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January 18, 2013
Source 
Crain’s Chicago Business
Author 
Lynne Marek
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

Wrapports LLC, owner of the Chicago Sun-Times, is exploring opportunities for expansion, including considering a purchase of Tribune Company assets, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.

Chicago-based Wrapports, led by Chairman Michael Ferro, has engaged New York investment bank Allen & Co. Inc. specifically to explore a purchase of assets of Chicago-based Tribune as well as a Dallas-based bank for a more general search, sources said. Now out of bankruptcy, Tribune is expected to shed some of the newspaper assets. The sources didn't make clear whether Wrapports' exploration includes the Chicago Tribune, the Sun-Times' archrival and the city's biggest daily newspaper. Merging the papers would offer “very significant promise and opportunity,” said Jeremy Halbreich, a former CEO of Sun-Times Media Holdings LLC, who now leads Dallas-based Amercomm, which invests in newspaper companies. “In my mind, a single owner would keep the two titles separate, and continue to publish both, but there should be very significant savings on the back side of the house in terms of combining all the business operations together.”

Sun-Times parent eyeing Tribune assets

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January 18, 2013
Source 
San Francisco Chronicle
Author 
James Temple
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

In August 2006, the California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to allow AT&T and other companies that provided local telephone service to raise prices at will. Then-Commissioner Rachelle Chong, a Republican, credited as the driving force behind the deregulation plan, argued that growing competition from Internet phone service and cell phones would keep prices low. "By the end of the 2010, these rate caps will no longer be necessary," Chong said when the new rules were being phased in. "The market will be so competitive it will discipline prices." Too bad it didn't work out that way. Since fall 2006, AT&T's price for flat-rate landline phone service has leaped 115 percent, from $10.69 per month to $23, according to information from the commission. The monthly price for measured service, which charges a fixed rate for a limited number of calls, has soared 222 percent - from $5.70 to $18.35.

AT&T rates skyrocket since deregulation

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2013 Annual Dinner

Center for Democracy and Technology
March 5, 2013
6-9 pm

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Mitchell Baker
Chairman, Mozilla Foundation

Eileen Donahoe
US Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council

Submitted on January 18, 2013

The horrific shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, have turned the nation’s attention to seeking ways to reduce acts of violence, especially with firearms. As with many huge issues like this, telecommunications and media policy play a role. This week, we look at the connections between media violence and real-world violence.

On December 19, 2012, President Barack Obama announced a task force headed by Vice President Joe Biden that would seek the best ideas from across the government and the public to reduce gun violence. The task force, comprised of members of Congress and Obama’s Cabinet, was asked to present President Obama with concrete proposals to send to Congress in January. After Newtown, the President signaled that Hollywood should be part of any solution, saying it was time to examine a culture “that all too often glorified guns and violence.”

On January 11, representatives from the top video game publishers, including Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard, participated in a meeting with Vice President Biden to discuss ways to curb gun violence in the United States. The video game industry has been criticized by lawmakers and the National Rifle Association for producing violent content. First-person shooter games, such as Activision Blizzard's "Call of Duty" and Electronic Arts' "Medal of Honor Gunfighter," have been singled out for fueling aggressive behavior in real life. VP Biden said the series of meetings showed the video game industry "was not singled out for help," noting that he met with entertainment trade association chiefs on Jan 10. He said he came to the meeting with "no judgment" about video game companies. Eager to avoid governmental regulation, companies are casting themselves as the scapegoat, not the instigator. The decision by industry representatives to even attend the meeting sent shockwaves through the gaming community. Members of the Entertainment Consumers Association asked the Vice President to “support the public’s constitutional right to access and buy games, and to not blame media, including video games, for the recent tragedy that has befallen the nation.” The International Game Developers Association, in a letter to Biden’s gun task force, instead pointed to research that indicates violent games “release stress and aggression.” No one seems to know for sure what video game violence does to children and adults. Studies sway between simple causation and direct correlation. Researchers at the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have pointed to numerous reports that show a causal connection between media violence and antagonistic behavior.

A study published in Developmental Psychology last year recognized increased aggression with children who play video games. But a 2008 study by Harvard professors found that most children who played M-rated video games did not exhibit hostile behavior. And the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011 said it saw no direct link to violence when overturning a California law that banned the sale of violent video games to children. In addition to video games, many point to violence depicted on television or in movies. Debates about television violence have waxed and waned for more than 50 years, sometimes surrounding shows, like “The Rifleman” and “Kojak,” that now seem tame. The increasing appeal of cable series, however, has changed the stakes. The six highest-rated dramas on cable in the past year were “The Walking Dead,” “Hatfields & McCoys,” “True Blood,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “American Horror Story,” and “Game of Thrones.” All contain high levels of violence.

John Landgraf, the president of FX, which programs hit dramas based on some level of violence like “America Horror Story” and “Justified,” stressed a distinction between what he called “third-person entertainment” and “first-person entertainment.” The former describes the passive viewing of scripted dramas; the latter describes participatory entertainment, like video games, where shooting and mayhem are personally inflicted on characters. He explicitly tied the prevalence of violence in the United States to the availability of guns, noting that television viewers in Britain watch the same shows as Americans and play the same video games, but that the country has drastically lower murder rates. He did not apologize, however, for the emphasis on life-or-death drama in FX’s shows. “We’re mammals,” he said. “Our greatest fear is death, and if you want to rivet people, you’re going to tend to hover around questions of life and death because that’s the thing that rivets our attention most naturally.” "I'm not a psychologist, so I'm not sure you can make the leap (that) a show about serial killers has caused the sort of problems with violence in our country," said Robert Greenblatt, who put "Dexter" on the air when he ran Showtime and is now overseeing development of a series on the notorious creep Hannibal Lecter for NBC. "There are many, many other factors, from mental illness to guns." The Parents Television Council raised the issue of violence on TV this week highlighting a "graphic and disturbing" torture scene on the political drama "Scandal." "On the very same night that Vice President Joe Biden met with entertainment industry leaders to discuss the issue of media violence and its impact on children, ABC — the television network owned by a company named for Walt Disney — aired an intense, explicit and bloodied torture scene during its show 'Scandal,'" the Parents Television Council wrote in a statement"For nearly three minutes, viewers were subjected to graphic and disturbing scenes of a man struggling to breathe while being waterboarded, his nose being broken and his face beaten into a bloody mess, blood spattering on the walls, and being kicked and beaten into submission," the statement added.

Concerns also include mobile apps. Fast Company reported this week that the National Rifle Association has launched NRA: Practice Range, an app for Apple mobile devices the organization calls its new "mobile nerve center." The app features a 3-D target practice shooting game and provides resources for news and legislation updates around gun control and educational materials about gunholders' rights. The NRA appears to be emphasizing safety and responsible ownership with this new app, which has an Apple App Store rating of 4+ ("no objectionable material"). The NRA says its built-in shooting game strikes "the right balance of gaming and safety education, allowing you to enjoy the most authentic experience possible." That authenticity also extends to the 9 real-life firearm models available within the app--including an M9 pistol, an M16 rifle, and a Dragunov SVD semi-automatic rifle -- as well as the AK47 and the AWM sniper rifle, which are offered as $0.99 in-app purchases. Later in the week, Apple changed its App Store age rating from a benign "4+" to "12+" for "Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence." The updated rating may seem more appropriate than the original rating, but some critics feel the game itself should be banned from the App Store altogether.

Of course, just as regulating the manufacturing, sale, and possession of guns raises second amendment issues, regulating content in media raises huge first amendment concerns. “The government doesn’t have any power directly to address violent program content and the best thing they can do is jawbone, bringing relevant people into the White House and talking to them,” said Andrew Schwartzman, a communications attorney.

Administration Proposal

On Jan 16, President Obama and Vice President Biden announced their broad gun control plan. Part of the plan is a push to fund research into the impact of violent video games. The President called for the Centers for Disease Control to "research the causes and prevention of gun violence." "I will direct the Centers for Disease Control to go ahead and study the best ways to reduce it -- and Congress should fund research into the effects that violent video games have on young minds," said President Obama during a speech detailing the plan. "We don't benefit from ignorance. We don't benefit from not knowing the science of this epidemic of violence." The president is asking Congress for $10 million to fund the research.

The White House asserts that Congress has for years been blocking the use of funds for research on the causes of gun violence as money to "advocate or promote gun control," which is prohibited. The President says its own legal analysis finds that language does not prevent such research. In a statement released after Obama's speech, industry trade group The Entertainment Software Association welcomed the discussion. "We will embrace a constructive role in the important national dialogue around gun violence in the United States, and continue to collaborate with the Administration and Congress as they examine the facts that inform meaningful solutions." While he called out violent videogames, the President did not make any specific mention of violence in the movies or on TV in his remarks. Hollywood executives and Motion Picture Association of American Chairman Chris Dodd have said they will hit back on any efforts to restrict violence in movies. The White House plan did mention media, but suggested that any effort would be related to ratings systems or technology: "The entertainment and video game industries have a responsibility to give parents tools and choices about the movies and programs their children watch and the games their children play."

Speaking to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Vice President Joe Biden, outlining the White House's gun violence initiatives, made a pitch for studies "on the impacts of young minds on witnessing repetitive violent acts in movies, on television and video games," but also indicated the industry was intent on helping and encouraged them to better advertise the parental control tools they have. Conducting and funding such research was one of the initiatives Vice President Biden vowed to put all of his office's muscle behind. VP Biden said that did not make him popular with the entertainment industry, but that neither was that an indictment of the industry, but instead was recognition there were no extensive modern studies.

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) accused President Barack Obama of giving Hollywood a "free pass" by failing to recommend any steps to curb gun violence in movies or television shows. "He gave his coziest Hollywood contributors a free pass," Rep Brady told KTRH radio in Houston. "And if there's one industry I think that makes the most money off of glorifying violence, it's that industry." Rep Brady said that in his experience, it is easier for him and his wife to patrol violence in video games, but that violence on television is much more difficult to monitor. "TV, movies, I mean, the violence is everywhere, and we can't get to the remote fast enough in some of these cases," he said. Rep Brady also charged that Obama's decision to exempt Hollywood from the issue shows that the President is continuing to treat his supporters differently than those who oppose him.

Proposed Legislation

We're likely to see a number of legislative proposals to address media violence in the coming weeks. Here's a few examples we've seen already. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a bill after the Sandy Hook shooting that would require the National Academy of Sciences to study the effects violent video games and video programming have on children. When he released the bill, Sen Rockefeller blasted the video game industry for marketing violent content to kids. “Major corporations, including the video game industry, make billions on marketing and selling violent content to children,” Sen Rockefeller said. “They have a responsibility to protect our children. If they do not, you can count on the Congress to take a more aggressive role.”

On Jan 16, Sen Rockefeller said, “I think everyone can agree that the impact of violent content on our kids’ wellbeing is an important issue, and I’m glad [the President’s] plan will take a close look at it. I am working hard in the Senate to make sure this type of research – which I have strongly backed throughout my career – is available to inform our work on gun violence. Next week, I plan to reintroduce my bill to have the National Academy of Sciences study the link between violent content and children’s behavior.” Under this legislation:

  • The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) would be directed to conduct a comprehensive study and investigation of the connection between violent video games and violent video programming and harmful effects on children.
  • Specifically, NAS would examine whether violent video games/programming cause kids to act aggressively or otherwise hurt their wellbeing, and whether that effect is distinguishable from other types of media. It also would look at the direct and long-lasting impact of violent content on a child’s well-being.
  • With respect to violent video games, NAS must look at whether current or emerging aspects of games, like their interactive nature and the personal and vivid way violence is portrayed, have a unique impact on kids.
  • NAS must submit a report on its investigation to Congress as well as to the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.

Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) introduced a bill that would ban the sale of violent video games to minors. The Supreme Court struck down a similar California law in 2011, ruling that the restriction violated the constitutional right to free speech. Matheson's Video Games Ratings Enforcement Act, H.R. 287, would make it illegal for anyone to ship, distribute, sell or rent a video game that does not bear a label from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) on the age-appropriateness of the game. It is currently up to retailers to decide whether to sell violent or sexually explicit games to minors. Matheson's bill would make it illegal to sell or rent video games with a rating of "adults only" to anyone under 18, or video games rated "mature" to anyone under 17. The measure would also require retailers to display information from the Federal Trade Commission about the ESRB's content-rating system in a "clear and conspicuous location." In Missouri, State Representative Diane Franklin (R- Camdenton) introduced a bill that would add a one percent excise tax on the sale of games rated T or above by the ESRB. Money raised by the proposed tax would go toward "the treatment of mental health conditions associated with exposure to violent video games."

Response from Creative Community

Writing in the Wall Street Journal on Jan 18, playwright, screenwriter and director Charles Evered said, “The makers of popular culture may very well believe that their products are ultimately harmless. Studies exist saying as much. Studies exist saying the opposite. As a filmmaker, I'd like to see a study that reaches a third conclusion: The mushrooming of mayhem is a sign not only of where the culture may be headed, it's also a symptom of the weakening of creative imagination.” He continues:

It used to take skill, even finesse, to create horror. It used to take serious consideration of how to present an act of terror, where it might lie structurally in the story, how much or how little to show, to what extent the event should be visited—or revisited. There were silences, pauses, teases and innuendos. Alfred Hitchcock was a master, but even less talented directors labored to get it right. Now there is not only little left to the imagination, there is nothing left to the imagination. Show the guts, the veins—show the bullet traveling through a victim's eyeball, show it all. Then, simply claim you're depicting life as it really is. I don't pretend to have any answers in the political debate about violence, but I hope the discussion will prod some consciences in Hollywood and elsewhere in the entertainment industry. As filmmakers, we should ask ourselves: Are we doing the best work we can, or are we simply using the increasingly permissive marketplace as a cover to do work that isn't even close to our best? These are questions that one can weigh without the risk of losing friends, being passed over for gigs or, worst of all, not being invited to the best dinner parties.

In Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker Robert Redford admitted he himself questions the industry's emphasis on violence. "I think it's absolutely not only appropriate, but overdue, to have a dialogue" about violence on screen, he said. "When I was driving along the street the other day in L.A., I saw two billboards where guns were featured prominently ... with a pleasant, happy-looking young couple.... My thought was: 'Does my industry think guns will help sell tickets?'" However, Keri Putnam, the festival's executive director, said last year's shootings did not prompt organizers to rethink this year's Sundance slate. "We did not go back and look at the program with an eye toward violence," she acknowledged during a roundtable after the news conference. "...[We didn't] say, 'Is there anything that will play differently because of that shooting?'

January 18, 2013 (Happy Internet Freedom Day)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2013 (Happy Internet Freedom Day)

A look at next week’s agenda including State of the Net 2013 http://benton.org/calendar/2013-01-20--P1W/

DIVERSITY
   Rev. Dr. Everett C. Parker, Father of the Media Reform Movement, Reaches 100 Years
   The Movement Dr. Parker Made: Father of Media Reform Turns 100 - op-ed
   Reform: The Everett Parker Way - op-ed
   FCC Commissioners Pai, Clyburn Agree FCC Needs to Do More on Diversity
   Chicago Mayor Appoints First Ever Diversity Tech Council [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Building Broadband Adoption Infrastructure - analysis
   NCTA's Powell: Usage-Based Pricing About Fairness, Not Capacity
   In Netflix's Version of Net Neutrality, It's Entitled to Non-Neutral Treatment - analysis
   Netflix CDN v. The Cable Guys or "Comcast v. Level 3 Part Deux -- Peering Payback!" - analysis
   Ambassador Kramer: US eliminated '80 to 90 percent' of objectionable proposals for UN treaty
   PCAST Updates Assessment of Networking and InfoTech R&D - press release
   Critical Infrastructure Systems Seen as Vulnerable to Attack
   Iran strengthened cyber capabilities after Stuxnet -U.S. general [links to web]
   Facebook’s Other Big Disruption [links to web]

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
   Dish Asks FCC to Halt Sprint-Softbank Review Clock [links to web]
   Clearwire Investor Taran Seeks Higher Bid [links to web]
   Hundt: Decision Was Made in 1993 to Promote Mobile Policies [links to web]
   FCC Updates LEARN Spectrum Auction Website [links to web]
   Eight mobile ventures win $2.4 million in funding via Knight News Challenge - press release [links to web]
    See also: This App Lets Activists Pass Around Information When The Government Is Watching [links to web]
   There's Information That Can Make Our Cellphones Work Better - And We Want to Use It - analysis [links to web]
   AT&T, Verizon Smartphone Sales to Pressure 4th-Quarter Earnings [links to web]
   There's Information That Can Make Our Cellphones Work Better - And We Want to Use It - analysis [links to web]
   AT&T, Verizon Smartphone Sales to Pressure 4th-Quarter Earnings [links to web]
   Smartphones: Still Room to Grow in Emerging Countries - research [links to web]
   Apple Says Appeals Court Hobbles Its Fight With Samsung [links to web]

VIOLENCE AND MEDIA
   Violent Hollywood and the Death of Creativity - op-ed
   Robert Redford weighs in on Hollywood and violence [links to web]
   VP Biden: Media Need to Better Promote Parental Control Tools [links to web]
   Rep. Brady says Obama gave 'free pass' to Hollywood on gun violence [links to web]
   Bill introduced to ban sales of violent video games to minors [links to web]
   Apple raises age limit for “violent” NRA target practice game [links to web]

PRIVACY
   Lawmaker Releases Draft of App Privacy Bill [links to web]
   Inauguration committee clarifies how app collects data [links to web]
   Obscurity: A Better Way to Think About Your Data Than 'Privacy' - op-ed [links to web]

CONTENT
   Activists celebrate SOPA blackout anniversary
   Cyber Crime and Punishment - editorial
   Demand Progress Seeks Decriminalization of Violating ISP Terms of Service [links to web]
   What the Manti Te’o hoax teaches us about the power of social media - analysis

HEALTH
   The Future of Medical Records [links to web]
   Dr. Google is as popular as ever — can real doctors adapt? [links to web]
   How to find the best medical information online [links to web]

EDUCATION
   Measuring the Success of Online Education [links to web]

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
   LTE Test Provides Insight into Nationwide Public Safety Network

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   FOX Still Shunned at Obama Press Conferences

POLICYMAKERS
   Rep Nancy Pelosi losing key political aide [links to web]
   FCC Commissioner McDowell Announces Staff Change - press release [links to web]
   Fox renews Karl Rove contract through 2016 [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Playboy fined over pornographic websites [links to web]

MORE ONLINE
   Liberty Gains Majority Control of Sirius [links to web]
   House to investigate wasteful technology spending [links to web]
   OTA Scoops Up Boston LPTV for $4.1 Million [links to web]
   Google’s Larry Page on Why Moon Shots Matter [links to web]

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DIVERSITY

PARKER REACHES 100
[SOURCE: United Church of Christ, AUTHOR: Cheryl Leanza]
Epic battles over the limits on the number of TV or radio stations one company can own…the fight for open Internet …the biggest fine in FCC history …the current fight against predatory prison phone rates…rules promoting transparency for political advertising…public participation in merger reviews, like AT&T’s attempted purchase of T-Mobile. What do all of these events and decisions have in common? None of them would have been possible without the efforts of a man who turns 100 this week—Rev. Dr. Everett C. Parker, founder of the media reform movement and founder of OC Inc. Thanks to Parker’s efforts, members of the public can make their voices heard at the Federal Communications Commission, whether that means weighing in on the importance of media in our democracy or making sure people in prison are not exploited by telephone company gouging. But that was not always the case. Back in 1959, Everett Parker was serving as communications director of the newly formed United Church of Christ when the Revs. Martin Luther King Jr. and Andrew Young asked the denomination for its support in the early days of the civil rights movement. King complained that southern television stations were editing the nightly news shows to remove all coverage of the civil rights movement, and asked the denomination to help.
benton.org/node/143518 | United Church of Christ
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THE MOVEMENT DR PARKER MADE
[SOURCE: The Nation, AUTHOR: John Nichols]
[Commentary] America has always had media critics—from Tom Paine and Benjamin Franklin in 1775 to the folks at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and Media Matters for America today. And they have played a vital role in exposing the mistakes and misdeeds first of subservient newspapers and more recently of broadcast and digital news outlets. But the media reform movement that steps from complaining about irresponsible and malicious broadcasters to actually holding them to account is a more recent phenomenon. And it is entirely reasonable to suggest that the man who initiated what we today understand as a national media reform movement is Dr. Everett C. Parker, the amazing activist who successfully challenged media complicity with the Southern segregationists of the 1950s and 1960s. Dr. Parker wrote a new chapter in American history with the fight he led, as founding director of the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, to deny the license renewal of a powerful Southern television station that refused to cover the civil rights movement. “Every movement has thousands of individuals, whose names we never know, forming its backbone,” recalls the Rev. Jesse Jackson. “The civil rights movement, for instance, was the product of countless individuals standing and working together throughout the South and across the country. But there are always those individuals who emerge to give a face to a movement—provide leadership, vision and moral authority. In the area of media reform, it was Rev. Dr. Everett C. Parker.”
benton.org/node/143517 | Nation, The
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REFORM: THE EVERETT PARKER WAY
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Michael Copps]
[Commentary] Everett Parker, who turned 100 on January 17, personifies the savvy, toughness, organizational genius and unstoppable perseverance that are the enablers of change. If you don’t know his story, you’re missing something important. You need to learn—and learn from—it. I’d suggest starting with Kay Mills’ fine book, Changing Channels: The Civil Rights Case that Transformed Television Channels, or with Robert K. Horwitz’s excellent article entitled “Broadcast Reform Revisited” in The Communication Review. Dr. Parker, then Director of the Office of Communications of the United Church of Christ, put media squarely in the middle of the Civil Rights crusade of the 1960s—right where it belonged (and still belongs). He did so by taking on the license renewal application of WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi, a station that somehow managed to ignore the fight for civil rights in the south and across America. Often the picture on the WLBT screen would be replaced with a notice like: Sorry, we’re having technical problems—just as, say, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was coming on the evening news. Civil rights news blackouts were common, and black Americans were conspicuous by their absence on a station that seemed more interested in white supremacy than equal rights for all. Dr. Parker thought this wasn’t how the peoples’ airwaves should be used and that WLBT was about as far away from serving the public interest as a station could get. He led the challenge to deny FCC relicensing to WLBT, courting and convincing other parties to join his crusade, and buttressing his case with overwhelming data gleaned from program logs and other telling evidence.
http://benton.org/node/133607
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DO MORE ON DIVERSITY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Addressing the Minority Media and Telecom Council's Broadband and Social Justice Policy Summit in Washington, Federal Communications Commission members Ajit Pai and Mignon Clyburn agree that the FCC needs to move on a variety of diversity initiatives. Commissioner Clyburn said there was hope for progress in some of the suggestions teed up in the incentive auction proposal, while Commissioner Pai made a pitch for a couple of proposals. Commissioner Clyburn said that as a child of the Civil Rights movement, "proposals that we know are right often seem to take a lifetime to come to fruition." She said there were glimmers of hope in the FCC seeking comment on a small business credit for participation in the broadcast side of the incentive auction, and proposals to address diversity in the wireless space of the forward auction. Commissioner Pai added that he hoped there would be a "flowering" of diversity on the wireless side. He also put in a plug for loosening the restrictions on foreign ownership. He said it didn't make sense for a foreign entity to be able to invest billions in a U.S. wireless company, while they could not in a broadcaster -- if that investment exceeded a 25% stake -- particularly given minority broadcasters' need for access to more capital.
benton.org/node/143483 | Broadcasting&Cable
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

BUILDING BROADBAND ADOPTION INFRASTRUCTURE
[SOURCE: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, AUTHOR: John Horrigan]
Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling gave a speech at the Brookings Institution to discussing the progress of the Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP), funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The most compelling parts of Strickling’s speech were stories about communities affected by BTOP programs. One common denominator in these stories is broadband’s role in changing expectations. But NTIA has more than just anecdotes about its BTOP programs. In December, NTIA released a report entitled “Progress towards BTOP Goals: Interim Report on PCC and SBA Case Studies.” This report, written by NTIA consultant ASR Analytics, looks at PCC and SBA projects that try to increase broadband adoption through touching individuals. What is striking about the ASR report is its documentation of the impressive reach of BTOP grants in the PCC and SBA areas. What do these findings suggest for a second term of the Obama Administration?
First, broadband adoption – in spite of the progress that BTOP has facilitated – remains a problem.
Second, the benefits to having more people online are growing. More and more key institutions in society – health care, government, education – are looking to use the Internet to deliver services as a way to cut costs and improve effectiveness.
benton.org/node/143515 | Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
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CABLE AND USAGE-BASED PRICING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
At the Minority Media and Telecom Council's Broadband and Social Justice Policy Summit, former Federal Communications Commission Chairman and current National Cable and Telecommunications Association President Michael Powell said that cable's interest in usage-based broadband pricing was not principally about network congestion, but instead about pricing fairness. He pointed out that the cable industry had to spend a bunch of money on its network before the first customer was signed. So, for a business that requires "enormously high" fixed costs -- digging up the streets, put the wires in -- and operational expense, "it is a completely rational and acceptable process to figure out how to fairly allocate those costs among your consumers who are choosing the service and will pay you to recover those costs." And he said that from paying their electric bills to bellying up to the buffet at a restaurant, consumers are familiar and comfortable with usage-based pricing. Powell pointed out that most capacity is used by a high-end elite being subsidized by the rest. He suggested that usage-based pricing was one way to spur broadband adoption. For people with affordability challenges, you want to be able to offer them product that suit their uses at lower prices so you can get more people on the network. "We worry about the 30%-35% who aren't on the Web yet, but aren't willing to entertain pricing approaches that might bring them there in a cost-effective way," he said. Powell said another reason to have usage-based pricing is to encourage Web app designers to be more bandwidth efficient.
Former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said the FCC should approach data caps with a little more "questioning" attitude. He said he does not opposed to people paying more for using more. But he also said that the focus should be more on building out broadband infrastructure to all citizens, and after making that investment it is a better time to focus on usage-based pricing or caps. "I am more interested right now in getting the abundance of high-speed broadband out there," he said.
benton.org/node/143482 | Broadcasting&Cable
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NETFLIX AND NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
[Commentary] Netflix is a vigorous supporter of “Network Neutrality” -- as long as the definition is loose enough to mean that it’s free to wangle preferential treatment from Internet service providers. To Netflix, its Open Connect content delivery network program is an all-around win: By caching frequently accessed (and high bit rate) video in ISPs’ data centers, Netflix saves money on CDN costs; ISPs can cut upstream bandwidth utilization; and end users get a better streaming experience. Netflix argues that this just makes the Internet better for everyone, and doesn’t cost ISPs a dime since Netflix is footing the bill to install the CDN caches anywhere the providers want. But some ISPs are chafing at Netflix’s offer. Time Warner Cable has gone on record to complain that it’s unfair for Netflix to hold back “super HD” and 3D content unless a broadband provider plays ball and opens its doors for Netflix's servers (see TWC: Netflix Is Withholding Content to Gain 'Unprecedented' Access to ISPs). What’s really going on here? If ISPs give special access to Netflix, they will certainly be accused of denying the same privileges to others. And such complaints, whether you want to label them Network Neutrality violations or not, would certainly be valid. In Netflix’s view of the world, its first-mover advantages -- both in DVDs-by-mail and Internet video streaming -- mean that it should get access to cost-saving measures from distributors (i.e., the Postal Service and ISPs). But by the same token, that disadvantages competitors who lack the same clout.
benton.org/node/143481 | Multichannel News
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NETFLIX VS THE CABLE GUYS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] Few things make me experience the bitter joy of Cassandrafreude more than watching someone flip the other guy’s argument. So it is with Netflix and Time Warner Cable, and their current beef over Netflix making its new uber-HD content available to ISPs for free, but only through Netflix’s content delivery network (CDN). TWC accuses Netflix of demanding "unprecedented" access and privileges for its own (i.e., Netflix's, not TWC's) content. (Although ESPN360 actually went so far as to charge ISPs on a per subscriber basis some years back, which strikes me as a little more extreme than just saying "use my CDN," but let’s not quibble on this point.) This of course begs the question: how can Netflix be asking for privileges if they are making this available for free, and if it actually improves speed and avoids network? Come to think of it, this has been available for free since May, but none of the major vertically-integrated MVPD/broadband access providers had any interest in it? (Although a number of standalone players like Google Fiber signed up right away). Why did Netflix have to artificially create an incentive to get TWC (and the other major MVPD/access providers) to even come to the table to discuss connecting to their CDN? Could it be because you are actually making Netflix pay through the nose to deliver its content to you via traditional CDNs, so that “free” actually means “no longer able to collect CDN fees from our chief video rival?” Does it have anything to do with the fact that the CDN allows Netflix to determine – and publish – whether an MVPD/broadband access provider is diddling with its content delivery?
benton.org/node/143489 | Public Knowledge
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AMBASSADOR KRAMER ON ITU TREATY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
Ambassador Terry Kramer said the U.S. delegation succeeded in eliminating around "80 to 90 percent of the objectionable" proposals for a United Nations telecommunications treaty that was negotiated last month. The U.S. still has concerns with some "ambiguous" definitions included in the final version of the treaty, Ambassador Kramer said. He argued that some countries could point to these definitions when justifying questionable measures they take on the Internet. For example, he said countries could potentially use the treaty's definition for spam to monitor Web traffic or block content they disagree with. However, Ambassador Kramer cautioned that it's too soon to tell what the lasting effect of the treaty will be because it won't go until effect until 2015. "We won't know for the next couple years" what the impact of those definitions will be, he said.
benton.org/node/143510 | Hill, The
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PCAST REPORT
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: David Shaw, Susan Graham, Peter Lee]
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released its latest report to the President and Congress, Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and Development in Networking and Information Technology. The report is a Congressionally mandated assessment of the Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program, which coordinates the Nation’s federally-funded research and development (R&D) in areas such as supercomputing, high-speed network­ing, cybersecurity, software technology, and information management. The report is an update on progress since the last such assessment was conducted in 2010. In its new report, PCAST concludes that progress has been made toward addressing a number of the recommendations made in the 2010 report. The report also notes that many important areas have received less attention and investment than is needed, making recommendations for stronger coordination among agencies to meet continuing networking and information technology challenges in educational technology, data privacy, energy, transportation, and other important sectors. Among other recommendations, PCAST proposes development of new multi-agency initiatives to catalyze innovation and advances in high-performance computing, understanding of collective online human activity, surface and air transportation, and learning sciences and also recommends measures to strengthen the Nation’s NIT workforce through training programs, continuing education opportunities, and other mechanisms. To ensure continued multi-agency coordination and investment in NIT areas, PCAST recommends establishment of a high-level standing PCAST sub-committee that would focus on providing ongoing strategic advice in this domain.
benton.org/node/143528 | White House, The | read the report
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CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND CYBERATTACKS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nicole Perlroth]
The vast majority of targeted computer attacks now start with a malicious e-mail sent to a company employee. Now evidence suggests that the same technique could be used to attack watersheds, power grids, oil refineries and nuclear plants. Attackers increasingly use so-called spearphishing attacks, in which they send employees targeted e-mails — often from an e-mail address that matches the name of a colleague, supervisor or chief executive—that contains malicious code. One click is all it takes for an attacker to steal an employee’s administrative passwords, turn their machine into a recording device, and see everything they do.
benton.org/node/143527 | New York Times | NYT – smart grid
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VIOLENCE AND MEDIA

VIOLENT HOLLYWOOD AND THE DEATH OF CREATIVITY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Charles Evered]
[Commentary] The makers of popular culture may very well believe that their products are ultimately harmless. Studies exist saying as much. Studies exist saying the opposite. As a filmmaker, I'd like to see a study that reaches a third conclusion: The mushrooming of mayhem is a sign not only of where the culture may be headed, it's also a symptom of the weakening of creative imagination. It used to take skill, even finesse, to create horror. It used to take serious consideration of how to present an act of terror, where it might lie structurally in the story, how much or how little to show, to what extent the event should be visited—or revisited. There were silences, pauses, teases and innuendos. Alfred Hitchcock was a master, but even less talented directors labored to get it right. Now there is not only little left to the imagination, there is nothing left to the imagination. Show the guts, the veins—show the bullet traveling through a victim's eyeball, show it all. Then, simply claim you're depicting life as it really is. I don't pretend to have any answers in the political debate about violence, but I hope the discussion will prod some consciences in Hollywood and elsewhere in the entertainment industry. As filmmakers, we should ask ourselves: Are we doing the best work we can, or are we simply using the increasingly permissive marketplace as a cover to do work that isn't even close to our best? These are questions that one can weigh without the risk of losing friends, being passed over for gigs or, worst of all, not being invited to the best dinner parties.
benton.org/node/143526 | Wall Street Journal
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CONTENT

SOPA ANNIVERSARY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez, Brendan Sasso]
January 18 marks the one-year anniversary of the Internet protests that killed the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), which Internet activists are calling "Internet Freedom Day." A year later, lawmakers are still wary of stoking the ire of the Internet community. The protests marked a sea change in the way traditional Washington lobbying is done. Members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees have yet to hint at revisiting anti-piracy legislation in 2013. People woke up on Jan. 18, 2012, to find they were unable to access Wikipedia, Reddit and other websites that blacked out for the day. Google blocked out its iconic multi-colored logo to show its opposition to the bills as well. Concerned Web users jammed the phone lines and flooded the email inboxes of lawmakers to raise concern with the anti-piracy measures. One by one, lawmakers pulled their support for the bills, and others who were previously quiet on the issue chose to speak out against SOPA and PIPA. The public outcry forced the authors of the bills, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), to shelve the them.
benton.org/node/143523 | Hill, The
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CYBER CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The suicide of Aaron Swartz has unleashed another debate pitting intellectual property against digital democracy. And if there is a lesson to be found from the circumstances of the tech prodigy's death, perhaps it is that the failure to modernize the law for the Internet age is an invitation for abuse all around. The ideology of e-vangelists like Swartz is oblivious to the economic realities that confront media companies (including this newspaper) or scholarly projects like JSTOR. It costs money to digitize and organize millions of files, and JSTOR charges universities and libraries a subscription fee as high as $50,000. Had Swartz succeeded, innovations like JSTOR may not exist for his successors to destroy. The larger principle is that intellectual creation is legally protected, explicitly so in the Constitution, to promote scientific progress and the useful arts. Consumers are willing to pay for content they find valuable, and whether and how much to charge is for its owner—and ultimately the market—to decide. The Swartz family and others are blaming U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz for his death, which is unfair, given his history of depression. It is fair to say that she showed poor judgment and misused the awesome powers that the government vests in prosecutors.
benton.org/node/143524 | Wall Street Journal
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HOAXES AND THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Hayley Tsukayama]
The details are still shaking out, but if there’s one tech lesson to draw from the strange story of Notre Dame football player Manti Te’o and his fake girlfriend, it’s that you are what you tweet. Who you are online — on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn — has more or less become a central part of your public identity. “We’re basically the sum of our offline and online parts,” said Sarah Downey, senior privacy strategist at the online privacy firm Abine. “And so many of us spend so much time online that they’re indistinguishable.” Anyone watching Manti Te’o on Twitter would have sworn they almost knew Lennay Kekua, the girlfriend Te’o and Notre Dame now say never existed. As Deadspin reported, fans had seen the tweets between them, sent messages of support to Kekua’s “sister,” and saw Te’o mourn her death in September. They saw pictures of her, which appear to be taken from another woman’s Facebook account. And, as ESPN reported, Te’o may not be the only football player who believes he’s met Kekua. The scale of the hoax is shocking but faking online personalities is nothing new.
benton.org/node/143490 | Washington Post
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

LTE PUBLIC SAFETY NETWORK
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Margaret Steen]
As communications technology advances, the public safety community is looking to capitalize on the changes. “By history and tradition, we have many thousands of separate communications systems for emergency responders in this country,” said Jon Peha, professor of electrical engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University and former chief technologist with the Federal Communications Commission. “That means we have systems that don’t interoperate, are more prone to failure when we need them, and are vastly more expensive than they ought to be. We pay more and get less.” Traditional public safety communication systems don’t provide services that commercial users take for granted, such as data communication and the ability to send pictures or video. A system tested in August at the 2012 Republican National Convention (RNC) in the Tampa and St. Petersburg, Fla., area gave a glimpse into the possible future of public safety communications. Public safety agencies in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties worked with commercial vendors to test a Public Safety Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, which ran under special temporary authority from the FCC.
benton.org/node/143513 | Government Technology
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

THE PRESIDENT AND FOX
[SOURCE: University of Minnesota, AUTHOR: Eric Ostermeier]
Fox News, the favorite news outlet of conservatives, ranks just ninth in presser questions in President Obama's first term, getting to ask questions at only half the rate of the Big 3 broadcast networks. Over the course of the President's first term, he has generally maintained the tiered approach as to which outlets ask the questions (with the Big 3 and Associated Press usually getting the green light), although the President has departed from tradition on occasion -- famously calling on a digital-only media outlet's reporter (Huffington Post's Sam Stein) during his first news conference in February 2009. But as for FOX, these have been relatively lean years in terms of getting the presidential nod at news conferences, particularly in light of the news outlet's reach vis-à-vis some of the other media organizations which have received more questions. How lean? A Smart Politics analysis finds that ABC reporters have been called on the most frequently during Barack Obama's solo news conferences followed by CBS, the Associated Press, and NBC with FOX News coming in at a distant ninth at less than half the rate of the top outlets and less than 40 percent of press conferences overall.
benton.org/node/143469 | University of Minnesota
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January 18, 2013
Source 
White House, The
Author 
David Shaw
Susan Graham
Peter Lee
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released its latest report to the President and Congress, Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and Development in Networking and Information Technology. The report is a Congressionally mandated assessment of the Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program, which coordinates the Nation’s federally-funded research and development (R&D) in areas such as supercomputing, high-speed network­ing, cybersecurity, software technology, and information management.

The report is an update on progress since the last such assessment was conducted in 2010. In its new report, PCAST concludes that progress has been made toward addressing a number of the recommendations made in the 2010 report. The report also notes that many important areas have received less attention and investment than is needed, making recommendations for stronger coordination among agencies to meet continuing networking and information technology challenges in educational technology, data privacy, energy, transportation, and other important sectors. Among other recommendations, PCAST proposes development of new multi-agency initiatives to catalyze innovation and advances in high-performance computing, understanding of collective online human activity, surface and air transportation, and learning sciences and also recommends measures to strengthen the Nation’s NIT workforce through training programs, continuing education opportunities, and other mechanisms. To ensure continued multi-agency coordination and investment in NIT areas, PCAST recommends establishment of a high-level standing PCAST sub-committee that would focus on providing ongoing strategic advice in this domain.

[David Shaw, Susan Graham, and Peter Lee are co-chairs of the PCAST NITRD Working Group and Dr. Shaw is a member of PCAST.]

PCAST Updates Assessment of Networking and InfoTech R&D Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and Development in Networking and Information Technology (read the report)

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January 18, 2013
Source 
New York Times
Author 
Nicole Perlroth
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

The vast majority of targeted computer attacks now start with a malicious e-mail sent to a company employee. Now evidence suggests that the same technique could be used to attack watersheds, power grids, oil refineries and nuclear plants. Attackers increasingly use so-called spearphishing attacks, in which they send employees targeted e-mails — often from an e-mail address that matches the name of a colleague, supervisor or chief executive—that contains malicious code. One click is all it takes for an attacker to steal an employee’s administrative passwords, turn their machine into a recording device, and see everything they do.

Critical Infrastructure Systems Seen as Vulnerable to Attack A Hacker Says Smart Grid Can Be Penetrated (NYT – smart grid)

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January 18, 2013
Source 
Wall Street Journal
Author 
Charles Evered
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

[Commentary] The makers of popular culture may very well believe that their products are ultimately harmless. Studies exist saying as much. Studies exist saying the opposite. As a filmmaker, I'd like to see a study that reaches a third conclusion: The mushrooming of mayhem is a sign not only of where the culture may be headed, it's also a symptom of the weakening of creative imagination.

It used to take skill, even finesse, to create horror. It used to take serious consideration of how to present an act of terror, where it might lie structurally in the story, how much or how little to show, to what extent the event should be visited—or revisited. There were silences, pauses, teases and innuendos. Alfred Hitchcock was a master, but even less talented directors labored to get it right. Now there is not only little left to the imagination, there is nothing left to the imagination. Show the guts, the veins—show the bullet traveling through a victim's eyeball, show it all. Then, simply claim you're depicting life as it really is. I don't pretend to have any answers in the political debate about violence, but I hope the discussion will prod some consciences in Hollywood and elsewhere in the entertainment industry. As filmmakers, we should ask ourselves: Are we doing the best work we can, or are we simply using the increasingly permissive marketplace as a cover to do work that isn't even close to our best? These are questions that one can weigh without the risk of losing friends, being passed over for gigs or, worst of all, not being invited to the best dinner parties.

Violent Hollywood and the Death of Creativity

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January 18, 2013
Source 
Los Angeles Times
Author 
Amy Kaufman
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

Violence in entertainment isn't just a topic for Washington this week -- it's also on the mind of Sundance Film Festival organizers.

Days after a White House Task Force on Gun Violence led by Vice President Joe Biden met with a group of Hollywood executives, Robert Redford, who helped found the Sundance Film Festival, admitted he himself questions the industry's emphasis on violence. "I think it's absolutely not only appropriate, but overdue, to have a dialogue" about violence on screen, the filmmaker said Thursday at a news conference kicking off the 10-day long annual event. "When I was driving along the street the other day in L.A., I saw two billboards where guns were featured prominently ... with a pleasant, happy-looking young couple.... My thought was: 'Does my industry think guns will help sell tickets?'" However, Keri Putnam, the festival's executive director, said last year's shootings in Aurora (CO) and Newtown (CT) did not prompt organizers to rethink this year's Sundance slate.

Robert Redford weighs in on Hollywood and violence Redford, Sundance Officials Talk About Guns in Film (NYTimes)

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January 18, 2013
Source 
Wall Street Journal
Author 
Editorial staff
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

[Commentary] The suicide of Aaron Swartz has unleashed another debate pitting intellectual property against digital democracy. And if there is a lesson to be found from the circumstances of the tech prodigy's death, perhaps it is that the failure to modernize the law for the Internet age is an invitation for abuse all around.

The ideology of e-vangelists like Swartz is oblivious to the economic realities that confront media companies (including this newspaper) or scholarly projects like JSTOR. It costs money to digitize and organize millions of files, and JSTOR charges universities and libraries a subscription fee as high as $50,000. Had Swartz succeeded, innovations like JSTOR may not exist for his successors to destroy. The larger principle is that intellectual creation is legally protected, explicitly so in the Constitution, to promote scientific progress and the useful arts. Consumers are willing to pay for content they find valuable, and whether and how much to charge is for its owner—and ultimately the market—to decide. The Swartz family and others are blaming U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz for his death, which is unfair, given his history of depression. It is fair to say that she showed poor judgment and misused the awesome powers that the government vests in prosecutors.

Cyber Crime and Punishment

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