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August 2015

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai Announces New Staff Appointment

Commissioner Ajit Pai of the Federal Communications Commission announced the appointment of Alison Nemeth as his Interim Legal Advisor for media issues. Chief of Staff Matthew Berry, who currently handles media issues, will assume the wireline portfolio while Nick Degani, Wireline Legal Advisor, is out of the office on paternity leave. Alison joins Commissioner Pai’s office on detail from the Video Division of the Commission’s Media Bureau. An Honors Attorney, she has worked on a variety of legal and policy issues relating to broadcast television, including licensing, transactions, and the upcoming Incentive Auction. Previously, Alison worked as a law clerk in Commissioner Pai’s Office.

The Fight That Changed Political TV Forever

[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"]

Analysis

Helping Seniors Bridge the Digital Divide

Benton Foundation

August 5, 2015

AT&T blames cellphone outage on hardware

Many in Louisville (KY) took to social media on Aug 4 reporting widespread Internet and cellphone network service outages. Users bombarded the social media accounts of telecommunication companies AT&T, as well as Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint with complaints about the outage. By about 8 pm, AT&T users were tweeting that service had been restored. Verizon and Sprint let customers know service was expected to be restored at close to the same time.

AT&T spokeswoman Cathy Lewandowski said the company identified their outage stemmed from a hardware issue. "Wireless and wireline service has been restored for all customers in parts of the Southeast affected by a hardware-related network issue," she said. "Our engineers completed repairs and service is running normally. We apologize for any inconvenience."

Everything's faster in Texas: Google Fiber is coming to San Antonio

Google is proud to announce that Google Fiber is coming to San Antonio (TX)-- the largest Fiber city to date. From starting Bexar BiblioTech, the first all-digital public library in the US, to being named a leading city in cybersecurity, San Antonio has developed a thriving tech landscape. Hundreds of startups have found their home in the Alamo City through collaborative workspaces and accelerators like Geekdom and Cafe Commerce.

Moreover, San Antonio’s recent selection for President Barack Obama’s Tech Hire and Connect Home initiatives will help create a pipeline of tech jobs and narrow the digital divide. With speeds up to 1,000Mbps, compared to the US average of just 12Mbps, Google Fiber will further fuel the city’s growth.

Rep Walden to Chairman Wheeler: Don’t favor unlicensed users over LPTV

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.

State-Sponsored Hackers Targeting Mobile Devices, Former FBI Data Intercept Chief Says

State-sponsored hackers increasingly are launching attacks against mobile applications and operating systems as they look for new ways to infiltrate corporate networks and extract sensitive data, said Greg Kesner, the former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s data intercept program. “The mobile phone industry is certainly being attacked more heavily now in the US environment,” said Kesner, who now works at security consultancy Larson Security LLC.

New mobile operating systems from Apple and Google’s Android unit are prompting state-sponsored actors to take apart those new systems and write new code to infiltrate it. “It’s probably now more useful to get onto somebody’s mobile phone than their laptop,” he said. It gives hackers not only access to corporate networks and applications, but also personal contact lists, text messages. As more financial transactions happen on phones, that information may be more vulnerable as well.

White House Tech Consulting Team Fights for Funding

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.

How Jon Stewart’s ‘Daily Show’ Exit Will Deal Big Blow to TV News

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.”

August 5, 2015 (Debate Lineup Illustrates Power of Fox News)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015

Get ready for the FCC Open Meeting tomorrow: https://www.benton.org/node/217851


INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Appeals Court to Hear Arguments Over FCC’s Network Neutrality Rules
   TWC: CNS Just Seeking FCC Peering Mandate [links to web]
   Comcast is doubling the speed of its low-cost Internet plans
   Where broadband is a utility, 100Mbps costs just $40 a month
   Let Your Voice be Heard on IANA Transition - NTIA blog [links to web]
   Frontier serves up 100 Mbps over copper service in Connecticut market [links to web]

PRIVACY/SECURITY
   Baltimore faced cyberattacks amid chaos and unrest on the streets
   Stolen Consumer Data Is a Smaller Problem Than It Seems
   Privacy Protests About Senate Cybersecurity Bill Grow Louder [links to web]
   How the ‘right to be forgotten’ could take over the American Internet, too [links to web]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Democratic Reps Push Back on Duplex Gap Plan
   Sprint Falls to No. 4 Among Wireless Carriers by Number of Subscribers [links to web]

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
   FCC Announces Workshop to Promote the Wider Use of the Emergency Alert System - public notice [links to web]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Debate Lineup Illustrates Power of Fox News

CONTENT
   CEA, CCIA Slam Studios in Google Brief [links to web]
   Memo to MPAA: Congress didn’t pass SOPA [links to web]
   Facebook’s Copyright Violation Problem -- Which May Not Be a Problem for Facebook at All [links to web]
   5 Reasons Broadcasters Need an OTT Strategy - Multichannel News op-ed [links to web]

TELEVISION
   ESPN isn’t in the kind of trouble dire talk would indicate -- at least until next decade - WaPo analysis [links to web]
   Why Jon Stewart Might Be Irreplaceable - Variety analysis [links to web]

EDUCATION
   Public Knowledge Joins Letter Urging White House to Open Up Federally Funded Educational Resources - PK press release [links to web]
   Texting Parents to get Kids Ready 4K! - press release [links to web]

HEALTH
   Sen Thune Bill Would Improve Access, Availability of Rural Health Care - press release
   In the First Person: A Broadband Journey with Diabetes - FCC op-ed [links to web]

DIVERSITY
   President Obama Announces New Commitments to Advance Inclusive Entrepreneurship at First-Ever White House Demo Day - press release [links to web]
   Rep Barbara Lee calls on Apple to release diversity data [links to web]
   The Kapors raise the bar for tech diversity - analysis

POLICYMAKERS
   danah boyd To Deliver 33rd Annual Everett C Parker Lecture, Joseph Torres and Wally Bowen to be Honored - United Church of Christ press release [links to web]
   Civic design at scale: Why I joined the US Digital Service - Medium op-ed [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   China to tighten grip over country’s Internet users

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

APPEALS COURT TO HEAR ARGUMENTS OVER FCC'S NETWORK NEUTRALITY RULES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brent Kendall]
The Federal Communications Commission’s new network neutrality rules will face an important federal-court test in December, when an appeals panel will hear arguments in legal challenges brought by the telecommunications industry. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on scheduled a Dec. 4 oral-argument date for consideration of the FCC rules, which require equal treatment of Internet traffic. A divided FCC voted in favor of the rules in February, deciding to reclassify broadband providers as telecommunications services, a designation that has long applied to regular telephone service. The effort is aimed at preventing broadband providers from blocking or slowing certain Internet traffic and prioritizing other traffic. It is also in response to a court ruling from 2014 in which the same appeals court struck down the FCC’s previous attempt at open-Internet regulations. Challenges to agency regulations in many circumstances can go straight to the DC Circuit instead of going to a trial court first. Because of its role in reviewing government regulations, the DC Circuit is considered by some legal observers to be the nation’s second most powerful court, behind only the Supreme Court. The appeals court hasn’t disclosed which judges will hear the case, as that usually happens 30 days before the scheduled argument date.
benton.org/headlines/appeals-court-hear-arguments-over-fccs-network-neutrality-rules | Wall Street Journal
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COMCAST IS DOUBLING THE SPEED OF ITS LOW-COST INTERNET PLANS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Comcast is rolling out a few upgrades to its Internet program for low-income consumers, doubling download speeds and, for the first time, targeting senior citizens under a Florida-based pilot project. The $10-a-month program, Internet Essentials, will be getting a free speed bump from 5 megabits per second to 10 Mbps, which is fast enough to support multiple video streams simultaneously. That's good news for poorer Americans who increasingly rely on the Web to do homework, find jobs and use government services. Comcast is also expanding access to Internet Essentials. Eligibility for Internet Essentials used to be dictated by whether households had a child who qualified for free or reduced-price school lunches, or who merely attended a school where 70 percent of the school qualified for meal subsidies. Now, Comcast is lowering that 70 percent threshold to 50 percent to make it easier for more families to qualify for Internet Essentials. And its pilot project in West Palm Beach (FL) will give older Americans -- who, according to the Pew Research Center, remain disproportionately unconnected from the Web -- access to Internet Essentials, too. So far Comcast hasn't laid out how it will evaluate this pilot project, over what time period, or even how it will determine eligibility for seniors. Proof of eligibility could be Medicaid or Medicare, for instance. Although some older Americans already likely benefit from Internet Essentials by living in the same household as those eligible school-aged children, the program expansion would give other seniors the ability to sign up for low-cost Internet. Roughly 500,000 households have signed up for Internet Essentials so far, up from 350,000 a year ago.
benton.org/headlines/comcast-doubling-speed-its-low-cost-internet-plans | Washington Post | Multichannel News
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WHERE BROADBAND IS A UTILITY, 100MBPS COSTS JUST $40 A MONTH
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
There’s been a lot of debate over whether the United States should treat Internet service as a utility. But there’s no question that Internet service is already a utility in Sandy (OR) a city of about 10,000 residents, where the government has been offering broadband for more than a decade. “SandyNet” launched nearly 15 years ago with DSL and wireless service, and this summer it's putting the final touches on a citywide upgrade to fiber. The upgrade was paid for with a $7.5 million revenue bond, which will be repaid by system revenues. Despite not being subsidized by taxpayer dollars, prices are still low: $40 a month for symmetrical 100Mbps service or $60 a month for 1Gbps. There are no contracts or data caps. “Part of the culture of SandyNet is we view our citizens as owners of the utility,” City IT Director and SandyNet GM Joe Knapp said. “We've always run the utility on a break-even basis. Any profits we do have go back into capital improvements and equipment upgrades and things like that."
benton.org/headlines/where-broadband-utility-100mbps-costs-just-40-month | Ars Technica
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PRIVACY/SECURITY

BALTIMORE FACED CYBERATTACKS AMID CHAOS AND UNREST ON THE STREETS
[SOURCE: Baltimore Sun, AUTHOR: Ian Duncan]
As Baltimore (MD) remained under curfew after riots over Freddie Gray's death, a cyberattack knocked out the city's website while hackers who sympathized with protesters on the streets threatened to target the government's computer systems, according to newly released documents. The behind-the-scenes cyberbattle shut down the website baltimorecity.gov for at least 16 hours, according to a situation report dated May 1. The site, which provides information on government services, updated citizens on the citywide curfew at the time. "Not sure when site will be up and running. Need to set up alternatives," the report stated. E-mails and other documents give new insights into the attack as well as a campaign that targeted police and city databases and claimed to be affiliated with Anonymous, an international network of activist hackers. The documents also detail efforts to combat the hackers by information technology experts, including city and state officials, a special detachment of National Guard troops, and a Baltimore security company that witnessed activity online and offered its services. Computer security analysts said that activist groups frequently launch hacking campaigns amid civil turmoil -- and that government officials often find themselves ill-equipped to respond. Such attacks can be minor nuisances that knock out websites for short periods or major security breaches that put troves of sensitive data at risk and disrupt access to government services.
benton.org/headlines/city-faced-cyberattacks-amid-chaos-and-unrest-streets | Baltimore Sun
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STOLEN CONSUMER DATA IS A SMALLER PROBLEM THAN IT SEEMS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nathaniel Popper]
At Target, 40 million customers had their credit card information exposed to hackers. At JPMorgan Chase, personal details associated with 80 million accounts were leaked. In July, a hacker gained access to 4.5 million records from the University of California, Los Angeles, health system. Enormous numbers like these can make it feel as if we’re living through an epidemic of data breaches, in which no one’s bank account or credit card is safe. But the actual effect on consumers is quite different from what the headlines suggest. Only a tiny number of people exposed by leaks end up paying any costs, and for the rare victims who do, the average cost has actually been falling steadily. How could that be? For starters, several laws protect consumers from bearing almost any financial losses related to hackers (though not the headaches of having to enter new credit card numbers into Amazon and elsewhere). Instead, banks and merchants, like Target, must bear the cost. But even their losses have been dropping in recent years, as data security experts have learned new strategies to prevent intrusions from turning into theft. It’s true that data breaches, particularly those in which Social Security numbers are compromised, can lead to a more devastating sort of identity theft, in which criminals open new financial accounts in a person’s name and do damage that can take years and a lot of work to clean up. But consumers are almost never on the hook for financial losses in these sorts of episodes, which, by the way, have also been on the decline.
benton.org/headlines/stolen-consumer-data-smaller-problem-it-seems | New York Times
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

DEMOCRATIC REPS PUSH BACK ON DUPLEX GAP PLAN
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
A trio of Democratic Representatives asked the Federal Communications Commission not to put TV stations in the duplex gap, but instead make sure stations in all markets can use that spectrum for wireless mics. In a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler dated July 28, Reps Bobby Rush (D-IL), GK Butterfield (D-NC) and Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) said TV stations in their communities would be "severely impacted" by the FCC's proposed decision to put some stations in the duplex gap, which it had initially planned to reserve nationwide for mics and other unlicensed devices. The legislators pointed out that the FCC has already eliminated exclusive wireless mic channels as part of the incentive auction plan, proposing the duplex gap as a new home. "Now we understand that the FCC has reversed course and intends to move forward with a new proposal that will leave local broadcasters in some markets with no reserved spectrum for wireless mics that are essential to covering breaking news," they said. The mics are also used in sporting and theatrical events. "We urge the commission to reject this proposal and instead preserve the duplex gap for use by wireless microphones in all markets," they told Chairman Wheeler.
benton.org/headlines/democratic-reps-push-back-duplex-gap-plan | Broadcasting&Cable
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

POWER OF FOX NEWS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: David Bauder]
The buildup to the first Republican presidential debate shows that the influence of Fox News Channel on the GOP selection process is stronger than ever. The musical chairs-like rules for participation in the Aug 5 televised debate required candidates to reach a certain threshold in opinion polls, making national exposure to an interested audience vital at a stage in the campaign when candidates are usually shaking hands in early primary states. And where better to find that audience than on Fox News Channel? The 17 candidates — only 10 of whom are invited to the prime-time debate — made a total of 273 separate appearances on Fox News in May, June and July, according to a count by liberal-leaning group Media Matters for America. Six hopefuls — Donald Trump, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina and Rick Perry — have appeared 20 times or more each on Fox or Fox Business Channel, the network said. Besides interviews, candidates have joined the panel of talk shows like "Outnumbered" or "The Five."
benton.org/headlines/debate-lineup-illustrates-power-fox-news | Associated Press
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HEALTH

SEN THUNE BILL WOULD IMPROVE ACCESS, AVAILABILITY OF RURAL HEALTH CARE
[SOURCE: US Senate, AUTHOR: Sen John Thune (R-SD)]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) introduced the Rural Health Care Connectivity Act of 2015 (S 1916), a bill that wold amend the Communications Act to permit skilled nursing facilities (SNF) to apply for support from the Universal Service Fund's (USF) Rural Health Care Program (RHCP). The Communications Act specifies which types of health care providers are eligible to receive RHCP support, of which SNFs are currently not included. “For many South Dakotans, it is not as easy as jumping in the car and driving down to the local hospital for a checkup, which is why access to rural health care, including telemedicine, is such an important issue for South Dakota families,” said Chairman Thune. “This common-sense bill would support and improve the health care services that skilled nursing facilities can provide to our rural communities by allowing them access to much-needed funds that are currently out of reach. My legislation achieves this goal without raising the existing cap on the Universal Service Fund.”
benton.org/headlines/sen-thune-bill-would-improve-access-availability-rural-health-care | US Senate | HealthData Management
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DIVERSITY

KAPORS INVEST IN DIVERSITY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Michelle Quinn]
[Commentary] Mitch Kapor, one of the co-founders of Lotus, and his wife, Freada Kapor Klein, who for years have been on the forefront of the issue of tech and diversity, said they will spend $40 million to address the structural inequities that make it hard for African-Americans and other groups to become successful tech entrepreneurs. Their approach is not just wonderful but impressive. They don't plan to just give money away, but tackle what they see are the key issues that have kept certain groups outside of the tech industry. Chief among them is access to capital. Over the next three years, Kapor Capital, the family's venture firm, will invest $25 million in technology startups. At least half of the companies it invests in will have founders from groups who have had low representation in tech, such as African-Americans, Latinos and women, Mitch Kapor said. In addition, tech entrepreneurs who receive investments will be required to create a "diversity plan," he said. The firm is in the process of interviewing for a portfolio services director to help the entrepreneurs do that. The plans will vary, but companies would set hiring goals that are also tied to firms' business goals, he said.
benton.org/headlines/kapors-raise-bar-tech-diversity | San Jose Mercury News | San Francisco Chronicle
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

CHINA TO TIGHTEN GRIP
[SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Charles Clover]
China has tightened its grip over the country’s 650 million Internet users by announcing moves to station police officers inside large Internet companies in an effort to heighten censorship and prevent subversion, according to a senior security official. The move follows a spate of recent efforts to tighten the screws on social media users, as well as a draft cyber security law that will grant authorities broad new powers to control the Internet in the country and force web companies to share more data with the government. Chen Zhimin, the deputy minister of public security, revealed a plan to set up “network security offices” in major internet companies — such as Tencent and Alibaba — “in order to be able to find out about illegal internet activity more quickly”, although he did not specify how the initiative would work.
benton.org/headlines/china-tighten-grip-over-countrys-internet-users | Christian Science Monitor
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