May 2012

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012

A very busy day in the wonky neighborhood includes Getting Seniors Online streaming at http://www.connectedliving.com/live

NEWS FROM COURT
   Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Surveillance Case
   Why Samsung must negotiate. Why Apple won't settle.
   TV Broadcasters Lose Round One in Legal War With Barry Diller's Aereo
   Aereo is leaving the courts dazed and confused
   Supreme Court declines to hear $675,000 file-swapping case

NOTES FROM FREEDOM-TO-CONNECT
   ‘Father of the Internet’ warns Web freedom is under attack
   Susan Crawford blasts deregulation of telecom
   Michael Copps laments decline of competition

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
   FCC tries voluntary approach
   Keep torch bright for global leadership in mobile - op-ed
   Broadcasting as an engine for local economies
   More spectrum means more innovation - op-ed
   Five cable giants partner on Wi-Fi
   Consumer group blasts cable operators’ Wi-Fi roaming deal
   T-Mobile, MetroPCS want Dish to give up 50% of its spectrum
   Carriers Willing to Live With High iPhone Subsidies for Now
   Mobile Contract Customers Fall, But Mobile Data Revs To Hit $80 Billion
   Smartphone hijacking vulnerability affects AT&T, 47 other carriers
   Industry and Feds Find Common Ground on BYOD Strategies [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Sen Wyden: White House-backed cybersecurity bill sacrifices privacy
   Verizon's and Comcast's data caps: Who wins and who loses? - analysis

OWNERSHIP
   Senators urge Google to cooperate with European antitrust regulator’s probe

COMPANY NEWS
   Facebook's Mobile Miscalculation
   YouTube uploads 72 hours of video a minute [links to web]
   Falcone’s folly

POLICYMAKERS
   David Turetsky Named FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Chief - press release
   FTC names Internet privacy expert as senior adviser

NEWS FROM ABROAD
   Regulation could cost Indian telcos $50 billion [links to web]
   UK Bookseller Welcomes Kindle [links to web]
   Tricky to Win US-China Cyber Blame Game [links to web]

MORE ONLINE
   Cornell’s High-Tech Campus Will Have a Temporary Home at Google [links to web]
   From a Facebook Founder Comes a Way to Streamline Work Flow [links to web]

back to top

NEWS FROM COURT

SCOTUS TO HEAR SURVEILLANCE CASE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Adam Liptak]
The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case concerning the government’s use of electronic surveillance to monitor the international communications of people suspected of having ties to terrorist groups. The justices agreed to decide whether a challenge may proceed to a 2008 federal law that broadened the government’s power to monitor international communications. The law, an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, followed disclosure of the Bush Administration’s secret program to wiretap international communications without obtaining court warrants in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. The 2008 law was challenged by Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups and individuals, including journalists and lawyers who represent prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The plaintiffs said the law violated their rights under the Fourth Amendment by allowing the government to intercept their international telephone calls and e-mails. Some of the plaintiffs say they now meet clients or sources only in person. benton.org/node/123850 | New York Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top

SAMSUNG-APPLE
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Philip Elmer-DeWitt]
The federal judge overseeing the Northern California front of the global smartphone patent war has the power to bring the CEOs of Apple and Samsung -- Tim Cook and Choi Gee-sung -- to a mediation session, but even he can't force a settlement. The differences between the kinds of patents the two companies are bringing to the table may simply be too great. Samsung may have an equally powerful arsenal of patents at its disposal -- including many covering the fundamental technologies of cellular telephony that Apple relies upon -- but those patents are not so easily deployed in a court of law. Many of Samsung's telecommunications patents were submitted to the technical committees in charge of setting international standards under so-falled FRAND terms, whereby a company is permitted to collect royalties for use of its proprietary technology, but must negotiate those royalties for rates that are "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory." Samsung has tried to use those standards-essential patents against Apple, accusing the company in countersuits of exploiting them without permission, something Apple may well be doing. But as a legal strategy this carries risks, because as long as Apple is willing to pay for the use of Samsung's patents, Samsung is required to negotiate terms that are fair and reasonable and don't try to unduly punish Apple.
benton.org/node/123794 | Fortune | WSJ | Los Angeles Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top

AERO CASE
[SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter, AUTHOR: Matthew Belloni]
TV broadcasting executives have spent the better part of a week threatening legal action over Dish Network's new Auto Hop feature that allows users to completely skip commercials. But while that has been happening, a federal judge in New York has been considering a case that the TV industry has already taken to court. U.S. District Court judge Alison J. Nathan dismissed part of a complaint filed by broadcasters against Aereo, the online video startup backed by Barry Diller. The court dismissed an unfair competition claim but left a copyright infringement claim still to be heard.
benton.org/node/123840 | Hollywood Reporter, The
Recommend this Headline
back to top

AEREO CASE
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Roger Parloff]
An ingenious, Rube Goldberg-style invention called Aereo, backed by Barry Diller's IAC/Interactive Corp., is posing riddles for a federal judge, whose decisions could have enormous consequences for the future of television distribution. The lawsuit is the latest iteration of a now familiar spectacle in which federal courts are tasked with cramming a digital technology into the Procrustean bed of analog-era legal concepts. In this instance, the service looks quite dubious when viewed from 30,000 feet, but becomes more plausible as you get closer and start wading into the weeds. Aereo's technology works like this: The company rents space in a warehouse in Brooklyn and fills it with custom-made, wine cooler-sized computer hardware jammed with vertically aligned blades. Projecting from the blades are thousands of thumbnail-sized television antennas. These are tiny, modern-day versions of the old bunny ears that people have used to watch over-the-air television since time immemorial. Aereo then effectively rents each customer one of these antennas and all the other off-site hardware needed to operate her own individualized remote DVR using her Apple (AAPL) iPhone or iPad. As with most DVRs, the customer can choose to watch live (with a pause-function available) or watch later. The signal reaches the customer's device over the Internet. The service currently costs $12 a month, and provides access to the 28 over-the-air channels one can receive at that Brooklyn warehouse.
benton.org/node/123793 | Fortune
Recommend this Headline
back to top

SCOTUS REFUSES FILE-SWAPPING CASE
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
The Supreme Court this morning declined to hear the appeal of admitted file-swapper Joel Tenenbaum, who recently asked the court to consider the proper process for slashing his $675,000 damage award. The trial judge in Tenenbaum's case initially ruled that the jury verdict was unconstitutionally punitive, but the appellate court overturned this ruling and said that the judge first had to use the common-law process of "remittitur" to cut down the verdict before reaching the broader constitutional question. The Supreme Court's Tenenbaum denial means that the case will return to the trial level, where the judge may use remittitur to cut the award to the $2,250 per song maximum she will allow. But a remittitur ruling will allow the record labels a choice: accept the reduced amount or drag Tenenbaum through a second federal trial.
benton.org/node/123809 | Ars Technica
Recommend this Headline
back to top

NOTES FROM FREEDOM-TO-CONNECT

WEB FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
“Father of the Internet” Vint Cerf warned that Internet freedom is under threat from governments around the world, including the United States. Cerf, a computer scientist who was instrumental in the Internet’s creation, now employed by Google as its "Internet evangelist," said officials in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe are using intellectual property and cybersecurity issues "as an excuse for constraining what we can and can't do on the 'net.” "Political structures … are often scared by the possibility that the general public might figure out that they don't want them in power," he said. He sounded the alarm about the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), arguing the group is poised to assume the role of global Internet cop. “There is strong indication that the Internet will enter the picture [for the ITU]," Cerf said at the Freedom to Connect conference.
benton.org/node/123814 | Hill, The | National Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CRAWFORD BLASTS DEREGULATION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
A former adviser to President Obama blasted the deregulation of the telecommunications industry and said officials have lost sight of the nation’s “collective responsibility” to provide Internet access to all. Susan Crawford, who assisted the Obama Administration's transition at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said she has been "radicalized" by her brush with the deregulatory culture in Washington. "Individualism and selfishness drive us to deregulate the entire telecommunications sector," she told attendees at the Freedom to Connect conference, "without regard to how it would end up for our children. "It's like giving up clean water … or interstate highways," she said. "Where is the social contract?” Crawford said deregulation and the telecom industry’s decision to abandon the nationwide copper phone network are contributing to the demise of universal service — the idea that all people should have access to a telephone.
benton.org/node/123846 | Hill, The
Recommend this Headline
back to top

COPPS LAMENTS DECLINE IN COMPETITION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
The United States communications infrastructure has been "short-changed" by "30-plus years of misguided public policy," former Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps said. Copps, who was reminiscing on his decade at the FCC, said he came to the commission in 2001 "expecting to help shepherd start-up and struggling phone companies ... to competitive viability.” While addressing attendees at the Freedom to Connect conference, Copps spoke of processing many petitions from long-distance carriers looking to enter local markets “based on the premise and the promise that letting the big guys into long-distance would be accompanied by opening local markets to competition," Copps said. "In the end there were some competitive successes, but not enough to justify the claim that there was anything approaching real industry competition," he said.
benton.org/node/123844 | Hill, The | National Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

FCC TRIES VOLUNTARY
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: David Saleh Rauf]
Washington is trying to use the handshake instead of the regulatory hammer when it comes to the booming wireless phone industry. Members of Congress and the Federal Communications Commission have been trying to circumvent the tangle of regulations that tie up traditional land-line service — and raise costs — by getting wireless carriers to voluntarily self-regulate on some new issues rather than waiting for legislation or an FCC rule making. Anytime you can collaborate and work together with industry and get them to buy into an agreement with regulators — that offers a quicker set of solutions,” Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) said. He was part of a vocal congressional contingent that persuaded the nation’s four largest wireless firms in April to voluntarily create a database of stolen cellphones to help cut theft. That’s just one example of how Washington is trying to avoid the myriad of regulations and rules that have caused decades of legislation and litigation for land-line telephone companies. Other such agreements require wireless companies to notify customers if they’re about to incur big charges.
benton.org/node/123801 | Politico
Recommend this Headline
back to top

WIRELESS REGULATION
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski]
[Commentary] Americans are adopting mobile broadband faster than any computing technology in history, creating more than 1.5 million new U.S. jobs and offering tremendous potential to improve education, health care and public safety. With the American-driven mobile apps revolution and the rapid rollout of 4G mobile services, the U.S. has now regained global leadership in mobile. But we can’t rest on our laurels. We must continue to pursue a multi-prong strategy to seize the mobile opportunity and tackle the challenges. Since 2009, the Federal Communications Commission has refocused the agency on broadband. On mobile broadband, our work has changed the conversation about spectrum and helped drive robust growth and innovation in mobile. When only a fraction of Americans had smartphones, app stores were new and tablets weren’t even available, we built a Mobile Action Plan to meet the nation’s emerging spectrum challenges. And those challenges are significant: Today, there are more active mobile devices than people in the U.S. The majority of mobile subscribers have smartphones. And the need for more spectrum in the mobile marketplace — and more efficient use of spectrum — has surged. Our plan focuses on five main areas, as we modernize legacy regulations and outdated policies inherited from before the mobile broadband revolution: unleashing new spectrum, removing barriers to broadband infrastructure build-out, driving greater efficiency in networks and devices, promoting competition and empowering consumers.
benton.org/node/123797 | Politico
Recommend this Headline
back to top

BROADCASTERS AS AN ENGINE FOR LOCAL ECONOMIES
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Gordon Smith]
[Commentary] Congress has been consumed in recent years with contentious debate over how best to preserve and enhance free and local broadcasting — the original wireless technology — while making available airwaves that can also be used to alleviate the much-hyped “spectrum crunch” for wireless broadband providers. We think lawmakers struck the right balance with legislation signed into law earlier this year that provides incentives for television stations that voluntarily choose to go out of business but that acknowledges the enduring and indispensable role that local broadcasting plays in the fabric of American society. Lawmakers have good reason to want a healthy broadcast industry. Broadcast TV stations provide more than 186,000 jobs on an annual basis, which directly generate more than $30 billion in economic activity. The ripple effect of TV broadcasting on the economy is even greater, with 1.5 million jobs and $716 billion in annual economic activity attributed to the local television business. Those who dismiss the value of local television — or who would like to see broadcasting’s role in society diminished — seem clearly motivated by a desire to replace a free service available to all with a fee service available to some. [Smith, a former two-term Republican senator from Oregon, is president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters]
benton.org/node/123800 | Politico
Recommend this Headline
back to top

SPECTRUM AND INNOVATION
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Steve Largent]
[Commentary] The U.S. wireless industry plays a vital role in Americans’ lives and in America’s economy. More than 40,000 of the world’s wireless industry experts, policymakers and enthusiasts were in New Orleans recently for International CTIA WIRELESS 2012. A stream of new and cool wireless products and services were unveiled, including announcements by AT&T’s Connected House, MasterCard’s PayPass Wallet, HTC’s Droid Incredible 4G and Samsung’s Focus 2. The announcement of these products seems like a beginning but the reality is that product announcements are long in the making. Part of the reason for that is because of the need for spectrum, the fuel for the wireless industry and its “virtuous cycle” of innovation. As long as our members have access to spectrum, the networks are upgraded to be faster and handle more capacity. Then the device manufacturers create new capabilities. Content creators then develop new uses and apps, so consumers can benefit from all of it. But it all starts with spectrum. Some have accused us of “playing a game” when talking about the looming spectrum crisis. That is ridiculous for two simple reasons.
First, spectrum is the key element to addressing the “hockey stick” of demand we face in terms of usage, users and use. If there were a more effective solution, which would allow carriers to avoid spending billions of dollars at auction, our carriers would be deploying it.
Second, if the looming spectrum crisis is a “game,” then it’s one that involves a number of other countries around the world. [Largent, a former four-term Republican congressman from Oklahoma, is president and CEO of CTIA-The Wireless Association]
benton.org/node/123798 | Politico
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CABLE WI-FI
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Brett Molina]
Five of the top U.S. cable companies will partner together on an initiative to expand access to Wi-Fi networks for its customers. The CableWiFi network will give customers of Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable access to each other's Internet hotspots. Combined, the network represents more than 50,000 hotspots in New York City, Los Angeles, Tampa, Orlando and Philadelphia.
benton.org/node/123816 | USAToday
Recommend this Headline
back to top

PK CRITICIZES WI-FI PLAN
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
Public Knowledge criticized an announcement by a group of major cable companies that their customers would now be able to access each other’s Wi-Fi hotspots, saying the decision would lessen competition. Public Knowledge legal director Harold Feld called the move "very disappointing." Feld said the shared broadband deal argued against a proposal to allow major cable companies to sell wireless provider Verizon spectrum and cross-sell each other’s services, a plan public interest groups say would create an anticompetitive cartel. "Wi-Fi offers the opportunity for these companies to compete with wireless providers such as Verizon wireless, using Wi-Fi roaming to build a rival footprint that could offer a cheaper alternative to consumers who find their iPads and smartphones constrained by aggressive bandwidth caps," he said. "Cable companies said they need the Verizon deal because they can't compete by offering a wireless service," Feld added. "This new arrangement says they can, if they want to." Feld called on regulators to block the proposed Verizon deal. "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice (DoJ) should not allow the cable operators and Verizon Wireless to choose collusion over competition simply because cable operators today offer wireless competition through their Wi-Fi footprint instead of a traditional licensed network," he said.
benton.org/node/123843 | Hill, The
Recommend this Headline
back to top

T-MOBILE, METROPCS ON DISH
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Tammy Parker]
T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS are pushing the Federal Communications Commission to take back half of Dish Network's 2 GHz spectrum holdings in exchange for allowing the company to use the remainder for terrestrial broadband service. Dish holds 40 MHz of S-Band mobile satellite services (MSS) spectrum -- specifically from 2000-2020 MHz and 2180-2200 -- and is seeking FCC waivers that would enable it to use the spectrum for a terrestrial LTE-Advanced network. In separate filings with the FCC, T-Mobile and MetroPCS both contended the waivers should be conditional upon Dish giving up 20 MHz of its spectrum for reauctioning by the FCC. Further, both operators argued such a move is necessary to prevent Dish from enjoying a "windfall," apparently in reference to profits it might see if it were to sell all or part of its S-Band frequencies to a large mobile operator such as AT&T Mobility or Verizon Wireless.
benton.org/node/123791 | Fierce
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CARRIER SUBSIDIES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Paczkowski]
Much as U.S. wireless carriers would like to reduce the high subsidies they pay on Apple’s iPhone, there’s little chance that they’ll do so anytime soon. Why? They’re far too worried about what would happen to their customer-retention rates if they did so. “We continue to believe carriers would lower iPhone subsidies if they collectively felt that competing devices would drive the same economics as iPhones,” says BMO Capital’s Keith Bachman. But right now, they don’t. And with no other hero handset to mitigate the risks of the spike in customer churn that might follow a reduction in iPhone subsidy, we’re unlikely to see one in the near term.
benton.org/node/123820 | Wall Street Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

MOBILE DATA REVENUES
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Mark Walsh]
For the first time, U.S. wireless operators during the first quarter collectively saw a net decline in post-paid, or contract, subscribers. The largest seven carriers lost a combined 52,000 contract customers, according to the latest data from mobile consulting and research firm Chetan Sharma. The firm attributed the drop-off to wider adoption of prepaid phones in recent times and heightened competition for remaining potential contract customers. Where will carrier revenue growth come from in future? With smartphone penetration estimated at 43% as of the first quarter, Chetan Sharma says that still leaves room for people to upgrade and plans that include data subscriptions. Almost 70% of devices sold in the first quarter were smartphones. The introduction of family data plans in the U.S. is also expected to be a boost for data revenues. Both Verizon Wireless and AT&T have confirmed they plan to roll out “data share” plans that let customers pay for a fixed amount of monthly data and share it among family members. Current wireless family plans let members share voice minutes, but not data.
benton.org/node/123806 | MediaPost
Recommend this Headline
back to top

SMARTPHONE HIJACKING
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Dan Goodin]
Computer scientists have identified a vulnerability in the network of AT&T and at least 47 other cellular carriers that allows attackers to surreptitiously hijack the Internet connections of smartphone users and inject malicious content into the traffic passing between them and trusted websites. The attack, which doesn't require an adversary to have any man-in-the-middle capability over the network, can be used to lace unencrypted Facebook and Twitter pages with code that causes victims to take unintended actions, such as post messages or follow new users. It can also be used to direct people to fraudulent banking websites and to inject fraudulent messages into chat sessions in some Windows Live Messenger apps. Ironically, the vulnerability is introduced by a class of firewalls cellular carriers use. While intended to make the networks safer, these firewall middleboxes allow hackers to infer TCP sequence numbers of data packets appended to each data packet, a disclosure that can be used to tamper with Internet connections.
benton.org/node/123810 | Ars Technica
Recommend this Headline
back to top

INTERNET/BROADBAND

SEN WYDEN ON SENATE CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso, Andrew Feinberg]
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) warned that the Senate's cybersecurity legislation is an "overreaction" that would undermine Americans' right to privacy. He said the legislation, which is supported by the White House, shares some of the same "defects" as the House's Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). He said both the House and Senate bills "subordinate all existing privacy rules and constitutional principles to the poorly defined interest of 'cybersecurity.' " Both bills would remove legal barriers that prevent companies from sharing cyber-threat information with each other and with the government. The Senate bill, which is sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), is widely considered to have stronger privacy protections than CISPA. But Sen Wyden said the Senate bill should be more specific about what types of data can be shared and which agencies can have access to it. He argued it should be tougher for companies to secure legal immunity under the legislation.
benton.org/node/123842 | Hill, The
Recommend this Headline
back to top

DATA CAPS – WHO WINS?
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
Broadband data caps were a hot topic this week as Comcast and Verizon Wireless separately talked up upcoming changes to their policies. So how will these data cap tweaks affect consumers? In short, Comcast's move, which increases its existing cap from 250GB to 300GB and now imposes an overage fee for those who exceed the cap, is likely a positive for its subscribers. Even the consumer advocates who typically hate the idea of data caps applauded the company for improving the policy. Meanwhile, Verizon's new plan, which will force existing subscribers "grandfathered" on its unlimited data plan into a tiered shared-data plan, will likely eventually lead to higher prices for wireless consumers. For Verizon and the other wireless carriers moving to these data caps, creating tiers of service based on usage is a way to make more money over the life of a customer. And the side benefit is that they also curb extremely heavy usage, which can be a problem for both wireless and wired broadband networks.
benton.org/node/123807 | C-Net|News.com
Recommend this Headline
back to top

OWNERSHIP

SENATORS URGE GOOGLE COOPERATION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Sens. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) urged Google to address the concerns of a European antitrust regulator. “We are pleased that the EU is working with Google to develop a set of voluntary solutions to the search engine’s problematic practices, including those that we identified at our September 2011 hearing," the lawmakers said in a joint statement. "We are hopeful that Google will be a willing partner with the EU’s Competition Commissioner. We continue to urge the FTC to investigate the concerns we raised at our hearing and to ensure a competitive search market where consumers can fairly pick the winners and losers in our online economy.”
benton.org/node/123813 | Hill, The | National Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

COMPANY NEWS

FACEBOOK’S MOBILE MISCALCULATION
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Shayndi Raice]
As Facebook begins life as a public company, it is confronting heightened concern about its business. One of the biggest question marks is its mobile strategy. Facebook's recent experience with app developer CrowdStar shows just how deep its mobile problems are rooted. CrowdStar was an active developer of social games on Facebook in 2010, with 50 million daily active users playing its games like "Fishville" and "Happy Pet," said CrowdStar Chief Executive Peter Relan. But last month, CrowdStar stopped making new games for Facebook. Instead, the Burlingame (CA) company plans to focus on creating games for mobile devices like Apple’s iPhone and Google's Android-based phones. The reason: While the number of people accessing Facebook with their smartphone and tablets is exploding, apps such as games can't be accessed on the social network's mobile site. "We don't see Facebook…as attractive a platform as we see the mobile platform, so we believe all our efforts in the future will be focused on the growth available in mobile," Relan said.
benton.org/node/123848 | Wall Street Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

FALCONE’S FOLLY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Philip Falcone’s street fighter instincts and penchant for ultra-risky investments helped catapult him into the gilded club of Wall Street’s elite. But his winning streak ended in Washington, where the founder of Harbinger Capital Partners and former professional hockey player has been bodychecked by regulators. LightSquared, Harbinger’s $3 billion investment, fell into bankruptcy last week after a dramatic inside-the-Beltway battle to create a wireless network that would compete with titans AT&T and Verizon Wireless. The company was an ambitious bet on unproven technology, and it ran into major technical hurdles. Devices on the proposed network were found to interfere with the Global Positioning System crucial to military and aviation safety. But Falcone’s plan to turn junk airwaves into a goldmine could have worked, observers say, if he had come prepared with a far more low-tech set of tools: The political and lobbying skills needed to close a deal in the nation’s capitol.
benton.org/node/123819 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top

POLICYMAKERS

TURETSKY NAMED FCC PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAU CHIEF
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski named David S. Turetsky as Chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB). Turetsky is a senior communications lawyer with decades of leadership experience in the public and private sectors. He will begin after Memorial Day. David Furth, currently serving as Acting Chief, will resume his role as Deputy Bureau Chief.
Turetsky brings a number of years of senior U.S. government experience, including serving as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust in the U.S. Department of Justice; and business experience as a senior lawyer and officer for Teligent, a fixed-wireless telecommunications and broadband services company. He joins the FCC from Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, where he was partner. At the firm, he focused on a wide range of regulated industries, including telecom, media, satellite, energy, and transportation. He was twice appointed by federal courts and the FCC as the Management Trustee of rural U.S. mobile wireless businesses required to be divested as a condition of a merger approval. In this role, Turetsky oversaw all aspects of the businesses, including management, day-to-day operations, strategic planning, and emergency response. During his time in the Clinton Administration Antitrust Division, Turetsky was deeply involved in the shaping of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. He has also been a member of the State Department Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy, and serves as co-chair of the State Enforcement Committee of the American Bar Association Antitrust Section.
benton.org/node/123812 | Federal Communications Commission
Recommend this Headline
back to top

PAUL OHM
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
The Federal Trade Commission has named an Internet privacy expert to advise on mobile privacy and competition issues as the agency takes on high-profile investigations of potential harm to consumers by the Web’s biggest firms. Paul Ohm, an associate professor at the University of Colorado Law School, will begin Aug. 27 as senior policy adviser for consumer protection and competition issues at the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning. “Paul’s keen insights on how the law applies to technology and privacy issues will be invaluable to the FTC’s work in these areas,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. Ohm follows a string of scholars, such as Columbia University’s Tim Wu, to offer advice to the FTC — an agency that has become the nation’s top cop for the Internet industry. “The FTC is the focal point for so many of the important information privacy debates taking place today,” Ohm said in a news release. Ohm specializes in information privacy, computer crime law and intellectual property law.
benton.org/node/123817 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top