February 11, 2013 (GOP: the Internet freedom fighters)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013
If you’re in Boulder today… The Digital Broadband Migration http://benton.org/calendar/2013-02-10/
POLICYMAKERS
Source: Susan Crawford Is Next FCC Chair - analysis
GOP looks to rebrand as new Internet freedom fighters
Longtime Labrador spokesman fired for bawdy Super Bowl tweet [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Why the Feds Should Promote Wi-Fi Everywhere - analysis
Is Free Public Wi-Fi Possible? - analysis
Cecilia Kang Is Right: There Really Could Be A Free National Wi-Fi Network of Networks - analysis
NAB: FCC's Proposed Changes to TV Station Coverage Model May Violate Law
FCC Auction Would Benefit All TV Stations - op-ed
Survey: Carriers May be Missing Growing Mobile Hotspot Opportunity [links to web]
Which apps will drain your battery and data plan? Verizon’s got a list [links to web]
Samsung Emerges as a Potent Rival to Apple’s Cool [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Not so fast: Budget cut wipes out €7bn European broadband fund
House panel to reintroduce controversial cyber bill, setting up White House fight
GOP looks to rebrand as new Internet freedom fighters
'Amazon Tax' Battle Heats Up In New York Court [links to web]
CONTENT
Justice Department Reaches Settlement with MacMillan in E-Book Case - press release
Longtime Labrador spokesman fired for bawdy Super Bowl tweet [links to web]
Study: Online Media Pays Off for Consumers More Than Offline [links to web]
PRIVACY
George W. Bush's private photos hacked, put online
Bush, celebrity hacks raise profile of privacy concerns
Internet, tech firms not too worried about privacy legislation
Brussels fights US data privacy push [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Google chairman to sell $2.5 billion of shares [links to web]
Union Asks Tribune to Pay Legal Fees [links to web]
CHILDREN AND MEDIA
MacArthur Foundation researchers find a new digital divide that's hard to cross
HEALTH
Watson's medical expertise offered commercially
The medical Internet of things and the future of health care [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Egypt court orders YouTube blocked for a month in case related to anti-Islam film
The inside story of Aaron Swartz’s campaign to liberate court filings [links to web]
Border Searches of Electronic Devices
President Obama keeps newspaper reporters at arm’s length
MORE ONLINE
Google Chrome browser blocks websites with malware warnings, including YouTube [links to web]
End of the line for the landline - analysis [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
LEADERSHIP 2013
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] A source close to the House Majority Whip’s office tells us that Susan Crawford will be the next chair of the Federal Communications Commission. At least, he said, once we say it, it’ll be true. Oh, who are we kidding? It was Rep Frank Underwood who told us, so it must be true. Or it will be true, right? Obviously, the ramifications of the 2012 election are still being felt; here’s a look at leadership in Congress and key federal agencies as the dust settles.
Share: Twitter | Facebook
http://benton.org/node/144790
back to top
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
WI-FI EVERYWHERE
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Michael Calabrese]
[Commentary] There is no plan for a free government super Wi-Fi network. What sounded like a plan to create free public Wi-Fi networks is in fact a less ambitious but still vital proposal to reallocate a larger share of the best public airwaves (spectrum) for free shared use without the need for a license. That’s exactly how Wi-Fi operates today—on “unlicensed” bands of spectrum that are equally open to everyone. There is certainly a strong case to be made that 21st-century public infrastructure should include a minimum level of broadband connectivity almost everywhere. By leveraging existing public assets—both unlicensed spectrum and the spider web of federal, state, and local fiber optic backhaul that crisscrosses the nation—it would be relatively inexpensive to blanket most areas with a basic level of wireless connectivity. In reality, though, the FCC is not proposing to subsidize the construction of networks. Instead, the agency wants to make enough free and high-quality unlicensed spectrum available that a far wider range of private companies, local governments, and individuals will find it economical to either offer or consume more broadband Internet services. If all of the Federal Communications Commission’s proposals are adopted—and shared public spectrum is plentiful—the good news about widespread and low-cost public Wi-Fi networks reported by the Post this week may actually become reality. Let’s hope.
benton.org/node/144803 | Slate
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
IS FREE WI-FI POSSIBLE?
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Timothy Karr]
The noisy response to a front-page Washington Post story about an alleged government plan to create free public Wi-Fi networks indicates public enthusiasm for cheaper Internet access in America. If only it were so simple. But the story drew a different response from insiders and tech reporters who knew that the creation of a “super Wi-Fi” network described in the story is far from reality. While the Post’s Cecilia Kang has issued a clarification in response to the uproar, the question remains: Is free public Wi-Fi even possible? We must take action today to bring about an age of affordable, ubiquitous Wi-Fi. Opening up a larger slice of high-quality spectrum for open networks is a must, but it’s just a first step. The FCC simply needs to face down the lobbyists and do right by the rest of us. If the agency is serious about fostering affordable public Wi-Fi, it must make unlicensed use a bigger priority.
benton.org/node/144802 | Free Press
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
THERE COULD BE A WI-FI NETWORK
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] This past week, we’ve had quite the discussion around Cecilia Kang’s Washington Post piece describing a plan by the Federal Communications Commission to create a national Wi-Fi network by making the right decisions about how to allocate spectrum between licenses for auction and what to leave available for the unlicensed TV white spaces (“TVWS” aka “Super Wi-Fi” aka “Wi-Fi on steroids”). As Kang describes, the FCC’s opening of sufficient spectrum for TVWS could lead to “super Wi-Fi networks around the nation so powerful and broad in reach that consumers could use them to make calls or surf the Internet without paying a cellphone bill every month.” Needless to say, the article faced much pushback, despite a subsequent Post clarification to indicate the FCC was not, actually, planning to build a network. Amidst the various critics, there were some general defenders of the concept. My colleagues at the Electronic Frontier Foundation noted that increasing the availability of open spectrum for Wi-Fi-type uses , and my friends at Free Press argued that such a free public Wi-Fi network (or, more accurately, series of networks) is in fact possible if the FCC makes enough good quality spectrum, suitable for broadband and usable outdoors, available on an unlicensed basis. I will now go a step further than any of my colleagues. I will boldly state that, if the FCC produces a solid 20 MHz of contiguous empty space for TV White spaces in the Incentive Auction proceeding, or even two 10 MHz guard channels that could nationally produce two decent sized LTE-for-unlicensed channels, then we will have exactly the kind of free publicly available Wi-Fi Kang describes in her article. Or, “Yes Cecilia, there really is free national public Wi-Fi. Don’t let the haters and know-it-alls tell you otherwise.”
benton.org/node/144801 | Tales of the Sausage Factory | ars technica
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
TV STATION COVERAGE MODEL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Association of Broadcasters has asked the Federal Communications Commission to back off changing its method of calculating TV station coverage areas and interference protections, at least for now, saying the timing of that initiative could undermine the incentive auctions and at least some of the proposals may violate the incentive auction law. The incentive auction legislation instructs the FCC to make its best effort to replicate coverage and interference protections. That information will be important when the FCC has to repack stations after the incentive auctions, as well as in determining access to in-market and out-of-market stations for satellite carriers. That is an issue that will arise in the reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act at the end of next year, which Congress will start to look at in a House Communications Subcommittee hearing next week.
benton.org/node/144807 | Broadcasting&Cable
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
INCENTIVE AUCTIIONS
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Preston Padden]
[Commentary] Because broadcasters have too many competitors, many are having a hard time earning a fair return. The common sense answer is for some stations to exit. Now, because of the compelling need for additional wireless broadband capacity, the Federal Communications Commission, in the incentive auction proceeding, is prepared to help ease some stations out the door. It’s the economic equivalent of culling the herd. Stations planning to stay on the air (and the revitalized National Association of Broadcasters) appropriately are focused like a laser on repacking issues. That is as it should be. At the same time, those stations should be cheering for those broadcasters willing to consider the FCC’s offer of a buyout.
[Padden heads the Expanding Opportunities For Broadcasters Coalition, representing stations interested in selling spectrum licenses]
benton.org/node/144827 | TVNewsCheck
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
INTERNET/BROADBAND
EU BROADBAND FUND CUT
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: David Meyer]
The European Union has just agreed on its budget for the years 2014-2020, and it’s the first time that budget has actually been cut. Unfortunately for European broadband projects that were counting on money from a €7 billion ($9.36 billion) central fund, that’s where a huge chunk of the €34 billion in savings came from. This formed the bulk of the €9.2 billion “digital part” of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), a part that got trimmed down to €1 billion in budget negotiations. That remaining billion will now go to a different subsection, to do with nailing down cross-border digital services such as e-procurement and e-invoicing. The whole ambition of using €7 billion in EU funding over the coming seven years to accelerate deployment of fiber-access broadband networks — which was in turn supposed to help businesses take up cloud services – just went bye-bye.
benton.org/node/144806 | GigaOm
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CISPA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
The leaders of the House Intelligence Committee plan to re-introduce on Feb 13 a controversial cybersecurity bill that has faced pushback from the White House. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) and ranking member Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) said that they plan to re-introduce the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) next week during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The bill is aimed at improving information-sharing about cyber threats between government and industry so cyberattacks can be thwarted in real time. The bill that Reps Rogers and Ruppersberger plan to introduce next week will be identical to the version of CISPA that passed the House last spring. The White House issued a veto threat against CISPA before it was taken up on the House floor last year. It's unclear whether the White House would issue a similar threat this time around due to its concern over a lack of privacy protections in the bill.
benton.org/node/144810 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
INTERNET FREEDOM FIGHTERS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Jessica Meyers]
Republicans are ready for their comeback as Internet freedom fighters. Once champions of the Internet’s Wild West, a re-envisioned movement has left them behind. Now the GOP is digging in its spurs as it seeks to rebrand a party viewed as technology illiterate and gain redemption for backing much maligned anti-piracy legislation. It’s also a convenient sounding board for just about everything else. Internet freedom now gets linked to tax bans, United Nations treaties and small government. Lawmakers have tied the term to everything from Justice Department investigations to American pride. Reinvigorated by the revolt of a region, Web rights have gone on to embody a much broader political agenda. “People use it for their own purposes,” said Gigi Sohn, co-founder of Public Knowledge, an organization that pushes for open Internet. Republicans especially, she said, take it to mean “absolutely no government, consumer competition protection and no regulation whatsoever.” Lawmakers see a born fit.
benton.org/node/144829 | Politico
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CONTENT
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REACHES SETTLEMENT WITH MACMILLAN IN E-BOOKS CASE
[SOURCE: Department of Justice, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Department of Justice has reached a settlement with Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC, which does business as Macmillan, and will continue to litigate against Apple for conspiring with Macmillan and four of the other largest U.S. book publishers to raise e-book prices to consumers. The proposed settlement was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. If approved by the court, the settlement will resolve the department's competitive concerns involving Macmillan. The department's Antitrust Division previously settled its claims against four book publishers -- Hachette Book Group Inc., HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C., Penguin Group (USA) Inc. and Simon & Schuster Inc. Under the proposed settlement agreement, Macmillan will immediately lift restrictions it has imposed on discounting and other promotions by e-book retailers and will be prohibited until December 2014 from entering into new agreements with similar restrictions. The proposed settlement agreement also will impose a strong antitrust compliance program on Macmillan, including requirements that it provide advance notification to the department of any e-book ventures it plans to undertake jointly with other publishers and regularly report to the department on any communications it has with other publishers. Also for five years, Macmillan will be forbidden from agreeing to any kind of most favored nation (MFN) provision that could undermine the effectiveness of the settlement.
benton.org/node/144813 | Department of Justice | The Hill | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
PRIVACY
BUSH-HACK
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Salvador Rodriguez]
A hacker who goes by the name of Guccifer has reportedly compromised the email accounts of at least six people close to George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and has distributed some of the private emails and photographs online. Among the photographs allegedly posted online by the hacker were two showing President George W. Bush painting, and one with him and Ralph Lauren. President George H.W. Bush also appears in some of the photos, including a recent one of him in the hospital and another with President Clinton. Some of the pictures came from the email accounts of Dorothy Bush Koch, George W. Bush's sister. But it wasn't just photos that were exposed. Information from emails were also shared, including a list from October that included the home addresses and phone numbers for dozens of Bush family relatives.
benton.org/node/144812 | Washington Post | Reuters | ars technica | WSJ
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
RAISING PRIVACY CONCERNS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Hayley Tsukayama]
News of the Bush family breach comes as British courts announced that 144 people -- including celebrities such as Hugh Grant and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, — would receive damages as a result of the phone-hacking scandal that ultimately ended the run of the British tabloid, News of the World. As the Guardian reported, 17 individuals demanded public apologies from the defunct newspaper’s publisher, News International. Most people won’t be targets of cyber crime in the same way that high-profile celebrities are, but everyone’s lingering digital footprints provide rich caches of personal information to those who want it. Cyber criminals are happiest when information is easy to get, so while consumers may not have much agency when it comes to protecting themselves against company-wide attacks, they can make it more difficult for hackers looking to smash and grab attacks on personal accounts. Using password protection on phones and voicemail is a good first step, as is taking the admittedly painful step of not reusing your e-mail password for other accounts.
benton.org/node/144811 | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
PRIVACY LEGISLATION?
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Lobbyists for Internet and technology companies don't expect Congress to pass legislation protecting online privacy any time soon. "I don't anticipate [comprehensive privacy legislation] getting done this year," said Michael Beckerman, CEO of the Internet Association, a new lobbying group that represents industry giants including Facebook, Google and Amazon. "It's not a front-burner issue right now," another technology lobbyist explained. Despite repeated calls, including from President Barack Obama, for online privacy legislation, Congress has been unable to unite around any bill that would set baseline requirements for how companies must handle their customers' personal information. Many technology companies compile troves of data on their customers, allowing for more customized services and more precisely targeted ads. The rise of smartphones has enabled companies to track users' locations and provide them with more useful information.
benton.org/node/144818 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CHILDREN AND MEDIA
THE NEW DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Mike Cassidy]
[Commentary] The latest research from the Connected Learning folks comes at you like a fire hose of ideas, case studies, academic research and questions about what we're doing and whether we should be doing it differently when it comes to preparing students for the 21st century. But what it comes down to for me, is one basic message: We've got a lot of work to do. The latest effort from the MacArthur Foundation-backed researchers is certainly a conversation starter. And though it doesn't say so anywhere in the group's 99-page report, what I see between the lines is the notion that Silicon Valley and its allies have tackled the easy stuff when it comes to modern-day learning. We've already invented the Internet; built a network of digital pipes; developed all manner of mobile devices; created online courses; published digital textbooks. Now comes the real challenge: Just what do we do with this stuff? "There is this huge opportunity with new technology," says UC Irvine professor Mimi Ito, a lead researcher on the project, "but unless we take it up in ways that are informed by values of social equity and by a learning philosophy that really empowers young people to make the most of what is out there, it's just going to make things worse in terms of equity and the stress that young people are experiencing." The worry comes down to what Ito thinks of as the new digital divide. This divide isn't about who has computers and who doesn't; or who does and doesn't have Internet access. This divide is between kids whose families have the means and know-how to layer an extra helping of education on their children and those who don't.
benton.org/node/144828 | San Jose Mercury News
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
HEALTH
WATSON’S MEDICAL ADVICE
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Jim Fitzgerald]
The Watson supercomputer is graduating from its medical residency and is being offered commercially to doctors and health insurance companies, IBM said. IBM, the health insurer WellPoint, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center announced two Watson-based applications — one to help assess treatments for lung cancer and one to help manage health insurance decisions and claims. Both applications take advantage of the speed, huge database and language skill the computer demonstrated in defeating the best human "Jeopardy!" players on television two years ago. Armonk-based IBM said Watson has improved its performance by 240 percent since the "Jeopardy!" win.
benton.org/node/144817 | Associated Press
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
EGYPT TO BLOCK YOUTUBE?
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: John Marshall]
A Cairo court ordered the Egyptian government to block access to YouTube for 30 days for carrying an anti-Islam film that caused deadly riots across the world. Judge Hassouna Tawfiq ordered YouTube blocked for carrying the film, which he described as “offensive to Islam and the Prophet (Muhammad).” He made the ruling in the Egyptian capital where the first protests against the film erupted last September before spreading to more than 20 countries, killing more than 50 people. The ruling however can be appealed, and based on precedent, might not be enforced. A spokeswoman for YouTube’s parent company, Google, said in a statement that the firm had “received nothing from the judge or government related to this matter.”
benton.org/node/144816 | Associated Press
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
BORDER SEARCHES
[SOURCE: Department of Homeland Security, AUTHOR: Tamara Kessler]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) has completed a Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Impact Assessment examining DHS’s policies guiding searches of electronic devices at the United States’ borders. CRCL conducted this assessment in accordance with its statutory role to advise Department leadership on constitutional, statutory, regulatory, policy, and other requirements relating to the civil rights and civil liberties of individuals affected by the programs and activities of the Department. This assessment has been provided to the Secretary, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Director of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This document sets out CRCL’s findings and recommendations, which CBP and ICE have accepted and are implementing with CRCL’s assistance. CRCL determined that warrantless border searches of laptops do not raise civil liberties issues.
benton.org/node/144804 | Department of Homeland Security | ars technica
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
OBAMA AND NEWSPAPERS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
America’s newspapers have trouble enough these days, what with shrinking ad revenue and straying readers. But the daily print-and-pixel press also hasn’t gotten much love lately from the biggest newsmaker in the business: President Barack Obama. When President Obama does media interviews these days, it’s not with a newspaper. TV gets the bulk of the President’s personal attention, from his frequent appearances on “60 Minutes” to MTV to chitchats with local stations around the country. Magazines — including the New Republic, which recently landed an interview conducted by its owner, Facebook co-founder and former Obama campaign operative Chris Hughes — are a distant second, followed by radio. Newspapers? Well, President Obama may be the least newspaper-friendly President in a generation. White House press secretary Jay Carney says it’s nothing personal. Without addressing newspapers specifically, Carney said in an e-mail that Obama’s interviews are doled out based on “the best use of the president’s time. . . . He’s done TV and print, and will continue to do both.”
benton.org/node/144826 | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top