March 2012

FCC REFORM

FCC REFORM BILL
[SOURCE: The Verge , AUTHOR: TC Sottek]
There's been a rising drumbeat for Federal Communications Commission reform on Capitol Hill ever since the agency helped block the AT&T / T-Mobile deal — and that beat's being led by the nation's biggest carriers, their lobbyists, and Congressional Republicans who evidently want to return to the glory days of monopoly. Last month a hotly contested bill from Rep. David Camp (R-MI) that would have crippled the FCC passed in compromise under the cover of a jobs act, forcing the FCC to include carriers that meet basic eligibility requirements in spectrum auctions. But the original provisions were much worse than the final law: they would have demolished the agency's ability to regulate spectrum auctions by taking net neutrality out of the picture, as well as its ability to get new competitors into the market. In essence, the version that didn't pass would have served up a publicly shared resource on a silver platter to AT&T and Verizon — and while the bill that passed stops short of handing over public spectrum, it now guarantees AT&T and Verizon can dominate future spectrum auctions unless the FCC can figure out other ways to block them. And now a new FCC reform bill passed by the House of Representatives makes it clear that Republicans are mounting an all-out assault on the agency — one that may begin to be more successful come November elections.
benton.org/node/118259 | Verge, The
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

SCHMINTERNET
[SOURCE: American Public Media, AUTHOR: Joe Moe]
When you’re a Comcast customer and watch Comcast shows, that won’t count against your Internet usage for the month. Watch all you want, watch TV all day long if that’s what you choose to do, you never have to worry. Which sounds great, unless you want to watch something other than Comcast. “Imagine if you're a Netflix subscriber and you're loving watching your high definition movies over the Internet,” posits Susan Crawford, a visiting professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School and Harvard Law School, “and you've chosen to do that because you're sick of paying the high-package bundle prices that Comcast charges. If you’re a Netflix customer watching those high-def movies, you may hit Comcast's cap. So contrast that to this Xbox service which will feel exactly the same, it's just streaming video. This service isn't subject to those caps.” That's because the Comcast service isn't traveling over the internet in the same way Netflix is. “This will make online video feel like it should be free to people,” Crawford says. “They'll feel that it's unreasonable to have to pay for a Netflix subscription service, much less for pay for overages for exceeding their data caps, and they'll just say, we'll, forget that, I'm going over to this Schminternet, this other thing, which feels just like Internet streaming video, but doesn't have me hit any of these caps or pay any of these extra fees.”
benton.org/node/118295 | American Public Media
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ICANN UNDER SCRUTINY
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the group that manages the Internet's domain name system, may have awakened a sleeping giant with its controversial program to allow for the launch of an unlimited number of top-level generic domain names. While critics of this program may have failed in stopping or delaying the launch of the new domain name program, it is clear that they will be closely monitoring ICANN implements the program and how it carries out its business generally. ICANN began accepting applications for its new domain name program in January and will reveal the list of applicants in May. "ICANN is not the same organization that it was a year ago before we started our efforts. It's very much attuned to the notion that the entire world is watching them now," Judy Harris, a partner with the Reed Smith law firm, said at the Association of National Advertisers annual public policy conference. Harris is working with the ANA to try to address the group's concerns with ICANN's new domain name program. The ANA, which launched a coalition last year to oppose the program, made clear at Wednesday's conference that it will continue to press for changes to the program to ensure its members, which include major U.S. companies ranging from Bank of America to Cisco to Procter & Gamble, are not adversely affected.
benton.org/node/118264 | National Journal
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CYBERSECURITY

CYBERSECURITY HEARING
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing to examine threats to America’s communications networks, what the public sector is doing to address those threats, how it is working with the private sector, and what role the federal government should play in securing communications networks. The Subcommittee heard from witnesses representing the Federal Communications Commission, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, Carnegie Mellon’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team, and Sandia Laboratories.
In general, Republicans said the government should encourage voluntary industry standards and not insert itself in a way that would reduce private industry's flexibility in responding to threats.
Democrats on the panel gave a shout-out to those ISP efforts, but suggested that the government also needed a way to ensure accountability to those voluntary standards. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) made the strongest case for stronger government involvement. He suggested that reliance solely on voluntary efforts might not be sufficient, say, dealing with a company that was less diligent in its best practices and caused a cyber-breach to critical infrastructure. He said that if industry wants exemptions from antitrust and other consumer laws in order to share info with the government -- it does -- then it should be willing to be held accountable for not abusing that freedom.
James Barnett, chief of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, said he supports giving the government new regulatory powers to protect against cyber attacks. He endorsed the regulatory provisions of the Cybersecurity Act, a bill authored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). The legislation would give the Homeland Security Department the power to require that critical systems, such as electrical grids, meet minimum cybersecurity standards. Barnet also said that ensuring cybersecurity doesn't mean giving up privacy or undermining Internet freedom. "Sacrificing privacy or Internet openness for security is a false choice," Barnett said. "We must insist on having all three, and we strongly believe that this is achievable."
Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden characterized some of the testimony as disturbing, then even more disturbing as witnesses talked about the threats. They included an attack on the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration that took the network down for several weeks and counting. It also included this sobering assessment from Bob Hutchinson, of Sandia National Laboratories, a government-funded national research lab: "The most important lesson I have learned in my career is that computer systems can never be fully trusted, can never be proven free of compromise, so we must focus on finding ways to conduct business, even critical business, on machines that are presumed to be infected," he said.
benton.org/node/118277 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | FCC | | B&C | NTIA
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HACKER WAR
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Devlin Barrett]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's top cyber cop offered a grim appraisal of the nation's efforts to keep computer hackers from plundering corporate data networks: "We're not winning," he said. Shawn Henry, who is preparing to leave the FBI after more than two decades with the bureau, said in an interview that the current public and private approach to fending off hackers is "unsustainable.'' Computer criminals are simply too talented and defensive measures too weak to stop them, he said. His comments weren't directed at specific legislation but came as Congress considers two competing measures designed to buttress the networks for critical U.S. infrastructure, such as electrical-power plants and nuclear reactors. Though few cybersecurity experts disagree on the need for security improvements, business advocates have argued that the new regulations called for in one of the bills aren't likely to better protect computer networks. Henry, who is leaving government to take a cybersecurity job with an undisclosed firm in Washington, said companies need to make major changes in the way they use computer networks to avoid further damage to national security and the economy. Too many companies, from major multinationals to small start-ups, fail to recognize the financial and legal risks they are taking—or the costs they may have already suffered unknowingly—by operating vulnerable networks, he said.
benton.org/node/118239 | Wall Street Journal
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PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORIZATION FOR CYBERATTACKS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
Cyberattacks on enemy computer systems should require presidential authority — and not be launched at the discretion of individual military commanders — the nation’s top cyberwarrior told Congress. The comment by Gen. Keith Alexander, the head of U.S. Cyber Command, offered a rare glimpse into a largely classified debate over standing rules of engagement for the military in cyberspace. Those rules govern what commanders can and cannot do on their own authority outside war zones. “It really comes down to, so what are those reactions that make sense that we can do defensively, analogous to the missile shoot-down?” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “But if you are to go after a computer in foreign space or some other thing, that might be a response option that would now take, I think, the president and the [defense] secretary to step in and start making decisions, versus us taking that on,” Alexander said. “And I think that’s probably where we’ll end up, and that makes a lot of sense from my perspective.”
benton.org/node/118236 | Washington Post
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

WIRES ARE ANSWER FOR WIRELESS
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: James Crowe]
[Commentary] We’ve heard a lot recently about the pressing need for government action to free up more radio spectrum for wireless communications or to allow mergers or acquisitions purportedly aimed at the same goal. It’s no surprise that this issue attracts attention in Washington. When people can’t use their mobile devices to make or receive calls or to access content and data, they notice and they make themselves heard. And as any wireless consumer knows, service providers are struggling to meet the rapidly growing demand created by consumers’ desire for innovative devices, applications and content delivered wherever and whenever they want. But focusing on spectrum alone is unlikely to solve wireless network congestion in the long run. Spectrum is a finite resource. While laws passed by Congress can assign and allocate spectrum, the many competing uses for capacity and the laws of physics limit how much spectrum is available for any one purpose. If consumer demand for wireless broadband continues to increase at predicted levels, policymakers will need to employ all available approaches to encourage efficient use of the wireless spectrum. A key factor in encouraging efficient use of spectrum has been largely overlooked in policy discussions. Wireless providers can add capacity, without obtaining more spectrum, by adding more and more antennas, generally referred to as cell sites. Additional cell sites allow the same spectrum to be used by even more consumers, subject to some well understood design considerations. Importantly, each additional cell site requires a wired connection to the global Internet.
[Crowe is CEO of Level 3 Communications]
benton.org/node/118223 | Forbes
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$1/DAY FOR A DAILY GIGABYTE
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Tofel]
“By 2020 the average person will download one gigabyte of personalised data each day, and it will be delivered for less than $1 a day.” That’s a striking comment from Hossein Moiin, CTO of Nokia Siemens Networks. Not only does it speak to the enormous growth in our data needs through this decade, but also to a more intelligent, personalized web. Obviously, the trend is that we’re downloading more data to our mobile devices, but we’ll also be uploading additional preferences, favored activities and other bits that will further shape our mobile web experience. As for handling the growth in demand, Moiin is specifically talking about LTE, which is relatively new as a mobile broadband technology, but one with legs, as 200 new LTE networks are expected to launch by 2015.
benton.org/node/118263 | GigaOm
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UNLICENSED SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Go ahead, add Wi-Fi to your toaster. Or Bluetooth to your shoes, because the Federal Communications Commission has relaxed some rules that make using unlicensed airwaves in the PCS band a little easier. And that means it could be cheaper for radio-makers to add that frequency band for our ever-growing parade of wireless gear. Over at The CommLawBlog, published by DC law firm Fletcher Heald & Hildreth, a post notes that the FCC has simplified rules governing how devices using the 1920 MHz-through-1930 MHz frequencies can behave: “Unlike some of the other unlicensed bands that house Wi-[Fi], Bluetooth, ZigBee, and thousands of consumer applications (our own favorite is a wireless diaper wetness sensor), the UPCS band is lightly populated, mostly with cordless phones. The FCC rules for the band include a complicated “spectrum etiquette” – a listen-before-talk scheme that minimizes the odds of one device stepping on another’s transmission. But the benefit comes with downsides: added equipment costs, and an upper limit on the number of devices that can successfully operate in a given environment.”
The FCC’s new rules lower the costs of using that band, which means radio companies might cast their eye on it as other bands get too crowded, or they think up a good use case for devices that can take advantage of those frequencies. For example, since the band is already used by cordless phones, simplifying the rules might enable folks to use that band to operate a mess of cordless phones in a densely populated office environment, suggests the FCC.
benton.org/node/118227 | GigaOm
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DATA FOR VERIZON REVIEW
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
As part of the Verizon Wireless-SpectrumCo transaction review, the Federal Communications Commission intends to examine information contained in the biannual Numbering Resource Utilization and Forecast ("NRUF") reports filed by wireless telecommunications carriers, carrier-specific local number portability ("LNP") data related to wireless telecommunications carriers, and further disaggregated monthly carrier-specific local number portability data ("Carrier-to-Carrier LNP Data") related to wireless telecommunications carriers. These data may assist the FCC in assessing the competitive effects of the transactions. Accordingly, subject to the provisions of a new protective order, the FCC intends to place into the record in this proceeding:
NRUF reports for all wireless telecommunications carriers concerning data as of December 31, 2008, June 30, 2009, December 31, 2009, June 30, 2010, December 31, 2010, June 30, 2011, and December 31, 2011 (when available).
Wireless-to-wireless LNP data for all wireless telecommunications carriers from the December 2008, June 2009, December 2009, June 2010, December 2010, June 2011, and December 2011 (when available) LNP databases that the Commission receives from the LNP Administrator, NeuStar, Inc. This LNP data shows the total number of ports in and ports out per carrier.
Wireless-to-wireless Carrier-to-Carrier LNP data for all wireless telecommunications carriers, on a monthly basis, from the December 2008 to December 2011 (when available) LNP databases that the Commission receives from the LNP Administrator, NeuStar, Inc. This LNP data shows, on a monthly basis, the specific number of ports from each wireless carrier to another carrier in each area.
benton.org/node/118229 | Federal Communications Commission
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SPECTRUM SHARING PILOT PROGRAM
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
This notice describes and seeks comment on the types and depth of testing that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) intends to conduct in Phase II/III of the Spectrum Sharing Innovation Test-Bed pilot program to assess whether devices employing Dynamic Spectrum Access techniques can share the frequency spectrum with land mobile radio systems.
Phase II—Evaluation of Capabilities. After successful completion of Phase I, NTIA will evaluate the DSA spectrum sensing and/or geo-location capabilities of the equipment in the geographic area of the Test-Bed.
Phase III—Field Operation Evaluation. After successful completion of Phase II, NTIA will permit the DSA equipment to transmit in an actual radio frequency signal environment. An automatic signal logging capability will be used during operation of the Test-Bed to help resolve interference events if they occur. NTIA and the participant will establish a point-of-contact to stop Test-Bed operations if interference is reported.
Comments are due on or before April 27, 2012.
benton.org/node/118228 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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MOBILE PAYMENTS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
It’s already a social network, an inbox and a gaming console — and, for a small but growing number of smartphone owners, their beloved device is becoming a mobile wallet, too. But the neophyte market for apps and other tools that allow consumers to swipe their phones instead of their credit or debit cards at the register is compelling some policymakers to revisit privacy, security and banking rules written in a seemingly more analog time. “We are, I think, on a precipice of some fundamental change in the way money is exchanged between consumers and businesses,” said Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) during the House Financial Services Committee consumer credit panel’s hearing on The Future of Money last week. “There’s a lot for Congress, banks, regulators, retailers and customers to learn. Most importantly, we want to make sure these payments are safe and secure.” Policymakers have questions about jurisdiction — such as which agency should be chiefly in charge — and fears that laws meant to shield consumers from unwanted marketing may need an upgrade in the dawning age of mobile payments. Those debates only add to the larger difficulty of devising ways to protect a consumer’s 16-digit card number and expiration date, not to mention the privacy of all the other personal data encapsulated in a smartphone. Congressional scrutiny is expected to continue: The Senate banking committee on March 29 will hold the latest in its series of planned sessions on the mobile payments issue, and it plans to call witnesses from the Federal Reserve system to discuss information security and financial disclosure issues.
benton.org/node/118282 | Politico
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RADIO/TELEVISION

ARBITRON SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ben Sisario]
Arbitron, the largest radio ratings service, has settled a lawsuit in California over how it measures minority audiences, agreeing to pay $400,000 and to abide by certain research methods in tracking black and Latino radio listeners. The agreement settles a suit filed last week by the attorney general of California, who was joined by the city attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles. The suit contended that Arbitron undercounted minority audiences in how it recruited people to use its Portable People Meter, an electronic device that it introduced in 2008 to measure radio listening habits. Arbitron agreed in the settlement to reach listeners by address and make other steps to represent minority groups. It will also pay $150,000 each to the State of California and the City of Los Angeles, and $100,000 to the City and County of San Francisco.
benton.org/node/118276 | New York Times
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MEDIA & ELECTIONS

OBAMA AND BIG DATA
[SOURCE: ProPublica, AUTHOR: Lois Beckett]
President Obama's re-election campaign is reportedly building a massive database of information about potential supporters. Here's a guide to what we know -- and what we don't -- about the information Obama is collecting about voters.
What information is the campaign collecting about individual supporters?
What will happen to all this personal information once the campaign is over?
Is there any way to erase yourself from the campaign's database?
benton.org/node/118224 | ProPublica
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GANNETT 25
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jack Shafer]
[Commentary] Last week, the hall monitors who run Gannett’s 11 newspapers in Wisconsin brought the mean end of the ruler down on the wrists of 25 journalists for signing petitions to recall Governor Scott Walker. Kevin Corrado, publisher of the chain’s Green Bay Press-Gazette, spoke the company line in a Mar. 24 column in which he stated that signing the petition constituted a “breach of Gannett’s principles of ethical conduct.” Promising “disciplinary measures” and additional “ethics training” for the signatories, Corrado continued: “A number of the journalists told their editors that they did not consider signing the petition a political act. They equated it to casting a ballot in an election. But we do not make that distinction.” According to Corrado, the Gannett 25 violated six of the 32 principles of ethical conduct in the company code of ethics, even though none of the busted journalists were covering politics.
benton.org/node/118232 | Reuters
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GOP’S DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Kenneth Vogel]
President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies have opened up a big advantage over Republicans when it comes to high-tech voter targeting. And this year conservatives are making an ambitious push to change that ahead of the 2012 election. The Republican National Committee and the Koch brothers are spending millions on dueling voter file projects and a tea party group is set to unveil a new voter database platform March 29. Yet, even as Republican and conservative groups are poised to spend millions ahead of Election Day on new efforts to catch up to Democratic data and technology to target likely voters, some conservatives say there might not be enough time to have an impact. One of the biggest challenges for the GOP this year, they fear, could be that when it comes to mobilizing volunteers, donors and voters, they are sitting on the wrong side of a digital divide.
benton.org/node/118281 | Politico
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CONTENT

WHEN STEALING ISN’T STEALING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stuart Green]
[Commentary] The Justice Department is building its case against Megaupload, the hugely popular file-sharing site that was indicted earlier this year on multiple counts of copyright infringement and related crimes. The company’s servers have been shut down, its assets seized and top employees arrested. And, as is usual in such cases, prosecutors and their allies in the music and movie industries have sought to invoke the language of “theft” and “stealing” to frame the prosecutions and, presumably, obtain the moral high ground. Whatever wrongs Megaupload has committed, though, it’s doubtful that theft is among them. The problem is that most people simply don’t buy the claim that illegally downloading a song or video from the Internet really is like stealing a car. According to a range of empirical studies, including one conducted by me and my social psychologist collaborator, Matthew Kugler, lay observers draw a sharp moral distinction between file sharing and genuine theft, even when the value of the property is the same. This is not merely a question of nomenclature. The label we apply to criminal acts matters crucially in terms of how we conceive of and stigmatize them. What we choose to call a given type of crime ultimately determines how it’s formulated and classified and, perhaps most important, how it will be punished. Treating different forms of property deprivation as different crimes may seem untidy, but that is the nature of criminal law.
benton.org/node/118294 | New York Times
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TELECOM

A PHONE IN EVERY HOME?
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: David Cay Johnston]
[Commentary] The guarantee of landline telephone service at almost any address, a legal right many Americans may not even know they have, is quietly being legislated away in our U.S. state capitals. AT&T and Verizon, the dominant telephone companies, want to end their 99-year-old universal service obligation known as "provider of last resort." They say universal landline service is a costly and unfair anachronism that is no longer justified because of a competitive market for voice services. The new rules AT&T and Verizon drafted would enhance profits by letting them serve only the customers they want. Their focus, and that of smaller phone companies that have the same universal service obligation, is on well-populated areas where people can afford profitable packages that combine telephone, Internet and cable television. Unless the new rules are written very carefully, millions of people, urban and rural, will lose basic telephone service or be forced to pay much more for calls. If we lose universal service, I doubt we will ever get it back. Let's get a balanced policy rather than quietly rewriting laws to benefit one industry.
benton.org/node/118233 | Reuters
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

GOVERNMENT AND BIG DATA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr]
The federal government is beginning a major research initiative in big data computing. The effort, which will be announced on March 29, involves several government agencies and departments, and commitments for the programs total $200 million. Administration officials compare the initiative to past government research support for high-speed networking and supercomputing centers, which have had an impact in areas like climate science and Web browsing software. “This is that level of importance,” said Tom Kalil, deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “The future of computing is not just big iron. It’s big data.” National Science Foundation will announce a joint program with the National Institutes of Health seeking new techniques and technologies for data management, data analysis and machine learning, which is a branch of artificial intelligence. Other departments and agencies that will be announcing big data programs at a gathering at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington include the United States Geological Survey, the Defense Department, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Energy Department. These initiatives will mostly be seeking the best ideas from university and corporate researchers for collaborative projects.
benton.org/node/118296 | New York Times
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LIGHSQUARED DOCUMENT DUMP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission turned over 13,000 pages of LightSquared documents to the Republican leaders of the House Commerce Committee and promised continue to cooperate with the committee. It has been a month since the Feb. 28 request by Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) for information pertaining to the FCC's waiver to LightSquared, which it is now planning to rescind due to GPS interference issues. The legislators did not give the FCC a deadline, but the release of those documents is expected to trigger their vetting by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) -- the committee has signaled it will share them -- after which Sen Grassley has suggested he may lift the threatened hold on FCC commissioner nominees Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai.
benton.org/node/118270 | Broadcasting&Cable
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

IS YOUR INTERNET AT RISK?
[SOURCE: Times of India, AUTHOR: ]
A growing issue in the West is coming to India: the threat to network neutrality. The concept of net neutrality is based on the idea that companies which offer internet access should treat all internet content equally, in terms of speed, pricing, and access. It is important to protect this principle because if ISPs and telecom operators use their connectivity to influence how and what users consume, it can result in either censorship by a private company or anti-competitive practices. The challenge to net neutrality is that the decisions of what content to censor or to give preference to, lies in the hands of ISPs, which are predominantly corporate entities. In other words, the gatekeepers of free speech and open competition are private companies, whose job is to make profit. Experts say net neutrality is essential for freedom of speech, and that giving any power to an ISP or telco to limit or favor certain content will violate this fundamental principle. Internet & Mobile Services Association of India president Subho Ray said as of now, there are more 'pipes' than content in India. "But when the network is congested, neutrality will be an issue. ISPs should facilitate all legitimate internet traffic rather block it for commercial or other interests," said Ray.
benton.org/node/118256 | Times of India
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EUROPEAN ROAMING FEES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Kevin O’Brien]
European lawmakers agreed to extend the Continent’s system of retail price controls on mobile phone roaming charges for five years, and enacted the first price caps on mobile Internet fees that are paid by traveling smartphone users. The new, lower price controls will serve as an extension of a cap on roaming fees for voice service and text messaging that have been in effect in the 27-nation European Union since 2007. They were approved as part of a broader package of reforms that are intended to fundamentally increase competition in the industry. The agreement is likely to give consumers the right to buy roaming services from any operator. The package, which requires approval from the European Parliament and Council of Ministers, was brokered by Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner responsible for telecommunications, a Dutch economist and Europe’s former competition commissioner. Leaders of both chambers of Parliament signed off on the package Wednesday, which virtually assures adoption of the measure in Brussels later this spring. Starting July 1, 2014, E.U. consumers will have the ability to buy roaming service from any operator, not just their regular carrier. On this day, European operators will be required to sell wholesale access to their networks to competitors and virtual operators who wish to sell roaming services.
benton.org/node/118241 | New York Times | IDG News Service
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GOOGLE’S DOMINANCE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Richard Waters]
For Google, the moment of truth in Brussels is at hand. While indicating on March 28 that this week’s deadline for his staff to complete their work on Google has slipped slightly, European competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia made it clear that a decision will follow soon. After more than two years of investigation and plenty of rhetoric that suggests he will not let this pass easily, it is unimaginable that Google will be given a completely clean bill of health. But even people close to the situation in Brussels say it is a close call as to whether Almunia will push ahead with the most prominent transatlantic competition case since Microsoft, or opt instead for a quick settlement with Google. The complaints boil down to two main issues. One is that Google gives unfair preference to its own services in its search results. Type a location, or the codes of two airports, into the search box and the top result will be a map from Google or suggested flight times with prices. For other companies that supply things like online maps or travel services, and which rely on being found through search engines, this is a death sentence. Newer forms of online discovery – led by social networks Facebook and Twitter – may have emerged, but they have done little yet to dilute the power of search. The other complaint is that Google manipulates algorithms to harm rivals, whether by relegating them in its search rankings or by reducing the all-important quality score that is applied to the “landing pages” of advertisers.
benton.org/node/118289 | Financial Times
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Daily Digest

Analysis

March 2012

Michael Powell Works the Ref On The XBox360 Play

Google’s Grand Plan

Vint Cerf attacks European internet policy

Smartphones Account for Half of all Mobile Phones, Dominate New Phone Purchases in the US

Online or Out of Line? FCC Requests Copies of Entire Public Files

Political Silly Season

March 29, 2012 (Spectrum of revenge)

New US Research Will Aim at Flood of Digital Data

How Comcast is taking advantage of the Schminternet

When Stealing Isn’t Stealing