February 28, 2013 (Recap: Is the Broadband Stimulus Working?)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013
Second National Hearing on Network Resilience and Reliability @Moffett Field and New America hosts the Captive Audience http://benton.org/calendar/2013-02-28/
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Recap: Is the Broadband Stimulus Working?
ITU: Broadband Uptake Grows as Price Drops
“We Need a Plan B for the Internet,” Warns Internet Pioneer Danny Hillis
Caesars Looks to Cash In on Its Online-Gambling Chip [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Fight over cyber information-sharing bill revived at RSA
Researchers discover new global cyber-espionage campaign [links to web]
Internet Sleuths Add Evidence to Chinese Military Hacking Accusations [links to web]
Cyber Warriors Will Be Embedded in Military Commands [links to web]
China says U.S. routinely hacks Defense Ministry websites [links to web]
Web anonymity battle starts anew
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC Announces the Opening of Public Testing for Google's TV Band Database System - public notice
Activists seek to restore right to unlock cellphone
How the wireless industry will connect the next billion people
What is the Internet of Everything? [links to web]
US Cellular divested some of its problems, too [links to web]
Ford reiterates opposition to embedded wireless [links to web]
Unsold iPhones Piling Up at Leap Wireless [links to web]
T-Mobile Loses More Contract Customers, Awaits iPhone, MetroPCS Deal Closure [links to web]
Momentum Grows for Alternative Phone System Tizen [links to web]
TELEVISION
Cablevision Picks at the Ties That Bind
CONTENT
Copyright's Impact on Free Expression Rights - analysis [links to web]
Copyright Alert System: What Users Need To Know - press release
Governor Mifflin School District and Filtering of LGBT Online Content - press release [links to web]
Entertainment Associations Team on Parental Control Messaging
Authors face change as Amazon tightens affiliate policy on free Kindle books [links to web]
Pandora to Limit Free Listening, Citing Royalty Costs [links to web]
JOURNALISM
CNBC's strict guest policy, FCC edition [links to web]
EDUCATION
How Teachers Are Using Technology at Home and in Their Classrooms - research
The New Ed-Tech Leader Models by Digital Example [links to web]
Governor Mifflin School District and Filtering of LGBT Online Content - press release [links to web]
HEALTH
Low-Income Patients Interested in Digital Health Communication [links to web]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Legal and Regulatory Framework For Next Generation 911 Services
AGENDA
Chairman Rockefeller Details Senate Commerce Committee Priorities for 113th Congress
House to consider e-mail privacy bill
FCC Announces Tentative Agenda For March Open Meeting
Recapping the 2013 Policy Symposium [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
New Nominees for CPB Board - press release [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Censorship’s Many Faces - op-ed
China says U.S. routinely hacks Defense Ministry websites [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Home work: Telecommuting patterns around the US [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
RECAP: IS THE BROADBAND STIMULUS WORKING?
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
The House Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee held a hearing examining whether taxpayers are getting their money’s worth four years after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) allocated $7 billion for broadband grants and loans. A background memo for the Subcommittee’s majority staff highlighted that approximately $611 million of the funding covering 42 projects has been revoked, relinquished, or suspended. Republican members of the Subcommittee claimed throughout the hearing that the program is rife with wasteful spending. "Promoting broadband is a laudable goal. But there are many laudable goals," said Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). "From what we know now, the government has spent millions on equipment it did not need and on stringing fiber to areas that already had it." Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) questioned the necessity of the broadband stimulus and suggested that the $2.5 billion in unused funds should be given back to the Treasury.
Subcommittee Democrats, however, defended the spending, which is made up of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP). They argued that while there will always be problems with large government programs, the broadband stimulus has been worthwhile. "The investments made in broadband infrastructure are having a profound impact in local communities around the country," said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the ranking member of the subcommittee. "I don't really understand how any of my colleagues can argue that providing better, faster Internet and more digital literacy training to underserved and unserved areas of this country is something we should criticize," Rep. Mike Doyle (R-PA) said.
Larry Strickling, the head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which oversees BTOP, pushed back against the Republican criticism in several testy exchanges with lawmakers.
benton.org/node/146570 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | NTIA | RUS | The Hill | Multichannel News
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BROADBAND UPTAKE GROWS AS PRICE DROPS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
According to a new International Telecommunications Union report, communications technology demand and uptake are growing globally, driven in part by a steady decline in price. The report predicts there will soon be as many mobile cellular subscriptions as people on the planet. It predicts that number of those subscriptions will surpass seven billion by early 2014. Asia now claims more than half of all those subscriptions. By the end of 2013, ITU predicts, overall global penetration will have topped 96%. The report looks at regions, though there are some individual country stats as well. The U.S. fixed wireless and wired broadband service is tops in the Americas in high-speed broadband subscriptions (which ITU defines as at least 10 Mbps downstream) at about 58%, but that puts it in 14th place globally, according to ITU.
benton.org/node/146536 | Broadcasting&Cable
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A PLAN B FOR THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Liz Gannes]
Speaking at the TED Conference in Long Beach (CA) Danny Hillis referenced an incident in 2010 when massive amounts of Web traffic were suddenly rerouted through China Telecom after a DNS root server was intercepted, something that was said to be an accident. “We’re setting ourselves up for a disaster like in the financial system,” Hillis said, because the Internet is a “system basically built on trust and expanded way beyond the limits.” “The Internet is actually an emergent system. We don’t fully understand it, like the weather and like the economy,” said Hillis, the founder of Thinking Machines and Applied Minds whose work on the Google-acquired Metaweb helped start the company’s “Knowledge Graph.” “It’s changing so quickly that even the experts have no idea what’s going on. It’s different now than it was an hour ago,” Hillis said at TED. “We don’t know the consequences of what an effective denial of service attack on the Internet would be. So what we need is a plan B.”
benton.org/node/146540 | Wall Street Journal
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CYBERSECURITY
CISPA FIGHT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
Congress will soon make an historic decision over whether a military or civilian agency should head up intelligence-sharing efforts about cyber threats, argued Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, during a panel at the RSA cybersecurity conference in San Francisco. "In democratic society, do you want the military to have this center of gravity kind of control over what could potentially be very, very large flows of information about private to private communications?” Dempsey asked. "You can talk about creating a lot of checks and balances, [but] one of the fundamental checks and balances is you put that authority on the civilian side." Dempsey's comments come as Congress is weighing a controversial cybersecurity bill that aims to remove the legal barriers that hinder government agencies and private companies from sharing information about malicious source code and other cyber threats with one another in real time. Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), leaders of the House Intelligence Committee, re-introduced the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, known as CISPA, earlier this month.
benton.org/node/146566 | Hill, The
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WEB ANONYMITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
One of the Internet’s founding fathers is set to revive a heated cybersecurity debate over whether to preserve anonymity and the use of pseudonyms in online chat forums and social networks like Twitter. Vint Cerf, Google’s chief Internet evangelist, is expected to make the case for keeping people’s identity anonymous — particularly on certain Web services — when he delivers the keynote address at the RSA cybersecurity conference. The theme of his address to the RSA cybersecurity conference was outlined in an abstract description released by conference organizers, and it stands out among the other technical-focused speeches planned for the event. Cerf’s keynote illustrates the growing importance of the debate over striking the right balance between the limits countries want to place on cyber aggressors and protecting people’s free speech and privacy rights online. Tension over the issue has been building for years between free speech advocates and those who say tougher steps are needed to boost cybersecurity on the Internet.
benton.org/node/146539 | Hill, The
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
GOOGLE’S TV BAND DATABASE SYSTEM
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) announces that on March, 4 2013, it will commence a 45-day public trial of Google’s TV band database system. This is a limited trial that is intended to allow the public to access and test Google’s database system to ensure that it correctly identifies channels that are available for unlicensed radio transmitting devices that operate in the TV band (unlicensed TV band devices), properly registers radio transmitting facilities entitled to protection, and provides protection to authorized services and registered facilities as specified in the rules. We encourage all interested parties to test the database and provide appropriate feedback to Google. [ET Docket No. 04-186]
benton.org/node/146558 | Federal Communications Commission
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THE RIGHT TO UNLOCK YOUR CELLPHONE
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Byron Acohido]
Organizers behind a petition asking President Barack Obama to rescind a federal rule that makes it illegal for consumers to unlock their cellphones say they hope to match the success of the grass-roots campaign that derailed the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act. Unlocking a cellphone refers to the ability for a consumer to activate a handset on more than one carrier network. That can come in handy when traveling overseas, allowing you to use a local network instead of paying expensive roaming charges to AT&T or Verizon. And the ability to unlock a handset enables you to easily switch service to a competing carrier, so you aren't stuck with a paid-for handset that can never be used on another network. Activists in January 2012 blocked SOPA and a companion anti-piracy bill claiming the bills were intended to protect big media companies and would gut the Internet and stifle free speech. Derek Khanna, a former congressional aide and Yale law student, contends that the right to unlock one's cellphone is a comparable issue.
benton.org/node/146569 | USAToday
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CONNECTING THE NEXT BILLION PEOPLE
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Roger Cheng]
The price of mobile devices and services will need to come down to connect the next billion people. That's according to the CEOs of four major companies in the wireless arena: Nokia, Qtel Group, Bharti Airtel, and Mozilla. "As an operator, we have to package services to the lower segment of the economy," said Nasser Marafih, CEO of the Qtel Group, during a keynote address at this week's Mobile World Congress. Qtel announced a new brand, Ooredoo, which will cover various wireless carrier brands throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Much of the growth over the next few years will come from the regions where Ooredoo (Arabic for "I want") operates.
benton.org/node/146533 | C-Net|News.com
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TELEVISION
CABLEVISION PICKS AT THE TIES THAT BIND
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Miriam Gottfried]
Cablevision has sued Viacom over alleged antitrust violations ups the ante in the continuing battle over the rising cost of TV content. Pay-TV providers say they can't pass along the escalating prices being charged by media networks to customers already paying more than $70 a month for video alone. At the same time, they are facing increasing pressure from a rapidly changing media-technology environment in which some viewers are getting video from other sources such as Netflix. In its suit, Cablevision alleges Viacom forced it to carry and pay for 14 "lesser- watched" channels for the right to carry its more popular "must-have" networks, including Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central. The practice of packaging channels together, known as bundling, is standard for network agreements with distributors. To show Viacom did anything illegal, Cablevision must demonstrate the terms are so onerous it was essentially forced to take all the channels, a practice known as tying. Viacom has said it will defend itself vigorously against the claims. If the case undermines typical channel-bundling contracts, it could have far-reaching implications. Media companies may have to allow pay-TV operators to sell channels separately or in different groupings, possibly forcing less popular channels—which generate advertising revenue for networks—to shut down.
benton.org/node/146592 | Wall Street Journal
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CONTENT
VERIZON AND THE CPYRIGHT ALERT SYSTEM
[SOURCE: Verizon, AUTHOR: Tom Dailey]
Verizon posted an announcement on its website giving our FiOS Internet and DSL-based High Speed Internet service customers information about how our Copyright Alert Program will work. Here are a few important points to note. First and foremost, Verizon is committed to protecting our customers’ privacy and we will not be sharing anyone’s identity with the content owners as part of our Program. Second, Verizon’s role in the Program is to forward to our customers information gathered by the content owners about possible peer-to-peer copyright infringement taking place on the customer’s Internet connection so they can take steps to address the possible infringing activity on their account. Finally, the goal of our Copyright Alert Program is to build education and awareness around the important issue of copyright infringement, and to help our customers find lawful ways to find and enjoy digital content.
benton.org/node/146521 | Verizon
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PARENTAL CONTROL MESSAGING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Association of Broadcasters, National Cable and Telecommunications Association, American Cable Association, Motion Picture Association of America and others have all signed on to the campaign to promote the TV and film ratings systems as easy-to-use parental content control tools. The campaign will include PSAs, theater advertisements, a redesigned website, and a broadcaster education initiative on mental health. The messaging focuses on three things, the three that MPAA chief Chris Dodd emphasized in a speech two weeks ago at the National Press Club: Choice, control, and education.
benton.org/node/146534 | Broadcasting&Cable | AdWeek | The Wrap
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EDUCATION
PEW SURVEY ON TEACHERS, TECHNOLOGY
[SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project, AUTHOR: Kristen Purcell, Alan Heaps, Judy Buchanan, Linda Friedrich]
A survey of teachers who instruct American middle and secondary school students finds that digital technologies have become central to their teaching and professionalization. At the same time, the internet, mobile phones, and social media have brought new challenges to teachers, and they report striking differences in access to the latest digital technologies between lower and higher income students and school districts. Asked about the impact of the internet and digital tools in their role as middle and high school educators, these teachers say the following about the overall impact on their teaching and their classroom work:
92% of these teachers say the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to access content, resources, and materials for their teaching
69% say the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to share ideas with other teachers
67% say the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to interact with parents and 57% say it has had such an impact on enabling their interaction with students
The survey finds that digital tools are widely used in classrooms and assignments, and a majority of these teachers are satisfied with the support and resources they receive from their school in this area. However, it also indicates that teachers of the lowest income students face more challenges in bringing these tools to their classrooms:
Mobile technology has become central to the learning process, with 73% of AP and NWP teachers saying that they and/or their students use their cell phones in the classroom or to complete assignments
More than four in ten teachers report the use of e-readers (45%) and tablet computers (43%) in their classrooms or to complete assignments
62% say their school does a “good job” supporting teachers’ efforts to bring digital tools into the learning process, and 68% say their school provides formal training in this area
Teachers of low income students, however, are much less likely than teachers of the highest income students to use tablet computers (37% v. 56%) or e-readers (41% v. 55%) in their classrooms and assignments
Similarly, just over half (52%) of teachers of upper and upper-middle income students say their students use cell phones to look up information in class, compared with 35% of teachers of the lowest income students
Just 15% of AP and NWP teachers whose students are from upper income households say their school is “behind the curve” in effectively using digital tools in the learning process; 39% who teach students from low income households describe their school as “behind the curve”
70% of teachers of the highest income students say their school does a “good job” providing the resources needed to bring digital tools into the classroom; the same is true of 50% of teachers working in low income areas
Teachers of the lowest income students are more than twice as likely as teachers of the highest income students (56% v. 21%) to say that students’ lack of access to digital technologies is a “major challenge” to incorporating more digital tools into their teaching
benton.org/node/146594 | Pew Internet and American Life Project | Washington Post
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR NEXT GENERATION 911 SERVICES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
This Report to Congress is submitted by the Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, pursuant to Section 6509 of the Next Generation 9-1-1 Advancement Act of 2012 (NG911 Act), enacted as part of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. Prepared by Commission staff in the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, this report contains recommendations for the legal and statutory framework for Next Generation 911 (NG911) services. In this Report, the identifies potential steps for Congress to take to create a legal and regulatory environment that will assist states, PSAPs, service providers and other stakeholders in accelerating the nationwide transition from legacy 911 to NG911. These recommendations focus on three areas identified by the statute.
benton.org/node/146568 | Federal Communications Commission
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AGENDA
SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE PRIORITIES
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller says he will make studying the impact of indecent media on children one of his key priorities in the new Congress. Also on the list is studying the impact of violent media on kids. He has introduced a bill to that effect in the wake of the Newtown mass shooting. Also on the list of priorities are 1) overseeing the emergency communications network he motormanned and which is being funded through broadcast incentive auctions; 2) closing the digital divide for both wired and wireless broadband and in schools and via E-rate; and 3) safeguarding consumer privacy, including "an investigation into the business practices of companies that collect and sell consumer data."
benton.org/node/146538 | US Senate Commerce Committee | Broadcasting&Cable
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HOUSE CONSIDERS E-MAIL PRIVACY BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso, Jennifer Martinez]
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) said that his committee will consider legislation that would require police to obtain a warrant before reading people's e-mails, Facebook messages and other forms of electronic communication. In a statement laying out his priorities for 2013, Chairman Goodlatte said his panel will "look at modernizing the decades-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to reflect our current digital economy." ECPA, which Congress passed in 1986, only requires police to obtain a subpoena, issued without a judge's approval, to read emails that have been opened or that are more than 180 days old. Updating the law to protect all electronic communications, regardless of how old they are, is a top priority for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT).
benton.org/node/146591 | Hill, The
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FCC’S MARCH AGENDA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that the following items will be on the tentative agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 20, 2013:
Improving 9-1-1 Reliability: The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to improve the reliability of 9-1-1 service nationwide based on the recommendations contained in the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau’s January 2013 report on the impact of the Derecho storm.
Office of Native Affairs and Policy Annual Report: The Office of Native Affairs and Policy will present a report on the Commission’s work with Tribal Nations and Native communities in 2012, highlighting regulatory and Tribal consultation efforts, and providing examples of projects expanding the reach of voice, broadband, and radio broadcast services.
benton.org/node/146589 | Federal Communications Commission
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
CENSORSHIP’S MANY FACES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Yu Hua]
[Commentary] Censorship in China conjures the image of rigid, unsmiling authority, but that disapproving scowl can give way to a different expression — and not always a consistent one. A film, for example, might be banned for 20 years, while the novel on which it is based sells briskly throughout that same period. This might seem puzzling, but the reason is simple. China has more than 500 publishing houses, each with its own editor in chief (and de facto censor); if a book is rejected by one publisher there’s still a chance another will take it. In contrast, films are not released until officials in the state cinema bureau in Beijing are satisfied, and once a film is banned it has no hope of being screened. When it comes to censorship in China, the primary factors are often economic, not political. Publishing houses that were once government financed have operated as commercial enterprises for years now. Editors are under pressure to make the biggest profit they can. Even if a book carries some political risks, a daring editor will take the gamble if there’s a chance it will be a best seller.
benton.org/node/146576 | New York Times
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