June 4, 2009 (Telecoms Win Dismissal of Wiretap Suits)
"Security is liberty plus privacy."
-- Bruce Schneier, BT chief security technology officer
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY JUNE 4, 2009
The Online Child Safety Working Group meets today at the FCC and the House holds an oversight hearing on ICANN (see story below). And our former colleague Jim Kohlenberger headlines the Broadband Stimulus National Town Hall Meeting. For all of today's events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar/2009-06-04
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Telecoms Win Dismissal of Wiretap Suits
House to Put Office Spending Online
US grapples with how to retaliate in cyber attacks
Securing New Infrastructure Will Require Watchful Eye, Experts Say
LOBBYING
Obama's Election Has Elevated The Influence Industry's Liberal Side
Tech Titans' Ties to Washington Grow Closer -- and More Complicated
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Are Broadband Caps Inevitable?
An Incremental Approach To Broadband Mapping
Internet use triples '97 to '07
Court rules Internet a "utility"
What a non-neutral 'Net looks like, UK-style
Gore Backs ICANN On Eve Of Hearing
Broadband Will Be New Tool in Diplomacy Arsenal
Video Usage Dramatically Overstated
TELEVISION
FCC Has Final DTV Transition Checkup Meeting
FCC Says 35 Stations To Go Dark June 12
FCC Asks for, Gets $10 Million More For DTV Transition Call Centers
Cable Industry Criticized for Trying to Up-Sell Services During DTV Transition
Network TV Drops 6% Last Season, NBC Improves
OWNERSHIP
Clear Channel lenders threaten refinancing plan
Hearst Moves On Merger
PRIVACY
Opting out of targeted ads too hard, privacy advocates say
Did NebuAd Stage Closing?
JOURNALISM
Can Knight's Alberto Ibargüen Save The News Business?
Media to Blame for Not Informing Us About Impending Recession?
QUICKLY -- President Obama to Nominate former GOP Congressman Jim Leach as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities; A Political Message Amid the Movie Trailers; Small Businesses Are Taking Tentative Steps Toward Online Networking
Recent Comments on:
Battle Brews Over Broadband Mapping
A Fiber-Rich Diet
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
TELECOMS WIN DISMISSAL OF WIRETAP SUITS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Lichtblau]
On Wednesday, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of Federal District Court in Northern California threw out more than three dozen lawsuits claiming that the nation's major telecommunications companies had illegally assisted in the wiretapping without warrants program approved by President George W. Bush after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Judge Walker said that although consumer and privacy groups raised important constitutional issues in their claims, Congress had left no doubt about its "unequivocal intention" when it passed a measure last summer giving immunity to phone carriers in the wiretapping program. The ruling represents a major victory not only for AT&T and other carriers, which faced potential damages of billions of dollars if they lost the cases, but also for intelligence officials in Washington who had fought assertively in their defense. Officials from both the Bush and the Obama administrations maintained that the cooperation of the phone companies has been vital to national security and that penalizing them for their participation would jeopardize important surveillance operations.
http://benton.org/node/25704
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HOUSE TO PUT OFFICE SPENDING ONLINE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Perry Bacon Jr]
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said yesterday that the House will soon start posting online quarterly records of how Members use their personal office funds, giving watchdog groups a chance to examine staff salaries and other spending by Members of Congress. Congress has long published such information in a volume called the Statement of Disbursements, but it will now be released online, which Speaker Pelosi said would increase transparency. The change comes as members of the British Parliament are under fire for spending huge sums of taxpayer money through their public accounts on such expenses as cleaning a moat and having light bulbs installed in their homes.
http://benton.org/node/25703
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US GRAPPLES WITH HOW TO RETALIATE IN CYBER ATTACKS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Lolita Baldor]
In the murky world of computer espionage, the US faces hard choices on how to retaliate when government or privately owned networks come under cyber attack, senior military and intelligence officials said Tuesday. As the administration grapples with how best to defend its computer networks, debate is raging over how far the U.S. can go in pursuit of cyber criminals, and even what constitutes a digital act of war. The most immediate challenge is identifying the hacker, terrorist or enemy nation that launched the attack in vast and anonymous cyberspace, officials said. That hurdle is complicated by privacy debates over how deeply the government can wade into privately owned systems to investigate threats, and how it should handle attacks against a company, as opposed to a federal agency.
http://benton.org/node/25683
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SECURING NEW INFRASTRUCTURE WILL REQUIRE WATCHFUL EYE
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Douglas Streeks]
Balancing privacy and security will require a delicate approach as the Internet becomes more pervasive in the lives of everyday Americans, said a panel of national security policy experts on the first day of the Computers Freedom & Privacy conference at George Washington University. The curtain is the most privacy enhancing technology in the world, said panel moderator Ryan Singel, but it also allow citizens to do what they want without being watched, and this decreases security, "but there's no law against curtains." This is a balance between individual privacy rights and the government's rights to come into your house, he said. There is "a lot more transparency" between today's government and the people when it comes to privacy in today's political environment, said BT chief security technology officer Bruce Schneier. But increased transparency does not always come with a fair exchange, he warned. While increased access to government data can promote liberty, Schneier added that voluntary disclosure of information can allow more government control requiring a delicate balancing of both parties' interests. "Security is liberty plus privacy," he said.
http://benton.org/node/25682
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LOBBYING
OBAMA'S ELECTION HAS ELEVATED THE INFLUENCE INDUSTRY'S LIBERAL SIDE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Dan Eggen]
Less than 24 hours after President Obama announced the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, an alliance formed solely to push the appointment launched a six-figure ad buy on the major television networks. Conservative groups, by contrast, stumbled through days of disjointed messages and never mustered the resources for a major television campaign. By the end of the week, Republicans were fighting among themselves over the perils of attacking the nation's first Hispanic nominee to the high court. The episode was one of the latest examples of how Obama's election has dramatically altered the landscape occupied by the advocacy groups, think tanks and lobbying firms that make up Washington's sprawling influence industry. Democratic and left-leaning groups are now ascendant, enjoying clout not seen in a generation and benefiting from close access to a White House brimming with former colleagues. Many of the groups spent the Bush years championing policies that had little chance of being adopted; now, their ideas and positions are at the center of the Washington debate.
http://benton.org/node/25702
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TECH TITANS' TIES TO WASHINGTON GROW CLOSER -- AND MORE COMPLICATED
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
A look at the latest moves in an image war among tech's biggest companies, with Google at the center. At stake are policy decisions that could affect many billions of dollars. Microsoft learned through its own costly antitrust battle in the late 1990s about the importance of perception. The company, accused of bundling its Web browser with its Windows operating system -- the dominant software for personal computers -- suffered for years from the image of being a monopolist. "Part of the anxiety about Google stems from how broad Google's reach has become," said Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. "Everything they do will be scrutinized, and they will be as careful as a teenager on probation not to do anything foolish."
http://benton.org/node/25701
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
ARE BROADBAND CAPS INEVITABLE?
[SOURCE: MarketWatch, AUTHOR: David Wilkerson]
Craig Moffett, cable and telecom analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., says Time Warner Cable's setback with capping broadband usage is only temporary: "Look, there's a real argument for some form of consumption-based billing, and it's going to happen. Time Warner got the pricing wrong, it got the PR wrong, but this is not some kind of stealth price increase. They've been clear -- they don't want to discourage the use of the [broadband] product, but they have be able to manage the increased use of bandwidth that goes with Web-based video." Karl Bode responds: "Keep in mind that Moffett also thinks network upgrades are unnecessary, has declared the wire-
less industry is collapsing, and enjoys slamming Verizon's investment in fiber whenever possible. There's no real debate that metered billing would be great for investors and carriers, but the fact remains these new pricing models may not be good for consumers -- a contingent Moffett and other investors could care less about."
Market 'still sorting out' cable's future, analyst says
http://benton.org/node/25681
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AN INCREMENTAL APPROACH TO BROADBAND MAPPING
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] What's the right way to do broadband mapping? Instead of trying to have one entity attempt do all the mapping in one fell swoop, we should focus on an incremental methodology that starts with establishing a baseline of data and then encourages others to add to it. Start with the most basic question of, "Where's broadband?" Produce maps like Virginia's that show where broadband -- or symmetrical service over 768Kbps -- is available on as granular a level as possible. Then make this data available to the public to build additional layers of data on top. Arguably even more important than these supply-side metrics would be the opportunity to layer on data related to adoption and usage. By layering on data showing takerates for broadband we can identify areas where it's available but not being adopted so we can target demand-side programs. Also, if we start collected more hard data about the actual usage of broadband we can figure out which communities are gaining the most benefit from using broadband in order to learn from them about what's working so we can share those lessons with other communities. Building on this idea, we could also start layering on data about demand for bandwidth comparing it to how much supply is available, with areas where there's a gap between demand and supply clearly showing which markets are underserved by market forces alone. Trying to collect all this data at once would be a monumental challenge. Not every mapping entity has expertise in all these areas, and by spreading out the work it can be done more efficiently.
http://benton.org/node/25680
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INTERNET USE TRIPLES '97 TO '07
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
According to a new report by the Census Bureau, Internet use tripled from 1997 to 2007. Sixty-two percent of U.S. households used the Internet from home; 18% did that in 1997. Among those using the Internet in 2007, 82% did so using a high-speed connection. Just 17% used dial-up. The rapid rise of broadband shows how quickly a ubiquitous technology like dial-up, which ruled the online world in the 1990s, can become outmoded, says Morton O'Kelly, chairman of Ohio State University's department of geography. Internet usage still varies by race; 69 percent of whites lived in households with Internet use, while the same was true for 51 percent of blacks, 73 percent of Asians and 48 percent of Hispanics
http://benton.org/node/25700
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COURT RULES INTERNET A "UTILITY"
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Monticello, Minnesota hoped to set state precedent by building its own fiber-to-the-home link for every resident in town. The phone company sued, but after a year in litigation, the state Court of Appeals has ruled that Internet is indeed a "utility" that can be provided by local communities and funded by city bonds.
http://benton.org/node/25699
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WHAT A NON-NEUTRAL 'NET LOOKS LIKE, UK-STYLE
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
One UK Internet service provider throttles P2P traffic, uses bandwidth caps, throttles streaming online video, and throttles "heavy users" of the network. The BBC is upset about the effect this has on its iPlayer streaming video service, but really, there are no surprises here. This is what a non-neutral network is allowed to look like.
http://benton.org/node/25678
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GORE BACKS ICANN ON EVE OF HEARING
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
On the eve of a congressional hearing to examine the future of the government's relationship with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, former-Vice President Al Gore has joined with Vint Cerf in acknowledging the success of the group's multi-stakeholder, bottom up governance. Gore led an interagency panel 12 years ago that was charged with coordinating the US government's electronic commerce strategy, which led to the creation of ICANN.
http://benton.org/node/25679
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BROADBAND WILL BE NEW TOOL IN DIPLOMACY ARSENAL
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Tina Nguyen]
Increasing broadband penetration will allow the U.S. to increase engagement abroad and will be an essential element of the Obama administration's diplomatic strategy, said Alec Ross, a senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "Twenty-first century statecraft" has the potential to "expand and enhance" the way by which the government engages the rest of the world, Ross said. In particular, Ross suggested America's position as a "driver of innovation" will give America an edge when practicing diplomacy. New media technologies are already allowing the president, vice president and secretary of state to push their messages directly to the people of foreign nations. And in some cases, Ross said people in those countries have responded by demanding that same openness of their own governments.
http://benton.org/node/25677
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ONLINE VIDEO USAGE DRAMATICALLY OVERSTATED
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Joe Mandese]
The amount of time Americans spend watching online video is vastly overstated, according to the findings of some highly regarded research made public Tuesday. The disclosure, which is likely one of the more controversial findings being mined from an ambitious piece of academic research that actually observed how people spend their time consuming media, was made during one of a series of so-called "collaborative alliance" meetings hosted by Havas media shop MPG for the advertising and media industry in New York. "This may be the first study to document the dramatic overstatement of online video and mobile video," said Jim Spaeth, one of the founders of Sequent Partners, which collaborated with Ball State University's Center for Media Design on the Video Consumer Mapping Study on behalf of the Nielsen-funded Council for Research Excellence. The project, which cost $3.5 million to field, directly observed how people spent their day using media, found that while growing rapidly, online video and mobile video still account for a small fraction of the amount of time Americans spend watching all forms of video content, including live TV programming, time-shifted television, DVDs, video games, etc.
http://benton.org/node/25673
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TELEVISION
FCC HAS FINAL DTV TRANSITION CHECKUP MEETING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission's monthly meeting for June focused on, what else, the transition to digital-only television broadcasting on June 12. The FCC says it is far readier than it would have been for the Feb. 17 date, but that concerns remain. "This is not a drill," said Acting Chairman Michael Copps, who said there would be no delaying this date, though he also said had Congress and the President not moved the date initially, the transition education effort would have been a "debacle that makes New Coke look like marketing genius." Bernadette McGuire-Rivera, who is heading up the coupon box program at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said she believed there would be enough money to send out the DTV-to-analog converter box coupons, while Christopher McLean of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition, said there would be enough boxes on store shelves. In fact, he said there would likely be an overall surplus. But there will be disruptions, said FCC acting Chairman Michael Copps, saying that the FCC could not accomplish in four months what should have been done in the past four years.
http://benton.org/node/25687
NETWORK TV DROPS 6% LAST SEASON, NBC IMPROVES
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wayne Friedman]
Looking at this year's nervous TV advertising upfront market, TV network executives should take some comfort in the recent past -- especially in contrast to other media. Last season, the five big English-language networks took in a collective $13.2 million from all dayparts from September 2008 to March 2009 -- a stiff 6% decline versus a year ago, according to TNS Media Intelligence. "Network TV is relatively better than other major media categories," says Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research for TNS Media Intelligence. Swallen notes that other media, especially local TV, national magazines, and local newspapers, have been stung with much greater ad revenue declines -- estimates of around 20% to 40% and more.
http://benton.org/node/25697
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OWNERSHIP
CLEAR CHANNEL LENDERS THREATEN REFINANCING PLAN
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Henny Sender, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson]
Some of the largest lenders to the private equity groups that led the $23.8 billion buy-out of Clear Channel Communications intend to turn down a proposed debt exchange, hoping to drive the radio and outdoor advertising company towards default. Agreed at the peak of the credit markets in 2006, the original Clear Channel buy-out would have seen Bain and TH Lee put up only 6 per cent of the total value, making the purchase one of the most leveraged deals on record. Bad feeling between the banks and the sponsors once credit markets turned spilled into the courts. It took until July 2008 for the two sides to complete a deal on revised terms. Banks swiftly wrote down the value of the loans, selling some to Bain, TH Lee and to hedge funds.
http://benton.org/node/25698
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HEARST MOVES ON MERGER
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Michael Malone]
Hearst has informed Hearst-Argyle Television that it is moving ahead with a merger in which Hearst-Argyle will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hearst and change its name to Hearst Television Inc. In the merger, all shares held by the remaining public shareholders of Hearst-Argyle will be cancelled and, subject to the shareholders' rights to exercise statutory appraisal rights, converted into the right to receive $4.50 per share in cash, without interest. Hearst plans to complete the merger within the next several business days, it says, at which point Hearst-Argyle's shares will no longer be traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
http://benton.org/node/25676
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PRIVACY
OPTING OUT OF TARGETED ADS TOO HARD, PRIVACY ADVOCATES SAY
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
The online advertising industry and U.S. policy makers need to give online users more control over the collection of personal data and surfing habits beyond the traditional opt-out approach, some privacy advocates said Wednesday. Dozens of online ad networks allow users to opt out of being tracked as a way to deliver behavioral advertising, and in most cases, the opt-out is stored in a cookie that goes away every time the users clear their browser cookies, privacy advocates said during a discussion of online advertising at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference. Privacy advocate Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, called on the FTC and Congress to take action to protect U.S. consumers. Online ad companies are now researching neuroscience as a way to target users' on a subconscious level, he said.
http://benton.org/node/25696
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DID NEBUAD STAGE CLOSING?
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wendy Davis]
Lawyers for behavioral targeting company NebuAd recently told a federal court that the company is out of business. But attorneys who are suing the controversial company alleged this week that NebuAd is only engaging in a "shell game" in order to avoid liability for allegedly violating Web users' privacy. In papers filed with the federal district court in San Francisco, consumers' lawyers allege that former NebuAd executives formed a new UK company, InsightReady, as part of a strategy to avoid damages in the lawsuit. "NebuAd has long known exactly what it would do to escape this lawsuit," the plaintiffs' lawyers allege. "From setting up the new corporate entity, to moving it to a new country, to staffing it with the same loyal executives who have been with it all along ... these are well-trod paths for the principal actors."
http://benton.org/node/25674
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JOURNALISM
CAN KNIGHT'S ALBERTO IBARGUEN SAVE THE NEWS BUSINESS?
[SOURCE: Forbes.com, AUTHOR: Dirk Smillie]
Knight Foundation Head Alberto Ibargüen is bankrolling dozens of experiments to save the news business. Can he rescue newspapers? took over as president of the $2 billion John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in May 2005 after serving as publisher of the Miami Herald, which won three Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure. Now Ibargüen is directing a multi-year plan to spend $100 million on 130 projects dedicated to new media and the future of news. They range from projects on community-financed reporting and media "test kitchens" at universities to a new journalism institute in India, home to the largest newspaper market in the world.
http://benton.org/node/25672
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MEDIA TO BLAME FOR NOT INFORMING US ABOUT IMPENDING RECESSION?
[SOURCE: Nielsen Business Media, AUTHOR: Kenneth Hein]
As the global economy appears to at least be bottoming out, questions still remain as to why so many people worldwide were blindsided by the severity of the crisis. Part of blame, it seems, may rest with the media. According to a recent 52-nation online survey conducted by The Nielsen Company, the general consensus among consumers across much of the world is that the media did a poor job informing the public about the issues leading up to the current financial crisis. In every region except Latin America, the percent of people who agreed or strongly agreed that media coverage was inadequate outnumbered those who disagreed by 2-to-1.
http://benton.org/node/25671
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QUICKLY
LEACH TAPPED FOR NEH
[SOURCE: The White House]
President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate former Republican Congressman Jim Leach as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Leach served as a member of the House of Representatives for the state of Iowa for 30 years. He founded and co-chaired the Congressional Humanities Caucus, which is dedicated to advocating on behalf of the humanities in the House of Representatives and to raising the profile of humanities in the United States. The Caucus worked to promote and preserve humanities programs and commissions such as the Historical Publications and Records Commission. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/25675
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A POLITICAL MESSAGE AMID THE MOVIE TRAILERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Olson]
Coming to theaters are commercials that are intended to spell out the perils of frivolous lawsuits as told by "everyday Americans," including small-business owners who have been hit with costly lawsuits they believed were arbitrary and abusive. The series of two-minute trailers is the latest salvo in a long-running political battle over whether there should be curbs on bringing civil lawsuits. The United States Chamber of Commerce, which represents three million businesses, is hoping this "Faces of Lawsuit Abuse" ad campaign, from its Institute for Legal Reform, can revitalize interest in restricting litigation.
http://benton.org/node/25695
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SMALL BUSINESSES ARE TAKING TENTATIVE STEPS TOWARD ONLINE NETWORKING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Mickey Meece]
By choice or necessity, successful small-business owners are earnest networkers, gladly shaking hands, handing out cards and attending local meetings to find and keep customers, solve problems, seek feedback or support and bolster their bottom lines. Now, the Internet is starting to upend those long-established methods; online networking on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and newer niche sites can be instantaneous and far-reaching. The sites are efficient and free, which is especially important in an economic downturn, as owners scramble for new customer.
http://benton.org/node/25694
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