BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, JULY 18, 2011
This week's agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2011-07-17--P1W/
JOURNALISM
FBI Opens News Corp. Hacking Probe
Troubles That Money Can't Dispel - analysis
FCC's McDowell: FCC Should Look Into Wrongdoing by Any Company [links to web]
UK Leads on Twitter [links to web]
Non-Profit News
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Recap: Hearing on Spectrum and Public Safety Issues
Public Safety Broadband and Wireless Innovation Act - press release
How Congress’ spectrum bills hurt the tech community - analysis
What’s the Best Use of Broadcast Airwaves? [links to web]
Spectrum Auctions? There's an App for That
For Wireless Giants AT&T and Verizon, Reception May Get Spotty - analysis
Verizon LTE Phones Probably Incompatible With AT&T
LABOR
Wireless Jobs Vanish
California Union Learns AT&T Job Lesson The Hard Way - analysis
Rep Inslee worried AT&T deal could cost jobs [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
EU telecoms chief warn on broadband speeds
Berkeley Lab and Internet2 consortium launch world's fastest network [links to web]
Get Our Older Adults Online - op-ed [links to web]
Why Liberals Should Think Twice About Net Neutrality [links to web]
IPTV is a key component of rural Minnesota telco's broadband stimulus projects
West Virginia could have up to $40 million in unspent broadband stimulus funds [links to web]
Rural Telecom Associations Unveil New Campaign to Promote and Sustain Rural Broadband Access [links to web]
State Legislative Session Roundup: Broadband [links to web]
PRIVACY
House Subcommittees Launch Comprehensive Review of Internet Privacy
Can you regain control of your online identity? [links to web]
BUDGET
Telecom Firms: Don't Pay Down Deficit With USF
Commerce Appropriations Bill Moving in House [links to web]
TAXES
E-tailers vs. retailers on tax issue
Another battle over online tax? Sure, bring it on - editorial [links to web]
Amazon takes the low road - editorial [links to web]
Panel Moves Wireless Tax bill
CYBERSECURITY
DOD Announces First Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace - press release
US cyber approach ‘too predictable’ for one top general
OWNERSHIP
Google's Eric Schmidt says he met with FTC about antitrust probe [links to web]
Do No Evil? Google’s Deceptive Practices Harm Consumers - op-ed [links to web]
Internet bill could help hackers, experts warn [links to web]
TELEVISION
GAO: FCC Could Improve Efforts to Oversee Children's Television Act Enforcement and Provide Public Information - research [links to web]
What’s the Best Use of Broadcast Airwaves? [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Internet repression on the rise since Arab Spring [links to web]
What’s in Store for the Next Federal CIO? [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Illinois Attorney General wants to meet with Groupon [links to web]
American Telemedicine Association takes FCC to task for delays in rural telehealth programs [links to web]
JOURNALISM
FBI PROBE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Devlin Barrett, Amy Schatz]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened a probe into whether employees of News Corp. might have hacked or attempted to hack into the private calls and phone records of Sept. 11 victims and their families, according to people familiar with the matter. The investigation was opened July 14, following a request a day earlier by Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who heads the House Homeland Security Committee and whose Long Island district was home to many victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks. The investigation will probe allegations made in a British press report, notably whether employees of News Corp. illegally accessed the private calls, voice-mail messages, or call records of 9/11 victims or their families, these people say. It will also look into whether any News Corp. employees bribed or sought to bribe police officials to gain access to such records, they said.
benton.org/node/81745 | Wall Street Journal
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TROUBLES MONEY CAN'T DISPEL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
“Bury your mistakes,” Rupert Murdoch is fond of saying. But some mistakes don't stay buried, no matter how much money you throw at them. Time and again in the United States and elsewhere, Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation has used blunt force spending to skate past judgment, agreeing to payments to settle legal cases and, undoubtedly more important, silence its critics. That kind of strategy provides a useful window into the larger corporate culture at a company that is now engulfed by a wildfire burning out of control in London, sparked by the hacking of a murdered young girl’s phone and fed by a steady stream of revelations about seedy, unethical and sometimes criminal behavior at the company’s newspapers. So far, 10 people have been arrested, including, on Sunday, Rebekah Brooks, the head of News International. Les Hinton, who ran News International before her and most recently was the head of Dow Jones, resigned on July 15. Now we are left to wonder whether Mr. Murdoch will be forced to make an Abraham-like sacrifice and abandon his son James, the former heir apparent. The News Corporation may be hoping that it can get back to business now that some of the responsible parties have been held to account — and that people will see the incident as an aberrant byproduct of the world of British tabloids. But that seems like a stretch. The damage is likely to continue to mount, perhaps because the underlying pathology is hardly restricted to those who have taken the fall.
benton.org/node/81785 | New York Times | WSJ
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NON-PROFIT NEWS
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Jesse Holcomb, Tom Rosenstiel, Amy Mitchell, Kevin Caldwell, Tricia Sartor, Nancy Vogt]
A new phenomenon has emerged in journalism in recent years-the era of non-profit news. As traditional newsrooms have shrunk, a group of institutions and funders motivated by something other than profit are entering the journalism arena. This distinguishes them from the commercial news institutions that dominated the 20th century, whose primary sources of revenue-advertising and circulation-were self-evident. Who are these new players in journalism? Are these sites delivering, as they generally purport to be, independent and disinterested news reporting? Or are some of them more political and ideological in their reporting? How can audiences assess this for themselves? In short, what role are these operations playing in the changing ecosystem of news? A new study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism offers a detailed look at a portion of this new cohort of news providers-sites that cover state and national news. The study examines some four dozen sites across the country, all of them launched in 2005 or later, that offer coverage beyond the local level to state and national news. That group includes national news sites such as Pulitzer Prize-winning ProPublica, which receives money from more than a dozen foundations and has a staff of more than 30. It also includes lesser-known news sites such as Missouri News Horizon, whose funding is less clear and covers Missouri state government with a staff of three journalists. The study analyzes the funding, transparency and organizational structure of these sites, and also the nature of their news coverage.
benton.org/node/81774 | Project for Excellence in Journalism
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
SPECTRUM AND PUBLIC SAFETY
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
On July 15, the House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a legislative hearing to address spectrum and public safety issues. Democrats and Republicans promoted their competing visions for reforming wireless spectrum regulation.
Republicans released a draft of their spectrum bill on July 13, and Reps Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) released their own version the following day.
Although members of both parties called for bipartisan collaboration at the hearing, Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) criticized President Barack Obama for pushing to allocate a chunk of spectrum known as “D Block” to emergency responders. “Let’s be honest, but for the President’s call in February to allocate the D Block, we'd be much further along today,” Chairman Walden said. (There is bipartisan support for D Block allocation in the Senate.) The Republican draft bill would auction off D Block for private use while the Democratic version would give the portion of spectrum to public safety officials. Republicans noted that their plan would help to pay down the nation’s debt by raising billions in revenue.
San Jose Police Chief Christopher Moore testified in support of the Democratic plan. “Auctioning this D Block will put the public’s safety at risk and will considerably limit our first responders’ ability to do their jobs,” Chief Moore said.
Christopher Guttman-McCabe, vice president of regulatory affairs at CTIA, a wireless communications trade association, argued that auctioning D Block would lead to investment and job creation.
National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith argued that the government should not reclaim spectrum that currently belongs to television stations. He pointed to the role that broadcasters can play as “first informers” in giving the public important information during emergencies. “It is critical that any incentive auction legislation be crafted to ensure viewers who rely on broadcast television continue to receive the service they do today,” Smith said. He also said that the FCC's spectrum reclamation plan could leave big cities along the border with Canada and Mexico -- Detroit, for example -- without any U.S. over-the-air TV if Canadian and Mexican channel reservations are taken into account.
Michael Calabrese, Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Wireless Future Project at New America's Open Technology Initiative, made the case that auctioning unlicensed spectrum, which is a provision in the proposed legislation, is unstudied, untested, unworkable and virtually certain to ensure that no new unlicensed spectrum is allowed. Calabrese went on to state that unlicensed technologies are critical to affordable broadband deployment, job creation, wireless innovation and economic growth.
benton.org/node/81757 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | The Hill | B&C | TVNewsCheck | AdWeeK | New America Foundation | ars technica
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PUBLIC SAFETY BROADBAND AND WIRELESS INNOVATION ACT
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
Rep. Henry Waxman (C-CA), Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee, circulated a discussion draft of the Public Safety Broadband and Wireless Innovation Act. This legislation would create a nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network. It would also provide the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with incentive auction authority to efficiently and responsibly repurpose broadcast spectrum and help fund the public safety network. Among its other provisions, it would require federal agencies to conduct a comprehensive spectrum inventory and create a federal spectrum strategic plan.
benton.org/node/81755 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | see a summary of the bill | read the bill
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HOW SPECTRUM BILLS HURT TECH
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Republicans and Democrats proposed drafts of mobile spectrum bills that would incent television broadcasters to give up some of their spectrum to be used for mobile broadband. But things aren't simple when it comes to spectrum or Washington politics. The Republican version of the spectrum bill poses a threat to unlicensed wireless, which is where technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth operate. Your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies are safe, but the future of the proposed White Spaces broadband and new unlicensed spectrum is in doubt under the draft bill. And hiding in those unlicensed airwaves could be the next Wi-Fi. Such spectrum is free for anyone to use as long as devices operate under interference rules set by the Federal Communications Commission. These bands are where baby monitors, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, walkie-talkies and other radios work -- even toys. If the Republicans who control the House manage to get their bill through with their proposed unlicensed provisions, it creates challenges for white spaces broadband, which was originally supposed to operated in the bands between the digital TV spectrum the FCC is trying to convince broadcasters to give up. It also creates challenges for anyone hoping for more airwaves where tech firms and entrepreneurs could create the next generation of Wi-Fi or other wireless data transfer protocol. With the debate over the debt ceiling, the fate of the spectrum legislation is in flux, but tech firms should keep an eye on this proposal if it moves through the House. I'm willing to sacrifice my TV for more spectrum, but only it’s put to efficient and effective use. As it’s written, the rules don't favor that for any unlicensed bands.
benton.org/node/81754 | GigaOm
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SPECTRUM AUCTIONS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: L Gordon Crovitz]
[Commentary] What if the federal government could improve its finances by $25 billion without cutting spending or raising taxes? What if this also boosted the value of fast-growing industries by several times this amount? It's no wonder the budgets proposed by both President Obama and Rep. Paul Ryan include what sounds too good to be true, but is just another miracle of modern technology. This windfall could come from a new approach to government allocation of airwaves, moving use to the booming mobile and broadband industries from underuse by older technologies such as television. There would be more bandwidth for smart phones and tablets to allow everything from distance learning to mobile apps. The federal government has never had a good way to free up spectrum for better uses as technology changes. Today's issue is that "over the air" television broadcasters, which now serve only 10% of households (those lacking cable or satellite access), own spectrum they don't need. But there's no mechanism to let them sell it to newer industries. The big opportunity is to use a new form of auction so that the market decides where spectrum belongs. Auctions have long been an innovative way to substitute economics for politics.
benton.org/node/81784 | Wall Street Journal
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RECEPTION MAY GET SPOTTY
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Roben Farzad]
The past quarter-century in telecom has seen the breakup of Ma Bell, price wars, and a massive investment bubble. These days, though, look like halcyon ones for AT&T and Verizon Communications, the former regional Bells that have reconsolidated over the past two decades. Whether or not AT&T’s merger with T-Mobile wins regulatory approval, it and Verizon enjoy a duopoly in the wireless industry. Their stocks are at multiyear highs, with a combined $290 billion in market valuation. And the pair exclusively carry the iPhone. Both recently terminated their unlimited data plans, effectively pushing through a rate hike by forcing new customers to pay for the bandwidth they use. Yet the calm is deceptive. For all their gains, the wireless incumbents are, by some measures, destroying value. Technology is progressing rapidly and consumers are finding workarounds that let them pay AT&T and Verizon less than they used to -- or not at all. Moreover, the changing competitive landscape now includes the well-capitalized likes of Microsoft and Google. There are already financial red flags.
benton.org/node/81743 | Bloomberg
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VERIZON AND AT&T LTE INCOMPATIBLE
[SOURCE: PC Magazine, AUTHOR: Sascha Segan]
Thinking of unlocking a Verizon Wireless LTE phone for use on AT&T's network, or vice versa? Think again. Verizon Wireless confirmed that its LTE phones will not "be compatible on other LTE networks in the U.S." because "the phones will be on different frequencies," according to Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney.
The new 4G LTE system used by Verizon, MetroPCS, and soon AT&T runs on SIM cards much like the ones for GSM networks, and GSM phone owners are used to being able to switch phones from network to network, as long as they're unlocked. But Verizon may be designing its phones to only run on Verizon's very specific wireless frequency, locking out all other possible carriers. Verizon and AT&T both run their LTE networks in the 700-MHz band. But Verizon's network is mostly in 746-787MHz, while AT&T's will be primarily in 704-746MHz. Some Verizon and AT&T spectrum overlaps in an area called the "lower B block," but not much. Verizon could build its phones to exclude AT&T's frequencies, and vice versa. The result is an incompatible welter of devices, likely to continue long into the future. If you're dreaming that LTE would allow one device to work on several U.S. networks, dream on. And when we get out of the U.S., things only get worse. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has approved many different bands for LTE, including 700, 800, 850, 900, 1500, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000, 2100, 2300, and 2600MHz. That may make it impossible for LTE phones built with current antenna technologies to roam truly globally. There are just too many bands. Verizon and AT&T creating incompatibilities within 700MHz is something rural wireless carriers have been complaining about for a while. The smaller carriers don't want to be locked into roaming with only one major partner depending on their choice of phones, as SouthernLINC CEO Robert Dawson explained to me a few months ago.
benton.org/node/81715 | PC Magazine
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LABOR
WIRELESS JOBS VANISH
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Anton Troianovski]
The U.S. wireless industry is booming as more consumers and businesses snap up smartphones, tablet computers and billions of wireless applications. But for the industry's workers, the story is less rosy. In May, on the heels of a record year for industry revenue, employment at U.S. wireless carriers hit a 12-year low of 166,600, according to U.S. Labor Department figures released earlier this month. That's about 20,000 fewer jobs than when the recession ended in June 2009 and 2,000 fewer than a year ago. While the industry's revenue has grown 28% since 2006, when wireless employment peaked at 207,000 workers, its mostly nonunion work force has shrunk about 20%. The disconnect between employment and industry growth reflects the broader head winds lashing the U.S. job market, as consolidation, outsourcing and productivity gains from new technology and business methods combine to undermine job growth. At wireless carriers, leaps forward in smartphone and network technology haven't generally required increases in the call-center workers and salespeople that make up much of the wireless-telecom work force. Those advances do show up, however, in skyrocketing productivity statistics. In 2009, the latest data available, the output per hour of wireless-carrier workers jumped 24.3%, more than in nearly any other service industry, according to a Labor Department report in May. Since 2002, output per hour in the industry has nearly tripled. To be sure, the wireless boom is creating jobs in other industries and occupations, such as software development, publishing and media. But that's cold comfort for the industry's workers, especially in the hard-hit customer-service field. The number of customer-service workers at wireless carriers dropped to 33,580 last year from 55,930 in 2007, according to the Labor Department.
benton.org/node/81783 | Wall Street Journal
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CWA LEARNS AT&T JOB LESSON THE HARD WAY
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] Early last year, a California senate committee held a hearing on the state of telecommunications infrastructure. One of the witnesses asked in his written statement of Feb. 4, 2011 a question acutely relevant to today's takeover of T-Mobile by AT&T. Here is what the witness said:
"In 2006, AT&T and Verizon promised major investment in broadband expansion, video competition, and thousands of new jobs in California if the state deregulated the video market and passed a statewide video franchise law, known by its acronym of DIVCA. Well, now its four years later, leaving the clear questions: Where are the jobs and where is the high-speed broadband investment?"
Answering his own question, the witness supplied part of the answer:
"AT&T and Verizon have slashed the frontline workforce, and there simply are not enough technicians available to restore service in a timely manner, nor enough customer service representatives to take customers’ calls. Let me share some statistics. Since 2004, AT&T reduced its California landline frontline workforce by 40%, from about 29,900 workers to fewer than 18,000 today. The company will tell you that they need fewer wireline employees because customers have cut the cord going wireless or switched to another provider, but over this same period, AT&T access line loss has been just under nine percent nationally. I would be shocked if line loss in California corresponds to the 40 percent reduction in frontline employees.
"Similarly, since 2006 Verizon California cut its frontline landline workforce by one-third, from more than 7,000 in 2005 to about 4,700 today. I venture that Verizon has not lost one third of its land lines in the state."
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the witness noted:
"While the workforce of these telecommunications giants has been decimated by corporate downsizing, over the past three years AT&T reported $37 billion and Verizon earned over $33.5 billion in corporate profits. The public suffers, while these companies pad their pockets."
Who was this wise witness who saw that AT&T didn't live up to its promise of jobs in return for union support for yet another corporate give-away from state government? His name is James Weitkamp, and he is vice president of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 9 that covers California.
benton.org/node/81599 | Public Knowledge
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
EU BROADBAND WARNING
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Parker]
The European Union’s efforts to improve broadband speeds in member states risk failure unless governments and regulators provide additional help to telecoms operators, leading chief executives warned. The heads of Alcatel-Lucent, Deutsche Telekom and Vivendi published a report on Wednesday that urged European authorities to help cut the estimated €290bn cost of building high-speed, fixed-line broadband networks across the EU. However, the report’s standing was dented because Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner for telecoms, did not endorse the document. She effectively commissioned the report in March after expressing concern that inadequate investments by telecoms operators meant her ambitious broadband targets may not be met. The European Commission wants all European homes to have broadband download speeds of at least 30 megabits per second by 2020, with half of those households enjoying 100 mbps. The targets might enable the EU to catch up with the broadband speeds found in parts of Asia and North America, including Japan, South Korea and the US.
benton.org/node/81781 | Financial Times
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MIN BROADBAND STIMULUS PROJECTS
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
Halstad Telephone Company has the distinction of having won three broadband stimulus awards after applying for a total of four -- an impressive feat for a 14-person company in a program in which the vast majority of applications were rejected. The projects are bringing fiber-to-the-home and fiber-to-the neighborhood to rural areas of northwestern Minnesota, including areas where HTC operates as an incumbent or competitive local exchange carrier. “Two of the projects are done and we’re still hooking up new customers,” HTC chief executive Tom Maroney told Connected Planet this week. The third project recently got restarted after delays resulting from an industry-wide fiber shortage. “We plan on being done this fall,” Maroney said. The project areas previously had either no broadband or had DSL service at relatively low 256 kb/s or 512 kb/s speeds. Maroney said he believes that reality was a big factor in the Rural Utilities Service’s decision to award a total of $11 million to HTC on a 50/50 grant/loan basis. The total value of the awards was $11 million. Maroney said the company would not have been able to make a business case to support the deployment without the grant money. “The grant really helped in the more rural parts of the project areas,” Maroney said. HTC might have been able to cost-justify a deployment in population centers only. But as a coop, Maroney said, “We don't look at it that way.”
benton.org/node/81597 | Connected Planet
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PRIVACY
PRIVACY HEARING RECAP
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
The House Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, chaired by Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), and the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), kicked off a hearing series on privacy issues to examine how information is collected, protected, and utilized in an increasingly interconnected online ecosystem. The hearing featured testimony from the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. These agencies provided an overview of existing privacy regulations and standards to help identify key issues for discussion moving forward.
During the hearing, Chairman Bono Mack posed to a regulator the fundamental questions that will guide the subcommittees' work in the coming months: is a privacy regulation needed? If so, how do we prevent harm? FTC Commissioner Edith Ramirez responded, “Consumers simply do not know what information is being collected about them and how that data is being used. So the framework that the [FTC] staff has proposed in its initial report seeks to balance basic privacy protections for consumers against the needs of the business community. The fundamental need is to provide increased protection for consumers and choice and control over the information that is being collected about them and how it’s being used.”
In their opening statements, members of both parties stressed that privacy protection should not be a partisan issue. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), however, expressed skepticism that Republicans would support tough regulations to protect people’s personal information. Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) argued that targeted advertising can be helpful to consumers by providing them information about relevant products, and that any new “Do Not Track” regulation should take into account its impact on businesses.
Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Joe Barton (R-TX) say protecting children should be a priority. They have introduced a “do not track” bill for kids that also aims to create privacy rules that require Web site companies to inform users how they deal with data on teens. The bill also requires an “eraser button” that would allow parents to delete data on minors. The witnesses said they support greater protections for children. But they stopped short of saying they support or oppose Markey’s and Barton’s children’s “do not track” bill.
Overall, the Committee's first foray into the issue of Internet privacy provided little guidance on whether lawmakers will proceed with legislation. Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) indicated that he is in no hurry, either. "I want to get this issue right," Chairman Upton said "We need to hear from everyone with a stake in Internet privacy before we contemplate legislating."
benton.org/node/81751 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | FTC | FCC | NTIA | WashPost | The Hill | B&C | National Journal | MediaPost
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BUDGET
DEFICIT AND USF
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Telecom companies wrote to the White House and congressional leaders urging them to abandon a proposal to pay down the deficit using money in the Universal Service Fund (USF), an $8 billion pool devoted to subsidizing telecom services for rural households. US Telecom, the lobbying association for telephone companies including Verizon and AT&T, said that debt limit negotiators are considering a proposal to divert $1 billion from the fund to help pay for deficit reduction. Congressional aides said the proposal to divert USF funds was part of a document circulated by the GOP conference earlier this week outlining a strategy for addressing the deficit. They said the document, which also recommended using spectrum auction revenue as part of the package, set off a flurry of concern from industry this week. In a letter to negotiators, the carriers panned the USF proposal as effectively creating a "new tax" by transforming USF contributions into taxation. USF currently consists of contributions from telecom carriers, who recover the money through a charge on consumer telephone bills.
benton.org/node/81740 | National Journal | B&C | The Hill
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TAXES
E-TAILERS VS RETAILERS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Michelle Quinn]
A clash of the retail titans is lining up over the issue of taxing Internet sales, and Congress is being called on to referee. Amazon.com and other online retailers are seeking to rally anti-tax Americans with a proposed voter referendum in California to overturn a new state law forcing Internet merchants to collect sales taxes on goods sold online to residents there. On the other side is a starting lineup of brick-and-mortar retailers with entrenched lobbying muscle in D.C.: Wal-Mart, Sears and the National Retail Federation, among others. They’re backed by states, which see taxing online sales as helping ease their budget woes. “Congress has to take action,” said Neal Osten, who handles state and federal issues for the National Conference of State Legislatures. In an era of cuts, “this is $23 billion that the federal government can give to the states.” Whether this is the year for a federal Internet sales tax bill remains to be seen — taxing the Internet has been a political hot potato since the dawn of the Internet age. In Congress, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is expected to introduce a bipartisan bill in the coming month called the Mainstreet Fairness Act. It would allow states to require online retailers to collect sales tax — if states first agree to standardize those taxes. But Sen Durbin has put off introducing the bill while he tries to line up support as retailers on both sides of the debate have stepped up lobbying activity on the Hill.
benton.org/node/81776 | Politico
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WIRELESS TAX BILL
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The House Judiciary Committee backed legislation that would impose a five-year ban on new taxes and fees targeting only wireless services and not imposed on other goods and services. The Wireless Tax Fairness Act, approved by voice vote, would only apply to new taxes imposed on wireless services and does not affect to those already in place. Supporters say wireless services are being unfairly taxed by states and localities compared with other services. They note that wireless customers pay an average of 16.3 percent in taxes and fees compared with the 7.4 percent average rate imposed on other goods and services. "In many places, the taxation of wireless approaches or even exceeds the rates of sin taxes on goods like alcohol and tobacco," Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), the bill's sponsor, said in a statement. "This legislation simply freezes existing discriminatory wireless taxes to help foster wireless networks as a platform for innovation and jobs growth." Some state and local government groups, however, have voiced strong concerns with the measure, saying it would hamper their ability to raise revenues at a time when they are facing massive budget shortfalls.
benton.org/node/81739 | National Journal | cellular-news
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CYBERSECURITY
DOD CYBERSPACE STRATEGY
[SOURCE: Department of Defense, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Department of Defense released the DoD Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace (DSOC). The report includes five strategic initiatives:
Treat cyberspace as an operational domain to organize, train, and equip so that DoD can take full advantage of cyberspace’s potential
Employ new defense operating concepts to protect DoD networks and systems
Partner with other U.S. government departments and agencies and the private sector to enable a whole-of-government cybersecurity strategy
Build robust relationships with U.S. allies and international partners to strengthen collective cybersecurity
Leverage the nation’s ingenuity through an exceptional cyber workforce and rapid technological innovation
It is the first DoD unified strategy for cyberspace and officially encapsulates a new way forward for DoD’s military, intelligence and business operations. Reliable access to cyberspace is critical to U.S. national security, public safety and economic well-being. Cyber threats continue to grow in scope and severity on a daily basis. More than 60,000 new malicious software programs or variations are identified every day threatening our security, our economy and our citizens. The DoD and other governmental agencies have taken steps to anticipate, mitigate and deter these threats. Last year, DoD established U.S. Cyber Command to direct the day-to-day activities that operate and defend DoD information networks. DoD also deepened and strengthened coordination with the Department of Homeland Security to secure critical networks as evidenced by the recent DoD-DHS Memorandum of Agreement.
benton.org/node/81760 | Department of Defense | read the strategy | The Hill
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CYBER APPROACH TOO PREDICTABLE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
The nation’s second-ranking military official said that the U.S. approach to protecting its computer systems was “too predictable” and failed to penalize attackers. “We’re on a path that is too predictable, way too predictable,” Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. “It’s purely defensive. There is no penalty for attacking us now. We have to figure out a way to change that.” Gen Cartwright suggested that stronger deterrents would be needed. “We are supposed to be offshore convincing people if they attack, it won't be free,” he said, adding that adversaries should know that the United States has “the capability and capacity to do something about it.” Gen Cartwright, who appeared at a news conference after the strategy rollout, described the cyber plan as a first step. “This starts us down the path of building out both our defenses and our awareness skills,” he said. Eventually, he added, more aggressive cyber tactics, as well as legal and diplomatic measures, would be needed to “raise the price” of attacking. Gen Cartwright said the disabling of computerized patient records at a hospital such that the patients cannot be treated would be a violation of the law of armed conflict. “Then you have proportional responses” that can be undertaken, he said, without specifying which or by whom. But when it comes to an act of war, he said, “it’s in the eye of the beholder.”
benton.org/node/81759 | Washington Post | IDG News Service
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