February 2013

OWNERSHIP

MMTC CALLS FOR MEDIA OWNERSHIP DELAY
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Harry Jessell]
In a move that could further delay action on the Federal Communications Commission's long-running ownership reform proceeding, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council asked the agency to postpone a vote until the MMTC can conduct a study on what impact relaxing of some crossownership rules would have on minority and women ownership. The MMTC, headed by David Honig, said the study will be aimed at determining "whether the presence of grandfathered newspaper-broadcast and radio-TV ownership operations materially harms minority and women-owned stations, taking into consideration the experiences of other stations in the same markets." The request was made in a letter to the FCC. The MMTC said it has hired BIA/Kelsey to conduct the study and promised to deliver it to the FCC within two months in the hope that the agency would ask for a round of public comments on it — a process that could take another month or so.
"The National Association of Broadcasters reviewed MMTC's letter and agrees that there is potential merit in additional data-gathering regarding minority ownership," said Jane Mago, executive VP and general counsel, NAB, in a letter to the FCC. "Accordingly, NAB does not oppose MMTC's suggestion that the Commission defer action in the above-referenced proceedings pending its review of the results of MMTC's study."
benton.org/node/146422 | TVNewsCheck | Broadcasting&Cable
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FCC TO DELAY MEDIA OWNERSHIP DECISION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski]
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council informed the Federal Communications Commission that it will conduct a focused, independent study on the effects of cross-ownership rules on minority ownership and newsgathering, in order to enhance the record in the FCC’s proceeding. The study is expected to take several weeks and will be filed with the FCC, after which MMTC suggests that the agency solicit public input, to be followed by a FCC vote. In this heavily-litigated area where a strong record is particularly important, I believe this is a sensible approach to moving forward and resolving the issues raised in this proceeding. The study addresses an issue of importance, will augment the record, and will assist the FCC in resolving the issues before it on the full record. In addition, a broad coalition of stakeholders has asked the FCC to clarify that foreign investment above 25 percent in broadcast stations could be in the public interest in particular cases. Today, the FCC’s Media Bureau is issuing a Public Notice seeking comment on this issue.
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said, “Although I firmly believe that the record regarding the Commission’s newspaper/broadcast and radio/television cross-ownership policies more than sufficiently justifies the immediate elimination of these outdated rules, I respect adhering to a prudent process that allows for the submission of the proposed Minority Media and Telecommunications Council study, along with expedient but adequate public comment.”
Press Policy Director Matt Wood said, “We are glad the FCC is backing down from its rush to relax its media ownership rules. It’s about time the FCC admitted that it does not have the evidence to take this step. However, we have serious reservations about the proposed study's ability to meet the clear demands of the federal appeals court. The enthusiasm for these studies expressed by the broadcast lobby and its close allies gives us further pause. We are skeptical, to say the least, of a study to be conducted by an analyst that has previously endorsed the FCC’s weakening of its longstanding rules. We wouldn’t presume to judge any study before it is completed, but the work of researchers with long-standing ties to the broadcast industry is no substitute for independent, peer-reviewed research. Based on our understanding of this qualitative study's methodology, however, we have serious concerns about its ability to provide useful information. And even with considerable improvements to those methods, the study's designers would have to acknowledge that it cannot provide definitive information that would satisfy the Third Circuit's directives.”
benton.org/node/146479 | Federal Communications Commission | Commissioner McDowell | Free Press | The Hill | B&C | TVNewsCheck
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CONTENT

FACEBOOK CATALOG
[SOURCE: Technology Review, AUTHOR: Tom Simonite]
More than one billion people visit Facebook each month, mostly to see photos and messages posted by friends. Facebook hopes to encourage some of them to do a little work for it while they’re there. By asking people to contribute data—from business locations to book titles—and to check one another’s work, Facebook is building a rich stock of knowledge that could make its software smarter and boost the usefulness of its search engine. “We’re trying to map what the real world looks like onto Facebook so you can run really expressive and powerful queries,” says Mitu Singh, product manager for Facebook’s entities team.
benton.org/node/146484 | Technology Review
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CYBERSECURITY

DEVELOPING A FRAMWORKS TO IMPROVE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: National Institute of Standards and Technology, AUTHOR: Jean-Pierre Ple]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is conducting a comprehensive review to develop a framework to reduce cyber risks to critical infrastructure (the ‘‘Cybersecurity Framework’’ or ‘‘Framework’’). The Framework will consist of standards, methodologies, procedures, and processes that align policy, business, and technological approaches to address cyber risks. The Request for Information (RFI) requests information to help identify, refine, and guide the many interrelated considerations, challenges, and efforts needed to develop the Framework. In developing the Cybersecurity Framework, NIST will consult with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the National Security Agency, Sector-Specific Agencies and other interested agencies including the Office of Management and Budget, owners and operators of critical infrastructure, and other stakeholders including other relevant agencies, independent regulatory agencies, State, local, territorial and tribal governments. The Framework will be developed through an open public review and comment process that will include workshops and other opportunities to provide input.
Comments must be received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, April 8, 2013.
benton.org/node/146409 | National Institute of Standards and Technology
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PRIVACY

WHY DOES PRIVACY MATTER
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Jathan Sadowski]
Even though the practices of many companies such as Facebook are legal, there is something disconcerting about them. Privacy should have a deeper purpose than the one ascribed to it by those who treat it as a currency to be traded for innovation, which in many circumstances seems to actually mean corporate interests. To protect our privacy, we need a better understanding of its purpose and why it is valuable. That's where Georgetown University law professor Julie E. Cohen comes in. In a forthcoming article for the Harvard Law Review, she lays out a strong argument that addresses the titular concern "What Privacy Is For." Her approach is fresh. At bottom, Cohen's argument criticizes the dominant position held by theorists and legislators who treat privacy as just an instrument used to advance some other principle or value, such as liberty, inaccessibility, or control. Framed this way, privacy is relegated to one of many defenses we have from things like another person's prying eyes, or Facebook's recent attempts to ramp up its use of facial-recognition software and collect further data about us without our explicit consent. As long as the principle in question can be protected through some other method, or if privacy gets in the way of a different desirable goal like innovation, it is no longer useful and can be disregarded. Cohen doesn't think we should treat privacy as a dispensable instrument. To the contrary, she argues privacy is irreducible to a "fixed condition or attribute (such as seclusion or control) whose boundaries can be crisply delineated by the application of deductive logic. Privacy is shorthand for breathing room to engage in the process of ... self-development."
benton.org/node/146464 | Atlantic, The
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SEARCHING IPHONES
[SOURCE: American Civil Liberties Union, AUTHOR: Chris Soghoian]
Cell phone searches are a common law enforcement tool, but up until now, the public has largely been in the dark regarding how much sensitive information the government can get with this invasive surveillance technique. A document submitted to court in connection with a drug investigation, which we recently discovered, provides a rare inventory of the types of data that federal agents are able to obtain from a seized iPhone using advanced forensic analysis tools. The list, available here, starkly demonstrates just how invasive cell phone searches are—and why law enforcement should be required to obtain a warrant before conducting them. Last fall, officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized an iPhone from the bedroom of a suspect in a drug investigation. In a single data extraction session, ICE collected a huge array of personal data from the phone. Among other information, ICE obtained:
call activity
phone book directory information
stored voicemails and text messages
photos and videos
apps
eight different passwords
659 geolocation points, including 227 cell towers and 403 Wi-Fi networks with which the cell phone had previously connected.
benton.org/node/146461 | American Civil Liberties Union
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

CABLE, DATA CAPS AND VIDEO COMPETITION
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Benjamin Lennett]
[Commentary] At a January event, National Cable and Telecommunications Association president and former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell reportedly suggested that caps on cable broadband were not about managing congestion on their networks (as previously argued), but “fairly monetiz[ing] a high fixed cost.” Translation: We paid a lot of money to build these networks—digging up streets, putting in wires—and now we need to make that money back. The argument makes some intuitive sense. But those major investments were completed years ago to provide and upgrade cable television service, not broadband. Offering high-speed Internet service required substantially less capital investment for most cable companies. Powell further suggested that capped plans and usage-based pricing could be helpful to increase broadband access by making available lower-cost options for those subscribers who use less data. That’s good marketing, but in reality, a shift to usage-based pricing is not an act of charity by the cable industry. Large cable companies like Time Warner Cable and Comcast already make “almost comically profitable” margins on broadband service. How do you improve on 97 percent? A 2011 report from the Cisco Internet Business Solutions group suggested, “Usage based pricing can be a tool to catalyze new revenue.”
benton.org/node/146412 | Slate
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MARMET, WEST VIRGINIA
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Marmet, West Virginia is a town of 1,500 people living in a thin ribbon along the banks of the Kanawha River just below Charleston. The town's public library is only open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. It's housed in a small building the size of a trailer, which the state of West Virginia describes as an "extremely small facility with only one Internet connection." Which is why it's such a surprise to learn the Marmet Public Library runs this connection through a $15,000 to $20,000 Cisco 3945 router intended for "mid-size to large deployments," according to Cisco. In an absolutely scathing report just released by the state's legislative auditor, West Virginia officials are accused of overspending at least $5 million of federal money on such routers, installed indiscriminately in both large institutions and one-room libraries across the state. The routers were purchased without ever asking the state's libraries, cops, and schools what they needed. And when distributed, the expensive routers were passed out without much apparent care. The small town of Clay received seven of them to serve a total population of 491 people... and all seven routers were installed within only .44 miles of each other at a total cost of more than $100,000.
benton.org/node/146420 | Ars Technica
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FREE INTERNET
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Peter Osnos]
[Commentary] The mantra of a "free" Internet has shaped the prevailing view of how we access information and entertainment in the digital age. This enduring myth is actually a misnomer. It continues to obscure a serious problem faced by significant sectors of society unable to take full advantage of the Internet or meet the high price of cable and cellular phone systems that are at the core of today's personal technology. Yes, it is certainly the case that the devices that connect us to search engines, countless websites, social media, and e-mail bring us vast amounts of content for which we do not pay separately. But access to this "free" information on the Internet, as everyone acknowledges as soon as it is pointed out, is not gratis. Monthly charges for broadband Internet service, plus cable television fees and smartphone bills that together comprise the range of household pleasures and obligations as well as work-related communication that are so embedded in our lives amount to hefty sums. The leading beneficiaries of all these charges are the big multi-platform companies, the pipes for content and digital services -- among others, Comcast, Time-Warner, and Optimum, as well as the telecoms, Verizon and AT&T. With postal delivery in permanent decline and the inexorable shift to online management of family and business finances, the role of the broadband Internet is reaching a stage where anything less than total availability at minimal prices is a matter that deserves far more attention than it is currently getting. "Free" or virtually free and universal Internet has actually become indispensable, while access to high-speed service in the United States compares poorly to that in many other countries.
benton.org/node/146463 | Atlantic, The
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NJ OKs ONLINE GAMBLING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Alexandra Berzon]
New Jersey became the biggest state yet to allow regulated online gambling, establishing a template that proponents hope other states will follow for a business that federal authorities long treated as a criminal enterprise. The new law allows Atlantic City's casinos to run websites that take bets on games such as blackjack, slots and poker. It also could help legitimize online-gambling companies whose executives the U.S. Justice Department once targeted for offering the same kind of Internet wagers. The law, passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), for now requires bettors to be physically present in the state, which industry executives and regulators believe can be verified with technology that tracks a user's location. But bets could conceivably be placed from any device with an Internet connection. New Jersey's move marks a significant turning point in the debate over online gambling in the U.S., which has been raging for more than a decade. But while it could encourage similar measures in other states, big hurdles remain to widespread acceptance of such gambling.
benton.org/node/146494 | Wall Street Journal | AP
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

LOCATION, LOCATION AND PERSONALIZATION
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Barb Darrow]
President Barack Obama was inaugurated a scant few weeks ago but it’s never too early to think about the next election cycle. Tech teams for the 2016 campaign will need to hone in on location-based applications and finely tuned personalization, said Michael Slaby, former CIO for Obama for America. According to Slaby, the team’s the initial 2008 effort was all about putting social networking on par with other messaging and communication. “We didn’t just stick it in the corner with a blog, it was a meaningful way to think about solving organizational problems,” Slaby told attendees of a Salesforce.com event in New York City. “In 2008 we were just trying to stay alive – [there was] an election every two weeks for months and months” he said. That didn’t leave a ton of time for strategizing or even staffing up. “We didn’t really hire engineers,” Slaby said during a panel discussion led by former U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra, who is now Salesforce.com’s executive vice president for emerging markets.
benton.org/node/146468 | GigaOm
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MICROTARGETING IN POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Hayley Tsukayama]
Data played a big role in last year’s presidential campaign, whether it was used to evaluate how likely a person was to vote for a particular candidate based on his or her Facebook profile, or to project which states would go for which candidate. But there was almost no component of a campaign that was as affected by changing tech as political advertising. Microtargeting — or narrowly focused online advertising — is a growing component of political campaigns, according to a white paper published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The IAB estimates that microtargeted ads accounted for between $130 million and $200 million in ad spending during the 2012 presidential election. The findings also back up what’s become a familiar post-election narrative: that President Obama’s campaign was better at using and deploying high-tech tactics than the campaign of GOP challenger Mitt Romney.
benton.org/node/146427 | Washington Post
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TELEVISION

CABLEVISION SUIT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Kafka]
Pay television has a simple model: If you want to watch one channel, you have to pay for dozens — or hundreds — of others, whether you watch them or not. That model drives lots of consumers nuts, but it has looked very, very hard to dislodge. Now one cable provider says it will try to break up the bundle: Cablevision has sued Viacom for “illegally forcing Cablevision to carry and pay for 14 lesser-watched ancillary networks its customers do not want.” On the face of it, Cablevision is directly attacking the core bundling principle the industry has used for years, and continues to implement as pay-TV providers and programmers sign new, long-term deals. It is accusing Viacom of an “illegal tying arrangement in violation of the federal antitrust laws,” and if it is successful, the repercussions could be widespread and significant. But note that the conventional wisdom in the pay-TV industry is that “tying” rules aren’t applicable to cable bundles — people have tried repeatedly to break the bundle using the courts and failed.
benton.org/node/146428 | Wall Street Journal | Multichannel News
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VIOLENCE AND MEDIA

ADAMS TO TESTIFY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Former-Rep Sandy Adams (R-FL) plans to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee it should be looking at violent media -- video games, movies -- and mental health rather than looking to limit gun or ammunition ownership. That is according to a copy of prepared testimony for the committee's Feb. 27 hearing on the proposed assault weapons ban. Adams is not testifying for any group, but instead identifies herself as a "mother, sheriff's deputy and former legislator." She is strongly opposed to gun control, according to the testimony. "It is not time for feel good legislation so you can say you did something; it is time for a true discussion about the culture of violence and how to prevent violent crime," she plans to tell Congress "I believe the combination of violent video games to [sic] violent movies, the desensitizing of death, blood and gore in their everyday lives is only making the culture more violent," she says. "Taking guns from law-abiding citizens while leaving them defenseless against violent criminals, who by their very definition do not abide by the law is not the answer and it is definitely not the right thing to do."
benton.org/node/146487 | Broadcasting&Cable
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

SCOTUS BLOCKS WIRETAP CHALLENGE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The Supreme Court blocked a lawsuit challenging the federal government's monitoring of international phone calls and e-mails. In a 5-4 decision that split along ideological lines, the court ruled that activists, journalists and lawyers represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) could not prove that they were harmed by the wiretapping program. "Simply put, respondents can only speculate as to how the attorney general and the director of national intelligence will exercise their discretion in determining which communications to target," Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority, agreeing with the Obama Administration's position that the challengers lacked the legal standing to sue. The decision in Clapper v. Amnesty International did not address the constitutionality of the warrantless wiretapping program, which Congress authorized in 2008 as an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
benton.org/node/146425 | Hill, The | CNN
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

EU 5G AGENDA
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: David Meyer]
Europe’s digital chief, Neelie Kroes, wants to fix the European Union mobile industry. Still stung by the loss of her funding for ensuring the roll-out of high-speed fixed broadband across the EU, she wants mobile to take up the slack, and to that end she has thrown €50 million ($65 million) at 5G research and urged member states to get their act together regarding wireless spectrum. Kroes has a 2020 goal for the “delivery” of 5G. That seems like a tall order, although the proliferation of IP-connected sensors in the internet of things may well necessitate a shift to even more efficient technologies than 4G. “Rolling out today’s networks is important,” she said. “But what comes after? For the next global standard, and the next generation of technology, will Europe lead the world, or merely follow?”
benton.org/node/146408 | GigaOm
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February 2013

New Nominees for CPB Board

Home work: Telecommuting patterns around the US

Copyright Alert System: What Users Need To Know

The New Ed-Tech Leader Models by Digital Example

Ford reiterates opposition to embedded wireless

February 27, 2013 (FCC to Delay Media Ownership Decision)

An Eerie Silence on Cybersecurity

Obama cybersecurity chief warns further regulations may be required

Report: Stuxnet cyberweapon older than believed