BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2012
The FCC’s open meeting headlines today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2012-09-28/
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Government said to be making larger strides in cybersecurity
Is cybersecurity legislation still alive?
Sen Mikulski joins chorus calling for cybersecurity executive order [links to web]
Advertisers Push For Do Not Sell Internet Registry
215 Million Active Web Users, Tech Sites Up Visits [links to web]
Program Access Is an Important Part of Broadband Competition - analysis
Small Telecom Providers Lead Continued Expansion of All-Fiber Networks - press release [links to web]
Online Sales Tax: A Non-Issue - op-ed
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC to vote on proposal to use old NextWave spectrum
Connecticut Congressfolk Ask FCC to Protect Broadcasters [links to web]
Comcast Binges on Wi-Fi Hotspots in California [links to web]
Living Without a Cellphone [links to web]
Mobile Ads: Here's What Works and What Doesn't [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Conservative leaders claim unprecedented media bias this election cycle
Will the media start rooting for a Mitt Romney comeback? - analysis
Romney abandons blame-the-media strategy
The Ad Wars: Super PACs not super? Not so fast - analysis
Political Ad Tracker: Hispanic Media Reinforces Election Spend is Bigger, Not Smarter [links to web]
Communications Breakdown -- Your Phone, Wireless, Broadband, Internet and Cable Bills - op-ed
Social media have big debate plans [links to web]
PRIVACY
US Is Tightening Web Privacy Rule to Shield Young
Facebook, Twitter, e-mail passwords made private under California law
Privacy groups seek investigation of Facebook's retail data sharing
Do-not-call list is almost like a feel-free-to-call-any-time list - analysis [links to web]
CONTENT
Dish Said to Be in Talks With Viacom About Internet TV [links to web]
Google trying to land local sports from Time Warner Cable [links to web]
A New Google App Gives You Local Information — Before You Ask for It [links to web]
Apple-Google Maps Talks Crashed Over Voice-Guided Directions [links to web]
Five Reasons Why Media Companies Should Pay Attention to The Atlantic - analysis [links to web]
How e-readers can be more like animals [links to web]
Ad-Supported Cable Dips, Broadcast Rises [links to web]
Hollywood's New Bible Stories [links to web]
Anti-Muslim film puts Christian TV in global spotlight [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
FCC Commissioner McDowell: Broadcasters Weighted Down With Legacy Regulations
HEALTH
Lawmaker Pitches New FDA Office Of Mobile Health [links to web]
LABOR
Microsoft: Lack of tech workers approaching 'genuine crisis' [links to web]
JOURNALISM
In Changing News Landscape, Even Television is Vulnerable - research [links to web]
More Declines Predicted For Newspapers [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Introducing Facebook Gifts - press release [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
New Justice Department Documents Show Huge Increase in Warrantless Electronic Surveillance - press release
Agencies not taking Steps to Avoid Redundant IT Spending, Report finds [links to web]
Google executive's arrest in Brazil highlights country's 'outdated' Internet laws
Alleged Maker of Anti-Muslim Video Jailed in Fraud Case [links to web]
FCC REFORM
FCC Termination of Certain Proceedings as Dormant - public notice
STORIES FROM ABROAD
82% of U.K. 5-Year-Olds Use an Internet Device, While 70% of Pensioners Don’t [links to web]
Google executive detained, released by Brazilian police [links to web]
Google executive's arrest in Brazil highlights country's 'outdated' Internet laws
MORE ONLINE
Forecast: U.S. Communications Industry to Accelerate Growth, Hit $1.46 Trillion in 2016 [links to web]
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
CYBERSECURITY STRIDES
[SOURCE: FederalComputerWeek, AUTHOR: Amber Corrin]
Leaders at the highest levels of the federal government are moving forward with a range of cybersecurity programs and initiatives, according to a National Security Council official. And while much work remains, the efforts are beginning to bear fruit. Michael Daniel, special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator at the NSC, highlighted progress in a number of initiatives including short-term, medium-term and long-term plans. “Right now cyberspace seems to favor the intruder, and this setup makes defense a losing game,” Daniel said Sept. 26 at the INSA Cybersecurity Innovation Symposium in Washington. “We’re pursuing a lot of activities designed to make cyberspace inherently more secure; we’re changing the game to one that’s actually in our favor. There’s a lot we can do in this, and we’ve got a lot of efforts going on.” The progress is most clearly visible in the coordination between federal agencies, which Daniel noted has improved in recent months.
benton.org/node/135663 | FederalComputerWeek
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CYBERSECURITY LEGISLATION?
[SOURCE: FederalComputerWeek, AUTHOR: Amber Corrin]
According to one congressman, hope is still alive that Congress will be able to pass a cybersecurity law – and that it would be more effective than a White House order. “It may be coughing, it may be sputtering, but it’s not dead,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House intelligence committee. “After the election we’re going to have a prime opportunity to come back and…take care of the things that are difficult to get done legislatively. We’re not giving up. I think there’s a good chance that we’re going to turn this around.” Rep Rogers, speaking Sept. 26 at the INSA Cyber Innovation Symposium in Washington, said he was concerned about the prospects of new regulation he thinks may come in the executive order, but also noted that he doesn’t know what specifically the order may entail.
benton.org/node/135659 | FederalComputerWeek
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DO NOT SELL REGISTRY
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
As the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that manages the address system on the Internet, gets ready to flood the Web with hundreds of new top level domain names, companies with brands to protect are increasingly worried that it's going to cost them millions of dollars in defensive registrations at the second level. Warning that the ICANN doesn't have an adequate system to protect brand names on the Internet, the Association of National Advertisers appealed once again to the Department of Commerce to put pressure on ICANN at its upcoming board meeting next month in Toronto to adopt stronger trademark protection mechanisms, like a Do Not Sell registry list.
benton.org/node/135707 | AdWeek
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PROGRAM ACCESS AND BROADBAND COMPETITION
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: John Bergmayer]
[Commentary] The "program access" rules have been around since 1992, and are responsible for what competition we have in the video space. Without them, cable would be even more monopolistic, if you can believe that. They're still important, and it's disheartening to hear that the Federal Communications Commission might phase them out. These rules say that incumbent cable companies can't withhold the programming they have control over from competitors--if Comcast creates a sports channel, for instance, it has to sell it to DISH and DirecTV. The program access rules thus allow satellite companies, phone companies, and cable "overbuilders" to offer a full line-up of programming and compete in the video space. Why are these rules important? Well, for the most part wholly independent programmers want to sell their programming to any subscription TV provider that can afford it. But when a programmer is controlled by a cable company, the interests of the cable part of the business might be put ahead of the programming part of the business, and the company might decline to make its programming widely available.
benton.org/node/135668 | Public Knowledge
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ONLINE SALES TAX
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Danny Silverman]
[Commentary] Amazon recently began charging sales tax on online transactions made by residents of Pennsylvania and California, which means that 33 percent of the U.S. population is paying sales tax on Amazon purchases. This figure is expected to climb to 44 percent, or 14 states total, by 2016. And at the federal level, three bills are pending that would enact a federal requirement for online sales tax collection. However, just because online sales tax collection is a growing phenomenon among states does not mean it poses a threat to Amazon’s march toward retail dominance, and eCommerce growth generally. In fact, the competitive advantage of ecommerce has little to do with online sales tax. The reality is that according to the Amazon 2011 Annual Report, the company is already collecting sales tax on over half of their revenue, and sales growth is only accelerating. There are no doubt shoppers deterred from buying online in states where sales tax is collected. But with Amazon already collecting sales tax on more than half of its revenue, a national online tax law is unlikely to slow Amazon’s meteoric growth because the eCommerce value proposition extends far beyond the perceived “discount” of avoiding sales tax. Amazon and eCommerce sellers have found many ways to meet shopper expectations better than offline retailers, but avoiding sales tax collection has never been on the list.
[Silverman is director, sales support for etailing solutions]
benton.org/node/135672 | MediaPost
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
NEXTWAVE SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on a proposal that would allow AT&T to offer mobile broadband service on 20MHz of spectrum it purchased in August along with spectrum holding company NextWave Wireless. During its Oct. 17 meeting, the FCC is scheduled to vote on a proposal to allow AT&T to use the Wireless Communications Service (WCS) spectrum in the 2.3GHz band in a way that doesn't interfere with Sirius XM Radio, which uses nearby spectrum. In June, AT&T and Sirius offered a series of proposals to allow mobile broadband on the spectrum and minimize interference. The FCC proposal closely follows the recommendations from AT&T and Sirius, according to a person familiar with the plan. Among other things, the proposals from AT&T and Sirius would prohibit mobile and portable transmitters in part of the WCS spectrum, and they would lengthen the planned build-out of LTE service in the WCS spectrum. The new FCC proposal would allow mobile broadband on 20MHz of the total 30MHz in the WCS spectrum, according to Tammy Sun, an FCC spokeswoman. The other 10MHz could be available for mobile broadband in the future.
benton.org/node/135667 | IDG News Service | GigaOm
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
CONSERVATIVES CLAIM MEDIA BIAS
[SOURCE: Fox News, AUTHOR: ]
Two-dozen conservative activists and media personalities on Tuesday urged members of their respective groups to switch off the "biased news media," claiming in an open letter that establishment media are "out of control with a deliberate and unmistakable leftist agenda." Though these groups frequently complain about a left-leaning media bias, they claimed in the letter that the political slant this cycle is unprecedented. "In the quarter century since the Media Research Center was established to document liberal media bias, there has never been a more brazen and complete attempt by the liberal so-called 'news' media to decide the outcome of an election," wrote Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, and other conservative leaders. They ticked off a litany of grievances against the news media, saying they've been "shamefully smearing" Mitt Romney over the course of the election. Among their charges were that the media have painted conservative ideas as "extreme;" downplayed the "horrendous economic conditions" in the country; focused more on shortcomings in Romney's business background than in Obama's record as president; been "pouncing" on missteps by conservatives while "suppressing" gaffes by Vice President Biden; and been "deliberately covering up embarrassing government failures and scandals, including the Solyndra debacle, Fast & Furious, and national security leaks."
benton.org/node/135655 | Fox News
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MEDIA ROOTING FOR ROMNEY?
[SOURCE: The Week, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] "If there's one thing the media won't tolerate for long, it's an unchanging media narrative," says Robert Wright at The Atlantic. So the current story of the race between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney — "Obama sits on a lead that is modest but increasingly comfortable, thanks to a hapless Romney and a hapless Romney campaign" — will almost certainly take a pro-Romney tilt soon. Romney's three weeks of media hell are likely over. Despite conservatives' complaints about leftist media bias, will the mainstream press really start cheering for a Romney resurgence?
benton.org/node/135653 | Week, The
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ROMNEY AND BLAME-THE-MEDIA
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Dylan Byers]
Mitt Romney said that he doesn't worry about liberal bias in the mainstream media, yet another sign that the campaign is distancing itself from the blame-the-media strategy it began to court just a few weeks ago. "I think we have a system of free press. People are able to provide their own perspective based upon their own beliefs. I think there are some people who are more in my camp, there's a lot of people who are more in his camp, and I don't worry about that," Romney said when asked by CBS News's Jan Crawford if he thought the "mainstream media" was "in the tank" for the president. "I don't think anybody in my business thinks they wouldn't like to rewrite the stories, and write the media accounts in a way that's more favorable to them," he said. "But I don't worry about that." Romney's comments came on the same day that his senior adviser Ed Gillespie told Fox & Friends the campaign had a "no whining rule" about media coverage. "We think that big choice will overcome all of this horse race political analysis you see in the media on a day-to-day basis,” Gillespie said. It was not always thus.
benton.org/node/135696 | Politico
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SUPER PAC ADS
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Sasha Chavkin]
[Commentary] The Wall Street Journal reached a bold conclusion on one of the central debates of the 2012 elections: “Super PAC Influence Falls Short of Aims,” declared its front page, above-the-fold headline. “The flood of spending doesn’t appear to have significantly influenced voter opinion in key states in the presidential contest,” the story asserted. But what the story didn’t provide was evidence to support its central claim: that super PACs were not having a substantial influence on voter opinion. Instead, it relied almost entirely upon a circular premise: Conservative super PACs have spent heavily on the presidential race in certain states, and Mitt Romney has performed poorly in polls in these states, so therefore the super PACs have failed to influence voters. It ain’t necessarily so. “You can’t say his failure to close the gap shows the ads aren’t effective,” said Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute and a political science professor at SUNY Albany. “They’re running ads at a time when the candidate is off in London putting his foot in his mouth.”
benton.org/node/135652 | Columbia Journalism Review
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YOUR COMMUNICATIONS BILLS
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Bruce Kushnick, David Rosen]
[Commentary] As I stare at the Republican and Democratic party platforms, (which touch on communications) I wonder -- don't these people have a clue? Haven't they bothered to actually ask their constituents what they think of their ever-increasing phone, wireless, broadband, Internet, and cable bills? There's a communications breakdown here -- in multiple ways. This article is in two parts: Part 1 looks at the price of phone, cable, broadband, Internet and wireless services. Part 2 outlines what needs to be done to fix communications in America.
benton.org/node/135673 | Huffington Post, The
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PRIVACY
UPDATING PRIVACY RULES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Natasha Singer]
Federal regulators are about to take the biggest steps in more than a decade to protect children online. The moves come at a time when major corporations, app developers and data miners appear to be collecting information about the online activities of millions of young Internet users without their parents’ awareness, children’s advocates say. Some sites and apps have also collected details like children’s photographs or locations of mobile devices; the concern is that the information could be used to identify or locate individual children. These data-gathering practices are legal. But the development has so alarmed officials at the Federal Trade Commission that the agency is moving to overhaul rules that many experts say have not kept pace with the explosive growth of the Web and innovations like mobile apps. New rules are expected within weeks. The proposed changes could greatly increase the need for children’s sites to obtain parental permission for some practices that are now popular — like using cookies to track users’ activities around the Web over time. Marketers argue that the rule should not be changed so extensively, lest it cause companies to reduce their offerings for children.
benton.org/node/135731 | New York Times
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PASSWORD PROTECTION
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Mike Rosenberg]
California, home to many of the world's social media companies, now has the nation's strictest privacy laws preventing your boss or college from surfing through the personal information you post on sites like Facebook. It will be illegal for companies or universities to ask for access to your personal social media or email accounts under two bills signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA). "The Golden State is pioneering the social media revolution, and these laws will protect all Californians from unwarranted invasions of their personal social media accounts," Gov Brown said.
benton.org/node/135730 | San Jose Mercury News
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RETAIL DATA SHARING
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
Two privacy groups, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy, have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook's new plan to help advertisers judge the effectiveness of their ads by cross-referencing them with customers' offline retail purchases. They claim that Facebook has failed to provide its users with proper notice as required by last year's settlement of an FTC privacy investigation. "Facebook did not attempt to notify users of its decision to disclose user information to Datalogix," the groups charge in their letter. "Neither Facebook’s Data Use Policy nor its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities adequately explains the specific types of information Facebook discloses, the manner in which the disclosure occurs, or the identities of the third parties receiving the information." Indeed, the groups note, Facebook's only disclosure of its relationship to Datalogix is buried at the bottom of the "Interacting with Ads" page on the site. "This page requires at least five actions to reach from the Facebook.com home page and simply directs users to the Datalogix privacy policy," the groups write. That, they say, does not comply with Facebook's obligation under the settlement terms to proactively disclose when and how user data will be disclosed to third parties. The groups are unimpressed with Facebook's argument that the sharing is kosher because user information is anonymized before it is shared with Datalogix. They note that the FTC itself has written that "hashing is vastly overrated as an ‘anonymization’ technique." The groups argue that the FTC needs to supervise the use of anonymization techniques to ensure they are done correctly. Finally, EPIC and CDD charge that "the method offered by Facebook and Datalogix for consumers to opt out of the data-sharing," involving the placement of an opt-out cookie, is "confusing and ineffective."
benton.org/node/135699 | Ars Technica
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OWNERSHIP
MCDOWELL: BROADCASTERS WEIGHTED DOWN BY OWNERSHIP REGULATIONS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a speech to the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell said that so long as broadcasters are weighed down by the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban and other legacy 20th century regulations, investment will flow primarily to less regulated new media. Commissioner McDowell told his audience that it was time to "largely -- if not completely -- eliminate the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban." While he has argued that an increasingly competitive marketplace suggests the presumption should be that the rule go away. He also pointed out that the record is still open -- the FCC has not completed studies on the impact of its rules on diversity. "It might be possible to have a presumption that the rules should go away, but if someone wants to file evidence that would harm a diversity of voices in a market, we would consider it."
benton.org/node/135681 | Broadcasting&Cable | FCC Commissioner McDowell
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
WARRANTLESS ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: American Civil Liberties Union, AUTHOR: Naomi Gilens]
Justice Department documents released today by the ACLU reveal that federal law enforcement agencies are increasingly monitoring Americans’ electronic communications, and doing so without warrants, sufficient oversight, or meaningful accountability. The documents, handed over by the government only after months of litigation, are the attorney general’s 2010 and 2011 reports on the use of “pen register” and “trap and trace” surveillance powers. The reports show a dramatic increase in the use of these surveillance tools, which are used to gather information about telephone, e-mail, and other Internet communications. The revelations underscore the importance of regulating and overseeing the government’s surveillance power.
benton.org/node/135693 | American Civil Liberties Union
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FCC REFORM
FCC TERMINATES DORMANT PROCEEDINGS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) terminates, as dormant, a number of proceedings. Termination of these proceedings furthers the Commission’s organizational goals of increasing the efficiency of its decision-making, modernizing the agency’s processes in the digital age, and enhancing the openness and transparency of FCC proceedings for practitioners and the public. [Link below includes list of proceedings.]
benton.org/node/135648 | Federal Communications Commission
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
BRAZIL’S INTERNET LAWS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Bradley Brooks, Juliana Barbassa]
The arrest of a top Google executive is reviving a debate about Brazilian laws that hold services such as YouTube responsible for the videos posted on them, making the country a hotbed of attempts to stifle digital content. Legal experts said that Google violated a judge's order to take down videos on its YouTube subsidiary that target Brazilian political candidates -- and that the judge was completely within the law in issuing the arrest warrant. But they said the arrest of Fabio Jose Silva Coelho, the head of Google's Brazil operations, underscores the need to modernize laws that treat offensive material on the Internet like material that is carried by newspapers, television and radio, holding platforms such as Google responsible for user-provided content. Brazil’s strict electoral laws limit what critics can say on television, radio and the Internet about candidates for office. On several occasions in recent years, media outlets have faced stiff fines for breaking the laws, but few if any officials were arrested. Google's alleged infractions, however, are more widespread, simply because of its omnipresence. Ahead of municipal elections in Brazil next month, Google has received requests in more than 20 states to remove videos that allegedly violate those restrictions.
benton.org/node/135719 | Associated Press
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