February 16, 2012 (Spectrum auctions included in tentative tax deal)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2012
The FCC’s budget headlines a busy day http://benton.org/calendar/2012-02-16/
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Spectrum auctions included in tentative tax deal
Lawmakers Finalizing Details of Spectrum Language
Spectrum Policy Rush Hour as Deadline Nears
Sen. Jay Rockefeller: Public safety network to be included in payroll deal
Lawmakers question Apple CEO Cook about privacy
Apple: App Access to Contact Data Will Require Explicit User Permission
Privacy controversy over Path for iPhone, iPad should be a wake-up call - op-ed [links to web]
Google as Benevolent Dictator Yanks Smartphone Apps With Kill Switch: Tech
Lawmakers On LightSquared: Maybe Another Time [links to web]
Sprint May Have to Return $65 Million to LightSquared [links to web]
AT&T Hunts Spectrum
LightSquared vows to fight FCC decision
Falcone's Plan B: Swapping Airwaves
Loss of a Wireless Dream Caps a Fast Fall From Grace [links to web]
Trends in Latino Mobile Phone Usage: And What They Mean for U.S. Telecommunications Policy - research
NEWS FROM THE FCC
FCC Adopts Rules to Strengthen Consumer Protections Against Unwanted Telemarketing "Robocalls" to Wireline and Wireless Phones - press release
FCC Seeks To Reform And Modernize Cellular Licensing Requirements - press release
FCC Extends Network Outage Reporting Requirement to Interconnected VoIP Service to Help Ensure a More Resilient and Reliable 9-1-1 System - press release
International Bureau Invites Comment On NTIA Letter Regarding LightSquared Conditional Waiver - public notice
E-rate Deployed Ubiquitously 2011 Pilot Program - public notice
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Senators question Twitter's censorship
Sec Napolitano: 'We aren't sitting there monitoring social media'
INTERNET/BROADBAND
The Case for Publicly Owned Internet Service - op-ed
Humvees, UAVs could create route to Internet in Afghanistan [links to web]
Disputes in Washington End Online Gambling Program [links to web]
White House Honors Broadband Stimulus Project Innovators [links to web]
TELEVISION/RADIO
Bringing Broadcaster Public Files into the 21st Century - editorial
Meet Radio Free Europe's Tech Justice League
Broadcast Nets Ponder Shift Towards Cable Programming Model – As Should Advertisers [links to web]
SNL Kagan: Broadcasters Retransmission Revenues Rose 47% in 3Q [links to web]
Comcast almost stops losing subscribers in 4Q [links to web]
ABC News, Bluefin Labs Extend Social TV Analytics Partnership Through Presidential Election [links to web]
Digital Viewing Of Traditional TV Rises [links to web]
YouTube’s Missing Monetization Makes Its Internet TV Prospects Patchy [links to web]
Fox News 'course correction' rankles some [links to web]
Chipotle: So Much More Than An Ad [links to web]CHIPOTLE AD
TV network aims for new viewing audience: dogs [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Cybersecurity bill headed straight to Senate floor
Cybersecurity bill blocked by top GOP senators
White House pleased with cybersecurity bill's approach [links to web]
Cyber Attacks Can Spark Real Wars - op-ed [links to web]
Cybersecurity requires buy-in from the top - op-ed [links to web]
JOURNALISM
Investigators suspect ‘serious criminality’ at News Corp
Interference Seen in Philadelphia Papers
CONTENT
Indie Bookseller On E-Books: ‘I Don’t Think We’ll Ever Make Money On Them’ [links to web]
Apple Seeks Court Permission to Sue Bankrupt Kodak for Patent Infringement [links to web]
Apple Slashes iAd Pricing Again as Mobile Ad Share Declines [links to web]
The future of music is boring – and that’s exciting! [links to web]
NPR Launches An Answer To Spotify On The iPad With Streaming, Concerts, Offline Playlists [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Apple Became Top Smartphone Maker in 2011, Gartner Says [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
Sen Grassley refuses to lift hold on FCC nominees despite agency backtracking on LightSquared
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Apple iPad plant conditions better than the norm: Fair Labor Association
Apple has incentive to worry about workers’ rights - analysis
Chinese workers earn a shared $8 for every iPad 2 they make: report
EP endorses plan to free up frequencies for high-speed mobile internet - press release [links to web]
EU Court: Social Networks Can't Be Made To Filter Content [links to web]
Google must remember our right to be forgotten - op-ed [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Cisco Wants Conditions On Microsoft-Skype Merger [links to web]
Rural Associations Refute USF/ICC Order Petitions for Reconsideration [links to web]
Obama campaign launches first in SF: Technology campaign office [links to web]
The Right-Wing Media’s Discipline Machine - analysis [links to web]
TechNet Executives Pushing Congress for Innovation Policies [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
SPECTRUM AUCTION IN TAX DEAL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Apparently, a tentative deal to extend the payroll tax cut includes auctions of airwaves licenses, known as spectrum. The auction proceeds would help to pay for extending unemployment benefits. The spectrum legislation would authorize the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to auction airwaves that currently belong to television broadcasters, splitting some of the revenue with the stations that choose to participate.
benton.org/node/114386 | Hill, The | Politico
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FINALIZING SPECTRUM LANGUAGE
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
House and Senate negotiators were finalizing the details of spectrum legislation that is now expected to be part of a payroll tax cut package. "We're just about there," House Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) told reporters. Chairman Upton -- along with Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) -- are members of the House-Senate payroll tax conference committee and are working on the spectrum provisions. House Commerce ranking member Henry Waxman (D-CA), who also sits on the conference committee, said negotiators were finalizing details but wouldn't say what still needed to be worked out. The negotiators want to use the spectrum legislation to help pay for the payroll tax cut package. The spectrum legislation would authorize incentive auctions, from which the Federal Communications Commission to could give broadcasters and other spectrum holders a share of the revenues from the spectrum they relinquish. Auctions could raise billions for the Treasury depending on how the legislation is structured. The Congressional Budget Office projected that spectrum legislation approved late last year by Walden's subcommittee and included in the House's version of the payroll tax package would generate $16.7 billion for the Treasury. "It's all about the money," said Communications and Technology Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo (D-CA).
benton.org/node/114412 | National Journal
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POLICY RUSH
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
As legislators continued to work on a payroll tax extension package that includes spectrum incentive auctions, they were getting plenty of advice from industry players. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said he was hopeful the package would contain a version of the bill that allowed the FCC to maximize the benefits for spectrum reclamation for all, which means without the conditions backed by Republicans that would limit the FCC's allocation of more unlicensed spectrum and its ability to put any conditions on auction bidders. Elsewhere, unlicensed backers Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Darrell Issa (D-CA) called on their colleagues to protect access to unlicensed spectrum, scheduling a Capitol Hill event for Feb. 16, the day before the effective deadline for coming up a payroll package to extend the tax cut and unemployment benefits. CTIA: The Wireless Association President Steve Largent sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urging them to keep spectrum incentive auction legislation in the package. Given that the auctions are helping pay for the tax cut and benefits to the tune of as much as $20 billion, there is reason for hope the auctions will remain in this bill after having been excised from earlier versions of compromise spending legislation.
benton.org/node/114411 | Broadcasting&Cable
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PUBLIC SAFTEY NETWORK
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Hayley Tsukayama]
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said in a that he expects the public safety first responder network will be included in the congressional deal to extend the payroll tax holiday. “We’ve made great progress and are very close to a historic milestone—creation of a new nationwide communications network for our first responders,” said Sen Rockefeller. “My expectation is that we will be able to include this legislative language in the compromise payroll deal that is close to being finalized. Although we continue to hash out some of the finer points of the legislation, the end result should be the same: a new communications network that will save lives and generate economic growth.”
benton.org/node/114410 | Washington Post
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APPLE AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook asking if the company does enough to protect user information on iPhones. Specifically, they asked if Apple’s policies ensure developers can’t share or collect user data — such as iPhone contact lists — without permission. The concern comes after Path, an online diary, said it collected and stored users’ iPhone contact lists without explicitly asking for permission to do so. When launching the app, Path automatically uploaded contact data in order to “find friends” to connect to on the social networking app. The lawmakers say the practice “raises questions about whether Apple’s iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts.” They asked Cook how many apps grab information from users’ iPhone contact lists and whether the apps ask for permission from users to access that data. They asked for Cook to answer by Feb. 29 how Apple vets app developers and their use of data from devices.
benton.org/node/114388 | Washington Post | National Journal | Broadcasting&Cable
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APPLE CHANGING POLICY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Paczkowski]
After a week of silence, Apple has finally responded to reports that dozens of iOS applications have been accessing, transmitting and storing user contact data without explicit permission. Apple has faced growing criticism that it has given iOS developers far too much access to address book information without requiring a user prompt. On Feb 15, the company agreed with that assessment, and said that soon, apps that use address book data will require explicit user permission to do so. “Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines*,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said. “We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.” So Apple has done the right thing, arguably something it should have done long ago: Assure users that no app can read their contact data without their permission.
benton.org/node/114409 | Wall Street Journal | Bloomberg | The Atlantic | Reuters
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BENEVOLENT DICTATORS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Jordan Robertson]
Google, Apple and Microsoft have with little fanfare embraced technology that lets technicians instantly and remotely purge unauthorized content from users’ machines. So-called kill switches are standard on Android handsets and iPhones, the smartphone leaders. The capability will soon become more widespread with the release of Microsoft’s Windows 8 software for tablets and computers. While their stated use is for the removal of harmful content, there’s no standard definition of what that means, and companies aren’t required to disclose when and how the tools are employed. The technology could be harnessed by a hacker to unleash a virus, a company to pry into a user’s private information or a government body to repress free speech, said Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University’s law school.
benton.org/node/114408 | Bloomberg
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AT&T HUNTS SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Gina Chon, Anton Troianovski, Anupreeta Das]
The collapse of a $39 billion acquisition isn't stopping AT&T Inc. from exploring other wireless deals. Barely two months after the phone giant's offer to buy T-Mobile USA fell apart amid objections from regulators, AT&T is already studying new deals that could increase its access to the airwaves, including potential transactions with Leap Wireless International, Dish Network or MetroPCS Communications. The talks between AT&T and other wireless providers show the pressure AT&T is under to line up spectrum. Its larger competitor, Verizon Wireless, said in December it would pay $3.6 billion to buy one of the last large swaths of unused airwaves in the U.S. from several cable companies. That deal still needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission.
Acquiring Leap Wireless, which operates the Cricket brand of prepaid service and is the nation's sixth-largest wireless carrier, is one possibility AT&T is studying. The two sides have been engaged in talks about a potential deal, which could give AT&T access to spectrum in dozens of markets valued by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. analysts at about $2.1 billion. Leap's market capitalization is $686 million. The two parties had positive talks last year when AT&T was looking to sell off some assets to try to gain regulatory approval for the T-Mobile transaction. As a result, AT&T sees a Leap deal as more possible than some of its other options, the people said. However, Leap's spectrum holdings are relatively small and don't cover the whole country, meaning AT&T would likely need more to satisfy its long-term needs.
benton.org/node/114428 | Wall Street Journal
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LIGHTSQUARED VOWS FIGHT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Wireless start-up LightSquared plans to fight the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) move to reject its proposed nationwide 4G network. Jeff Carlisle, LightSquared's vice president for regulatory affairs, said the company will file a formal comment with the FCC urging the agency not to follow through on its proposal to "indefinitely suspend" LightSquared's authority to operate cell towers. When asked if the company plans to sue the FCC over the decision, Carlisle said, "We'll see where it goes." LightSquared can challenge the FCC's decision as "arbitrary and capricious" in federal appeals court. CEO Philip Falcone said there were solutions to GPS-related issues that would allow the service to go forward, "if rational public policy prevails." He left no doubt he did not believe it had done so to date. "I made this multibillion dollar investment in LightSquared in reliance on FCC's stated conditions for our receiving a license. Today's Public Notice by the FCC not only disregards this decade-old regulatory order but also reverses a policy adopted by Republican leadership in 2005. In doing so, it jeopardizes private enterprise, jobs and telecom investment in America's future."
benton.org/node/114427 | Hill, The | B&C
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PLAN B
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: ]
LightSquared may seek to exchange its wireless airwave licenses for similar ones operated by the Department of Defense in a last-ditch effort to revive its mobile broadband service, according to people familiar with the company's plans. LightSquared had been criticized by the Defense Department, legislators and makers of farm equipment and Global Positioning System devices, who say its network signal operates too close to those used for GPS and could interfere. In comparison, the Defense Department airwaves -- used primarily for aircraft testing -- operate on a frequency farther away from GPS signals making it less likely to cause any jamming. Such an airwaves swap would be difficult -- it's not clear the Defense Department would be interested in such an exchange and LightSquared would need to raise additional funds.
benton.org/node/114426 | Wall Street Journal
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TRENDS IN LATINO MOBILE PHONE USAGE
[SOURCE: National Hispanic Media Coalition, AUTHOR: ]
The report offers the most comprehensive compilation of up-to-date data on how the Latino community is using mobile phones. After comparing and contrasting findings from different sources, NHMC recommends a variety of policies to guarantee connectivity, affordability, and usability of mobile phones for all consumers. The first-of-its-kind report offers a comprehensive analysis of emerging trends in the way the Latino community uses cell phones. The compilation of the data indicates three major tendencies: Latinos are less likely to adopt broadband at home than other ethnic groups; are three times more likely than the general population to rely on mobile phones as their only means of Internet access; and are footing a larger mobile phone bills than any other demographic group. Based on the landscape of data compiled in the report, NHMC makes a number of policy recommendations to enable the Latino community to thrive as it embraces mobile technology, including:
Reforming the Universal Service Fund
Preserving competition in the wireless industry
Preserving the open Internet over fixed and mobile services
Protecting consumers from predatory business practices
benton.org/node/114424 | National Hispanic Media Coalition
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NEWS FROM THE FCC
UNWANTED TELEMARKETING “ROBOCALLS” TO WIRELINE AND WIRELESS PHONES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
To further protect consumers from unwanted autodialed or prerecorded calls, often referred to as “robocalls,” the Federal Communications Commission approved changes to its telemarketing rules. Unwanted telemarketing calls and texts were consistently in the top three consumer complaint categories at the FCC in 2011. Robocalls invade consumers’ privacy, and can, in the case of calls to wireless numbers, use up their minutes. The order helps put an end to these intrusions by empowering consumers with increased rights under the FCC’s telemarketing rules. The new rules reduce regulatory uncertainty with minimal burden on industry and maximize consistency with those of the Federal Trade Commission.
Specifically, the rules protect consumers by:
Requiring telemarketers to obtain prior express written consent from them, including by electronic means such as a website form, before placing a robocall to a consumer;
Eliminating the “established business relationship” exemption to the requirement that telemarketing robocalls to residential wireline phones occur only with prior express consent from the consumer;
Requiring telemarketers to provide an automated, interactive “opt-out” mechanism during each robocall so that consumers can immediately tell the telemarketer to stop calling; and,
Strictly limiting the number of abandoned or “dead air” calls that telemarketers can make within each calling campaign.
benton.org/node/114375 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn | AdWeek
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FCC SEEKS TO REFORM AND MODERNIZE CELLULAR LICENSING REQUIREMENTS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took steps to promote government efficiency and eliminate burdensome regulatory processes by providing licensees with greater flexibility to provide advanced communications service in areas currently unlicensed in the 800 MHz Cellular Service (Cellular Service). The FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and adopted an Order proposing to revise the licensing model for the Cellular Service from a site-based to a geographically-based approach. This proposal would first reduce regulatory requirements in the most licensed markets while preserving the current model for a period to foster the provision of service in less licensed markets. The proposal for a geographically-based model would bring the Cellular Service into harmony with more flexible licensing schemes used successfully by other similar mobile services, such as PCS, the 700 MHz Service, and AWS. This proposal would eliminate burdensome application filings for even minor technical system changes and would allow for greater licensee ability to adapt to technological and marketplace changes.
benton.org/node/114378 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn
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VOIP AND 9-1-1
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission took action to make the nation’s 9-1-1 systems more reliable and resilient by requiring interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers to report significant network outages that meet specific criteria and thresholds. The new rules will help ensure that the country’s critical communications infrastructure remains available in times of crisis. The FCC will use outage reports to track and analyze information on interconnected VoIP outages affecting 9-1-1 service and determine if action is needed to prevent future outages. Interconnected VoIP service providers will be obligated to report significant service outages to the FCC. The FCC’s Report and Order defines outage reporting for interconnected VoIP service, establishes reporting criteria and thresholds, and discusses how the reporting process should work, what information should be reported, and confidential treatment of the outage reports. The FCC deferred action on a number of questions, including the possibility of setting thresholds for reporting outages of broadband Internet service, and measurements for outages of both interconnected VoIP and broadband Internet services based on performance degradation, as opposed to complete service outage.
benton.org/node/114407 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn
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INTERNATIONAL BUREAU INVITES COMMENT ON NTIA LETTER REGARDING LIGHTSQUARED CONDITIONAL WAIVER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
This Public Notice seeks comment on a letter submitted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on February 14, 2012, concerning the results of additional government testing of the potential interference effects of communications equipment that LightSquared seeks authority to operate. The International Bureau (Bureau) also identifies specific actions that may be taken in light of the NTIA Letter and the full record developed to date in this proceeding. NTIA states that it has monitored the testing done through the Interference Resolution Process and has coordinated additional testing of LightSquared’s equipment by other federal agencies, to assess the interference effects of such equipment on GPS receivers and devices. Based on this testing, NTIA has concluded that LightSquared’s proposed mobile broadband network will impact GPS services and there currently is no practical way to mitigate the potential harmful interference from LightSquared’s planned terrestrial operations in the 1525-1559 MHz band.18 NTIA “conclude[s] at this time that there are no mitigation strategies that both solve the interference issues and provide LightSquared with an adequate commercial network deployment.” The FCC invites interested parties to file comments in response to the NTIA’s tentative conclusions, no later than March
1, 2012.
benton.org/node/114376 | Federal Communications Commission | Nextgov | NTIA
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RULING ON E-BOOKROOM INITIATIVE REQUEST
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission adopted an order granting a request for waiver filed by the e-Bookroom Initiative (“e-BI”) concerning the Learning On-The-Go (also known as the E-rate Deployed Ubiquitously (EDU) 2011) Pilot Program. The FCC grants e-BI’s request to provide an extension of the time for pilot participants to meet certain E-rate procedural deadlines to facilitate the ongoing administration and utilization of the funds committed to the pilot participants for funding year 2011. The FCC waives its rules and directs the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to extend any of its relevant procedural deadlines for those pilot participants that had not begun their pilot projects before October 1, 2011. But the FCC denies e-BI’s request to provide additional support to the pilot participants beyond the funds that have already been committed to each of the pilot projects.
benton.org/node/114377 | Federal Communications Commission
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
TWITTER AND CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Sens Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) demanded answers from Twitter CEO Dick Costolo about his company's new policy to allow governments to censor some tweets. "We understand that Twitter has an obligation to comply with legal requests that do not violate human rights, and we appreciate that you are taking steps to minimize the impact of censorship," the lawmakers wrote. "However, your announcement leaves important questions unanswered." The lawmakers asked Twitter how it determines whether it must comply with a government's request to censor a tweet and whether it considers if the request violates international human-rights law. The lawmakers also asked for more information about Twitter's privacy policy and whether it would turn over private user information to the police. They urged Twitter to join the Global Network Initiative, a voluntary code for tech companies to protect human rights.
benton.org/node/114406 | Hill, The
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MONITORING SOCIAL MEDIA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jordy Yager]
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said agency officials do not weed through the tweets of incoming foreign travelers in an attempt to spot potential terrorists. “We aren’t sitting there monitoring social media looking for stuff, that’s not what we do,” said Sec Napolitano at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing. Her comments were in reference to a recent incident in which Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials detained and questioned two British travelers at the Los Angeles airport after one tweeted their intent to “destroy America.” Sec Napolitano said that the tweet was taken into account when deciding whether to deport the two British nationals, but that officials were made aware of the tweet from a tip. She said that more information, which was top-secret, was considered before making an ultimate decision.
benton.org/node/114405 | Hill, The
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
PUBLICLY-OWNED INTERNET
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Susan Crawford]
[Commentary] In cities and towns across the US, a familiar story is replaying itself: Powerful companies are preventing local governments from providing an essential service to their citizens. More than 100 years ago, it was electricity. Today, it is the public provision of communications services. Like the power trusts of the 20th century, the enormous consolidated providers of wired Internet access want to tamp down any enthusiasm for municipal networks. Right now, state legislatures -- where the incumbents wield great power -- are keeping towns and cities in the U.S. from making their own choices about their communications networks. Meanwhile, municipalities, cooperatives and small independent companies are practically the only entities building globally competitive networks these days. Both AT&T and Verizon have ceased the expansion of next-generation fiber installations across the U.S., and the cable companies’ services greatly favor downloads over uploads. Congress needs to intervene. One way it could help is by preempting state laws that erect barriers to the ability of local jurisdictions to provide communications services to their citizens.
benton.org/node/114382 | Bloomberg
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TELEVISION/RADIO
MAKING PUBLIC FILES PUBLIC
[SOURCE: New America Foundation, AUTHOR: Tom Glaisyer]
[Commentary] In exchange for exclusive use of spectrum broadcasters have acquired public interest obligations. However, viewing the public files that document how broadcasters have fulfilled on that commitment can hardly be considered accessible when compared to 21st century e-Government and transparency norms. As part of our effort to understand the issue, we have visited a number of broadcasters and examined their public files - a task that currently requires visiting a station between Monday and Friday. Requesting a copy can result in costs of up-to 25 cents a page. The Federal Communications Commission is proposing to bring the broadcasters in to the 21st century and require they post public file information online including the contents of the political file. But broadcasters made the bizarre claim that this move to share rate information online would force them to reveal “sensitive pricing data.” The information is already available for anyone to inspect, though only between the hours of 9 and 5 in person at their offices and photocopied at the readers expense. Putting it online is just asking the broadcasters to enter the 21st century and make good on the public interest obligations broadcast stations took on in exchange for a government grant to use publicly owned spectrum for free.
benton.org/node/114364 | New America Foundation
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COMMISSION ON INNOVATION
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Neal Ungerleider]
The United States government has quietly gathered a collection of tech and media superstars to advise on propaganda and public diplomacy. Just think of the new Broadcasting Board of Governors' Commission on Innovation as the Justice League of Public Diplomacy--the commission's unpaid members include Twitter and Facebook's cofounders, Steve Jobs's biographer, media and foreign policy gurus, and high-ranking muckety-mucks from all aspects of cultural life. Members of the commission met at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Washington (DC) bureau on February 10 to discuss how changes in digital media may create new audiences in “specific markets.” So who is on the board, exactly? Attendees at the February meeting included Walter Isaacson (himself a former chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors), foreign policy expert Anne-Marie Slaughter, RealNetworks founder Rob Glaser, Twitter cofounder Evan Williams, Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes, media expert and Twitter standby Clay Shirky, Hari Sreenivasan of PBS Newshour, and officials from Google Ideas, TED, the Knight Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, the U.S. State Department, ONE, the Mozilla Foundation, the Personal Democracy Forum, New York's Museum of Modern Art, and Civic Commons.
benton.org/node/114367 | Fast Company
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CYBERSECURITY
CYBERSECURITY BILL HEADED STRAIGHT TO SENATE FLOOR
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans to bring a cybersecurity bill straight to the Senate floor in the coming weeks, skipping any committee markups, according to Democratic aides. The move ignores the pleas from seven GOP senators to slow down the process and allow for multiple committees to hold hearings and markups of the legislation. Speaking at a briefing for reporters, the Democratic aides emphasized that Congress has been working on cybersecurity legislation for several years.
benton.org/node/114402 | Hill, The
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CYBERSECURITY BILL BLOCKED
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
There’s no disagreement on Capitol Hill that more needs to be done to protect the country’s critical infrastructure from potentially devastating cyberattacks. It’s just that lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, can’t agree on how to go about doing it. That lack of harmony, which erupted into public view earlier this week, promises to hamstring an effort to quickly pass a sweeping cybersecurity bill through the Senate. Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-CT), along with a handful of allies, unveiled a doorstop of a bill on Feb. 14 aimed at boosting defenses against escalating cyberthreats. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wants quick floor action on the measure. But a group of top Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has called on Sen Reid to slow down. The same day Sen Lieberman revealed his bill, which was accompanied by choreographed floor speeches from its backers, top Republicans on seven other Senate committees wrote to Sens Reid and McConnell to complain that the measure was being rushed. The GOP critics said the measure should be vetted — through hearings and markups — by their committees.
benton.org/node/114419 | Politico
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JOURNALISM
SERIOUS CRIMINALITY AT NEWS CORP
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Salamander Davoudi]
Investigators looking into alleged corrupt practices at News Corp’s UK newspapers suspect that cash payments worth more than £100,000 were made to police officers and other public officials. News Corp’s management and standards committee, set up after the News of the World phone hacking scandal convulsed the News International newspaper division last July, has been under fire from reporters for passing information to police that has led to the arrests of nine journalists at The Sun. A person with knowledge of the investigation dismissed claims that journalists were being penalized for innocuous lunches with sources. “This is not about sources or expenses,” he said: “This is an investigation into serious suspected criminality over a sustained period.” He added: “It involves regular cash payments totaling tens of thousands of pounds a year for several years to public officials, some of whom were effectively on a retainer to provide information. In totality, it involves a six-figure sum.”
benton.org/node/114414 | Financial Times
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PHILADELPHIA NEWSPAPERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Amy Chozick, David Carr]
Last week, Gregory J. Osberg, chief executive and publisher of the Philadelphia Media Network, which publishes The Inquirer, The Daily News and Philly.com, summoned the news organization’s three most senior editors to his office. Over three hours, he told them he would be overseeing all articles related to the newspapers’ impending sale. If any articles ran without his approval, the editors would be fired, according to several editors and reporters briefed on the meeting who did not want to be identified criticizing the company’s leadership. The meeting was the latest incident pitting the management of the papers against the newsroom over the proposed sale to an investor group primarily made up of the area’s most powerful Democrats.
benton.org/node/114430 | New York Times
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POLICYMAKERS
GRASSLEY KEEPS HOLD ON FCC NOMINEES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) plans to block President Obama's two nominees to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) despite the agency nixing LightSquared's high-speed wireless network. Sen Grassley placed the hold on the nominees to try to force the FCC to release internal records on its review of the company. He questioned why the FCC allowed LightSquared to get as far as it did in the regulatory process despite tests that showed its network could disrupt GPS devices. “The FCC’s action seems to acknowledge the point I’ve been making since April," Sen Grassley said. "Prematurely granting a conditional waiver in a rushed process is not the way to get the right result. Now that the interference issue is settled, we need to find out more than ever why the FCC did what it did." "The agency put this project on a fast track for approval with what appears to have been completely inadequate technical research," Grassley said. "After all of this time and expense, still, no one outside of the agency knows why. That’s not the way the people’s government should work. The public’s business ought to be public." FCC officials have declined to meet with Sen Grassley on several occasions, saying the usual order of the Senate is to only meet with lawmakers who serve on committees with jurisdiction over their agency. Although Sen Grassley is the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, he does not sit on the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC. "Now that the FCC has backtracked on LightSquared, I’d like to see my Senate colleagues join my document request, especially the chairman of the only Senate committee that the FCC is willing to answer," Sen Grassley said, referring to Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV). "If we don’t find out how and why the FCC failed to avoid this controversy, then it will keep operating as a closed shop instead of the open, publicly accountable agency it should be.”
benton.org/node/114385 | Hill, The | B&C
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
IPAD PLANT CONDITIONS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Terril Yue Jones]
Working conditions at Chinese manufacturing plants where Apple Inc's iPads and iPhones are made are far better than those at garment factories or other facilities elsewhere in the country, according to Auret van Heerden, president of the Fair Labor Association which is investigating the plants. He offered no immediate conclusions on the working conditions, but he noted that boredom and alienation could have contributed to the stress that led some workers to take their own lives. After his first visits to Foxconn, van Heerden said, "The facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are way, way above average of the norm." He spent the past several days visiting Foxconn plants to prepare for the study.
benton.org/node/114383 | Reuters
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APPLE’S INCENTIVE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Richard Waters]
Imagine a company generating an extra $1.5 billion in sales every week compared to what it earned only a year ago – and nearly all of that coming from products that it had dreamt up from scratch within the last half decade. These were things the world didn’t know until recently that it needed. That would be like General Motors conjuring up its entire North American sales – all the Chevrolets, Cadillacs, Buicks and GMC trucks – from nothing, in the space of just a year. That gives some idea of the enormity of Apple’s recent success on the back of the iPhone and iPad. Without those inventions, it would be a struggling computer maker trying to fill the gap left by shrinking iPod sales. Instead, it is a world-beater with a share price that surged past $500 this week and didn’t stop to catch breath. It was only with the launch of the iPad that Apple’s stock market value topped that of Microsoft, a company that once seemed unassailable: it is now worth nearly twice as much. That makes Apple’s handling of the supply chain labor issues that continue to dog it a central concern not just for its own future but for the industry at large. Its scale and conspicuous brand have brought it unwelcome attention. But it is already ahead of its main rivals in trying to grapple with the underage labor, excessive forced overtime and inadequate safety standards that continue to be alleged against it, and the new standards it is helping to set will be felt across the industry. One implication is that costs will rise.
benton.org/node/114418 | Financial Times
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WHAT APPLE WORKERS MAKE
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Matthew Shaer]
According to the Korea Daily, the Chinese factory workers that assemble the iPad 2 earn approximately $8, collectively, for every Apple tablet that rolls off the supply line. Eight bucks, as a point of reference, is less than two percent of the price of the cheapest iPad. It's also far less than the $34 per iPad 2 reportedly paid to factory workers in Korea. Assuming the report is correct, Chinese workers are getting shortchanged. And Apple is making out big: Apple rakes in a hefty $150 – 30 percent of the retail price – on every iPad 2 sold. So will Apple, which currently dominates the tablet market in the US, be affected by growing concern over the way its products are built? Hard to say. But Apple is certainly concerned enough to have begun hitting back at critics.
benton.org/node/114417 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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