on June 1, the White House and OMB responded to the House by calling the denial in funding a “failure” and “a missed opportunity to improve key agency services.” The larger issue is whether the potential lapse in funding will derail a campaign by USDS to reform federal IT projects. Former US Chief Technology Officer Todd Park, who stepped down from his post at the end of 2014, had set an aggressive campaign to recruit more than 500 tech experts for the USDS by 2017. If funding is cut, those hiring plans will likely be on hold and diminish any kind of a comprehensive impact on US IT spending, estimated at about $80 billion each year.
benton.org/headlines/white-house-tech-consulting-team-fights-funding | Government Technology
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