Oct 15, 2008 (
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 15, 2008
Follow updates on the economy at http://www.benton.org/taxonomy/term/1427
THE ECONOMY
Democrats Consider Investment in Broadband Infrastructure
IT spending hit won't rival dot-com bust, Gartner says
Verizon CEO optimistic despite economic crisis
Cable's bills come due as cash flow dries up
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Tone, Tactics and Economy Drive Campaign Coverage
McCain Camp To YouTube: Vet Political Clips For Fair Use
McCain won't freeze science funding, adviser says
Obama ads placed in video games
If McCain wins ... call up Comcast
FCC NEWS
FCC Drops Open Meeting Agenda
FCC Plan Could Raise Residential Phone Fees
Broadband Must Be Top Priority in USF Reform
FCC's McDowell: Digital TV switch will be "messy"
Government Wants Time To Decide On Super Bowl Reveal Appeal
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Why We Need A Rural Fiber Fund
Expect fewer e-mails for 'male-enhancement' pills
New Web Law May Be 'Worthless,' Watchdog Warns
QUICKLY -- AT&T Promises Not To Spy on You ... Sort of; Ten Years After Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Electronics Companies Regret Supporting Law
THE ECONOMY
DEMOCRATS CONSIDER INVESTMENT IN BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Zachary Coile]
Democrats in Congress, seeking to keep the current financial crisis from spiraling into a prolonged economic downturn, vowed Monday to push for a new stimulus package that could pump as much as $150 billion into the anemic US economy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress will hold hearings over the next month to determine the exact price tag of the plan, but it's likely to include money for infrastructure projects, aid to cash-strapped states, an extension of unemployment benefits and perhaps another round of tax rebates or tax cuts to boost consumer spending. Lawmakers said the infrastructure spending could focus on building new roads, bridges and schools, as well as expanding the nation's energy grid and access to broadband.
http://benton.org/node/17836
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IT SPENDING HIT WON'T RIVAL DOT-COM BUST, GARTNER SAYS
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Denise Dubie]
Current economic uncertainty will impact IT budgets in 2009, according to Gartner, but the industry won't experience the extreme cuts it suffered in 2001 as a result of the dot-com bust. The research firm is reducing its original forecast of 5.8 percent global IT spending growth down to 2.3 percent for 2009. In the United States, the research firm expects existing 2008 budget plans to not change significantly and forecasted spending in 2009 to remain flat. Due in part to the "dramatic reductions" made in response to the dot-com bust, Sondergaard said the IT industry is better prepared to respond to today's economic woes. According to Gartner, IT budgets were "slashed from mid-double-digit growth to low single-digit growth" during and after the 2001 recession. Also IT has been able to shift its position from a back-office cost center, Gartner suggested, to an active partner in the business. For instance, IT is now "embedded in running all aspects of the business" and often employs "multi-year IT programs aligned with the business," which are more difficult to cut in the short term. Gartner also pointed out that IT spending decreases "lag the economy by at least two quarters."
http://benton.org/node/17826
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VERIZON CEO OPTIMISTIC DESPITE ECONOMIC CRISIS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg is confident that his company and much of the communications industry will make it out of the current economic crisis unscathed. On Tuesday he brushed aside concerns that the credit crisis and an impending recession will have a big effect on Verizon's bottom line. So far, the company hasn't seen a significant drop in subscriptions or revenue, he said. Seidenberg's confidence is bold considering that most technology companies, even his own, have taken a beating in the stock market over the past few weeks as banks hoard cash and refuse lending to each other. But he said that the credit issues happening today will have little effect on his company or the communications industry in general. As for the broader economy, which also looks to be heading toward a recession, he is also optimistic.
http://benton.org/node/17833
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CABLE'S BILLS COME DUE AS CASH FLOW DRIES UP
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Georg Szalai]
Until the start of the fourth quarter, big cable stocks where among the few bright spots in the entertainment sector this year. After all, cable has long been seen as a sector shielded from the worst economic woes. People always want their MTV, CNN or ESPN, right? Think again. The recent bloodbath on Wall Street has destroyed cable's success story, pushing shares of Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision Systems into negative territory for the year-to-date. And a growing chorus of observers warns that the weak economy will limit their financial growth over the near term. High debt levels at some cable players, including Cablevision and Charter Communications, also have made investors more cautious amid the current credit crunch.
http://benton.org/node/17839
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
TONE, TACTICS AND ECONOMY DRIVE CAMPAIGN COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
According to the Oct. 6-12 Campaign Coverage Index from the Pew Research Center's Project For Excellence in Journalism, the media narrative of the campaign focused on tone and tactics last week, perhaps as the press searched for something that might alter the strategic dynamic of the race. For the first time in a month, the 2008 campaign generated more coverage than the financial crisis (41% vs. 36%). And almost one-third of that election coverage was connected to the increasingly harsh tone of the campaign. The biggest component of that storyline -- attacks often focused on the candidates' character and associations -- accounted for 27% of the week's campaign newshole. Most of them emanated from McCain and they included efforts to link Obama to 60's radical Bill Ayers. As the week went on, the anger boiling up at Republican rallies also became part of the story. For his part, Obama reprised the Keating Five savings and loan-related scandal that ensnared the Arizona Senator two decades ago.
http://benton.org/node/17843
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MCCAIN CAMP TO YOUTUBE: VET POLITICAL CLIPS FOR FAIR USE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sen John McCain's campaign has asked YouTube to provide a fair use analysis of video clips posted from accounts controlled by political campaigns before deciding whether to take them down, saying it takes too long to get them up in a political season when time is a crucial commodity. McCain campaign general counsel Trevor Potter, in a letter to YouTube owner Google, said that "overreaching copyright claims [he was not specific] had resulted in the removal of non-infringing videos from YouTube, "thus silencing political speech." Potter said that nothing in the law requires YouTube to take down the videos automatically and regardless of legal merit. He points out that the current system of taking 10-14 days to repost the videos after they have been taken down and found not to infringe is "inadequate protection for political speech," pointing out that 10 days can be a "lifetime" in terms of political speech. Commenting on the letter, fair use advocate Public Knowledge, did not back the McCain campaign in its public reaction to the request, instead using the opportunity to criticize Congress and the Administration. "The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was originally designed by, and for, the big media companies," said Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn. "The concepts of fair use then, as now, are largely ignored or shuffled off to the side when any Congressional discussion of copyright law takes place. The DMCA passed in 1998 without a hint of opposition in the House and in the Senate. YouTube was abiding by the rules that Congress set up when it took down the videos about which the McCain/Palin campaign complained."
http://benton.org/node/17830
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MCCAIN WON'T FREEZE SCIENCE FUNDING, ADVISOR SAYS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Young]
"I recommend a spending freeze that -- except for defense, Veterans Affairs, and some other vital programs, we'll just have to have [an] across-the-board freeze," Sen John McCain (R-AZ) said during his second presidential debate against Sen Barack Obama (D-IL)) on Oct. 7. But Ike Brannon, a senior policy adviser to the McCain campaign, says that Sen McCain would exempt funding for scientific research from the across-the-board spending freeze he's promised. "You'll definitely see, under John McCain, more spending on research," Brannon said. Sen McCain will pay for the increases in science funding by cutting other programs, Brannon explained.
http://benton.org/node/17825
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OBAMA ADS PLACED IN VIDEO GAMES
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Nine video games from Electronic Arts, ranging from the extremely popular "Madden 09" football game to the street racing "Burnout: Paradise," feature in-game ads from the Obama campaign. The ads -- they appear on billboards and other signage -- remind players that early voting has begun and plug a campaign Web site. The idea of embedding advertising temporarily inside a video game is relatively new, having only begun about 18 months ago, and Obama is the first presidential candidate to buy space, company officials said.
http://benton.org/node/17838
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IF MCCAIN WINS ... CALL UP COMCAST
[SOURCE: TheStockAdvisors.com, AUTHOR:]
[Commentary] For his entire career, John McCain has been a friend of big communications companies," says Roger Conrad. "John McCain has been an opponent of attempts to regulate how communications companies do business. As resident, companies will enjoy less regulation over how they manage their networks."
http://benton.org/node/17827
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FCC NEWS
FCC DROPS OPEN MEETING AGENDA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Federal Communications Commission will NOT consider any of the items announced last week at its open meeting Oct 15. Instead, the FCC will hold a meeting as part of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Pediatric Obesity Conference. The Commissioners will listen to witnesses discussing a host of issues surrounding childhood obesity including the impact and role media serve in the area of children's health, the causes of pediatric obesity, and ways to increase awareness of and promote healthy lifestyles among children and teens. The commission had been scheduled to vote on seven items, including granting must-carry status to Class A low-power stations. But the Class A item was pulled late Tuesday, as was another item on public safety communications. The other five items already have been approved on circulation (a vote not at the public meeting) by the five commissioners.
http://benton.org/node/17837
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FCC PLAN COULD RAISE RESIDENTIAL PHONE FEES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Fawn Johnson]
The Federal Communications Commission is proposing changes to the rules governing telephone company fees that could raise rates for residential phone lines and potentially create a windfall for established phone giants. Details of the plan are still subject to negotiation, but the outline of the proposal calls for allowing phone companies to raise by $1.50 to $2 the monthly fee charged customers for individual phone lines. Under the current payment system, some carriers charge a fraction of a penny per minute for calls to their customers, and others charge hundreds of times that much for the same service. The current system effectively subsidizes rates for rural phone customers. To woo broadband advocates and Democrats on the FCC, Chairman Kevin Martin's plan will propose asking phone companies to build high-speed Internet connections within five years. Consumers Union Senior Counsel Christopher Murray said the benefits of Internet in rural areas may not be enough to compensate for higher phone charges. State regulators and rural phone companies that stand to lose power and money from the changes are readying legal arguments against the proposal. They also are appealing to Capitol Hill, telling representatives that they stand to lose $2 billion annually if the rates in their areas are cut.
http://benton.org/node/17842
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BROADBAND MUST BE TOP PRIORITY IN USF REFORM
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: ]
Free Press is urging the Federal Communications Commission to make universal, affordable broadband a priority in any plans to reform the Universal Service Fund. The fund currently subsidizes telephone networks in underserved rural areas -- but in the face of rapid technological change, this phone-based system has become increasingly outdated. The first set of reforms is expected to include changes to "intercarrier compensation" -- the rates that phone companies charge one another to place calls on their networks. These changes will likely result in increased rates for rural customers. Free Press is calling on the FCC to ensure that any reforms include transitioning support to long-term broadband infrastructure development. Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, said, "The current systems of intercarrier compensation and universal service subsidies are inefficient and tied to yesterday's technology. Reform is inevitable, but it must be done properly. We need bold FCC action to cut through the self-interested rhetoric of industry proposals from both sides to find the right solution for consumers. Consumers are not responsible for the creation of this mess, and they deserve to be treated fairly in its resolution. The FCC must ensure that consumers will ultimately see the long-term benefits of universal, affordable broadband. Creating fair, reasonable and rational standards for these programs will help the industry move into new technologies and deliver American consumers the infrastructure they need for economic growth and social opportunity."
http://benton.org/node/17834
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FCC'S MCDOWELL: DIGITAL TV SWITCH WILL BE "MESSY"
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Kim Dixon]
In a naked attempt to be named King of the Understatement, Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell said, "The transition [to digital TV] will be messy ... but we will get through it." He urged broadcasters to step up local efforts to educate the public, saying broadcasters have the most to lose if viewers' screens fade to black when analog signals are turned off. Despite a wide-ranging education campaign by the government and broadcasters, consumers are likely to face glitches, Commissioner McDowell said.He surprised reporters Tuesday with the news that the five commissioners had met last week to discuss their lessons learned from the Wilmington early DTV switch and their respective visits to markets with high analog TV viewership. It was the first such collective meeting of the five commissioners outside the monthly public meetings in McDowell's tenure, he said. Sunshine rules prevent three or more commissioners from meeting outside of public forums to discuss matters before the commission, but apparently they can get together to talk about process, and Commissioner McDowell said there was a staffer from the general counsel's office to monitor the get-together.
http://benton.org/node/17832
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GOVERNMENT WANTS TIME TO DECIDE ON SUPER BOWL REVEAL APPEAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Government lawyers say they need more time to decide whether to seek Supreme Court review of the indecency fine against CBS stations over the fleeting nudity in the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake Super Bowl half-time show. The deadline was Oct 19 for filing a cert petition with the Supreme Court -- essentially a request to hear an appeal of a lower court decision. The Solicitor General said it would need until Nov 18. In the request for the extension, which are routinely granted, Solicitor General Gregory Garre said he needed the time for "consultation with the FCC and to assess the legal and practical impact of the...ruling," then more time after that if it decides to seek cert. But that extension would also allow the government to first gauge the court's reaction to its arguments Nov. 4 in the government's appeal of the Fox profanity decision. In that case, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found the FCC's decision to find fleeting profanities indecent was also arbitrary and capricious as well.
http://benton.org/node/17831
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
WHY WE NEED A RURAL FIBER FUND
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] When talking about a Full Fiber Nation one counterpoint often made is how expensive rural areas are to wire and therefore how unattractive they are to private deployers. Yet a few weeks ago at the FTTH Conference I met three different fiber operators who all expressed a desire to wire rural America, either to fulfill their sense of civic duty or because they're able to realize high enough takerates to overcome the limited number of customers to make their business model work. Unfortunately, they all cited the same roadblock to their ambitions to wire rural America: the lack of capital available to do so. Now, many of you may be wondering, "But what about the USDA's RUS loan program? Wasn't that designed specifically to help get broadband to rural areas?" On the surface the answer is yes, but once you get into the details you quickly realize when it comes to wiring rural America with fiber, we need a new solution.
http://benton.org/node/17835
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EXPECT FEWER E-MAILS FOR 'MALE-ENHANCEMENT' PILLS
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Jon Swartz]
The world's largest spam e-mail operator has been silenced. Federal authorities say they've shut down HerbalKing, a global spam gang responsible for billions of spam messages promoting prescription drugs, "male-enhancement" pills and diet pills. On Tuesday, a federal court in Chicago, acting on a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission, ordered a halt to its operations, pending trial. A federal judge said HerbalKing engaged in spamming and deceptive marketing. Some anti-spam organizations, such as The Spamhaus Project, estimate up to one-third of the world's spam e-mail came from the group during its heyday this year and last.
http://benton.org/node/17840
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NEW WEB LAW MAY BE 'WORTHLESS,' WATCHDOG WARNS
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Legislation signed by President Bush on Monday that requires sex offenders to provide Internet identifiers to state sex offender registries and tasks the Justice Department with creating a system that lets social networking sites compare their users' identifiers with those provided to a national sex offender registry may not achieve its intended aim of protecting children, according one high-tech policy expert who tracked the bill. That official, Center for Democracy and Technology general counsel John Morris, said Tuesday that the statute may prove "almost entirely worthless" and warned that it may also carry with it serious unintended consequences. Morris believes the new law will not be effective because sex offenders who want to subvert or circumvent their conditions of probation, release or supervision -- which already typically stipulate that they cannot interact with minors -- will forge ahead regardless of the registry requirement. "If they're already intending to violate provisions that apply to them, why wouldn't they also register a real e-mail and then go create another account," he said in an interview. "It is so trivial to create a new identifier, create a new e-mail address, or social network page. Anyone who is going to pose a risk to minors that this system trying to screen against can easily circumvent it."
http://benton.org/node/17829
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QUICKLY -- AT&T Promises Not To Spy on You ... Sort of; Ten Years After Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Electronics Companies Regret Supporting Law
AT&T PROMISES NOT TO SPY ON YOU ... SORT OF
[SOURCE: savetheinternet.com, AUTHOR: Tim Karr]
[Commentary] "Deep packet inspection" (DPI), which allows network managers to inspect, track and target user Internet content as our information passes along the Internet, forms the cornerstone of plans to police the Internet and profit from Web content. Using DPI companies like AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner would be able to decide whether a packet can pass or be routed to a different lane on the Superhighway. It lets them pry open user's trunks, erect new tolls and sell off or bar privileged access based on what they find inside.
http://benton.org/node/17828
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TEN YEARS AFTER DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT, ELECTRONICS COMPANIES REGRET SUPPORTING LAW
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
Consumer electronics manufacturers and owners of intellectual property offered divergent views of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 10 years after its passage. Mitch Glazier, senior vice president for government relations for the Recording Industry Association of America, called the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions "very successful." But Michael Petricone, senior vice president for government affairs at the Consumer Electronics Association, offered a "mea culpa" for the DMCA on behalf of the electronics industry. "We took them at their word," Petricone said of those who said the anti-circumvention provisions would be used only to tackle legitimate piracy.
http://benton.org/node/17841
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