May 31, 2011 (AT&T's Critics on Deal Growing)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2011
A look at this week's agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2011-05-29--P1W/
AT&T/T-MOBILE
AT&T's Critics on Deal Growing
Hearing mixed messages over the AT&T-T-Mobile merger - editorial
Intertribal Agriculture Council Backs AT&T/T-Mobile [links to web]
Black Farmers Support AT&T/T-Mobile [links to web]
National Rural Health Association Supports AT&T/T-Mobile [links to web]
FCC Questions for T-Mobile
MORE ON WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Making Data Roam - editorial
Roundtable Informs Wireless Innovation for Transportation
Smartphone makers bow to demands for more openness [links to web]
Microsoft gets $5 for every Android phone made by HTC, report says [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Comments Filed on “Need for Speed” Notice [links to web]
Replies filed on Lifeline/Linkup [links to web]
Internet business era demands widespread broadband access - editorial
Internet phone calls [links to web]
TELEVISION
PBS Plans Promotional Breaks Within Programs [links to web]
FCC Fines Stations for Public File Violations [links to web]
FCC Issues CALM Act NPRM
Fans ask FCC to stop blackouts of sports games [links to web]
Public Knowledge and New America Foundation Tell FCC To Be Aggressive In Retransmission Consent Disputes
Minority advocacy groups want FCC to end blackouts [links to web]
PRIVACY
Internet privacy measure stalls in California senate
Most Apps’ Privacy Policies Continue To Be Missing In Action
HHS proposes changes to HIPAA records-sharing rules [links to web]
Despite Digital Privacy Uproar, Consumers Are Not Opting Out [links to web]
CONTENT
Google, Facebook lose social network patent ruling [links to web]
Meet Facebook, the Web’s Social Entertainment Operating System [links to web]
Self-destructing eBooks rile librarians [links to web]
iPad Usability Study Reveals What We Do and Don't Like In Apps [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Cyber Combat: Act of War
Hackers Broaden Their Attacks [links to web]
Defense, Homeland Security jointly respond to cyber attack on Lockheed Martin
Breaches Lead to Push to Protect Medical Data
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
US looks at takeover guidelines shake-up
STORIES FROM ABROAD
The G-8 takes on the Net - editorial
Secret G8 memo reveals outbreak of Internet harmony
India Weighing Looser Web Rules [links to web]
India Moves to Revamp Telecom [links to web]
Beijing steps up TV censorship [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
RUS Discontinues List of Materials for Telecommunications [links to web]
More Than Half of the Opinions on Blogs Support Israel [links to web]
AT&T/T-MOBILE
AT&T'S CRITICS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Shayndi Raice, Thomas Catan]
Opposition is steadily growing to AT&T Inc.'s proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA, as competitors, state regulators and elected officials have come out in recent days expressing concerns about the acquisition from Deutsche Telekom AG. The views add to pressure on a combination—of the second- and fourth-largest wireless carriers in the US -- that has already raised serious initial concerns at the Justice Department, which is worried it will hurt competition, according to people familiar with the matter. The opponents are squared off against rural constituencies, organized labor and a number of governors who support the transaction. The developments have firmed up battle lines and are challenging AT&T's assertion that the deal will get done -- as the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission regulators that hold sway over the deal ramp up their reviews. "AT&T opened with such a tightly controlled and well orchestrated launch, they controlled the story line for awhile," said Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst with Stifel Nicholas. "Now we are seeing some say, 'Wait a minute, is this really the market structure we want in the US?' "
AT&T's lead lobbyist, Jim Cicconi, said opposition to the deal is still far outweighed by its supporters. Eleven state governors have filed letters of support with the FCC, and organized labor has largely come out in favor of the deal, he said. "Opposition is not growing," Cicconi said. "If anything, it seems fairly confined to the usual people and the usual organizations and does not seem to be growing beyond that."
benton.org/node/71610 | Wall Street Journal
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MIXED MESSAGES ON AT&T/T-MOBILE
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
[Commentary] While consumer groups seem universally opposed to the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, the two operators’ actual competitors are more of a mixed bag. I don't think a single operator wants to see this deal go through. And if there was any chance at stopping it they'd probably present a unified front with the sole exception of Verizon, which is more concerned with how the deal goes through. But knowing there is little they can do to stop it, they’re now focusing on the post-merger spoils. Everyone has an angle in this scenario.
Depending on where they stand in relation to AT&T and T-Mobile, they seem to see different opportunities and different dangers if the AT&T and T-Mobile were allowed to create a single mega-carrier. Sprint is the only major operator that has come out unequivocally against the deal with CEO Dan Hesse using whatever pulpit he can find to denounce it. Verizon Wireless has publicly remained neutral, but it’s easy to get the impression it’s actually in favor of the merger. Verizon’s primary concern is what impact a failed merger or a successful merger loaded down with conditions would have on its own ability to buy competitors and spectrum in the future."
The reactions of the regional operators, however, have been more puzzling. The Rural Cellular Association and the Rural Telecom Group have come out firmly against deal, as have some of the smaller Tier II operators like Cincinnati Bell (Unfiltered: AT&T files T-Mobile paperwork with FCC, while deal’s opponents mount their offense). But the larger Tier II operators have sent some mixed signals.
MetroPCS has said it could ultimately benefit from the merger as it would require spectrum divestitures in major markets Metro could pounce on. Yet MetroPCS has also taken up with Sprint and rural carrier groups in some of their anti-merger efforts such as asking the FCC to review all of AT&T’s proposed acquisitions in a single proceeding. Leap Wireless has done much the same. Earlier this week Leap issued a statement making it fairly clear it thinks the merger would stymie competition and negatively impact small carriers, (Briefing Room: Leap opposed proposed AT&T acquisition). Yet like MetroPCS, Leap officials have said they see the opportunity to expand in its current markets or into new markets in the merger’s aftermath.
The operators who are really going to hosed are the rural GSM operators, whatever’s left of them. Rather than have two nationwide GSM operators to pit against each other for competitive roaming agreements there will be only one. The new AT&T will be free to dictate rates.
benton.org/node/71556 | Connected Planet
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FCC QUESTIONS FOR T-MOBILE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Ruth Milkman]
On May 27, the Federal Communications Commission sent T-Mobile a request for additional information as the agency reviews AT&T's proposal to purchase T-Mobile. The FCC sent some 47 questions to T-Mobile on issues including spectrum capacity, alternatives considered by T-Mobile, a timeline of the proposed deal, cell tower positions, and much, much more. The FCC requests answers to the questions no later than June 10.
Reuters reports that the questions deal with: claims on spectrum shortages, coverage overlaps, plans to close facilities, whether subscribers who changed to another company did so because of pricing issues or service quality, areas where AT&T would no longer need to arrange roaming agreements, plans for rate hikes, and backhaul.
benton.org/node/71583 | Federal Communications Commission | Reuters
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MORE ON WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
MAKING DATA ROAM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Verizon Wireless, which provides wireless broadband access across the country, has sued to block a federal rule requiring wireless broadband providers to offer data roaming on commercially reasonable terms. Verizon is entitled to its day in court, but this suit must not prevail. The Federal Communications Commission says AT&T signed its first 3G roaming agreement in March, six years after establishing the 3G network. In April 2010, Verizon had only three roaming agreements, according to the FCC. But it hurried up after the FCC started the rule-making process a year ago. Now it has 40, including 10 on its most advanced 4G network. In a letter to the FCC last year, a coalition of wireless carriers complained that the big broadband carriers often refused to negotiate deals, or demanded rates of 30 cents or even $1 per megabyte, which would make watching a movie or downloading a song prohibitively expensive.
benton.org/node/71607 | New York Times
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WIN FOR TRANSPORTATION
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Aneesh Chopra, Peter Appel, David Strickland]
On May 23, as part of President Obama’s Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative, we hosted a roundtable discussion at the White House Conference Center with a number of top technology leaders and visionaries representing the transportation and communications industries. The intent was to explore ways to catalyze innovation through research and development in the arena of emerging broadband wireless technologies and applications aimed at the transportation sector. The transportation component of this initiative, called for in the President’s FY 2012 budget, is called the Wireless Innovation for Transportation (WIN for Transportation) Initiative. This initiative would complement and build upon the Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) ongoing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) research program. The WIN for Transportation Initiative would provide the USDOT’s ITS Program and its stakeholders the ability to seek new and innovative opportunities to pursue ground-breaking research and development toward deployment of wireless technology applications. It proposes to develop and demonstrate innovative wireless transportation applications that deliver safety, mobility, emergency response, energy, and environmental benefits to passenger, fleet, and freight transportation systems. Part of the roundtable discussion focused on the roles that policy, technology, and applications play in advancing transportation wireless innovation. During this discussion, participants addressed a number of important issues such as standards, availability of open data, the advantages of top-down or bottom-up approaches to accelerating technology innovation, and the importance of the proper driver interface. Participants were encouraged to further share their ideas through our recently announced Request for Information. We also exchanged several ideas as part of the proposed wireless research, technology, testing, and model deployment program.
benton.org/node/71179 | White House, The
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
TENNESSEE BROADBAND REPORT
[SOURCE: Jackson Sun, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] There still are people who doubt the importance of the Internet and universal broadband access to the information superhighway. A recently released study by Connected Tennessee should help doubters come to grips with the importance and the value of high-speed Internet access. According to the statewide study, the first of its kind in Tennessee, businesses with broadband connections generate more revenue and create more jobs. State businesses with high-speed Internet connections report median annual revenue more than $400,000 greater than businesses without broadband access. The Connected Tennessee report presents strong evidence that no education is complete without a strong technology component. Across the state, we hear businesses pleading for a better-prepared workforce. Economic development efforts hinge on broadband access and a computer literate workforce. A study by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission predicts that 97 percent of future jobs that will support a middle-class standard of living will require some post-secondary education. You can bet that the vast majority of those jobs will be in businesses that rely on broadband Internet access and use computers and sophisticated computer software to conduct their business.
benton.org/node/71567 | Jackson Sun
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TELEVISION
CALM ACT RULES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission has quietly released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on implementation of the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, which regulates the loudness of commercials on broadcast and cable TV. It puts the onus on stations and cable operators to mitigate that loudness on all commercials, not just those that are locally inserted, as some industry representatives had argued it should be limited to. The NPRM also asked for input on what challenges some stations and cable operators will have in complying with the new rules, and even more important, proposed solutions. Among the questions it wants answered are if a cable operator retransmits a TV station whose commercials don't comply, who does the FCC hold responsible? The FCC said it will add a "commercial loudness" category to its menu of complaints over "Broadcast (TV and Radio), Cable, and Satellite Issues." The CALM Act empowers the FCC to regularize the volume between programming and commercials. It adopts the Advanced Television Systems Committee's recommended practices for variations in commercial volume in relation to the programs around them.
benton.org/node/71572 | Broadcasting&Cable
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PK AND NAF COMMENTS ON RETRANSMISSION
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should take a stronger stand to protect consumers in disputes between broadcasters and cable or satellite companies over program carriage, Public Knowledge and the New America Foundation said. In comments filed with the FCC, the two groups said the Commission has more authority to act than it is willing to acknowledge, and should not be hesitant to do so. The groups said they disagreed with the FCC’s analysis of the agency’s power, and that the Commission has “ample authority” to impose interim carriage or mandatory arbitration in the case of deadlocked negotiations in which consumers are caught in the middle. The groups agreed with the FCC that it should be a violation of FCC rules if parties declined to put forward good-faith proposals during negotiations, as should requirements that broadcasters require purchase of other programming services. Broadcasters and programming carriers should also be required to submit data on retransmission contract provisions, the groups said. However, the groups warned that “for these rules to be effective, the Commission has to enforce them,” adding ” the Commission has thus far shirked away from any meaningful enforcement” of its existing rules. In the one instance in which the FCC found rule violations, the Commission “merely required the parties to resume negotiations within 10 days and report on the status of the negotiation every 30 days. Such timid enforcement sends a message to powerful parties to these negotiations that they can ignore the good faith requirements with impunity.”
benton.org/node/71166 | Public Knowledge | PK and NAF
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PRIVACY
INTERNET PRIVACY MEASURE STALLS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Shan Li]
An Internet privacy proposal that would require social networking firms to remove personal information when requested has stalled in the state legislature May 27 amid vocal opposition from Facebook, Twitter, Google and other companies. The state Senate deadlocked 16-16 on the legislation, which would also give parents the right to edit home addresses, phone numbers and other information out of their children's online postings. Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) said constituents had lobbied for the measure because of worries that criminals made ill use of personal information gleaned from social networking sites. Meanwhile, the tech companies in opposition have argued that the proposal restricts interstate commerce, violates free speech and is badly written.
benton.org/node/71577 | Los Angeles Times
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APP PRIVACY
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Joe Mullin]
Digital privacy has received a lot of attention in the past year, but one area that stands out as still lacking is the fast-growing world of mobile apps. The Future of Privacy Forum think tank analyzed the top 30 paid apps this week, and discovered that 22 of them lacked even a basic privacy policy. The existence of a written privacy policy is a minimum standard that all developers should adhere to, says FPF, and now the group has put together a website, application privacy.org, meant to help developers create privacy policies and stick to them. FPF director Jules Polonetsky emphasized that app developers shouldn't be count on the big companies who own the platforms they work with, like Facebook, Apple and Google, to handle all their privacy issues for them. “App developers with limited staff or resources can end up being responsible for the data of millions of users,” Polonetsky said in a blog post about the launch of the application privacy site. “Platforms and operating systems have roles to play, but app developers themselves need to be responsible for their own practices.”
benton.org/node/71177 | paidContent.org
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CYBERSECURITY
CYBER COMBAT: ACT OF WAR
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Siobhan Gorman, Julian Barnes]
The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war, a finding that for the first time opens the door for the U.S. to respond using traditional military force. The Pentagon's first formal cyber strategy, unclassified portions of which are expected to become public next month, represents an early attempt to grapple with a changing world in which a hacker could pose as significant a threat to U.S. nuclear reactors, subways or pipelines as a hostile country's military. In part, the Pentagon intends its plan as a warning to potential adversaries of the consequences of attacking the U.S. in this way. "If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks," said a military official.
benton.org/node/71602 | Wall Street Journal
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LOCKHEED MARTIN ATTACK
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
The Pentagon and the Homeland Security Department are aiding contractor Lockheed Martin on an investigation into a cyber attack that reportedly infiltrated the firm's security networks, federal officials said May 28. "DoD is aware of a cyber incident impacting Lockheed Martin and, together with the Department of Homeland Security, is working with the company in determining the extent of the incident," Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. April Cunningham said. "Impact to DoD is minimal and we don't expect any adverse effect." According to Reuters, which first reported the Lockheed incident on May 27, unidentified hackers "breached [Lockheed] security systems designed to keep out intruders by creating duplicates to SecurID electronic keys," according to one person who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter. The offenders learned how to copy the security keys with data stolen during the RSA attack, the Reuters story said.
benton.org/node/71569 | nextgov | Bloomberg
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MEDICAL DATA BREACHES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Milt Freudenheim]
Federal health officials call it the Wall of Shame. It’s a government Web page that lists nearly 300 hospitals, doctors and insurance companies that have reported significant breaches of medical privacy in the last couple of years. Such lapses, frightening to consumers, could impede the Obama Administration’s effort to shift the nation to electronic health care records. So the administration is making new efforts to enforce existing rules about medical privacy and security. But some health care experts wonder if the current rules are enough or whether stronger laws are needed, for example making it a crime for someone to use information obtained improperly.
benton.org/node/71605 | New York Times
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
MERGER REMEDIES GUIDELINES
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Helen Thomas]
The Department of Justice is apparently considering a shake-up of the guidelines used in approving takeovers of US companies, pointing to a possible shift in antitrust policy under the Obama Administration. The DoJ is considering revising the so-called merger remedies guidelines to reflect developments in antitrust practice. The update is expected to include a greater discussion of behavioral or conduct remedies, which impose changes on how a business operates on an ongoing basis, they added. US antitrust policy has long had a strong preference for structural solutions, such as the sale of parts of a business. Both the DoJ and the Federal Trade Commission have tended to avoid behavioral remedies, in part because of the manpower required to enforce such agreements. But some antitrust experts argue that the DoJ, under the leadership of Christine Varney, has become more creative in its application of behavioral remedies.
benton.org/node/71608 | Financial Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
THE G-8 TAKES ON THE NET
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Egged on by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the leaders of the Group of 8 nations announced May 27 that the Internet was too important for governments to leave ungoverned. Cyberspace needs a legal framework that promotes human rights, the rule of law, privacy, security and the protection of intellectual property, they declared, and they pledged to work on one. Good luck with that. The declaration reflects the wrongheaded wish of many foreign leaders to tame the Net, particularly freewheeling Web-based businesses and online speech. Evolving technologies and online services have disrupted not just established industries but governments' ability to bring transgressors to heel. Rather than letting the public, entrepreneurs and the courts respond to problems as they arise, these officials want to impose their own brand of discipline. As Sarkozy put it, lawmakers and regulators should wield more control over the Internet because "governments are the only legitimate representatives of the will of the people in our democracies."
As appealing as it may be in theory, trying to craft a common legal framework for the Net is a fool's errand. Even if the G-8 nations could bridge the policy gaps between members, they still would run the risk of enacting strictures that are ignored by China and quickly rendered irrelevant by changing technology. The G-8 should try instead to come up with mechanisms to resolve the disputes that arise when countries hit Web companies with incompatible legal demands. As the inventor of the Internet, it's the responsibility of the US to promote freedom and openness, not to try to make the Internet comply with some global behavioral norm.
benton.org/node/71613 | Los Angeles Times
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G-8 HARMONY
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Tim Bradshaw]
A private memo from within the G8 meeting on May 26 between Internet chiefs and world leaders indicates strong levels of support from Barack Obama, David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy and co for the principles of Internet freedom put forward by Facebook, Google and their peers. The confidential document, seen by the FT, supports the Internet’s role in furthering the distribution of knowledge and free speech, broadly accepting a light-touch, internationally harmonized approach to regulation. This private view from inside the Deauville meeting – billed as a potential clash between Internet entrepreneurship and a French president hell-bent on taming the web – suggests a much more friendly and positive exchange. The leaked document sets out around a dozen of the G8 leaders’ responses to the presentation by Eric Schmidt of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Yuri Milner of DST Global, as well as France Telecom’s Stephane Richard, Rakuten’s Hiroshi Mikitani and Publicis Groupe’s Maurice Levy.
benton.org/node/71611 | Financial Times
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