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December 1, 2012
Source 
paidContent.org
Author 
Robert Andrews
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

More and more sites are getting blacklisted by Russia’s new hitlist of digital child porn and other supposedly law-breaking content. But, despite some recent examples, search engines are not supposed to be amongst the list.

Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) has issued a “clarification” to say Web search, image search, news search, video search and other content cached by search engines like Google, Yandex and Bing should not be included in the recently-launched Zapret web blacklist. This is despite recent inclusion of Google image search and YouTube, which is put down to a “mistake.” Such a distinction by the Russian government is an important one at a time when Google is facing growing international challenges to its long-held operating model.

Search engines escape Russia’s Internet blacklist

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December 1, 2012
Source 
Wall Street Journal
Author 
Kara Swisher
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

It’s hard to say how serious this is right now, but Yahoo was ordered to pay $2.7 billion in a lawsuit related to a breach of contract and lost profits of a yellow pages listing service by Worldwide Directories and Ideas Interactivas.

Yahoo Ordered to Pay $2.7 Billion by Mexican Court

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Submitted on November 30, 2012

War-torn Syria has disappeared from the Internet. This headline certainly caught our eye on November 29. The countrywide Internet outage, accompanied by localized outages of mobile and land phone networks, raised fears among some opposition activists that the government is preparing for a major offensive. In addition, the countrywide blackout crystalizes the fears of many about governments taking control of the Internet. Similar outages happened in Egypt and Libya when entrenched governments faced uprisings.

So, technically, first, here’s what happened in Syria: within the global routing table, all 84 blocks of IP addresses assigned to Syria have gone unreachable. That means that Internet traffic destined for that country is going undelivered, and also that traffic coming from within it cannot get out to the world. At least five networks operating outside Syria, but still operating within Syrian-registered IP address spaces, are still working, and are apparently controlled by India’s Tata Communications. These same networks have some servers running on them that were implicated in an attempt to deliver Trojans and other malware to Syrian activists.

Even as Syrians lost access to the Internet, people outside the country could still browse the Syrian government’s many Web sites for much of the day because they are hosted in foreign countries, including the United States. In July, the Assad government ordered that all official Web sites be hosted inside Syria. But in case of an emergency or an Internet shutdown like the one on Thursday, the government also maintains Web sites based in the United States, Canada and Britain, said Helmi Noman, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab. “This most recent Internet disruption in Syria highlights the issue of Web hosting and how the regime is able to make use of servers outside Syria to promote its message while locally hosted sites are down,” Noman said.

An executive order by President Barack Obama prohibits American companies from providing Web hosting and other services to Syria without obtaining a license from the Treasury Department. State Department officials confirmed that providing the services was a violation of the United States sanctions. “Our policies are designed to assist ordinary citizens who are exercising their fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association,” a spokesman, Mark C. Toner, said.

Cloudflare has been monitoring the situation in Syria and has made a few interesting observations. First, pretty much all Internet access in the country is funneled through one point: The state-run, state-controlled Syrian Telecommunications Establishment. The companies that provide this capacity running into the country are PCCW and Turk Telekom as the primary providers, with Telecom Italia and Tata providing additional capacity. There are, Cloudflare notes, four physical cables that bring Internet connectivity into Syria. Three of them are undersea cables that land in the coastal city of Tartus. A fourth comes in from Turkey to the north. Cloudflare’s Matt Prince says it’s unlikely that the cables were physically cut.

Why now? Clearly, the Syrian regime is under more pressure than ever before. Previously, it tended to view the country’s Internet as a tool to not only get its own word out to the wider world, but also to try and spy on and monitor the activities of the rebels and activists. With fighting intensifying in and around the capital and the commercial city of Aleppo, the decision to throw the kill switch might indicate a decision to try to disrupt enemy communications. Or it might mask a seriously aggressive military action that it wants to keep as secret as possible.

The U.S. condemned the Internet outage, calling it an assault on the Syrian people's ability to express themselves. It "speaks to the kind of desperation of the regime as it tries to cling to power," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. She added that the U.S. has provided some 2,000 communications kits to opposition members that are designed to circumvent the Syrian domestic network.

But what we really want to talk about today is the International Telecommunication Union. Back in June, we wrote about The ITU and Your Internet as Congress worked on a resolution to “preserve and advance the multistakeholder governance model under which the Internet has thrived.” The idea was to charge the Obama Administration to continue working to implement the position of the United States on Internet governance that clearly articulates the consistent and unequivocal policy of the United States to promote a global Internet free from government control and preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet today.

The resolution came because of concerns about the ITU’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) which begins on Monday, December 3. Over the past week, we’ve seen a number of articles, op-eds and editorials warning of the possibility that the United Nations will try to take control of the Internet through the ITU gathering. The stated goal of WCIT is to update a global treaty on technical standards needed to, say, connect a telephone call from Tokyo to Timbuktu. The previous conference took place in 1988, when the Internet was in its infancy and telecommunications remained a highly regulated, mostly analog-technology business. Now the Internet is the backbone for worldwide communications and commerce.

The meeting is raising alarms from a broad coalition of critics, including the US, tech giants such as Google and rights groups, concerned that changes could lead to greater efforts to censor Web content and stifle innovation in cyberspace. A lot is at stake in the upcoming negotiations: Observers say some of the proposals put forward by countries for the treaty conference could threaten Internet freedom, encourage online censorship and expand a United Nations agency's authority over the Internet.

Among the issues on the agenda are ideas to battle Internet spam and fraud. But also tucked into more than 1,300 proposals are potential hot-button items that opponents believe could be used by in places such as Iran and China to justify their crackdowns on bloggers and other Web restrictions. Another likely battle when the meeting begins Dec. 3 is over European-backed suggestions to change the pay structure of the Web to force content providers — such as Google, Facebook and others — to kick in an extra fee to reach users across borders. But simply opening the door to greater controls by the ITU raises concern among many people. They worry that countries with tightly controlled cyberspace such as China, Iran and Gulf Arab states will push for additions to the ITU's treaty — such as national security monitoring — that could be used to give legitimacy both to their current efforts to monitor and restrict the Web and to possible future clampdowns. The host United Arab Emirates, for example, sharply tightened Internet laws this month to give authorities wide powers to bring charges for offenses such as insulting the rulers or trying to organize street protests. And, just this week, India has indicated it must revisit enforcement of a similar law.

The ITU's secretary-general, Hamadoun Touré, said in a May speech in Canada that he expected "a light-touch regulatory approach to emerge." The ITU says it has no interest in governing the Internet or restricting expression, but notes that it must update its communications treaty to incorporate the dramatic technological changes that have occurred since the last revisions in 1988. That was before the Internet in the public domain. "For every proposal, there is a counterproposal," said ITU spokeswoman Sarah Parkes. She noted that UN treaties such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights take precedence over any regulations ITU may adopt that could relate to freedom of expression. A treaty proposal needs to have "massive support" from member countries in order to be included in the final version, Parkes argued. "You only need a small amount of dissension in the room for a [proposal] to be dropped," she said. Parkes also rebutted claims that the treaty would change the way the Internet is governed. "There's nothing that's coming up in this conference that touches on Internet governance or proposes changing the current mandate of the organizations that run the Internet," she said.

To help curb fears, the ITU’s membership has adopted a Resolution inviting ITU Member States to refrain from taking any unilateral and/or discriminatory actions that could impede another Member State from accessing public Internet sites and using resources, within the spirit of Article 1 of the Constitution and the WSIS principles. Hamadoun Touré said “the adoption of this Resolution underlines ITU’s commitment to a free and inclusive information society. This should send a strong message to the international community about accusations that ITU’s membership wishes to restrict the freedom of speech. Clearly the opposite is true. It is in this spirit – fostering an Internet whose benefits are open to all – that I would like to head into WCIT-12.”

Leading the US delegation is Terry Kramer who received his appointment in late June 2012 as U.S. Head of Delegation for the World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012 (WCIT-12). Kramer has been accorded the personal rank of ambassador by President Obama to serve in this role. Ambassador Kramer has had a 25-year career in international telecommunications, mainly as an executive at Vodafone. The US delegation has 123 members including a mix of Obama administration officials and industry representatives from Google, Verizon, AT&T, Cisco, Microsoft and Facebook. Advocacy groups and trade organizations also have representatives on the delegation.

US officials and American companies have sounded an alarm about proposals that would expand the scope of the ITU treaty so it shifts from regulating telecommunications networks to regulating the exchange of information on the Internet. The US has argued that the scope of the treaty should stay confined to telecommunications networks and not the Internet.

Ambassador Kramer has said that countries like China and Iran are looking to propose language that could lead to online censorship and government monitoring of Web traffic. These countries say the proposals are intended to protect computer networks from online threats like cyberattacks and spam and to crack down on child pornography, but the methods they suggest to accomplish these ends would allow them to peer into "what information is flowing on the Internet," he said.

The US and Canada offered a joint proposal this week asking that the conference deal first with proposals to change the definition of telecommunications or who the treaties apply to before getting down to the details of any revisions. Dealing with those "threshold questions" about the scope of the treaties is a crucial first step, the two countries argue. They propose that there be a plenary session to deal with any changes to the preamble or Article 1 of the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs). "If we can resolve those threshold, definitional issues first, it will clarify the terms of the negotiations for the rest of the conference," said Ambassador Kramer. He has said the conference needs to steer clear of the Internet and that the US would not be a party to expansion of the ITRs, though he conceded it was time to tee up questions about how broadband is dealt with going forward.

The European Union will also oppose attempts to increase regulation of the Internet. “Some non-EU countries have tabled proposals for a significant increase in the scope of the treaty and the regulatory burden on operators, including Internet service providers,” according to the political body representing 27 European nations. “The EU believes that there is no justification for such proposals and is concerned about the potentially negative impact on innovation and costs.”

Analysts say the real business of the conference is business. “The far bigger issue — largely obscured by this discussion — are proposals that are more likely to succeed that envision changing the way we pay for Internet services,” Michael Geist, an Internet law professor at the University of Ottawa, said. Sec General Touré says one of the main objectives of the conference is to spread Internet access to more of the four and a half billion people around the world who still do not use it.

But from Wall Street to Silicon Valley (and San Francisco) to London, the alarms continue to ring with a similar tune: Save the Internet from the United Nations.

Back in June, we noted that Adam Thierer and Jerry Brito charged Congress, not the ITU, with being the Internet’s biggest threat. The reality is, they write, that Congress increasingly has its paws all over the Internet. Lawmakers and regulators are busier than ever trying to expand the horizons of cyber-control across the board: copyright mandates, cybersecurity rules, privacy regulations, speech controls, and much more. On one of the most controversial Internet regulations, network neutrality, we’ve seen lots of activity in November.

Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA) wrote a letter to their colleagues on November 16, calling attention to a "troubling" constitutional argument Verizon has made in its bid to overturn network neutrality regulations. In its lawsuit, Verizon claimed that it has a First Amendment right to decide what traffic to carry on its network just as a newspaper editor chooses what articles to publish. The lawmakers warned that Congress's power to regulate the communications industry would be severely restricted if the court accepts Verizon's claim that the network neutrality regulations violate its First Amendment free speech rights. "Although this First Amendment issue is being raised by Verizon in the context of the Open Internet Order, there is no apparent limit to the company's claim," the lawmakers wrote. "If the court accepts Verizon's argument, the role of Congress in enacting communications policy through power granted by the Commerce Clause — including efforts to protect consumers and promote competition in contexts far removed from the Open Internet rules themselves — could be radically undermined." In their letter, the lawmakers warned that overturning the network neutrality rules could undermine the success of the Internet. "This incredible economic success story is made possible by the fact that the Internet has always been an open platform where anyone with a good idea can connect to consumers across the globe and compete on a level playing field for their business," they wrote.

The lawmakers pointed to a brief defense of the rules filed by former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps and other former government officials. In that brief, the officials said Verizon's lawsuit fails to "state any valid or even seriously plausible constitutional claim." They argued that Verizon is only carrying the speech of others and not expressing any message of its own. "There is nothing inherently expressive about transmitting others’ data packets, at a subscriber’s direction, over the Internet," the officials wrote. At a Capitol Hill event this week, Hundt dismissed Verizon’s view that it is somehow similar to a newspaper. “Verizon is like paper, not a newspaper,” he said. “This idea that the Internet can be closed, or blocked, or managed by private parties is the exact opposite of America’s foreign policy,” Hundt said, pointing to the Obama administration's Internet freedom advocacy. “The Internet is a common medium.” Telecom networks have a long history of dealing with public interest expectations, and courts have ruled that even privately owned companies like malls are limited in how they can restrict speech on their property. “Verizon’s arguments fail as a matter of constitutional principle: that transmission enables someone else’s constitutionally-protected expression does not mean that it is itself speech,” the officials wrote in its amicus brief. Additionally, they argued, if the courts were to accept Verizon’s arguments, “Congress’s historic power to take and authorize measures to preserve openness of communication networks would be unsettled and dramatically narrowed.”

We also saw news this week that Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) is proposing a moratorium on new Internet regulations for the next two years. The bill, named The Internet American Moratorium Act (IAMA), is currently just a "discussion draft" — which means that it's got a long way to go before even being considered for a vote by Congress. The bill's provisions are extremely broad, and would pretty much put a stop to all Internet lawmaking:

SEC. 3. MORATORIUM ON NEW LAWS, REGULATIONS, OR RULES. It is resolved in the House of Representatives and Senate that they shall not pass any new legislation for a period of 2 years from the date of enactment of this Act that would require individuals or corporations engaged in activities on the Internet to meet additional requirements or activities. After 90 days of passage of this Act no Department or Agency of the United States shall publish new rules or regulations, or finalize or otherwise enforce or give lawful effect to draft rules or regulations affecting the Internet until a period of at least 2 years from the enactment of this legislation has elapsed.

A blanket ban on Internet legislation probably isn't a good thing, writes T.C. Sottek in The Verge, even if it gives Congress a little more time to educate itself on internet issues: the law would require both Congress and federal agencies, like the FCC for instance, to put a halt on internet regulation. That would mean the FCC's critically received Open Internet regulations would have to sit still for another two years (which might not be a problem for Republicans, like Issa, who oppose net neutrality). It would also mean that the government would be unable to make new demands of companies like Facebook and Google to ensure the privacy of their customers through new regulations.

Rep Issa’s proposal comes as Verizon and AT&T are telling policymakers that they “need less regulation, not more. A lighter government hand, they say, will mean more competition and yield a better deal for consumers,” as David Cay Johnston wrote this week in the New York Times. In practice, though, deregulation has meant new regulations — written by corporations and for corporations — that have often thwarted competition and run roughshod over the customer. Johnston concludes, “The remedy for these anti-consumer practices is straightforward: bring back real competition to the telecom industry.”

You’re likely to see much more on the ITU meeting [for additional background see Fast Facts on United States Submitting Initial Proposals to World Telecom Conference and Preview of the World Conference on International Telecommunications] for the next two weeks as delegations gather in Dubai and we’ll keep you up-to-date in Headlines. But the agenda is full with nomination hearings and privacy workshops and more so stay tuned.

November 30, 2012 (Electronic Communications Privacy Act)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Low Power radio and Privacy highlight today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2012-11-30/


WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Third Interim Progress Report on the Ten-Year Spectrum Plan and Timetable
   House Communications Subcommittee Discusses Receivers’ Role to Limit Interference in a Spectrum Scarce World
   Unsubscribe Confirmation Texts Get FCC OK - public notice
   FCC Extends Comment Period for Incentive Auctions Proceeding - public notice [links to web]
   Up next for the FCC: Space communications [links to web]
   Voice calls over 4G LTE networks are battery killers [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Verizon: Free Speech at Heart of Network Neutrality Case
   Sen Durbin sees defense bill as vehicle for online sales tax
   The rest of the Internet is too slow for Google Fiber [links to web]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Senate panel votes to require warrant for police e-mail searches

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Hey, I Need to Talk to You About This Brilliant Obama E-mail Scheme

OWNERSHIP
   Sen Cantwell Calls for Public Vote On Ownership
   MMTC: FCC Should Seek More Comment Before Ownership Vote [links to web]
   US, Europe to Huddle on Google Probes

LABOR
   Asian workers now dominate Silicon Valley tech jobs

CONTENT
   Solving the Challenge of Online Captioning [links to web]
   Now It’s a Race: ComScore Adds Up Web, Mobile and App Eyeballs for the First Time [links to web]
   Twitter in legal spat over data clampdown [links to web]

HEALTH
   This App Uses Cell Phone Data To Track How You’re Feeling [links to web]

TELECOM
   FCC Eliminates Regulation of International Calling Charges - public notice [links to web]

TELEVISION
   King of TV for Now, CBS Girds for Digital Battle [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   New York Taps NIST's Sunder for Post-Sandy Review of Critical Systems and Services - press release [links to web]
   The American Press Institute board of trustees appoints Tom Rosenstiel executive director - press release [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Syria Has Disappeared From the Internet
   Syria’s Throwing of the Internet Kill Switch Raises Lots of Questions
   Official Syrian Web Sites Hosted in US
   ITU Adopts Resolution Inviting Members to Keep Hands off Internet
   US ambassador: Russia's proposals for telecom treaty are 'shocking'
   EU Says Telecoms Treaty Should Not Expand Web Regulation
   Keep the net beyond the autocrats’ reach - op-ed [links to web]
   India to Revise Enforcement of Internet Law [links to web]
   Leveson’s stick and carrot for wary press
   PM fails to back Leveson on UK press law
   Newspapers return fire on Leveson [links to web]
   Towards a grand bargain with the press - op-ed [links to web]
   Press Freedom at Risk - editorial
   The British Press Already Has a Regulator: The British Press - op-ed [links to web]
   Virgin wins contract to provide free Wi-Fi [links to web]
   US, Europe to Huddle on Google Probes

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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

SPECTRUM PLAN UPDATE
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Sec Rebecca Blank, Lawrence Strickling]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) submits this Progress Report as called for by the Presidential Memorandum issued on June 28, 2010, directing the Secretary of Commerce, working through NTIA and in collaboration with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to make available 500 megahertz of federal and nonfederal spectrum by 2020 for expanded wireless broadband use. To date, NTIA, in accordance with advice received from the Policy and Plans Steering Group (PPSG), has identified 210 megahertz of federal spectrum for potential reallocation, and continues to move forward to quickly transition the specified spectrum bands. NTIA and the FCC have also kicked off the implementation of the key spectrum-related provisions of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, enacted in February 2012. The key accomplishments for this reporting period include the following:
NTIA and the FCC commenced actions to implement key spectrum provisions from the Tax Relief Act;
NTIA published a report in March 2012 on the 1755-1850 MHz band, which recommended making 95 megahertz of prime spectrum available for commercial broadband use and identified the associated challenges to address;
NTIA launched collaborative efforts between industry and government stakeholders to assess and recommend practical frameworks for the development of relocation, transition, and sharing arrangements and plans for 110 megahertz of federal spectrum in the 1695-1710 MHz and the 1755-1850 MHz bands;
NTIA initiated studies on the potential use of up to 195 megahertz by unlicensed
broadband devices in the 5350-5470 MHz band and the 5850-5925 MHz band;
The FCC commenced rulemaking proceedings to facilitate the transition of broadcasting and satellite spectrum bands to terrestrial mobile broadband services;
The United States Government successfully advocated for an agenda item for the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference to consider allocation of additional spectrum to the mobile service on a primary basis for International Mobile Telecommunications and related regulatory provisions, to facilitate the development of terrestrial mobile broadband applications; and
NTIA and the PPSG continued reevaluation and reprioritization of other spectrum bands that offer the greatest opportunities for unleashing the innovative potential of wireless broadband and using the wireless spectrum more creatively and efficiently.
benton.org/node/140378 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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RECEIVERS AND SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
The House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), held a hearing exploring “The Role of Receivers in a Spectrum Scarce World.” The subcommittee focused on how best to promote innovation and maximize spectrum efficiency in the constantly evolving wireless communications marketplace.
Ronald Repasi, Deputy Chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology, explained that the FCC has largely focused on transmitters as it has worked to limit interference and maximize efficiency with previously allocated spectrum. However, given the rapidly evolving wireless technologies, he said, “Receiver performance is becoming increasingly important as a limiting factor as we move to repurpose spectrum and pack more services closer together on the spectrum chart. The continuing challenge for the Commission will be to maximize the amount of usable spectrum for cost effective deployment of new communication services while sufficiently protecting incumbent receivers.”
Brian Markwalter, Senior Vice President of Research and Standards at the Consumer Electronics Association, discussed the role device manufacturers play ensuring that their products are void of interference issues and reliable for those that use them. He said, “Equipment manufacturers and mobile providers have a strong self-interest in developing and deploying devices that are resistant to forms of interference and devices that create as little interference as possible. The limited amount of available spectrum combined with the high cost of spectrum and the dynamic interference environment faced by the industry incentivizes the development of efficient and robust receivers.”
Pierre de Vries, a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the University of Colorado at Boulder, highlighted the need for parties to work together to find the common ground that neighboring spectrum users can tolerate. He testified, “The policy challenge is to ensure that services that are affected by each other’s signals have the appropriate information and incentives to find the appropriate levels of interference and mitigation. The old strategy, which was to avoid any possibility of interference, is increasingly problematic as we need to crunch ever more services ever more closely together. A better approach is to maximize the value of wireless services, taking into account the costs and benefits of interference, rather than simply minimizing interference as an end in itself.” While he advocates for the adoption of “harm claim thresholds,” de Vries argues that those thresholds are best determined by stakeholders rather than government agencies.
benton.org/node/140372 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | Broadcasting&Cable
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CONFIRMATION TEXTS GET FCC OK
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission granted a request by SoundBite Communications, Inc. (SoundBite) and confirm that sending a one-time text message confirming a consumer’s request that no further text messages be sent does not violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) or the FCC’s rules as long as the confirmation text has the specific characteristics described in the petition. The ruling will allow organizations that send text messages to consumers from whom they have obtained prior express consent to continue the practice of sending a final, one-time text to confirm receipt of a consumer’s opt-out request—a widespread practice among businesses, non-profit organizations, and governmental entities, which many parties in this proceeding, including a consumer group, assert is good consumer policy. The FCC emphasized that the ruling applies only when the sender of text messages has obtained prior express consent, as required by the TCPA and Commission rules, from the consumer to be sent text messages using an automatic telephone dialing system or “autodialer.” The ruling ensures that wireless consumers will continue to benefit from the TCPA’s protection against unwanted autodialed texts, while giving them certainty that their opt-out requests are being successfully processed.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, a huge “The Big Lebowski” fan, said, “Today’s common-sense order ends the legal lacuna and the courtroom arbitrage it has inspired. Hopefully, by making clear that the Act does not prohibit confirmation texts, we will end the litigation that has punished some companies for doing the right thing, as well as the threat of litigation that has deterred others from adopting a sound marketing practice. And consumers want confirmation texts: They want the assurance that that there will be no further intrusions on their privacy. In short, today’s order is a win for consumers and for innovative companies alike.”
benton.org/node/140375 | Federal Communications Commission | FCC Commissioner Pai
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

VERIZON: FREE SPEECH AT HEART OF NET NEUTRALITY CASE
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Smith]
Verizon’s court challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s network neutrality rules has sparked a battle between two views of the First Amendment. As part of its lawsuit over the rules, which govern how Internet companies can restrict or block content on their networks, Verizon says that the regulations infringe on its First Amendment rights. “Just as a newspaper is entitled to decide which content to publish and where, broadband providers may feature some content over others,” Verizon and MetroPCS attorneys argued in a joint brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. But that assertion was disputed at a Capitol Hill briefing organized by top Democrats on the House Commerce Committee. Calling Verizon’s argument “troubling,” House Commerce ranking member Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Mike Doyle (D-PA) organized the meeting to brief staffers on the “startling constitutional arguments being made in the D.C. Circuit and how the role of Congress in enacting communications policy could be radically undermined.” “This idea that the Internet can be closed, or blocked, or managed by private parties is the exact opposite of America’s foreign policy,” said former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt, pointing to the Obama administration's Internet freedom advocacy. “The Internet is a common medium.” Hundt dismissed Verizon’s view that it is somehow similar to a newspaper. “Verizon is like paper, not a newspaper,” he said.
benton.org/node/140331 | National Journal
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DURBIN SEES PATH FOR ONLINE SALES TAX BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Bernie Becker]
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) is pushing to attach his online sales tax measure to the defense authorization bill the chamber is currently debating, Durbin’s office said. The Senate has been voting on amendments to the defense authorization bill for much of Nov 29. But with votes expected to go deep into the night, it remains to be seen whether the online sales tax measure will get a vote. Sen Durbin has been working with Sens. Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) on an online sales tax bill for much of this Congress. The three senators tried to attach the measure to small business legislation this summer, but it never received a vote. On the House side, Reps. Steve Womack (R-AR), Jackie Speier (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI) and Peter Welch (D-VT) are also working to pass an online sales tax measure.
benton.org/node/140383 | Hill, The
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE APPROVES ECPA UPDATE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted overwhelmingly to require police to obtain a warrant before reading people's e-mails, Facebook messages and other forms of electronic communication. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the author of the bill and chairman of the committee, said he does not expect the full Senate to vote on the measure, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), until next year. He called the committee vote an important step forward and said he plans to negotiate with the House to guide the bill to passage during the next Congress. All of the committee members voted for the legislation except for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), who was not present but recorded a "no" vote. The committee attached the e-mail privacy legislation to H.R. 2471, a House bill that loosens video privacy requirements. That bill, which cleared the House last year, would allow users of Facebook and other social media sites to opt in to automatically share which online videos they have watched.
benton.org/node/140325 | Hill, The | Sen Leahy
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

OBAMA E-MAIL CAMPAIGN
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Alexis Madrigal]
The Obama campaign raised $690 million online. The majority of it came from the fundraising emails that peppered inboxes for the last two years. They employed a team of 20 writers and a sophisticated analytics system to measure and improve their effectiveness. Now, they're starting to spill the secrets they learned during the campaign. And as revealed in a new report from Joshua Green, there was a high-powered viral media outfit lurking in Chicago. The lessons from the campaign aren't just a recipe for making money, but for winning eyeballs in the brutal deathmatch to grab your attention on the Internet. What we can learn is how the Obama campaign fine-tuned its content for maximum Internet impact, i.e., how it channeled its inner BuzzFeed.
benton.org/node/140368 | Atlantic, The | Bloomberg
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OWNERSHIP

CANTWELL LETTER TO FCC
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) has asked Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski to vote his media ownership order at its next public meeting -- scheduled for Dec. 12 -- though she suggests that would be a blow to diversity of ownership and viewpoints. Actually, she would prefer the FCC not adopt the draft proposal, which she says would diminish diversity of "local views, viewpoints and opinions." But, in a letter to Chairman Genachowski, Sen Cantwell suggested that was preferable to the commissioners voting on it in private. It was circulated to the other commissioners for a vote and not scheduled on either the November or December agenda. She opined that there were no public meetings or hearings on the proposed rules after the chairman issued its rulemaking proposal in December 2011. That proposal would loosen the newspaper-TV crossownership rules, lift limits on newspaper-radio crossownership and allow radio-TV crossownership, while counting some joint sales agreements toward local ownership caps that are being left in place. Sen Cantwell was particularly concerned about the FCC's suggestion that lifting the limits on radio-TV and radio-newspaper ownership was ending "outdated prohibitions." Instead, she said, they support diversity, competition and localism. She wants the public meeting so the commissioners will have to publicly defend their decision. "The American public needs to hear directly from you and the other commissioners on this critical matter."
benton.org/node/140386 | Broadcasting&Cable
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LABOR

ASIAN WORKERS DOMINATE SILICON VALLEY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Dan Nakaso]
Asian-Americans make up half of the Bay Area's technology workforce, and their double-digit employment gains came from jobs lost among white tech workers, according to Census Bureau data. The dramatic shift in the changing composition of the high-tech workforce represents a new generation of homegrown and imported workers drilled in science, technology, engineering and math studies. But the shift in workplace demographics -- at least among tech companies -- fails to reflect the gains of California's Hispanic and Latino population, which lost ground in tech jobs along with African-Americans. "It's the new world -- a world in which whites are not the majority," said Jan English-Lueck, associate dean of the college of social sciences at San Jose State University, who is also co-founder of the Silicon Valley Cultures Project. "Other people are being displaced." The percentage of Asian tech workers grew from 39 percent in 2000 to just more than 50 percent in 2010 in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties combined, according to Census Bureau statistics. At the same time, white workers saw their more than 50 percent majority of tech jobs in 2000 fall to nearly 41 percent.
benton.org/node/140408 | San Jose Mercury News
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

SYRIA DISAPPEARS FROM INTERNET
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Arik Hesseldahl]
Syria, the Middle Eastern country in the middle of an especially bloody civil war, disappeared from the Internet. The research firm Renesys, which keeps track of the status and health of the technical underpinnings of the Internet around the world, just reported that at 10:26 UTC this morning — which, by my watch, would have been 5:26 am ET — effectively all of Syria’s international Internet connectivity shut down. More technically, what happened was that within the global routing table, all 84 blocks of IP addresses assigned to Syria have gone unreachable. That means that Internet traffic destined for that country is going undelivered, and also that traffic coming from within it cannot get out to the world.
benton.org/node/140335 | Wall Street Journal
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SYRIA’S BLACKOUT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Arik Hesseldahl]
At least five networks operating outside Syria, but still operating within Syrian-registered IP address spaces, are still working, and are apparently controlled by India’s Tata Communications. These same networks, Renesys says, have some servers running on them that were implicated in an attempt to deliver Trojans and other malware to Syrian activists. Cloudflare has also been monitoring the situation in Syria and has made a few interesting observations. First, pretty much all Internet access in the country is funneled through one point: The state-run, state-controlled Syrian Telecommunications Establishment. The companies that provide this capacity running into the country are PCCW and Turk Telekom as the primary providers, with Telecom Italia and Tata providing additional capacity. There are, Cloudflare notes, four physical cables that bring Internet connectivity into Syria. Three of them are undersea cables that land in the coastal city of Tartus. A fourth comes in from Turkey to the north. Cloudflare’s Matt Prince says it’s unlikely that the cables were physically cut. You might ask – why now? Clearly, the Syrian regime is under more pressure than ever before. Previously, it tended to view the country’s Internet as a tool to not only get its own word out to the wider world, but also to try and spy on and monitor the activities of the rebels and activists. With fighting intensifying in and around the capital and the commercial city of Aleppo, the decision to throw the kill switch might indicate a decision to try to disrupt enemy communications. Or it might mask a seriously aggressive military action that it wants to keep as secret as possible.
benton.org/node/140382 | Wall Street Journal
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SYRIAN WEB SITES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Amy Chozick]
Even as Syrians lost access to the Internet on Nov 29, people outside the country could still browse the Syrian government’s many Web sites for much of the day because they are hosted in foreign countries, including the United States. By nightfall, after being contacted by The New York Times, several host companies said they were taking down those sites. They and similar companies had been identified in reports published by Citizen Lab, a research laboratory that monitors North American Web service providers that host Syrian Web sites. An executive order by President Obama prohibits American companies from providing Web hosting and other services to Syria without obtaining a license from the Treasury Department.
benton.org/node/140397 | New York Times
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ITU RESOLUTION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In its continuing effort to convince nervous members like the U.S. that the upcoming telecom treaty conference in Dubai (it starts Dec. 3) will not be a referendum on greater government control of the Internet, the International Telecommunication Union announced it had adopted a resolution to that effect... sort of. ITU announced that its members had adopted a resolution "inviting" members to "refrain from taking any unilateral and/or discriminatory actions that could impede another Member State from accessing public Internet sites and using resources." "Just days away from the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12), the adoption of this Resolution underlines ITU's commitment to a free and inclusive information society," said Hamadoun Touré, secretary general of the ITU. "This should send a strong message to the international community about accusations that ITU's membership wishes to restrict the freedom of speech. Clearly the opposite is true. It is in this spirit -- fostering an Internet whose benefits are open to all -- that I would like to head into WCIT-12."
benton.org/node/140385 | Broadcasting&Cable | ITU
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ITU PROPOSALS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
The proposals Russia submitted for a global telecommunications treaty being negotiated could allow governments to review content flowing over Internet networks and open the door for online censorship, said U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer. Kramer called Russia's submission of treaty language "the most shocking" out of all the proposals submitted by countries participating in the treaty conference. He said Russia's proposal aims to give governments more control over the management of the Internet and how Web traffic is routed, which he argued runs counter to the focus of the treaty conference. Kramer said Russia's proposal would let governments "review [Web] content and say that's purely a national matter," raising concerns over online censorship. He said the proposal would also disrupt the current governance structure of the Internet. Kramer the U.S. also takes issue with proposals from some African and Arab nations that would force Web companies — such as Google's YouTube or Netflix — to pay network operators to deliver their data-heavy Web content abroad.
benton.org/node/140333 | Hill, The
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EU AND THE ITU
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Aoife White]
The European Union will oppose attempts to increase regulation of the Internet at a United Nations conference in Dubai next month as some countries call for tighter rules on phone operators and Web service providers. “Some non-EU countries have tabled proposals for a significant increase in the scope of the treaty and the regulatory burden on operators, including Internet service providers,” according to the political body representing 27 European nations. “The EU believes that there is no justification for such proposals and is concerned about the potentially negative impact on innovation and costs.”
benton.org/node/140401 | Bloomberg
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LEVENSON REPORT
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Ben Fenton, Robert Budden]
The final words of Lord Justice Leveson’s summary of his proposals for reforming and regulating an “outrageous” press that has lost sight of the responsibilities that go with its rights and freedoms are an appeal to the public and to politicians. Lord Justice Leveson tells the public that he has done what “I believe is fair and right for everyone.” He tells politicians that he expects them to treat his recommendations to provide the press with its first truly effective self-regulatory body in the same cross-party spirit that arose from the outrage over the phone hacking scandal in July 2011. He says: “This is not, and cannot be characterized as, statutory regulation of the press.” That the judge felt the need to do this shows how hard his task has been, in the face of powerful lobbying by newspaper groups talking up a potential threat to press freedom. His recommendations for an “independent, self-regulating body” ought to – on the face of it – put those fears to rest because he stresses that independence of the government and politicians is as important as independence from newspaper owners. However, in order to ensure both that media organizations want to join the body, and that rich individuals will choose to use it rather than the courts to settle disputes, he has had to suggest an “underpinning” with law that many opponents will focus on. He says legislation will also create a duty on governments to uphold the freedom of the press, which seems an odd construction in a democracy, and unlikely to persuade those who see a slippery slope to an over interventionist state.
benton.org/node/140330 | Financial Times | Read the report | Fast Company | B&C | Politico | paidContent
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PRIME MINISTER FAILS TO BACK LEVESON
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Robert Budden, Ben Fenton, Kiran Stacey]
An enquiry into the culture and ethics of the British press called for sweeping new regulation backed by legal statute reigniting a visceral battle between proponents of free speech and defenders of the individual right to privacy. Concluding a nine-month investigation sparked by a scandal over the hacking of thousands of mobile phones by journalists, Lord Justice Leveson said the government should legislate to enshrine, for the first time, the freedom of the press in the UK. His report, which rejected an industry proposal for stronger self-regulation, excoriated the press, in particular the tabloids, and politicians for fawning on them, and divided the political establishment. While welcoming the Leveson inquiry’s outline of a system to tighten regulation of the UK’s rumbustious press, Prime Minister David Cameron refused to back the proposal to underpin a new regulatory system with law. Speaking to the House of Commons, the prime minister said he had “serious concerns and misgivings” about the proposal.
benton.org/node/140328 | Financial Times
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PRESS FREEDOM AT RISK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Millions of Britons were justifiably outraged over last year’s serial revelations of illegal and unethical behavior by the powerful and influential tabloid press in Britain. But the regulatory remedies proposed by an official commission of inquiry seem misplaced, excessive and potentially dangerous to Britain’s centuries-old traditions of a press free from government regulation. The commission called on Parliament to create an independent regulatory body with the authority to fine newspapers up to $1.6 million for violating its guidelines. This new organization, which newspapers could join voluntarily, would replace the largely ineffective Press Complaints Commission, run by the news industry itself, which is supposed to uphold a code of ethical journalistic practices agreed to by participating publications. Creating an independent regulatory body would require new legislation. To his credit, Prime Minister David Cameron seems opposed to proceeding in that direction. Conscientious members of all political parties should oppose it as well. Press independence is as essential a bulwark of political liberty in Britain as it is everywhere. That independence should not, and need not, be infringed upon now.
benton.org/node/140392 | New York Times
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US-EU GOOGLE PROBES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brent Kendall, Vanessa Mock, Thomas Catan]
The top U.S. and European antitrust officials leading separate probes of Google are set to meet in Europe next week, according to people familiar with the matter, amid indications that the two investigations may not conclude at the same time. Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, will meet with European Union competition chief Joaquin Almunia on Dec 3 to discuss Google and a range of other cases, according to an EU official. An FTC spokeswoman confirmed Chairman Leibowitz was in Europe on several matters but declined to confirm the meeting.
benton.org/node/140411 | Wall Street Journal
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November 30, 2012
Source 
Wall Street Journal
Author 
Brent Kendall
Thomas Catan
Vanessa Mock
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

The top U.S. and European antitrust officials leading separate probes of Google are set to meet in Europe next week, according to people familiar with the matter, amid indications that the two investigations may not conclude at the same time. Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, will meet with European Union competition chief Joaquin Almunia on Dec 3 to discuss Google and a range of other cases, according to an EU official. An FTC spokeswoman confirmed Chairman Leibowitz was in Europe on several matters but declined to confirm the meeting.

US, Europe to Huddle on Google Probes

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November 30, 2012
Source 
Wall Street Journal
Author 
Christopher Stewart
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

CBS chief executive Les Moonves has led a turnaround of the network from dead last in the ratings to No. 1. The makeover, which gained steam between 1995 and 2002, has made him the reigning king of network television just as that realm is shrinking, laid siege to by a multiplying array of technologies.

The other networks, including NBC, ABC and Fox, are also under attack from on-demand viewing, digital recorders and streaming online video. Still, no one has more to lose than the king. Television viewership is declining across the board. Although CBS remains the most-watched network in prime time, its average overall audience of 11.5 million in that time period is down 10% in the fall season so far, compared with the same time the year before, according to Nielsen. Its audience among 18-to-49-year-olds, the demographic most prized by advertisers, has tumbled 20%.

King of TV for Now, CBS Girds for Digital Battle

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November 30, 2012
Source 
San Jose Mercury News
Author 
Dan Nakaso
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

Asian-Americans make up half of the Bay Area's technology workforce, and their double-digit employment gains came from jobs lost among white tech workers, according to Census Bureau data.

The dramatic shift in the changing composition of the high-tech workforce represents a new generation of homegrown and imported workers drilled in science, technology, engineering and math studies. But the shift in workplace demographics -- at least among tech companies -- fails to reflect the gains of California's Hispanic and Latino population, which lost ground in tech jobs along with African-Americans. "It's the new world -- a world in which whites are not the majority," said Jan English-Lueck, associate dean of the college of social sciences at San Jose State University, who is also co-founder of the Silicon Valley Cultures Project. "Other people are being displaced." The percentage of Asian tech workers grew from 39 percent in 2000 to just more than 50 percent in 2010 in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties combined, according to Census Bureau statistics. At the same time, white workers saw their more than 50 percent majority of tech jobs in 2000 fall to nearly 41 percent.

Asian workers now dominate Silicon Valley tech jobs

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November 30, 2012
Source 
Reuters
Author 
Gerry Shih
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

Twitter's steadily tightening grip over the 140-character messages on its network has set off a spirited debate in Silicon Valley over whether a social media company should or should not lay claim over its user-generated content. That debate has now landed in court.

A San Francisco judge granted a temporary restraining order compelling Twitter to continue providing access to its "Firehose" -- the full daily stream of some 400 million tweets -- to PeopleBrowsr, a data analytics firm that sifts through Twitter and resells that information to clients ranging from technology blogs to the U.S. Department of Defense. As part of a broader revenue-generating strategy, Twitter in recent months has begun clamping down on how its data stream may be accessed, to the dismay of many third-party developers who have built businesses and products off of Twitter's Firehose. PeopleBrowsr, which began contracting Firehose access in July 2010, has continued to buy Twitter data on a month-to-month basis until this July, when Twitter invoked a clause in the agreement that allowed for terminating the contract without cause. The court's decision to extend the two San Francisco-based companies' contract has not settled the legal spat; a judge will hear PeopleBrowsr's arguments for a preliminary injunction against Twitter on Jan. 8.

Twitter in legal spat over data clampdown

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November 30, 2012
Source 
Broadcasting&Cable
Author 
John Eggerton
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

The Minority Media & Telecommunications Council is pushing the Federal Communications Commission not to vote on a media ownership order before providing more opportunity for comment on its impact on minority ownership.

MMTC's proposal would push a vote until early next year at the earliest. MMTC President David Honig said that he thought an extra 30 days would help. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has said he wanted to vote the item by the end of the year. "Several parties in this proceeding have encouraged the Commission to grant additional time to consider the impact of some of the Commission's proposals on minority ownership," Honig said. "I believe that thirty additional days for the parties to file comments on that issue and others would be beneficial; for example, a twenty-day lightning round of comments with ten days for reply comments." He continued, "Certainly, the opportunity to improve the record on the relationship between structural rules and minority ownership, on the definition of an eligible entity, on the many specific pending proposals aimed at advancing minority ownership, and on the research needed to ensure that decisions made in this area are well supported and wise would be desirable."

MMTC: FCC Should Seek More Comment Before Ownership Vote

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November 30, 2012
Source 
GigaOm
Author 
Kevin Fitchard
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

Every mobile carrier wants to replace their old voice services with new VoIP-based systems utilizing their 4G networks, but it looks like they’ve got some big kinks to iron out in the technology first.

Wireless testing and measurement vendor Spirent Communications has identified a big problem with voice over LTE (VoLTE): it consumes twice as much power as a traditional 2G call, which could have big implications for mobile phone battery life. Metrico Wireless, a radio field testing company Spirent acquired in September, conducted voice trials on a commercial VoLTE-enabled network in two U.S. cities, comparing the power consumption of VoIP calls made over LTE against the power used by the same carrier’s CDMA systems. Spirent-Metrico didn’t name the carrier, but it’s not hard to guess. MetroPCS is the only U.S. operator with a live VoLTE service and a commercially available handset. The 1540 milliamp hour (mAh)-battery on Metro’s sole VoLTE handset, the LG Connect 4G, also lines up with the battery capacity of the device Spirent tested. The results of those tests should give carriers and consumers pause. The average power consumption for a 10-minute CDMA circuit-switched call was 680 milliwatts (mW) while the average consumption for a VoLTE call of the same duration was 1358 mW. That’s double the power drain. Spirent estimated that on a full charge, its test smartphone could support 502.6 minutes of talk time using CDMA only, but the same charge would only deliver 251.8 minutes of talk time using VoIP on the 4G network. And that’s with all other data communications turned off.

Voice calls over 4G LTE networks are battery killers

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