April 2012

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012

Another busy day includes the Broadband Communities Summit 12; a look at cable news channels; privacy and app development; and Expanding Broadband Access, Promoting Innovation, and Protecting Consumers in a Communications Revolution http://benton.org/calendar/2012-04-25/

CYBERSECURITY
   House to amend cybersecurity bill, privacy group sees 'good progress'
   House GOP dares Senate on cybersecurity
   House should kill cybersecurity bill - editorial
   Concerns about CISPA cyber security bill spread
   NCTA Backs House Cybersecurity Bills [links to web]
   Rep. McCaul calls for critical infrastructure protections [links to web]
   US eyes broader cyber-threat pact with companies
   Why the House Homeland Security Committee is on the cybersecurity sidelines
   The new cyber defense: Hack the attackers [links to web]

CONTENT
   The Emergence of Online Video: Is It The Future?
   The future of TV isn’t TV, it’s broadband. - analysis
   Genres Stretch, for Better and Worse, as YouTube Takes On TV [links to web]
   Art Is Long; Copyrights Can Even Be Longer [links to web]
   OWS protestor doesn’t own his tweets, judge rules [links to web]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Groups Ask FCC to Stop Clock on Verizon/Cable Spectrum Deal
   T-Mobile is buying neither Verizon’s story, nor its spectrum - analysis
   Nonprofit Group Highlights Privacy Issues in Mobile Payments
   Apple Crushes Estimates Again [links to web]
   Apple CEO: Enough of This iPhone Subsidy Silly Talk [links to web]
   How Long Can Apple Remain King Of Mobile Devices? - analysis
   AT&T earnings rise but new wireless subscribers slow [links to web]
   Why AT&T and Verizon Are Rooting for Windows Phones
   The iPhone Is Still a Strong Seller for AT&T and Verizon
   Google's Ex-CEO Defends Its Use of Java
   Apple Found to Violate One Patent on Android Phones
   Cellphone industry opposes California location privacy bill [links to web]
   Who’s eating up AT&T’s data capacity? It’s not new customers - analysis
   Google Tests Direct Sales With Smartphone [links to web]

TELEVISION/RADIO
   For radio, the digital disruption is delayed - analysis
   Comcast to FCC: Bloomberg Claim of Channel Relocations Is Wrong [links to web]
   NRB: DeMint/Scalise Bill Could Be 'Fatal' To Religious Stations [links to web]
   Subscribers Jump At 'TV Network' Netflix [links to web]

INTERNET/BROABAND
   Vint Cerf: We Knew What We Were Unleashing on the World
   The DSL death march continues - analysis

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   MTV turning 2012 Election into game [links to web]
   Romney uses startup hatched by Obama campaign [links to web]

EDUCATION
   How to expand students’ ed tech access -- and stay out of court [links to web]

JOURNALISM
   Chicago Tribune to outsource TribLocal content, cutting 20 jobs

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   China Escalates Crackdown On Internet Amid Scandal
   GSA Tool Will Verify Federal Social Media Accounts [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   Sen Grassley refutes Rockefeller's hopes for progress on FCC nominees
   Chairman Rockefeller suggests FCC's impasse with Sen Grassley could end

LOBBYING
   In US, Lobbyists Must Log Contact With Regulators; Talks Are Allowed
   AT&T wields enormous power in Sacramento
   Haley Barbour lobbying for the online sales tax he championed in office [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   China Escalates Crackdown On Internet Amid Scandal
   Murdoch Case Shifts Its Focus to a Minister
   See also: In US, Lobbyists Must Log Contact With Regulators; Talks Are Allowed

MORE ONLINE
   What if Facebook isn’t so special after all? [links to web]
   Are Your Facebook Friends Really Your Friends? [links to web]

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CYBERSECURITY

HOUSE TO AMEND CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The authors of a House cybersecurity bill said they will offer several amendments to address the concerns of privacy groups. After the announcement of changes by authors Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), one of the leading groups campaigning against the bill, said it still has concerns but will "not oppose the process moving forward in the House." "In sum, good progress has been made," CDT said in a statement. "The committee listened to our concerns and has made important privacy improvements and we applaud the committee for doing so." One amendment would tighten limitations on how the government can use the information it collects. The government would only be able to use the information to protect against a cyber attack, investigate cyber crime, protect national security, protect against theft or bodily harm or to protect minors from child pornography. CDT argued that the bill should be further amended to only allow the information to be used for cybersecurity purposes. The amendments would also narrow the definition of "cyber threat information" and would bar the federal government from retaining or using information beyond the explicit purposes of the bill. Another amendment would restrict the scope of the liability protections for companies that turn over data to the government.
benton.org/node/121251 | Hill, The
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DARING THE SENATE ON CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
The House is sending a message to the White House and Senate Democrats this week by passing a batch of cybersecurity bills aimed at preventing the digital version of a Pearl Harbor: Not on our watch. The idea is to spur Democrats to move — giving them the choice to either bring their own stalled bill to a vote or risk standing on the wrong political side of a national security issue. “I’m hoping … when we pass these bills, the Senate will pass something and that will give us a chance to go to conference and accomplish something,” Texas Rep. Mac Thornberry, who led the GOP Cybersecurity Task Force last year, told POLITICO. “We can do lots of talking, but they need to pass something.” The bills — including the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act — are expected to pass the House without a problem by April 27, giving Republicans a partisan talking point and providing them cover should cyberenemies execute attacks against American agencies or utilities. It’s a tough spot for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and for President Barack Obama, whose aides lean toward the Senate’s comprehensive cybersecurity approach but have been unwilling to box themselves in by criticizing the House bill directly.
benton.org/node/121249 | Politico
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HOUSE SHOULD KILL CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] When political polar opposites like Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) are both arguing against a piece of legislation, you know it must have serious problems. The bill before the House is the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, known as CISPA. It has the best of intentions, to bolster the nation's defense against the very real threat of cyberattacks. But Democrat Lofgren is right when she argues it gives the government far too much access to the online data of every American Internet user. Paul's criticism goes even further, saying it makes "government spies" of companies such as Google and Facebook. He says it would allow them to share all kinds of information with the government, including members' emails, the websites they visit and the medical, educational and financial records they may have online. A House vote is scheduled April 27. Congress needs to kill this bill and start over. When it does, it should include Rep Lofgren or someone like her to help write it with the privacy interests of America's Internet users in mind.
benton.org/node/121247 | San Jose Mercury News
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CISPA CONCERNS
[SOURCE: ComputerWorld, AUTHOR: Jaikumar Vijayan]
A growing number of lawmakers are expressing concern over the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) bill that's scheduled for a vote later this week in the U.S. House of Representatives. Backers say the bill aims to improve Internet security by making it easier for Internet Service Providers and Internet companies such as Google and Facebook to collect and share a wide range of user data with government security agencies. Privacy and civil rights groups, and even the White House have criticized the bill, contending that it oversteps existing privacy laws and its passage would enable widespread surveillance of all online activities under the pretext of cyber security.
benton.org/node/121179 | ComputerWorld
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CYBER-THREAT PACT
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jim Wolf]
The US government is close to completing rules for a long-awaited expansion of the number of defense contractors with which it swaps data on cyber threats, the Defense Department's chief information officer said. The number of companies would jump from 37 currently to 200, said Teri Takai, the chief information officer. She said she hoped that a federal rule-making process under way would wrap up within the next 60 days amid what she and other Pentagon officials describe as mounting cyber threats to US high-tech companies. The companies will have to agree on a protocol for information-sharing among themselves and with the Defense Department, which will act as coordinator for the Defense Industrial Base Cyber Security and Information Assurance program.
benton.org/node/121230 | Reuters
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HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE ON SIDELINES
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Smith]
As the House considers as many as four cybersecurity bills later this week, the House Homeland Security Committee will be playing only a supporting role in what could be considered one of its signature issues. Conspicuously absent from the House's "Cyber Week" agenda is the Homeland Security Committee's Precise Act, which cleared a subcommittee by voice vote in February. Now, what was once a bipartisan bill is bogged down and on hold and the committee has been sidelined. The committee will hold at least two hearings this week to highlight cyberthreats, but for a panel that oversees the agency deemed central to the government's civilian cybersecurity efforts, it is a significantly diminished role. House leaders have tapped lawmakers from the chamber's Intelligence and Armed Services committees to lead the efforts. According to House Homeland Security members, House GOP leadership pressed the sponsors of the Precise Act to remove sections that conflicted with other committees' work, or that were too similar to proposals disliked by Senate Republicans. But the changes sparked Democrats to drop their support, and now House leaders appear to be blocking the Precise Act from floor consideration until Democrats support it again.
benton.org/node/121186 | National Journal
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CONTENT

SENATE COMMERCE HEARING ON ONLINE VIDEO
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee]
The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing to consider the future of online video, explore the migration of viewing from traditional television to Internet and broadband-enabled video content, and examine the role that disruptive technologies play in facilitating this transition, and the business and legal models that foster the growth of this sector. Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) started with a couple of questions: 1) How will the disruptive technology that online viewing provides lead to better content and more consumer choice? And 2) How do we harness this change for the power of consumers so we can get higher quality programming at lower rates? He voiced concerns that despite the growth of new video services such as Netflix and Hulu, consumers are forced to pay too much for television programming and were saddled with channels they didn’t want.
Internet executives at the hearing touted the growth of online platforms which they said would give consumers more choices outside of traditional cable providers. Paul Misener, Amazon.com vice president for Global Public Policy, warned that policymakers should ensure that the Internet remained a "nondiscriminatory, open platform" to protect consumer choice. "The open Internet encourages innovation and allows consumers to decide whether a particular product or service succeeds or fails," he said. Misener said online video providers were heartened that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has pledged to monitor the Internet for anticompetitive or otherwise harmful effects. But he said lawmakers also needed to "remain vigilant on … Internet openness." Misener singled out data caps imposed by many consumer Internet providers as requiring such vigilance.
IAC Chairman Barry Diller that the US telecommunications law must be rewritten because of the advance of the Internet. Diller said changes in media brought about by online content have made the 1996 Telecommunications Act largely useless, and to a great extent an impediment to progress. “The laws we have … do not address the reality of this new force,” Diller said, referring to the Internet. “We do not have a 'first rate broadband infrastructure in this country,'” he said in response to a question from Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) on the readiness of nation's communications infrastructure to handle new online video offerings. “We are slower and less deployed than 15-18 countries,” he said. “[W]e need as good a system as any in the world … and right now, we don't [have one].”
Diller also said he thinks the same rules and obligations that apply to traditional video distributors should be applied to online video services, though he also said he believed that should be light-touch regulation. Diller's point was that a level playing field was crucial.
Diller got a grilling from Sen Jim DeMint (R-SC) about Aereo TV. After Diller pitched the service to the committee as a technological innovation that gives viewers access to "perfect" HD pictures using their own personal remote antenna to view online programming they do not have to pay for, Sen DeMint probed his explanation. The senator suggested Aereo TV was intercepting signals and retransmitting them, charging viewers for distributing a network while not paying content providers. Diller countered that the service was not retransmitting or distributing content and was not a network. He said that if RadioShack was considered a distributor for selling an antenna to a consumer, then so was Aereo TV because it was analogous. As to the broadcasters' fighting Aereo, Diller suggested it went with the territory.
benton.org/node/121238 | US Senate Commerce Committee | Chairman Rockefeller | The Hill | The Hill – Diller | B&C | Washington Post | TVNewsCheck | Public Knowledge
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FUTURE OF TV IS BROADBAND
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
[Commentary] As government strives to keep up with the broadband age, the Senate’s Commerce Committee held a hearing today covering the future of television, but midway through the hearing I realized that the Senate has it all wrong. The future of TV isn’t to be found in deregulation — it’s on the Internet. We just have to let it happen. And to do that, Congress needs to look at how broadband providers control access to content, through caps, specialized offerings and deals. Unfortunately, Congress didn’t do all of that. It danced around the problems of pipe owners also owning content providers and pay TV distribution businesses. It didn’t ask about caps on broadband and how that serves the interests of the pay TV business, and despite the fact that network neutrality was brought up several times and was cited by Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC, and Amazon’s public policy lead Paul Misener, the way that Comcast is sidestepping network neutrality by not counting content streamed over the Xbox against its data cap was never mentioned. Instead the call during the hearing was for a rewrite of the 1996 Telecoms Act, which deregulated the telecommunications agency, helped establish the rules that let the Internet grow and brought about the rise of competitive local exchange carriers. But in an election year, such a rewrite seems unlikely, and frankly, worrisome given the power that ISPs and content companies have in Washington at the moment. Instead, the law that might make headway is the The Next Generation Television Marketplace Act, which was proposed in December, and was the basis for the hearing.
benton.org/node/121191 | GigaOm
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

GROUPS ASK FCC TO STOP VERIZON CLOCK
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sprint/Nextel, DirecTV, and public advocacy groups critical of the proposed sale of cable spectrum to Verizon have joined with the Communications Workers of America to ask the Federal Communications Commission to stop the clock on its merger review, citing software problems with opening some of the documents filed by Verizon and cable operators. "The Commission has taken significant steps toward making its process transparent by allowing authorized personnel to review and analyze the documentation that it has required from the Applicants," they say in a letter to the commission dated April 24. "Now, considering the delays in receiving data and the technical challenges involved, the Commission should take the further step of giving reviewers the additional time that is necessary to study the documents and data and respond to the Commission with cogent analysis." They say that some files can't be opened with software "commonly used by law firms" while the charges the applicants are levying for, paper copies and electronic media make it hard for some organizations representing the public interest to review the documents.
benton.org/node/121232 | Broadcasting&Cable
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T-MOBILE AND VERIZON
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
Verizon hasn’t exactly done a bang-up job selling its critics on the merits of its 4G spectrum consolidation plans. Verizon is offering to part with a bunch of 700 MHz licenses if it gets permission to buy up the cable operators’ friendlier frequencies in the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) airwaves. But one of the operators who stood to benefit the most from that sale, T-Mobile, isn’t interested and is urging the FCC to kill the Verizon-cable deal. So why isn’t T-Mobile tantalized by Verizon’s offer? Two reasons: 1) The spectrum Big Red is selling just doesn’t fit with T-Mobile’s LTE plans, no matter how meager they might be, and 2) T-Mobile probably feels it has a shot at getting those same cable AWS licenses if it convince the FCC to put the kibosh on Verizon’s sweetheart deal.
benton.org/node/121195 | GigaOm
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PRIVACY AND MOBILE PAYMENT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Chen]
Some mobile payment methods are so convenient that you can walk into a store and buy something without even taking your smartphone out of your pocket. But at what cost? The Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit organization that focuses on technology laws, thinks privacy is the major tradeoff with mobile payments. Mobile payments can expose payments data to more parties than traditional credit cards do. In the case of Google Wallet, for example, you expose your data to Google, which serves as the mobile payments provider, in addition to credit card issuers and payment processors, the nonprofit group said. Third-party apps can potentially gain access to data, too, it said. Once all the small bits are combined, like the customer’s e-mail addresses, phone numbers and purchase histories, merchants have a pretty detailed customer profile.
benton.org/node/121236 | New York Times | CDT
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APPLE AS KING FOR HOW LONG?
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Joan Lappin]
[Commentary] No firm has stayed atop the cellphone pyramid of success for more than a few years. Apple has now been there for a while. While good for Apple, the iPhone and the competition among the carriers to offer it has been very bad for the profitability of the carriers. They want a viable alternative to offer to customers. That is why they are putting big bucks behind the launch of the new Nokia phones even if investors aren’t noticing as they dump Nokia now. The big debate this week is how much longer Apple’s string of good luck based on its trendsetting products will continue. If it isn’t this quarter, then is it next quarter that the string runs out? I don’t have the answer any more than the next analyst. I do know that I saw nothing so great about the latest iPad which Apple calls the New Ipad to give away my iPad 2 and buy another one. I have a friend who has been a decades long Apple user who just bought a new Mac only to find it was defective. They replaced it. The second one didn’t work either. She had to go to the third machine before Apple delivered one that worked. That is not good quality control. We also know that Apple has embarrassed itself over working conditions in China where workers were committing suicide in despair. On the other side of the ledger, relative to its rate of growth in the last few years, Apple sells at a modest P/E especially when you adjust for its enormous amount of cash in the bank. It’s an interesting reality that for a moment or two in the long sweep of stock market time, Apple has now exceeded Exxon Mobil as the world’s largest company. It will be interesting to look back a few months from now and see if that relationship persists.
benton.org/node/121162 | Forbes
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WINDOWS PHONES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Chen]
In recent weeks, the two big American phone carriers, AT&T and Verizon, have been talking big about Microsoft’s Windows Phone software. AT&T has been hurling loads of money at marketing Nokia’s Lumia 900, a smartphone that runs on the Windows Phone operating system. And now Verizon, too, has revealed plans to aggressively promote Windows Phone 8, the next version of Microsoft’s software. Fran Shammo, Verizon’s chief financial officer, said last week that the company wanted a third big player in mobile software to come into the picture, and it was going to throw Microsoft a bone. “We’re really looking at the Windows Phone 8.0 platform because that’s a differentiator,” Shammo said after Verizon’s earnings report. “We’re working with Microsoft on it.” He didn’t say when Windows Phone 8 handsets would be available on Verizon. All the chatter about Windows phones is abrupt. Before April, Windows Phone 7 seemed virtually irrelevant to consumers, and American carriers were relatively quiet about the operating system. So why, suddenly, all the love and support for Windows Phone? The answer is multifaceted: The carriers are tired of Apple’s calling all the shots, Microsoft offers a compromise, and everyone is watching with weary eyes what exactly Google will do with its purchase of Motorola Mobility.
benton.org/node/121212 | New York Times
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IPHONES AND CARRIERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Chen]
Analysts are getting nervous about Apple after looking at the financial results of AT&T and Verizon. Their iPhone sales results were below some expectations. But where’s the sign that Apple’s iPhone is losing momentum? The popular smartphone remains a strong seller for both AT&T and Verizon, the nation’s two big carriers, even at a time when the number of new contract customers is slowing to a crawl. AT&T said it set a new first-quarter record with 5.5 million smartphones sales, a slight increase from the year-ago quarter. Verizon, meanwhile, said it sold 6.3 million smartphones, 3.2 million of which were iPhones, over the quarter. For AT&T and Verizon, the iPhone’s success is somewhat of a double-edged sword. They pay hefty subsidies of $400 per iPhone, according to analysts’ estimates. But the iPhone, with its rich Web browser and access to hundreds of thousands of apps, is also a gateway drug to some of the heaviest data use: the new cash cow in wireless.
benton.org/node/121211 | New York Times
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SCHMIDT DEFENDS USE OF JAVA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Letzing]
Former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt testified in federal court that his onetime employer Sun Microsystems was happy to see Google use Sun's Java technology in Google's Android mobile-phone software. "My understanding was that what we were doing was permissible," said Schmidt, now Google's executive chairman. Oracle Corp., which acquired Sun in early 2010, sued Google later that year for allegedly infringing patents and copyrights protecting Sun's Java technology with Android. The trial of the suit began last week. Schmidt, who was called as a witness by both sides, endured a lengthy round of questioning from Oracle's high-profile attorney David Boies. In one instance, Mr. Schmidt sat with his face resting on his hands as the judge and the attorneys in the case conferred privately. Schmidt, who served as Google's CEO until last year, said that his company only made use of some, essential elements in Java. Boies, the Oracle attorney, held up a chart listing such elements, and asked Mr. Schmidt "how much copying" Google had done.
benton.org/node/121256 | Wall Street Journal | SJ Merc | SF Chronicle
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APPLE VIOLATES ANDROID PATENT
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Susan Decker]
Motorola Mobility Holdings won a partial U.S. International Trade Commission judge’s ruling in its bid to block imports of Apple’s devices including the iPhone and iPad tablet computer.
Apple violated one of four Motorola Mobility patent rights being contested, ITC Judge Thomas Pender said. The patent relates to 3G technology. The other three patents weren’t violated, according to the notice. The judge’s findings are subject to review by the six- member commission, which has the power to block imports that infringe U.S. patents.
benton.org/node/121200 | Bloomberg | WSJ
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WHO’S EATING UP AT&T CAPACITY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
What does a mobile network hosting 41.2 million smartphones look like? A network where growth in data traffic far exceeds data revenue growth. AT&T is selling a lot of smartphones and data plans, but even millions of new iPhones customers don’t fully account for the huge spikes in mobile data traffic that AT&T is experiencing. AT&T’s first quarter earnings numbers show that new smartphone customers aren’t the ones straining its data networks. Rather AT&T’s chickens have come home to roost. Customers are finally starting to consume the big buckets of data AT&T is selling them, taking their fair share of network capacity while not paying more for the privilege. Consequently AT&T is seeing a massive increase in data traffic without seeing a corresponding jump in data revenues. If carriers from the beginning had set reasonable plan tiers that actually reflected how customers consumed data, operators could have gradually lowered prices as their networks became more efficient. It’s probably a stretch to say they would have come off as heroes, but their mobile data policies probably wouldn’t be vilified the way they are today. Instead, they chose to gouge customers by selling them far more gigabytes than they could possibly use. Now that customers are starting to actually use up those gigs, carriers are claiming they’re running out of capacity. Didn’t you guys see this coming?
benton.org/node/121189 | GigaOm
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TELEVISION/RADIO

RADIO AND DISRUPTION
[SOURCE: American Public Media, AUTHOR: Matt Berger]
So what about radio, a media format that rarely gets the critical review like our print and broadcast peers? What does the future hold for us? Radio still has a captive mass market audience – millions of people sit in their cars for hours during rush hour every day across America and show no signs of fatigue. Advertisers still want to reach that audience and will pay good money to do so. Radio has another thing going for it, according to Jeff Cole, director at the Center for the Digital Future. He reminds us that Radio has already weathered a major disruption in its lifetime. In the 1940s network television arrived. The best radio news anchors migrated to television; so did a lot of their audience and advertisers. But radio would survive, and once again flourish. Commercial stations changed format. Public Radio emerged for news and information. They all downsized budgets and dug in their heels. But let's not get too comfortable. The digital disruption in radio is coming, maybe it will just take a little longer than the rest of them. Today there are people and companies dreaming up a new disruptions to the way we listen. Already, there are enough examples to speculate what they might be. They have names like Pandora and Spotify, Stitcher and SoundCloud, and they're run by people with new ideas about how consumers want to listen and the technology to deliver. And then there's the big game-changer lurking. That became most evident at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January. The driveway moment – a term in Public Radio used to describe those times when listeners stay in their cars to finish a story, even when they've already arrived at their destination – is under threat. The world's biggest car makers consumed thousands of square-feet of convention floor space to show off the car dashboard of the future: an internet-connected LCD screen that can present smart apps that do everything from navigate the road to play NPR programming.
benton.org/node/121159 | American Public Media
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INTERNET/BROABAND

CERF Q&A
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Ryan Singel]
A Q&A with Vint Cerf who invented the protocol that rules them all: TCP/IP. Most people have never heard of it. But it describes the fundamental architecture of the internet, and it made possible Wi-Fi, Ethernet, LANs, the World Wide Web, e-mail, FTP, 3G/4G — as well as all of the inventions built upon those inventions. Cerf did that in 1973. For most of you that’s probably 20 years before you even knew what the internet was. That’s why he’s known as the father of the internet and earned himself a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Cerf didn’t stop there — he went on to co-found the Internet Society (ISOC) and served as president of ICANN, the organization which operates the domain naming system. So it was pretty much a given that Cerf would be inducted, as he was on Monday, into ISOC’s internet Hall of Fame in its inaugural year. Just a few days beforehand Cerf talked with Wired about how the military brought the TCP/IP protocol into being, how he and his co-conspirators knew — almost 40 years ago — what they were unleashing on the world, the threats to the net today, and what he’d like to see next: a vision that includes internet packets raining down from the sky.
benton.org/node/121167 | Wired
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DSL DEATH MARCH
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Om Malik]
The slow death march of DSL continues, especially at two of the largest phone companies in America. Last week, Verizon reported a loss of about 89,000 DSL connections and a boom in demand for its faster fiber optic service, FiOS, which added about 193,000 new subscribers. We are seeing similar trends at AT&T as well. Things are so bad at Ma Bell, that it buried the news at the bottom of the earnings release. A net addition of 103,000 broadband subscribers is an improvement from the fourth quarter of 2011 (ended December 31) when the company saw a net decline of 49,000 in total broadband subscribers. AT&T lost close to 615,000 classic DSL connections during the first quarter of 2012. In the fourth quarter of 2011, AT&T lost about 636,000 connections. With more people using broadband to access all sorts of bandwidth-consuming services such as Spotify, Netflix and MLB games, it is pretty clear that the classic DSL isn’t enough. The change in demand patterns is reflective of that.
benton.org/node/121196 | GigaOm
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JOURNALISM

TRIBUNE AND JOURNATIC
[SOURCE: Crain’s Chicago Business, AUTHOR: Lynne Marek]
The Chicago Tribune will cut about 20 jobs as it outsources some suburban news coverage to Journatic LLC, a Chicago-based company. The newspaper is outsourcing work for its TribLocal suburban newspapers and Web sites following an investment by parent company Tribune Company in Journatic. Tribune bought a minority stake in the company, said Brian Timpone, a co-founder of Journatic who is also the company's CEO and largest shareholder. Other terms of that investment weren't disclosed. Journatic already provides coverage for the Tribune Company's Daily Press in Virginia and expects to work eventually for other papers in the Tribune family, which include the Baltimore Sun and Los Angeles Times, Timpone said. He wouldn't say how many papers Journatic works for currently other than to say it includes dozens of titles, including Hearst. Journatic will be ending a contract it has to provide real estate coverage to the Chicago Sun-Times as part of the new “exclusive” agreement with Tribune, Timpone said. The Chicago Tribune will combine the work of Journatic with the 20-some remaining TribLocal editorial staffers to expand coverage, said Brad Moore, vice president of targeted media for the Chicago Tribune. The company isn't shutting any of the current suburban offices. The Chicago Tribune worker cuts include reporters and copy editors as well as Web site producers and designers, among others.
benton.org/node/121169 | Crain’s Chicago Business | Chicago Reader | MediaPost
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POLICYMAKERS

GRASSLEY KEEPS HOLD ON FCC COMMISSIONERS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) strongly denied suggestions by Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) that any sort of settlement in the impasse over Grassley's hold on Federal Communications Commission nominees Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel in the near future. While Sen Grassley wouldn't talk to reporters when asked about the matter, a spokesman said that his office had received the documents and, while they were being reviewed, it remained "unclear whether the documents contain internal, previously unreleased materials related to the FCC's decision-making on LightSquared." The spokesman also claimed that "[s]o far, of the first 1,174 pages reviewed, 1,171 pages are news clips that are publicly available." Sen Grassley and his staff have also said that previous sets of documents released by the commission contained nothing pertinent to Grassley's concerns. "Sen. Grassley has asked consistently, beginning with and since his initial request of April 27, 2011, for internal documents that would shed light into why the FCC appeared to give expedited initial approval to LightSquared's wireless project," the spokesman said, while denying allegations that Grassley had "moved the ball" on his demands from the agency. "He simply wants access to FCC documents so he can determine whether the FCC is performing due diligence before approving major projects involving public resources and affecting consumers," the spokesman said.
benton.org/node/121252 | Hill, The
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GRASSLEY IMPASSE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
A new document dump by the Federal Communications Commission could lead a Republican senator to lift his hold on two nominees, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said. Sen Rockefeller said he was hopeful a standoff over Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) holds would end with the release of 13,000 unredacted e-mails and other documents from the FCC related to its review of wireless startup LightSquared. Grassley’s holds on Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel and Republican Ajit Pai have been in place for months. Sen Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FCC, said he made a personal request to the FCC chief of staff for the new documents.
benton.org/node/121206 | Hill, The | B&C
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LOBBYING

US LOBBYING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz]
In the U.S., most media deals must receive a green light from the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates television, cellphone and satellite airwaves as well as cable lines. Lobbyists generally must file notices when they talk to FCC commissioners or FCC staff on a pending deal or other proceeding that is before the agency. Those notices have to be filed within a few days of the meeting and must disclose the date of the conversation, who was in the meeting and what was discussed. They are made public through an FCC database. Companies don't have to provide detailed specifics about their conversations, although some do. It isn't uncommon for company lawyers and lobbyists to pick up details about what the FCC is considering on deals or other proceedings. Veteran FCC lobbyists often can get information from agency officials they have interacted with in the past. And it wouldn't be surprising if a company lobbyist told his bosses about information he was picking up from regulators, although such internal company communications would rarely become public.
benton.org/node/121259 | Wall Street Journal
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AT&T IN SACRAMENTO
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Shane Goldmacher, Anthony York]
When it comes to state government, AT&T spends more money, in more places, than any other company. It forges relationships on the putting green, in luxury suites and in Capitol hallways. It gives officials free tickets to Lady Gaga concerts. It takes lawmakers on trips around the globe and all-expenses-paid retreats in wine country. It dispenses millions in political donations and employs an army of lobbyists. It has spent more than $14,000 a day on political advocacy since 2005, when it merged with SBC into its current form. A handful of labor unions and trade groups have spent more on a combination of lobbying and direct political giving, but state records show that in the last seven years, no single corporation has spent as much trying to influence lawmakers as AT&T. At the same time, a tide of consumer protections has ebbed and the company has been unshackled from the watchful eye of state regulators.
benton.org/node/121210 | Los Angeles Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

CHINA INTERNET CRACKDOWN
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Loretta Chao, Josh Chin]
China has stepped up its campaign to clamp down on the Internet, which has emerged as a virtual town square for exchanging information about the Bo Xilai scandal and the nation's biggest political upheaval in years. The popular Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo on Tuesday deleted the accounts of several users, including that of Li Delin, a senior editor of the Chinese business magazine Capital Week, whose March 19 post helped fuel rumors of a coup in Beijing. The service announced the move to many of its more than 300 million user accounts, thereby turning it into a public lesson in the consequences of rumor mongering. "Recently, criminal elements have used Sina Weibo to create and spread malicious political rumors online for no reason, producing a terrible effect on society," the notice said. It said the deleted users have "already been dealt with by public security organs according to the law." The episode demonstrated both the power of China's new digital media and the Chinese Communist Party's increasingly iron-fisted effort to control it. In the wake of the coup rumors, authorities announced the detention of six people in relation to the rumors and the arrest of more than 1,000 others for what the authorities said were Internet crimes. Media insiders describe a heavy hand at the nation's newspapers, with the government at times giving strict instructions on what stories about Mr. Bo could run. Discussion of the matter nonetheless has continued, fueled in part by social media and independent news websites outside of Beijing's control.
benton.org/node/121258 | Wall Street Journal
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MURDOCH TESTIMONY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Burns, Alan Cowell]
The long-running tabloid newspaper scandal that has shaken Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire delivered a new jolt as its powerful and lucrative television operations moved to the center of a British judicial inquiry with disclosures that a senior cabinet minister, or at least an aide claiming to speak for him, worked covertly to help win approval for a $12 billion takeover of the BSkyB network. A trove of newly released e-mails pointed to hand-in-glove collaboration between a lobbyist for Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation and the office of Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt, the official designated to pass judgment on the BSkyB bid. That deal, which would have crowned Mr. Murdoch’s 60-year media career, was scuttled last year as the scandal over illicit phone hacking exploded, and now appears out of his reach for years, if not permanently. Mr. Murdoch’s son James testified at the inquiry for five hours on April 24, and Mr. Murdoch himself was to take the stand on April 25 for what was forecast, given the new uproar, to be an intense grilling. Mr. Murdoch has been in London since April 26, conferring with a coterie of advisers, lawyers and communications consultants behind closed doors.
benton.org/node/121260 | New York Times | WSJ | LA Times | FT
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