August 23, 2012 (Special Access Rules; FaceTime and AT&T)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012

OWNERSHIP
   FTC Closes Its Investigation Into Facebook's Proposed Acquisition of Instagram Photo Sharing Program - press release
   Fox's U.S. TV station licenses challenged
   Judge to stay Tribune plan pending $1.5 billion creditors bond [links to web]
   In Google’s Inner Circle, a Falling Number of Women [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   FCC Suspends Special Access Rules, Will Collect Data To Modernize Them - public notice
   Google Fiber pre-registrations crack 30% penetration in 6 Kansas City neighborhoods
   ICANN's Boondoggle - op-ed
   'Cybersecurity': how do you protect something you can't define? - analysis
   Misdeal on Internet poker gambling - editorial
   Industry Groups Highly Critical of FCC Broadband Report [links to web]
   USDA Announces Rural Economic Development Funding - press release [links to web]
   Anoka County's fiber network nears finish line [links to web]

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
   Enabling FaceTime Over AT&T’s Mobile Broadband Network - press release
   Bait and switch: What’s behind AT&T’s stance on FaceTime? - analysis
   AT&T's Attempt to Justify Blocking FaceTime Falls Short - press release
   Sources: Votes Are In, and Its 5-0 for Verizon/SpectrumCo
   Consumer group asks FCC to require more 4G disclosure
   T-Mobile, MetroPCS to launch unlimited 4G data plans [links to web]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   House Dems urge DNC to state Internet freedom position in party platform
   Twitter rewrites the script for political #conventions [links to web]
   Facebook launches social voting app [links to web]
   Super PAC App for iPhone and iPad filters out the noise in political ads [links to web]
   How Obama, Romney (and Friends) Are Using Social Media [links to web]
   How Mitt Romney Does Digital
   9 Concrete, Specific Things We Actually Know About How Social Media Shape Elections - analysis [links to web]
   Adblade Tests Political Ad Targeting Online Before Airing On TV [links to web]

CONTENT
   Despite #NBCFail, NBC and Twitter Say Partnership Was Success [links to web]
   Facebook goes the Google way, introduces search result ads [links to web]
   Pandora speaks out against Nadler's music royalties draft bill [links to web]
   The intelligent textbook that helps students learn [links to web]
   A Twitter Tweak, or a Revolution in Online Discourse? [links to web]
   Social Media Users' Age, Gender Impact Site Choices [links to web]
   YouTube Will Now Let Mobile Users Choose Whether to Watch Ads [links to web]
   Declaring playlist bankruptcy – lost in a land of infinite choice [links to web]

PRIVACY
   Process Dominates at NTIA App Privacy Meeting
   Reps Markey, Barton Concerned About Marketing Tactics Cited in FTC Complaints [links to web]
   How mobile payments providers can face privacy hurdles [links to web]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Giving In to the Surveillance State - op-ed
   California state legislature approves Location Privacy Act [links to web]

   Would you give the government remote control over your router?
   White House to Agencies: Cut Wasteful IT Spending, Then Reinvest in Smarter tech [links to web]
   Want the Federal Budget on your iPad? There’s an App for That. [links to web]
   Federal Agencies are gearing Up for a Massive Data Dump [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   How Free Mobile is already driving data prices down in France
   Infrastructure problems disrupt Internet to Syria [links to web]
   Train derailment cuts internet to Guantánamo, delays 9/11 hearing [links to web]
   Fans Worry After Pakistan Twitter Star Goes Off Line [links to web]
   Meet China's 'Legendary Female Cyber Cop' [links to web]
   Donkeys become Wi-Fi hot spots in historic Israeli park [links to web]

MORE ONLINE
   Hispanic Public Policy Agenda Includes Affordable Broadband - press release [links to web]
   Federal Courts Order Seizure of Three Website Domains Involved in Distributing Pirated Android Cell Phone Apps - press release [links to web]
   Fox, Ad Council Target Texting While Driving [links to web]
   FTC Updates Telemarketer Fees for the Do Not Call Registry - press release [links to web]

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OWNERSHIP

FACEBOOK-INSTAGRAM
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Trade Commission has closed its nonpublic investigation of Facebook's proposed acquisition of Instagram, Inc., without taking any action. Accordingly, the deal may now proceed as proposed. The Commission vote to close the investigation was 5-0. In letters to Facebook and Instagram, the FTC wrote, “Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no further action is warranted by
the Commission at this time.”
benton.org/node/132817 | Federal Trade Commission | Letter to Facebook | letter to Instagram | WSJ | WashPost | The Hill | FT | Reuters | NYT
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CREW CHALLENGES FOX TV LICENSES
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Joe Flint]
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has asked the Federal Communications Commission to strip News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting of licenses it has to operate television stations. Citing the phone-hacking scandal that has engulfed News Corp.-owned newspapers in Britain, CREW filed a petition to deny Fox's applications to renew licenses for three of its TV stations -- WTTG-TV and WDCA-TV in Washington (DC) and WUTB-TV Baltimore (MD). “It is well-established that News Corp. has been involved in one of the biggest media scandals of all time," said CREW executive director Melanie Sloan. "Its reporters hacked voice mails and bribed public officials while top executives -- including [News Corp. CEO] Rupert Murdoch -- either approved the conduct or turned a blind eye.” Noting that being of good character is a requirement for holding a broadcast license, CREW's Sloan said, "If the Murdochs don’t meet British standards of character, they can’t meet American standards. The Atlantic Ocean has no character-cleansing properties.”
benton.org/node/132784 | Los Angeles Times | The Hill | AdWeek | TVNewsCheck | National Journal
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

FCC SUSPENDS SPECIAL ACCESS RULES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission released a Report and Order suspending on an interim basis rules allowing for automatic grants of pricing flexibility for special access services in light of significant evidence that these rules, adopted in 1999, are not working as predicted, and widespread agreement across industry sectors that these rules fail to accurately reflect competition in today’s special access markets. The Report and Order also aims to set forth a path to update the rules to better target regulatory relief to competitive areas, including extending relief to areas that are likely competitive but have been denied regulatory relief under our existing framework. The Report and Order was supported by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioners Clyburn and Rosenworcel. Commissioners McDowell and Pai voted against the Order.
benton.org/node/132815 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn | Commissioner Rosenworcel | Commissioner Pai | B&C
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GOOGLE FIBER PROGRESS
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Steve Donohue]
More than 30 percent of homes in six neighborhoods in Kansas City (KS) and Kansas City (MO) have already pre-registered for Google's new Google Fiber TV high-speed Internet and digital video product. 77 neighborhoods in the Kansas City area have generated the minimum number of pre-registrations for the $120 monthly service that Google has said that it will require to extend its fiber-to-the-home network. Google set pre-registration goals that require anywhere from 5 percent to 25 percent of homes in Kansas City neighborhoods to pre-register for the service before it will begin construction. More than 30 percent of the homes in four neighborhoods in Kansas City have already pre-registered for the service: Greenway Fields (39 percent); Wornall Homestead (37 percent); Countryside (32 percent); and Coleman Highlands (31 percent), according to Google. The neighborhoods in Kansas City, Kan., that have generated the most pre-registrations are Hanover Heights (32 percent) and Dubs Dread (30 percent), according to Google.
benton.org/node/132725 | Fierce
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ICANN’S BOONDOGGLE
[SOURCE: Technology Review, AUTHOR: Wade Roush]
[Commentary] Modern societies depend on systems of unique identifiers. If you're a U.S. citizen, for example, it's vital that your Social Security number be yours alone, or somebody else could start picking up your checks after you retire. Similarly, it's crucial that no two phones have the same number, no two neighborhoods have the same zip code, and no two products at the supermarket have the same bar code. When an address system expands—say, when the phone companies introduce a new area code—it's almost always because the community of users has outgrown the existing scheme; it means that the old identifiers either are in short supply or aren't specific enough. But that's not what's prompting a huge expansion of Internet domains right now. As you may have heard, the relatively manageable list of "generic top-level domains" (gTLDs) that we've all mastered over the last couple of decades, such as .com, .net, and .org, is set to expand dramatically starting next year. You could soon find Amazon at amazon.book and Google at google¬.search. And there may be hundreds more new top-level domains—the proposals now under review range from .aaa to .zulu. This expansion isn't happening because we're running out of unique Web addresses under the existing set of gTLDs. Far from it. It's happening because the body in charge of these things—the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN—thought it would be fun and profitable.
[Roush, Xconomy's chief correspondent and editor of Xconomy San Francisco, is a former senior editor at Technology Review]
benton.org/node/132723 | Technology Review
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FATE OF CYBERSECURITY BILLS
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Joshua Kopstein]
[Commentary] Watching this misinformation penetrate the highest levels of governments has highlighted the need for a pragmatic approach to information security. But even without bogus figures ricocheting around the political echo chamber, FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) remains the most effective tool in a security vendor's sales kit. In one sense, FUD gets its power from the fact that cyber threats like Stuxnet, the US-Israeli attack virus found damaging centrifuges in Iran's nuclear facility, make for such engaging stories. From website breaches to government-sponsored malware attacks to Mat Honan's cautionary tale about a digital life destroyed by hackers, it's clear that computer security has become a hugely compelling topic which taps into the deep fears of the countless corporations, governments, and individuals it threatens.
benton.org/node/132722 | Verge, The
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INTERNET POKER
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Many lawmakers in Washington and a few states are eager to approve Internet gambling. But to make it politically palatable, they are first pushing only for online poker. Why that card game and not, say, blackjack? Because, they claim, poker is mainly a game of skill. Instead, Congress needs to tighten up the 1970 law and reaffirm the 2006 ban rather than buckle under to the million-member-strong Poker Players Alliance. Why further feed the notion that “luck” determines one’s future and that random forces guide events? Government should be affirming the value of ideas and hard work, not a belief in the roll of the dice or the shuffle of a card deck.
benton.org/node/132803 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

ENABLING FACETIME OVER AT&T’S MOBILE BROADBAND NETWORK
[SOURCE: AT&T, AUTHOR: Bob Quinn]
AT&T’s plan to make FaceTime available over our mobile broadband network for our AT&T Mobile Share data plan customers does not violate Federal Communications Commission network neutrality rules. Here’s why.
Providers of mobile broadband Internet access service are subject to two net neutrality requirements: (1) a transparency requirement pursuant to which they must disclose accurate information regarding the network management practices, performance, and commercial terms of their broadband Internet access services; and (2) a no-blocking requirement under which they are prohibited, subject to reasonable network management, from blocking applications that compete with the provider’s voice or video telephony services. AT&T’s plans for FaceTime will not violate either requirement. Our policies regarding FaceTime will be fully transparent to all consumers, and no one has argued to the contrary. There is no transparency issue here. Nor is there a blocking issue.
benton.org/node/132747 | AT&T | | WSJ | The Hill | ars technica | GigaOm
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WHAT’S BEHIND AT&T’S STANCE?
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
[Commentary] I see two reasons the carrier has picked this fight. The first is to push more consumers over to the Mobile Shared Data plan, and the second is to establish a precedent that will put its Wi-Fi network on the same legal footing as its cellular one, especially when it comes to network neutrality. Success in the first effort will help AT&T in the near term as it drives people off their grandfathered unlimited plans and tiered plans, while success in the second will give AT&T more wiggle room as it fights the Federal Communications Commission and consumer advocates over network neutrality. If AT&T can set a precedent here that Wi-Fi is just as good as cellular when it comes to offering competing apps, then it could limit apps it doesn’t want on its more constrained cellular network to its Wi-Fi network. That allows it to strongly influence the apps that consumers use on the AT&T cellular network and drives consumer behavior in a more subtle way than huge early-termination fees. AT&T may also use this implication — that Wi-Fi is just as good as cellular — to argue that some of the more stringent rules of wireline network neutrality don’t apply on the AT&T Wi-Fi network.
benton.org/node/132763 | GigaOm
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AT&T’S DEFENSE FALLS SHORT
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: John Bergmayer]
The [Federal Communications Commission]'s Open Internet rules do not distinguish between pre-loaded and downloaded apps. They prevent carriers from blocking certain kinds of apps -- period. AT&T is blocking FaceTime for all of its iPhone customers who do not subscribe to its premium 'Mobile Shared' plans, and this runs afoul of the rules. FaceTime only works over cellular connections in iOS 6 and later. We don't know why Apple chose not to enable cellular FaceTime earlier. But now that every other US iPhone carrier besides AT&T will be offering cellular FaceTime on a nondiscriminatory basis, it is reasonable to assume that AT&T's demands were holding it back for everyone. No carrier should be able to dictate to Apple or any other handset manufacturer what features they may include on their phones. AT&T has no say over what features customers may use over Wi-Fi, unlicensed spectrum that is free for the public to use without the permission any carrier. Thus it is disingenuous of AT&T to point to the availability of FaceTime over Wi-Fi as some sort of benefit it provides its customers. That said, perhaps the best way to counter AT&T's anti-consumer behavior with regard to FaceTime is increase the availability of unlicensed spectrum, to further increase the ability of consumers to bypass gatekeepers like AT&T. Many people use apps like FaceTime, Skype, and ooVoo instead of making voice calls. In many respects these apps are more convenient than traditional calling. And by using these apps, consumers can save money on international calling charges, conference call services, and in other ways. There's no doubt that these apps are a competitive threat to AT&T's voice service. But as the FCC made clear in its Open Internet rules, mobile providers must compete with these new services fair and square, and not by engaging in discriminatory behavior.
benton.org/node/132746 | Public Knowledge
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VERIZON/SPECTRUMCO VOTE COMPLETED?
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
According to sources inside and outside the Federal Communications Commission, all five commissioners have now cast their votes on Verizon/SpectrumCo, and it will be 5-0 approving Verizon's purchase of spectrum from cable operators Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox and Bright House, with the two Republicans concurring in part. According to a source who had seen the voting record, FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn have joined the others in OKing the deal, though both were said to be working on statements, so the order may not be released until late August 22 or 23. While the vote was 5-0, the two Republicans concurred--stopping short of approving--a data roaming obligation in the order, as well the FCC's authority over the marketing agreements, according to sources. The FCC was said to be working on two big items, the spectrum deal and its inquiry into potential reregulation of the special access market, with the latter likely to come out soon as well.
benton.org/node/132783 | Broadcasting&Cable
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4G DISCLOSURE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Hayley Tsukayama]
Consumer advocate group Consumer Watchdog is asking the Federal Communications Commission to require carriers to list the speed of their 4G networks in advertisements and at the point of sale. In a petition to be filed August 23, the consumer group said that while carriers tout their “4G” networks, the definitions of what qualifies a network as fourth-generation are too unclear for consumers to make sense of the designation. “When it comes to advertising data speed, the cellphone marketplace is like the Wild West. We need the FCC to step up to its role of sheriff and set standards so people can comparison shop without being ripped off and then locked into a two-year contract,” said Harvey Rosenfield, founder of Consumer Watchdog. The petition asks the FCC to adopt rules that would require carriers to disclose the average data speeds for different regions in their advertisements and give national average data speeds. The proposal would also require the carriers to provide these speed figures at the point of sale when customers buy smartphones or other broadband devices.
benton.org/node/132808 | Washington Post
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

INTERNET FREEDOM AND PARTY PLATFORM
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
A group of House Democrats is calling for the Democratic Party to stake out a position on Internet freedom in its party platform. In a letter sent to Democratic National Committee Chairwoman (DNC) Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Executive Director Patrick Gaspard, the House lawmakers urged the DNC to state its commitment to Internet freedom principles in the party's platform for its upcoming convention in Charlotte. The letter was signed by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Jared Polis (D-CO), who also proposed draft language for the platform. "We strongly recommend ensuring the platform includes this or similar language: 'The Democratic Party stands for global Internet freedom, the free flow of information online, a free and open Internet, and protection from online censorship and privacy violations,'" the four lawmakers wrote.
benton.org/node/132804 | Hill, The
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HOW MITT ROMNEY DOES DIGITAL
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Adam Mazmanian]
Mitt Romney’s social-media guru does not quantify success in his candidate’s number of Facebook followers, but by their level of activity. Despite a recent Pew report that pegs President Barack Obama as winning the battle for digital audiences, Zac Moffatt, the head of the Romney campaign’s digital operation, says that the Republican candidate is ahead of President Obama in terms of building an engaged and dedicated online following. The raw numbers lean Obama’s way. He has more than 27 million "likes" on his Facebook page, for example, versus fewer than 5 million for Romney. But according to Moffatt, Romney’s followers are more likely to share information, post, and spread the word about their candidate. He cites June 28, the day of the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act as an example. On that day, he says, the Romney campaign saw activity in the form of comments or sharing from 27 percent of their list of followers, compared to 1.7 percent for Obama. “That’s how I’d define success for us,” Moffatt says. This is a tough sell. Obama’s campaign team is legendary for its online prowess and its data-driven digital outreach. The Obama campaign appears to have raised the bar yet again, with the release of a mobile app that integrates digital outreach with the door-to-door shoe-leather efforts of volunteers, providing canvassers with voter-registration lists, neighborhood maps, campaign talking points, and a fundraising interface.
benton.org/node/132739 | National Journal
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PRIVACY

NTIA PRIVACY MEETING
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Adam Mazmanian]
Representatives of consumer watchdog groups flipped the agenda at a government meeting designed to produce voluntary, consensus-based user privacy guidelines for mobile applications. The meeting, held in Commerce Department headquarters, was supposed to deal with potential substance of a privacy policy, but a small group of consumer advocates led by Susan Grant of the Consumer Federation of America threatened a walkout if the meeting didn't turn first to issues of process, including whether there would be detailed briefings from industry on what sorts of data are being collected by mobile applications and how they are used. These briefings, the groups said, are a necessary precursor to any discussion of the substance of a privacy policy, even one that is voluntary and consensus-driven. Officials tried to keep the meeting on track, but, after a vote, the meeting pivoted to deal with issues of process -- the timing of the meetings, the location, whether agendas would be circulated in advance, whether the stakeholders would break into working groups, and whether those working groups would circulate drafts of their findings. In the end, the group voted on a number of process issues to guide the next meeting, set for August 29. Among the decisions, the group agreed that it was important not to veer too far from the agenda at subsequent gatherings.
http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2012/08/process-dominates-at-ntia-app.php
Consumer Groups to Get Industry Briefings on Mobile Apps
benton.org/node/132786 | National Journal |
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

THE SURVEILLANCE STATE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Shane Harris]
[Commentary] The legacy of a Pentagon program called Total Information Awareness (that proposed to scan the world’s electronic information — including phone calls, e-mails and financial and travel records — looking for transactions associated with terrorist plots) is quietly thriving at the National Security Agency. It is more pervasive than most people think, and it operates with little accountability or restraint. The foundations of this surveillance apparatus were laid soon after 9/11, when President George W. Bush authorized the N.S.A. to monitor the communications records of Americans who analysts suspected had a “nexus to terrorism.” Acting on dubious legal authority, and without warrants, the N.S.A. began intercepting huge amounts of information. But the N.S.A. came up with more dead ends than viable leads and put a premium on collecting information rather than making sense of it. The N.S.A. created what one senior Bush administration official later described as a “mirror” of AT&T’s databases, which allowed ready access to the personal communications moving over much of the country’s telecom infrastructure. The N.S.A. fed its bounty into software that created a dizzying social-network diagram of interconnected points and lines. The agency’s software geeks called it “the BAG,” which stood for “big ass graph.” Today, this global surveillance system continues to grow.
benton.org/node/132814 | New York Times
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EMERGENCY SWITCH PROPOSED
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
A team of wireless researchers in Germany proposed a way to improve the communications abilities of first responders, the brave people who rush into disastrous situations to help save the victims. But the proposal hinges on something many private citizens and privacy or security advocates will likely find uncomfortable: creating an “emergency switch” that lets government employees disable the security mechanisms in the wireless routers people have set up in their own homes. This would allow first responders to use all the routers within range to enhance the capabilities of the mesh networks that allow them to communicate with each other. In a mesh network, each node or device can route traffic to the other devices on the network through a series of hops. Adding devices (in this case wireless routers) thus improves the network's stability and performance.
benton.org/node/132777 | Ars Technica | Inderscience | see press release
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

FREE MOBILE IN FRANCE
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Bobbie Johnson]
The January launch of Free.fr — a disruptive new French carrier — was expected to send shivers through the country’s mobile industry. The basic idea behind the company, masterminded by serial entrepreneur Xavier Niel, is that it can radically reduce mobile costs by offloading traffic over Wi-Fi where possible. It’s a simple, audacious concept that’s technically hard to execute — but so far it seems to have been pretty successful, with the business opening up a network of 4 million hotspots around big French cities in April and putting on a record 2.6 million subscribers in its first quarter of operations. And while rivals may suggest that it’s just a temporary blip as users change provider and then return, the reality is that they’re hurting. Those 2.6 million users have to come from somewhere, especially when you consider that subscriber numbers across Europe are flat or declining. More evidence of the impact that Free is having came on August 21 as Orange, France’s biggest network, announced that its own low-cost packages would be massively altered to bring them into line with Free’s offering.
benton.org/node/132737 | GigaOm
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