July 24, 2012 (Who Should Censor The Internet?)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2012

Online sales taxes, Spectrum and The Cable Act at 20 on today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2012-07-24/

TELEVISION
   Cable companies brace for new regulatory battles
   CFA to Senate: Cable Power Threatens Over-the-Top Delivery
   Consumers Sound Off About TV Blackouts
   House Commerce Members Urge FCC to Avoid Expansion of Program Carriage Rules
   CBS' Franks: Some Distributors Trying to Game Retransmission System
   ACA Chair Abdoulah: Overhaul Cable Act
   NAB's Smith: TV Station Value Is Tied to Retransmission
   ABC Affiliates: Dump Retrans and More Sports Will Migrate to Pay Platforms

OWNERSHIP
   Judge OKs Tribune reorganization plan; bankruptcy end nears
   How Apple's phantom taxes hide billions in profit
   Why Rupert Murdoch Surrendered Top Newspaper Posts in His Global Media Company - analysis
   The end of convergence? Perhaps for News Corp
   When a news executive sits on a bank’s board [links to web]
   Apple v. Samsung: The Patent Trial of the Century
   Apple and Samsung Patent Suit Puts Judge Posner's Worldview on Trial

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   So, who really did invent the Internet? - analysis
   WSJ mangles history to argue government didn't launch the Internet - analysis
   Internet's openness threatened by politics - op-ed
   Who Should Censor The Internet? A Quiz - analysis
   Can the Web survive the ITU? - editorial
   The Rights and Wrongs of Taxing Internet Retailers - op-ed
   Verizon and AT&T's Internet Mugging Threatens U.S. Prosperity - analysis
   Communities: Get Off Your Assets and Get Better Broadband - op-ed
   The Twin Cities' broadband challenge
   Complacent Telcos Deliver Americans Third Rate Broadband Service At High Prices - analysis

CYBERSECURITY
   Sen McCain questions Reid's decision to take up cyber security bill before defense authorization
   TIA cautions against cybersecurity mandates [links to web]
   Is Hacking in Self-Defense Legal? It Depends, Says Army Cyber Lawyer [links to web]
   Pentagon Aims to Detect Network Intruders by Their Strange Behavior [links to web]

PRIVACY
   "Do Not Track" Internet spat risks legislative crackdown

ELECTIONS& MEDIA
   Voters Say They Are Wary of Ads Made Just for Them
   Many Ads in Search of the Few Undecided
   Obama campaign keeps ads off Colorado airwaves all week [links to web]
   Apps to Identify Who Backs Political Ads [links to web]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   NTP to get patent cash from "pretty much" entire cell phone industry
   Comcast, TWC Extend Verizon Wireless Bundle Promos
   FTC Calls Wireless Phone Bill Cramming a Significant Consumer Problem - press release
   Amazon's mobile ambitions grow [links to web]

CONTENT
   Justice Department slams Apple, refuses to modify e-book settlement
   Why Short-Form Video Is The Future Of Marketing [links to web]
   Free vs. paid: Would Twitter be better if you paid for it? - analysis [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Names David Goldman Senior Legal Advisor - press release [links to web]
   Ben Scott, Former State Department Policy Advisor, to Join New America's OTI - press release [links to web]

HEALTH
   More electronic health record systems than you imagined - analysis [links to web]

EDUCATION
   News Corp., AT&T to Test Mobile-Education on Tablets [links to web]

LOBBYING
   Google Lobbying Spending Leads Tech Pack [links to web]
   Coalition looks to battle online sales tax

STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:

   Google facing force of aggressive EU regulators
   Network neutrality: EU puts spotlight on fairness ahead of policy change
   South Korea hits 100% mark in wireless broadband
   Australia Judge Calls Apple-Samsung Dispute Over 3G ‘Ridiculous’
   Phone thefts and losses in London to jump during Olympics [links to web]
   UK sets rules for 4G broadband auction

MORE ONLINE
   Tech's center of gravity shifts north to San Francisco [links to web]
   The Gender Gap in Mobile and Internet Access in the Developing World [links to web]
   Silicon Valley Says Step Away From the Device [links to web]

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TELEVISION

CABLE COMPANIES BRACE FOR REGULATION
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Eliza Krigman]
Few issues make constituents write to members of Congress like losing access to their favorite TV or cable shows and, up until now, lawmakers have been all talk and no action. But a backlash to the blackouts may be coming. In a series of hearings in the House and Senate, lawmakers are starting to look at video industry regulations and whether they need to be updated in the age of mobile devices, online video and cord cutters. The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the 20-year-old Cable Act governing video services, and the polarizing views about what is and what isn’t wrong with the law will be on full display. On one end of the spectrum, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) wants to deregulate cable and satellite providers, putting an end to government’s involvement in how broadcasters and pay-TV operators negotiate payments for carrying programming. “We should remove unnecessary government interference from a mature and increasingly competitive video marketplace,” said Sen DeMint. On the other side, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) -- chairman of the Communications, Technology and Internet Subcommittee -- sees a need for only minor revisions to protect viewers who want their MTV — and other programming.
benton.org/node/130422 | Politico
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CABLE POWER THREATENS INTERNET CONTENT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
While broadcast and cable witnesses focused on the retransmission consent/must-carry regime in their written testimony, Consumer Federal of America's Mark Cooper is focusing on what he says is the threat of cable market power over online video distribution. In testimony for the July 24 Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Cable Act of 1992 20 years later, Cooper says that the government's cable competition policy has failed, and the door is open to the "dangerous possibility" that cable will exert what he calls its anticompetitive, anticonsumer practices to over-the-top video." Far from being mooted by competition, as some cable operators argue, the need for strong regulation remains, he suggests. "Twenty years of failure to break the strangle hold of the incumbent broadcasters and cable operators should have reinforced the premises on which the 1992 Cable Act rested: access to the means of distribution and "must-have" content are key bottlenecks. Cooper, a critic of Comcast on at least a couple of fronts, invoked the nation's largest cable operator in his argument about cable's power.
benton.org/node/130388 | Broadcasting&Cable
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CONSUMERS SOUND OFF ON BLACKOUTS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wayne Friedman]
Consumers seem ready to take action when it comes to more frequent TV blackouts of their favorite networks -- and most of that activity comes with their primary multi-TV network seller. One recent example: in the wake of the week-long DirecTV/Viacom blackout of Viacom networks, a study from Ipsos MediaCT TV Dailies shows that 54% of DirecTV subscribers "took action," as opposed to 46% who did nothing. The study says twice as many people visit/contacted DirecTV areas than Viacom areas: 21% went to DirecTVPromises.com to read DirecTV statement; 10% went to Viacom's area WhenDirecTVDrops.com. 21% emailed DirecTV directly. Another 15% went to view Viacom networks content on Web sites and other digital areas; 12% made social media comments about the situation.
benton.org/node/130386 | MediaPost
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LETTER ON PROGRAM CARRIAGE RULES
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) joined dozens of members in urging the Federal Communications Commission to avoid expansive interpretation of the “program carriage” rules. The members are concerned with unnecessary government red tape saddling the video marketplace. “This is a much different market from 1992 when Congress first enacted the program carriage provisions. Those provisions restrict the ability of cable operators to freely negotiate with unaffiliated cable programmers. That may have made sense in 1992 when cable dominated the pay-TV market with regard to both distribution and programming. Today's market is much more competitive in both respects. The FCC's rules should reflect those changes rather than expand the reach of regulations that have outlived their purpose,” they wrote. “The FCC's recent interpretation of the program carriage rules, however, could be read to enable programmers effectively to force their way on to a cable operator's system by merely alleging that their programming is similar enough to the operator's affiliated programming, rather than showing that there has been anticompetitive discrimination.”
benton.org/node/130384 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | Broadcasting&Cable
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CBS ON RETRANSMISSION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In written testimony in advance of the July 24 Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Cable Act at 20, CBS chief retransmission negotiator Martin Franks says that the Cable Act of 1992 was one of the "great Washington public policy accomplishments" of the past 20 years, citing as an example that almost all of the some 15,000 retrans negotiations every three years are completed successfully. Those that haven't, he suggests, can be traced in part to a "handful" of distributors trying to game the system to their own advantage. For CBS' part, he points out, all of its retransmission deals in the past six years have been concluded "without incident." Franks argues that to the degree that impasses are more frequent, it is because a handful of distributors believe that disruptions could help them advance their public policy goals by making "a working model look broken."
benton.org/node/130335 | Broadcasting&Cable
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ACA WANTS CABLE ACT OVERHAUL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In written testimony in advance of the July 24 Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Cable Act at 20, American Cable Association chair Colleen Abdoulah says that the 1992 Cable Act is outdated and due for an overhaul, citing hundreds of smaller cable operators who have gone out of business due primarily to programming costs. Among her recommendations for updates are baseball-style arbitration and no-blackout policies for retrans impasses and, in an apparent nod to Aereo and others, allowing pay-TV providers to employ "new and innovative technologies that allow consumers to receive broadcast signals over-the-air," rather than paying for them via retrans consent.
benton.org/node/130333 | Broadcasting&Cable
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NAB ON RETRANSMISSION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Association of Broadcasters president Gordon Smith plans to tell his former Senate Commerce Committee colleagues that local TV has "immense value," a value tied to their ability to negotiate "fair value" for their signals via retransmission consent. Smith says that broadcasting continues to be the "go to choice for news, emergency service and entertainment." He points out that while broadcast TV accounts or 35% of all viewership, they only get 6.7% of carriage fees. He said that latter percentage is projected for "slow growth." He says the fact that the Cable Act is 20 years old does not by itself justify change. "When some focus only on 1992, we should also remember that for many years carriers refused to pay cash to local broadcasters. The simple fact that the nature of the compensation for retransmission consent has changed does not demonstrate a problem."
benton.org/node/130332 | Broadcasting&Cable
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ABC AFFILIATES ON RETRANSMISSION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In advance of the July 24 Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Cable Act at 20, ABC affiliates told Congress that if they are not allowed to have a dual revenue stream -- advertising and retransmission cash -- more big ticket sports programming will move to cable. That argument is in a sweet spot for legislators, who have on more than one occasion pressured media outlets to resolve program disputes when high-profile games, particularly with local teams, may not be available to constituents. The stations said it would be difficult to overstate the importance of retransmission to their continued viability. They say that without retransmission, they will not be able to afford expensive sports programming or produce local news, sports, weather, public safety and public interest programming.
benton.org/node/130331 | Broadcasting&Cable
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OWNERSHIP

JUDGE OKs TRIBUNE REORGANIZATION PLAN
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Michael Oneal]
The judge in Tribune Company’s bankruptcy case confirmed a plan to transfer ownership of the Chicago media company to a group of senior creditors led by Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles investment fund. The judge’s order, which was expected, will set in motion a process that will likely allow Tribune to emerge from bankruptcy later this year. And it will allow the Federal Communications Commission to move forward on the company’s application to transfer its TV and radio broadcast licenses to the new owners — the last big hurdle in a case that has dragged on for 3½ years. Tribune also will be able to accelerate work on other administrative and financial matters that need to be completed before it can emerge from bankruptcy. Those include reshaping its corporate structure and obtaining $1.1 billion in new debt financing and a $300-million line of credit.
benton.org/node/130383 | Los Angeles Times
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APPLE’S PHANTOM TAXES
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Peter Svensson]
Apple is set to report financial results for the second quarter. Analysts are expecting net income of $9.8 billion. But whatever figure Apple reports won't reflect its true profit, because the company hides some of it with an unusual tax maneuver. Apple, already the world's most valuable company, understates its profits compared with other multinationals. It's building up an overlooked asset in the form of billions of dollars, tucked away for tax bills it may never pay. Tax experts say the company could easily eliminate these phantom tax obligations. That would boost Apple's profits for the past three years by as much $10.5 billion, according to calculations by The Associated Press. While investors might rejoice if Apple suddenly added $10.5 billion to its profits, unilaterally erasing a massive U.S. tax obligation could tarnish its reputation as a relatively responsible payer of U.S. taxes. Instead, the company is lobbying to change U.S. law so that it can erase its liabilities in a less conspicuous fashion. The issue has become part of the presidential campaign.
benton.org/node/130377 | Associated Press
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WHY MURDOCH SURRENDERED
[SOURCE: The Daily Beast, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
[Commentary] In giving up his director’s seat in several key units of his British and American companies, Rupert Murdoch is sending an unmistakable signal of disengagement -- and perhaps foreshadowing a sale of his beloved newspapers. The coming separation could starve the less lucrative newspaper properties—and make it easier to unload them, as some company executives would like to do. The only thing stopping them, in truth, has been the fierce sentimental attachment of the boss, who began his career as an Australian newspaper owner. But then came the phone-hacking scandal, and the mighty media conglomerate is still reeling from the impact. Rupert Murdoch does not relinquish positions of power on both sides of the Atlantic as some sort of bureaucratic housecleaning. The resignations may be an attempt to appease his critics, protect his base, or lay the groundwork for an exit strategy. The only certainty here is that Murdoch does not do such things randomly.
benton.org/node/130307 | Daily Beast, The
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TH END OF CONVERGENCE
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Robert Andrews]
When News Corp bid to take over BSkyB, it heralded a tantalizing vision – a future media organization pooling print and broadcast assets, news publishing and entertainment for the online future. With both newsprint and TV stressed and diminished by ongoing digital disruption, combining News International (The Times, Sunday Times, Sun and News Of The World) with BSkyB (Sky News, other channels and the pay-TV access business with over 10 million subscribers) seemed an excellent avenue to shore things up, unleashing a modern powerhouse. The pair had already enjoyed partnerships, like Times Online running Sky News video and News International papers featuring Sky Sports ads. Further integration was just the ticket for the internet age. At least, that’s what some observers thought would happen. But now it may never come to pass.
benton.org/node/130306 | paidContent.org
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APPLE VS SAMSUNG
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ashby Jones, Jessica Vascellaro]
Samsung Electronics recently leapfrogged Apple as the world's largest seller of smartphones. But whether Samsung got to the top legally or, as Apple claims, cheated its way there by ripping off the designs behind Apple's iPhone and iPad, is a question that jurors will decide in the kind of roll-the-dice trial that even the fiercest rivals typically try to avoid. Barring a last-minute settlement, the trial is slated to start on June 30 inside a concrete federal courthouse in San Jose (CA). The case will test some of the central claims of design theft and patent infringement made in courts around the world by Apple and makers of smartphones and tablets powered by Android, the mobile software platform owned by Google.
benton.org/node/130405 | Wall Street Journal
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JUDGE POSNER’S WORLDVIEW
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Joe Palazzolo, Ashby Jones]
While technology companies continue to fight over smartphone patents, one judge has fought his way into the ring. He is 73-year-old Richard Posner, among the most potent forces on the federal bench and an outspoken critic of the patent system. Presiding over a lawsuit between Apple and Google's Motorola Mobility in June, he dropped a bombshell, scrapping the entire case and preventing the companies from refiling their claims. The ruling startled the litigants in the case and fueled a national discussion about whether the patent system is broken. Now, Judge Posner's sharply worded views are getting a fresh test. Judge Lucy H. Koh, who is overseeing Apple's suit against Samsung went the other direction in a recent ruling. She granted Apple a preliminary injunction that stopped U.S. sales of some Samsung products. Her trial will be closely watched to see if Judge Posner's skeptical view of patent suits further takes hold.
benton.org/node/130404 | Wall Street Journal
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

WHO INVENTED THE INTERNET?
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Michael Hiltzik]
Gordon Crovitz of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page reopens the ancient debate over who invented the Internet with a column Monday calling out the notion that it was the government as an "urban legend." And while I'm gratified in a sense that he cites my book about Xerox PARC, "Dealers of Lightning," to support his case, it's my duty to point out that he's wrong. My book bolsters, not contradicts, the argument that the Internet had its roots in the ARPANet, a government project. It's true that the Internet took off after it was privatized in 1995. But to be privatized, first you have to be government-owned. It's another testament to people often demeaned as "government bureaucrats" that they saw that the moment had come to set their child free.
benton.org/node/130356 | Los Angeles Times
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WSJ MANGLES HISTORY
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
[Commentary] The Wall Street Journal has earned a reputation for producing in-depth and meticulously fact-checked news coverage. Unfortunately, it doesn't always apply that same high standard of quality to their editorial page. Case in point: "It's an urban legend that the government launched the Internet," writes L. Gordon Crovitz in July 23's Wall Street Journal, launching into just one of a myriad of problems with his short opinion piece. While he concedes that the military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program funded the creation of the ARPAnet, the first large-scale packet-switched network, he argues that the government doesn't deserve credit for the creation of the Internet. Indeed, not only is Crovitz confused about the origins of the Internet, he also seems not to understand the conventions of the World Wide Web. He quotes George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen as saying that "The Internet, in fact, reaffirms the basic free market critique of large government." But that quote wasn't written by Cowen. It was quoted by Cowen in a 2005 blog post.
benton.org/node/130353 | Ars Technica
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NET THREATENED BY POLITICS
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA)]
[Commentary] In Silicon Valley, the innovation capital of our country, new ideas are born every day, and the platform driving much of this new innovation is a free and open Internet. Since 1995, venture capital funds have invested approximately a quarter of a trillion dollars in industries reliant on an open Internet, including $91.8 billion on software. Facebook, Twitter and thousands of other new applications and online services have flourished around the world, thanks to the Internet's global structure. As consumers have transitioned from dial-up modems, to high-speed broadband, the ability to communicate across borders through high-definition video conferencing, social networking and cloud computing has become a seamless process. These are the signs of a thriving, open Internet. But come December, approximately 193 nations will convene in Dubai at the World Conference of International Telecommunications (WCIT, pronounced "wicket") to consider an effort to take the one element that has made the Internet the success story that it is and turn it upside down. It is absolutely essential that the United States defend the current model of Internet governance at the upcoming Dubai conference. The very fabric of the free and open Internet is at stake.
benton.org/node/130352 | San Francisco Chronicle
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WHO SHOULD CENSOR THE INTERNET?
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] The Internet Defense League (IDL) had its formal coming-out parties the other night. To be sure, the individual members and supporters who would respond to the "Catsignal," like Public Knowledge, would be around anyway. And some members agree on some issues but disagree on others. But the idea of a Defense League creates a little bit of buzz, which is a good thing when the odds against it and its members are so daunting in the face of some impressive arch-enemies. What's a Defense League without those who would take over the world? The Justice League of America (JLA) is constantly on guard against such threats. The Internet Defense League should be as well. Unfortunately, the IDL's tasks aren't as clear cut as the JLA. Defending the Internet is a complex endeavor depending on, say, whether it's U.S. citizens whose rights are at stake or those who live in other countries. The Defense League may have to play referee to decide the unfortunately critical question of which part of society is the IDL's chief nemesis? Who is the bigger threat as an Internet censor -- government or private industry? At the end of the day, the answer to the question of which part of society should censor the Internet is: neither government nor industry. We said it was a trick question. Both institutions can be equally dangerous to Internet users, but only one has the capacity to be a guarantor of rights if it so chooses. The IDL had better have some spare bulbs for the Catsignal. Looks like they will need plenty.
benton.org/node/130420 | Public Knowledge
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CAN THE WEB SURVIVE THE ITU?
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Pushed by various countries and interest groups, the International Telecommunications Union — an obscure United Nations agency that develops voluntary standards for international phone networks and communications satellites — is mulling whether to adopt new rules that could have a profound and detrimental effect on the Internet. Although the ITU's negotiations are secret, it's clear that some telecommunications companies are trying to persuade the agency to let them extract a larger share of the revenue generated online. And some governments are calling for regulations that would make it easier to identify and monitor their opponents. The ITU shouldn't serve any such agendas. In short, what's happening at the ITU seems less about assuring the functionality of the Internet than about redividing the spoils and limiting the Web's power to disrupt established regimes. There also seems to be some geopolitical score-settling, as countries in the developing world seek to reduce what they see as the United States' disproportionate influence over the Internet. Those forces, however, have different interests from the public, which has been well served by a free Internet whose technical issues have been left to nongovernmental groups to manage. The secretive ITU is the wrong place to address the complaints of governments and industries that see an open Internet as a threat, not an opportunity.
benton.org/node/130403 | Los Angeles Times
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TAXING INTERNET RETAILERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Patrick Byrne, Jonathan Johnson]
[Commentary] Since the Supreme Court's 1992 decision in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, states may not require retailers to collect sales taxes from online retailers unless those retailers have a physical presence in the taxing state. With their budgets increasingly strained, however, states are now asking Congress to allow them to do so. Overstock.com opposes current versions of such federal legislation because they create costly complexities for online retailers that point-of-sale, brick-and-mortar retailers don't face. Congress should not enact legislation that favors one business model over another. That said, Overstock.com supports a fair and equitable federal solution that would include at least the following components:
Simplification: (1) a single sales-tax rate in each state for any defined category of goods or services; (2) accountability to a single state tax audit authority; (3) a simple national standard for sourcing online sales; (4) nationally standardized definitions for taxable goods and services; and (5) a single tax filing in each state, not one for every one of 9,600 tax jurisdictions in the country.
State-provided/certified plug-and-play software: Online retailers that collect such taxes must not be subject to other taxes or state laws that do not currently apply to them.
Fair compensation: states should be willing to compensate online retailers for at least 5% of the costs they incur to solve the states' online sales tax collection shortfall.
Federal dispute resolution: Federal courts should interpret state compliance with any federal solution.
benton.org/node/130407 | Wall Street Journal
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INTERNET MUGGING
[SOURCE: US News and World Report, AUTHOR: David Brodwin]
[Commentary] In a legal brief regarding Federal Communications Commission regulations, Verizon Communications claimed the right to edit and restrict the Internet content it delivers through its broadband services. Verizon says it is like a newspaper in that it creates, aggregates, and curates content. It claims a free speech right to filter the content, restrict it, or block it altogether. Verizon rejects entirely the obligation to carry all websites on an equal basis. It says there is no more justification to require Verizon to carry all web traffic equally than to require the New York Times to cover all stories equally. The company claims to offer an "information service" rather than a "communications service." AT&T has geared up to block certain popular applications from their wireless data service (starting with Apple's FaceTime live video app). Presumably AT&T will unblock the apps for a fee (in addition to whatever bandwidth charges may apply), but the details have yet to be released. This assault on the Internet threatens consumers, entrepreneurs, and the U.S. economy as a whole.
[Brodwin is a cofounder and board member of American Sustainable Business Council.]
benton.org/node/130358 | US News and World Report
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GET BETTER BROADBAND
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Craig Settles]
[Commentary] America sits between a digital rock and a political hard place when it comes to broadband. If we're going to claw out of this mess, it will be local communities that save the day by cultivating local assets. The rock is the sad state of broadband: pathetic speeds relative to the needs of businesses and institutions, high prices for those speeds, crappy or no coverage in quite a few rural and low-income urban communities. It's ridiculous how often we trot out the line about how important broadband is to our economic revival while clearly ignoring what economic development professionals tell us. Communities can either sit on their assets and complain about how bad broadband is, or they can mine their local talent and potential investors to pursue alternative funding strategies to get the broadband they want. What are you going to do?
benton.org/node/130317 | Huffington Post, The
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TWIN CITIES BROADBAND CHALLENGE
[SOURCE: MinnPost, AUTHOR: Julie Kendrick]
The fastest, cheapest, and most reliable broadband service in the U.S., the kind that high-tech companies demand, is currently located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The reason -- says Christopher Mitchell, director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative -- is that the Tennessee town made a commitment to building a publicly owned fiber network back in the 1990s, and eventually became the first place in the country to offer everyone in the community access to the much-sought-after “gig,” the ultra-high-speed 1Gbps network connection. The institute recently released a report, Broadband at the Speed of Light, that details how Chattanooga and two other cities — Lafayette, La., and Bristol, Va. — were able to build their own citywide cable and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks. The cities are three examples from more than 150 communities nationwide which have battled taxpayer skepticism and opposition by telephone and cable companies to create municipally owned broadband networks. These networks, says Mitchell, are far superior to Twin Cities’ systems in price, speed, and reliability. They are also a positive step forward in closing what experts refer to as the “digital divide,” which, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), means that 65 percent of all Americans have broadband access at home, but, in households with less than $20,000 in annual income, only 40 percent do. Nationwide, half of all Hispanics and 41 percent of African-American homes lack broadband.
benton.org/node/130316 | MinnPost
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COMPLACENT TELCOS
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Bruce Upbin]
If you want cheap, fast Internet, move to Lafayette (NAF) or better yet, Paris. The New America Foundation released “The Cost Of Connectivity,” a global study comparing triple-play bundles (broadband, video, voice) in a few dozen cities worldwide. Not surprisingly, it underscores just how badly America lags the world in broadband speeds and prices. This inferiority is almost purely a function of the lack of true competition and pro-consumer regulation in the telecom industry. According to the National Broadband Plan of 2010, 78% of American households have a choice between two companies for broadband: the telephone company and the cable company. Another 13% have one choice. Parisians, in contrast (and France is not exactly a nation known for robust competition), enjoy a handful of offerings at high speeds and low-prices, led by the Free service launched by maverick billionaire Xavier Niel, whom Forbes profiled here earlier this year. No American city cracks the top 30 among the best triple-play bundle.
benton.org/node/130314 | Forbes
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CYBERSECURITY

SEN MCCAIN OBJECTS TO TIMING FOR CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Ramsey Cox]
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) asked if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was “oblivious” to the national security needs of the country. “Can’t we as a body for the sake of those men and women whose lives are on the line pass a defense authorization bill,” Sen McCain said on the floor. “Is the Senate Majority Leader oblivious?” Sen McCain urged Sen Reid to allow a vote on the defense authorization bill. Instead Sen Reid has indicated that the Senate would first vote on a cyber security bill — a decision Sen McCain called “bizarre.”
benton.org/node/130379 | Hill, The
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PRIVACY

DO NOT TRACK LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jasmin Melvin]
The White House wants a "Do Not Track" option put on websites to give consumers greater control of their personal information online but Internet companies and privacy groups are at odds on how tight the controls should be. The stalemate could lead to a legislative crackdown on Internet privacy if left unresolved. That has firms like Google Inc and Facebook Inc that rely heavily on collecting user data worried that any legislation could lead to cuts in online advertising that would eat into their profits. The U.S. administration has looked to an Internet standards setting body, already eyeing a "Do Not Track" mechanism and with an aggressive timeline in place, to corral everyone into a room and onto teleconferences to reach a deal. With over 10 months of talks under the group's belt, they are still talking but are arguably no closer to an agreement than when they started. The sides are so far apart that they don't even agree on what "Do Not Track" means.
benton.org/node/130376 | Reuters
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

MICROTARGETING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Tanzina Vega]
Political campaigns may be able to show specific ads to specific voters online but they may want to tread lightly. The results of a new study to be released by professors at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania show that 86 percent of respondents did not want political campaigns to tailor ads to their interests. The results of the study come at a time when national and local political campaigns are steadily increasing their use of technology that traditional marketers use to tailor advertising. For political campaigns, the process is called microtargeting. Information about voters — like the charitable donations they make, the type of credit card they use and the Congressional district they live in — is combined with voter registration records, and the result allows campaigns to send certain types of messages to voters.
benton.org/node/130419 | New York Times
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MANY ADS, FEW UNDECIDED
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Gerald Seib]
To understand the early intensity of this year's presidential campaign, it's necessary to first understand this: Never has so much money been spent to chase so few voters. The two candidates, their parties and their supporters are hauling in record amounts of money to buy ads this cycle. But they're using that money to chase what both sides agree is an unusually small number of genuinely undecided voters. "It's probably, on the low end, 6%, and on the high end, 10%," said one top campaign operative. That's lower than four years ago, and means more than 90% of voters already are locked in. The campaigns are aiming a lot of firepower at a small group of targets. Why? To start with, the country is very polarized in general. It's split nearly evenly between the two parties, so the number of people wavering in the middle is small.
benton.org/node/130408 | Wall Street Journal
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

NTP PATENT CASH
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
NTP Inc., a patent-holding company that won a $612.5 million settlement from RIM in 2006, has struck again with a settlement involving 13 of the biggest companies in the tech industry. NTP, noting that it holds eight US patents "relating to the delivery of electronic mail over wireless systems," said it reached a settlement with 13 companies representing just about everyone involved in building and selling smartphones or delivering e-mail to them. The 13 companies are AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Apple, HTC, Motorola Mobility, Palm, LG, Samsung, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. "The signed agreement provides broad coverage under NTP’s patent portfolio to all of the companies," NTP said. Consequently, "all pending litigation between NTP and these companies will be dismissed." With the exception of Nokia and RIM, who were already paying NTP, the settlement covered "pretty much the entire industry," said intellectual property attorney Ron Epstein, who was settlement counsel for NTP and used to run Intel's licensing group. But when asked if that means NTP is done filing lawsuits, Epstein told us there are a couple more companies in NTP's sights.
benton.org/node/130371 | Ars Technica
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COMCAST, TWC EXTEND VERIZON WIRELESS BUNDLE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
Verizon Wireless and Comcast will sell each other's services in parts of Arizona, Florida and New Mexico -- with their co-marketing programs now launched in 21 states -- while Time Warner Cable and the wireless carrier expanded into Maine and Nebraska. Comcast and Verizon Wireless are pushing their bundle promotions offering up to $300 in Visa gift cards and other incentives in cities in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Washington. Meanwhile, TWC and Verizon Wireless announced they are teaming up in Maine and Nebraska, to offer joint customers a Visa prepaid debit card valued up to $200. The companies have introduced the bundle promotions in Time Warner Cable markets in Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
benton.org/node/130368 | Multichannel News
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FTC ON CRAMMING
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
In response to a request by the Federal Communications Commission for comment, the Federal Trade Commission said that the “cramming” of unauthorized charges on wireless phone bills poses a serious problem for American consumers. The FTC said in its comment that wireless providers should be required to give customers the option to block all third-party charges from their bills. The FTC has extensive experience protecting consumers against the cramming of unauthorized charges on their landline telephone bills through aggressive law enforcement actions, and has advocated for reforms to eliminate landline cramming. With regard to wireless cramming, the comment notes, in the past few years the FTC and FCC have reviewed thousands of complaints about unauthorized third-party charges on wireless bills. The number of reported complaints undoubtedly understates the full extent of wireless cramming by a substantial amount. “Mobile cramming is likely to continue to grow as cramming schemes expand beyond the landline platform and mobile phones are more commonly used for payments,” the comment states. Many of the complaints involve recurring charges of just under $10 a month for “premium services” that provide trivia or horoscope information by text message to a consumer’s phone, the comment states. Consumers often report receiving a text message informing them of a subscription to a service of which they have never heard and that they never requested. The comment states that it would be premature to recommend a ban or default blocking of third-party billing as it did for landline phone bills in a separate comment to the FCC in October of last year. In contrast to landline third-party billing, which has been used almost exclusively by scam artists, the mobile billing platform has been used for some legitimate charitable activity; it also is a potential platform for consumers to fund mobile payments by placing those payments on their wireless bills, the comment states. However, it is unclear whether industry best practices have been consistently followed or are effective in stopping mobile cramming, the comment states. In light of the significant number of mobile cramming complaints received, the FTC believes that some basic consumer protections are needed in the mobile billing space.
benton.org/node/130326 | Federal Trade Commission | The Hill
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CONTENT

DOJ PUBLISHES E-BOOK COMMENTS
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Jeff John Roberts]
The Justice Department released a document that characterized criticism by Apple and publishers of a controversial price-fixing settlement as “self-serving” and ill-founded. The Department also pointed to recent ventures by Google and Microsoft as evidence that the e-book market is thriving and that Amazon’s dominant position has been overstated. The arguments came as a reply to the 868 public comments that were filed in response to a settlement announced in April under which three publishers agreed they would change their pricing policy in accordance with Justice Department demands. The primary upshot is that the Department is refusing to modify any parts of the settlement agreement despite about 800 comments in opposition to the deal and new political opposition. The Justice Department’s filing largely skates away from issues related to Amazon’s role in the e-book market. It states that public comments suggesting it sue Amazon for abuse of dominant market power or address issues of online sales tax issues are beyond the scope of the antitrust action. The filing does, however, repeatedly point to a recently announced $300 million partnership between Microsoft and Barnes & Noble and to Google’s plan to use its Nexus 7 tablet and Google Play store to compete with Amazon’s Kindle Fire.
benton.org/node/130359 | paidContent.org | C-Net
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LOBBYING

COALITION OPPOSES ONLINE SALES TAXES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Several trade associations launched a new coalition to battle efforts to pass online sales tax legislation. The True Simplification of Taxation (TruST) is made up of the Direct Marketing Association, the Electronic Retailing Association, NetChoice and the American Catalog Mailers Association. The group is a counterweight to the Alliance for Main Street Fairness Coalition, a coalition of traditional retailers urging Congress to empower states to tax online purchases. Jerry Cerasale, a vice president for the Direct Marketing Association, said an online tax would "throttle new businesses before they even get off the ground.”
benton.org/node/130380 | Hill, The
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:


GOOGLE FACES EU REGULATORS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Craig Timberg]
Europe may be a financial disaster and a faded military force, but in at least one arena it has emerged as champ: Regulators here are challenging the power of America’s technology titans. And they are winning. Google is most squarely in the crosshairs as its officials negotiate furiously in hopes of avoiding a $4 billion fine and a formal ruling that it has abused its dominance in the search market to hurt rivals across a range of industries. A deal could be days away. Facebook, Apple and Microsoft also have faced serious scrutiny from European regulators in the past year. And even if Google succeeds in settling the sprawling antitrust case here, it is facing investigations into its new privacy policy and its Android operating system for phones and tablets. Many of these issues, including the antitrust case against Google, also have been investigated by American regulators. But the laws here are stricter, the fines bigger and the courts more supportive of aggressive government action — to the point that many experts say the legal landscape of the technology industry is being shaped more profoundly here than in the United States.
benton.org/node/130297 | Washington Post
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY IN EU
[SOURCE: ZDNet|News.com, AUTHOR: David Meyer]
Network neutrality in the EU is back under the spotlight, with the European Commission launching a public consultation on the matter. Regulators recently published a report into the matter giving digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes the data she was "waiting for" about internet service providers' traffic management and discrimination policies. On July 23, the Commission invited the public to give its views and evidence about "transparency, switching and certain aspects of internet traffic management". The consultation, which closes on 15 October, will inform new policies designed to protect consumer choice. The Commission does not just want the views of the public. It has also solicited the opinions of fixed and mobile ISPs and content providers, as well as consumer associations, equipment manufacturers and transit providers.
benton.org/node/130295 | ZDNet|News.com
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SOUTH KOREA WIRELESS BROADBAND
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Charlie Osborne]
South Korea tops the charts for wireless broadband subscribers, according to figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The country is the first to pass 100 percent penetration for wireless broadband, according to data from the organization. Worldwide wireless broadband subscriptions in OECD countries have shown healthy growth of over 13 percent in the last six months, and now total 667 million, up from 590 million in June 2011. South Korea has 100.6 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, the OECD said. The agency's data -- based on the rate of high-speed Internet access versus population in South Korea -- doesn't mean that there are more Internet users than people, of course. Regular mobile phone high-speed wireless Internet subscription rates -- in Korea, accounting for 47.6 subscriptions to 100 inhabitants -- and data-only wireless Internet subscriptions (53.1) were analyzed for the study.
benton.org/node/130292 | C-Net|News.com
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RIDICULOUS 3G DISPUTE
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Joe Schneider]
Samsung Electronics and Apple’s patent dispute over wireless transmission technology is “ridiculous” and might be best settled in mediation, the judge overseeing the case in Australia said. Samsung sued Apple claiming the maker of iPhones is infringing three patents covering data transmission over the 3G wireless spectrum. The suit was in response to Apple’s claim that Samsung stole its design ideas for computer tablets and phones. A trial scheduled to run for three months began before Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett. Apple refused to pay a license fee for the technology that allows phones to conduct multiple tasks including taking calls while uploading photos to the Internet, Samsung’s lawyer Neil Young said at the start of the trial. Apple was willing to pay and Samsung refused, Apple’s lawyer Stephen Burley said. “Why on earth are these proceedings going ahead?” Justice Bennett asked the lawyers in court. “It’s just ridiculous.” A similar dispute between any other two companies would be immediately ordered to mediation, she said.
benton.org/node/130291 | Bloomberg
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UK 4G AUCTION RULES
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Daniel Thomas]
The UK is finally set to see an auction for the rights to the next generation 4G mobile broadband after years of delays, although revised rules for the process could still be hit by costly legal objections from the major network operators. Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog, has drawn up guidelines for an auction now scheduled by the end of 2012, with plans to ensure that 3, the smallest British mobile network operator, will be protected in buying part of the necessary airwaves. The auction means that superfast 4G mobile services could be available before the end of 2013. Ofcom said it would be the largest ever auction of spectrum for mobile services in the UK, offering the equivalent of three-quarters of the mobile spectrum in use today. This is about four-fifths more than released in the 3G auction in 2000 and should mean mobile broadband coverage for 98 per cent of people across the UK. Ofcom has been forced to consult on the rules twice to ensure the fewest objections.
benton.org/node/130396 | Financial Times
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