November 2012

Headlines will return Monday, November 26

Headlines is taking a long Thanksgiving break. We did not get a chance to see Friday’s papers, but below please find all of Thursday’s news after our last posting. We will return MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

November 16, 2012 (Digital Rights Group Slams Verizon's Anti-Neutrality Argument)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2012

Dark Money, Media and the 2012 Campaign http://benton.org/calendar/2012-11-16/

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Digital Rights Group Slams Verizon's Anti-Neutrality Argument
   Senate approves reauthorization of Safe Web Act
   America’s Dangerous Tech Gap - op-ed
   Sen McConnell says he hopes cybersecurity legislation comes up again next month [links to web]
   FCC’s Genachowski: Cybersecurity Should Not Be Part of ITU Treaties [links to web]
   Seven Cybersecurity Predictions for 2013 [links to web]
   Less Store Traffic As Black Friday Shifts To Cyberspace [links to web]

OWNERSHIP
   Senate Republicans fire warning shot at FTC as Google decision looms
   Sources: Chairman Proposes Making Some JSAs Attributable
   MetroPCS Due to Dial Up the Details on T-Mobile Deal
   Vodafone CEO Won’t Rule Out Disposal of Verizon Wireless [links to web]
   Selling the Dodgers will end up costing News Corp a lot [links to web]

PRIVACY
Senate Judiciary Committee to vote on email privacy bill
Advocates Hope Petraeus Scandal Will Spur Action on ECPA [links to web]

CONTENT
You Google Wrong [links to web]

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
One Simple Trick Could Disable a City’s 4G Phone Network [links to web]

TELEVISION
New Standard Makes TV Portable, Ubiquitous [links to web]

HEALTH
Meaningful Use helps drive interoperability, standards could also help [links to web]
US doctors gain ground on health IT, but other countries lead [links to web]

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
NY Public Safety Systems Remained at 100% During Sandy [links to web]
Cablevision Subscribers Sue Over Hurricane Sandy Outages [links to web]

LABOR
The ‘Silent Crisis’ in Science and Technology Recruiting [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   Rep Walden to Chair NRCC [links to web]
   The Internet Association's Michael Beckerman [links to web]
   What's next for Obama campaign's tech wiz Reed [links to web]

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

BRIEFS IN VERIZON/NETWORK NEUTRALITY CASE
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wendy Davis]
Verizon's claim that open Internet/network neutrality rules violate its free speech rights is "exactly backwards," a coalition of law professors and digital rights group Center for Democracy & Technology argue in court papers filed on November 15. The Federal Communications Commission rules ban all broadband providers -- wireline as well as wireless -- from blocking sites or competing applications. The regulations, which took effect last year, also prohibit wireline providers from engaging in unreasonable discrimination. Verizon is arguing to the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit that the rules should be vacated for several reasons, including that they violate the First Amendment by requiring it to transmit other companies' speech. The First Amendment generally prohibits the government from either censoring speech or forcing people to say something. But the advocates say in a friend-of-the-court brief that Verizon's argument misses the point. They say that neutrality rules don't infringe speech because the rules only apply when the company is acting as an intermediary for other parties' communications — not when the company speaks on its own behalf. The advocates add that the neutrality rules are similar to the common carrier rules that have long applied to telephone companies. "The rules do not restrict or compel anyone’s speech but instead protect everyone’s speech by requiring that it be transmitted without interference," the brief says.
benton.org/node/139604 | MediaPost | CDT brief | Internet Engineers and technologists Brief | Tim Wu brief | Open Internet Coalition brief | NATOA brief
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SAFE WEB ACT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
The Senate voted in favor of a House bill aimed at expanding the powers the Federal Trade Commission has to clamp down on Internet fraud and online scammers. The Safe Web Act enables the FTC to share information about cross-border fraud with foreign law enforcement authorities and expands the type of fraud that the agency can take legal action against. The bill was first passed in 2006 and the reauthorized version is now headed to the president's desk to be signed into law. Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), the lead co-sponsor of the bill, said the measure will help protect Americans from online scammers and maintain a healthy market for e-commerce.
benton.org/node/139603 | Hill, The
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THE TECH GAP
[SOURCE: Daily Beast, AUTHOR: Chelsea Clinton]
[Commentary] Technology is not a panacea for closing the achievement gaps within the U.S. or between the U.S. and other countries. We know there is no substitute for a great teacher. We know that children who attended prekindergarten are more likely to be productively employed at 25. But we also know that technology has to be part of any answer to preparing U.S. students for the jobs of the 21st century. There are programs across the country that are starting to show real results, like in Mooresville, N.C., where giving a laptop to every child increases concentration in school, grades, and test scores. We need to learn from what is working and incentivize other districts to adopt what works. We also need to keep experimenting with technology and support bold ideas, something the Gates Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top are already doing. Finally, we have to make the necessary investments to close the digital divide that has persisted now for a generation—we need more laptops, universal high speed Internet access in schools, longer school-open hours to shrink the digital divide kids face during the hours and days they’re not in school and training for teachers so that they understand how best to use technology—and so they’re as fluent in tech speak as their students. We have to tackle all aspects of our digital divide or we risk failing more students and falling further behind in the global race to the top
benton.org/node/139600 | Daily Beast
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OWNERSHIP

SENATE GOP MESSAGE TO FTC
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Ten Republican senators led by Jim DeMint (R-SC) warned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) not to stretch its regulatory powers. The letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz does not explicitly mention Google, but amounts to a clear warning to tread carefully as the agency considers whether to sue the Web giant over alleged antitrust violations. "In the interest of providing more regulatory certainty for American consumers and job creators, we urge the Federal Trade Commission to act with humility and restrain itself to activities for which it has clear legal authority," the senators wrote. In addition to Sen DeMint, the letter was signed by GOP Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), John Thune (R-ND), John Cornyn (R-TX), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Boozman (R-AR), Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL). The Republican senators said they take no position on any pending cases, but they said they are "concerned about the apparent eagerness of the Commission under your leadership to expand Section 5 actions without a clear indication of authority or a limiting principle." "When a federal regulatory agency uses creative theories to expand its activities, entrepreneurs may be deterred from innovating and growing lest they be targeted by government action," they wrote. They said they are especially concerned that overreaching regulation could stifle growth in the vibrant technology sector. "We hope the Commission considers the consequences of hampering legitimate business model innovations and market activities of companies under an aimless, expansive, and possibly unauthorized use of the Commission's powers," they wrote. "We support innovation and believe economic expansion will follow if the government acts with humility rather than experimentation."
benton.org/node/139602 | Hill, The
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JOINT SALES AGREEMENTS AND MEDIA OWNERSHIP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Apparently, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski wants at least some same-market joint sales agreements (JSAs) between TV stations -- likely ones that meet some minimum threshold of sales -- to count toward local ownership caps for the stations providing those services. Multiple sources confirmed that attribution for "certain JSAs" was part of the quadrennial review order circulated by Chairman Genachowski among the other commissioners for a vote, though those sources had not done a deep dive into the details. The FCC in 2003 voted to make radio JSAs attributable, but did not extend that to TV. The following year, it tentatively concluded that it should. In releasing its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the quadrennial review in December of last year, the FCC again asked whether it was time to extend it to TV, but said it had reached no conclusion. Even some opponents of adding TV JSAs to the attribution roster have wondered why the FCC hadn't dropped that other shoe before now.
benton.org/node/139597 | Broadcasting&Cable
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METROPCS PLANS DUE AT SEC
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Thomas Gryta]
MetroPCS is expected to file a proxy on its sale to Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA to the Securities and Exchange Commission in coming days. The document should include the financial projections of the combined company as well as background about the deal, including MetroPCS’s interactions with other companies prior to the agreement. The background section “includes everything that we’ve been working on for the last year and a half,” MetroPCS’s Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter said. “I think it will be a fascinating read for a lot of people.” Don’t expect the company to name names on other possible partners. (More typical are references to the likes of “company A, company B.”) But a guessing game could ensue on who is behind various references.
benton.org/node/139573 | Wall Street Journal
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PRIVACY

SENATE JUDICIARY TO MARKUP ECPA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a markup on Nov. 29 of legislation that would require police to obtain a warrant before reading people's emails, Facebook messages or other forms of electronic communication. Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) added the warrant requirement to H.R. 2471, a House bill that would loosen video privacy regulations. Chairman Leahy argues that the warrant requirement is necessary to ensure that federal privacy laws keep pace with advances in technology. Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, police only need an administrative subpoena, issued without a judge's approval, to read emails that have been opened or that are more than 180 days old. Police simply swear an email is relevant to an investigation, and then obtain a subpoena to force an Internet company to turn it over. When lawmakers passed the ECPA more than 25 years ago, they failed to anticipate that email providers would offer massive online storage. They assumed that if a person hadn't downloaded and deleted an email within six months, it could be considered abandoned and wouldn't require strict privacy protections. Civil liberties groups say ECPA is woefully out of date in an era when deleting emails is no longer necessary.
benton.org/node/139571 | Hill, The
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Digital Rights Group Slams Verizon's Anti-Neutrality Argument

Verizon's claim that open Internet/network neutrality rules violate its free speech rights is "exactly backwards," a coalition of law professors and digital rights group Center for Democracy & Technology argue in court papers filed on November 15.

The Federal Communications Commission rules ban all broadband providers -- wireline as well as wireless -- from blocking sites or competing applications. The regulations, which took effect last year, also prohibit wireline providers from engaging in unreasonable discrimination. Verizon is arguing to the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit that the rules should be vacated for several reasons, including that they violate the First Amendment by requiring it to transmit other companies' speech. The First Amendment generally prohibits the government from either censoring speech or forcing people to say something. But the advocates say in a friend-of-the-court brief that Verizon's argument misses the point. They say that neutrality rules don't infringe speech because the rules only apply when the company is acting as an intermediary for other parties' communications — not when the company speaks on its own behalf. The advocates add that the neutrality rules are similar to the common carrier rules that have long applied to telephone companies. "The rules do not restrict or compel anyone’s speech but instead protect everyone’s speech by requiring that it be transmitted without interference," the brief says.

Senate approves reauthorization of Safe Web Act

The Senate voted in favor of a House bill aimed at expanding the powers the Federal Trade Commission has to clamp down on Internet fraud and online scammers.

The Safe Web Act enables the FTC to share information about cross-border fraud with foreign law enforcement authorities and expands the type of fraud that the agency can take legal action against. The bill was first passed in 2006 and the reauthorized version is now headed to the president's desk to be signed into law. Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), the lead co-sponsor of the bill, said the measure will help protect Americans from online scammers and maintain a healthy market for e-commerce.

Senate Republicans fire warning shot at FTC as Google decision looms

Ten Republican senators led by Jim DeMint (R-SC) warned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) not to stretch its regulatory powers. The letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz does not explicitly mention Google, but amounts to a clear warning to tread carefully as the agency considers whether to sue the Web giant over alleged antitrust violations.

"In the interest of providing more regulatory certainty for American consumers and job creators, we urge the Federal Trade Commission to act with humility and restrain itself to activities for which it has clear legal authority," the senators wrote. In addition to Sen DeMint, the letter was signed by GOP Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), John Thune (R-ND), John Cornyn (R-TX), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Boozman (R-AR), Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL). The Republican senators said they take no position on any pending cases, but they said they are "concerned about the apparent eagerness of the Commission under your leadership to expand Section 5 actions without a clear indication of authority or a limiting principle." "When a federal regulatory agency uses creative theories to expand its activities, entrepreneurs may be deterred from innovating and growing lest they be targeted by government action," they wrote. They said they are especially concerned that overreaching regulation could stifle growth in the vibrant technology sector. "We hope the Commission considers the consequences of hampering legitimate business model innovations and market activities of companies under an aimless, expansive, and possibly unauthorized use of the Commission's powers," they wrote. "We support innovation and believe economic expansion will follow if the government acts with humility rather than experimentation."

The ‘Silent Crisis’ in Science and Technology Recruiting

The National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council released a report that recommended the Defense Department overhaul its recruiting and hiring practices in order to effectively compete for critical workers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. While that report put more emphasis on the quality of STEM candidates, a new report released by the American Council for Technology and the Industry Advisory Council’s Institute for Innovation focuses on the challenges federal agencies and industry face on the front end -- the quantity of STEM candidates.

While scientific innovation produces roughly half of all U.S. economic growth, the educational pipeline necessary to fill STEM jobs and make that economic growth possible is not readily up to task, the report noted. For example, the United States ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in mathematics based on an international assessment of 15-year-olds in 70 countries. Inadequate early education is the start to this negative trend, as many students never make it into the STEM pipeline. In addition, jobs in STEM fields are increasing three times faster than jobs in the rest of the economy, yet American students are not entering these fields in sufficient numbers. That means that by 2018, the nation faces a projected shortfall of 230,000 qualified advanced-degree STEM workers, a problem that is compounded by the large number of Baby Boomer retirements, ACT-IAC found.

America’s Dangerous Tech Gap

[Commentary] Technology is not a panacea for closing the achievement gaps within the U.S. or between the U.S. and other countries. We know there is no substitute for a great teacher. We know that children who attended prekindergarten are more likely to be productively employed at 25. But we also know that technology has to be part of any answer to preparing U.S. students for the jobs of the 21st century.

There are programs across the country that are starting to show real results, like in Mooresville, N.C., where giving a laptop to every child increases concentration in school, grades, and test scores. We need to learn from what is working and incentivize other districts to adopt what works. We also need to keep experimenting with technology and support bold ideas, something the Gates Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top are already doing. Finally, we have to make the necessary investments to close the digital divide that has persisted now for a generation—we need more laptops, universal high speed Internet access in schools, longer school-open hours to shrink the digital divide kids face during the hours and days they’re not in school and training for teachers so that they understand how best to use technology—and so they’re as fluent in tech speak as their students. We have to tackle all aspects of our digital divide or we risk failing more students and falling further behind in the global race to the top

Cablevision Subscribers Sue Over Hurricane Sandy Outages

Even as workers scramble to clean up the mess that Hurricane Sandy left in the Northeast two weeks ago, a legal mess is beginning to spill into the court system. Cablevision subscribers Jeffery and Irwin Bard filed a class-action lawsuit against the cable provider in New York Supreme Court this week, seeking restitution for television, telephone and internet outages caused by Sandy, according to court papers.

The suit, which alleges breach of contract and unjust enrichment, claims that Cablevision "continued to advertise falsely that it was providing services to its customers" even after the storm caused outages for its customers, and "could not restore services to many of its customers for days, or even weeks." Moreover, according to the complaint, Cablevision continued to issue bills for services it was unable to provide in the aftermath of the storm, and "instituted a secretive policy to offer 'customer credits’ only to customers who affirmatively and actively demanded rebates on a discretionary basis," rather than offer across-the-board rebates to its customers, even though it had access to which customers had lost power and for how long.

NY Public Safety Systems Remained at 100% During Sandy

Despite the destructive power demonstrated by Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast, public safety systems in New York City remained operable for the entire incident.

While a reported 25 percent of commercial cellular networks went down and many citizens lost cellphone reception, that was not the case for public safety systems. "Both the police and fire systems stayed up 100 percent of the time," NYPD Deputy Chief Charles Dowd told Urgent Communications. "We lost a couple of receiver sites temporarily, but those were receiver sites mixed with another receiver site, so there was no degradation in the system. We did not lose a single frequency on the police or fire side the entire time.” Whether through the use of backup generators to keep equipment running, or through a dedicated staff that managed a high volume of work, New York managed to keep things running, Dowd said.

Sources: Chairman Proposes Making Some JSAs Attributable

Apparently, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski wants at least some same-market joint sales agreements (JSAs) between TV stations -- likely ones that meet some minimum threshold of sales -- to count toward local ownership caps for the stations providing those services. Multiple sources confirmed that attribution for "certain JSAs" was part of the quadrennial review order circulated by Chairman Genachowski among the other commissioners for a vote, though those sources had not done a deep dive into the details. The FCC in 2003 voted to make radio JSAs attributable, but did not extend that to TV. The following year, it tentatively concluded that it should. In releasing its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the quadrennial review in December of last year, the FCC again asked whether it was time to extend it to TV, but said it had reached no conclusion. Even some opponents of adding TV JSAs to the attribution roster have wondered why the FCC hadn't dropped that other shoe before now.

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