July 2012

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

Transatlantic Perspectives on Digital Rights and Online Privacy today at the New America Foundation http://benton.org/calendar/2012-07-25/

TELEVISION
   Hearing Recap: The Cable Act at 20
   SNL Kagan: Some Carriers Are Willing to Ditch Your Favorite Channels
   How Big Cable killed the open set-top box—and what to do about it
   Senator Rubio Just Doesn't Get Why Public Broadcasting Is Vital to America - op-ed [links to web]
   Independent Show: Small Ops in Programming Squeeze Play [links to web]

CYBERSECURITY
   Senate to consider stronger cybersecurity measures
   Security experts mixed on revised Cybersecurity bill [links to web]
   Heritage urges Senate to reject cybersecurity bill [links to web]
   Senators: Bill needed to prevent a 'cyber 9/11' [links to web]
   Dem senators ask tech giants Facebook, Google, Apple for cybersecurity support
   While Congress Dithers, Cyber Threats Grow Greater [links to web]
   It's Time to Start Stoking Fears of Cyber War - analysis [links to web]
   Dem senators ask tech giants Facebook, Google, Apple for cybersecurity support [links to web]
   Majority Leader Reid would be 'dumbfounded' if GOP blocked cybersecurity bill [links to web]
   Cyber Bill Relies on Voluntary Security

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   NAB to Court: FCC Fails to See Serious Harm in Online Posting
   Obama Campaign Makes $6 Million Olympic Buy, Romney Nothing National Yet
   Google seeks campaign money by touting Net as prime info source [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Senate Commerce Panel To Wade Into Net Sales Tax Debate
   Libertarians make the case: network neutrality is unconstitutional
   Comcast Doubles Speeds of Two Xfinity Internet Speed Tiers at No Additional Cost to Customers - press release [links to web]
   FairPoint to Extend Broadband in 53 Vermont Towns - press release [links to web]
   Untruths at the origins of the Internet - analysis

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   The Wireless Market Is Seriously Messed Up When Every Incentive Is Anti-Consumer. - analysis
   The PCAST Report And The Inconvenient Truth About Federal Spectrum. - analysis
   AT&T and Verizon shine as iPhone sales sink - analysis

OWNERSHIP
   Apple, Samsung drop some patent claims as trial approaches
   Aurelius, others appeal judge's confirmation of Tribune bankruptcy plan

SATALLITES
   Miracles in space - op-ed
   Frontier Communications and Hughes Announce Wholesale Agreement to Provide Satellite Broadband Services - press release [links to web]

PRIVACY
   Congress to Examine Data Sellers

HEALTH
   Clicking with your doctor [links to web]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Millions of Americans now fall within government's digital dragnet - op-ed
   Citizen Satisfaction with E-Government Up, Survey Says [links to web]

COMPANY NEWS
   AT&T: 3.7 Million iPhones Activated Last Quarter [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Google agrees EU antitrust deal outline [links to web]
   Unrestrained access to Internet pledged
   Phone-Hacking Charges Seen as Chill on British Journalism
   In India, Dreaming of A 4G World
   US sees no trade sanctions violations by UN agency [links to web]
   German Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 Ban Expanded to Entire EU [links to web]

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TELEVISION

HEARING RECAP: THE CABLE ACT AT 20
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee]
The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing exploring the future of online video. The Committee considered the impact of the Cable Television and Consumer Protection Act of 1992 on the television marketplace and consumers twenty years after its passage. The witnesses were Time Warner Cable’s Melinda Witmer, WOW! Internet, Cable, and Phone CEO Colleen Abdoulah, Martin Franks Executive Vice President for Planning, Policy, and Government Affairs for the CBS Corporation, National Association of Broadcasters CEO Gordon Smith, Dr. Mark Cooper, the Director of Research at the Consumer Federation of America, and former lobbyist Preston Padden.
Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said, “I want to take a close look at several core questions about the Cable Act. Why hasn’t competition succeeded in bringing rates down and more programming choices? Should the protections in the Cable Act for various entities be maintained? How do we make sure that consumers are protected and see real benefits as video moves to the Internet?” He blasted television providers for rising cable prices, forced bundles and disputes over retransmission agreements between broadcasters and cable providers that have left millions of customers in the dark during business standoffs. “Overheated rhetoric alleging greed and bad faith is little comfort for someone paying for service they are not getting,” said Chairman Rockefeller, adding that cable providers should refund consumers when channels are turned off during fee disputes. Chairman Rockefeller and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said local broadcasting is a public service that should be preserved. But they agreed that disputes over retransmission consent agreements — obligations by cable companies to pay broadcast networks to carry their channels — have spiraled out of control into high-stakes business battles.
Cable companies blame broadcasters for charging too much for their channels and forcing bundles of channels on them. Broadcasters say it is expensive to create shows and they need to be compensated fairly.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said it may be time to rethink the whole 1992 law. He said broadcasters shouldn’t be protected by government rules. Instead of new rules, broadcasters and cable companies, he said, should be stripped of rules in the same way online video providers are.
Cable firms said that the law's goals of fostering competition have been achieved and that they now face competition from both satellite provides and new online video distributors such as Netflix. At the same time, they argued that broadcasters are taking unfair advantage of retransmission process by demanding ever increasing fees for their programming. They also noted that consumers are being hurt by disputes in recent years that have led to blackouts in some cable markets after broadcasters have yanked their programming over fee disputes.
CBS Executive Vice President Martin Franks noted that his network has successfully negotiated deals with both Abdoulah's firm and with Time Warner Cable, which also testified at the hearing. Broadcasters also say that the fees they demand are aimed at recouping the costs of their programming and help to pay for local coverage. "No one begrudges our pay TV friends the right to make a profit. But when it comes to programming costs, fair is fair. Even after almost 20 years, television broadcasters still do not receive compensation commensurate with their ratings," National Association of Broadcasters President and CEO Gordon Smith, a former GOP Senator from Oregon and Commerce Committee member, said.
benton.org/node/130535 | US Senate Commerce Committee | Commerce Committee Chairman Rockefeller | Washington Post | National Journal | The Hill | B&C | AdWeek | Multichannel News | TVNewsCheck
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CARRIERS WILLING TO DITCH CHANNELS
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Sam Thielman]
SNL Kagan analysts are predicting that carriage agreements will split into two different types over the coming years. The first type is exemplified by the quiet pact inked by Comcast and Scripps during the last week—a traditional agreement made notable by its inclusion of over-the-top content on Comcast's Xfinity service, a high watermark among MSO-created on-demand interfaces. The agreement was cordial and genially celebrated by both sides as fair and equitable, and similar to the easygoing deal between the cable operator and Disney earlier this year. The second type will be more like the hair-pulling brawls that played out over the last few weeks—Viacom v. DirecTV, Hearst v. Time Warner Cable, AMC v. Dish Network. "I think all of the operators are in the same boat," Kagan analyst Derek Baine said. "They are just taking different routes, with Dish apparently willing to give up some networks for good to keep programming costs low."
benton.org/node/130525 | AdWeek
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BIG CABLE KILLED THE OPEN SET-TOP BOX
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
A final nail in the open set-top box coffin could come soon. The Federal Communications Commission currently prohibits cable providers from encrypting basic cable channels in order to preserve compatibility with third-party devices. But these third-party devices have become increasingly rare, so the FCC is considering dropping the encryption ban altogether. The cable industry opposes the ban, and it got a boost last month when set-top box manufacturer Boxee announced it had reached an agreement with Comcast that would provide Boxee products with access to encrypted Comcast content. The announcement was significant because Boxee had been a vocal supporter of the encryption ban.
benton.org/node/130504 | Ars Technica
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CYBERSECURITY

SENATE TO CONSIDER CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Eric Yoder]
Federal employees would receive new training in cybersecurity, and changes would be made in how the government recruits and develops those who specialize in that field, under a bill scheduled for a Senate vote this week. The bipartisan Cybersecurity Act would revise how the government is structured to face threats to electronic information. It would create an interagency National Cybersecurity Council to conduct risk assessments, form a new public-private partnership designed to meet cyberthreats and would consolidate into one center several existing offices of the Department of Homeland Security having responsibilities in that area. One task of that center would be to improve information sharing among federal agencies, other levels of government and the private sector. In addition, a voluntary program would be offered in which owners of critical infrastructure who follow certain practices would receive benefits such as expedited security clearances for key personnel and protection from liability following an incident, under certain conditions. The measure orders the Office of Personnel Management to assess the cybersecurity readiness and capacity of the federal workforce and to develop a common language to describe the work and skill requirements of cybersecurity positions. OPM would have to create a new training program to improve the technical skills and capabilities of government cybersecurity professionals. The National Science Foundation meanwhile would establish a new scholarship-for-service program to recruit and train cybersecurity professionals.
benton.org/node/130511 | Washington Post
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WEAKER CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Siobhan Gorman]
A cybersecurity bill likely to reach the Senate floor this week greatly scales back an earlier White House-backed proposal to require power grids, air-traffic-control systems and other critical networks to bolster their protections. The bill's sponsors said the changes were needed to win Republican support, but the measure still faces criticism from some top Republicans and groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Meanwhile, many cybersecurity advocates say it would do little to improve computer-network defenses. "It doesn't go as far as what we'd like," a senior administration official said, adding that the White House is examining options to amend it. But "we think that this bill still does enough that's good that we will probably end up supporting it," the official said.
benton.org/node/130558 | Wall Street Journal
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

FCC FAILS TO SEE SERIOUS HARM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In the latest parry in the duel between the Federal Communications Commission and broadcasters over the FCC's new online filing requirement for TV station public files, the National Association of Broadcasters again asked a D.C. Federal Court to block the Aug. 2 effective date of that mandate. In reply comments on its request for an emergency stay of the rules by the court until after it has ruled on broadcasters' appeal, NAB said that the FCC, in its opposition to the stay, had yet again failed to recognize the potential harm to competition of having to publicize detailed information on political ad rates in an easily accessible database. NAB says that the FCC does not dispute that an industry wide posting of pricing would violate antitrust laws were it not compelled by the FCC, but that the FCC says those laws can be "disregarded" because price information is already readily available. But NAB argues that such a contention contradicts the FCC's own justification for moving the public files online, which was to dramatically increase access to that information.
benton.org/node/130523 | Broadcasting&Cable
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OLYMPIC BUY
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: David Goetzl]
Could Mitt Romney really be ceding a big Olympic stage to President Obama? Could he really be allowing Obama a prime opportunity to wrap himself in the flag and reach millions of viewers alone? In a deal with NBCUniversal, the Obama campaign has placed a $6 million national Olympic ad buy. The arrangement will have the campaign running a prime-time spot for 15 straight nights on NBC, beginning Friday during the Opening Ceremony. The NBCU deal also includes a run of daytime spots, which could help reach a female target. The Romney campaign? So far, nothing is scheduled to run coast to coast, according to an NBCU political file.
benton.org/node/130557 | MediaPost
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

ONLINE SALES TAX HEARING
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The Senate Commerce Committee appears set next week to wade into debate over whether Congress should pass legislation authorizing states to require online retailers to collect sales taxes from their out-of-state customers. The committee is tentatively scheduled to hold a hearing on Aug. 1 that would examine calls for legislation that would close a loophole left from a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that found states cannot require retailers to collect sales taxes from customers in states where those companies have no store or other physical facility, a committee aide said Tuesday. The ruling applied to catalog retailers at the time but has since been exploited by online stores.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that he would try to bring up the measure once it had the needed support. Sen Reid said the proposal, from Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), did not have the necessary 60 votes yet. But, he added, “I have told them the minute we get 60 votes, I will be happy to do everything I can to get that matter on the floor.”
benton.org/node/130520 | National Journal | The Hill | The Hill – Reid
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LIBERTARIANS AND NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Cyrus Farivar]
A group of well-known libertarian organizations has filed an amicus brief to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in support of the plaintiff in the Verizon v. Federal Communications Commission case. Verizon filed its own brief earlier this month. In the brief, TechFreedom, The Competitive Enterprise Institute, The Free State Foundation, and the Cato Institute argue that the last year’s FCC network neutrality order, which took effect in November 2011, violates the First and Fifth Amendments, and that the FCC lacks jurisdictional authority to implement such a rule. Specifically, the groups say that compelling private companies to “speak,” by requiring them to carry all traffic across their networks, instead of allowing them to discriminate as they see fit, violates the principle of freedom of speech. “When you allow the government to say that a private operator has to treat all speech equally and cannot refuse to carry some speech—our view is the First Amendment jurisprudence [stipulates] that the government can’t compel a speaker,” said Free state’s Randolph May. Further, the groups argue, citing case law, the government must show immediate, real harm, rather than theoretical or possible harm.
benton.org/node/130501 | Ars Technica | Broadcasting&Cable
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UNTRUTHS AT THE ORIGINS OF THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Dan Mitchell]
The Wall Street Journal has always had a problem. When people refer to it, it's often hard to know whether they are naming one of the best publications in the world, or one of the worst. Unless they clarify, we can't know whether they mean the news pages, which are filled with quality articles written by hardworking journalists who care about getting the facts right, or the opinion pages, which are, well, something else. The opinion pages can be wrong, very wrong. And they couldn't have been more wrong than in an item about the Internet and how the government didn't create it after all. For such a short item, the number of problems with it is rather astonishing, but not as astonishing as how severe they are. It was written by L. Gordon Crovitz, the Journal's esteemed former publisher. This is "how innovation actually happens" -- sometimes: the government pours money and engineering talent into a research project, the results of which are then unleashed into the marketplace, where they are exploited and further developed by commercial interests. It happens with pharmaceuticals, with materials science, and with all kinds of other endeavors. And when it goes right, as it did with the Internet, everybody wins.
benton.org/node/130483 | Fortune
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

ANTI-CONSUMER WIRELESS MARKET
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] AT&T achieved better profitability by (a) dramatically limiting their broadband service; (b) discouraging consumers from upgrading their devices; and (c) figuring out new charges for consumers to enhance overall profit per customer. I get that firms are supposed to maximize profit. But when every single incentive to profit maximization relies on providing less service for more money and discouraging people from using your service, something is seriously messed up. This is doubly true when usual trend in information technology is to drive prices down. And, more tellingly, it creates a real concern if we are relying on market incentives to ensure that providers do things like build out networks and provide us with better service and lower prices.
benton.org/node/130516 | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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PCAST AND FEDERAL SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] We have all kinds of reality-challenged folks in Washington including “the folks who think we can keep finding federal spectrum to auction forever.” Case in point, the reaction by some to last week’s report on the future Federal spectrum management by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The PCAST Report found that we won’t clear big chunks of spectrum for auction anytime soon. We therefore ought to consider other ways that will make spectrum available for commercial use and simultaneously make federal spectrum users more efficient. This means moving from a world that treats exclusive federal allocations (occasionally cleared for exclusive commercial applications) as the norm to a world that treats sharing federal spectrum with commercial users as the norm. Hardcore spectrum warriors unwilling to adapt cannot change reality. Unfortunately, in Washington DC, well-funded deniers of reality have an amazing capacity to block good policy that contradicts their worldview. Happily, the demand for new wireless capacity continues to produce an ever growing number of industry participants – such as the cable operators making a heavy investment in Wi-Fi and carriers such as Sprint using shared spectrum to supplement their licensed spectrum -- who don’t have time for ideological battles. While I am not so naïve that I believe that being right is enough, it helps especially when there is money to be made by doing the right thing. In the end, we will have more spectrum sharing because we don’t have a reality-based alternative. But if we want to save ourselves a lot of endless delay, we will need to force the spectrum old guard to accept some inconvenient truths.
benton.org/node/130497 | Public Knowledge
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CARRIERS SHINE AS IPHONE SALES SINK
[SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: David Goldman]
A curious trend has developed in recent quarters: When iPhone sales fall, business improves for AT&T and Verizon. What gives? Carriers pay heavy up-front subsidies to bring the cost of most smartphones down to $200 for their customers. Apple commands the highest subsidies for the iPhone. Since many potential iPhone customers are now in a holding pattern, waiting for the next iPhone to debut, iPhone sales have steadily declined since last fall. As iPhone sales slump, the amount of money AT&T and Verizon pay Apple up front has fallen, improving their margins. But telecom analysts think that trend is about to reverse course. With a highly anticipated 4G-LTE iPhone expected to launch in October, wireless margins will probably plummet in the fourth quarter.
benton.org/node/130494 | CNNMoney
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OWNERSHIP

APPLE-SAMSUNG UPDATE
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Martyn Williams]
Apple and Samsung have agreed to drop some of the patent infringement claims they have filed against each other, they said. The move will help simplify the litigation between the two companies when it goes in front of a California jury next week. Apple said it would dismiss all claims it had previously made against Samsung's Acclaim, Nexus S, and Sidekick cellphones, while Samsung is dropping all claims against Apple relating to U.S. Patent 6,928,604. The decision was disclosed in a filing to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Apple will seek billions of dollars in damages from Samsung. "Samsung has reaped billions of dollars in profits and caused Apple to lose hundreds of millions of dollars through its violation of Apple's intellectual property," Apple's trial brief claims. Combining Samsung's revenue from sales of all phones and tablet PCs that allegedly infringe on Apple's patents, $500 million in profits Apple assumes lost because of the Samsung handsets, and $25 million in royalty damages, Apple's lawyers will ask the jury to award "a combined total of $2.525 billion," the filing said. In its own trial brief, filed shortly after Apple submitted its documents to the court, Samsung called the Apple request "a natural extension of its attempt to monopolize the marketplace."
benton.org/node/130495 | IDG News Service | IDG – Apple filing | Fortune | WSJ | LATimes
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OPPOSITION TO TRIBUNE DEAL
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, AUTHOR: Michael Oneal]
Junior bondholders in the Tribune Company's bankruptcy appealed the confirmation decision in the case and asked the judge to stay consummation of a restructuring plan that would hand ownership of the Chicago-based media company to its senior creditors. In one appeal, Aurelius Capital Management, the largest junior creditor in the Tribune bankruptcy, challenged as unreasonable the settlement at the heart of the restructuring plan confirmed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey. In a separate appeal, two indenture trustees for the junior bonds said Carey's decision unfairly discriminated against the bondholders by allowing a group of retirees and other creditors share in that settlement despite a technical subordination issue. Both appeals were accompanied by requests that Judge Carey stay the proceedings for as long as it takes a federal district court to hear the appeals. Before the restructuring plan can go into effect, Tribune must win approval from the Federal Communications Commission to transfer its television and radio broadcast licenses to the new owners. The company also has to arrange $1.1 billion in new debt financing and a credit line.
benton.org/node/130492 | Chicago Tribune
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SATALLITES

MIRACLES IN SPACE
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, AUTHOR: Newton Minow]
[Commentary] Fifty years ago, we took a giant step in communications history with the first transatlantic live television broadcast connecting Europe and America. For the first time, Europeans saw the Statue of Liberty, the Chicago Cubs playing the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field, President John Kennedy's news conference, buffalo roaming the Great Plains and a boy admiring a Sioux chief in North Dakota in real time. Americans saw the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and reindeer in the Arctic Circle. Today, communications satellites every day perform miracles we never thought or dreamed of 50 years ago. They connect cable systems and broadcast networks, carry telephone calls and data all over the United States and the world. With the development of computers, digital technology and their marriage with satellites, the world has become much smaller. Satellite communications enlarge television choices for viewers, enable people around the globe to watch the Olympics at the same time, see the Sept. 11, 2001, disaster unfold and make it possible for a woman in Ghana to speak to her son in Chicago. And this is only the beginning. At age 86, I will not be here for the 100th anniversary of communications satellites on July 23, 2062. But I have suggested to my grandchildren that they write that date down and remember that great advances happen when the imagination of science is combined with the bipartisan spirit of cooperation by industry, labor and government — and that ideas last longer than men and women.
[Minow served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission under President John Kennedy]
benton.org/node/130491 | Chicago Tribune
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PRIVACY

CONGRESS INVESTIGATION OF DATA SELLERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Natasha Singer]
In a move that could lay bare the inner workings of the consumer data industry, eight members of Congress have opened a sweeping investigation into data brokers — companies that collect, collate, analyze and sell billions of details annually about consumers’ offline, online and mobile activities for marketing and other purposes. Reps Ed Markey (D-MA) and Joe Barton (R-TX), co-chairmen of the Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, along with six other lawmakers, sent letters of inquiry to nine leading industry players. In the letters, the legislators requested extensive information about how the companies amass, refine, sell and share consumer data. The letter’s recipients included marketing services firms like Acxiom and Epsilon; consumer reporting agencies like Experian and Equifax, which have separate credit reporting and consumer analytics divisions; Fair Isaac, now known as FICO, the credit scoring services company; and Intelius, a company that offers reverse phone look-up and background check services. The letter gave the companies three weeks to respond. Rep Markey says he wants the Congressional investigation to further expose data broker practices, saying some had the potential to affect people’s access to education, health care, employment or economic opportunities.
benton.org/node/130560 | New York Times
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

DIGITAL DRAGNET
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Mark Stanley, Jake Laperruque]
[Commentary] It’s now clear that government surveillance is so widespread that the chances of the average, innocent person being swept up in an electronic dragnet are much higher than previously appreciated. The revelation should lead to long overdue legal reforms. Up to now, persistent lobbying from the Justice Department and a lack of outcry from the public have left Congress with little incentive to act. But the revelation that millions of Americans are falling within a digital dragnet may be the spark needed to make this an issue that resonates with the middle class.
benton.org/node/130502 | Ars Technica
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

GOOGLE-EU SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Alex Barker]
Google has agreed the outlines of a settlement with Europe’s top competition authority, in a deal that would spare the US search giant from formal antitrust charges for allegedly abusing its dominance. In a big test for how Google handles the mounting regulatory scrutiny it is facing worldwide, the company offered to make significant changes to its business to avoid a lengthy EU legal battle and the threat of multibillion-dollar fines. While the deal must still be finalized, the talks have cleared an important hurdle that could save Google from the sort of decade-long fight in Brussels that dogged the likes of Microsoft and Intel. The details of Google’s concessions are still unclear, but they address four specific concerns laid out publicly in an earlier warning by the EU to Google. The breakthrough came after Google said it would in principle extend the remedies it had offered to make for PC-based search to cover mobile search services too.
benton.org/node/130532
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UNRESTRAINED ACCESS TO INTERNET PLEDGES
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Daniel Thomas]
The UK’s leading Internet service providers have committed to providing unrestrained access in the latest attempt to establish universal principles of “net neutrality.” Nine of the UK’s service providers, including BT, British Sky Broadcasting and TalkTalk, have signed a code that requires full and open internet access without discrimination towards providers of applications and services. The Broadband Stakeholder Group, which facilitated the agreement, said that a similar code had so far been signed only in Norway. The new UK code will include a process for complaints that would be referred to Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog.
benton.org/node/130530 | Financial Times
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PHONE HACKING AND BRITISH JOURNALISM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Burns]
To many in Britain, the prosecutors’ decision to lay criminal charges against eight of the most prominent figures in British tabloid journalism over the past decade was a dramatic step toward exacting accountability for the tangled web of wrongdoing in Rupert Murdoch’s London newsrooms. But with trials pending for those now charged with conspiracy in the phone-hacking scandal — Andy Coulson, Prime Minister David Cameron’s former communications director; Rebekah Brooks, the handpicked boss of Mr. Murdoch’s British newspaper empire until she resigned a year ago; five senior editors and reporters at the now-defunct, Murdoch-owned News of the World; and a private investigator — the wider implications are increasingly pressing in. What is becoming clear, media analysts say, is that the push-the-legal-limits newsroom culture that has gone untrammeled for years at the British tabloids and has even found its way into some of the country’s upmarket broadsheets, including Mr. Murdoch’s Times and Sunday Times, could be a casualty of a new culture of caution.
benton.org/node/130555 | New York Times
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4G IN INDIA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amol Sharma, Megha Bahree]
In December 2010, Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, circulated a 36-page handwritten memo to executives that spelled out his plans to build one of the world's most advanced telecommunications networks. The memo described a fourth-generation, or 4G, wireless service with "99.999%" network availability; "integration with an app store, ours or others" to help smartphone users order fast food or buy movie tickets; sourcing of mobile devices from China and Taiwan; content delivery to "3 screens," cellphones, laptops and TVs; and two 300,000-square-foot data centers. Nearly two years later, Ambani, chairman of the energy conglomerate Reliance Industries is putting some of those plans in motion in the hopes of vaulting India to the forefront of wireless broadband technology and bringing millions of Indians online for the first time. But the project has already hit a few early roadblocks, and success is far from guaranteed.
benton.org/node/130553 | Wall Street Journal
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