October 23, 2012 (T-Mobile Asks FCC to Approve Merger With MetroPCS)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for
PRIVCY
FTC Recommends Best Practices for Companies That Use Facial Recognition Technologies - press release
Rep Markey grills Microsoft over privacy changes
Microsoft Tightens Personal Data Rules
McDonald’s removes networking features in some online games
Facebook privacy targeted by Austrian law student [links to web]
Tracking Software Company Settles FTC Charges That it Deceived Consumers and Failed to Safeguard Sensitive Data it Collected - press release [links to web]
MEDIA & ELECTIONS
Why We Need a President Debate on Technology
Obama Winning Social Media, If #Hashtagwars Really Matter [links to web]
Obama Outslugs Romney in Digital [links to web]
McSlarrow Advising Romney Campaign [links to web]
Digital Lessons From the Final Presidential Debate [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
T-Mobile Asks FCC to Approve Merger With MetroPCS
SoftBank Deal for Sprint Turns on Spectrum
Sprint CEO Hesse May Buy More Strategic Clearwire Stakes [links to web]
Sprint: Clearwire stake doesn’t amount to control [links to web]
Sprint's investment designed to scare off Clearwire suitors [links to web]
Mobile: The new frontier in claims against Google [links to web]
Sprint launches LTE in Chicago burbs, but not in Chicago [links to web]
Carrier mobile payment play Isis goes live in Austin and Salt Lake City [links to web]
Samsung Display to terminate Apple deal [links to web]
In Mobile World, Tech Giants Scramble to Get Up to Speed
INTENET/BROADBAND
What AT&T Rural Rumors Could Mean for Broadband Universal Service
CONTENT
A healthy reminder from Amazon: You don’t buy e-books, you rent them [links to web]
TELEVISION
Online Video Replacing Some Pay TV [links to web]
TV ratings don't dictate commercial prices, Ad Age survey says [links to web]
COMMUNITY MEDIA
Young People Frequent Libraries, Study Finds [links to web]
In Des Moines, Turning Off Beacon Unleashes a Storm [links to web]
EDUCATION
In digital textbook transition, device availability is just the beginning [links to web]
HEALTH
Physician, Steel Thyself for Electronic Records - op-ed [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Internet anti-censorship tools are being overwhelmed by demand
Sequester Would Bring Deep Cuts for IT Vendors [links to web]
Government Printing Office Looks to Digital First Future [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
BBC Episode Examines Its Own Sex Scandal [links to web]
PRIVCY
FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Trade Commission released a staff report "Facing Facts: Best Practices for Common Uses of Facial Recognition Technologies" for the increasing number of companies using facial recognition technologies, to help them protect consumers’ privacy as they use the technologies to create innovative new commercial products and services. The FTC staff report recommends that companies using facial recognition technologies:
design their services with consumer privacy in mind;
develop reasonable security protections for the information they collect, and sound methods for determining when to keep information and when to dispose of it;
consider the sensitivity of information when developing their facial recognition products and services – for example, digital signs using facial recognition technologies should not be set up in places where children congregate.
The staff report also recommends that companies take steps to make sure consumers are aware of facial recognition technologies when they come in contact with them, and that they have a choice as to whether data about them is collected. So, for example, if a company is using digital signs to determine the demographic features of passersby, such as age or gender, they should provide clear notice to consumers that the technology is in use before consumers come into contact with the signs.
benton.org/node/137663 | Federal Trade Commission
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MARKEY QUESTIONS MICROSOFT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) sent a letter to Microsoft requesting detailed information about recent revisions to its policies for handling customer data, saying he is concerned the new privacy rules will allow Microsoft to construct "detailed, in-depth consumer profiles.” “Such collection may be in Microsoft’s corporate interest, but not necessarily consumers’ interest," he wrote in the letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Rep Markey asked Microsoft to explain why the new policy does not prohibit targeted advertising. Rep Markey asked Microsoft to explain what customer information it shared across its services before the changes and what it is able to now share after the changes. He also requested a list of all the services affected by the revision. He asked whether users will have any way to opt out of the changes and how Microsoft will handle the information of children and teens.
benton.org/node/137713 | Hill, The | B&C
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MICROSOFT RESPONDS TO MARKEY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wyatt]
Microsoft said that it would change its new disclosure policy to tell consumers explicitly that it would not use personal information it collects from users of some Microsoft products to produce or promote targeted online advertising. The action followed a letter by Rep Ed Markey (D-MA), co-chairman of the Congressional Bipartisan Privacy Caucus, to Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, expressing concern about the policy, which went into effect on Oct 19. In raising questions about Microsoft’s new policy, Rep Markey cited an Oct. 20 article in The New York Times, which reported that the new Microsoft Services Agreement gave the company broad leeway to collect and use personal information gleaned from consumers of its free, Web-based products like e-mail, search and instant messaging. The policy allowed Microsoft to use the personal data in targeted advertising, although Microsoft pledged in its blog posts and e-mails to customers that it would not do so.
benton.org/node/137730 | New York Times
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MCDONALD’S ONLINE GAMES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
McDonald’s said it has removed social networking features in some of its online games after a privacy advocacy group complained to federal regulators that the restaurant chain was violating child online privacy laws. In a complaint filed last August to the Federal Trade Commission, the Center for Digital Democracy said McDonald’s was using a “tell-a-friend” feature on games and other functions of HappyMeal.com and McWorld.com that asked children to upload photos and videos onto the site and then pass along that information to friends. McDonald’s also asked for children to list the e-mail addresses of friends, without gathering parental consent for that information. The practice, CDD said, was a form of deceptive viral marketing that violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. By collecting information such as e-mail addresses, McDonald’s wasn’t adequately disclosing its collection of personal data and didn’t ask for parents’ permission. McDonald’s said in a statement that it has scrapped the “forward-to-a-friend” options that “allowed users to e-mail ecards, links and photos to friends and family.”
benton.org/node/137715 | Washington Post
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MEDIA & ELECTIONS
WHY WE NEED A PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE ON TECHNOLOGY
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Joseph Marks]
Technology is everywhere in the president’s responsibilities. Demonstrating that the president has a comprehensive understanding of technology plus a mature view of its capacities, limitations and dangers should be central to the electoral process. Unfortunately, as with so much other heavy policy, technology is largely left out of the political debate. Here are three reasons why there should be a presidential debate on technology.
Cyberwar is war.
What the Supreme Court will really be dealing with: whether advertisers, Web browsers and Internet service providers can troll your email and search history for personal information, whether and when law enforcement and debt collectors can access that information and whether law enforcement can use the GPS in your cellphone to track you and gather evidence of wrongdoing.
Transparency and free speech are different in the Internet age.
benton.org/node/137709 | nextgov
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
T-MOBILE SEEKS FCC APPROVAL
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
The merger of Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA with MetroPCS Communications will increase competition with larger rivals and benefit consumers, the companies said in a regulatory filing. The companies made the arguments in papers they submitted Oct. 18 to the Federal Communications Commission. The companies will file later with U.S. antitrust authorities, according to the filing. By having more customers, the company will be able to distribute the fixed costs of its network over a broader base, giving it greater pricing flexibility, according to the filing. The transaction doesn’t harm competition and strengthens the smallest of what the FCC has described as nationwide carriers, the filing said. It said the new company intends to be the leading low-priced carrier in the U.S., with a focus on offering plans attractive to customers seeking affordability.
benton.org/node/137682 | Bloomberg | read the filing
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DEAL TURNS ON SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Juro Osawa]
SoftBank’s acquisition of Sprint Nextel would likely give the Japanese company effective control over two U.S. wireless carriers that hold rights to coveted airwave spectrum, adding to the appeal of the $20 billion deal. Telecom carriers are fighting over spectrum because of the explosive demand for mobile data and the need to build faster networks to accommodate smartphones. Airwaves for wireless signals are controlled by the government, and are licensed by telecom carriers and broadcasters. How much spectrum access a carrier has can determine its coverage, service quality and, ultimately, its competitiveness. The battle over spectrum has been a factor behind recent telecom deals in the U.S. and globally. Softbank's deeper ties with Clearwire through Sprint could speed construction in the U.S. of a type of 4G network called TD-LTE, which is compatible with the technology Softbank is using for some of its 4G mobile services in Japan.
benton.org/node/137680 | Wall Street Journal
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TECH GIANTS AND MOBILE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Claire Cain Miller, Somini Sengupta]
Intel made its fortune on the chips that power personal computers, and Microsoft on the software that goes inside. Google’s secret sauce is that it finds what you are looking for on the Internet. But the ground is shifting beneath these tech titans because of a major force: the rise of mobile devices. These and other tech companies are scrambling to reinvent their business models now that the old model — a stationary customer sitting at a stationary desk — no longer applies. These companies once disrupted traditional businesses, from selling books and music to booking hotels. Now they are being upended by the widespread adoption of smartphones and tablets. “Companies are having to retool their thinking, saying, ‘What is it that our customers are doing through the mobile channel that is quite distinct from what we are delivering them through our traditional Web channel?’ ” said Charles S. Golvin, an analyst at Forrester Research, the technology research firm. He added, “It’s hilarious to talk about traditional Web business like it’s been going on for centuries, but it’s last century.”
benton.org/node/137732 | New York Times | Financial Times
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INTENET/BROADBAND
AT&T RURAL RUMORS
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
By the time AT&T announces its rural strategy next month, there may be very little left to announce. Just a few days after Fitch Ratings predicted that AT&T would upgrade rural lines using DSL or wireless, financial analyst George Notter at Jefferies & Company said he expects AT&T to upgrade three to five million out of 18 million rural lines to U-verse, with the remainder gaining broadband access via an LTE-based offering. Notter’s predictions are not based on leaks from inside AT&T but instead are based on his analysis of U-verse economics. Jefferies & Company’s 18 million line number refers to lines which do not have FiOS available to them and are scattered across 80% of AT&T’s service territory. Notter does not speculate whether the LTE offering would be mobile or fixed, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see AT&T opt for a fixed offering similar to Verizon Wireless’s HomeFusion LTE product, which uses a fixed antenna to enhance signal strength. Notter also believes some AT&T rural lines will receive no upgrade.
benton.org/node/137653 | telecompetitor
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
ANTI-CENSORSHIP TOOLS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: James Ball]
U.S.-funded programs to beat back online censorship are increasingly finding a ready audience in repressive countries, with more than 1 million people a day using online tools to get past extensive blocking programs and government surveillance. But the popularity of those initiatives has become a liability. Activists and nonprofit groups say that their online circumvention tools, funded by the U.S. government, are being overwhelmed by demand and that there is not enough money to expand capacity. The result: online bottlenecks that have made the tools slow and often inaccessible to users in China, Iran and elsewhere, threatening to derail the Internet freedom agenda championed by the Obama administration. “Every time we provide them with additional funding, those bottlenecks are alleviated for a time but again fill to capacity in a short period of time,” said André Mendes, director of the Office of Technology, Services and Innovation at the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which funds some of the initiatives. “One could reasonably state that more funding would translate into more traffic and, therefore, more accessibility from behind these firewalls.” The United States spends about $30 million a year on Internet freedom, in effect funding an asymmetric proxy war against governments that spend billions to regulate the flow of information. The programs have been backed by President Obama, who promoted the initiatives at a town-hall-style meeting in Shanghai three years ago.
benton.org/node/137674 | Washington Post
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