CORRECTION: Weekly roundup readers may have seen a “Quick Bit” noting FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel’s reconfirmation. In fact, Commissioner Rosenworcel received approval from the Senate Commerce Committee and awaits a vote from the full Senate. We regret the error.
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2015
Net Neutrality Oral Arguments and Responding to Terrorism
INTERNET/BROADBAND
House Votes to Make ISP Tax Ban Permanent
Seven states to lose millions from Internet access tax ban
States Have Jurisdiction Over ISP-Bound Traffic Says 3rd Circuit
Ninth Circuit hears arguments on IP address blocking and shared accounts under the CFAA - analysis
GOP Senators Grill Chairman Wheeler on Muni Broadband Efforts
Network Neutrality Proponents Warn of Loopholes
Closing the broadband access gap in American cities
Frontier to pay $150 Million to West Virginia to settle lawsuit over broadband speed
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC Sides With T-Mobile in Sirius Dispute
Howard University May Sell Rights to Its Public TV Station’s Spectrum [links to New York Times]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
This is How the Ted Cruz Campaign Could Be Mining Your Facebook Data
New Hampshire’s most influential television station is being pushed out of the next Democratic debate over a labor dispute [links to Politico]
JOURNALISM
NPR's On-Air Source Diversity: Some Improvement, More Work To Be Done
TELEVISION
TV Broadcasters Poised to Turn Back Tough FCC Rule
NBCUniversal to Partner With Data Trackers to Study Olympics Viewing
By 2019, 23% of US households won’t pay for traditional TV, eMarketer says [links to Wall Street Journal]
Small Media Companies Seen Merging in `Skinny Bundle' World [links to Benton summary]
Howard University May Sell Rights to Its Public TV Station’s Spectrum [links to New York Times]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
When kids start getting hacked, it’s time to wake up about cybersecurity - Vivek Wadhwa op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Anti-surveillance gadgets for protesters [links to Benton summary]
RFI: Views on the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity [links to National Institute of Standards and Technology]
Social media sites don’t need government to shut down terrorists [links to Washington Post editorial]
Inside the NSA’s hunt for hackers [links to Politico]
Anonymous’s wars on Trump and ISIS are part of an identity crisis [links to Washington Post]
The ethics of digitally snooping on teens [links to San Jose Mercury News]
UNIVERSAL SERVICE
FCC proposes universal service contribution factor for the first quarter of 2016 will be 18.2 percent [links to Federal Communications Commission]
CONTENT
New York judge shuts down daily fantasy sports sites [links to Hill, The]
For Pandora, Ruling on Webcasting Royalty Rates Is Crucial [links to New York Times]
POLICYMAKERS
President Obama to Re-nominate FTC Chairwoman Ramirez - White House press release [links to Benton summary]
COMPANY NEWS
Investors may be better off not knowing how many people watch Netflix’s shows [links to Wall Street Journal]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
France won’t block public Wi-Fi or ban Tor after all
Alibaba Buying South China Morning Post, Aiming to Influence Media [links to New York Times]
Tech Firms Gird for New EU Privacy Law [links to Wall Street Journal]
back to top
INTERNET/BROADBAND
HOUSE VOTES TO MAKE ISP TAX BAN PERMANENT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
If the Senate follows suit next week, almost a half-billion dollars in taxes on Internet access service will be phased out by 2020, providing a tax break to multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD, or pay-TV) subscribers in seven states, and making broadband access cheaper. The House on Dec 11 voted, for a second time, to make the moratorium on Internet access taxes permanent. It had already voted to do so back in June, approving the stand-alone Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA), but that did not pass the Senate. Dec 11's version of the moratorium, added as a rider on a customs and trade bill, required the House to vote again on the issue. The bill would permanently bar state and local taxes on ISP access, and sunset the seven states, including Texas, whose ISP taxes were grandfathered when the initial ITFA bill passed in 1998. It also has an e-commerce provision that prevents dual taxation -- two states taxing the same Internet transaction.
benton.org/headlines/house-votes-make-isp-tax-ban-permanent | Broadcasting&Cable
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
INTERNET ACCESS TAX BAN
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin are expected to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue when a permanent tax ban on Internet access closes off a loophole they have relied upon for more than a decade. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that cutting off the loophole would amount to $561 million in aggregate lost revenue for those states a year. A temporary ban that prevents states and local governments from taxing the monthly bills that customers pay for Internet service has been around since 1998. But a handful of states have been able to get around that because of a grandfather clause that allows any tax in place before 1998 to continue. But the temporary ban is soon expected to become permanent, and it will also cut off the grandfathered clause after 2020. The National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures expressed disappointment and called on Congress “to honor state authority and preserve the revenues of those states grandfathered under the bill.” Their long-held position had been that the revenue lost from a permanent ban and the end to the grandfather clause should be made up by tying it to a more controversial proposal that would give states increased authority to tax purchases made online.
benton.org/headlines/seven-states-lose-millions-internet-access-tax-ban | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
STATES HAVE JURISDICTION OVER ISP-BOUND TRAFFIC SAYS 3RD CIRCUIT
[SOURCE: Davis Wright Tremaine, AUTHOR: Zeb Zankel]
On November 25, the Third Circuit held that states have jurisdiction over Internet Service Provider (ISP) bound traffic exchanged between two competing local exchange carriers (CLECs). In 2008, Core billed AT&T for terminating local phone calls dating back to 2004, from AT&T’s customers to Core’s ISP customers. AT&T refused to pay, claiming that the traffic had been exchanged on a bill-and-keep basis. Core then filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PPUC), which ruled in Core’s favor. AT&T filed suit in federal court, seeking an injunction on the grounds that the PPUC lacked jurisdiction over ISP-bound traffic because such traffic is the exclusive province of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The district court found that the PPUC lacked jurisdiction over this traffic; Core and the members of the PPUC appealed to the Third Circuit. The Court invoked the concept of “cooperative federalism,” stating that under the Communications Act of 1996, "Congress enlisted the aid of state public utility commissions to ensure the local competition was implemented fairly and with due regard to local conditions and the particular historical circumstances of local regulations under the prior regime.”In light of this, the Court concluded that neither Congress nor the FCC intended to strip state regulators of jurisdiction over this traffic, as long as that jurisdiction is not exercised in a manner contrary to the regulatory regime for this traffic established by the FCC. Since the PPUC’s order did not contravene the FCC’s substantive rules for this traffic, that order should not have been set aside by the district court. Although this ruling relates to the now-dated situation of dial-up calls to ISPs, analogous questions may well arise under the FCC’s Open Internet Order, as state regulators try to find a role for themselves in regulating the provision of broadband Internet access service within their respective states.
benton.org/headlines/states-have-jurisdiction-over-isp-bound-traffic-says-3rd-circuit | Davis Wright Tremaine
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
NINTH CIRCUIT HEARS ARGUMENTS ON IP ADDRESS BLOCKING AND SHARING ACCOUNTS UNDER THE CFAA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Orin Kerr]
[Commentary] On Dec 9, the Ninth Circuit heard argument in Facebook v. Power Ventures, an important case on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”). The case considers whether a company violated the CFAA by accessing Facebook accounts with user permission in violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service, even after Facebook sent a cease-and-desist letter to the company and blocked its IP address. And that’s not the only CFAA case the Ninth Circuit recently heard on using shared passwords. A different panel heard argument in United States v. Nosal on a similar question but involving very different facts.
[Orin Kerr is the Fred C. Stevenson Research Professor at The George Washington University Law School]
benton.org/headlines/ninth-circuit-hears-arguments-ip-address-blocking-and-shared-accounts-under-cfaa | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
GOP SENATORS GRILL CHAIRMAN WHEELER ON MUNI BROADBAND EFFORTS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Eight Republican Sens have written Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to say they are not happy with FCC efforts to encourage municipal broadband, saying that the FCC "should not be in the business of choosing winners and losers in the competitive broadband marketplace." They pointed specifically to the FCC's decision (3-2 along party lines) to preempt state laws limiting municipal broadband, as well as funding government-owned networks through the FCC's Universal Service Fund's rural broadband experiments, and at least one FCC officials' outreach on the issue. Internet service providers have long expressed concerns about preemption, including regarding government overbuilding and subsidizing networks that could fail and leave taxpayers holding the bag. But they also talked more generally about their concern with an FCC promoting municipal overbuilds of privately owned networks.
benton.org/headlines/gop-senators-grill-chairman-wheeler-muni-broadband-efforts | Broadcasting&Cable | Letter to Chairman Wheeler
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
NET NEUTRALITY LOOPHOLES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John McKinnon]
With maneuvers such as exempting specific services from their data caps, cable and phone companies can arguably find ways to favor certain content. That raises questions about how strictly Internet equality can be enforced, even if the Federal Communications Commission’s network neutrality rules survive their current tough court challenge. Many of the practices are “subject to abuse and…a way to favor your own content and disfavor that of rivals,” said Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge, a group that promotes open Internet policies. The FCC’s net-neutrality rules don’t prohibit providers from waiving customers’ data caps for specific content, even though that gives customers a powerful incentive to choose that content. Instead, the FCC says it will examine such practices on a case-by-case basis.
benton.org/headlines/network-neutrality-proponents-warn-loopholes | Wall Street Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CLOSING THE BROADBAND ACCESS GAP IN AMERICAN CITIES
[SOURCE: Brookings, AUTHOR: Jack Karsten, Adie Tomer]
[Commentary] On December 10, the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program and the National League of Cities hosted an event at the titled “Broadband opportunity: boosting uptake in America’s cities and metropolitan areas”. The event featured a moderated conversation with Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ) and a panel discussion with city officials from around the country. We know high-speed Internet is already a major part of daily life, as evident by the 75 percent of American households with broadband subscriptions. But bringing broadband within reach of the other 25 percent remains a challenge, one that is especially acute within metropolitan areas among at-risk populations like the lower-income and less-educated. Getting all Americans a private broadband subscription will require a new federalist framework, where unique responsibilities lie at all levels. Coordination within government and between government and the private sector is paramount.
benton.org/headlines/closing-broadband-access-gap-american-cities | Brookings
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
FRONTIER TO PAY $150 MILLION TO WEST VIRGINIA TO SETTLE LAWSUIT OVER BROADBAND SPEED
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Sue Marek]
Frontier Communications will have to invest at least $150 million over the next three years to increase broadband speeds in West Virginia as part of a settlement to lawsuit filed in 2014 by the state's Attorney General Patrick Morrissey. The lawsuit accused Frontier of promising broadband speeds of up to 6 Mbps but only delivering speeds of 1.5 Mbps or lower. Frontier has admitted to no wrongdoing but has committed to reducing its monthly rate for customers that were impacted by this to $9.99 per month, a savings of $10 to $20 per month. The reduced rate will be available until Frontier increases its network download speeds provisioned at 1.5 Mbps or lower to at least 6 Mbps. The price decreases will start Jan 25. An estimated 28,000 customers will benefit from the rate decrease in addition to any new customers provisioned at the slower speed. The rate reductions are expected to cost Frontier $6.25 million per year. Frontier estimates this will cost the company about $1.5 million per quarter in revenue.
benton.org/headlines/frontier-pay-150-million-west-virginia-settle-lawsuit-over-broadband-speed | Fierce
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC SIDES WITH T-MOBILE IN SIRIUS DISPUTE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Thomas Gryta]
The Federal Communications Commission sided with T-Mobile in a dispute raised by satellite-radio operator Sirius XM over interference issues in its radios. Sirius had attempted to block a relatively small exchange of licenses between T-Mobile and Verizon, claiming that some T-Mobile cell sites disrupt its satellite signals. Sirius said that providing more licenses to T-Mobile would exacerbate the problem. T-Mobile says it isn’t doing anything wrong and blames Sirius radios for the problem. The agency approved the swap and essentially agreed with T-Mobile’s contention that the interference complaint shouldn’t be considered in the review of the license exchange. The FCC said Sirius hadn’t shown that it would be harmed by the transaction and didn’t propose a deal-specific solution. It said Sirius could open a separate proceeding about the alleged interference and the deal approval isn’t related to any potential ruling on the issue. “The interference allegations upon which Sirius relies would be better addressed in a different proceeding,” wrote Roger Sherman, head of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-sides-t-mobile-sirius-dispute | Wall Street Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
TELEVISION
SHARED SERVICES RULE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Keach Hagey]
Television broadcasters are on the cusp of turning back one of the toughest pieces of regulation to hit them in decades. The rule, put in place last year by the Federal Communications Commission, cracks down on sharing agreements between local TV stations, arrangements that have helped broadcasters grow without violating federal ownership limits. The sharing agreements, called “joint sales agreements,” allow one station to operate significant portions of another station in its same market that it doesn't own. Station owners have fiercely resisted the FCC’s move, and their efforts are gaining momentum. The omnibus spending bill that Congress is expected to consider in the hopes of avoiding a government shutdown is likely to include a rider dramatically weakening the FCC rule, according to people familiar with the matter. The provision would grandfather in sharing agreements between local television stations that were struck before the agency’s crackdown.
benton.org/headlines/tv-broadcasters-poised-turn-back-tough-fcc-rule | Wall Street Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
TRACKING OLYMPIC VIEWING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Emily Steel]
For the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, NBCUniversal plans to team up with the television tech company TiVo and RealityMine, a research start-up, to track how people watch the Games on television, mobile and digital platforms. The partnership is intended to provide insights into the daily habits of Olympics viewers and the interplay between watching coverage on television and using tablets and smartphones. It is also expected to deliver clues to how people watch outside the home, as well as the effect of social media on viewership and the effectiveness of advertising during Olympics coverage.
benton.org/headlines/nbcuniversal-partner-data-trackers-study-olympics-viewing | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
HOW THE TED CRUZ CAMPAIGN COULD BE MINING YOUR FACEBOOK DATA
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Pavithra Mohan]
Presidential candidate Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) recently leaped ahead to first place in Iowa and second place behind Donald Trump in national polls. The Texas senator may have pulled ahead of the gaggle by mining data on "tens of millions of" Facebook users. The information was reportedly gathered by Cambridge Analytica, a data company working exclusively for Sen Cruz's campaign -- and was obtained largely without the knowledge of Facebook users. Cambridge Analytica recruited Cambridge University researchers to "gather detailed psychological profiles about the US electorate using a massive pool of mainly unwitting US Facebook users built with an online survey." Cambridge Analytica compiles psychological data by culling Facebook "likes," which it uses to pair user traits with voter data. In 2014, its parent company allegedly worked with Aleksandr Kogan, a professor at Cambridge who used Amazon's crowdsourcing marketplace Mechanical Turk to amass data from a slew of Facebook profiles.The Mechanical Turk users were paid $1 in exchange for taking a survey that would grant access to their profile; this also allowed Kogan to access the profiles of their friends, which vastly increased his data set. That data was then used to construct personality models, which were based on the "big five" traits that make up what is called the OCEAN scale: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The service Cambridge Analytica provides to politicians like Sen Cruz allows them to "use the OCEAN scale in shaping highly targeted campaign messages," according to the Guardian
benton.org/headlines/how-ted-cruz-campaign-could-be-mining-your-facebook-data | Fast Company
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
JOURNALISM
NPR'S ON-AIR SOURCE DIVERSITY: SOME IMPROVEMENT, MORE WORK TO BE DONE
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Jensen]
[Commentary] Results are in from the third year of NPR's sourcing project -- designed to understand and ultimately improve the gender, geographic, and racial and ethnic diversity of people heard on NPR as outside sources of news and opinion. The news is mixed. In fiscal year 2015, which ended Sept. 30, there was a notable increase, compared to two years earlier, in the percentage of black sources, and an incremental, statistically insignificant increase in the share of female sources. Most disappointingly, there was virtually no change in the share of Latino sources. Asian sources improved slightly (again, a statistically insignificant change). The third-year results reflect a variety of experiments to improve source diversity that took place in 14 newsroom divisions over nine months. Looking at race and ethnicity, the findings showed a decline in the overall percentage of white sources, to 73 percent, in fiscal year 2015, compared to 80 percent in fiscal year 2013. As the dominance of white voices dropped, the share of black sources rose to 11 percent, from 5 percent, and the share of Asian sources rose to 8 percent, from 5 percent. But the share of Latino sources stayed flat, at 6 percent each year.
benton.org/headlines/nprs-air-source-diversity-some-improvement-more-work-be-done | National Public Radio
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
STORIES FROM ABROAD
FRANCE WON'T BLOCK PUBLIC WI-FI OR BAN TOR AFTER ALL
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Andrii Degeler]
Public Wi-Fi networks and Tor won't be blocked or forbidden in France in the near future, even during a state of emergency, despite the country's Ministry of Interior reportedly considering it. Days after the reports on the proposal surfaced, the country's prime minister Manuel Valls said he had never heard of such requests by police. "A ban on Wi-Fi is not a course of action envisaged," he said. Prime minister Valls also said he wasn't in favor of banning Tor, and denied any knowledge of the police authorities requesting a law to "require [service] providers to give security forces access codes." "Internet is a freedom, is an extraordinary means of communication between people, it is a benefit to the economy," Valls said. "It is also a means for terrorists to communicate and spread their totalitarian ideology. The police must take in all of these aspects to improve their fight against terrorism, but the measures we take must be effective."
benton.org/headlines/france-wont-block-public-wi-fi-or-ban-tor-after-all | Ars Technica
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
