March 2011

Feb 19 - March 4: In Like a Lion

"In like a lion," the old saying goes. And March arrives with a bluster of activity around broadband.

Universal Broadband

The Leichtman Research Group reported this week that the broadband growth rate cooled for the fourth year in a row. The 19 largest cable and telephone providers, which account for about 93% of the US broadband market, acquired 3.4 million net high-speed Internet subscribers last year. That's compared with 4.1 million in 2009, 5.4 million in 2008, 8.5 million in 2007 and a peak of 10.4 million in 2006. High-speed Internet services are now vital to communities' economic health and even well-connected smaller cities can now compete with traditional urban powers like New York and Chicago. We've seen few private-sector solutions to slowing broadband uptake. Boston, for example, recently partnered with Comcast to give low-income residents cheaper rates for Internet services.

"In a post-Civil Rights era," Malkia Cyril of the Center for Media Justice wrote in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, "we should be beyond a time when there were such clear gaps in the rights and opportunities for different members of our society. She noted that America has work to do before our vision of an equal society is a reality -- highlighted by the national Broadband Map which shows that large sections of the country have little to no access to high-speed Internet service. This means drastically fewer opportunities for millions of Americans to take classes, apply for jobs or attract employers to struggling areas. "To make sure that efforts to increase Internet access are effective, we need the Federal Communications Commission to have the authority to set real and meaningful rules for Internet service providers to benefit all Americans."

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act invested billions into broadband deployment and adoption. But budget concerns now have some suggesting cutbacks on funding for rural broadband and the Department of Agriculture's Community Connect program. And some companies have been more vocal about why they shunned ARRA funding. However, researchers now say broadband is a key ingredient in addressing areas of persisting poverty in the US. “The provision of broadband won't in and of itself change much in terms of economic prospects,” said Brian Dabson, director of the Rural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri. “But without it there is very little chance you can improve.” In addition, ARRA funding has supported buildout of middle mile open access fiber networks (http://benton.org/node/51747) that provide connections for multiple, local broadband access providers. When you look globally, writes Dan O'Shea in Connected Planet countries like China really are carrying the broadband spending load, and you have to wonder what will happen in countries like the US that have been leaning a bit on stimulus after the stimulus era is over.

Last month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a major overhaul of the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) focused on the programs that subsidize network deployment and use in rural areas. And lobbyists are taking the opportunity to promote their own agendas. One key piece to reform will be broadening the base of contributors to the fund. The Consumer Federation of America has gone as far as to suggest that high-bandwidth companies -- like Netflix -- should contribute to the fund.

On March 3, the FCC also proposed a major overhaul of the two USF programs -- called Lifeline and LinkUp -- focused on adoption by low-income consumers. The FCC is considering changes in rules including:

Strengthening protections against waste, fraud, and abuse, including through creation of a National Accountability Database to verify consumer eligibility;
Taking immediate steps to create a uniform national framework for validating ongoing eligibility;
Ensuring Lifeline only supports services consumers are actually using;
Allowing discounts to be used for bundled voice-broadband service plans;
Launching pilot programs to test strategies for supporting broadband service; and
Evaluating a cap on the program, either temporary or permanent, in light of recent, rapid growth.

Although part of last year's National Broadband Plan, the Lifeline/LinkUp proposal drew some criticism from the Plan's architect, Blair Levin. He said the two programs should both be phased out rather than expanded to promote broadband because spreading broadband to low-income groups is a different kind of problem than spreading telephone access. He recognized cost of service as a major issue, but noted that the FCC should also craft a program prepared to deal with challenges around device literacy, search literacy, and even basic word literacy. "No one needs these to use a phone," he said. Levin detailed a new way forward, proposing an FCC assistance program created from scratch. The program would entirely focus on broadband, and heavily emphasize training.

At its March 3 meeting, the FCC also launched a proceeding focused on improving broadband access for Native Nations and named a FCC-Native Nations Broadband Task Force to assist in developing and executing a FCC consultation policy, eliciting input to ensure that Native concerns are considered in all Commission proceedings related to broadband, developing additional recommendations for promoting broadband deployment and adoption on Tribal lands, and coordinating with external entities, including other federal departments and agencies.

Network Neutrality

At Congress, the recent debate has centered not on universal deployment and adoption of broadband, but on the FCC's open Internet rules adopted in December. Funding for implementation of those rules has been part of the budget debate, but House Republicans are fighting network neutrality on a number of fronts. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) fired a major salvo in a speech in which he made clear that Republicans have no intention of finding any compromise on network neutrality.

House Democrats argue that proposal from House Republicans to repeal network neutrality could tie the hands of the FCC and prevent the agency from reissuing Internet line rules, which have been broadly accepted, House Democrats said. The memo says that the Republican plan to roll back the rules through the Congressional Review Act (CRA) could create "uncertainty" about the FCC's role. They oppose CRA repeal of network neutrality rules because there is "broad agreement on certain aspects of the FCC’s rules, such as the need for transparency, the prohibition on blocking of lawful content, and the right to exercise reasonable network management." The CRA repeal, however, "would bluntly remove the FCC’s authority to enforce even these consensus measures," the Democrats argue.

House Commerce Committee Republican leadership ultimately rescheduled a network neutrality vote with a hearing on the CRA appeal on March 9. Meanwhile, House GOP leaders huddle with Internet service providers -- asking industry for more support in the effort to repeal the rules. At the end of the day, however, there's little chance Congress will overturn the FCC's rules.

Broadband Policy in the States

Finally, not all broadband action is in Washington (DC) these days. The North Carolina state legislature is considering a bill that would restrict municipal broadband. In Illinois, Gov Pat Quinn (D-IL) remains undecided about signing an Internet sales tax bill sitting on his desk: It could force thousands of website marketers to flee the state, but he expressed strong concern that brick-and-mortar retailers are hurt by the current tax system. And although Congress is still considering legalizing online gambling, Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) vetoed a bill that would have made his state the first in the nation to legalize Internet gambling. Regardless of Gov Christie's decision, gambling experts say momentum is growing behind states' efforts to legalize online gambling for their own residents, known as intrastate gambling. Last week, Iowa lawmakers introduced a bill to legalize online poker, and California and Florida are among other states considering similar bills. Once one state passes an online-gambling law, "you will see other states go 'aha.' It will spread very rapidly," said Anthony Cabot, an expert in Internet gambling law.

March 4, 2011 (FCC Meeting Recap)

National Day of Unplugging this weekend

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2011

Three items on the agenda today: Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, FCC Interoperability Forum, and (hold your hat) a 47 U.S.C. § 230: a 15 Year Retrospective http://benton.org/calendar/2011-03-04/

NEWS FROM THE FCC MEETING
   Expanding Broadband and Other Communications Services in Native Nations
   FCC's Genachowski Names Members to the FCC-Native Nations Broadband Task Force
   FCC Waives Sunshine Rules to Meet with Native Nations Leaders
   AT&T: FCC Can Act Now to Boost Tribal Communications
   FCC Takes a Fresh Look at Its Retransmission Consent Rules
   FCC Proposes Comprehensively Reforming and Modernizing Lifeline/Link Up
   See also: FCC to increase oversight of phone subsidy plan
   FCC Proposes to Update Rules Allowing Accessibility to Advanced Communications to 54 Million Consumers With Disabilities
   FCC Reports to Congress on Eliminating Market Entry Barriers For Entrepreneurs and Other Small Businesses
   AT&T Asks FCC for Authority to Discontinue Services in 16 States

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   Communications and Technology Subcommittee Schedules Second Hearing on FCC’s Efforts to Regulate Internet
   House lawmakers face uphill battle in overturning FCC network neutrality rules
   The FCC's Neutral Net
   In The Never-Never Land of Net Neutrality Opposition, Favored Companies Win

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Moving forward with Internet freedom
   Reconsidering broadband stimulus
   Broadband stimulus and poverty
   Constitutional Amendment on Internet Freedom
   Web Video Rivalry Sparks US Probe
   Interim Spending Law Cuts Cybersecurity Funds
   A Declaration of Cyber-War
   Christie Vetoes Bill to Legalize Internet Gambling

WIRELESS
   Free messaging apps threaten wireless carriers' cash cow
   Gordon Smith on Spectrum Reclamation: We Won't Be Rolled
   Cable industry pushes back on charges of spectrum hoarding
   MetroPCS ‘Looking at Everything’ in Wireless Spectrum Search
   How the iPad 2 Will Revolutionize Education
   Who is Winning the U.S. Smartphone Battle?
   Cellphone Networks and the Future of Traffic

TELEVISION
Public Broadcasting Should Go Private
Both sides spending heavily in ad wars in Wisconsin budget and labor dispute

OWNERSHIP
The Antitrust Regulators Are Circling Google
UK Government Approves News Corp's BSkyB Takeover

STORIES FROM ABROAD
China Tightens Controls on Foreign Press
China plans to track cellphone users, sparking human rights concerns

COMMUNITY MEDIA
These headlines presented in partnership with:

   The Internet: A Tool for Civic Engagement?
   Public library braces for cuts
   Community Media Center of Marin seeks to change its funding mechanism
   Vocalo relaunch dials up new direction

MORE ONLINE
   Leibowitz Nominated For Second Term as FTC Chair
   Sec. of State Hillary Clinton: Al Jazeera is 'Real News', U.S. Losing 'Information War'
   Wisconsin, Libya Lead the Blogs
   Hearing on Duplication and Inefficiencies of Federal Programs
   Senate schedules nomination hearing for new White House tech official
   Copyright Office Launches Inquiry Into Phasing Out Compulsory Carriage Licenses

back to top

NEWS FROM THE FCC MEETING

TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN NATIVE NATIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission acted on several regulatory items to strengthen and expand communications services to Native Nations and their communities. The Commission held a Native Nations Day as part of its open meeting with a renewed focus on initiatives that will help expand access to vital communications, including broadband, wireless and radio services in these communities across the United States. The meeting included public presentations from several Native Nation leaders, and afternoon nation-to-nation consultation sessions. The items adopted by the FCC include:
A Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on improving communications services for Native Nations that seeks comment on a number of issues, including greater broadband deployment, the need for a uniform definition of Tribal lands to be used agency-wide in rulemakings, and the importance of strengthening the FCC's nation-to-nation consultation process with Native Nations.
A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on ways to expand the efficient use of spectrum over Tribal lands so as to improve access to mobile wireless communications, which will provide consumers with more choices on how they communicate, share information and get their news.
A Second Report and Order, First Order on Reconsideration, and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) that will help expand opportunities for Tribal entities to provide broadcast radio services to Native communities.
benton.org/node/51953 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Genachowski
Recommend this Headline
back to top

FCC-NATIVE NATIONS BROADBAND TASK FORCE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski named 30 members to serve on the new FCC-Native Nations Broadband Task Force. The Task Force is comprised of elected and appointed leaders from across the Native Nations and senior staff and decision-makers from across the Commission. Chairman Genachowski also named Geoffrey Blackwell, Chief of the Commission's Office of Native Affairs and Policy, as co-chair. Another co-chair will be elected from among the Native Nation representatives on the Task Force by those representatives. The Task Force will assist the Commission in fulfilling its commitment to increase broadband deployment and adoption on Tribal lands. Task Force responsibilities include assisting in developing and executing a Commission consultation policy, eliciting input to ensure that Native concerns are considered in all Commission proceedings related to broadband, developing additional recommendations for promoting broadband deployment and adoption on Tribal lands, and coordinating with external entities, including other federal departments and agencies.
benton.org/node/51951 | Federal Communications Commission | Public Notice
Recommend this Headline
back to top

AT&T WAITS ACTION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
AT&T VP of Federal Regulatory Joan Marsh said that the Federal Communications Commission's inaction on a petition is the only thing standing in the way of its provision of high quality wireless service to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. According to AT&T, the FCC has yet to act on its petition to transfer to AT&T the eligible telecommunications carrier designation from Alltel, from which AT&T bought wireless licenses from Verizon in June 2010. In granting that transfer, Marsh pointed out, "the FCC also specifically sought to ensure the continuity of high quality, low cost wireless services to the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, which also fell within the service area of the assets acquired by AT&T. AT&T committed to provide those services, dependent upon transfer of the appropriate eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) designation." AT&T says it has been providing low cost service to the reservation without Universal Service Support since the deal closed, but needs the FCC to act on the petition so it can receive funding and continue to do so in what is a high-cost area. Marsh said that if that funding is not forthcoming, "these low cost services will be discontinued...The extraordinary delay in approving [the petition] imperils the availability of the very wireless services that the Commission seeks to encourage and support through the Native Nations items,"
benton.org/node/51947 | Broadcasting&Cable
Recommend this Headline
back to top

FCC TAKES A FRESH LOOK AT ITS RETRANSMISSION CONSENT RULES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to consider possible amendments to rules concerning retransmission consent negotiations. The NPRM proposes changes consistent with Congress' statutory framework for market-based negotiations that are designed to minimize video programming service disruptions to consumers caused by disputes between television stations and pay television services about broadcast program carriage. The NPRM expresses the FCC's view that it doesn't have the authority to require broadcast television stations to provide their signals to pay television providers or to require binding arbitration. The Communications Act requires cable systems and other pay television services to obtain a television station's "retransmission consent" before carrying the station's signal. The Act also requires broadcasters and pay television service providers to negotiate retransmission consent agreements in good faith. Since Congress enacted the retransmission consent regime in 1992, there have been significant changes in the video programming marketplace that have contributed to changes in negotiations for retransmission consent. In light of these changes, the FCC is reexamining its rules.
Specifically, the NPRM seeks comment on proposals that would:
Provide more guidance to the negotiating parties on good-faith negotiation requirements;
Improve notice to consumers in advance of possible service disruptions caused by impasses in retransmission consent negotiations; and
Eliminate the Commission's network non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity rules, which provide a means for parties to enforce certain exclusive contractual rights to network or syndicated programming through the Commission rather than through the courts.
The FCC is seeking public comment on any other revisions or additions to its rules that would improve the retransmission consent negotiation process and help protect consumers from service disruptions.
benton.org/node/51944 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner Copps | Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn | Commissioner Baker | B&C - unanimous vote | B&C - public interest underwhelmed | Public Knowledge | Free Press | TVNewsCheck | Reuters | The Hill
Recommend this Headline
back to top

FCC PROPOSES COMPREHENSIVELY REFORMING AND MODERNIZING LIFELINE/LINK UP
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission proposed a set of reforms that will modernize and drive tougher accountability measures into the Lifeline/Link Up program. The reforms will set the program on a firmer footing, ensuring that millions of low-income Americans continue to receive affordable phone service while using savings from reforms to fund pilot programs for broadband.
Lifeline/Link Up, which is part of the Universal Service Fund, has provided low-income households with discounts on monthly phone bills and initial installation charges since 1985. But program rules and administration have not kept pace with significant changes in technology, markets, and regulations, which have put increasing pressure on the program.
A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted unanimously by the FCC today takes steps to comprehensively reform and modernize the programs for 21st century communications needs. Building on recommendations of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, the Government Accountability Office, and the National Broadband Plan, proposals include:
Strengthening protections against waste, fraud, and abuse, including through creation of a National Accountability Database to verify consumer eligibility;
Taking immediate steps to create a uniform national framework for validating ongoing eligibility;
Ensuring Lifeline only supports services consumers are actually using;
Allowing discounts to be used for bundled voice-broadband service plans;
Launching pilot programs to test strategies for supporting broadband service; and
Evaluating a cap on the program, either temporary or permanent, in light of recent, rapid growth.
Lifeline provides discounts of approximately $10 per month on telephone service for low-income households, while Link Up provides discounts of up to $30 on connection charges. Discounts are available for one connection, either wired or wireless, per household.
benton.org/node/51943 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner Copps | Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn | Commissioner Baker | Free Press
Recommend this Headline
back to top

FCC PROPOSES TO UPDATE RULES ALLOWING ACCESSIBILITY TO ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS TO 54 MILLION CONSUMERS WITH DISABILITIES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
As part of its ongoing efforts to implement the "Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010" (CVAA), the Federal Communications Commission issued three Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs). The CVAA is considered the most significant piece of accessibility legislation since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. The CVAA has modernized existing communications laws to ensure that people with disabilities are able to share fully in the economic, social, and civic benefits of broadband and other 21st century communication technologies.
The first of the three FCC CVAA-related NPRMs approved by the Commission seeks to ensure that the 54 million individuals with disabilities living in the United States are able to fully use advanced communications services, equipment and networks. Section 255 of the Communications Act now requires telecommunications and interconnected VoIP manufacturers to provide such access. The NPRM seeks to ensure that when Section 716 is implemented, it will fully complement Section 255. Until now, people with disabilities often have not had full access to the benefits of rapid technological changes in advanced communications. Wireless handsets have evolved into multi-media devices capable of accessing the Internet, sending e-mails or text messages, and enabling video conversations.
The Advanced Communications Services NPRM seeks comment on the following:
How should the FCC implement the requirements of Section 104 of the CVAA, which creates new sections 716 and 717 of the Communications Act? It is essential that the Commission ensure that manufacturers of "advanced communications services" (ACS) equipment make their devices and products accessible to people with disabilities. In certain cases where manufacturers cannot achieve compliance by making their products or services accessible, they must ensure that their equipment and services is compatible with assistive technologies used by people with disabilities.
Are there steps that the Commission should be taking to enhance its enforcement and recordkeeping procedures for manufacturers and providers, under Sections 255 and 716? The CVAA directs the Commission to implement new procedures in this area under Section 717.
With section 718 taking effect in 2013, what steps can the Commission and stakeholders take to ensure that ACS manufacturers and service providers are working to make mobile phone Internet browsers accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired?
The FCC approved a second NPRM that seeks comment on reinstatement and modification of the video description rules originally adopted by the Commission in 2000. Video description is the insertion of audio-narrated descriptions of a television program's key visual elements into natural pauses in the program's dialogue. This feature makes television programming more accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired by providing them with essential information that is otherwise conveyed to the audience only visually.
This NPRM would reinstate the Commission's video description rules that were previously overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals more than a decade ago. The enactment of the CVAA in 2010 provided the Commission with ample authority for the reinstatement of these rules.
As directed by Congress in the CVAA, the proposed rules would require:
Large-market broadcast affiliates of the top four national networks and large multichannel video programming distributors ("MVPDs") to provide video description;
These broadcasters to provide 50 hours per quarter of video-described primetime or children's programming, with affected MVPDs providing the same amount on each of the five most popular non-broadcast networks; and
All network-affiliated broadcasters and all MVPDs to "pass through" any video description included in network or broadcast programming they carry. Live or near-live programming would be exempt from the proposed rules.
Finally, the FCC approved a third NPRM to implement Section 103(b) of the CVAA, which mandates that the Commission extend participation in and contribution to the Telecommunications Relay Service ("TRS") Fund to interconnected and non-interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol ("VoIP") service providers. Although interconnected VoIP service providers already contribute to the Fund under Commission rules, this would statutorily codify that practice, and further extend this obligation to non-interconnected providers. The TRS Fund compensates TRS providers for the costs of providing service to individuals with hearing and speech disabilities.
Contributions to the TRS Fund are calculated on the basis of annual interstate end-user telecommunications revenues. There is a "safe harbor" provision that permits interconnected VoIP providers to calculate their contributions on the basis of actual revenues or a traffic study, or to rely on a "safe harbor" provision that allows them to consider 64.9% of their revenues to be interstate telecommunications revenues.
The TRS Fund NPRM seeks public comment on the following:
Should the safe harbor provision extend to non-interconnected VoIP providers?
What revenues should be included in calculating TRS contributions, i.e., just revenues from interstate end-user calls or revenues from all sources?
Should the FCC require VoIP providers that offer services for free and have zero end-user revenues to make any contributions to the TRS Fund?
benton.org/node/51941 | Federal Communications Commission | Video Description NPRM | NPRMs on Secs 716, 717, 255, 251 | TRS NPRM | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner Copps | Broadcasting&Cable | National Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

SEC 257 REPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
Section 257 of the Communications Act of 1934 mandates that, every three years, the Federal Communications Commission review and report to Congress on (1) efforts to identify and eliminate regulatory barriers to market entry in the provision and ownership of telecommunications services and information services, or in the provision of parts or services to providers of telecommunications services and information services by entrepreneurs and other small businesses and (2) proposals to eliminate statutory barriers to market entry by those entities, consistent with the public interest, convenience, and necessity. The purpose underlying the requirements contained in Section 257 are: To promote the policies and purposes of this [Communications] Act favoring a diversity of media voices, vigorous economic competition, technological advancement, and promotion of the public interest, convenience, and necessity. In this 2009 Section 257 Report to Congress (2009 Report), the FCC examines regulatory actions taken to reduce market entry barriers by each rulewriting Bureau and Office within the FCC since the last triennial report. The FCC also makes recommendations for legislative action to reduce statutory barriers to market entry.
The FCC proposes that Congress adopt a new tax incentive program that would authorize the provision of tax advantages to eligible companies involved in the sale of communications businesses to small firms, including those owned by women and minorities. The proposed program could permit deferral of the taxes on any capital gain involved in such a transaction, as long as that gain is reinvested in one or more qualifying communications businesses. The proposed program could also permit tax credits for sellers of communications properties who offer financing to small firms. Additional conditions might include restrictions on the size of the eligible purchasing firm, a minimum holding period for the purchased firm, and a cap on the total value of eligible transactions. The provision of tax advantages has proven to encourage the diversification of ownership and to provide opportunities for entry into the communications industry for small businesses, including disadvantaged businesses and businesses owned by minorities and women.
benton.org/node/51939 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner Copps | Commissioner Clyburn
Recommend this Headline
back to top

NETWORK NEUTRALITY

HEARING ON NETWORK NEUTRALITY RULES
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), will hold a second hearing on the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to implement controversial Internet rules on Wednesday, March 9, 2011, at 10:30 a.m. in room 2123 of Rayburn House Office Building. The legislative hearing will examine H.J.Res 37, a Resolution of Disapproval that reverses the FCC’s net neutrality rules.
benton.org/node/51906 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | The Hill | B&C | National Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CHANCES FOR NETWORK NEUTRALITY ACTION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
What are the chances of Congress wiping out the Internet access rules that prohibit blocking and slowing of Web traffic? Pretty low, experts say. To become law, the two bills at play -- one that would overturn rules and the other that would withhold appropriations for the agency -- would have to pass a House and Senate vote. And President Barack Obama would have to sign on to the legislation. President Obama has expressed his support for the net neutrality rules. And a bill overturning rules in the Democratic-led Senate would face more skepticism, analysts said.
benton.org/node/51935 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top

FCC'S NEUTRAL NET
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Republicans are so determined to block the Federal Communications Commission's proposed Net neutrality rules that they're pulling out a little-used law that gives Congress the chance to second-guess federal agencies before their regulations go into effect. The GOP's argument is that the Internet has thrived without government regulation, so there's no reason to start now. That's a fine sentiment, but the point of the rules is to protect the Net from being manipulated by the handful of giant phone and cable TV companies that dominate the market for home broadband services. Reversing the commission's order would invite those companies to pick winners and losers among websites and services, potentially strangling the openness and innovation that has been vital to the Internet economy. Rather than railing against the evils of regulation, opponents of the order should consider the fact that most U.S. households have access to only one or two Internet providers that offer affordable broadband service. Which content and services prevail online should be determined by technology and innovation, not by the duopoly that acts as a gateway to broadband.
benton.org/node/51978 | Los Angeles Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top

NETWORK NEUTRALITY UPDATE
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] In the never-never land of the House of Representatives, where reality seldom intrudes, legislators will get around to passing legislation to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from constructing a Network Neutrality rule. Rep Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), one of the leading lights opposing a free, open and job-creating Internet, doesn't like the government interfering because there has been no “market failure,” as if a situation would ever be recognized as such. So Congress must act. But it’s not enough to roll back an FCC regulation that exists. The House also has to act to foreclose a FCC regulation that doesn't exist, much less any “market failure.” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who has said there would be no compromise on killing Net Neutrality, has another legislative item in his FCC file prohibiting the Commission from bringing back the Fairness Doctrine. If anything, that goal is, to use the familiar phrase, “a solution in search of a problem.” No one has even hinted at bringing back the old Fairness Doctrine, which was honored mostly in the breach even before it was killed off in 1987.
benton.org/node/51895 | Public Knowledge
Recommend this Headline
back to top

INTERNET/BROADBAND

INTERNET FREEDOM
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] In the past 16 months, the Internet landscape has shifted dramatically. Sixteen months ago, there were no iPads. The number of Twitter users was orders of magnitude smaller. And scarcely 10 percent of phone users had smartphones. Yet 16 months have passed since the State Department was allotted $30 million in funding for Internet freedom - and not a dollar of it has been spent. During that time Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has delivered two speeches stressing the importance of the issue and committing the department to an aggressive strategy. But while her State Department painstakingly hammers out its approach, oppressive regimes the world over are acting in real time to stifle dissent, strengthen firewalls and threaten online activists - most recently in the Middle East. Facing a threat from Congress to take away some of the money, State now insists it is finally ready to implement a policy. It aims to provide seed money to a range of initiatives, from software to circumvent the Internet firewalls of dictatorships to the training of dissident bloggers. In the next few weeks, officials say, they will solicit proposals from applicants and will allocate the $30 million within the next few months. If State fails to live up to its promises, a solution like the one proposed by the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard G. Lugar (R-IN), would be appropriate. Sen Lugar would divert at least $8 million of the funds from the State Department to the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which has already spent $1.5 million to expand firewall circumvention capacity. State's policy is more balanced - but with democratic revolutions spreading and the Internet fast changing, Congress should not tolerate any more delays.
benton.org/node/51977 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top

WEB VIDEO RIVALRY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Thomas Catan]
The Justice Department is investigating whether a group representing some top technology firms is unfairly trying to smother a free rival technology for delivering online video that is backed by Google. Much the way firms battled in the 1980s over VHS and Betamax video formats, tech rivals are fighting over the technology used to deliver and display Web video. Currently, video-streaming services like Netflix Inc. and Google's YouTube pay patent royalties, as do makers of Blu-ray disc players and other hardware. These firms pay royalties to an organization called MPEG LA, which is the target of the formal antitrust probe, the people familiar with the matter said. MPEG has amassed pools of patents covering widely used video formats and collects royalties for its members, which include Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Antitrust enforcers are investigating whether MPEG LA, or its members, are trying to cripple an alternative format called VP8 that Google released last year—by creating legal uncertainty over whether users might violate patents by employing that technology, these people added. The probe, which pits Google and open-source software advocates against some technology giants like Apple, could help determine whether anyone will own rights over the creation and broadcast of online video in the next major Web programming language, called HTML 5. At stake is "who is going to have competitive clout in the world after television," said Eben Moglin, a Columbia University professor who supports free and open software.
benton.org/node/51972 | Wall Street Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

WIRELESS

TEXTING COWS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Here's the dirty secret about text messages. It costs a wireless carrier close to nothing to send and receive them -- even though they charge about $10 a month for 500 to 1,000 texts. Now, a new crop of messaging apps -- including one recently bought by Facebook -- are threatening the wireless industry's cash cow. GroupMe and Beluga, bought by Facebook earlier this week, is among several free group messaging services that allows users to send texts to contact lists, Twitter followers and Facebook friends through a smartphone application. Fast Society also allows users to customize groups for messages and provides conference calls. As more cell phone users turn to smart phones, the new set of messaging software allows users to bypass text messages offered by carriers. And that's perked the interest of Web giants, analysts say. "Facebook is, at its core, a communications company," wrote Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein research. "The move to acquire Beluga makes this explicit. Beluga puts Facebook squarely into competition with carriers for the first time." He and analyst Amelia Chan wrote in their recent note to investors that a trend toward in-app texting could eat into the revenues of wireless carriers who don't get the same rate of returns from data consumption. Watching videos on a device is a much greater burden on a network than texting. They said wireless data makes up only 9 percent of a carrier's revenues while voice and texting bring in the majority of revenues. Carriers will likely respond by strapping texting plans to data packages, the analysts said.
benton.org/node/51899 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top

TELEVISION
Public Broadcasting Should Go Private

PUBLIC BROADCASTING SHOULD GO PRIVATE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sen Jim DeMint (R-SC)]
[Commentary] When presidents of government-funded broadcasting are making more than the president of the United States, it's time to get the government out of public broadcasting. While executives at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) are raking in massive salaries, the organizations are participating in an aggressive lobbying effort to prevent Congress from saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year by cutting their subsidies. The so-called commercial free public airwaves have been filled with pleas for taxpayer cash. The Association of Public Television Stations has hired lobbyists to fight the cuts. Hundreds of taxpayer-supported TV, radio and Web outlets have partnered with an advocacy campaign to facilitate emails and phone calls to Capitol Hill for the purpose of telling members of Congress, "Public broadcasting funding is too important to eliminate!" Taxpayer-subsidized broadcasting doesn't only make money from licensing and product sales. It also raises plenty of outside cash. Last year, for example, the Open Society Foundation, backed by liberal financier George Soros, gave NPR $1.8 million to help support the latter's plan to hire an additional 100 reporters. When NPR receives million-dollar gifts from Mr. Soros, it is an insult to taxpayers when other organizations, such as MoveOn.org demand that Congress "save NPR and PBS" by guaranteeing "permanent funding and independence from partisan meddling," as the liberal interest group did last month. It was even more insulting when PBS posted a message on Twitter thanking MoveOn.org—the group that once labeled Gen. David Petraeus as "General Betray Us"—for the help. The best way to stop the "partisan meddling" in public broadcasting that MoveOn.org complains about is by ending the taxpayers' obligation to pay for it. The politics will be out of public broadcasting as soon as the government gets out of the business of paying for it. Public broadcasting can pay its presidents half-million and million dollar salaries. Its children's programs are making hundreds of millions in sales. Liberal financiers are willing to write million-dollar checks to help these organizations. There's no reason taxpayers need to subsidize them anymore.
benton.org/node/51975 | Wall Street Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

Benton

Search

Benton

Daily Digest

Analysis

March 2011

Feb 19 - March 4: In Like a Lion

March 4, 2011 (FCC Meeting Recap)

The FCC's Neutral Net

Moving forward with Internet freedom

Public Broadcasting Should Go Private

Christie Vetoes Bill to Legalize Internet Gambling

Web Video Rivalry Sparks US Probe

China Tightens Controls on Foreign Press