September 12, 2012 (9/11 Haunts Debate over Cybersecurity)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for SEPTEMBER 12, 2012
Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council http://benton.org/calendar/2012-09-12/
CYBERSECURITY
9/11 Haunts Debate over Cybersecurity
Sen Hutchison: Obama should not override Congress with cybersecurity order [links to web]
Sen. Coats uses 9/11 to showcase cybersecurity as next big threat [links to web]
Rep Rogers says cyber order could open door for information-sharing bill
Waiting for a Cyber 9/11 is a Poor Security Strategy - op-ed [links to web]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
9/11 Commission Leaders Call For Emergency Communications Network [links to web]
Maryland’s Statewide Public Safety Radio Network Takes Shape [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC Chairman: I’m concerned about data caps
FCC’s Genachowski, Sen Rubio on Same Page About Expanding ITU Authority Over Internet [links to web]
Google Set to Offer Fastest U.S. Internet Service in Kansas City [links to web]
Verizon Advised to Slow Internet Speed Claims [links to web]
Free ride ends for Amazon - editorial [links to web]
Amazon, Forced to Collect a Tax, Is Adding Roots
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
FCC NPRM Draft: Repacked Stations Generally to Retain at Least 98% of Coverage Area
Republican Staffers: Clearing Spectrum, Not Sharing, Is Priority
Can Google's 'new Motorola' break free of Verizon? - analysis
iPhone 5 To Have Major Impact On Users, Tech Rivals [links to web]
How the iPhone Changes Government and Society: A Quick Review [links to web]
Google goes big with free Wi-Fi campaign [links to web]
AT&T Says Wi-Fi Is Not Enough, Computing Devices Should Come With 4G [links to web]
Smartphone Ownership Update: September 2012 - research [links to web]
New iPhone Threatens to Reheat European Carrier Price War [links to web]
Too-familiar ring to Chinese devices [links to web]
In These Countries, BlackBerry Is Still King—Of Pop Culture [links to web]
PRIVACY
Senate Judiciary to Take Up Privacy Legislation
Apache Web servers will ignore IE10's 'Do Not Track' settings [links to web]
FTC Finalizes Privacy Settlement with Myspace - press release [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
How Candidates are Selling the Hashtag Election [links to web]
Romney drops $361k in Wisconsin [links to web]
Rep Paul Ryan buys TV ads for House race [links to web]
MSNBC’s Hot Ticket [links to web]
TELEVISION
CBS to collect $1 billion a year in distribution fees by 2016
Traditional TV services continue steady decline [links to web]
NAB: Broadcasters Are Video Competition Player [links to web]
CBS Adjusts Schedule to Account for Longer NFL Games [links to web]
CONTENT
E-book price drops begin – and Apple is discounting, too [links to web]
"Six strikes" Internet warning system will come to US this year [links to web]
TELECOM
Chinese telecom executive agrees to testify on espionage fears [links to web]
JOURNALISM
A Journalist With Rare Access to Obama Had to Play by Quote Rule
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
President Pushes to Extend Surveillance Law
Lawsuit says phone companies gouged FBI on wiretaps
Twitter Told to Produce Protestor’s Posts or Face Fine
Open Data, Hawaii-Style [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Announces New Staff - press release
Patricia Cahill Elected Board Chair and Elizabeth Sembler Elected Vice Chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting - press release [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Foxconn Again Faces Labor Issue on iPhones
Foxconn denies using forced student labor to make Apple iPhones [links to web]
New iPhone Threatens to Reheat European Carrier Price War [links to web]
In These Countries, BlackBerry Is Still King—Of Pop Culture [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
9/11 HAUNTS DEBATE OVER CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Smith]
More than a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the tragedy haunts Washington policymakers who are deadlocked over how to protect the country against cyberattacks. Current and former government officials have spent months pointing to 9/11 as a harbinger of what could occur if Congress, federal agencies, and businesses don’t act to update policies that govern how cyberthreat information is shared; how threats are monitored; and what standards should guide national cybersecurity. President Barack Obama is considering a number of ideas for a draft executive order that could be used to enact some reforms if Congress fails to act on cybersecurity, but no decision has been made. Even if Obama moves forward, he’s limited in the steps he can take and Congress will continue to face pressure. Throughout it all, 9/11 has cast its shadow as lawmakers and government officials seek to inoculate themselves against blame should a catastrophic attack happen.
benton.org/node/134192 | National Journal
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CYBERSECURITY BILL?
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez, Brendan Sasso]
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) slammed the White House's move to craft an executive order on cybersecurity, but he argues that it could potentially open the door for Congress to come together and get a cyber information-sharing bill done before the end of the year. "It's a bad way to govern," Chairman Rogers said about the executive order in an interview with The Hill, adding that he believes the Administration will "find lots of opposition" to the elements included in it. But with the White House focusing on developing security standards for critical infrastructure, Chairman Rogers argues "that that frees up our opportunity to take a very small sliver of what all the bills and the Senate and the House agreed on — that is, information-sharing needs to be a part of" cybersecurity policy.
benton.org/node/134255 | Hill, The
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
CONCERN ABOUT DATA CAPS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham, Janko Roettgers]
Has Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski changed his mind on the acceptability of data caps? As far back as 2010 he defended the idea of wireline Internet service providers using broadband usage caps as part of the network neutrality order and did so again in May at The Cable Show when he reiterated the position. The chairman has said he doesn’t mind the caps and is in favor of ISPs having the opportunity to experiment with different business models, but last night at a Silicon valley event it seemed like his mind has changed. When asked about the impact of data caps on broadband innovation and how his thinking had evolved on the topic, the chairman said he was concerned about data caps. He added, “Anything that depresses broadband usage is something that we need to be really concerned about.” And he further said, “We should all be concerned with anything that is incompatible with the psychology of abundance.” Wow, that’s three “concerns” in a single answer, but does this mean the chairman is set to recognize the potential harms of data caps and goad the commission into any action? That’s less clear. The FCC did signal that the cap issue is one that bears watching last month when it released a notice that asked the public how it should view caps when the agency was measuring broadband quality.
benton.org/node/134237 | GigaOm
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AMAZON ADDS ROOTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Streitfeld]
A multibillion-dollar building frenzy comes as Amazon is about to lose perhaps its biggest competitive edge — that the vast majority of its customers do not pay sales tax. After negotiations with lawmakers, the company is beginning to collect taxes in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and other states. But Amazon hopes that new warehouses will allow it to provide better service, giving it the ability to up-end the retailing industry in an entirely new way. Amazon will soon be able to cut as much as a day off its two-day shipping times, said Jeff Bezos, its chief executive, in an interview. This will put the much-rumored same-day delivery — the elusive aspiration of every online merchant — potentially within reach in some metropolitan areas. “We want fast delivery,” Bezos said. At a minimum, “we can work on making it the next day.”
benton.org/node/134254 | New York Times
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
REPACKING STATIONS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
According to Federal Communications Commission sources, the draft framework for spectrum incentive auctions assumes that the repacking model it adopts will result, "generally" in less than a 2% loss of coverage are for stations that are moved or consolidated to free up spectrum for auction. By statute, the FCC must make all reasonable efforts to preserve coverage areas and interference protections for stations that opt to retain some or all of their spectrum. While the language could change between now and the planned Sept. 28 vote on the notice of proposed rulemaking, the item currently anticipates, based on the FCC's experience with moving and repacking stations for the 2009 DTV transition, that the move will "generally impact less than 2% of a station's coverage area," although it does seek comment on that.
benton.org/node/134235 | Broadcasting&Cable
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SPECTRUM CLEARING VS SHARING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a memo to members of the House Commerce Committee's Communications Subcommittee, staffers for the Republican majority signaled to the Obama administration that it should focus on clearing spectrum from government users rather than encouraging them to share spectrum with commercial users. A recent National Telecommunications & Information Administration report on freeing up that spectrum suggested sharing should be an important part of that plan, a point echoed by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). NTIA has said that clearing spectrum could cost $18 billion and take ten years, which was one of the reasons it suggested sharing should be part of the equation as a way to free it up more quickly and at less expense. But the staff memo says NTIA has conceded that estimate was not based on independent analysis, and may be inflated and inaccurate.
benton.org/node/134232 | Broadcasting&Cable
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MOTOROLA AND VERIZON
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Dieter Bohn]
Motorola has been overly dependent on Verizon's business ever since the launch of the original Droid. At the time, both Verizon and Google were hoping to stop the onslaught of the iPhone on AT&T, without much success: Verizon originally bet on RIM's BlackBerry Storm to predictably disappointing results, and Google had yet to catch fire with Android in any real way. The original Droid, developed by Motorola in deep collaboration with Google, changed the fortunes of all three companies, and turned Android into a market force to be reckoned with. But the real collaboration was between Google and Verizon: in return for Verizon agreeing to push Android as the main competitor to the iPhone, Google radically softened its stance on network neutrality. Verizon's marketing muscle, thrown behind the original Droid and Droids since, has buttressed Motorola and was the driving force behind whatever modest success the company had before being acquired by Google. With little apology to Motorola's phones on other US carriers, it's clear that the Droid brand — controlled by Verizon — drives Motorola's business and, more importantly, its business decisions. And if Motorola was a bit of a puppet before, the "new Motorola" just shines a spotlight on the strings that were always there.
benton.org/node/134230 | Verge, The
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PRIVACY
PRIVACY LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The Senate Judiciary Committee will finally take action this month on legislation that would update a pair of privacy laws from the 1980s, including a measure dealing with government access to electronic communications. The committee said that it would take up an update of the Video Privacy Protection Act, which the House passed in December, and attach provisions to that bill that would amend parts of the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, according to a Democratic aide. ECPA set standards for law-enforcement access to electronic communications. Many privacy advocates and tech firms argue that the bill is woefully out of date and that it offers inconsistent protections depending on the type of communications. For example, under current law, e-mail stored with a third-party provider such as Google or Yahoo that is older than 180 days can be accessed by law-enforcement officials without a warrant, while a document stored on a home computer for the same amount of time would require a warrant. Several privacy groups and tech firms formed the Digital Due Process coalition a few years ago to push Congress to update the law. They argue that the out-of-date protections in ECPA for access to e-mail and other electronics could hamper the growth of cloud computing and other technologies.
benton.org/node/134228 | National Journal
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TELEVISION
CBS RETRANSMISSION FEES
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Joe Flint]
The amount of money broadcast networks are collecting from both pay-TV distributors and their own affiliate stations for their content is growing faster than Wall Street had anticipated. In a new report, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger said CBS is anticipating revenue of $1 billion in 2016 from retransmission consent fees from cable and satellite operators and their own affiliates. CBS had previously said it wouldn't hit that number until 2017. According to Juenger, that figure is based on a subscription fee of $1.22 per-month, per-subscriber from multichannel video program distributors (MVPDs) for the stations the network owns, including KCBS-TV Los Angeles. It also includes a 50% cut of whatever their affiliates get from MVPDs, which Juenger thinks will be the same price CBS gets for its stations. Of course, whether every CBS affiliate, particularly those in small markets, will be able to squeeze MVPDs for $1.22 remains to be seen. If it can't and CBS has set 50% of what it is taking in as the price tag, some stations may have to reach into their own pockets to cover that cost. However, CBS may also agree to adjustable rates on so-called reverse compensation.
benton.org/node/134251 | Los Angeles Times
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JOURNALISM
MICHAEL LEWIS AND ACCESS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeremy Peters]
Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of “Moneyball” and “The Big Short,” was granted extraordinary access to President Barack Obama for his latest article in Vanity Fair. But with that access came one major condition. Like other journalists who write about Washington and presidential politics, Lewis said that he had to submit to the widespread but rarely disclosed practice of quote approval. Lewis said that ultimately the White House disallowed very little of what he asked to use. And he described having access to the President that was unusually unfettered. About 95 percent of what he witnessed was on the record, he said. What the White House asked to leave off the record, Mr. Lewis added, was usually of little relevance to his article anyway — like a discussion between President Obama and his political strategists about their electoral strategy in Florida.
benton.org/node/134184 | New York Times
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
EXTENDING SURVEILLANCE LAW
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Siobhan Gorman]
The Obama administration is lobbying for renewal of a controversial 2008 surveillance law, warning that the U.S. would lose a critical intelligence-collection tool if Congress allows the measure to expire at year's end. As President Barack Obama emphasizes his national-security record in his re-election campaign, he's facing strong resistance from some lawmakers who say the law lacks sufficient privacy protections. The Republican-dominated House is expected as soon as September 12 to pass the bill, which would extend the law for five years. But its fate is less clear in the Senate, where Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is blocking Senate consideration, because the government hasn't provided an estimate of the number of Americans who have been spied on under the law.
benton.org/node/134257 | Wall Street Journal
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PHONE COMPANIES AND WIRETAPS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jeff John Roberts]
A former New York prosecutor, John Prather, claims AT&T, Verizon, Qwest and Sprint regularly charged law enforcement agencies 10 times what they should have for routine wiretaps. He’s now suing on behalf of the FBI and state and city police departments to recover many millions of dollars for overcharging that allegedly took place for almost 20 years. The case provides a window on the evolving world of wiretaps during an era of increasing surveillance. But the case is complicated because Prather stands to get a big chunk of money if the case succeeds and, as the phone companies argue, he may not be a real whistle-blower in the first place.
benton.org/node/134221 | GigaOm
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TWITTER IN COURT
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Tiffany Kary]
Twitter has to turn over information about an Occupy Wall Street protester’s posts or face a fine, a judge ruled, giving the company three days to show it isn’t in contempt of court. New York State Supreme Court Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. in Manhattan said Twitter must produce the information by Sept. 14 or provide its earnings statements from the last two quarters so he can decide on a fine. The judge had asked Twitter to show why it wasn’t in contempt of court after refusing to produce information about Twitter posts by protester Malcolm Harris in response to a subpoena from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. “I can’t put Twitter or the little blue bird in jail, so the only way to punish is monetarily,” Judge Sciarrino said. Twitter “is interested in having a fair hearing on this issue, it’s a novel issue,” the company’s lawyer Terryl L. Brown told Judge Sciarrino, saying it wanted more time to appeal his June 30 ruling. Judge Sciarrino said his hearing was a fair one, and the company has already had 73 days to comply with his order.
benton.org/node/134178 | Bloomberg
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POLICYMAKERS
FCC COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL ANNOUNCES NEW STAFF
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
New Federal Communications Commission member Jessica Rosenworcel announced the appointment of Alexander Hoehn-Saric as Policy Director, with primary responsibility for media and technology issues. Alexander Hoehn-Saric joins the Office of Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel from the United States Department of Commerce, where he served as Deputy General Counsel for Strategic Initiatives. In this position, he served as the principal advisor to the General Counsel on Internet privacy, security, technology and intellectual property matters.
Prior to joining the Department of Commerce, Hoehn-Saric served as Senior Counsel for the Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion Subcommittee and Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee of the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. In this role, he worked with members of the Committee on legislation involving Internet privacy and consumer protection, as well as oversight of the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Commerce. He also served as counsel for the Communications, Technology, and Internet Subcommittee. Before joining the Committee, Hoehn-Saric served as counsel for Senator Barbara Boxer. Prior to working on Capitol Hill, he worked in the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins and the New York office of Sullivan & Cromwell. Hoehn-Saric also clerked for the Honorable Benson Everett Legg of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
benton.org/node/134176 | Federal Communications Commission |
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
FOXCONN LABOR
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Barboza, Charles Duhigg]
As Apple prepares to unveil the latest iPhone this week, the company’s manufacturing partner in China, Foxconn Technology, is coming under renewed criticism over labor practices after reports that vocational students were being compelled to work at plants making iPhones and their components. Foxconn has acknowledged using student “interns” on manufacturing lines, but says they are free to leave at any time. But two worker advocacy groups said Monday that they had spoken with students who said they had been forced by their teachers to assemble iPhones at a Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, in north-central China. Additionally, last week Chinese state-run news media reported that several vocational schools in the city of Huai’an, in eastern China, required hundreds of students to work on assembly lines at a Foxconn plant to help ease worker shortages. According to one of the articles, Huai’an students were ordered to manufacture cables for Apple’s new iPhone 5. “They said they are forced to work by the teachers,” Li Qiang, founder of China Labor Watch, one of the advocacy organizations and a frequent critic of Foxconn’s labor policies, said. Li said his staff had spoken with multiple workers and students who, as recently as Sept 9, said that 10 of 87 workers on an iPhone assembly line were students.
benton.org/node/134186 | New York Times
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