BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016
Today's Event: New America Foundation panel, "Digital Equity : Technology and Learning in the Lives of Lower Income Families": https://www.benton.org/node/233734 (and see a preview in EDUCATION below)
SECURITY/PRIVACY
US, EU Reach Deal on New Data-Transfer Framework
Editorial: Why Safe Harbor 2.0 will lose again [links to Ars Technica]
Sen Hatch moves to swiftly pass key privacy bill
Internet-Connected Fisher Price Teddy Bear Left Kids’ Identities Exposed
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Comcast’s Internet is about to get a lot faster in these 5 cities
Bronwyn Howell op-ed: Ice cream illustrates why you don’t need to fear zero rating [links to American Enterprise Institute]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
How India Pierced Facebook’s Free Internet Program
Remarks of Commissioner Rosenworcel at Americas Spectrum Management Conference - speech [links to Benton summary]
How AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile Are Ensuring That Those Super Bowl Selfies Go Through [links to Ars Technica]
CONTENT
This Startup Just Got $10M to Predict Politics with Tech [links to Benton summary]
We Can’t “Fix” Copyright and the Internet. Here’s Who Can. [links to Casey Rae]
TV Gets Small: Instagram and Snapchat Launch New Shows [links to Fortune]
Traditional Media Growth Dips as Digital Grows [links to Benton summary]
The Truth About Piracy [links to Technology Policy Institute]
The Crisis in Streaming Music Adoption [links to Casey Rae]
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Microsoft hears complaints about Iowa results web sites
Media Shares The Blame For Polling Overhype In Iowa [links to Huffington Post]
This is how close the Democratic caucus was, in one tweet [links to Vox]
How Sen Ted Cruz Engineered His Iowa Triumph [links to Benton summary]
Rep Adam Schiff (D-CA): Don't ‘leap to conclusions’ on Clinton's e-mails [links to Hill, The]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Amid Cybersecurity concerns, House Republicans Blast Education CIO Misconduct [links to nextgov]
Do Clinton’s classified e-mails put US national security at risk? [links to Brookings]
DIVERSITY
Why Ownership of #BlackMediaMatters More to Black America Than the Oscar Awards - HuffPo op-ed
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
5 California Municipalities Move to Networked Next-Gen 911 System [links to Government Technology]
RADIO/TELEVISION
FCC Grant Chehalis Valley Educ. Foundation AFR and Rescinds KBOO Grant [links to Federal Communications Commission]
Nielsen Playing Catch-Up as TV Viewing Habits Change and Digital Rivals Spring Up [links to Benton summary]
While the Future of TV is Apps, the FCC is Locked in the Box of the Past [links to AT&T press release]
EDUCATION
Opportunity for All? Technology and Learning in Lower-Income Families - research
Op-Ed: Breaking the Code: Unleashing the Talents of Our Girls and Students of Color [links to EdSurge]
JOURNALISM
What We’ve Learned About Journalism Sustainability and Community Engagement [links to Josh Stearns]
LABOR
Uber Drivers and Others in the Gig Economy Take a Stand [links to Benton summary]
Yahoo sued over employee rankings, alleged anti-male discrimination [links to Ars Technica]
TELECOM
FCC Extends Transition Period for “former reservations in Oklahoma” - public notice [links to Benton summary]
LOBBYING
This Startup Just Got $10M to Predict Politics with Tech [links to Benton summary]
POLICYMAKERS
National Security Agency plans major reorganization
COMPANY NEWS
AT&T shuffles leadership to tie video, mobile services together [links to C-Net|News.com]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
“Five years ago, I said, ‘If you want to liberate society, all you need is the Internet.’ Today I believe if we want to liberate society, we first need to liberate the Internet.” - Thomas Friedman op-ed
SECURITY/PRIVACY
DATA-TRANSFER DEAL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Natalia Drozdiak, Sam Schechner]
The United States and the European Union reached a deal on a new data-transfer framework, potentially giving breathing room to thousands of companies that move information across the Atlantic. In a last-minute deal, made a day after a deadline set by EU privacy regulators expired, the EU said the US conceded to making binding assurances that personal information about Europeans wouldn't be subject to mass surveillance when it is copied to US servers. However, it isn’t clear how privacy regulators will react to the deal. The commitments include a written letter from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as well as a promise by US Secretary of State John Kerry to establish an ombudsman to follow up on complaints from EU citizens and ensure that the US keeps its commitments, the EU said. The terms could especially benefit big American companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon that tend to dominate Internet searches, social media and digital commerce in Europe. But it is also meant to let nontech companies like the drugmaker Pfizer and the industrial conglomerate General Electric continue to send customer and employee data between the United States and Europe. Most sensitive, perhaps, are provisions demanded by the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, aimed at limiting how American intelligence agencies collect data on Europeans when companies send their personal information to the United States. Many obstacles still await the deal, which must be officially approved by the union’s 28 member states.
benton.org/headlines/us-eu-reach-deal-new-data-transfer-framework | Wall Street Journal | NY Times | Commerce Sec Penny Pritzker Statement | Multichannel News
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SEN HATCH MOVES TO SWIFTLY PASS KEY PRIVACY BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Cory Bennett]
Sen Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has moved to speed passage of a key privacy bill that is linked to several transatlantic data sharing agreements. The so-called Judicial Redress Act would give European Union citizens the right to challenge misuse of their personal data in a US court, a right US citizens already enjoy in Europe. “Our legislation rights an inequity — a reciprocal benefit that has been withheld from our European allies with little justification,” Sen Hatch said.
“It is the right and fair thing to do,” he added. Feb 1, Sen Hatch moved to hotline the bill, meaning it could bypass normal floor procedure and pass swiftly if no senator objects. The bill's approval is required to finalized an “umbrella agreement” between the US and EU that would allow the two sides to exchange more data during criminal and terrorism investigations. Sen Hatch called the measure “the catalyst to finalizing the long-awaited data-protection deal.” The House has already passed its companion legislation, and the Senate Judiciary Committee recently approved the upper chamber's measure. In recent weeks, the Judicial Redress Act was also drawn into the tense negotiations over another transatlantic data sharing agreement, the so-called Safe Harbor pact, which was invalidated last fall. Sen Hatch’s move to hotline his bill came hours before US and EU officials revealed they had struck a deal to resurrect the legal framework that Facebook, Google and thousands of other American companies had used for nearly 15 years.
benton.org/headlines/sen-hatch-moves-swiftly-pass-key-privacy-bill | Hill, The
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INTERNET-CONNECTED FISHER PRICE TEDDY BEAT LEFT KIDS' IDENTITIES EXPOSED
[SOURCE: Vice, AUTHOR: Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai]
In the age of the Internet of Things, teddy bears and Barbie dolls aren’t just silent inanimate dummies anymore, but can actually listen and talk to children. But these gizmos are sometimes too chatty, and can expose the personal information of their little owners. A bug in the web platform of the Fisher Price Smart Toy Bear potentially allowed hackers to compile a database of all the children using the toy, according to recent research. The research highlights the dangers of so-called “smart” toys, just a few weeks after privacy and security researchers found multiple flaws that could turn the Internet-connected Hello Barbie doll into a surveillance device. Fisher Price’s Internet-connected teddy bear has a tiny camera on its nose. The camera reads a set of smart cards that will trigger the bear to tell jokes, teach kids curious facts, and other specific learning and playing activities. The bear is also able to respond to the children’s questions, according to Fisher Price. The toy also comes with an app for parents, which allows them to control it remotely. A researcher at security firm found that a flaw in the app’s platform web service or API allowed hackers to easily find out the names, birthdates and gender of the children using the toy.
benton.org/headlines/internet-connected-fisher-price-teddy-bear-left-kids-identities-exposed | Vice
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
COMCAST ON A GIG
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
In early 2016, Atlanta and Nashville will be the first cities to take advantage of a new technology that enables gigabit speeds over traditional cable connections. That will be followed in late 2016 by gigabit cable service in Chicago, Detroit and Miami, Comcast said. Gigabit Internet, which is available from a number of providers across the country already, offers download rates of 1,000 Mbps — far faster than what many Americans currently receive. At those speeds, you could download an HD movie in about 7 seconds. What sets Comcast's new offering apart from the competition is that it relies on an upgrade of existing cable technology, rather than requiring a shift to expensive high-speed fiber optic cables, which are made of glass and transmit data as pulses of light. In other words, rather than building a whole new fiber infrastructure like Google Fiber is doing, Comcast can take advantage of the cables that are already in the ground to provide gigabit speeds. This is good for Comcast, because it means offering a similar service as Google's but at a lower upfront cost to itself; whether it means those savings will be passed on to consumers is another question.
benton.org/headlines/comcasts-internet-about-get-lot-faster-these-5-cities | Washington Post | telecompetitor
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
INSIDE THE FACEBOOK’S BATTLE IN INDIA
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: Lauren Smiley]
If you wanted to get a glimpse of how hard Facebook can fight when pressed against the wall — a hint of its war chest, the scope of its ambition to access and connect the developing world — take a drive around Mumbai, India’s financial capital, as 2015 turned into 2016. Everywhere: the billboards. Along the freeway under the smoggy haze. Emblazoned on bus stops — “A Billion Reasons to Support Digital Equality” and an image of an outmoded cellphone. On a busy shopping street, a sign reading “A First Step Towards Digital Equality,” picturing two young women in saris, chatting while looking at a cellphone. The ads ran for two weeks in six cities. Also everywhere: the newspaper ads, full-page ads — double full-page ads! — featuring Indian farmers and henna-adorned hands and stories of Facebook allowing unconnected people to go online. A full-page op-ed in the Times of India by Mark Zuckerberg himself, in which he asked, “Who could possibly be against this?”
benton.org/headlines/how-india-pierced-facebooks-free-internet-program | Medium
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
MICROSOFT HEARS COMPLAINTS ABOUT IOWA RESULTS WEB SITES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
The official webpages for the public to check the results of the Iowa caucuses became inaccessible at some points on Feb 1 amid heavy interest. The page listing the Republican results had the most trouble, including during the 10 pm EST hour — a time when many networks projected Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) to be the winner. Both the Democratic and Republican results pages were working fine the morning of Feb 2. The websites were run by Microsoft and its partner, Interknowlogy, which also provided an app for precinct officials to report their caucus results to party headquarters. The Iowa Republican Party said the reporting app itself had no problems in relaying the vote counts to headquarters. On the internal side, the party said, the “app ran flawlessly.” The spotty public GOP results page brought in occasional social media criticism the night of Feb 1. And a number of sites dedicated to testing whether a webpage is down for all users confirmed that the problem was widespread. The public, however, had many other options to find results. Nearly every major news outlet and cable network had their own results pages. And a number of social media and tech companies listed the results as well.
benton.org/headlines/microsoft-hears-complaints-about-iowa-results-web-sites | Hill, The
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DIVERSITY
WHY OWNERSHIP OF #BLACKMEDIAMATTERS MORE TO BLACK AMERICA THAN OSCAR AWARDS
[SOURCE: Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Antonio Moore]
[Commentary] The discussion of diversity in Hollywood (CA), or the lack thereof has been at a fever pitch since the nominations for the Oscar awards were released. This announcement by the Academy Awards was followed with videos made by several celebrities announcing boycotts, and attempts by the Academy to regain their trust with a quickly enacted change in the awards voting policy. Yet, the real discourse on diversity and inclusion does not center on who is in front of the camera, nor who is even directing its lens. The conversation should be focused on who owns the camera, and the content it's used to create. #BlackMediaMatters and it is inside of ownership where you see the starkest disparity between blacks and whites across all major platforms, film, television, print and digital. While the nomination for an Oscar serves as a symbol of diversity, it does little to address the lasting effects that the disenfranchisement of blacks in media has had on content, employment and wealth for Black Americans.
[Antonio Moore is an attorney and producer of the documentary "Freeway: Crack in The System"]
benton.org/headlines/why-ownership-blackmediamatters-more-black-america-oscar-awards | Huffington Post
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EDUCATION
TECH AND LEARNING IN LOWER-INCOME FAMILIES
[SOURCE: Joan Ganz Cooney Center, AUTHOR: Victoria Rideout, Vikki Katz]
Recent research on digital media use points to two important gaps in educational opportunity for low-income families with young children. First, there is an access gap. Second, there is what scholars refer to as a participation gap, in which digital resources are not well guided or supported to ensure educational progress. Despite these barriers, many low-income families are using media and new technologies in creative ways to support their children’s pathways to success and to strengthen family relationships. In this report, media and policy expert Vicky Rideout and Rutgers University scholar Vikki Katz explore the current uses of digital technologies to help promote educational opportunities for all through a national survey of nearly 1,200 low-income parents of school-age children and in-person interviews with lower-income, Hispanic families in three communities located in Arizona, California, and Colorado. Here’s the reports key findings:
Most low- and moderate-income families have some form of Internet connection, but many are under-connected, with mobile-only access and inconsistent connectivity.
Families headed by Hispanic immigrants are less connected than other low- and moderate-income families.
The main reason some families do not have home computers or Internet access is because they cannot afford it, but discounted Internet programs are reaching very few.
Low- and moderate-income parents use the Internet for a broad range of purposes, but mobile-only families are less likely to do certain online activities.
Children from low- and moderate-income families use computers and the Internet for a variety of educational activities, but those without home access are less likely to go online to pursue their interests.
Parents feel largely positive about the Internet and digital technology, but many also have concerns.
Children and parents frequently learn with, and about, technology together, especially in families with the lowest incomes and where parents have less education.
benton.org/headlines/opportunity-all-technology-and-learning-lower-income-families | Joan Ganz Cooney Center | Recode | USA Today
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POLICYMAKERS
NSA REORGANIZATION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
The National Security Agency, the largest electronic spy agency in the world, is undertaking a major reorganization, merging its offensive and defensive organizations in the hope of making them more adept at facing the digital threats of the 21st century. In place of the Signals Intelligence and Information Assurance directorates, the organizations that historically have spied on foreign targets and defended classified networks against spying, the NSA is creating a Directorate of Operations that combines the operational elements of each.
benton.org/headlines/national-security-agency-plans-major-reorganization | Washington Post
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
LIBERATE THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Thomas Friedman]
[Commentary] Wael Ghonim’s anonymous Facebook page helped start a revolution in Egypt. Here is what he concluded about social media today: “First, we don’t know how to deal with rumors. Rumors that confirm people’s biases are now believed and spread among millions of people.” Second, “We tend to only communicate with people that we agree with, and thanks to social media, we can mute, un-follow and block everybody else. Third, online discussions quickly descend into angry mobs. … It’s as if we forget that the people behind screens are actually real people and not just avatars. And fourth, it became really hard to change our opinions. Because of the speed and brevity of social media, we are forced to jump to conclusions and write sharp opinions in 140 characters about complex world affairs. And once we do that, it lives forever on the Internet.” Fifth, and most crucial, he said, “today, our social media experiences are designed in a way that favors broadcasting over engagements, posts over discussions, shallow comments over deep conversations. … It’s as if we agreed that we are here to talk at each other instead of talking with each other.”
benton.org/headlines/five-years-ago-i-said-if-you-want-liberate-society-all-you-need-internet-today-i-believe | New York Times
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