June 2012

Branscome to Replace Rosenworcel as Senior Communications Adviser to Senate Commerce

Apparently, John Branscome, communications counsel for the Senate Commerce Committee, is moving up to senior communications counsel, the post formerly held by new Federal Communications Commission member Jessica Rosenworcel. In addition, Shawn Bone, a public policy consultant at Wiley Rein in D.C., will be joining the committee, replacing Branscome.

Branscome previously served at the FCC as Deputy Chief of the agency's Wireline Competition Bureau. Branscome also has served as Chief of the FCC's Spectrum and Competition Policy Division, as acting legal advisor both to Commissioner Michael J. Copps and to former Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy, and as legal advisor to the Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. He also previously served on detail from the FCC to U.S. Senator Amy J. Klobuchar (D-MN) as counsel for communications and intellectual property matters. Prior to joining the FCC, he worked as an associate at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP.

Do you lose free speech rights if you speak using a computer?

[Commentary] It took guts for the New York Times to publish an op-ed by Tim Wu, the Columbia law professor who coined the phrase "network neutrality," arguing that the First Amendment doesn't protect the contents of the New York Times website. A significant amount of the content on the Times website—stock tickers, the "most e-mailed" list, various interactive features—were generated not by human beings, but by computer programs.

And, Wu argues, that has constitutional implications:
“Protecting a computer’s "speech" is only indirectly related to the purposes of the First Amendment, which is intended to protect actual humans against the evil of state censorship. The First Amendment has wandered far from its purposes when it is recruited to protect commercial automatons from regulatory scrutiny.”

OK, I fibbed. The target of Wu's op-ed was Google and Facebook, not the New York Times. But accepting Wu's audacious claim that computer-generated content doesn't deserve First Amendment protection endangers the free speech rights not only of the tech titans, but of every modern media outlet.

FCC Dismisses ACA Petition to Reconsider Emergency Alert Order

The Federal Communications Commission has granted the American Cable Association's withdrawal of a petition for reconsideration of the commission's mandate that cable operators be able to receive emergency alerts from FEMA in the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) broadband Internet format after ACA essentially said "never mind."

ACA withdrew the April 20 petition because the FCC had set a comment period on the petition that extended to July 3, even though the mandate to be CAP-compliant was June 30. The group is looking for swift action from the FCC on waiver requests, however. ACA pointed out in its June 11 withdrawal petition that given the deadlines, there could be no "meaningful relief" and that it was essentially moot. The FCC agreed. The FCC had said in its order that lack of a broadband Internet connection would be considered a presumption in favor of a waiver of the requirement since it makes no sense to require equipment that can't be used, but ACA had wanted a streamlined waiver process for small cable operators with 500 or fewer subs.

Why you will need a 300 Mbps broadband connection

The growing popularity of connected TVs and efforts to build interactive programs will drive the next wave of broadband demand. That future and the continued growth of devices in the home are all reasons that Verizon has launched a 300 Mbps broadband tier and will continue pushing the speeds on its fiber-to-the-home network.

There are several reasons for this, but it boils down to the presence of more devices in the home and streaming video. Other dynamics such as whether or not folks are gamers or work from home also comes into play, but across the board it’s the rise in Netflix subscriptions, YouTube videos and family members toting smart phones, tablets, perhaps while watching content on a connected TV. If there are four people consuming media with a tablet in one hand and their eye on the TV, your home requires a fat connection.

The FTC should take a broader look at transparency

[Commentary] The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating Google for a year now, looking in part at whether Google is operating “fairly” in its search results. But if the FTC is really serious about protecting consumers, the agency may be better off taking a broader industry-wide look at search engine transparency and labeling practices.

I head a small law firm in Washington (DC), where I advise technology companies, including Google, on public policy issues. As an advocate for open Internet rules, I’ve spent many years working on network neutrality issues, and I also took part in the SOPA and PIPA debates, as one of the opponents of unfocused copyright laws. While advising Google on the FTC’s antitrust investigation, I have noticed an odd pattern: the companies complaining about Google’s actions all commit the same exact actions they complain about. If Google’s actions harm consumers, then so do its competitors. The competitors complain about some things that are not even a problem (such as using snippets of text in a search result) and other things that would be a problem if Google or any other company engaged in them (including deceiving users by mislabeling ads and search results). The FTC owes it to Web users and search engines to provide updated guidance on what form and amount of transparency is adequate for search engines.

New York City Pushes for Maximum Connectivity

If Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his way, a series of new programs announced June 21, in New York City will help position the city for the future, with world-class broadband connectivity and a thriving technology sector. The plan includes five concrete strategies to tackle specific challenges standing in the way. These new initiatives carry ambitious goals that the city hopes to achieve within the next two years.

Among other things, city leaders envision hundreds of additional city buildings with high-speed connectivity, 25,000 new broadband-related permits and a digital broadband map featuring thousands of commercial buildings.

Connect NYC aims to add high-speed Internet to industrial and commercial buildings.
Wired NYC will publicize information about the broadband infrastructure of existing commercial buildings.
A public website called the NYC Broadband Connect Map will unite several sources of information for a comprehensive picture of available connectivity in particular neighborhoods or buildings.
City leaders will work with transportation officials to simplify processes for Internet service providers in a program called Broadband Express. A dedicated city staff person will serve as a liaison to businesses to streamline permitting and operations. New York City pledges to expedite processing of broadband-related permits to within an average of two business days. The city estimates that these improvements could permit as many as 25,000 broadband projects in the next two years.

Study: Slow Progress In Kids' Cereal Marketing

While cereal makers have improved the nutritional quality of most cereals marketed to children, they have also increased marketing for many of their least nutritious products, according to a new Cereal FACTS report from the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity.

Between 2008 and 2011, total media spending on marketing cereals targeted to kids increased by 34%, according to the report, which quantifies the category’s changes in nutrition and marketing since major makers including General Mills, Kellogg and Post pledged to reduce marketing of unhealthy products to children via the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), launched in 2006 and led by the Council of Better Business Bureaus in cooperation with the industry.

With Google backing out, ABA promises indie bookstores new e-book solution by fall

Google is ending the affiliate program that allows independent bookstores to sell e-books through their websites, but the American Booksellers Association says it will have a new solution in place “well in advance” of the end of the Google program in January 2013.

The ITU and Your Internet

[Commentary] On June 20, the House Commerce Committee approved, on a voice vote, House Congressional Resolution 127 regarding actions to preserve and advance the multistakeholder governance model under which the Internet has thrived. If we may start at the end, the resolution, if approved by the full House and the Senate, says it is the sense of Congress that the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, in consultation with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and United States Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, should continue working to implement the position of the United States on Internet governance that clearly articulates the consistent and unequivocal policy of the United States to promote a global Internet free from government control and preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet today.

Wow, who could be against that? But wait… what evil in the world could merit an important resolution like this? Well, we’ll need the rest of the story then.

A battle for Internet freedom as UN meeting nears

A year after the Internet helped fuel the Arab Spring uprisings, the role cyberspace plays in launching revolutions is being threatened by proposed changes to a United Nations telecommunications treaty that could allow countries to clamp down on the free flow of information.

For months, dozens of countries have been meeting behind closed doors to debate changes to the 24-year-old treaty. The US delegation to the World Conference on International Telecommunications to be held in Dubai this December has vowed to block any proposals that could permit online censorship or undercut the Internet's current governing structure. Yet those assurances have failed to ease fears that bureaucratic tinkering with the treaty could imperil Internet freedom and diminish its role in economic growth, according to legal experts and civil liberties advocates who have been tracking the discussions. The drafting and debating of proposals in preparation for the Dubai conference have taken place largely in secret. Public interest groups have criticized the process and said it runs counter to development of sound public policy. In response to calls for transparency, two research fellows at George Mason University's Mercatus Center launched the website WCITLeaks.org earlier this month as a way to make leaked documents available publicly. The secretive nature of the talks has sparked rumors the U.N. is plotting to take control of the Internet. Toure has called the takeover rumors "ridiculous."

Benton

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