December 6, 2012 (WCIT Update; Collecting Kids' Info Online)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2012
Today's agenda includes 1)World Conference on International Telecommunications, 2) FTC Workshop on Practices and Privacy Implications of Comprehensive Collection of Internet Users’ Data, and 3) Phoenix Center's Annual U.S. Telecoms Symposium http://benton.org/calendar/2012-12-06/
INTERNET/BROADBAND
US Hopeful WCIT Will Avoid Net Governance
Ambassador Kramer: Reports on UN treaty 'inaccurate'
New net rules would hit digital economy: diplomat
House approves resolution to keep Internet control out of UN hands
Rep Walden: Obama hypocritical on Internet freedom
Verizon, MetroPCS Ask Court for Time to Amend Network Neutrality Briefs
Internet Blackout in the U.S. Not Likely
OWNERSHIP
FCC relax of media ownership ban draws fire
Rep Schakowsky Asks FCC Chair to Rethink Ownership Draft [links to web]
Leadership Conference Says 323 Comment Extension Is Insufficient
Left uses Rupert Murdoch to combat media consolidation [links to web]
FCC May Give Murdoch a Very Merry Christmas - op-ed [links to web]
Department of Justice meets with firms seeking Google antitrust probe
Apple, Samsung Back in Court [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
MetroPCS CEO: Softbank Deal Complicates Any Sprint Bid
Cellphone ‘crammers’ pile on charges [links to web]
In Two Years 4G LTE Has Changed the Mobile Lifestyle - press release [links to web]
AT&T tries to explain your bill with a video, still doesn't do the job [links to web]
Apple, Samsung Back in Court [links to web]
TELEVISION
Research: Pay TV customers will cut existing bills before cutting cords [links to web]
Sports Broadcast Antitrust Suits Can Proceed, Judge Rules [links to web]
How Netflix wants to change television forever [links to web]
CONTENT
Parents don’t want children’s information collected on the Internet, poll finds
Hachette enters into new e-book contracts with retailers post-DoJ settlement [links to web]
Amazon’s all-you-can-eat kids’ Kindle content should scare competitors [links to web]
What’s a Twitter Follower Worth? [links to web]
Social media rankings: perceptive or pointless? [links to web]
Will news bites for digital natives work? [links to web]
Sports Broadcast Antitrust Suits Can Proceed, Judge Rules [links to web]
How Netflix wants to change television forever [links to web]
FTC bars advertising firm from sniffing browser histories [links to web]
The More Pandora Sells, the More It Loses [links to web]
Zynga Takes Gambling Step in Nevada [links to web]
LABOR
Apple to Invest in Manufacturing Macs in U.S., CEO Cook Says [links to web]
HEALTH
The doctor won’t see you now. He’ll e-mail you. [links to web]
Rep Honda aims to spur mobile health innovation [links to web]
EDUCATION
Online ed startup Coursera moves further along money-making path [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Utilities’ cyber survey may be model for other industries [links to web]
Rep McCaul: Cybersecurity legislation is 'top' priority next Congress [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Federal Agencies Are Failing to Uphold Obama's Stated Commitment to Transparency - analysis [links to web]
Open Source and the Power of Community - press release [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
POLICYMAKERS
Meet Lamar Smith: SOPA author, climate change skeptic, and Congress' next science boss [links to web]
Rep McCaul: Cybersecurity legislation is 'top' priority next Congress [links to web]
Romney's digital director talks lessons learned [links to web]
AGENDA
FCC Releases Agenda for Open Commission Meeting Wednesday, December 12, 2012 - press release
House Communications and Technology Subcommittee to Continue Jobs-Focused Agenda in 113th Congress - press release [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Google talks continuing, no antitrust decision yet: EU's Almunia
For Europe, Search Bias Is Still Central in Settlement Talks With Google
European Union mulls more flexible online copyright law
British News Media Agree to Regulator
YouTube Ban, Spurred by Anti-Islamic Video, Is Met With Shrugs
Can a ‘Spotify for books’ really work [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Content and commerce collide: is it harder for publishers or e-tailers? [links to web]
More Consumers Churning, But They'd Rather Stay [links to web]
The Most Egregiously Bad Product Placement You'll Ever See--And How To Do It Right [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
US HOPEFUL WCIT WILL AVOID NEW GOVERNANCE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Ambassador Philip L. Verveer, U.S Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, said that he had reason to be confident there would be "no direct effort at affecting Internet governance" at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT 12), though there was still concern about indirect proposals. Those, he said, could expand jurisdiction of international telecom regulations in ways the U.S. would find troubling, including affecting traffic management, the transmission architecture of the Internet or content control. Still, he said the U.S. remained optimistic that the conference ultimately will not "intrude into areas that would be a source of concern to us." The U.S. chief concern was that legitimate issues like extending broadband to the unserved would be used to justify greater government control over the Net, rather than recognizing the value of a multistakeholder, private industry driven model. "I think we are hopeful that the conference will deal explicitly or implicitly with the very legitimate questions of the availability and affordability of broadband, but will deal with these questions at least implicitly in terms of recognizing the advantages of privatized, liberalized approaches." He said a successful conference would mean regulations not vastly different from the existing ones. "We have a winner and we ought to go with it."
benton.org/node/140893 | Broadcasting&Cable
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TREATY REPORT INACCURATE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
US Ambassador Terry Kramer denied reports claiming that other countries did not give early support to a joint U.S.-Canada proposal aimed at keeping Internet regulations out of a United Nations treaty. Ambassador Kramer said the issue is still up for discussion at the ongoing treaty conference in Dubai. "Early reports suggesting failure of support for a joint U.S.-Canada proposal for early discussion on the scope of the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs) are inaccurate," said Kramer, the head of the U.S. delegation for the treaty conference. Kramer said the issue "remains an important point of discussion for the United States" and it will continue to push for the current scope of the treaty to be maintained.
benton.org/node/140891 | Hill, The
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NEW NET RULES AND THE ECONOMY
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Matt Smith]
Inter-governmental regulation of the Internet could deter investment, raise costs for consumers and hinder online access, said U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer. "We are concerned some of the proposals could create an investment environment that is very tenuous," he said. "We need to be very mindful that we are not creating new, much greater problems than we are solving." The United States wants to restrict the debate in Dubai to conventional telecoms, and two of its three core recommendations have been approved, Ambassador Kramer said. Member states have agreed the definition of 'telecommunications' should remain unchanged, while the treaty's introductory passages, relating to its scope, will also be unaltered. The third recommendation, still being debated behind closed doors, is a technical, but important distinction that the treaty should relate only to "recognized operating agencies" - conventional telecom operators - and not "operating agencies."
benton.org/node/140890 | Reuters
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HOUSE APPROVES INTERNET RESOLUTION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Pete Kasperowicz]
The House unanimously passed a Senate resolution introduced by Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) that calls on the U.S. government to oppose United Nations control of the Internet. The 397-0 vote is meant to send a signal to countries meeting at a U.N. conference on telecommunications this week. Participants are meeting to update an international telecom treaty, but critics warn that many countries’ proposals could allow U.N. regulation of the Internet. "The 193 member countries of the United Nations are gathered to consider whether to apply to the Internet a regulatory regime that the International Telecommunications Union created in the 1980s for old-fashioned telephone service," Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) said on the House floor. He said countries will also consider whether to "swallow the Internet's non-governmental organizational structure whole and make it part of the United Nations." "Neither of these are acceptable outcomes and must be strongly opposed by our delegation," Rep Walden added. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) said both the White House and lawmakers were united against U.N. control of the Internet.
benton.org/node/140889 | Hill, The
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WALDEN, OBAMA AND INTERNET FREEDOM
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) accused the Obama Administration of hypocrisy for advocating for Internet freedom on a global level but supporting Internet regulation domestically. U.S. delegates are currently attending a conference in Dubai to update a global telecommunications treaty. The Obama Administration and lawmakers in both parties oppose efforts that would expand the treaty to allow for international regulation of the Internet. But Rep Walden, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, pointed to the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules as an example of invasive government Internet regulation supported by the Obama Administration. The rules bar Internet service providers from slowing down or blocking websites that compete with their services. Supporters say the rules are critical for ensuring an open and vibrant Internet, but critics say they unnecessarily stifle businesses. Chairman Walden, who was speaking at a Washington event hosted by the Villanova School of Business, said a pending executive order on cybersecurity will also hamper the ability of the United States to criticize other countries that try to control the Internet.
benton.org/node/140887 | Hill, The
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REQUEST TO AMEND NETWORK NEUTRALITY BRIEFS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Verizon and MetroPCS have asked for more time and space from a federal court to make their case against the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules. That was prompted by the decision of that same court Dec 3 in Verizon's challenge to the FCC's data roaming rules (Cellco Partnership [Verizon] v. FCC). In a motion filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Verizon and MetroPCS asked for two more weeks from the current Dec. 6 deadline to file the latest briefs in their network neutrality challenge so they can incorporate this week's roaming decision into their filings, and for 1,000 additional words (the limit is 6,000) for their joint brief and 350 additional words for MetroPCS' separate filing (the limit is 2,000 words). They point out that the roaming case, in which the court upheld the FCC's application of voice roaming obligations to data, deals with similar issues and was released only two days before the Dec. 6 deadline.
benton.org/node/140878 | Broadcasting&Cable
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US INTERNET BLACKOUT UNLIKELY
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Colin Wood]
With the recent Internet blackout in Syria, the prospect of a similar event happening in the U.S. became a subject of discussion in the tech community. While the Internet is typically viewed as being highly resilient to war, natural disasters and everything else, a country suddenly disconnecting, as Syria did, presented a captivating scenario to consider for world leaders meeting at the World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai to update international telecommunications agreements. A recent story by the Huffington Post illustrated how such a blackout occurring in the U.S. is highly unlikely, despite several efforts over the past few years by Sen. Joseph Lieberman to create an Internet “kill-switch” that would give the federal government power to shut down or take control of American Internet access during a national emergency. The bill never passed, and with more than 40 Internet providers in the U.S., it would be extremely difficult for any one event to completely shut off American Internet access -- although the potential for a partial Internet blackout in the U.S. is possible.
benton.org/node/140866 | Government Technology
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OWNERSHIP
FCC DRAWS FIRE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
A battle over media ownership rules is heating up. So much so that the Federal Communications Commission has tossed the hot potato issue until next year. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski last month circulated a proposal that would relax a ban that prevents the owner of a television broadcast station from also owning a newspaper in the same town or city. On Dec 4, amid criticism from a public interest group and the Hill, the FCC said it would take more comments on the issue, which would push a vote on Genachowski’s proposal to January at the earliest. Changes in the 1975 media cross-ownership ban has sparked criticism by some public interest groups who fear the move would lead to greater concentration among the nation’s biggest media conglomerates. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said in a letter to Chairman Genachowski that she opposed the proposal and criticized the agency for considering new rules in a private vote. “These rules were put in place and have remained in place because they support diversity, competition, and localism in the public interest,” Sen Cantwell said in her letter late last month. She said even with the current rules, diversity among media owners has declined. To relax the rules would quicken that decline, she said.
benton.org/node/140886 | Washington Post
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LCCR SAYS EXTENSION INSUFFICIENT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which represents groups that have been critical of the Federal Communications Commission's media ownership proposal, has told the FCC that its proposed 30-day extension of the comment period on its associated 323 state of ownership survey is not sufficient. They also don't want the FCC to vote the ownership item in early January after the comment period closes. In a letter to the FCC commissioners, the group said that its more than 200 member organizations had concluded that extra period -- until Jan. 4 on a report released Nov. 14 – does not permit a full opportunity to understand, analyze and offer comment on the ownership data, especially since the data was only released two weeks ago. They add that the brief window could leave the FCC wide open for a court challenge because it is "self-evidently insufficient."
benton.org/node/140883 | Broadcasting&Cable
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JUSTICE MEETS WITH GOOGLE FOES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Craig Timberg]
The Justice Department has begun meeting with companies that long have accused Google of illegally skewing its search results and are losing faith that the Federal Trade Commission will act forcefully on their complaints, said people familiar with the matter. Senior officials from the Justice Department, which shares responsibilities with the FTC for policing allegations of monopolistic behavior, have met with at least two companies in recent weeks, said these people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. This has come amid reports that the FTC may resolve its nearly 2-year-old investigation of Google without dealing directly with complaints that the company uses its power over the search market to gain an edge over rivals. Those familiar with the meetings with Justice officials say they were of a preliminary nature and it was not clear if they would lead to any action. Justice considered launching an antitrust investigation before the FTC claimed the case.
benton.org/node/140877 | Washington Post
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
METROPCS AND SPRINT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Thomas Gryta]
MetroPCS Communications Chief Executive Roger Linquist said the timing of Sprint-Nextel's pending deal to sell a 70% stake to Softbank "certainly could be" problematic if Sprint wants to make an offer for MetroPCS. Linquist declined to say whether Sprint had made an offer for MetroPCS, but he noted that Sprint—which he also referred to as an interloper—is busy with the Softbank deal. "How many balls do you have in the air at once? One of those balls isn't going to be there," Linquist said, referring to the T-Mobile takeover. Linquist acknowledged that further deals are likely, although it is unclear if the recent activity would bring pause or stimulate something larger. He said a "roll-up of the industry," including the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, is likely in coming years. "It has to happen at some point," he said, noting that timing and the regulatory environment will play a factor.
benton.org/node/140919 | Wall Street Journal
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CONTENT
CHILDREN’S INFO COLLECTION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Parents overwhelmingly say they object to the collection of personal information on children over the Internet, according to a new poll released just before federal officials are set to vote on a controversial proposal to strengthen child privacy laws. According to a survey released by child-advocacy groups, nine out of 10 adults said they believed advertisers should get a parent’s permission before collecting the name, address or other personal data of a user under 13. Those businesses should never be able to ask for a child’s location or information about a child’s friends, respondents said. The survey of 2,000 adults comes amid a debate over how far federal regulators can go to protect the privacy of children without stepping on the business practices of the fast-growing and aggressive Web, media and mobile-phone industries. Current law is fuzzy on how much information these firms can collect on minors through social networks and mobile devices. The Federal Trade Commission is poised to vote this month on revisions to a 1998 law written in the desktop-computer age. Proposed updates to that law would require permission from parents to track children online with cookies and other tools used by advertisers to create profiles of users.
benton.org/node/140921 | Washington Post | B&C | AdWeek
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AGENDA
FCC TO HOLD OPEN COMMISSION MEETING WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2012
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Wednesday, December 12, 2012. The meeting is scheduled to commence at 1:00 p.m. in Room TW-C305, at 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. The Commission is waiving the sunshine period prohibition contained in Section 1.1203 of the Commission’s rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.1203, until 5:00 pm on Thursday December 6, 2012. Thus, presentations with respect to the items listed below will be permitted until that time. The FCC will consider:
a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to broaden its initiatives in unleashing broadband spectrum, promoting technological innovation, and encouraging investment via the creation of a shared access broadband service in the 3550-3650 MHz band for small cell use.
an item on developing the capability for Americans to contact 911 emergency services via text messaging, and providing automatic consumer notification where text to 911 is not supported.
a Report and Order on reforming the FCC’s universal service support programs for healthcare that would expand healthcare providers’ access to broadband, especially in rural areas, while increasing overall efficiency and accountability in the programs.
a Report and Order and Order of Proposed Modification to increase the Nation’s supply of spectrum for mobile broadband by adopting service rules for 40 megahertz of spectrum in the 2 GHz band (2000-2020 MHz and 2180-2200 MHz).
a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would implement the Congressional directive in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 to grant new initial licenses for the 1915-1920 MHz and the 1995-2000 MHz bands through a system of competitive bidding.
benton.org/node/140847 | Federal Communications Commission
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
GOOGLE TALKS CONTINUE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Foo Yun Chee]
European Union antitrust regulators have not yet made a decision in their case against Google and are still talking to the Internet search firm to resolve complaints that it used its clout to block rivals. Google offered concessions to the European Commission in July to try to head off a possible fine of up to $4 billion or 10 percent of its 2011 revenues if the regulators find Google breached the rules. The EU executive Commission is examining the proposals before deciding whether to accept them or demand more. "We are in the process of conversation with Google to try to reach a settlement, but we are not there yet," said EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.
benton.org/node/140834 | Reuters | WSJ
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SEARCH BIAS AND GOOGLE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr]
In their inquiry of Google, European antitrust officials remain focused on accusations that Google’s dominant search engine gives favored placement to the company’s commerce and other services, thwarting competition. In their settlement talks with Google, European regulators insist that the search bias issue must be addressed, even if the Federal Trade Commission chooses to back off that element of its antitrust pursuit of Google. That was a message that Joaquin Almunia, the European Union antitrust commissioner, delivered to his American counterpart, Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the F.T.C., when the men met on Monday in Brussels, according to two people told of Almunia’s stance, conveyed in a private meeting. The two people spoke on the condition that they not be identified, because they were not authorized to speak.
benton.org/node/140833 | New York Times
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ONLINE COPYRIGHT LAW
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Claire Davenport]
Internet users in Europe may be allowed to copy parts of some copyrighted files legally under reforms to outdated rules governing the murky world of online piracy, EU officials said. Entertainment and software companies, who say they are losing billions of dollars of revenues to pirates, have been lobbying the bloc to outlaw all unlicensed copying and sharing of their digital films, music and applications. But the bloc's executive, the European Commission, said it was hoping to find a middle ground that would let legitimate users copy parts of some files - while clamping down on serious criminals.
benton.org/node/140831 | Reuters
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BRITISH MEDIA REGULATOR
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Burns]
The editors of Britain’s principal national newspapers met under pressure from Prime Minister David Cameron and agreed to the establishment of an independent newspaper regulator with far greater powers than those available to the existing watchdog. But the editors, meeting over breakfast at a London restaurant, steered a careful course, embracing most but not all of the measures recommended in a report last week by a high-ranking judge, Lord Justice Sir Brian Leveson. They rejected the judge’s most contentious proposal, for a new law that would put teeth into a state-sanctioned system of oversight.
benton.org/node/140909 | New York Times
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YOUTUBE BAN IN AFGANISTAN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Azam Ahmed]
When it comes to YouTube, the government of Afghanistan intends to keep its hand on the switch for now. More than two months after the Afghan government banned YouTube to prevent the spread of an anti-Islamic video, it has yet to restore access to the popular video Web site. While officials say they hope to lift the block “as soon as possible,” they have offered only a vague sense of what must happen before that can be done. It is a measure of some of Afghanistan’s complexities, however, that even as Afghan rights advocates have worried about censorship, a common reaction on the street to the YouTube ban has been praise, or at worst ambivalence, even among some of the younger, Internet-savvy set in Kabul.
benton.org/node/140908 | New York Times
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