July 13, 2012 (Privacy Stakeholders Air Public Differences)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2012

A look ahead to next week http://benton.org/calendar/2012-07-15--P1W/

PRIVACY
   Privacy Stakeholders Air Public Differences
   Mobile App Developers Scoop Up Vast Amounts of Data, Reports Say
   Big data and the changing economics of privacy
   Saying Goodbye to Online Lurking

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Competition Worries Snag Verizon Deal on Airwaves
Sen Rockefeller To FCC, Justice On SpectrumCo: Keep Close Eye on Marketing Agreements [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Any Cybersecurity Bill is Better than No Bill, Senate panel Told
   Broadband Lifeline and Connect2Compete Mark A New ‘Broadband Moment’ Around Adoption and Usage - editorial
   Submarine cable operators to FCC: don’t make us pay into broadband fund
   FTC urges House to re-authorize online fraud powers

CONTENT
   Internet content blocking travels downstream, affects unwary users
   US Officials Seize 70 Websites
   FCC Chairman Genachowski's Statement on Russian Federation's Website Legislation - press release
   Google joins protest against Russia’s web blacklist
   DOJ says it received over 800 comments on e-book pricing case, needs more time to publish them
   Why Artists Should Always Get Paid By Broadcasters Who Play Their Songs - analysis
   Big Business’s Social Media Buying Frenzy [links to web]
   US Pursuing a Middleman in Web Piracy [links to web]

TELEVISION
   A la carte pricing would cut bickering over pay TV fees - analysis
   Aereo Ruling Doesn’t Bode Well for Stations
   Judge Got It All Wrong with Aereo Decision - op-ed
   Diller on Aereo Victory: 'We Were on the Side of the Angels'
   Cable Ops Rooting for Aereo in Clash With Broadcasters
   Sun Valley Media Moguls Gain Footing With Emerging Web-TV Models
   Antenna Direct, TiVo Push OTA-OTT Solution
   News Dominates Most Impactful TV Memories [links to web]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
FCC Denies NAB Online Public File Stay Request as Focus Moves to Court
Cleveland is second largest TV market for political ads this year, analysis says [links to web]

OWNERSHIP
Uncertainty Looms Over Annual Sun Valley Gathering [links to web]
Malone Knocks Sirius CEO Karmazin [links to web]

HEALTH
Family Caregivers Online - research

TELECOM
FTC goes after robocalls, the most annoying phone calls on Earth

ENERGY/CLIMATE
Apple owes Silicon Valley an explanation - editorial
Apple, Challenged By Greenpeace, Says It Has A Plan To Run Greener Data Centers

MORE ONLINE
Smartphone, tablet security and management guidelines on tap from NIST [links to web]

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PRIVACY

PRIVACY STAKEHOLDER MEETING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
If the National Telecommunication and Information Administration's first stakeholder meeting is any indication, coming to consensus on privacy policies among a host of stakeholders in the private and nonprofit and government sectors will be a little like herding cats, but the herding has begun in earnest. There was early disagreement at the meeting over whether a discussion about process should precede an attempt to prioritize the issues on the table for coming up with a regime for ensuring transparency in mobile app policies. Privacy advocates including the ACLU, Consumer Federation of America and the Center for Digital Democracy argued early on that prioritizing that list, as facilitator Marc Chinoy and NTIA had structured the meeting, was putting the cart before the horse. They also argued that mobile transparency should not be looked at by itself, but instead had to be treated in the broader context of other fair information practices.
benton.org/node/129315 | Broadcasting&Cable
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APPS AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Somini Sengupta]
Two new reports this week reveal how app developers are scooping up enormous amounts of data from mobile devices and serving up ads in unlikely places. Advertising revenues have long been the oil that greases the Internet. Mobile apps are its new frontier. Both reports nudge application developers to adopt standards for data collection and advertising. The Future of Privacy Forum, an advocacy group, on Wednesday, reported first the good news: Application developers are getting better at writing up privacy policies on both Google and Apple operating systems, the group concluded. But some still don’t take that minimum first step, even when collecting sensitive information, like location; they included a game, Fruit Ninja Plus, and a photo app, Camera+. A private firm, Lookout Security, found far more invasive practices by the companies that serve up advertisements on behalf of app developers. Some pushed advertisements to the device notification bar, well beyond the confines of the actual application. Others inserted new icons or shortcuts on the mobile desktop and tweaked bookmarks settings. “Given the pace at which the mobile ecosystem is moving, it’s important that standards are developed to ensure that private user data is accessed and managed appropriately,” Lookout Security said in its report. It urged app developers to provide opt-out controls for when ads appear outside the walls of the application and provide explicit notification if the ad network intends to collect personal data including a user’s name and phone number.
benton.org/node/129198 | New York Times
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BIG DATA AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Jeff John Roberts]
There was a time when only people with money to hire a detective could dig into someone’s life. Now, dozens of companies have sprung up that will prowl into a person’s past for as little as $2. This shift illustrates a fundamental change in the economics of privacy: it has become cheap and easy to pry into the lives of others at the same time that protecting our own lives has become time-consuming and expensive. A look at two companies — one that sells your data and another that protects it — shows the business and policy lessons of this new reality. It’s important to remember that there’s nothing illegal about compiling information. Just as a busybody can visit libraries, courts and public offices to collect information about a neighbor, companies like Intelius can use computers to do the same thing. There is a problem, however, with asking citizens to rely on solutions like DeleteMe or TrueRep to guard their privacy. Namely, this ‘pay for privacy’ approach doesn’t acknowledge the new economic imbalance in which personal data is cheap and anonymity is expensive. Can every individual afford to pay off companies that can harvest and sell their data for next to nothing? Intelius suggests paying data brokers for privacy is like paying the phone company to keep your name out of the white pages. But this analogy doesn’t take account of the fact that the ‘people search’ companies disclose much more information than the phone book.
benton.org/node/129180 | paidContent.org
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ONLINE LURKING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Liz Gannes]
They say that only 1 percent of people on the Internet create all the content, while the other 99 percent passively show up to view it. But these days, lurking is becoming much more of an active behavior than it was before, because even just looking at content is something that gets reported back to other people. As of this week, if you look at a post within a Facebook group, the social networking site will tell the rest of the group that you saw it and when. That means an end to the question “Hey, did you guys see that thing I posted?,” because the evidence is right there. But it also points to a world where one of the most core online activities — lurking — gets increasingly stamped out.
benton.org/node/129195 | Wall Street Journal
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

COMPETITION CONCERNS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz, Thomas Catan]
Apparently, the Justice Department is holding up Verizon Wireless's $3.9 billion deal to acquire cable-company airwaves over concerns a related agreement will hurt competition for broadband Internet service. Justice Department antitrust officials remain concerned that a side deal between Verizon and the cable companies is, in effect, an agreement not to compete for Internet users in each other's territory, and could leave many Americans with a single option for broadband service. The officials have made clear to the parties that they aren't likely to clear the airwaves deal unless changes are made to allay their concerns about the cross-marketing deal. So far, the cross-marketing deal has been put into effect only in areas where Verizon doesn't offer FiOS, though the companies say the plan is to extend it into Verizon territory. Consumer advocates and some congressmen worry that Verizon and the cable companies have declared a "truce" and agreed to divide up the market. People familiar with the matter said the Justice Department has objected to the joint marketing agreement being applied in Verizon's territory. It also has balked at language that lets the companies extend the pact for years. It isn't clear whether objections to the joint-marketing deal could jeopardize the transfer of the airwaves. The parties have maintained that the two deals are independent from each other. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is preparing to recommend the deal's approval to the agency's five-member board with the hope of clearing it before an informal deal review clock runs out in late August, according to several people close to the review.
benton.org/node/129319 | Wall Street Journal | Washington Post
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

ANY CYBERSECURITY BILL IS BETTER THAN NO BILL, SENATE PANEL TOLD
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Smith]
A panel of security experts urged Congress to do something—anything—to combat cyberthreats to the United States. The panel of witnesses before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee had specific recommendations, but with a nearly unified voice they all agreed that moving ahead with any current legislative proposals is better than doing nothing. “If we don’t act now, I can assure you that whatever comes after something bad happens will be much more draconian and not as constructive as it could be,” Frank Cilluffo, director of George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute, told the committee. Former National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden said all the proposals on the table, including standards, information sharing between businesses and government, and a potential increased role for U.S. intelligence agencies, should be enacted. Any potential problems can be ironed out later, he said. “I’d do them all. And I would keep an open mind a adjust fire in a year or two.”
benton.org/node/129178 | National Journal
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BROADBAND ADOPTION AND USAGE
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
[Commentary] If 2008 marked the dawn of our national “broadband moment,” this summer and fall may well be the beginning of a new era of broadband adoption and usage. A major national initiative, dubbed “Connect2Compete,” is just beginning to find its footing. In a webinar two weeks ago, this collaboration of corporate, philanthropic and community leaders delineated their mission, goals and timetables. It is to use the “power of the internet to improve the lives of low income Americans and their ability to thrive in the global economy.” Additional, the Federal Communications Commission is in the midst of launching an exciting Broadband Lifeline pilot program. This $25 million pilot program could help pave the way for a Universal Broadband Fund. Such a fund could do for internet connectivity what the Universal Service Fund, in an earlier era, did for making the telephone an anchor of American life.
benton.org/node/129189 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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SUBMARINE CABLE AND USF
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jeff John Roberts]
A coalition of submarine cable operators is balking at a proposal that would end their exemption from contributing to the Universal Service Fund, a pool of money intended to improve access to telecommunications across America. In a recent objection filed with the Federal Communications Commission, a group of companies that include Level 3 and Southern Cross argue that subjecting their submarine operations to the levy (currently at 15.7% of interstate revenue) would be unfair because they can’t easily pass such fees on to end users. Many of these users are outside the United States and have entered into fixed rate contracts with the companies.
benton.org/node/129183 | GigaOm
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SAFE WEB ACT REAUTHORIZATION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
A top Federal Trade Commission (FTC) official urged a House subcommittee to re-authorize the Safe Web Act, which expands the FTC's power to go after online scammers. Hugh Stevenson, the FTC's deputy director for International Consumer Protection, said it is critical that Congress reauthorize the law, which is set to expire at the end of next year. "The Act arms the FTC with key enforcement tools to combat Internet scams, fraudulent telemarketing, spam, spyware, and other cross-border misconduct that harms our consumers," Stevenson testified before the House Commerce subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. The law expands the types of fraud that the FTC can pursue, gives the agency the authority to share information about cross-border fraud with foreign governments and authorizes the agency to make criminal referrals if the activity violates U.S. criminal law. Stevenson said the FTC has conducted more than 100 investigations with international aspects since the act's passage, and has filed more than 50 cases. He said the new powers have allowed the FTC to shut down frauds costing American consumers hundreds of millions of dollars.
benton.org/node/129302 | Hill, The | FTC
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CONTENT

INTERNET CONTENT BLOCKING
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Cyrus Farivar]
A team of Canadian researchers have uncovered an unusual new example of “upstream filtering,” where online content in one country is blocked in another country due to filtering that happens in transit. Researchers at the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, revealed that some Oman Internet users using the Omantel ISP are also being subjected to Indian content restrictions because of traffic flowing through India. “It goes to show what you can find when you begin to probe beneath the surface of the Internet, and what you see when you have governments start to mess with the openness of the Internet,” said Ron Deibert, Citizen Lab's director. “In this case you have a perverse situation where citizens in one country are subject to filtering in another country.” While there have been numerous examples of specific countries blocking foreign or domestic content that they find objectionable, as it runs afoul of their own laws or regulations, it’s rare for one country to accidentally block sites due to peering agreements and traffic flows.
benton.org/node/129305 | Ars Technica
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70 WEBSITES SEIZED
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Federal officials said they have seized 70 websites that allegedly offered counterfeit merchandise as part of an ongoing effort targeting sites that infringe intellectual property. Many of the sites seized by the operation, which was led by the Homeland Security Department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, were created to look like legitimate sites and even provided security certificates used to signal to consumers that they were shopping on a legitimate site. U.S. agents made undercover purchases of a wide range of products, ranging from baby carriers to sports jerseys to luxury goods, from sites suspected of selling counterfeit products. The products were shipped to the United States in many cases from foreign countries. Once the products were confirmed to be counterfeit, U.S. authorities sought approval from a federal judge to seize the domain name linked to the website selling the goods.
benton.org/node/129188 | National Journal
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GENACHOWSKI STATEMENT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Genachowski]
Today, the Russian Federation’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, passed a bill that gives the state power to create a registry of blacklisted websites. If enacted into law, this will require Internet service providers and website hosts to block access to the blacklisted sites or risk being added to the blacklist themselves. This is a troubling and dangerous direction. The world’s experience with the Internet provides a clear lesson: a free and open Internet promotes economic growth and freedom; restricting the free flow of information is bad for consumers, businesses, and societies. I recently attended the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia, where I met with government officials, business leaders, and entrepreneurs. I heard broad interest in expanding broadband access, and broad recognition of the potential of the Internet as a strong engine for innovation, economic growth and creativity, as well as improved education, health care, and government services. A free and open Internet is essential to meeting these goals in Russia, as in all countries. Growing economies everywhere promote peace and stability. I believe this legislation will stifle investment in broadband and impede innovations that could advance Russia’s promising Internet economy. While protecting children on-line is a legitimate governmental concern, the Duma’s bill, in its current form, could lead to restricting access to valuable Internet content and services and chilling innovation, economic opportunity, as well as free expression. I urge Russia to recognize the full benefits of a free and open Internet, including a stronger economy and more prosperous and free society.
benton.org/node/129192 | Federal Communications Commission | WashPost | The Hill | National Journal
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GOOGLE JOINS PROTEST
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Robert Andrews]
A protest against Russian proposals to block websites deemed illegal has brought out the web’s big beast, after the bill was passed by the lower house of the country’s parliament. The Duma passed bill 89417-6, in which the government proposed creating a blacklist of websites containing child porn, drug-related and extremist material and other content deemed illegal. Google’s Russia PR director Alla Zabrovskaya said, “We certainly support the intention of lawmakers to protect children online. However, we believe that the possible negative consequences of applying the law to exceed the expected positive effect, jeopardizing the user’s access to legal resources.”
benton.org/node/129191 | GigaOm
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E-BOOK CASE COMMENTS
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Laura Hazard Owen]
In response to a letter from attorney Bob Kohn regarding the delayed publication of all the comments received on the proposed e-book pricing settlement, the Department of Justice says it received over 800 comments on the proposed settlement and is “working expeditiously” to make them available to the public by roughly July 20, 2012. Mark Ryan, an attorney for the Department of Justice, said it would not have been possible for the DOJ to respond to all the comments immediately or to publish them all online immediately because it has to ensure that all of the materials are converted into electronic format and made accessible to the disabled. In addition, Ryan claims that on April 18, the DOJ requested and was granted “additional time to prepare and file our submission.”
benton.org/node/129182 | paidContent.org
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BROADCASTERS AND ARTISTS
[SOURCE: Brookings, AUTHOR: John Villasenor]
Why is it that Internet, satellite, and cable radio broadcasters pay performance royalties for the sound recordings they play, and American over-the-air “terrestrial” AM and FM broadcasters do not? The answer isn’t particularly satisfying for artists, record labels, and anyone who thinks the government shouldn’t be in the business of impeding new technologies. The government should not be stacking the deck against the newest, most compelling technologies. Saddling Internet radio with high royalty rates while giving terrestrial AM and FM stations a free pass impedes the growth of a promising new way to distribute content. And, it sends a message to would-be-entrepreneurs with ideas about how to revolutionize an industry that the playing field is far from level. In an increasingly competitive global technology environment, that’s a message we can’t afford to be sending.
benton.org/node/129162 | Brookings
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TELEVISION

A LA CARTE PRICING
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Lazarus]
[Commentary] Once again, TV viewers encountered full-page ads in the newspaper this week declaring that a greedy cable or satellite company was denying people the right to watch their favorite shows. Darn that DirecTV, dropping Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and other channels. Just as fellow satellite TV provider Dish Network has cheated customers out of watching "The Walking Dead" and "Breaking Bad" because it axed AMC Networks. At least that's how the big programming companies want you to see it. The reality is that they're equally to blame for these disruptions by forcing fat packages of channels down the throats of distributors such as DirecTV, Dish and Time Warner Cable. These endless spats among media behemoths would go away instantly if viewers had the ability to choose which channels they want to pay for. Programmers have long maintained that channel packages are the only way to maintain TV diversity. Sure, lots of people watch Disney-owned ESPN. But if Disney didn't force cable and satellite companies to also air the likes of the Military History Channel, people would be denied the full gamut of viewing choices. It's a bogus argument. What programmers are basically saying is that demand for these niche channels is so meager, they need to be underwritten by people who watch more popular fare.
benton.org/node/129313 | Los Angeles Times
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RULING DOES NOT BODE WELL FOR BROADCASTERS
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: ]
Securities analyst Marci Ryvicker warned that broadcasters could lose their copyright suit against online video distributor Aereo, given the language a federal judge used in turning down the broadcasters' request for a preliminary injunction. "While the 'heart' of this case is not over, the language was clearly more negative than we had anticipated," Ryvicker and her team at Wells Fargo say in a note to clients. The ruling relied on the 2008 remote-storage DVR ruling, in which a federal appeals court said that Cablevision's service did not violate programmers' copyright because the cable operator made each recording at the request of a single customer and the recording could only be viewed by that customer. That, according to the court, make it a private performance rather than a public performance that triggers copyright liability. Despite the legal setback, it says, the broadcasters ultimately have little to fear from Aereo. "Aereo is not a compelling product and therefore not a real threat to the TV ecosystem."
benton.org/node/129312 | TVNewsCheck
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JUDGE GOT IT WRONG
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Lee Spieckerman]
[Commentary] “Today’s decision shows that if you can find a judge ignorant as to the basics of intellectual property law and willing to disregard the long history of television retransmission precedents, you can build a whole new business on stealing billions of dollars’ worth of video content.” Aereo brazenly asserts that because it picks up local TV channels with a tiny, separate TV antenna for each Aereo subscriber, it’s not in the same business as cable TV systems and DBS providers like DirecTV and Dish, which are required to make licensing deals with TV stations to retransmit their signals. Incredibly, Judge Nathan bought into Aereo’s laughable argument that the company was merely “renting antennas” to its subscribers. That would be like a store claiming that, because it pilfers merchandise from a distributor’s warehouse one item at a time, instead of by the truckload, it should be allowed to sell the goods without paying for them. What U.S. District Court Judge Alison Nathan blithely ignored is that the copyright rubric governing retransmission of television stations has never been in any way predicated on the method used to capture the stations’ signals. Whether those broadcasts are received via one master antenna, multiple antennas or, as is increasingly common with cable and DBS providers, through fiber optic connection to the local TV stations, is irrelevant. The video service provider is an intermediary that must forge a contract with a TV station in order to deliver the station’s content to subscribers.
benton.org/node/129310 | TVNewsCheck
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DILLER RTESPONDS TO RULING
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
"We're going to proceed. We don't care. A year, six months, two years. We're going to go. We're going to move. We're going to really start marketing," Aereo investor and former broadcaster Barry Diller told Bloomberg TV from Sun Valley, Idaho, where he is attending the annual Allen & Co. conference with other media moguls. "I really did think we were on the side of the angels," Diller said. "The ability for a consumer, an American, to receive broadcast over-the-air signals is their right. And we're simply a technologically advantaged way of doing it in a modern way." Buoyed by the ruling, Diller indicated Aereo would move quickly to expand beyond New York into other major cities in 2013.
benton.org/node/129309 | AdWeek | Bloomberg
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CABLE ROOTS FOR AEREO
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Cable operators are quietly -- and not so quietly -- hoping over-the-top startup Aereo prevails in its litigation with TV broadcasters because they see it as potentially ending the current retransmission-consent regime. "If [Aereo is] found to be legal, then the idea of consumers having to pay for otherwise free broadcast signals is called into question," said Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt, speaking at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. American Cable Association president and CEO Matt Polka more explicitly said the trade group -- which represents smaller cable operators -- is hoping Aereo's legal battle changes the current state of retrans. "We're pleased that the court did not prevent the deployment of this new technology," Polka said. "We hope that technological innovation both within and without the cable industry provides answers for consumers and cable operators that today suffer under the oppressive retransmission-consent regime forced upon them by the broadcasters who take advantage of old laws and regulations." Comcast executive vice president David Cohen, speaking at the New England Cable & Telecommunications Association conference Thursday in Newport, R.I., said that in his opinion Aereo's service ultimately will likely be found to violate copyright laws. Comcast holds a majority stake in NBCUniversal. Cohen and Patrick Esser, president of Cox Communications, both said on a panel that Aereo's case is quite different from Cablevision's legal efforts to validate its network-based DVR service. "I do not draw a parallel between the Cablevision lawsuit with network DVR and this antenna," Esser said. "I think it's very different."
benton.org/node/129206 | Multichannel News
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EMERGING WEB-TV MODELS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: ]
Media moguls gathered at the annual Allen & Co. conference have spent recent years contemplating how to cope with technology drawing audiences away from TV and movies. This time, film and TV executives like Walt Disney's Jay Rasulo know just where their businesses are headed. Once threatened by Internet players such as Netflix, traditional entertainment companies now view online outlets as a rich new vein for viewers who'll pay $8 a month for mostly older films and TV shows. Fresher programs, such as NBC Universal's webcast of Olympic events, are reserved for cable and satellite subscribers who already pay much more. The strategies of established media companies tackling online video have evolved over the past two years, according to Blake Krikorian, a conference attendee and director of Amazon, one of the emerging players in film and TV services on the internet. Initially, media companies such as Time Warner and Disney put shows up for free on websites such as Hulu.com. Then they awoke to the decline of the newspaper industry. Today, media companies are requiring usernames and passwords, making sure everyone pays for movies and TV shows, and reserving their newest and best material for the highest-paying customers. Even newspapers are starting to charge for more than limited access to their websites.
benton.org/node/129307 | Bloomberg
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ANTENNA PUSH
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Arthur Greenwald]
Antenna Direct and TiVo are stepping up a joint effort to persuade consumers to cut the cable TV cord and substitute a mix of over-the-air and over-the-top programming. Direct supplies the antennas, while TiVo supplies the box that not only records and stores off-air programming, but also interfaces with the broadband video world of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. In the works is a plan that would let stations share in the monthly fees that TiVo charges by promoting the Antennas Direct-TiVo solution. "Our goal is to create an on-going, sustainable and increasing revenue stream for stations," says Antennas Direct’s Pete D'Acosta.
benton.org/node/129194 | TVNewsCheck
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

FCC DENIES NAB STAY REQUEST
[SOURCE: CommLawCenter, AUTHOR: Paul Cicelski]
The Federal Communications Commission issued an Order denying the National Association of Broadcaster's (NAB) Petition for Stay of the FCC's new online public inspection file rules. In its Order, the FCC states it is denying the NAB's request because the NAB was unable to satisfy any of the four factors supporting grant of a stay. According to the FCC, the NAB failed to show (1) that the new rules would cause irreparable injury; (2) that the NAB is likely to prevail on the merits in its appeal; (3) that other interested parties will not be harmed if a stay is granted; and (4) that a stay would serve the public interest. Essentially, the FCC regurgitated its prior findings in deciding to move full speed ahead with the new rules. However, TV broadcasters have been seeking relief from the new rules, which will, without question, increase compliance burdens on TV stations while needlessly duplicating records already required to be maintained online by the Federal Election Commission. As a practical matter however, the action by the FCC is more of a procedural hurdle that had to be cleared by broadcasters on their way to court rather than a true substantive analysis of the merits of the court appeal. As the levels of activity on multiple fronts indicate, this proceeding is far from over. To be sure, obtaining a court stay is not an easy task. That said, this is the rare case where (despite the FCC's contrary ruling), the irreparable harm to broadcasters is apparent, and the case on the merits is strong.
benton.org/node/129304 | CommLawCenter
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HEALTH

FAMILY CAREGIVERS ONLINE
[SOURCE: Pew’s Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Susannah Fox, Joanna Brenner]
Thirty percent of U.S. adults help a loved one with personal needs or household chores, managing finances, arranging for outside services, or visiting regularly to see how they are doing. Most are caring for an adult, such as a parent or spouse, but a small group cares for a child living with a disability or long-term health issue. The population breaks down as follows:
24% of U.S. adults care for an adult
3% of U.S. adults care for a child with significant health issues
3% of U.S. adults care for both an adult and a child
70% of U.S. adults do not currently provide care to a loved one
Eight in ten caregivers (79%) have access to the internet. Of those, 88% look online for health information, outpacing other internet users on every health topic included in our survey, from looking up certain treatments to hospital ratings to end-of-life decisions.
benton.org/node/129159 | Pew Internet & American Life Project
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TELECOM

ACTION AGAINST ROBO CALLS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Deborah Netburn]
People of America, you are being plagued by robocalls, and it is only getting worse. The Federal Trade Commission said it has seen a dramatic spike in the number of people who have complained about robocalls in the last two years. In October of 2010 the agency received 65,000 complaints about robocalls. By April of 2012, that number had jumped to 212,000. The good news is that the FTC seems to be as annoyed about robocalls -- defined as any call that does not have a human on the other end of the line -- as we are. "The FTC hears from American consumers every day about illegal robocalls and how intrusive they are," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. "We're ratcheting up our efforts to stop this invasion of consumer's privacy."
benton.org/node/129208 | Los Angeles Times | FTC
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ENERGY/CLIMATE

APPLE OWES SILICON VALLEY AN EXPLANATION
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Apple owes Silicon Valley an explanation. The valley's commitment to green technology is a source of pride, and Apple is a trendsetter. Its decision to withdraw its products from a prominent green product registry erodes its image as an environmental leader and raises a more disturbing possibility: That other tech competitors will take its departure as a free pass to also drop out of the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, or EPEAT, system. Apple's reputation for environmental awareness, well deserved until now, has been part of its appeal for consumers. If it no longer is concerned with recycling standards, how can its competitors, playing catch-up in the market, be inspired to do more? If Apple feels the standards should be updated, it should make its case. Neither Apple nor the valley will benefit if the company known as one of the greatest innovators in world history downgrades its commitment to the environment. Think green, not greed.
benton.org/node/129298 | San Jose Mercury News
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APPLE’S DATA CENTERS
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Connie Guglielmo]
Greenpeace International gave Apple a mixed review over its clean energy plans for its data centers, the huge servers farms that power its iCloud and other online services like iTunes, saying in a report that the company hasn’t provided enough details about how it’s going to reach its goals. Apple disagrees, saying it’s working to deliver on the promises it made in May to make all of its data centers coal free and run them using renewable energy sources — and that it has been transparent about what it’s up to. At the Maiden, North Carolina, center it opened earlier this year, Apple has said 60 percent of the energy will come from solar arrays being installed now by the end of this year. The other 40 percent will come from local sources of renewable energies, including wind farms. For its data center in Newark, California, Apple said it was granted regulatory approval early this year to buy renewable energy. The company “is in the process of locating and buying enough direct-access clean energy to meet the needs of the facility by February 2013,” according to the environmental progress reports it posts on its website.
benton.org/node/129297 | Forbes
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