BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016
Today's Events: Senate Transportation Subcommittee hearing, "How the Internet of Things Can Bring US Transportation and Infrastructure into the 21st Century" -- https://www.benton.org/node/243476
Heritage Foundation panel, "Federal Online Data Security Regulation: Where Are We Going?" -- https://www.benton.org/node/243475
OWNERSHIP
FACT SHEET: Updating Media Ownership Rules in the Public Interest - press release
LABOR
FACT SHEET: Expanding the Tech Economies of Communities across the Country - press release
Digital trade is booming [links to American Public Media]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Commissioner O'Rielly Remarks at Broadband for All Seminar in Stockholm - speech [links to Benton summary]
NCTA: Business Data Proposal Could Impair 5G [links to Benton summary]
INCOMPAS/Verizon: 50 Mbps Should Be Business Data Services Table Stakes [links to Multichannel News]
Op-Ed: Time to Strive for an 'A' in Reaching MDUs [links to Multichannel News]
ITU blog: Addressing the Urban, Rural ICT Divide [links to International Telecommunication Union]
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
How The Democrats’ Leading Software Provider Is Planning To Win You Over
Donald Trump flexes new digital muscle
Donald Trump's general election media problem - Vox op-ed [links to Benton summary]
More previously unreleased Clinton e-mails emerge [links to Hill, The]
Wireless networks boost capacity for political conventions [links to Benton summary]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Net neutrality: Wireless should be looked at through a different lens - op-ed
FCC's Forward Auction Starts Late July at Earliest [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
FCC Changes Direction on 5G License Areas [links to Benton summary]
TELEVISION
Comment and Reply Deadlines Set for Public Inspection File NPRM [links to Benton summary]
Debunking Anti-App Claims - Commissioner O'Rielly blog[links to Benton summary]
Remarks of Commissioner O'Rielly at the 2016 Conference of New Jersey Broadcasters Association - speech [links to Benton summary]
One Media to FCC: Open the Digital Gates [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
You May Soon Be Able to Watch Local Broadcast TV on the Internet [links to Benton summary]
Hit Reset on Set-Tops - editorial [links to Benton summary]
Nielsen: Subscription Video on Demand Penetration Equals DVRs in US [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
Goodbye, Cablevision [links to Multichannel News]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Google CEO hacked [links to Hill, The]
People Can’t Tell What Apps Use Encryption, And Don’t Really Care, Study Finds [links to Vice]
Op-Ed: There Is No Such Thing as “Public” Data [links to Slate]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Opinion: President Obama should pardon Edward Snowden before leaving office [links to Verge, The]
With live-streaming video, lawmakers become citizen journalists [links to Brookings]
I, Snowbot: A Portrait of Edward Snowden [links to New York Magazine]
TELECOM
FTC Alerts Telemarketers that TSR Prohibits Certain Payment Methods; Warns Consumers that Use of the Payment Methods Is Illegal - press release [links to Benton summary]
CONTENT
Uber partners with Pandora to give drivers ad-free Internet radio [links to Verge, The]
ADVERTISING
European Union moving toward new charges against Google [links to Benton summary]
These billboards will target you as you drive by [links to CNNMoney]
At Cannes, the Ad Industry Confronts the Rise of Facebook [links to New York Times]
CHILDREN & MEDIA
My kids don't have a YouTube channel — but they pretend they do [links to Benton summary]
HEALTH
How Telemedicine Is Transforming Health Care
How to Prevent a Heart Attack: Text Patients on Healthy Habits [links to Wall Street Journal]
JOURNALISM
Summary: Behavioral study of expectation in media - research [links to Benton summary]
The New Yorker, BuzzFeed, and the push for digital credibility [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
POLICYMAKERS
Obama White House Veterans Gleefully Enter the Podcast World [links to New York Times]
President Obama hints at a future in Venture Capitalism, and Silicon Valley is salivating [links to Benton summary]
EDUCATION
"The Internet Will Be Everywhere and Nowhere." Dr. Michio Kaku's ISTE 2016 Keynote [links to EdSurge]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
What U.K. Vote to Leave EU May Mean for Global Tech Industry [links to AdAge]
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OWNERSHIP
FACT SHEET ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP RULES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Wheeler is delivering on his commitment to Congress and the Third Circuit, circulating the 2010/2014 Quadrennial review and rules that, if adopted, will take into account the evolving media marketplace and the Commission’s obligation to conduct timely review of the rules. Consistent the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Commission considers whether the rules continue to serve its goals of promoting competition, localism, and diversity – in particular, diversity of viewpoints in local markets, thereby enriching local communities. The rules now circulated for vote by the full Commission:
Preserve the existing ownership restrictions, with targeted modifications.
Carry out the Third Circuit’s remand of diversity issues, re-adopt the small business revenue-based eligible entity standard, address proposals submitted by MMTC, and decline to adopt race- or gender-based measures.
Readopt the TV Joint sales agreement attribution rule consistent with the court’s guidance in Prometheus III and Congress’s guidance on grandfathering.
Adopt a definition of shared services agreements; require that these agreements be filed with the Commissionand made publicly available; and do not attribute any such agreements, other than JSAs, at this time.
benton.org/headlines/fact-sheet-updating-media-ownership-rules-public-interest | Federal Communications Commission | Broadcasting&Cable
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LABOR
EXPANDING TECH ECONOMIES FACT SHEET
[SOURCE: White House, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Department of Labor is awarding 39 grants—totaling $150 million—for programs in 25 states and Washington (DC) to support innovative ways to get workers on the fastest paths to well-paying information technology and high-growth jobs in in-demand sectors like healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and financial services. Of these grants, $126 million will specifically target strategies designed to best support young Americans, ages 17 to 29. All of the partnerships funded engage in the following practices:
1) Expand access to accelerated learning options that provide a quick path to good jobs, such as “bootcamp”-style programs, online options, and competency-based programs.
2) Use data and innovative hiring practices to expand openness to non-traditional hiring by working with employers to build robust data on where they have the greatest needs, identify what skills they are looking for, and build willingness to hire from both nontraditional and traditional training programs.
3) Offer specialized training strategies, supportive services, and other participant-focused services that assist targeted populations to overcome barriers, including networking and job search, active job development, transportation, mentoring, and financial counseling.
4) Emphasize inclusion by leveraging the high demand for tech jobs and new training and hiring approaches to improve access to tech jobs for all citizens, including out-of-school and out-of-work young Americans, people with disabilities, people learning English as a second language, and people with criminal records.
benton.org/headlines/fact-sheet-expanding-tech-economies-communities-across-country | White House
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
INSIDE DEMOCRATS' LEADING SOFTWARE PROVIDER
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Neal Ungerleider]
The next time a volunteer for Hillary Clinton or another Democratic candidate shows up at your door, they may know more about you than you ever imagined. NGP Van, the leading software provider to the Democratic party, is rolling out some new automation features. They include: forms on websites that can automatically fill out volunteer information; automated generation of e-mails for voters; and even updates to their app that generate talking points for campaign volunteers depending on how a conversation goes. Using the script branching feature, volunteers can talk to voters door-to-door while referring to a smartphone app that provides what NGP Van calls "dynamic canvassing scripts" that contain talking points which change depending on the response given by the person opening the door. Another automation feature the company added to its SaaS (software as a service) web app automatically generates volunteer workflows, which trigger follow-up e-mails based on responses knocking door to-door, and creates single-click sign-up forms. This functionality takes advantage of 40 million "action profiles," similar to cookies, that the company has acquired from users. The e-mails are designed to be increasingly personalized as the election cycle goes on; these features are commonly found in commercial customer-relationship management software such as Salesforce, but are not as commonly seen in the world of politics.
benton.org/headlines/how-democrats-leading-software-provider-planning-win-you-over | Fast Company
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TRUMP FLEXES NEW DIGITAL MUSCLE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: David McCabe]
Donald Trump is beefing up his digital strategy as he enters the general election campaign against Hillary Clinton. The presumptive Republican nominee has rolled out a website highlighting what he says are lies told by Clinton and, for the first time, is e-mailing fundraising pitches to supporters, one of the key elements of a national campaign. “I think the early signs we’ve seen, from them activating a small dollar online plan coupled with the rollout of the microsite, tells me that the Donald Trump campaign is getting its footing,” said Michael Duncan, a partner at Cavalry, LLC, a political consultancy, who directed digital strategy for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) 2014 reelection bid. “I’m hopeful that it’s the first of many steps towards building out a more sophisticated digital operation," he said. Trump’s campaign has taken a few steps in recent days to expand its digital footprint beyond the businessman’s Twitter account, which already has more than 9 million followers. It launched a website dedicated solely to making the case that Clinton is dishonest, a frequent line of attack for Trump. The site, what is known among digital operatives as a “microsite,” has its overall message embedded in the URL: LyingCrookedHillary.com. The creation of the site followed Trump’s first-ever fundraising e-mail in which he promised to make it “the most successful introductory fundraising e-mail in modern political history."
benton.org/headlines/donald-trump-flexes-new-digital-muscle | Hill, The
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
NET NEUTRALITY: WIRELESS SHOULD BE LOOKED AT THROUGH A DIFFERENT LENS
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Mark Lowenstein]
[Commentary] With the US Federal Appeals Court ruling earlier in June, it looks like network neutrality is here to stay, at least for now. Much ink has been spilled on both sides of this debate, but I’d like to weigh in on the wireless angle. Part of what was affirmed in the ruling is that wireless broadband fits under the same rules as fixed broadband, and wireless users "don’t see the difference." In fact, the practice of "zero rating" is coming under fire, and might end up being the first test case of the Federal Communications Commission applying net neutrality rules to wireless. This tells me that, as net neutrality heads toward even more appeals and potentially to the Supreme Court, we need to urge that wireless be looked at through a different lens. What has changed since the net neutrality discussions started in earnest in 2009 is that wireless network performance is broadband-esque. A good LTE connection with all cylinders firing — wide channel, carrier aggregation, advanced MIMO — offers an experience comparable to middle-of-the-road fixed broadband service. But the economics are fundamentally different. If network neutrality heads to further appeals, as appears likely, I believe the idea of treating wireless differently should be rekindled.
[Mark Lowenstein is the managing director of Mobile Ecosystem and recently a member of the senior leadership team at Verizon Wireless]
benton.org/headlines/net-neutrality-wireless-should-be-looked-through-different-lens | Revere Digital
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HEALTH
HOW TELEMEDICINE IS TRANSFORMING HEALTH CARE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Melinda Beck]
After years of big promises, telemedicine is finally living up to its potential. Driven by faster Internet connections, ubiquitous smartphones and changing insurance standards, more health providers are turning to electronic communications to do their jobs—and it’s upending the delivery of health care. Doctors are linking up with patients by phone, e-mail and webcam. They’re also consulting with each other electronically—sometimes to make split-second decisions on heart attacks and strokes. Patients, meanwhile, are using new devices to relay their blood pressure, heart rate and other vital signs to their doctors so they can manage chronic conditions at home. Telemedicine also allows for better care in places where medical expertise is hard to come by. Five to 10 times a day, Doctors Without Borders relays questions about tough cases from its physicians in Niger, South Sudan and elsewhere to its network of 280 experts around the world, and back again via the Internet. As a measure of how rapidly telemedicine is spreading, consider: More than 15 million Americans received some kind of medical care remotely in 2015, according to the American Telemedicine Association, a trade group, which expects those numbers to grow by 30% in 2016.
benton.org/headlines/how-telemedicine-transforming-health-care | Wall Street Journal
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