December 2012

FCC Commissioner Pai: Court Victory Could Embolden FCC Toward 'More' Internet Regulations

Speaking at the Phoenix Center, Federal Communications Commission member Ajit Pai said if a federal appeals court upholds the FCC's network neutrality rules, he expects the Democrat-led commission to expand regulation of the Internet, including into the mobile wireless space and usage-based pricing. Commissioner Pai said the biggest action on the telecom front would likely be that court decision, rather than actions out of the commission or Congress, though he suggested an FCC defeat was more likely. While Commissioner Pai said the FCC has received few network neutrality complaints, and has "done little" with any that have been filed, that could change with a court victory.

Community Network Leads North Carolina to Fast Internet Future

Following the collapse of key industries, a town of 50,000 in eastern North Carolina had to make a hard choice. It wanted to support existing businesses and attract new ones but the cable and telephone companies were not interested in upgrading their networks for cutting edge capacity. So Wilson decided to build its own fiber optic network, now one of the fastest in the nation, earning praise from local businesses that have a new edge over competitors in the digital economy. In response, Time Warner Cable lowered its prices and modestly boosted available Internet speeds, contributing to the $1 million saved by the community each year. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Common Cause have just released a case study of how and why Wilson built Greenlight, a citywide next-generation fiber-to-the-home network that set the standard for connectivity in North Carolina.

Senators warn FCC not to relax media ownership rules

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) blasted a Federal Communications Commission proposal to relax media ownership restrictions at a press conference.

"We cannot live in a vibrant democracy unless people get divergent sources of information," Sen Sanders said. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski circulated a proposal with his fellow commissioners last month that would relax regulations that prohibit a single company from owning a TV broadcast station and a newspaper in the same market. The order would eliminate bans on newspaper-radio and TV-radio cross-ownership. "I intend to do everything I can to prevent this proposal from going forward," Sen Sanders said. Sen Cantwell said the proposal would "strengthen media consolidation and strip newspapers and TV and radio stations of diverse voices." She threatened that if the FCC moves ahead with the planned changes, Congress could pass a resolution of disapproval, which would repeal the order. Sens Sanders and Cantwell both expressed concern that the move would reduce the few number of women and minorities who own media outlets.

Sen Bernie Sanders on Why Big Media Shouldn’t Get Bigger

In 1983, 50 corporations controlled a majority of American media. Now that number is six. And Big Media may get even bigger, thanks to the FCC’s consideration of ending a rule preventing companies from owning a newspaper and radio and TV stations in the same city. On this week’s Moyers & Company, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), one of several Senators who have written FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski asking him to suspend the plan, joins Bill to discuss why Big Media is a threat to democracy and what citizens can do to fight back.

Former FCC Commissioner: Big Media Dumbs Down Democracy

A Q&A with former Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps.

This week, Moyers is focusing on the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to relax the rules that prevent one company from owning radio stations, television stations and newspapers all in the same city — a move activists say would hurt diversity and be a boon for the Rupert Murdochs of the world. It’s déjà vu for Michael Copps, who served on the commission from 2001-2011 and was acting chairman from January to June 2009 — a tenure marked by his concern for diversity and opposition to media consolidation. Copps is now the senior advisor for media and democracy reform at Common Cause. He stopped by our office to share his concerns about the FCC’s latest proposal.

The FCC Must Not Give Rupert Murdoch More Control Over US Media

[Commentary] Rupert Murdoch is not the first media mogul to stand accused of plotting a presidential campaign for a favored contender. But the revelations regarding his network come at a particularly inconvenient moment, as Murdoch is seeking federal rule changes that would allow him to become a dramatically more definitional figure in American politics.

The Federal Communications Commission is currently considering a radical restructuring of media ownership rules that would benefit Murdoch. From its founding, the FCC has been charged with preventing media conglomerates from dominating local and national media in a manner that would allow an individual owner to define the discourse. Now, because Murdoch wants to buy major daily newspapers in communities where his News Corp combine already owns local television stations, he proposes to tear up the old rules. Murdoch wants FCC chairman Julius Genachowski and his fellow commissioners to ease limits on what is referred to as “media cross-ownership” in the nation’s largest cities. If that happens, the nation’s media reform network, Free Press, warns that the move will “pave the way for Murdoch—and like-minded media moguls—to own the daily newspaper, two TV stations and up to eight radio stations in the same market.”

Ex-White House Official Aims to Get ‘Do Not Track’ Back on Track

Few can accuse Peter Swire of backing away from a challenge.

The Ohio State law professor has agreed to take on a job that might be as hard as trying to mediate the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys. Swire was picked last week to take over as cochairman of a working group created last year by the World Wide Web Consortium to come up with a standard for responding to consumers online tracking choices. He was tapped after Aleecia McDonald, director of privacy at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, stepped down from the post. Privacy advocates and the Federal Trade Commission have championed the idea of providing consumers with a way to opt out of being followed as they surf the Web. Advertisers and others use tracking information to help target ads to consumers based on their interests. Swire, who will cochair the do-not-track working group along with Intel’s Matthias Schunter, has a long record of experience in following online-privacy issues. He served as privacy adviser to President Clinton and as a special assistant on President Obama’s National Economic Council from 2009-2010.

Despite this, he faces a tough task.

How the fiscal cliff affects IT

Since the election, the political news cycle has revolved around the impending "fiscal cliff," a perfect storm of tax increases and government spending cuts set to take effect on Jan. 2, 2013. Although the information technology industry may not have paid much attention, it's just as susceptible to the policy changes as the rest of the economy.

The policy changes range from the removal of tax provisions for small businesses to massive cuts in spending on federal programs. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that, if these policy changes are not altered by the turn of the year, the US economy could plunge back into recession in 2013, with real gross domestic product dropping by 0.5 percent and unemployment shooting back up to 9.1 percent. Network World spoke with Lamar Whitman, director of public advocacy for CompTIA, and Richard Davis, managing director covering enterprise software for investment bank Canaccord Genuity, about the specific tax and government spending changes that could have the most significant impact on IT companies, as well as how they could protect themselves.

Google grant will help computers detect gender balance and stereotyping in movies and TV

Google has funded plenty of research and humanitarian projects, and now it's putting some of its money towards figuring out how to automate sociological research. As part of its $23 million in new Global Impact Awards, Google announced $1.2 million in funding for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

The eight-year-old Institute takes a research-based approach towards increasing representation and decreasing stereotyping of women and girls in film and TV, building a massive database of how many female characters appear in scenes, how often they speak, and how often they are sexualized compared to men. As one might suspect, the results aren't great for women and girls — the Institute concludes that in family films, for example, there are about three male characters for every female one, and women are less likely overall to be shown working or even given a speaking role.

I Am Not Big Brother

[Commentary] Numerous avenues of listening, combined with the digital capacity to hold on to qualitative feedback, make campaigns aware of the differences among voters’ motivations, attitudes, protestations — not just their demographics and voting history.

In a nation of over 200 million eligible voters, technology is allowing campaigns to finally see through the fog of the crowd and engage voters one by one. In other words, there is no giant blue computer sitting on the 101st floor of a sleek skyscraper, surrounded by bubbling tubes of illuminated liquid, spitting out the manifest destiny of America’s voters. Campaigns are moving away from the meaningless labels of pollsters and newsweeklies — “NASCAR dads” and “waitress moms” — and moving toward treating each voter as a separate person. In 2012 you didn’t just have to be an African-American from Akron or a suburban married female age 45 to 54. More and more, the information age allows people to be complicated, contradictory and unique. New technologies and an abundance of data may rattle the senses, but they are also bringing a fresh appreciation of the value of the individual to American politics.

Benton

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