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TELECOM/INTERNET
Against An Imperial Internet
AT&T might lock rates to win BellSouth OK
BellSouth Urges Court To Send Tariff Case Back To FCC
Universal Service Funds Not being Spent
Denmark leads OECD in broadband penetration

BROADCASTING & PUBLIC SERVICE
Broadcasters of Fake News Make False Claims about VNR study
Senate Debate On TV: Not Live, And No Local Media Allowed
FCC Upholds Viacom Indecency Settlement

ADVERTISING
A Question of Eyeballs
Record Labels Turn Piracy Into a Marketing Opportunity
Dick Wolf Ponders The Future of TV Ads

DIGITAL DIVIDE
Better Yardstick Needed To Measure Digital Divide

QUICKLY -- Common Cause rallies Anti-big media forces; Techies must
educate governments; FBI director wants ISPs to track users; Knight
Foundation Competition for Community News Experiments; A digital back
up for your brain?

TELECOM/INTERNET

AGAINST AN IMPERIAL INTERNET
[SOURCE: TomPaine.com, AUTHOR: Bill Moyers and Scott Fogdall]
[Commentary] Like the Romans, we Americans have used our technology
to build a sprawling infrastructure of ports, railroads and
interstates which serves the strength of our economy and the mobility
of our society. Yet as significant as these have been, they pale
beside the potential of the Internet. Almost overnight, it has made
sending and receiving information easier than ever. It has opened a
vast new marketplace of ideas, and it is transforming commerce and
culture. It may also revitalize democracy. The Internet is
revolutionary because it is the most democratic of media. All you
need to join the revolution is a computer and a connection. We don't
just watch; we participate, collaborate and create. Unlike
television, radio and cable, whose hirelings create content aimed at
us for their own reasons, with the Internet every citizen is
potentially a producer. The conversation of democracy belongs to us.
That wide-open access is the founding principle of the Internet, but
it may be slipping through our fingers. How ironic if it should pass
irretrievably into history here, at the very dawn of the Internet
Age. Already, the notion of a level playing field -- what's called
network neutrality -- is under siege by powerful forces trying to
tilt the field to their advantage. The Bush majority on the FCC has
bowed to the interests of the big cable and telephone companies to
strip away, or undo, the Internet's basic DNA of openness and
non-discrimination. So the Internet is reaching a crucial crossroads
in its astonishing evolution. Will we shape it to enlarge democracy
in the digital era? Will we assure that commerce is not its only
contribution to the American experience? The monopolists tell us not
to worry: They will take care of us, and see to it that the public
interest is honored and democracy served by this most remarkable of
technologies. They said the same thing about radio. And about
television. And about cable. Will future historians speak of an
Internet Golden Age that ended when the 21st century began?
http://www.tompaine.com/print/against_an_imperial_internet.php

AT&T MIGHT LOCK RATES TO WIN BELLSOUTH OK
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service]
In meetings with the Federal Communications Commission about its
takeover of BellSouth, AT&T has discussed not raising rates charged
to other carriers to use its facilities, as well as locking in prices
for business leased lines, according to a Friday letter from AT&T to
the agency. Consumer groups and competitive carriers have voiced
alarm over the deal in the wake of recent consolidation in the
industry, saying it will reduce choice for businesses and consumers.
Among other proposed conditions, the merged carrier would agree to
keep offering competitors access to its network and not seek higher
state-approved rates for that access. It also would not raise rates
for DS-1 and DS-3 leased lines in its territory, nor would it
increase its interstate tariffs. AT&T/BellSouth also would do
business in line with the principles of an FCC policy statement on
network neutrality issued last September. Most of the conditions
would stay in effect for 30 months from the close of the deal. Other
steps that have been discussed give a glimpse into AT&T's possible
plans. One proposal would have AT&T provide broadband -- though
defined only as Internet access over 200K bps (bits per second) -- to
all residences in the BellSouth territory by the end of 2007. Only 85
percent of that would be wired broadband, while the remainder would
use alternatives including satellite and WiMax. Another point
discusses AT&T initiating 10 new trials of wireless broadband,
including at least five in BellSouth's territory, by the end of 2007.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association dismissed the
proposed conditions, saying AT&T is already bound by such rules from
its merger last year with SBC Communications.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/10/17/HNattlocksratesok_1.html

BELLSOUTH URGES COURT TO SEND TARIFF CASE BACK TO FCC
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 10/12, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
BellSouth urged the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to send
back to the FCC a case involving a longstanding and unchallenged
government interpretation of an anti-discrimination section of the
Communications Act. The complaint against the telecommunications
company, originally brought to the FCC by AT&T, alleged that
BellSouth priced special-access services on a wholesale basis at deep
discounts to its own long-distance subsidiary, slighting AT&T and
others. Ironically, the Justice Department on Wednesday approved a
$78 billion merger between AT&T and BellSouth. AT&T originally backed
the FCC in the case but withdrew its involvement in May. Qwest
Communications International and Verizon Communications filed
friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the Commission. Various
telecom carriers need access to BellSouth's network to complete
long-distance calls on behalf of their retail customers, the FCC's
brief said. That access price is a major component of the retail
rates that a long-distance provider charges its consumers. AT&T
complained that BellSouth violated the 1934 act, and the FCC agreed.
The agency held that BellSouth could offer discounts to its affiliate
-- through its Transport Savings Plan -- but only if it makes them
"available on a nondiscriminatory basis to all unaffiliated
[long-distance] carriers."
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-TLTF1161087404462.html

UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUNDS NOT BEING SPENT
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service]
The GSM Association (GSMA), an industry group comprised of mobile
operators, estimated that governments in 15 countries have collected
$6 billion for their universal service funds, including $2 billion
that came from levies on mobile operators. Of this amount,
governments have spent $1.6 billion, leaving billions untouched. "The
unspent $4.4 billion should be put back in the industry as soon as
possible," Tom Phillips, government and regulatory affairs officer at
the GSMA, said at the 3GSM World Congress Asia conference in
Singapore. Phillips noted that India and Malaysia together hold $2
billion in levies. GSMA wants to see the funds done away with over
the long term. "Universal service funds may have a short-term
tactical benefit, but there's often no justification for universal
service funds to exist, especially in markets that are relatively
developed," Phillips said.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/10/17/HNuniversalservicefunds_1.html...

DENEMARK LEADS OECD IN BROADBAND PENETRATION
[SOURCE: TelecomPaper]
The number of broadband subscribers in the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) increased 33 percent from 136
million in June 2005 to 181 million in June this year. This growth
increased broadband penetration rates in the OECD from 11.7 in June
2005 to 15.5 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants currently. DSL
continues to be the leading platform in 28 OECD countries. Some 63
percent of OECD broadband subscribers use DSL, 29 percent use cable
and 8 percent use other technologies. However, cable modem
subscribers outnumber DSL in Canada and the United States. In June,
six countries (Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Korea, Switzerland
and Finland) led the OECD in broadband penetration, each with at
least 25 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Denmark leads the OECD with
a broadband penetration rate of 29.3 subscribers per 100 inhabitants.
The strongest per-capita subscriber growth comes from Denmark,
Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden and
the United Kingdom. Each country added more than 6 subscribers per
100 inhabitants during the past year. The United States has the
largest total number of broadband subscribers in the OECD at 57
million. US broadband subscribers now represent 36 percent of all
broadband connections in the OECD, up from 31 percent in December 2005.
http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?id=144839&nr=&type=&yr=
* "The OECD groups 30 member countries sharing a commitment to
democratic government and the market economy."
http://www.oecd.org/about/0,2337,en_2649_201185_1_1_1_1_1,00.html

BROADCASTING & PUBLIC SERVICE

BROADCASTERS OF FAKE NEWS MAKE FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT VNR STUDY
[SOURCE: PRWatch]
In an October 16, 2006, letter to the Federal Communications
Commission, Free Press and the Center for Media and Democracy refuted
spurious claims made by the Radio-Television News Directors
Association (RTNDA) and the National Association of Broadcast
Communicators (NABC), a new consortium of broadcast PR firms, about
the FCC's ongoing investigation into corporate-funded "fake news" on
local TV stations. The letter reads: "The Commission's ongoing
investigation of undisclosed VNRs is not an intrusion upon First
Amendment principles, as the RTNDA filing contends. Ensuring
disclosure of broadcast materials provided by third parties is
clearly within the Commission's mandate. It should be noted that
disclosure does not keep public relations firms from producing VNRs
or TV stations from broadcasting them. What disclosure does is honor
news audiences' right to know who seeks to influence them. The RTNDA
needs to understand that their members' use of the public airwaves is
a privilege, not a right. When TV stations turn their backs on the
public interest to air "fake news" provided by public relations
firms, they defy the spirit and letter of their broadcast licenses."
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5304

SENATE DEBATE ON TV: NOT LIVE, AND NO LOCAL MEDIA ALLOWED
[SOURCE: Hartford (CT) Courant, AUTHOR: Jon Lender]
When WFSB-TV, Channel 3, announced plans to sponsor the only debate
of all five candidates in Connecticut's nationally watched Senate
race, station general manager Klarn DePalma said the event reflects
"our commitment ... to deliver news and information to viewers in
Connecticut." But it appears that the delivery is going to be
delayed. The Hartford CBS affiliate has banned representatives of the
news media - other than its own - from Wednesday's 3 p.m. taping of
the debate that is to be moderated by national CBS newsman Bob
Schieffer before an audience of specially invited guests. After a
news blackout of 27 hours, WFSB plans to show the canned one-hour
event Thursday at 7 p.m.
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-wfsbdebate1017.artoct17,0,198821...

FCC UPHOLDS VIACOM INDECENCY SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The FCC has rejected a challenge to its 2004 consent decree with
Viacom that settled a host of radio and TV indecency complaints and
about a dozen proposed fines against Infinity radio stations. In
denying the challenge, the FCC said that despite those indecency
findings, it had no "substantial and material questions" about
Viacom's fitness as a licensee. Indecency fines are levied against
individual stations, not radio or TV networks. As part of the
settlement, Viacom admitted some of the material was indecent, paid
$3.5 million to the treasury, and adopted a company-wide compliance
policy to prevent a repeat of the "indecent" broadcasts, including
putting a delay on live radio and TV programming. For its part, the
FCC agreed to dismiss all proposed radio fines and complaints against
radio and TV -- with the exception of the Janet Jackson
complaint--and not to use any of the dismissed complaints, or
complaints about other past shows, against the company in the future.
In essence, Viacom got a clean slate. The two groups, the Right to
Decency and the American Decency Association, had challenged the
decree, arguing that the FCC was allowing Viacom to buy basic
character qualifications to hold its TV and radio licenses. The
Commission disagreed, saying that if it did not think Viacom was
still qualified to hold its licenses, it would not have struck the deal.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6382130.html?display=Breaking...
* FCC Denies Petition Regarding Viacom and Infinity Radio
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-153A1.doc
See also --
* FCC Denies Application for Review of Radio X Broadcasting
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-151A1.doc
* FCC Denies Petition Regarding Emmis Communications
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-152A1.doc
* FCC rejects Christian group's challenge to Viacom indecency settlement
http://lasarletter.com/freepage.php?id=200610171

ADVERTISING

A QUESTION OF EYEBALLS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Louise Story]
In June, Nielsen Media Research, the ratings agency announced it
would start rating commercials, beginning in November. But that
announcement has set off a battle worthy of a "Survivor" episode,
with just about everyone in the TV and advertising businesses
disagreeing over how Nielsen should measure ad viewership. Nielsen is
hearing some of the loudest complaints from the cable TV industry,
which argues that some of the quirks of their business -- including
regional ads in sports, and crawler ads along the bottom of the
screen -- make their ads harder to measure. Now, Nielsen's project
has slowed to a crawl. Unable to resolve the infighting, it plans to
delay releasing the new ratings until December. And in an effort to
help ease some objections to the new ratings, Nielsen has decided to
give the new data away for free the first year. It is also calling
the new effort an experiment, and will let the networks choose
whether to have their commercials rated or not.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/business/media/18adco.html
(requires registration)

RECORD LABELS TURN PIRACY INTO MARKETING OPPORTUNITY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin, Sarah McBride and
Ethan Smith]
There's a new tack being taken by the music industry to deal with the
challenge posed by widespread music piracy. For years, the industry
has been suing individual downloaders and file-sharing services,
hoping to discourage the practice. In a tactic little known outside
the music industry, record labels have also started to hire outside
companies to plant "decoy," or fake, files on the sites. (One such
company, ArtistDirect's MediaDefender, says it has deployed decoys
for as many as 30 of the top 100 Billboard songs at any given time.)
The decoy files frustrate users because they fail to download even
though, thanks to the companies' technical expertise, they often
claim the top spot in search results for a tune. But now there's a
growing recognition among some record executives and performers that
the people who are downloading illegally are frequently huge music
fans and that marketing to them may be more desirable in the long run
than suing or otherwise harassing them. By inserting promotional
material into the decoy files, and then planting those files
prominently on file-sharing sites, record labels and other marketers
can turn what is now an antipiracy tool into an advertising medium.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116113611429796022.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)
See also --
* Music Companies Sue 8,000 More in Anti-Sharing Fight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR200610...
* Universal Sues Video Sharing Websites
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-universal18oct18,1,54...

"LAW AND ORDER" BOSS DICK WOLF PONDERS THE FUTURE OF TV ADS (DOINK, DOINK)
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brian Steinberg
brian.steinberg( at )wsj.com ]
Long before he created the popular crime-solving TV series "Law &
Order," Dick Wolf was an ad man working for Benton & Bowles and other
agencies. One of his big accomplishments was helping to devise the
slogan "You can't beat Crest for fighting cavities" for the Procter &
Gamble toothpaste. When working with P&G, Mr. Wolf says, "the sacred
mantra was brand extension, and the biggest negative was a brand
extension which would hurt the brand. That was to be avoided like the
plague." He took P&G's lesson to heart when building "Law & Order"
and its critically-acclaimed spinoffs, which are broadcast so
frequently on NBC and cable stations that their familiar "doink,
doink" sound effects between scenes seem ubiquitous. Mr. Wolf gives
P&G full credit. "There are some tips you never forget," he says.
These days, however, even the most successful TV producers face an
uncertain new world. Consumers can watch entertainment programming
whenever they please, on venues other than traditional television,
and speed through the commercials. Mr. Wolf, 59, recently spoke with
The Wall Street Journal about the changing relationship between
advertisers and television. Excerpt: "if anyone tells you what the
television business is going to look like a decade out, they are on drugs."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116113866082296113.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)

DIGITAL DIVIDE

BETTER YARDSTICK NEEDED TO MEASURE DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: govtech.net AUTHOR: Karine Barzilai-Nahon karineb( at )u.washington.edu]
Relying on easy-to-measure factors like how many Internet access
points a place has presents a simplistic picture of today's digital
divide. A more sophisticated approach is needed to get an honest
assessment of who is being left behind, according to Karine
Barzilai-Nahon, an assistant professor at the University of
Washington Information School. Ten years ago, when someone had a
connection, it was enough," Barzilai-Nahon, said. "Today, in some
places it's nothing. The idea is what do you do with the content? Do
you know how to use it?" The power of technology is about knowing how
to harness it to enhance daily life both at home and at work, she
said. "Think about those people that don't know how," she added. "Ten
years from now, who will hire them?" It is distressing, for example,
to see that student access to computers falls off dramatically when
they leave the classroom and return to different socio-economic
realities at home, Barzilai-Nahon said. She pointed to a report
issued last month by the U.S. Department of Education showing that 37
percent of students from families with incomes below $20,000 use
computers at home, compared to 88 percent of those from families with
incomes over $75,000. Incorporating such disparities into measuring
systems is important to form a clearer picture of the digital divide,
Barzilai-Nahon contends. "Decision makers often fall into a trap of
seeking data that exist, instead of putting in the effort to first
systematically conceptualize the digital divide" and only then
collect data, she wrote in her paper. To get a better handle on those
who are being left behind, Barzilai-Nahon is calling on policymakers
to use a different yardstick, including the following items, to
measure the digital divide: Social and governmental support and
constraining factors, including training, funding and emphasis on
digital empowering; Affordability relative to other expenditures and
average income; Use, including frequency, time online, purpose, skill
level and autonomy of use; Socio-economic factors, including age,
education, geography, race and language, among other factors.
http://www.govtech.net/digitalcommunities/story.php?id=101673
* GAPS AND BITS: CONCEPTUALIZING MEASUREMENTS FOR DIGITAL DIVIDE/S
http://projects.ischool.washington.edu/karineb/html/pub/DDI.pdf

QUICKLY

COMMON CAUSE RALLIES ANTI-MEDIA FORCES
[SOURCE: tvnewsday]
A coalition of advocacy groups opposed to the FCC easing its
broadcast ownership limits will release research on Thursday that its
says shows people in 12 states live in "highly concentrated media
markets with few choices for news and views." The release of the
study will coincide with a tele-press conference at which
representatives of the groups will argue against changing the rules,
which now restrict ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in
the same market and the ownership of two top-rated TV stations in a
market. The FCC's deadline for comments in its proceeding aimed at
relaxing the rules is Monday (Oct. 23). Slated to speak at the press
conference: Common Cause President Chellie Pingree, Free Press Policy
Director Ben Scott; Consumers Union Vice President Gene Kimmelman and
Consumer Federation of America Director of Research Dr. Mark Cooper.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2006/10/17/daily.3/

GOOGLE CEO: TECHIES MUST EDUCATE GOVERNMENT
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
Those in the know about technology must spend more time reaching out
to governments and helping them understand the Internet's role in
society, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Tuesday. "The
average person in government is not of the age of people who are
using all this stuff," Schmidt said at a public symposium here hosted
by the National Academies' Computer Science and Telecommunications
Board. "There is a generational gap, and it's very, very real." Of
particular importance on the policy front are Net neutrality, the
idea that network operators should not generally be allowed to
prioritize content that travels over their pipes--the "revenge of the
Bell companies," as Schmidt put it--and digital copyright law. Online
service providers like Google that routinely grapple with complaints
about copyrighted content on their properties are adequately
protected now under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), but
any future changes in that area "could significantly change the way
the Web works," he said.
http://news.com.com/Google+CEO+Techies+must+educate+governments/2100-102...

FBI DIRECTOR WANTS ISPs TO TRACK USERS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh]
FBI Director Robert Mueller on Tuesday called on Internet service
providers to record their customers' online activities, a move that
anticipates a fierce debate over privacy and law enforcement in
Washington next year.
http://news.com.com/FBI+director+wants+ISPs+to+track+users/2100-7348_3-6...

KNIGHT FOUNDATION COMPETITION FOR COMMUNITY NEWS EXPERIMENTS
[SOURCE: Knight Foundation press release]
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today launches the Knight
Brothers 21st Century News Challenge, investing as much as $5 million
in its first year in community news projects that best use the
digital world to connect people to the real world. The News Challenge
is looking to fund new ideas, prototypes, products and leadership
initiatives that use innovative news methods to help citizens better
connect within their communities. The competition is open to anyone,
not just the journalism community. The Challenge web site, with an
online application form, is at www.newschallenge.org. The competition
will accept applications through Dec. 31, and expects to begin
announcing winners in the spring of 2007. The foundation and its
special panel of new media advisors will look for innovative
proposals that contain a unique combination of vision, courage and
know-how in their ability to use cyberspace to better connect people
to the physical space where they live and work.
http://www.knightfdn.org/default.asp?story=news_at_knight/releases/2006/...

DIGITAL AGE MAY BRING TOTAL RECALL IN FUTURE
[SOURCE: CNN, AUTHOR: Taylor Gandossy]
Have you ever wished for a backup brain -- a device that could
remember everything in your life from the smallest of details to your
most memorable moments? Computer engineer Gordon Bell, a researcher
for Microsoft Corp., is working on just such a mechanism. He's trying
to devise what amounts to a digital diary, a searchable database that
contains digitized versions of nearly everything in his life.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/10/16/explorers.memory/index.html
* Me? I use the online Headlines archive -- see
http://lists.benton.org/lists/arc/headlines/
--------------------------------------------------------------
Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary
service provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted
Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important
industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events.
While the summaries are factually accurate, their often informal tone
does not always represent the tone of the original articles.
Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang headlines( at )benton.org -- we
welcome your comments.
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