June 2011

AT&T/T-Mobile Issue Briefs

The Center for Media Justice (CMJ) — a grassroots media policy organization working to strengthen movements for racial justice, economic equity, and human rights— has teamed up with Future of Music Coalition (FMC) — a national non-profit research, education and advocacy organization for musicians— to issue a pair of informational briefs regarding the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile.

Today’s creators depend on access and innovation online — from digital music services, fan management tools and social networks to the ever-growing world of mobile apps. This is why it is so important to make sure that mobile platform remains accessible to creative entrepreneurs. With greater concentration in the wireless sector, just a few providers would be able to act as gatekeepers to an increasingly crucial marketplace. The elimination of a lower-cost provider (T-Mobile) would also negatively impact millions of Americans who may not be able to afford service from AT&T, a company notorious for high prices and exclusive handset arrangements.

Creators have other reasons to be concerned about the merger. AT&T has a troubling record on free expression and openness. In 2007, the company censored a live webcast of the Lollapalooza festival over political lyrics by Pearl Jam. AT&T has also fought for (and achieved) a rules-free environment when it comes to content discrimination via the mobile web. A combined company would have even more incentive to charge big money for access to its networks or favor certain content at the expense of others. This could price many creative entrepreneurs out of the marketplace and set artificial limits on expression.

Hackers Declare War on Government Agencies

Over the weekend, a group of hackers declared that they are initiating cyber warfare with governments and security companies around the world. The group, Lulz Security, has claimed responsibility for a number of recent data breaches and have already attacked a number of United States government and corporate Web sites.

Lulz Security also said it was working closely with another group called Anonymous, a loosely affiliated team of activist computer hackers. Although Anonymous did not put out its own statement about the attacks, the two groups have been communicating regularly on Twitter. In a letter posted on a public Web site, Lulz Security announced its plan to attack more government sites and encouraged other groups and individuals “to open fire on any government or agency that crosses their path.” The undertaking is called “Operation Anti-Security.”

FCC chair proposes rule to prevent phone cramming

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski will propose an order aimed at reducing unauthorized fees on phone bills. Chairman Genachowski said that he will propose ways to make traditional phone bills clearer so consumers can better identify line items that they didn't authorize.

The practice, called cramming, affects an estimated 20 million land-line phone users a year, Genachowski said at a speech at the Center for American Progress. Chairman Genachowski did not offer many details on his proposed order, but said recently that he would issue an order for the agency to explore ways to bring down cramming complaints. The proposal follows a push to prevent “bill shock,” when cellphone users incur surprisingly higher data charges by exceeding their monthly Web access and texting allotment.

House Republicans Draw Up FCC Reform Bill Outlines

House Communications Subcommittee majority staffers have come up with a discussion draft of proposed Federal Communications Commission process reform legislation that would include a shot clock and cost-benefit analysis on any new rules, allow more than two commissioners to meet outside of public meetings, and require new reports to Congress on the state of the industry and of the FCC's efforts to speed its rulemaking process.

The bill would also address some of the Republican concerns about the FCC's vetting of mergers and application of conditions. One provision would require and conditions to be narrowly tailored and confined to things the FCC could otherwise impose through its rule making authority. And the new legislation could change the balance of power at the commission by allowing a bipartisan majority of commissioners to put items on the FCC agenda, something that can't happen now (and a change the current chairman has not supported).

Facebook Surpasses Yahoo as Top U.S. Display-Ad Seller in Study

Facebook is set to overtake Web portal Yahoo! this year to seize the biggest share of the US online display-advertising market, a study found. Facebook will reap $2.19 billion in display-ad sales this year, for a 17.7 percent share of the US market, topping Yahoo’s 13.1 percent, according to a report from Internet research firm EMarketer. Spending on display ads is projected to exceed $12 billion this year. Facebook, with more than half a billion users, has lured advertisers such as Coca-Cola Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Adidas AG. The social network’s display ad revenue more than doubled in each of the past two years, and will surge 81 percent in 2011, EMarketer estimated.

LightSquared Airwave Switch Would Fix Jamming

Philip Falcone’s LightSquared wireless venture said it will use a different set of airwaves for its service than originally planned to help prevent interference with US global positioning-systems.

LightSquared will offer its service on a block of airwaves, known as spectrum, that is controlled by satellite company Inmarsat when it introduces service early next year, Chief Executive Officer Sanjiv Ahuja said. LightSquared has been buffeted by opposition from the US military, and device- and farm-equipment makers that say the startup carrier’s plan to offer wireless service over 40,000 base stations risks jamming GPS receivers. The Federal Communications Commission had given LightSquared until July 1 to propose solutions. “This should resolve interference challenges for 99.5 percent of GPS receivers in this country,” said Ahuja. “We believe this clears the path for us to move forward with a coast-to-coast broadband network launch.” Ahuja said the switch to Inmarsat’s spectrum will limit GPS interference for all but a limited number of users, such as farm equipment manufacturers. LightSquared also plans to reduce the power of its transmitters by more than 50 percent. Ahuja said the company will continue working to resolve the GPS issues on its existing spectrum and deploy it at a later time. He declined to say how much LightSquared will pay London- based Inmarsat for use of its airwaves, which it had planned to use in two to three years to supplement its current spectrum holdings.

No Caps: Emergency Access to Phone Service is Critical for All

Rep Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) sent a letter to Federal Communications Committee Chairman Julius Genachowski requesting that access to Lifeline and Link-Up be protected for all Americans regardless of income.

Rep Kucinich urged the FCC not to make ‘any reduction in, or impose any limitations on’ the programs that provide vulnerable citizens access to phone services in emergency situations. “This is a matter of great personal interest to me. When I was growing up, my family moved 21 times and, on occasion, we lived in our car. There were times when we needed telephone service, but did not have it. I know personally how important it is to have access to a telephone, and what the results are when a family does not have it. I don't want any family to be in that situation,” wrote Rep Kucinich. “The Lifeline and Link-Up programs were supposed to prevent that situation from occurring.” Implemented in 1984, the programs have over the past few years, due to the economic crisis, seen an increase in demand and enrollees. As a result, the cost of the program has increased. “This is not a bad result – it is a good result. More people who need the benefits of the program are taking advantage of them. And the entire cost of the programs is paid by fees charged to the companies that provide wireless service,” wrote Rep Kucinich

Predictors for real life infidelity include cybersex, sexting

If your spouse has been "sexting" or maintaining a relationship with someone else online, is that person just looking for an Internet ego-boost, or on the hunt for a real life affair? The answer appears to be the latter, according to a paper on infidelity and cyberspace published in the journal Sexuality & Culture. Authored by University of Nebraska at Kearny professor Diane Kholos Wysocki and Washburn University associate professor Cheryl Childers, the paper examines the behaviors of those who frequent an online dating site dedicated to extra-marital affairs. The authors find that, although many people do seem to enjoy maintaining online sexual relationships with those who are not their partners, most participants' main goal is indeed to hook up in real life.

Google buys up SageTV to bolster Google TV with useful features

Google will acquire SageTV, a company that makes products with streaming and media center-type services. Google is speculated to want SageTV for its DVR and Slingbox-like capabilities for possible integration with Google TV and Google's cloud services.

SageTV's products have filled a niche as just-works media extenders for a couple of years now, allowing customers to serve media over LAN, stream YouTube videos, and stream from PVRs running SageTV's DVR software to a home theater setup. In our own guide, we called it a device that could turn "any networked machine with UPnP support into an HDMI-enabled HTPC." Now that Google has scooped it up, there are a number of SageTV's services Google might be after. Rakesh Agrawal, SnapStream Media founder, speculates that Google bought SageTV in order to add native DVR capabilities to Google TV. But Google TV can already integrate with and automate existing DVRs, leading GigaOM to counter that making DVRs that run Google TV software would be redundant.

ID InSight Says NTIA Mapping Data Is Highly Accurate

The market research firm ID InSight clarified reports that the company’s previously-released mapping data was at odds with the accuracy of the National Broadband map.

“It is easy to take pot shots at the inaccuracies once the data is in the public domain. It takes courage to stand behind what you believe in and focus on the positives which vastly outweigh the negatives,” said Adam Elliot President of ID InSight. “Through our initial analysis of the map, we are seeing very high degrees of accuracy – sometimes exceeding 99 percent when comparing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration map to what we see with Broadband Scout.”

ID InSight gathered data from more than half a billion Internet transactions from across the nation through its Broadband Scout product. The company collected data from various e-commerce and subscription-based services where users must provide address data. ID InSight then paired the address data and IP data to determine the availability of Internet connections across the nation. Through that process, Broadband Scout determined the availability of Internet access in areas where the Internet service providers (ISPs) have chosen not to provide data to the state mapping projects.

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