February 4, 2013 (Shutting Down the Phone System)
FEB 4: DC memorial to honor Swartz and call for reforming hacking law [links to web]
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013
This week’s agenda includes a hearing on Superstorm Sandy http://benton.org/calendar
INTERNET/BROADBAND
The real Gigabit Challenge is getting ISPs to think like tech firms - analysis
Shutting Down the Phone System: “IP” Does Not Equal “Fiber,” “Fiber Does Not Equal IP.” - analysis
From POTS to… - analysis
How to Actually Get Americans Online - op-ed
Tech, telecom giants take sides as FCC proposes large public Wi-Fi networks
Can Greater Government Involvement Solve America's Internet Access Problem? - op-ed
Which borough has the fastest 4G in NYC? Sorry Manhattan, it’s the Bronx [links to web]
PRIVACY
FTC Staff Report Recommends Ways to Improve Mobile Privacy Disclosures - press release
Path Settles With FTC Over Alleged COPPA Violations [links to web]
FTC, Path settlement shows online privacy goes beyond the policy - analysis
Data Protection Laws, an Ocean Apart - analysis
Europe Moves Ahead on Privacy - editorial
US tech groups criticized for EU lobbying [links to web]
HEALTH
Progress Update: How the FCC is Expanding Broadband Connectivity for Health Care - press release [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Broad Powers Seen for Obama in Cyberstrikes
Cyberwar, out of the shadows - editorial
US weighs tougher action over China cyberattacks
Chinese hackers suspected in attack on The Washington Post’s computers [links to web]
Barbarians at the Digital Gate - editorial [links to web]
Information Security: Federal Communications Commission Needs to Strengthen Controls over Enhanced Secured Network Project - research [links to web]
TELEVISION/RADIO
FCC shows little interest in policing indecency on TV
FCC Provides a Little Online Public File Relief for "Some" TV Stations - analysis [links to web]
Will Conservative Talkers Take on Immigration? - research
Ravens On-Air Swearing Comes During Live Portion of Super Bowl Coverage [links to web]
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Geeks are the New Guardians of Our Civil Liberties - op-ed
Competition offers cash prize for new ideas to strengthen nation’s democratic systems [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz to Step Down February 15 - press release
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Foxconn plans Chinese union vote
Ofcom to open up airwaves for 4G mobile services [links to web]
European Snub of 4G Prices Spurs Rate Cuts [links to web]
In settlement with French publishers, Google promises $82 million fund and advertising help
MORE ONLINE
FTC Extends Public Comment Period on Proposed Google-Motorola Settlement Order - public notice [links to web]
Dish's Clearwire Offer Lives On [links to web]
Software Predicts Tomorrow’s News by Analyzing Today’s and Yesterday’s [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
GIGABIT CHALLENGE AND ISPs
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
[Commentary] As cities around the US look at gigabit connections and see the future infrastructure that they ought to provide to ensure their citizens have access to 21st century jobs and remain (or maybe even become) hotbeds of innovation, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has also hopped on board the train. The Chairman, playing the role of chief cheerleader called for a Gigabit Challenge three weeks ago: asking that every state in the U.S. get at least one gigabit city by 2015. But he had it wrong. No matter what the FCC does, there will be gigabit cities in most states by 2015, or those networks will be under construction. The real gigabit challenge is to get the telcos to think like tech companies or to get them out of the way. If we accept that broadband is the silicon of the next fifty years — providing the platform for technological innovation and advancement that chips had done from 1960 on — then we need the providers of broadband to think like tech firms. If ISPs had been thinking like tech firms they would have realized that their goal was to connect everyone to the internet, deliver the Internet everywhere and invest in applications that would drive demand for faster speeds. ISPs should have beat Boingo and Wayport to the Wi-Fi hot spot business. They should look at the Internet of things and see opportunities for delivering quality of service and prioritization and create services for that. And fundamentally, they should be playing a game where they want to get to a gigabit, because if everyone wants a gigabit connection, they will have to get wireline connections for home and still have their Wi-Fi and cellular for everywhere else.
benton.org/node/144491 | GigaOm
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IP TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] Decisions made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the years have fragmented our various policies and regulations about phones into a crazy-quilt of different rules tied sometimes to the technology (IP v. traditional phone (TDM)) and sometimes to the actual medium of transmission (copper v. fiber v. cable v. wireless). This wacky set of FCC decisions has produced a great deal of confusion about what we are talking about when we talk about the upgrade of the phone network. As a result, people keep pointing out the same two things to me over and over and over. “AT&T is not switching to fiber to the home! Their upgrade is still copper!” The other is: “Verizon is pulling up all their copper in New York City (and everywhere else in the Sandy zone) and shifting customers from copper to FIOS without getting any permission from anyone!” Allow me to debunk the Cult of the Copper Snake. You can have an all IP network that runs on copper, and you can run a traditional TDM-based network over fiber that is treated like a phone service. Both of these are different from a TDM-system that runs on copper. All three are treated differently from each other from a regulatory perspective.
benton.org/node/144490 | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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FROM POTS TO…
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] Late in 2012, AT&T proposed that the U.S. telephone network is dying, replaced by the Internet – and Federal Communications Commission rules underpinning that old order should expire with it. AT&T on November 7 said it would invest $14 billion to build more high-speed Internet connections over wires and wireless infrastructure, but tied that planned spending to a request for regulatory changes. Generally, AT&T wants regulators to set a date for extinguishing the requirement to maintain the old network and to declare the IP network is “subject to minimal regulation only at the federal level.” Specifically, AT&T has petitioned the FCC to oversee some trials of retiring the “plain old telephone system” (POTS) and transitioning to networks running Internet protocols (IP) in order to “capture and address the operational, technical and policy issues that necessarily will arise.” This week, we got a taste of how other stakeholders think about the proposed transition.
http://benton.org/node/144459
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HOW TO ACTUALLY GET AMERICANS ONLINE
[SOURCE: CTIA - The Wireless Association, AUTHOR: Steve Largent]
[Commentary] Susan Crawford’s Jan. 24 New York Times Op-Ed, “How to Get America Online,” misses the mark. She ignores the reality in the United States and how we compare with the world. The fact is that we have relied upon competition to drive innovation, choice, and growth here in the U.S. since the birth of the wireless industry. As a result, we've been a global leader without a centralized, government-driven and government-funded industrial policy. Rather than creating a host of new government-funded Internet service providers, innovation and growth would be better served by allocating more spectrum to commercial wireless service. Numerous engineers and experts, along with the FCC and policymakers, have read the independent reports that show consumer demand will outpace the wireless networks’ capacity soon. Carriers are using all of the tools and “tricks” available to keep up, but more spectrum is needed to meet demand. Fiber is one form of Internet access, but spectrum-based networks are another. What should be dear to her heart is that more spectrum also means a significant economic boost. By bringing 500 MHz of spectrum to market (as the FCC’s National Broadband Plan advocated), the U.S. will see an increase of: $166 billion in GDP; at least 350,000 new jobs; $23.4 billion in government revenues; and $13.1 billion in wireless applications and content sales.
benton.org/node/144475 | CTIA - The Wireless Association
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LARGE PUBLIC WI-FI
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
The federal government wants to create super Wi-Fi networks across the nation, so powerful and broad in reach that consumers could use them to make calls or surf the Internet without paying a cellphone bill every month. The proposal from the Federal Communications Commission has rattled the $178 billion wireless industry, which has launched a fierce lobbying effort to persuade policymakers to reconsider the idea, analysts say. That has been countered by an equally intense campaign from Google, Microsoft and other tech giants who say a free-for-all Wi-Fi service would spark an explosion of innovations and devices that would benefit most Americans, especially the poor. The airwaves that FCC officials want to hand over to the public would be much more powerful than existing Wi-Fi networks that have become common in households. They could penetrate thick concrete walls and travel over hills and around trees. If all goes as planned, free access to the Web would be available in just about every metropolitan area and in many rural areas. The new Wi-Fi networks would also have much farther reach, allowing for a driverless car to communicate with another vehicle a mile away or a patient’s heart monitor to connect to a hospital on the other side of town. If approved by the FCC, the free networks would still take several years to set up. And, with no one actively managing them, connections could easily become jammed in major cities. But public Wi-Fi could allow many consumers to make free calls from their mobile phones via the Internet. The frugal-minded could even use the service in their homes, allowing them to cut off expensive Internet bills.
benton.org/node/144500 | Washington Post
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GOVERNMENT AND BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Governing, AUTHOR: Alex Marshall]
[Commentary] Many foreign countries provide faster, cheaper and more widespread Internet access than the United States. In most of them, governments are much more involved with telecom policies and funding. A growing trend in this country and around the world is municipal ownership of Wi-Fi and broadband service. It makes sense. A city, which usually owns the streets, can set up a network and deliver fast, efficient and pervasive service, just as it does with water and sometimes, electricity. One American city that has taken the step of providing such service directly is Chattanooga, Tenn., where the publicly owned power company, the Electric Power Board (EPB), has begun supplying high-speed service, to great attention. “We believe that if private providers aren’t providing it, then government should,” says EPB spokeswoman Danna Bailey, whose company won a lawsuit filed by Comcast to stop the venture. “We know that Internet is becoming critical infrastructure, much like electric power in the turn of the last century.” As countries like South Korea, Sweden, Japan and even Uruguay leap ahead of us, it’s within our power to take back control of this essential service, one created after all by the U.S. Department of Defense with public dollars. At stake is our future.
benton.org/node/144474 | Governing
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PRIVACY
FTC STAFF MOBILE PRIVACY REPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Trade Commission issued a staff report recommending ways that key players in the rapidly expanding mobile marketplace can better inform consumers about their data practices. The report makes recommendations for critical players in the mobile marketplace: mobile platforms (operating system providers, such as Amazon, Apple, BlackBerry, Google, and Microsoft), application (app) developers, advertising networks and analytics companies, and app developer trade associations. Most of the recommendations involve making sure that consumers get timely, easy-to-understand disclosures about what data they collect and how the data is used. The report describes the explosive growth of mobile services: in the fourth quarter of 2012, consumers worldwide bought approximately 217 million smartphones. Smartphones and tablets offer a wide variety of benefits to consumers. They can be used to make audio and video phone calls, find the nearest coffee shop or gas station, check traffic, browse a digital library while waiting for an appointment, and connect with friends for spontaneous get-togethers. At the same time, the report states that mobile technology raises unique privacy concerns. More than other types of technology, mobile devices are typically personal to an individual, almost always on, and with the user. This can facilitate unprecedented amounts of data collection. In addition, since a single mobile device can facilitate data collection and sharing among many entities, consumers may wonder where they should turn if they have questions about their privacy. The report cites recent data showing that consumers increasingly are concerned about their privacy on mobile devices. For example, 57 percent of all app users have either uninstalled an app over concerns about having to share their personal information, or declined to install an app in the first place for similar reasons. Less than one-third of Americans feel they are in control of their personal information on their mobile devices. [much more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/144480 | Federal Trade Commission | LATimes | WSJ
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PATH SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Hayley Tsukayama]
Much of the conversation about online and mobile privacy focuses on using clear language, but Web and app developers may also want to mind the p’s and q’s of good graphic design to stay out of hot water. On February 1, the Federal Trade Commission announced it had settled with the social network Path concerning charges that Path improperly collected user data. What’s interesting about the charges, said Jules Polonetsky, director and co-chair of the Future of Privacy Forum, is that the FTC didn’t fault the network for misrepresenting its privacy policy. Instead, he noted, Path’s privacy problems lay in a design flaw. Path CEO Dave Morin later apologized to users, saying that the way it designed the feature was “wrong.” Polonetsky said it’s notable that the FTC cited this as a user interface issue in its complaint. That focus on clear design and timing in apps also popped up frequently in the mobile privacy guidelines the FTC released Feb 1, which suggested app developers design icons or “just-in-time” notifications that make it clear and obvious when users are sharing personal information.
benton.org/node/144485 | Washington Post
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DATA PROTECTION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Natasha Singer]
Over the years, the United States and Europe have taken different approaches toward protecting people’s personal information. Now the two sides are struggling to bridge that divide. On this side of the Atlantic, Congress has enacted a patchwork quilt of privacy laws that separately limit the use of Americans’ medical records, credit reports, video rental records and so on. On the other side, the European Union has instituted more of a blanket regulatory system; it has a common directive that gives its citizens certain fundamental rights — like the right to obtain copies of records held about them by companies and institutions — that Americans now lack. Even so, United States officials maintain that the divergent approaches are equal. “The sum of the parts of U.S. privacy protection is equal to or greater than the single whole of Europe,” says Cameron F. Kerry, general counsel of the Commerce Department. He is overseeing an agency effort to help develop voluntary, enforceable codes of conduct for industry groups, like app developers, whose collection and use of consumer data are now unregulated. Europe begs to differ.
benton.org/node/144484 | New York Times
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EUROPE MOVES AHEAD ON PRIVACY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The European Union is considering far-reaching privacy regulations that would give the citizens of its member countries significant control over how Web sites and marketing companies collect and use data about them. Years in the making, the effort stands in stark contrast to the much slower pace of discussions about online privacy laws in Washington. Europe has historically been more protective of personal information than the United States, which still has no general law to protect people’s privacy online while most E.U. nations do. The privacy policies of American companies are voluntary, with the exception of protection under federal laws for certain kinds of sensitive information like health records and data about children younger than 13. Now, European policy makers are proposing to harmonize new, tougher rules across the 27-member union. Internet companies and the Obama administration are lobbying against some of the measures, which they argue would place onerous restrictions on services that people want to use and impede the sharing of information between Europe and the United States, particularly between law enforcement agencies. But privacy advocates say that those concerns are overblown and that most Internet companies and news sites would easily get the consent of users who already willingly hand them personal information. The Obama administration has talked with technology and marketing companies about creating voluntary industry standards. But the best way to ensure that Americans can keep their personal information private is through federal legislation backed by regulatory enforcement. Europe is setting an example of how that might be accomplished. While the United States is unlikely to go as far as the E.U., it needs to do a lot more.
benton.org/node/144495 | New York Times
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CYBERSECURITY
BROAD POWERS IN CYBERATTACKS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Sanger, Thom Shanker]
A secret legal review on the use of America’s growing arsenal of cyberweapons has concluded that President Barack Obama has the broad power to order a pre-emptive strike if the United States detects credible evidence of a major digital attack looming from abroad, according to officials involved in the review. That decision is among several reached in recent months as the administration moves, in the next few weeks, to approve the nation’s first rules for how the military can defend, or retaliate, against a major cyberattack. New policies will also govern how the intelligence agencies can carry out searches of faraway computer networks for signs of potential attacks on the United States and, if the president approves, attack adversaries by injecting them with destructive code — even if there is no declared war. The rules will be highly classified, just as those governing drone strikes have been closely held. John O. Brennan, Mr. Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser and his nominee to run the Central Intelligence Agency, played a central role in developing the administration’s policies regarding both drones and cyberwarfare, the two newest and most politically sensitive weapons in the American arsenal.
benton.org/node/144503 | New York Times
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CYBERWAR, OUT OF THE SHAWDOWS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] A planned fivefold increase in the staff of the U.S. Cyber Command is indicative of how conflict is moving toward center stage for the military, a domain similar to land, sea, air and outer space. The anticipated growth is intended to protect the country and its private sector from attack, an urgent mission. But now that the United States is going beyond defense, expanding forces for offensive attack, there’s a crying need for more openness. So far, forces exist almost entirely in the shadows. The Post reported on plans for creation of three types of forces under the Cyber Command. Two are familiar: “combat mission forces” to serve in parallel with military units and “protection forces” to defend Pentagon networks. A third area is new: “national mission forces” that would seek to head off any threat to critical infrastructure in the United States, such as electrical grids, dams and other potential targets deemed vital to national security. These “national mission forces” are expected to operate outside the United States, perhaps launching preemptive strikes on adversaries preparing to take down an American bank or electric grid. However, senior defense officials told The Post that the forces might respond inside the United States if asked by an authorized agency such as the FBI. What concerns us is not the growth of forces but the way it is happening behind the scenes.
benton.org/node/144502 | Washington Post
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CHINA AND CYBERATTACKS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Lolita Baldor]
High-level talks with the Chinese government to address persistent cyberattacks against U.S. companies and government agencies haven't worked, so officials say the Obama Administration is now considering a range of actions. China-based hackers have long been an economic and national security concern, but as cybersecurity experts report an increase in attacks, U.S. leaders are looking at ways to better address the threat and analyze its impact. Two former U.S. officials said the administration is preparing a new National Intelligence Estimate that, when complete, is expected to detail the cyberthreat, particularly from China, as a growing economic problem. One official said it also will cite more directly a role by the Chinese government in such espionage. The official said the NIE, which reflects the views of the nation's various intelligence agencies, will underscore the administration's concerns about the threat, and will put greater weight on plans for more pointed diplomatic and trade measures against the Chinese government.
benton.org/node/144469 | Associated Press | Politico
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TELEVISION/RADIO
FCC AND INDECENCY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
A Supreme Court decision last year upheld the Federal Communications Commission's authority to fine television stations for airing indecent material, but the agency has shown little interest in exercising that power. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is facing pressure from lawmakers and family values groups to crack down on TV stations that broadcast nudity, curse words or other offensive material, but aggressive enforcement could cause a backlash from broadcasters and civil liberties advocates. Observers predict that Chairman Genachowski, who is widely rumored to be planning to step down this year, will leave the issue for his successor to handle. “They've waited a long time, and if the chairman waits a little bit longer, he may be gone. So it'll be somebody else's headache,” said Andrew Schwartzman, a media attorney opposed to the indecency fines. “All indications are that Chairman Genachowski does not want to deal with this,” said Dan Isett, director of public policy for the Parents Television Council, which favors aggressive enforcement. “I suspect the chairman is trying to run out the clock.” Asked whether the FCC plans to act on any indecency complaints, an agency spokesman pointed to a statement from last September in which Chairman Genachowski said the FCC is still reviewing its enforcement policy.
benton.org/node/144488 | Hill, The
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WILL CONSERVATIVE TALKERS TAKE ON IMMIGRATION REFORM?
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: ]
Nearly six years after the U.S. Senate defeated President George W. Bush's immigration policy overhaul, there is another major legislative effort to change the nation's immigration system. Back in 2007, the most vocal opponents of the Bush plan included conservative talk hosts, according to PEJ research. On the airwaves, they took credit for defeating the measure and in a sign of their impact, then Republican Senator Trent Lott reacted to the bill's derailment by saying that "talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem." Will the influential conservative talk masters attempt to galvanize public opinion against this bill to the same degree and with the same ferocity as last time? The early indications are perhaps not. In 2007, the anti-immigration reform charge was led by hosts such as Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs (then at CNN) and Michael Savage. During the crucial period when the bill's fate was being decided, (from mid-May through mid-June, 2007), those conservative talk show hosts made immigration their No. 1 topic, filling nearly a quarter (23%) of their airtime discussing legislation they labeled "amnesty," according to a PEJ study during that time. Indeed, they devoted about seven times more attention to the subject than the liberal talk hosts. Today, some of these hosts seem to have softened their stance on the issue.
benton.org/node/144487 | Project for Excellence in Journalism
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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
GUARDIANS OF OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES
[SOURCE: Technology Review, AUTHOR: Gabriella Coleman]
[Commentary] A decade-plus of anthropological fieldwork among hackers and like-minded geeks has led me to the firm conviction that these people are building one of the most vibrant civil liberties movements we’ve ever seen. It is a culture committed to freeing information, insisting on privacy, and fighting censorship, which in turn propels wide-ranging political activity. In the last year alone, hackers have been behind some of the most powerful political currents out there. Take, for instance, the reaction to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a far-reaching copyright bill meant to curtail piracy online. SOPA was unraveled before being codified into law due to a massive and elaborate outpouring of dissent driven by the hacker movement.
benton.org/node/144496 | Technology Review
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POLICYMAKERS
CHAIRMAN LEIBOWITZ LEAVING FTC
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
After nearly four years as the head of the Federal Trade Commission, Chairman Jon Leibowitz announced he will step down on February 15, 2013. He has been a Commissioner since September 3, 2004. Leibowitz, who became FTC chair in the wake of the economic downturn in March 2009, continued the agency’s groundbreaking work on consumer protection and competition issues. “I have been honored to head this extraordinary, bipartisan Commission and to work alongside the best staff in federal government,” said Chairman Leibowitz. “Our small but mighty agency has safeguarded the privacy of Americans and stopped predatory financial practices by companies taking advantage of cash-strapped consumers. Our antitrust enforcement has helped contain health care and drug costs, and helped reduce prices and increase innovation for smartphones, computer chips and other high-tech products.” Setting his priorities as protecting consumer privacy, stopping financial scammers, and promoting competition in health care and high-tech markets, Leibowitz steered the Commission to major enforcement actions and cutting-edge policy work. In the past four years, enforcement has been a major priority at the FTC. Most recently, the Commission announced a landmark agreement with Google to ensure consumers would continue to be able to buy a variety of high-tech devices from smartphones to games to tablets. The settlement gives competitors access to standard-essential patents, and ensures that companies that advertise on Google’s website will have more flexibility to use rival search engines.
benton.org/node/144478 | Federal Trade Commission | The Hill
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
FOXCONN UNION?
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Kathrin Hille, Rahul Jacob]
Foxconn, the contract manufacturer whose biggest customer is Apple, is preparing genuinely representative labor union elections in its factories in China for the first time, a powerful sign of the changes in the workshop of the world demanded by an increasingly restive workforce. This would be the first such exercise at a large company in China, where labor unions have traditionally been controlled by management and local government. Foxconn is the country’s largest private sector employer with 1.2m mainland workers. The Taiwanese company, the world’s largest contract maker of electronics, said that the new election process would see a larger representation of junior employees and no management involvement.
benton.org/node/144492 | Financial Times
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GOOGLE AND FRENCH PUBLISHERS
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Laura Hazard Owen]
Google has come to an agreement with French publishers who wanted the search giant to start paying them for linking to their content. “First, Google has agreed to create a €60 million [USD $82 million] Digital Publishing Innovation Fund to help support transformative digital publishing initiatives for French readers. Second, Google will deepen our partnership with French publishers to help increase their online revenues using our advertising technology.” Google won’t pay for links, however.
benton.org/node/144482 | paidContent.org | Reuters
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