February 6, 2013 (Digital Learning Day)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
Happy Digital Learning Day – and the FCC discusses Network Resiliency in Brooklyn http://benton.org/calendar/2013-02-06/
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Recap -- Fighting for Internet Freedom: Dubai and Beyond
Chairman Walden proposes Internet freedom bill
Keeping the Internet free from government shackles - op-ed
When Will the Rest of Us Get Google Fiber? [links to web]
Gigabit Squared renews interest in Champaign-Urbana (IL) [links to web]
Rep Ruppersberger: House Intelligence Committee to re-introduce CISPA this year [links to web]
WIRELESS
Wi-Fi Offload Set to Skyrocket, Fueled by Mobile Data Surge [links to web]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
FCC Revisits Communications Failures After Hurricane Sandy
CONTENT
Coming and Going on Facebook - research
Amazon wins broad patent to create marketplace for used digital content
Google wins landmark Australian legal case
Lawmakers pledge to change hacking law during Swartz memorial [links to web]
Congress' horse-and-buggy computer laws - analysis [links to web]
TELEVISION
FCC Releases Update of Methodology for Repacking TV Stations [links to web]
CBS executive reports little backlash from Joe Flacco's swearing [links to web]
“House of Cards” and the Decline of Cable - op-ed [links to web]
Costs at ESPN Depress Disney Profits [links to web]
CBS Bans SodaStream Ad. Where's The Outrage? [links to web]
JOURNALISM
Why Does the Media Go Easy on Barack Obama? - analysis
Washington Post Story Demonstrates the Perils of Understanding Wi-Fi Developments Through Mainstream Newspapers - editorial [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Why it's up to media firms to get more creative - op-ed
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
When The People Speak Is Anyone Listening? [links to web]
Announcing We the People 2.0 and a White House Hackathon - press release [links to web]
Open Government Data Spurs Entrepreneurship and Jobs - press release [links to web]
President's Chief Technology Officer announces new round of Innovation program [links to web]
Senate lobbying data revamp causing problems for data watchdogs [links to web]
What Government Can Learn from “House of Cards” - analysis [links to web]
GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
FCC’s Annual Performance Report - press release
FCC Seeks Public Comment in 2012 Biennial Review of Telecommunications Regulations - public notice [links to web]
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Reforming the FCC's Processes for Digital Age Effectiveness and Efficiency - research
POLICYMAKERS
Susan Crawford for FCC chairman - op-ed
Steve Chu says goodbye to the Department of Energy [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Liberty Global to Acquire Virgin Media [links to web]
Twitter Buys Company That Mines Chatter About TV [links to web]
Sprint discussed deals with 4 other companies before picking Softbank [links to web]
FairPoint to use $2.8 million penalty to fund more NH broadband [links to web]
CenturyLink is in a race against time and technology [links to web]
Rupert Murdoch to spend billions on video rights [links to web]
Apple to Highlight Self-Published Books [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Obama Is Now America's Hacker in Chief - analysis [links to web]
Researchers warn of cyber flaws in Honeywell control systems [links to web]
Tech jobs account for up to 14 percent of hiring in January [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
INTERNET FREEDOM HEARING RECAP
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
Three House Committees held a joint hearing* to review the ramifications of a treaty signed by 89 nations at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT). House Commerce Committee staff described the action as “likely the start, not the end, of efforts to subject the Internet to international regulation.” The hearing examined what happened at the conference, what implications the treaty has for the Internet and the economic and social freedoms it fosters, and what steps can be taken to redouble international support for the multi-stakeholder model in which non-governmental institutions recommend best practices with input from the public and private sector. The hearing also examined legislation making it the policy of the United States to promote a global Internet free from government control.
House Republicans and Democrats spoke with one voice about the threats to global Internet freedom coming out WCIT. Legislator after legislator took to the microphone to praise the U.S.'s stand against the Internet language and ask what could be done to repel future attempts at government encroachment into Internet policy, which everyone agreed would continue. One answer stressed the importance of giving developing companies more support in the form of money, education and infrastructure so they do not turn to authoritarian regimes like Russia and China for help.
Ambassador David Gross, who was a member of the U.S. WCIT delegation, made a pitch for continued engagement with the ITU. While he was in total agreement that the language in the treaty made it unacceptable, he said remained extraordinarily important, both in terms of spectrum policy and as a way to do outreach to the developing world.
Dr. Bitange Ndemo, who led the Kenyan delegation to the Dubai conference, stood with the U.S. in opposing Internet-related language that made it impossible for the U.S. delegation to sign on to the treaty. Dr Ndemo said many of the countries that did sign on had been coerced.
Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell testified that the US should intensify efforts to prevent governments from exerting control over the Internet after a United Nations conference increased countries’ ability to regulate Web traffic. Supporters of international control of the Internet are “patient and persistent incrementalists who will never relent until their ends are achieved,” he said. "In short, the U.S. experienced a rude awakening regarding the stark reality of the situation," he said. "[W]hen push comes to shove, even countries that purport to cherish Internet freedom are willing to surrender. Our experience in Dubai is a chilling foreshadow of how international Internet regulatory policy could expand at an accelerating pace."
The takeaway from the hearing was that there were continued threats that required constant vigilance, and that one way to win hearts and minds would be to help the developing world. That would include not only infrastructure, said Sally Shipman Wentworth of The Internet Society, but also education, so that homegrown engineers would understand the stakes for their countries. There were also some suggestions that governments and private industry might help pave the way to conferences for countries that could not afford the price of admission to an Internet dialog that was important for them to be a part of. Not doing so, they suggested, could send them to authoritarian regimes for help.
The three House committees participating were: the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, the Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade and the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations.
benton.org/node/144636 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | B&C | Bloomberg | AdWeek | FCC Commissioner McDowell
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WALDEN INTERNET FREEDOM BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) proposed legislation that would make it the official policy of the United States government to promote a free Internet. Congress approved a non-binding resolution last year that encouraged U.S. delegates to an international telecommunications treaty conference in Dubai to fight proposals that would result in global Internet regulation. The new draft legislation would make it formal U.S. policy to "promote a global Internet free from government control and to preserve and advance the successful multi-stakeholder model that governs the Internet." It is unclear what kind of practical impact the bill would have. A committee aide said the measure would not empower people to sue to overturn any government regulations.
benton.org/node/144635 | Hill, The
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KEEPING THE INTERNET FREE
[SOURCE: Washington Examiner, AUTHOR: Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR)]
[Commentary] Last year the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution directing the U.S. delegation in Dubai to support the multi-stakeholder model and express the United States’ unwavering support of Internet freedom. This resolution takes the radical position that if the most revolutionary advance in technology, commerce and social discourse of the last century isn’t broken, we shouldn’t be trying to “fix” it. This Congress, I will offer a bill to make this the policy of the United States. By refusing to sign a treaty that would curtail Internet freedom, we stood up to those nations that would shackle the Internet for their own purposes. We should now commit this resolve to law and affirm the United States unambiguous commitment to a global Internet free from government regulation.
benton.org/node/144604 | Washington Examiner
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
SANDY FIELD HEARING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Chen]
Three months after Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast, the federal government is trying to determine what could be done better to keep cellphone and Internet services running in the event of another natural disaster. The Federal Communications Commission met with representatives of phone carriers, public utilities and city governments in New York on Tuesday to discuss what happened to broadband and cell services during Hurricane Sandy and how to improve performance. It took several days for the carriers to restore most of their service; in some cities, some cell towers are still down. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the storm “underscored something important: how essential modern communications like mobile and broadband have become to our daily lives. They connect us to family, work and emergency services. And we sure notice when we can’t get through on our phones or connect to the Internet or get TV or radio news.” At the meeting, FCC commissioners asked what could be done to prevent network failures, how to make networks more resilient and what could be done to speed restoration. Michael Corso, Director of Industry and Governmental Relations for the New York Public Service Commission, said the only way to prevent a repeat of what happened is to invest. “Undegrounding is going to have to be considered. Hardening and protection from water intrusion,” he said. A crucial issue brought up was the inability to communicate with the carriers. Jack Schnirman, city manager of Long Beach, said that after wireless service went down in his city, it was easy to contact government officials using radio devices but impossible to contact a phone carrier. Broadcasters continued to be praised for their "first informer" status and they were offered an opportunity for some of those broadcasters to outline the preparations that allowed them to remain on the air while other communications systems failed.
benton.org/node/144634 | New York Times | FCC | CBS | B&C | C|Net | Chairman Genachowski | FCC Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn | Commissioner Rosenworcel | Commissioner Pai | American Public Media | AT&T
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CONTENT
COMING AND GOING ON FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project, AUTHOR: Lee Rainie, Aaron Smith, Maeve Duggan]
Two-thirds of online American adults (67%) are Facebook users, making Facebook the dominant social networking site in this country. And new findings from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project indicate there is considerable fluidity in the Facebook user population:
61% of current Facebook users say that at one time or another in the past they have voluntarily taken a break from using Facebook for a period of several weeks or more.
20% of the online adults who do not currently use Facebook say they once used the site but no longer do so.
8% of online adults who do not currently use Facebook are interested in becoming Facebook users in the future.
benton.org/node/144628 | Pew Internet and American Life Project
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AMAZON PATENT FOR DIGITAL RESALE
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Laura Hazard Owen]
Amazon has won a patent to create a virtual marketplace where users could resell digital content like apps, songs and e-books. But it’s unclear whether such a marketplace would be legal under current copyright law. Users’ rights to resell digital content is already a contentious issue under copyright law. Startup ReDigi, which allows users to resell digital music, says its model is legal according to U.S. copyright law’s “first sale” doctrine, which lets people resell physical content. But the record label EMI is suing ReDigi, claiming that digital files can’t be resold like physical objects because there is no way to ensure that the “original” digital file was deleted. A court will rule on the case this year, and the outcome could have implications for Amazon’s marketplace.
benton.org/node/144640 | paidContent.org
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GOOGLE WINS AUSTRALIAN CASE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Neil Hume]
Australia’s highest court has found that Google is not responsible for the content of third-party advertisements displayed in web searches, concluding a landmark case that had drawn international attention. The ruling brings to an end a six-year legal wrangle between the search engine and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission that had threatened Google’s main source of revenue – sponsored links or advertisements. The case had been watched closely in Australia and internationally because it had the potential to affect all publishers of ads that pass on or host third-party business, lawyers said. In a ruling handed down on Feb 6, Australia’s High Court unanimously found Google had not engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct over sponsored links generated by its search engine. “Ordinary and reasonable users of the Google search engine would have understood that the representations conveyed by the sponsored links were those of the advertisers,” the High Court said in a summary of its ruling.
benton.org/node/144637 | Financial Times
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JOURNALISM
THE MEDIA AND OBAMA
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] Several explanations for the insufficiently adversarial attitude toward President Barack Obama fit the facts better than "liberal bias."
At the top, journalists who credulously convey the self-serving narratives of highly placed government officials or ask softball questions in nationally televised interviews are rewarded with better access.
The press always shows more deference to the president in wartime, and the War on Terrorism has afforded successive presidents a way to spend their entire time in office on war footing.
Many conservatives are ideologically committed to the proposition that the president should be almost totally unconstrained in the realm of foreign affairs. As a result, many of Obama's most questionable behavior is ignored by the conservative press -- and it is also ignored by the subset of the "establishment media" that uses partisan conflict to determine what to investigate, rather than making independent judgments about what is important to cover.
Relatedly, the particular challenges to Obama's foreign policy that the right has attempted have often been ill-chosen. Don't expect to read them harping on his violating the War Powers Resolution, a secret kill list, and a war on whistleblowers. Instead, the conservative press wasted countless pixels arguing that Obama doesn't really believe in American exceptionalism, accusing him of hating Israel, and insisting that he belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood. Even incidents like Fast and Furious or the killing in Benghazi, which merited investigation, were oversold from the beginning as if they were scandals that would bring down the Obama Administration in due course. As someone who is ready to think the worst of Obama's foreign policy and to expose every untoward aspect of it, I confess that I don't know what the right is hoping to get out of Benghazi.
benton.org/node/144599 | Atlantic, The
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
MEDIA MUST GET MORE CREATIVE
[SOURCE: Campaign and Elections, AUTHOR: Scott Howell, Ann Liston]
[Commentary] A billion dollars. That’s how much was spent on television advertising in the 2012 presidential race—$197 million of it in Ohio alone. And, in case anyone didn’t notice, there were a few other races on the ballot too. To paraphrase the late Illinois Sen. Everett Dirksen, pretty soon, we’re talking about real money. In the post-Citizens United world, none of this came as a surprise. But as the noise of political advertising reaches deafening levels, the pressure mounts on media firms to find ways to pierce through and reach the elusive—and fractured—persuadable voter. What does all this mean for the future of political advertising? Here’s how we see it.
[Scott Howell is president of Scott Howell & Company, a Republican media consulting firm. Ann Liston is a partner at the Democratic media firm Adelstein Liston]
benton.org/node/144592 | Campaign and Elections
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GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
FCC ANNUAL REPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The report summarizes the Federal Communications Commission’s FY 2012 progress in fulfilling its strategic goals and meeting its performance commitments in the Commission’s FY 2012 Annual Performance Plan. The FCC’s FY 2012 Annual Performance Plan was issued in February of 2011 as part of the FCC’s FY 2012 budget submission to Congress. Some of the Commission’s key actions over the past year include:
Unleashing Spectrum for Broadband
Connect America and Lifeline Reform
Promoting Competition
Empowering Consumers and Protecting Public Safety
Agency and Regulatory Reform
benton.org/node/144621 | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC REFORM PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: Free State Foundation, AUTHOR: Deborah Taylor Tate]
Former Federal Communications Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate has compiled a list of some of the reforms that should be considered and implemented by the Commission (or, where necessary, by Congress).
Allow FCC commissioners FCC to meet and work in a more collaborative manner.
Sunset every rule or regulation unless and until the FCC affirmatively takes action to continue the rule.
Allow the FCC to produce a single consolidated marketplace competition report, given the current era of convergence and competition.
The FCC should exercise its forbearance and waiver authority to permit trials and experiments to test the transition to next-generation services.
FCC dockets should be assigned a specific time period within which the relevant FCC bureau would be required to review the item and the full Commission would be required to act.
Certain categories of issues could be combined into "rocket dockets” in order to enable parties to request expedited treatment.
Employ a Mediation/Conflict Resolution Process
In order to ensure truly “productive” biennial reviews that eliminate costly regulations that are no longer necessary, the FCC should undertake a comprehensive look at the compiled reports, bring pressing issues to a vote, and submit rulemaking notices addressing those issues in order to ensure that unnecessary regulations are repealed in a timely manner.
benton.org/node/144620 | Free State Foundation
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POLICYMAKERS
CRAWFORD FOR FCC CHAIR
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Katrina vanden Heuvel]
[Commentary] Susan Crawford is a leading telecommunications policy expert and longtime champion of net neutrality. She promotes a reasonably priced, globally competitive, ubiquitous communications infrastructure that enables American competition and innovation. Above all, she is committed to making high-speed Internet access a universal, affordable resource. In her new book, “Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age,” Crawford relays how, 10 years ago, the United States led the Internet revolution, with the fastest speeds and bargain prices. Today that global competitive advantage has all but vanished. The government’s refusal to adequately regulate telecommunications has resulted in restrictive monopolies that have allowed countries such as Japan and South Korea to surpass us in broadband speed and price. This steady slide backward not only deprives consumers of services vital to a competitive employment and business market, it also threatens the economic future of the nation. Meanwhile, despite huge technological progress, nobody is building the advanced networks that are now possible. Where has the Federal Communications Commission been in all of this? Conspicuously absent. The current chairman, Julius Genachowski, has generally continued the corporate-friendly practices of his predecessors. So here’s a modest proposal: Make Susan Crawford the next FCC chair.
benton.org/node/144608 | Washington Post
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