BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2009
A breakfast discussion on Health and the National Broadband Plan kicks off a busy week http://bit.ly/aL1Ox
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Telephone Company Is Arm of Government, Feds Admit in Spy Suit
SPECTRUM
Television's Spectral Gold Mine
FCC Grants Microsoft White Space Licenses
INTERNET/BROADBAND
30 Companies Control One Third of All Internet Traffic
Measuring broadband shouldn't be this hard
How turnkey can open community fiber become?
We Must Anchor Our Communities With Fiber
FCC Broadband Field Hearing on Access for People with Disabilities
Network Neutrality Opponents Continue to Press Case in Washington
Judge Dismisses Case Against ISPs That Worked With Closed NebuAd
Google Voice, AT&T, and the FCC: Fighting Over the Wrong Thing
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
States Receiving Long-Awaited Funds for Enhanced 911
Plain Talk Eases Police Radio Codes Off The Air
TELEVISION/RADIO
Later Viewings of Shows on DVRs Brighten Ratings
GE Could Unwind Stake in NBC Universal
Radio Will Stop Playing Music
HEALTH
Texting, Surfing, Studying?
Kaiser to use $54M award to sift EHRs for clues to healthcare's greatest challenges
ADVERTISING
Truth in Advertising, Offline or Online
POLICYMAKERS
Snowe may be risking Commerce Committee leadership on healthcare reform vote
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
TELEPHONE COMPANY IS ARM OF GOVERNMENT, FEDS ADMIT SPY SUIT
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Ryan Singel]
The Department of Justice has finally admitted it in court papers: The nation's telecom companies are an arm of the government — at least when it comes to secret spying. Fortunately, a judge says that relationship isn't enough to squash a rights group's open records request for communications between the nation's telecoms and the feds. The Electronic Frontier Foundation wanted to see what role telecom lobbying of the Justice Department played when the government began its year-long, and ultimately successful, push to win retroactive immunity for AT&T and others being sued for unlawfully spying on American citizens. The feds argued that the documents showing consultation over the controversial telecom immunity proposal weren't subject to the Freedom of Information Act since they were protected as "intra-agency" records: "The communications between the agencies and telecommunications companies regarding the immunity provisions of the proposed legislation have been regarded as intra-agency because the government and the companies have a common interest in the defense of the pending litigation and the communications regarding the immunity provisions concerned that common interest." US District Court Judge Jeffery White disagreed and ruled on September 24 that the feds had to release the names of the telecom employees that contacted the Justice Department and the White House to lobby for a get-out-of-court-free card.
benton.org/node/28739 | Wired
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SPECTRUM
TELEVISION'S SPECTRAL GOLD MINE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Martin Peers]
One of the best places to find inefficiently used spectrum is undoubtedly television stations. The rise of cable TV has undercut the need for broadcast stations. As of July, nearly 90% of US households paid for television either from cable, satellite or phone companies rather than getting it free from broadcast stations, according to Nielsen. Competition for viewers and ad dollars has eroded TV stations' business so badly that a number are struggling financially. And things will get worse if, as has been suggested, broadcast networks cut ties to stations and convert to cable-channel status as a way of generating more revenue. Shutting off stations unilaterally probably isn't practical given the public-interest arguments in favor of free broadcasting. But some argue that reconfiguring how broadcast TV's spectrum is used and allocated would free up as much as half the bandwidth TV currently occupies while allowing outlets to continue broadcasting. Broadcasters are allocated channels of spectrum that ranges across roughly 300 megahertz of bandwidth. Each station needs only six MHz, and few markets have more than 10 or 20 stations. Much of the spectrum is left unused, because signals interfere if they are too close together. But technology has moved on. One possibility now would be to use cellular technology used by wireless carriers to overcome the interference problem. Broadcast channels' frequencies could be grouped closer together, freeing up 130 to 180 MHz of bandwidth, or two to three times the amount that was auctioned off last year for $19 billion.
benton.org/node/28738 | Wall Street Journal
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FCC GRANTS MICROSOFT WHITE SPACE LICENSES
[SOURCE: Television Broadcast, AUTHOR: ]
Microsoft now has a license -- WF2XBT--to use 174-216 MHz (TV Chs. 7-13), 512-608 GHz (TV Chs. 21-36) and 614-698 MHz (TV Chs. 38-51) -- "to conduct research and experimentation regarding use of the television broadcast bands (the white spaces)." Operation will be fixed and mobile in Redmond (WA).
benton.org/node/28729 | TelevisionBroadcast
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
30 COMPANIES CONTROL ONE THIRD OF ALL INTERNET TRAFFIC
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Ed Gubbins]
The majority of Internet traffic now goes through direct peers and does not flow through incumbent tier-one telecom networks, according to a recent report from Arbor Networks, which sells network management and security products. Tier-one incumbents were once the chief providers of connectivity between content companies like Google and local or regional broadband providers like Comcast. But over time, Google and other content providers have built out their own infrastructure, connecting more directly to end users and bypassing those tier-one intermediaries. "This is a pretty dramatic shift," said Craig Labovitz, Arbor's chief scientist. The trend coincides with another that Arbor cited in the recent report: the consolidation of companies that control the Internet. About 30 large companies - including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, which Arbor referred to as "hypergiants" -- control nearly a third of all Internet traffic today. Whereas two years ago it took more than 5,000 companies to handle just half the world's Internet traffic, today that volume is controlled by about 150 companies, Arbor said. Google alone controls 7% of the world's Internet traffic.
Most Internet traffic bypasses tier-one networks
benton.org/node/28748 | TelephonyOnline
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MEASURING BROADBAND SHOULDN'T BE THIS HARD
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Carol Wilson]
The Government Accountability Office has discovered what pretty much everyone in telecom already knew: Despite the best efforts of bureaucrats and broadband advocates, we don't really have solid data about broadband deployment and speeds that can be used to make national or international comparisons. How hard can it be to determine who can get broadband, and at what speed and price? Apparently, nearly impossible. As the GAO report issued last Friday states, the Federal Communications Commission's efforts are weak, since they don't require service providers to provide information on speeds, price, availability and service reliability. Similarly, the GAO said, the current broadband stimulus effort doesn't require applicants to report broadband speeds in a consistent manner. Can't the telecom industry get its act together on this one issue? Apparently not. In their comments to the GAO, the service providers and their trade organizations said the status quo is just fine, since a competitive market is delivering faster speeds at lower prices.
benton.org/node/28737 | TelephonyOnline
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HOW TURNKEY CAN OPEN COMMUNITY FIBER BECOME?
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Ed Gubbins]
The open community fiber network is transforming from an experimental ad-hoc endeavor to a more commercialized market, thanks in part to the promise of broadband stimulus funds. Across the country, those in need of broadband have launched grassroots public/private partnerships for creating fast, open fiber networks that link municipalities, hospitals, schools and other key community members, leasing excess capacity to encourage private providers to deploy broadband where it wasn't cost-effective before. But whereas those efforts have previously been trials by fire, they are now imagined on a much more massive scale. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has done some back-of-the-envelope math on applying community fiber across the entire underserved U.S., figuring a total cost between $5 billion and $10 billion to link key tenants such as hospitals, libraries, schools and colleges. The FCC, which is still formulating its national broadband strategy, has taken notice of those numbers, asking for public feedback on the Gates Foundation estimates. Meanwhile, the private sector is gaining speed in its pursuit of this market. Alcatel-Lucent is formalizing its approach, recently announcing a "turnkey Open Community Broadband" offering worldwide that combines its own fiber access networks with technologies from an ecosystem of partners.
benton.org/node/28736 | TelephonyOnline
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WE MUST ANCHOR OUR COMMUNITIES WITH FIBER
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
Is there really any more debate on as to whether or not all community anchor institutions need fiber? Unlike residential broadband, where there's an assumption that not everyone will be online at the same time, in schools there's the likelihood that everyone will be wanting to get online simultaneously as they're all in class at the same time. In a hospital you're somewhat less likely than schools to have everyone online at the same time, but what you do have a lot of is moving around big files like MRIs and CT scans combined with the urgent need to transfer data quickly. But while community anchors are often referred to in terms of public institutions like schools, libraries, and hospitals, Daily thinks when it comes to how fiber can anchor communities it's important to consider the needs of major employers in any given area, because without them to anchor employment communities can't survive.
benton.org/node/28735 | App-Rising.com
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FCC BROADBAND FIELD HEARING ON ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled a field hearing at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. on November 6, 2009 on disabilities access issues as part of its effort to gather information from experts and consumers for the development of a National Broadband Plan. Commissioner Michael Copps will host the hearing, and the public is encouraged to attend and participate. Additional information on the agenda, facilities and accommodations will be announced shortly. The field hearing on disability access issues is one of several field hearings and staff workshops that the FCC is conducting to promote dialogue between the FCC and the public on the development of a National Broadband Plan. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 directed the FCC to submit a National Broadband Plan to Congress by February 17, 2010 that addresses broadband deployment, adoption, affordability, and the use of broadband to advance solutions to various national priorities. The hearing will provide an opportunity for discussion of the many ways people with disabilities are affected by broadband deployment and adoption from panelists and the public.
benton.org/node/28734 | Federal Communications Commission
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY OPPONENTS CONTINUE TO PRESS CASE IN WASHINGTON
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Free market think tank Phoenix Center circulated a policy bulletin Monday, warning limits on network management could actually expand the digital divide. And free market think tank the American Consumer Institute (ACI) in a "consumergram" warned about applying new formal network openness rules to wireless as well as wired networks, as FCC chairman Julius Genachowski and his Democratic colleagues plan to propose at next week's open meeting.
benton.org/node/28733 | Multichannel News
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JUDGE DISMISSES CASE AGAINST ISPs THAT WORKED WITH CLOSED NEBUAD
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wendy Davis]
A federal judge has dismissed a privacy lawsuit against six Internet service providers who worked with defunct behavioral targeting company NebuAd. US District Court Judge Thelton Henderson in the northern district of California ruled that it would be unfair to force the ISPs -- Bresnan, CenturyTel, Embarq, Knology, WOW, and Cable One -- to defend themselves in California when they had no contact with the state except for their contract with the Redwood City-based NebuAd. "The six ISP Defendants have sustained their burden of demonstrating that haling them to court in California is unreasonable under these circumstances," Judge Henderson wrote. "Exercising jurisdiction over them would not comport with notions of fair play and substantial justice." The consumers' lawyer says he intends to refile complaints against the ISPs in other states. "The decision should not be an impediment to the plaintiffs ultimately obtaining their day in court and the recovery they deserve," says Scott Kamber, a partner in the law firm KamberEdelson.
benton.org/node/28731 | MediaPost
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GOOGLE VOICE, AT&T AND THE FCC: FIGHTING OVER THE WRONG THING
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Stephen Wildstrom]
[Commentary] What do Google Voice, AT&T, sex chat lines, and New Deal efforts to provide rural telephone service have to do with each other? Quite a bit, it turns out; the seemingly unrelated issues of sex chat and rural phone service lie at the heart of the dispute between Google and AT&T. The real problem is an antiquated system of telecom regulation that, alas, is not likely to get fixed anytime soon. Unfortunately, there appears to be no taste in Congress for a comprehensive overhaul of telecommunications law and even the fixing of obvious problems like universal service is proceeding at a glacial pace. Fortunately, there does seem to be at least a bit of progress on the state level. On Sept. 23, the Iowa Utilities Board ruled, in a case brought by Qwest Communications (with AT&T and Sprint as intervenors) that a group of rural exchange carriers had massively overcharged on termination fees. In a sense, AT&T and Google are both victims of a ridiculous anachronism, as is the FCC, which must enforce it. They should all be working together to bring telecom regulation into the 21st century.
benton.org/node/28747 | BusinessWeek
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
STATES RECEIVING LONG-AWAITED FUNDS FOR ENHANCED 911
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Matt Williams]
The Federal Register estimates that of the 240 million 911 calls made each year, approximately one-third of them come from wireless phones. Obviously some people carry cell phones for a sense of security. With a cell phone, a person can call 911 from just about anywhere. But the irony is that sometimes calling from a landline phone yields faster 911 service. And in a life-or-death event, minutes and seconds count. The ability to address that problem is why public safety officials are excited about a $40 million grant recently announced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The funds will help 911 call centers route calls from wireless phones and IP-based phones more quickly and efficiently. The federal grants will help states implement improvements prescribed by the Ensuring Needed Help Arrives Near Callers Employing 911 (ENHANCE 911) Act of 2004.
benton.org/node/28745 | Government Technology
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PLAIN TALK EASES POLICE RADIO CODES OFF THE AIR
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Laura Sullivan]
Police radio can sound like an algebra class, with all those 10-4s and 187s. But more and more departments are trying a radical approach: asking officers who need backup or want to report a robbery to do so in plain old English. Coded police talk came about during the 1920s and '30s, when radio channels were scarce. Officers needed to get on and off the air quickly. They created what are called 10 codes, and then later signal codes. Police also thought the codes would keep things less public. The real push to plain English came after Sept. 11, followed by Hurricane Katrina, when dozens of neighboring police responded to New York City, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans only to be met by utter confusion on the radio. Three years ago, the Department of Homeland Security asked police agencies to voluntarily make the switch.
benton.org/node/28744 | National Public Radio
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TELEVISION/RADIO
LATER VIEWINGS OF SHOWS ON DVRs BRIGHTEN RATINGS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Bill Carter]
Across network television, shows during premiere week got a substantial lift. For about half the shows in prime time, 51 in all, ratings for ages 18 to 49 grew by more than 20 percent when the seven-day DVR playback results were factored in. "This confirms what we've known: the DVR is our frenemy," said Alan Wurtzel, the president of research for NBC, meaning the recording devices are both friend and enemy to network television. That's because the devices clearly offer the opportunity to expand the reach of network shows but they also allow viewers the chance to skip through commercials, a serious concern for advertisers. But David F. Poltrack, the chief research officer for CBS, argued that, without reservation, "the DVR is a good thing for network television." He said, "One thing that has most limited viewing was shows being on against one another. The DVR has made it easy to watch any show you want."
benton.org/node/28741 | New York Times
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GE COULD UNWIND STAKE IN NBC UNIVERSAL
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Ryan Nakashima]
A proposed deal to acquire media giant NBC Universal would give current owner General Electric the ability to unwind its stake over several years, and could see Comcast commit billions more to the joint venture. GE would be allowed to redeem some portion of its 49 percent stake for cash after 3.5 years and again after 7 years. The cash would be generated by NBC Universal's operations, although Comcast has agreed it could provide up to "mid-single billions" of dollars to backstop the purchase of GE's remaining stake. Buying GE's remaining stake would not be mandatory, however. Any money Comcast ends up putting toward buying out GE's stake would be on top of the estimated $6 billion in cash plus its cable network assets that it is already committing to the companies' venture. The total value of the proposed joint venture between Comcast and GE is estimated around $30 billion, and it would carry about $9 billion in debt.
benton.org/node/28740 | Associated Press
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RADIO WILL STOP PLAYING MUSIC
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Tamara Conniff]
[Commentary] Stations are threatening to flip to talk, religion and sports. Or even worse, only play hit songs. Why? The music industry wants radio to pay for playing music. Radio stations currently pay the songwriters and publishers of songs, but not the artists performing the work (which often is different from the songwriter). Of course radio should pay. Part of the reason why songs become popular is because of the performers. However, it may be too little too late. The coffers have dried up. If radio is really 'promotional' for record labels, then maybe the labels should pay radio stations every time a song is played? Oh right, program directors asked for that once upon a time, and the labels coughed it up. It's called payola.
benton.org/node/28732 | Huffington Post, The
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HEALTH
TEXTING, SURFING, STUDYING?
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Perry Klass]
[Commentary] Certain subjects make self-righteous parents of us all: our children thinking they are doing homework when in reality the text messages are flying, the Internet browsers are open, the video is streaming, the loud rock music is blaring on the turntable... but "The literature looking at media and its impact on attentional skills is just in its infancy," said Renee Hobbs, a professor of mass media and communications at Temple University and a specialist in media literacy. A recent and much-discussed study showed decreased productivity in adults who were multitasking — or as Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington , put it, "The truth is you don't really multitask, you just think you do; the brain can't process two high-level cognitive things." What you are actually doing, he went on, is "oscillating between the two." So are teenagers any better at oscillating?
benton.org/node/28742 | New York Times
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KAISER TO USE $54M AWARD TO SIFT EHRs FOR CLUES TO HEALTHCARE'S GREATEST CHALLENGES
[SOURCE: GovernemntHealthIT, AUTHOR: Mary Mosquera]
The National Institutes of Health awarded Kaiser Permanente $54 million in grants for projects that will tap clinical information from the provider's mammoth electronic health record database to study links between genes and conditions such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes and aging. The NIH funding originated with the HITECH Act, which allocated $400 million to NIH to support comparative effectiveness research. The largest of the 22 awards provides $24.8 million to study the influence of genes and the environment on health, disease and longevity over time and across diverse groups of people. The grants will fund genotyping of 100,000 Kaiser members in Northern California. The University of California in San Francisco is also a partner in the research. The analysis will link genetic information with historical clinical data taken from health surveys and Kaiser's electronic health record database, according to Raymond Baxter, senior vice president for Kaiser. Researchers will add to the study environmental information, such as air and water quality and proximity to parks and healthy foods.
benton.org/node/28730 | GovernemntHealthIT
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ADVERTISING
TRUTH IN ADVERTISING, OFFLINE OR ONLINE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] With so many advertising dollars flowing onto blogs, Facebook and Twitter, it is not surprising that the Federal Trade Commission, which is charged with protecting consumers from sneaky advertising, has turned its eye on this new medium. The rules offline should clearly apply online. This is a matter of principle, not medium, and the new rules are not an excessive burden. The guidelines state that endorsers must disclose payments in cash or in kind from companies whose products they endorse. Telling a commentator flogging a product online to disclose commercial ties does not constitute a challenge to free speech. Still, regulators should tread carefully. As it enforces rules about disclosure of product endorsements on the Internet's platforms, the FTC must care not to hamstring the ability of bloggers and twitterers to report and comment about the world. To stay on the safe side, regulators should focus enforcement on the advertising companies rather than on the bloggers. Advertisers are the drivers of this new trend. The onus should be on them to ensure that blogs pitching their stuff warn readers about the commercial motivation of the endorsements. But disclosure is a reasonable demand to make in any medium. It protects consumers and bolsters the bonds of trust between writers and their audience.
benton.org/node/28746 | New York Times
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POLICYMAKERS
SNOWE MAY BE RISKING COMMERCE COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP ON HEALTHCARE REFORM VOTE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Alexander Bolton]
Sen Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is risking a shot at becoming the top Republican on the influential Senate Commerce Committee by backing Democratic healthcare legislation, according to senators on the panel. Republicans on the panel are threatening to vote against Sen Snowe, who is in line for the senior GOP post that is about to come open. "A vote for healthcare would be something that would weigh on our minds when it came time to vote," said a Republican on Commerce, who said Snowe would otherwise be assured of the ranking member post if not for the healthcare debate. Every other GOP member of Finance is expected to vote against the healthcare bill. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the senior Republican on Commerce, is preparing to leave the chamber to run for governor in the coming weeks.
benton.org/node/28743 | Hill, The
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