October 2009

When It Comes to Net Neutrality, the Future of Filtering Is Up for Debate

[Commentary] Within the media and technology circles in Washington, the battle over the shape of Network Neutrality rules has already begun. At the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit panelists clashed over whether the agency will or should allow, or even mandate, the use of deep packet inspection (DPI) and other invasive techniques to block the illegal transfer of copyrighted content over broadband networks. There were numerous skeptics of filtering, the loudest being Harold Feld, legal director of Public Knowledge. The problem, he said, is that there's a culture of user behavior and there's a culture of regulatory behavior, and the two are completely disconnected. "If you introduce filtering, or require filtering, people will find a way around the filtering," he explained. "They'll start encrypting content so the filters can't detect it, or they'll find some other way. Then you'll have people coming to Washington saying we need to make it illegal to find a way around the filters and that somehow that will solve the problem. That's exactly what we did in 1998 when we passed the [Digital Millennium Copyright Act], which made it illegal to get around DRM. Does anyone think piracy disappeared in 1998?"

Free State Foundation Legal Thinkers Criticize Network Neutrality

"The big divide in the net neutrality debate is between those who think all discrimination however conceived is anti-competitive, and those who believe discrimination is only a problem when it is anti-competitive," said Northwestern Law professor James Speta at a Free State Foundation event on Tuesday. Speta said he and University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Christopher Yoo are in the latter camp.

Regulation of Special Access Market Unnecessary, Says Phoenix Center

The level of competition among special access providers in metropolitan areas has been an issue for a number of years. While some believe that simply allowing these providers to operate in a truly open market would solve these problems., many others feel that the Federal Communications Commission should increase regulation. A recent paper by the Phoenix Center supports the deregulatory position.

Comcast-NBCU Merger Spells Big-Time Change Everywhere

Comcast's bid to co-own NBC Universal is a grab for digital content dominance that will trigger influential paid models, force a revamp of broadcast television and spawn a new wave of media deals. Despite the favorable deal terms discussed, Comcast would have to justify the bold move by creating pay walls for content, reducing its reliance on advertising and revamping broadcast TV and cable delivery, which will be increasingly marginalized by streaming video online. Radical changes to existing business models are inevitable in the creation of a new media giant that defies the industry's dismal track record with such unions. A potential merger poses new doubts about whether content can be profitably managed by a media behemoth mired in slower-growing distribution assets. It may be irrelevant that the potential NBCU-Comcast deal already is getting mixed reviews from industry analysts and shareholders. The time has come for major change.

Behavioral Marketing: Self-Regulation No Longer An Option

[Commentary] It's no secret that the behavioral marketing industry has been working to implement self-regulation policies for the past year. The initial purpose of this was to avoid impending legislation that the government is exploring due to concerns brought forth from advocacy groups about consumer privacy and data protection online. The thought was if we could self regulate, the government would be appeased and the threat of litigation would go away. Well, that really isn't the case. In my opinion it's not 'if' legislation will come -- it's 'when' it will come and 'what' will that legislation be. It's the complexity and the confusion that legislation can cause is what is the most concerning. Will the powers-that-be truly understand what is going on inside our industry? Will the future legislation bring innovation to a halt? Hopefully not if the industry gives its cooperation and input into the process.

Genachowski Hopes FCC Will Deal With PEG Carriage Soon

In August Rep Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) asked the Federal Communications Commission to act promptly to address the "grave and immediate" challenges to public, educational, and governmental (PEG) cable channels. She indicated that AT&T and Comcast "are exercising inappropriate control over PEG channels to make them less accessible to viewers, and are claiming the right to provide PEG channels without the functionality, at a lower quality or at an effectively higher price than, for example, broadcast channels carried on the basic cable service tier." FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has now replied saying he hopes the Commission will be able to act soon. "Staff of the Commission's Media Bureau is evaluating the record developed in the proceeding," wrote Chairman Genachowski, "and I hope that the Commission will be in a position to address the issues raised in the petitions in the near future."

Google Links Up With Verizon to Fight Apple

Verizon will to launch Android handsets sometime in "the next few weeks." Google will create Android-based devices preloaded with apps that will run on Verizon's network. Straight off its snarky ad campaign attacking Apple's iPhone, it looks like Verizon will finally offer consumers the type of next-generation mobile phone operating system and experience that have been available on AT&T and T-Mobile for more than a year. Meanwhile, Google gets a large carrier partner that can help it win over market share for Android.

Specialists, primary care providers differ in meaningful use

The Health IT Policy Committee is wrestling with the underlying differences between how primary care providers and specialists such as oncologists and cancer treatment centers might use health IT most productively. The panel is working on what should be required of providers to show meaningful use of health IT to be eligible for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments. The policy committee, which will meet Oct. 27 and 28, will focus on how to map meaningful use objectives to medical specialties as well as small practices and hospitals.

Tweaks in policy or taxes, not major bailouts, would help newspapers serve readers

[Commentary] A federal bailout newspapers would not advance the critical role newspapers pay in their communities. A better approach would be tweaks in federal and state policies that can help newspapers become more sustainable. The L3C (low-profit limited liability company) model is a better solution than the not-for-profit. It sets up a system that plows profits back into the newspaper. Probably not a system that would interest the big chains. But it could be a good model for a local person or a group that wants to buy a newspaper from a bankrupt chain like Tribune. Washington state newspapers received a break on the state business-and-occupation tax this year. A rather minor assist that is already applied to larger companies in the aerospace and timber industries. Yes, newspapers have a different relationship with the government than Boeing or Weyerhaeuser. But minor tweaks to taxing or new ownership models made possible in Congress won't lead to journalists being wards of the state. What it will help ensure is that some, not all, newspapers will make it through this slumping economy with a sustainable structure.

Senate Passes Bill Allowing Cellphone-Jamming In Prisons

The Senate late Monday approved a bill to allow jailers to jam cellphone connections inside prisons. Recent high-profile cases of contraband cellphones in prisons, coupled with the buzz over cell-jamming legislation, is helping spur a new market for wireless companies and intelligence contractors bent on stopping inmate cellphone use. The bill, sponsored by the Senate Commerce Committee's ranking Republican, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, allows prisons to petition the Federal Communications Commission to use cellphone-jamming devices as long as they don't cause interference with bona fide communications. The bill calls for the FCC to write rules on cell-jamming. The commission would be required to conduct field tests of proposed equipment and consider other available technologies designed to stop unauthorized use of cellphones in prisons. Current law bans jamming devices in all but a few isolated instances. Talks in Congress about easing the jamming ban is causing companies with different types of cellphone security services to jockey for favorable treatment in the bill. To become law, the measure also needs to pass the House.

Benton

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