Benton RSS Feed
The complex information, security and privacy issues brought to the fore by recently exposed National Security Agency programs to mine telephone and Internet data might best be handled by a special “data court,” the Economist magazine’s Data Editor Kenneth Cukier said.
That’s because data, metadata and privacy issues can be so complex, and intelligence agencies’ requests for data can be so time sensitive, that they may require judges and attorneys with specialized expertise to manage them, Cukier said. Judges from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court who currently authorize the government’s mining of telephone metadata involving foreign callers may lack sufficient understanding of how data the government collects can be used, how data may be linked together to produce additional information and how it may affect the privacy of Americans on the other end of many of those calls, Cukier said.
Do We Need a Data Court?
Even as they pledged to build “a new model” of relations, President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping of China ended two days of informal meetings in California on June 8 closer on pressuring a nuclear North Korea and addressing climate change, but remaining sharply divided over cyberespionage and other issues that have divided the countries for years.
Although the leaders of the world’s two biggest powers made no public statements on their second day of talks, their disagreements — over cyberattacks as well as arms sales to Taiwan, maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea and manipulation of the Chinese currency — spilled into the open when senior officials from both countries emerged to describe the meetings in detail. From the outset, the White House said the purpose of the meetings here was not to announce new deals or understandings — “deliverables,” in diplomatic parlance — but to create a more comfortable relationship between Presidents Obama and Xi, who took full power in March, that could avoid plunging the two nations into escalating conflict.
U.S. and China Move Closer on North Korea, but Not on Cyberespionage
The U.S. secretly traced a massive cyberespionage operation against the 2008 presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain to hacking units backed by the People’s Republic of China, prompting high level warnings to Chinese officials to stop such activities, U.S. intelligence officials tell NBC News.
The disclosure on the eve of a two-day summit between the U.S. and Chinese presidents highlights what has become a persistent source of tension between the two global powers: Beijing’s aggressive, orchestrated campaign to pierce America’s national security armor at any weak point – in this case the computers and laptops of top campaign aides and advisers who received high-level briefings.
Chinese hacked Obama, McCain campaigns, took internal documents, officials say
The battle over Sprint Nextel will reach a key milestone this week as its shareholders are slated to vote on a proposal by Japan’s SoftBank to acquire a controlling interest in the company. A June 12 vote, though, could be delayed as a committee of Sprint’s board continues to weigh a competing offer from Dish Network. That committee has to decide whether Dish’s overtures are likely to lead to an offer that is superior to the bid put forth by SoftBank. So far, the company has not publicly indicated a plan to change the June 12 vote.
It’s Another Big Week in the Sprint Takeover Saga as Shareholder Vote Looms Sprint and Clearwire votes set to shape sector’s fate (The Christian Science Monitor)
The U.S. Department of Justice said it has no objection to Softbank acquiring Sprint Nextel, a decision that clears the way for the Federal Communications Commission to rule on the deal.
In January, the Justice Department, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, asked the FCC to defer action on the proposed buyout so it could further study the deal. The Department of Homeland Security joined in on the request. In a letter to the FCC, the DOJ said it was withdrawing the request for more time. "The Agencies have reviewed the information provided by the Applicants and analyzed the measures undertaken by the Applicants to address potential national security, law enforcement, and public safety issues, including supply chain issues. Based on this review, the Agencies hereby notify the Commission that they have no objection to the grant of the applications," the letter said.
DOJ clears Softbank's acquisition of Sprint Nextel Letter (read the DoJ letter)
Sprint announced that Admiral Mike Mullen would join the company’s board after its proposed $20.1 billion sale to SoftBank of Japan closes.
Admiral Mullen, 66, who had served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 2007 to September 2011, would serve as an independent director as well as the company’s security director. He is also on the board of General Motors. His appointment would satisfy one of the concessions that the companies agreed to win government approval for the merger. Sprint and SoftBank have been working for months to ease fears of government agencies and lawmakers over national security issues. Some Congressional leaders have expressed concerned about SoftBank’s ties to Chinese telecommunications equipment makers. In addition, Dish Network, which is seeking to wrest Sprint away from SoftBank with a $25.5 billion offer, has mounted an effort to fan worries about a foreign takeover of a major American telecommunications company.
Former Joint Chiefs Chairman to Join Board of Sprint
[Commentary] A widespread though unverified rumor had it that President Bill Clinton did not want the newspaper-broadcast ownership rule repealed as part of the 1996 Telecommunications Act because he did not want the owner of the Little Rock newspaper to be the same person who owned the dominant Little Rock television station. Fritz Hollings, then chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, did not want the Federal Communications Commission to repeal the rule for the same reason, transposed to the media of South Carolina. But if I lacked the gumption and votes at the FCC to get rid of the rule then, the proliferation of Internet access and content over the past 17 years should give today’s commissioners the conviction to do the right thing. In celebration of our commitment to freedom, the FCC should eliminate the rule that constrains the owner of a broadcast TV station from also owning a newspaper in the same city, and vice versa — forthwith.
The largest point is this: The former FCC chairman can have a preference about who owns a newspaper or a TV station. But the current FCC chairman should let the market decide. One of the glories of the United States is that we truly believe in free speech. When applied to media, that means we should honor the freedom to own the means of speech.
[Hundt was chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 1993 to 1997]
The FCC should repeal its newspaper-broadcast ownership rule
In a new report, Exploring the Digital Nation: America’s Emerging Online Experience, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) examines how Americans connect to the Internet and what Americans do once they get online. The report, co-authored with the Economics and Statistics Administration, confirms the dramatic growth in the number of Americans who are going online to perform important tasks like applying for jobs, looking up health information, and learning about current events.
The new report, for the first time in eight years, explores how and why Americans go online. It is based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s July 2011 Current Population Survey (CPS) Computer and Internet Use Supplement, and includes information collected from 53,500 households. While most Americans still used a desktop or laptop computer to go online in 2011, mobile device use grew significantly, with more than a third of Americans reporting that they used their mobile phones to access the Internet. The report also found that almost all users who used the Internet at home did so via a broadband connection.
The July 2011 CPS data collection gathered information on a broad range of online activities. This report focuses primarily on three areas – employment, health, and civic engagement – that are particularly important for society. The CPS data suggest that widespread Internet use benefits society, that mobile devices further increase these benefits, and that the Internet’s great utility leads users to go online regularly and rely on it in their daily lives.
The report also finds that:
- 34 percent of Internet users ages 25 and older conducted job searches online, and unemployed Internet users were more than twice as likely to use the Internet to look for employment as their employed counterparts.
- 35 percent used the Internet for research about health plans or providers.
- 31 percent of Internet users between the ages of 25 and 44 went online when looking for news, compared to only 8 percent of those over the age of 65.
Overall, about seven out of ten households nationally went online at home, with variability based on demographics and geography. And while the percentage of Americans who did not use the Internet declined compared with previous studies, the report finds that the key reasons some Americans chose not to go online included a lack of interest, expense, and insufficient computing equipment.
New NTIA Report Explores How and Why People Connect to the Internet Exploring the Digital Nation: America’s Emerging Online Experience (read the report) Household Broadband Adoption Climbs to 72.4 Percent (NTIA blog) NTIA Study: Service Still Top Factor in Choice of ISP (B&C)
The Federal Communications Commission released its Congressionally-mandated, annual statistical report on the average rates that cable operators charge for “basic cable service, other cable programming,” and cable equipment. The latest report presents key findings for the 12 months ending January 1, 2012.
The average monthly price of expanded basic service (the combined price of basic service and the most subscribed cable programming service tier excluding taxes, fees and equipment charges) for all communities surveyed increased by 4.8 percent over the 12 months ending January 1, 2012, to $61.63, compared to an annual increase of 2.9 percent in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The price of expanded basic service has increased at a compound average annual growth rate of 6.1 percent during the period 1995-2012. The CPI increased at a compound average annual growth rate of 2.4 percent over the same period. However, the price per channel (price divided by number of channels) for subscribers purchasing expanded basic service decreased by 0.4 percent over the 12 months ending January 1, 2012, to 51 cents per channel. Over the 17 years from 1995-2012, the increase in price per channel was less than 1 percent per year (0.2 percent) on an annual basis.
Over the 12 months ending January 1, 2012, the average price of expanded basic service increased by 4.3 percent, to $60.99, for those operators serving communities for which no effective competition finding was made as of January 1, 2012 (noncompetitive communities). For the effective competition communities, the average price of expanded basic increased by 5.3 percent, to $62.49. Over this period, price per channel increased slightly, by 0.2 percent, in noncompetitive communities, to 52 cents per channel, and decreased by 1.4 percent in effective competition communities, to 49 cents per channel. The price per channel is 6.1 percent lower in effective competition communities than in noncompetitive communities, which reflects that operators in effective competition communities carry more channels on expanded basic service than operators in noncompetitive communities.
FCC Report on Cable Industry Prices
On May 30, 2013, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (“MMTC”) submitted a study titled “The Impact of Cross Media Ownership on Minority/Women Owned Broadcast Stations” (the “Study”) to the Federal Communications Commission. According to MMTC, the Study “examines whether, and to what extent, cross-ownership might have a material adverse impact on minority and women ownership” of commercial broadcast stations. MMTC suggests that the FCC seek public comment regarding the extent to which the Study may or should be relied on by the FCC in the ongoing media ownership and diversity proceedings.
The FCC invites public comment on the Study from interested parties. Comments will be due on July 22, 2013, and Replies will be due on August 6, 2013.
FCC Invites Comment on Minority Media and Telecommunications Council Ownership Study The Impact of Cross Media Ownership on Minority/Women Owned Broadcast Stations (read the MMTC study)