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August 2016

Democrats, Republicans and the Internet

[Commentary] In 2016, for the first time, Internet policy is prominent in both major-party platforms. While there are distinct disagreements and differences in approach to tech policy, there are also areas of common ground — revealing potential openings for bipartisan action.

Access: When it comes to getting everyone connected there are some signs of accord. But neither party goes far enough to address the real obstacles to bridging the digital divide. The GOP seeks to “facilitate access to spectrum by paving the way for high-speed, next-generation broadband deployment and competition on the Internet and for internet services.” The Democrats want to deploy “next-generation wireless service that will… bring faster Internet connections to underserved areas.” The Republican platform encourages “public-private partnerships to provide predictable support for connecting rural areas so that every American can fully participate in the global economy.” The Democrats want government to take it one step further by working to “finish the job of connecting every household in America to high-speed broadband, increase Internet adoption, and help hook up anchor institutions so they can offer free Wi-Fi to the public.” While both platforms emphasize rural connections, they ignore the adoption gap in urban areas, as my colleague S. Derek Turner, research director at Free Press, explains. “The emphasis on rural is understandable, but the truth is we’ve made strides in rural areas,” Turner said, noting that there are both public and private initiatives to build out. “Rural areas have near-universal coverage; what they lack is multiple options at higher speeds. We’ve continued to ignore the competition problem, which impacts lower-income people and people of color the most.”

[Tim Karr advocates for universal access to open networks at Free Press and Free Press Action Fund]

Time Warner takes a 10% stake in Hulu, boosting it to compete with Netflix

Media giant Time Warner has agreed to take a 10% stake in Hulu, becoming the fourth major media company to put its weight behind the increasingly popular online video-streaming service. The deal better positions Hulu to compete with industry leader Netflix by bulking up Hulu’s supply of high-quality programming. The move also accelerates Time Warner’s foray into video streaming, coming more than a year after the company launched the stand-alone HBO Now service to attract consumers who are not inclined to subscribe to a traditional cable TV package. Time Warner also owns the prominent Turner Broadcasting cable channels CNN, TBS, TNT and Cartoon Network. “This investment fits our strategy like a glove,” said Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes.

Hulu, which is headquartered in Santa Monica (CA), was launched nearly a decade ago by NBCUniversal, now owned by Comcast, and Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. Walt Disney Co. later joined Hulu. Disney, NBCUniversal and Fox each own 30% of Hulu, giving Time Warner the smallest stake. Time Warner pledged about $583 million for its piece, which values Hulu at nearly $6 billion.

Few Clinton or Trump Supporters Have Close Friends in the Other Camp

In an increasingly contentious presidential campaign, just a quarter of voters who support Donald Trump in the general election say they have a lot or some close friends who are supporters of Hillary Clinton. Even fewer Clinton backers (18%) say they have at least some friends who support Trump. Nearly half of Clinton supporters (47%), and 31% of Trump supporters, say they have no close friends who support the opposing candidate. More than four-in-ten Trump supporters (44%) say they have a lot of close friends who back Trump, while another 38% say they have some friends who support him. Similarly, most Clinton supporters say they have a lot (41%) or some close friends (40%) who also express support for Clinton.

Among the findings: Election discussions focus more on personalities than issues. About six-in-ten voters (59%) say the discussions about the election have mostly been about the candidates’ personalities and comments; fewer (32%) say they have focused on specific issues and policy positions. In this regard, voters are having conversations about the election that reflect what they say they are seeing from the campaign and news coverage of the election. In June, 65% of voters said the presidential campaign “is not focused on important policy debates,” and in a separate survey, 55% of adults said there was too little news coverage of the candidates’ stances on issues.

Debunking a Few Myths about the FCC’s Incentive Auction

With the Federal Communications Commission’s Incentive Auction poised to move into its next phase with the August 16th start of active bidding in the forward auction, where companies looking to provide mobile broadband services will bid on licenses carved out of the spectrum vacated by TV broadcasters, we thought it might be helpful to address a few of the myths that seem to be floating around about the auction.
Myth: In the initial stage of the reverse auction, broadcasters were greedy, demanding that the government pay $86.4 billion for their spectrum.
Myth: Given the $86.4 billion clearing cost, this auction is sure to drag on into 2017.
Myth: If the auction goes to a second stage, all of the TV stations that are still in the auction will be forced to accept lower prices.
Myth: The FCC’s rules have chilled all deal-making activities during the Incentive Auction.

Make Algorithms Accountable

[Commentary] Algorithms are ubiquitous in our lives. They map out the best route to our destination and help us find new music based on what we listen to now. But they are also being employed to inform fundamental decisions about our lives. Companies use them to sort through stacks of résumés from job seekers. Credit agencies use them to determine our credit scores. And the criminal justice system is increasingly using algorithms to predict a defendant’s future criminality. Those computer-generated criminal “risk scores” were at the center of a recent Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that set the first significant limits on the use of risk algorithms in sentencing. The court ruled that while judges could use these risk scores, the scores could not be a “determinative” factor in whether a defendant was jailed or placed on probation. And, most important, the court stipulated that a presentence report submitted to the judge must include a warning about the limits of the algorithm’s accuracy. This warning requirement is an important milestone in the debate over how our data-driven society should hold decision-making software accountable. But advocates for big data due process argue that much more must be done to assure the appropriateness and accuracy of algorithm results.

[Julia Angwin is a reporter at ProPublica.]

Senior citizens rarely consult Dr. Google for medical advice, study says

Senior citizens need more medical care than anyone else in the United States. And the Internet is chock full of health information. Yet seniors are far less likely than other adults to tap into it, new research shows.

A report published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. found that only about 18% of participants in the National Health and Aging Trends Study got health information online in 2014. That pales in comparison with the approximately 60% of adults of all ages who have told the Pew Research Center that they consult Dr. Google at least once a year -- including the 35% who said they rely on the Web to diagnose their own ailments or the maladies of people they know. Since 2011, thousands of Medicare beneficiaries in the aging trends study have been completing annual surveys that gauge their use of technology. In the survey’s first year, 64% of the survey takers had computers and 43% were hooked up to the Internet. Their average age was 75. Apparently, these seniors had better things to do than research ways to prevent heart disease, manage symptoms of diabetes or stave off dementia. E-mail was far more enticing. Electronic banking (but not online shopping) was also more popular. Among all 7,609 initial study participants, only 16% said they went online to learn something about health. In addition, 8% said they filled prescriptions online, 7% used the Internet to get in touch with their doctors and 5% dealt with their insurance claims on the Web.

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