Arnold Palmer, the Magnetic Face of Golf in the ’60s and Marlins ace Jose Fernandez
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2016
At CCA Convention, FCC Commissioners Discuss Competition and the Future of Mobile Broadband
Today's Event -- Technology Transitions Info Session, FCC -- https://www.benton.org/calendar
See Also -- FCC Tells You About Your Phone Transition — Y’all Might Want To Pay Attention.
ACCESSIBILITY
Remarks by Karen Peltz-Strauss on Accessibility and Inclusion, 2016 Trumpeter Awards - speech
INTERNET/BROADBAND
AT&T sues Nashville in bid to stall Google Fiber
ICANN -- A Regulator in Need of Antitrust Oversight - op-ed
Jon Healey: The free and open Internet dodges a bullet in the Senate [links to Los Angeles Times]
Shane Tews op-ed -- The IANA transition: Creating a responsible outcome [links to American Enterprise Institute]
ISP explains data caps to FCC: Using the Internet is like eating Oreos [links to Benton summary]
CenturyLink: We can achieve 50% penetration in areas served by CAF-II
Google’s Internet-Beaming Balloon Gets a New Pilot: Artificial Intelligence [links to Benton summary]
Windstream brings broadband wireless to Salt Lake City with plans to extend service to 25 additional markets [links to Fierce]
Washington’s weird war on “free” - AEI op-ed [links to Benton summary]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC’s 19th Mobile Wireless Competition Report - public notice
CTIA: FCC Report Shows Vibrant Competition [links to Multichannel News]
FCC Reaches $450,000 Settlement with AT&T for Unauthorized Wireless Operations
Industry Makes Progress on Unlicensed LTE Coexistence - press release
Seattle's Best - Chairman Wheeler blog [links to Benton summary]
Verizon data overages strain family ties, as well as wallets [links to Benton summary]
ELECTIONS 2016
A Campaign Of, By, and For Big Media - Michael Copps op-ed
Donald Trump Doubles Down on Internet Ignorance - Tim Karr op-ed
What are the big tech companies lobbying for this election?
How Donald Trump’s Internet policy could benefit Russia [links to Benton summary]
Why TV news needs to pull itself together for the Trump-Clinton presidential debates [links to Los Angeles Times]
'New York Times' Editor: 'We Owed It To Our Readers' To Call Trump Claims Lies [links to National Public Radio]
House Oversight Committee Votes to Hold Clinton Techie in Contempt [links to Benton summary]
Elite ‘bundlers’ raise more than $113 million for Hillary Clinton [links to Center for Public Integrity]
Harry Jessell: Uncertain Political Is Broadcast Wake-Up Call [links to TVNewsCheck editorial]
Rep Honda sues political rival, Ro Khanna, claims former staffer stole campaign data [links to Ars Technica]
Tim Kaine’s quiet, pre-debate warning shot at Lester Holt and the media [links to Washington Post]
Op-Ed: Show us the money — or at least show us the source [links to Hill, The]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Sen Richard Blumenthal Calls for Probe Over Yahoo Hack [links to Hill, The]
Yahoo data breach casts ‘cloud’ over Verizon deal [links to Washington Post]
Yahoo only revealed details of 2014 hack to Verizon two days ago [links to Guardian, The]
You could have a Yahoo account without even knowing it [links to CNNMoney]
Privacy groups call for FTC probe of WhatsApp promises [links to IDG News Service]
CBO Scores United States-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act [links to Congressional Budget Office]
OWNERSHIP
Inside the Final Days of Roger Aile's Reign at Fox News [links to Vanity Fair]
Yahoo data breach casts ‘cloud’ over Verizon deal [links to Washington Post]
Google Is Trying to Get Oracle in Trouble for a $1 Billion Open Secret [links to Vice]
TELEVISION/RADIO
A Choice Beyond Cable Box Rentals? It May Hinge on a Swing Voter
If The FCC Gets It Way, This App Could Change The Way You Watch TV And Save Dollars [links to National Public Radio]
Set-Tops: NAB Advises FCC To Stay Out of Licensing [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
Set-Tops: ANA Calls FCC App Licensing Regime 'Draconian' [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
NAACP, Urban League, Tell FCC To Pause Set-Top Vote [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
T-Mobile Backs FCC on Set-Tops [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
Percent Of TV Channels Viewed Drops To Single Digits, Nielsen Attributes Digital Choices [links to MediaPost]
iHeartMedia to offer `live radio' on demand [links to USAToday]
JOURNALISM
Let’s Talk About Free Speech - Knight Foundation op-ed [links to Benton summary]
‘There’s gotta be a better way’: Ethical dilemmas surround eyewitness video [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
Grit vs. Goliath: A Reporter’s Dogged Pursuit of Roger Ailes [links to New York Times]
The Verge’s Chris Ziegler simultaneously worked for Apple for several months, but didn’t disclose that fact publicly or to his employers [links to Verge, The]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
NYC bombing spurs push to overhaul emergency alerts [links to Hill, The]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
House Passes Modernizing Government Technology Act
White House preps agencies for possible shutdown [links to Hill, The]
Government lawyers don’t understand the Internet. That’s a problem. - WaPo op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Cops are raiding the homes of innocent people based only on IP addresses [links to Benton summary]
Government lawyers don’t understand the Internet. That’s a problem. - op-ed [links to Benton summary]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Congo’s Female Tech Activists Risk Violence, Jail, and Rape to Speak Out [links to Vice]
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ACCESSIBILITY
REMARKS BY KAREN PELTZ STRAUSS ON ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Karen Peltz-Stauss]
What does inclusion actually mean for people with disabilities? Communication services can open doors to education, information, jobs, commerce, entertainment, and government services. Being able to connect can break down not only physical, but attitudinal barriers for people with disabilities, promoting greater self-determination and integration into society. But this can only happen if these technologies are designed to be accessible. Now, clearly, technological advances have improved our lives – and dramatically so. But staying ahead of the technological curve becomes a challenge when new innovations for the general public don’t consider the needs of people with disabilities. From the 1980s until my tenure at the Federal Communications Commission, I was fortunate to be part of a nationwide movement to end discrimination against people with disabilities, an effort that has been compared to the civil rights movements of the 60s and 70s. Our reward was a string of federal laws that require closed captioning, video description, access to mobile and video devices, and a host of other disability protections. Under Chairman Wheeler’s strong leadership, the FCC has implemented these mandates by, for example, adopting rules for high quality captions, text-to-911 access, hearing aid compatibility, and the distribution of free communications devices to low income people who are both deaf and blind. A debt of thanks is owed to the Chairman, the Commissioners, and the incredible teams of FCC employees who have been so dedicated in their commitment to developing these safeguards.
benton.org/headlines/remarks-karen-peltz-strauss-accessibility-and-inclusion-2016-trumpeter-awards | Federal Communications Commission
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
AT&T SUES NASHVILLE IN BID TO STALL GOOGLE FIBER
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
AT&T has sued Nashville (TN) to stop a new ordinance designed to accelerate the deployment of Google Fiber. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Nashville Sept 22, only two days after the Nashville Metro Council passed a “One Touch Make Ready” rule that gives new Internet service providers faster access to utility poles. The ordinance lets a single company make all of the necessary wire adjustments on utility poles itself, instead of having to wait for incumbent providers like AT&T and Comcast to send work crews to move their own wires. Google Fiber says it is waiting on AT&T and Comcast to move wires on nearly 8,000 poles. AT&T’s lawsuit claims that the ordinance is preempted by Federal Communications Commission pole attachment regulations and violates AT&T’s 58-year-old pole attachment contract with Nashville. The company seeks a declaration that the ordinance is unlawful and a permanent injunction preventing the local government from enforcing it.
benton.org/headlines/att-sues-nashville-bid-stall-google-fiber | Ars Technica
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ICANN -- A REGULATOR IN NEED OF ANTITRUST OVERSIGHT
[SOURCE: Morning Consult, AUTHOR: Thomas Lenard, Lawrence White]
[Commentary] The pending transition of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) away from US government oversight has involved in-depth discussion about how to maintain an open Internet free from government control. What has received considerably less attention in these discussions is how ICANN has performed while under US oversight—especially as a regulator. This lack of attention can partly be attributed to ICANN’s insistence that, as its president Göran Marby said at a Senate hearing recently, “ICANN is not a regulator.” Perhaps not officially, but what ICANN actually does is indistinguishable from a regulatory agency. ICANN, however, is a regulator with a difference. It is not a government agency, but rather a private-sector corporation that is and will continue to be subject to US antitrust laws whether or not its tie to the US government ends. The presence of antitrust oversight is a good thing. So, as the clock winds down on ICANN’s contractual relationship with the US government, it is important to ask how well ICANN is performing its regulatory functions. Using the standard criterion for regulation—promoting competition and consumer welfare—it would appear that the US antitrust agencies could provide ICANN some beneficial oversight.
[Thomas M. Lenard is a senior fellow and president emeritus at the Technology Policy Institute. Lawrence J. White is professor of economics at the NYU Stern School of Business.]
ICANN -- A
benton.org/headlines/icann-regulator-need-antitrust-oversight | Morning Consult
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CENTURYLINK AND CONNECT AMERICA FUND
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Sean Buckley]
CenturyLink said that as it extends broadband services to rural areas via the Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America Fund-II program, it can attract a larger amount of customers that reside in 1.2 million homes with 10/1 Mbps speeds. In 2015, CenturyLink accepted $500 million in the second phase of the FCC's Connect America Fund (CAF-II), enabling it to deliver broadband services to about 1.2 million rural households and businesses in 33 states over the next six years. By accepting the 33 CAF II statewide offers, CenturyLink will be able to deliver up to 10/1 Mbps to locations in FCC-designated, high-cost census blocks that today can get at best between 1.5 to 3 Mbps speeds. Stewart Ewing, CFO of CenturyLink, said that as its technicians begin building service in a community, more users will sign up. “There are numerous examples of places where we have gone out and enabled locations that did not have service before,” Ewing said. “With door hangers left by the technicians and word of mouth, basically you can quickly get penetration of 50 percent.”
benton.org/headlines/centurylink-we-can-achieve-50-penetration-areas-served-caf-ii | Fierce
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
WIRELESS COMPETITION REPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
This Nineteenth Mobile Wireless Competition Report analyzes competition across the entire mobile wireless marketplace, including key market segments such as spectrum and infrastructure. It provides an analysis of the overall competitive dynamics of the industry, describing the various operating entities and their relative positions using indices such as market share, subscribership (totals, additions, and churn), as well as various financial indicators. The Report then presents a broad overview of industry trends and developments in the mobile marketplace that have taken place since the Eighteenth Report. The Report then turns to an analysis of key inputs necessary for provision of mobile service, such as spectrum and network infrastructure. Spectrum, in particular, is a critical input that wireless service providers need for the provision of mobile wireless services, and this Report examines the distribution of spectrum in the various bands. Next, the Report analyzes recent developments in the ways service providers compete for and attract subscribers through pricing innovations, such as the decreased reliance on traditional handset subsidies and term contracts. The Report then analyzes competitive rivalry in non-price factors, such as coverage, service quality, and speed. Finally, the Report considers developments in the downstream mobile wireless ecosystem as well as issues such as consumer access to information and intermodal developments.
benton.org/headlines/fccs-19th-mobile-wireless-competition-report | Federal Communications Commission
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INDUSTRY PROGRESS ON UNLICENSED LTE COEXISTENCE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Julius Knapp]
The Office of Engineering and Technology and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau have been closely monitoring industry efforts to ensure that new versions of LTE technology can co-exist with Wi-Fi and other unlicensed devices operating at 5 GHz. The Commission’s rules for unlicensed devices are designed to prevent harmful interference to authorized radio services through limits on transmitter power and spurious emissions. Industry has developed standards such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee within the framework of these rules, generally with the intention of ensuring cooperative sharing of the spectrum by unlicensed devices while recognizing that such devices are not protected from interference.
benton.org/headlines/industry-makes-progress-unlicensed-lte-coexistence | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC REACHES $450K SETTLEMENT WITH AT&T FOR UNAUTHORIZED WIRELESS OPERATIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau has reached a $450,000 settlement with AT&T to resolve an investigation into whether AT&T operated fixed wireless stations without authorization or without filing required license modification notices. The investigation revealed that AT&T operated numerous common carrier fixed point-to-point microwave stations throughout the United States in ways that differed from the stations’ licenses for periods ranging from three and a half years to over four years. The Enforcement Bureau began its investigation of AT&T in 2012. In August 2014, during the course of the investigation, AT&T reported to the Commission that it had discovered numerous inconsistencies between the licensed parameters and the constructed facilities of a large number of fixed microwave licenses that it acquired from 2009 through 2012. AT&T did not timely review the acquired licenses, which resulted in the unauthorized operation of many of the stations by its subsidiaries New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC and AT&T Mobility Puerto Rico, Inc. As a result, the Enforcement Bureau investigated the licensing history of approximately 250 AT&T stations to determine the extent of the unauthorized operations. In January 2015, the Commission adopted a Notice of Apparently Liability for Forfeiture to AT&T alleging violations that the company admitted to in today’s settlement. As part of today’s settlement agreement, AT&T has agreed to implement a compliance plan through which it will conduct timely reviews of wireless fixed microwave stations acquired in future transactions to ensure that the stations are operating in accordance with their licensed parameters, file periodic progress reports on its compliance efforts, and correct any noncompliance discovered during the review process within 60 days of its discovery.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-reaches-450000-settlement-att-unauthorized-wireless-operations | Federal Communications Commission | read the order
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ELECTIONS 2016
A CAMPAIGN OF, BY, AND FOR BIG MEDIA
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Michael Copps]
[Commentary] Maybe we asked for it. Perhaps as citizens we just can’t muster up the time and energy to delve into the issues that really matter. We can’t even seem to get to the polls in anything approaching credible numbers. When barely over 30% cast a ballot in the 2014 Congressional, state, and local elections, what’s happened to democracy’s vital juices? Voters in countries around the world turn out numbers in the 70th, 80th, even 90th percent ranges. Even in our Presidential elections, we pat ourselves on the back if we get to 55 percent. You could make Pogo’s case that we have met the enemy—and it is us. But is this skimpy democratic participation cause or is it effect? Is it only that we as citizens are short-changing our democracy? Or is someone giving us a helping hand? Even worse, is somebody else the even greater culprit? It’s no secret to readers of this space that I believe the declining state of our electoral campaigns, the news and information we are fed, and the collapse of investigative journalism have been fed by Big Media. The consolidation of media ownership in so few hands has decimated our civic and political dialogue. The billions and billions of dollars that the captains of Big Media must spend to consolidate their control leads directly, and most often immediately, to cutbacks in the newsroom, the wholesale shuttering of news bureaus, and the firing of almost a third of newsroom employees since just 2000—and it started before that.
[Michael Copps served as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from May 2001 to December 2011 and was the FCC's Acting Chairman from January to June 2009. In 2012, former Commissioner Copps joined Common Cause to lead its Media and Democracy Reform Initiative.]
https://www.benton.org/blog/campaign-and-big-media
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TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON INTERNET IGNORANCE
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: Tim Karr]
[Commentary] Donald Trump wants to make the Internet great again. Problem is, the GOP nominee doesn’t know enough about the Internet to understand what, if anything, that means. On Sept 21, Trump’s campaign came out against an Obama Administration plan to relinquish US control of one important aspect of the Internet: the supervision of domain names. The plan is to remove the US government control of that function and transfer it more fully to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, a global body. Trump’s sometime-nemesis Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) is threatening to hold the government-spending bill hostage unless Congress rejects President Barack Obama’s plan. Sen Cruz wrongly states that the ICANN transition would “empower countries like Russia, China and Iran to be able to censor speech on the Internet, your speech." On this Trump agrees. “The Republicans in Congress are admirably leading a fight to save the Internet this week, and need all the help the American people can give them to be successful,” a Trump campaign spokesman said in a statement. “Congress needs to act, or Internet freedom will be lost for good, since there will be no way to make it great again once it is lost.” But Trump and Sen Cruz are wrong. And it’s Trump who has repeatedly threatened to shut down the Internet to keep Americans safe from terrorists. He’s offered few specifics about how this might be achieved.
[Tim Karr is the senior director of strategy for Free Press]
benton.org/headlines/donald-trump-doubles-down-internet-ignorance | Medium
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INTERNET LOBBY
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: Geof Wheelwright]
When US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump debate, they will undoubtedly be watched carefully by senior executives of – and lobbyists for – the country’s largest technology companies. Both candidates have been vocal on some key issues near and dear to the hearts of technology companies – such as global trade. So both trade and technology appear to be on the agenda, but what else do the tech companies want Clinton and Trump talking about?
Google: anti-competitiveness, labor issues and copyright
Amazon: tax, product safety and aviation
Facebook: national security, intelligence and patent law
Apple: tax, telecoms and copyright battles
benton.org/headlines/what-are-big-tech-companies-lobbying-election | Guardian, The
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TELEVISION
SET TOP BOXES AND JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
When the Federal Communications Commission announced a plan that would free people from having to rent cable set-top boxes, the cable and television industries balked and lobbied hard to forestall the proposal. But it turns out the biggest threat to the plan, which the FCC is expected to vote on Sept 29, is a low-profile Democratic commissioner within the agency itself. Jessica Rosenworcel, a career telecom wonk whom President Obama appointed to the FCC in 2012, has become the crucial swing vote on the cable box proposal. She is one of three Democrats of the agency’s five rule-making members, which would normally be enough to carry a vote since commissioners typically act in line with their parties. But Commissioner Rosenworcel has not fully embraced the cable box proposal like her two Democratic colleagues and instead has indicated her unease with the plan. Rosenworcel’s concerns hinge on what she views as what may be too much meddling by the FCC in the private agreements between cable providers and device makers. However, consumer groups say the FCC needs to play an oversight role in those licensing deals to ensure fairness. Commissioner Rosenworcel believes that the market for costly set-top boxes required reform. But she said the cable box proposal needed to be revised to comply with copyright and licensing laws that would not give the FCC outsize power.
benton.org/headlines/choice-beyond-cable-box-rentals-it-may-hinge-swing-voter | New York Times
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
HOUSE PASSES MODERNIZING GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY ACT
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Frank Konkel]
One week after Rep Will Hurd (R-TX) introduced new IT legislation to the House of Representatives, designed to thrust government into 21st-century technologies, the Modernizing Government Technology Act passed on a voice vote. “Many parts of the federal government’s IT infrastructure are stuck in the Stone Age,” said Rep Hurd, who chairs the House IT Subcommittee. “The MGT Act will save taxpayer dollars, increase government accountability, and help government be more efficient in serving the American people.” The MGT Act is essentially a combination of two prior pieces of legislation, taking portions of its language from the MOVE IT Act Hurd introduced earlier this summer and the White House-backed IT Modernization Fund introduced by Rep Steny Hoyer (D-MD) in the spring. The bill calls for the creation of working IT capital funds in CFO Act agencies, allowing agencies to bank savings from modernization efforts afoot. As a whole, government spends approximately 80 percent of its $90 billion IT budget on legacy systems. Agencies that are able to show savings from modernization efforts would be rewarded under this bill, allowing them to use savings to fund other modernization efforts, such as moving to the cloud.
benton.org/headlines/house-passes-modernizing-government-technology-act | nextgov
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