April 26, 2013 (Lifeline Hearing Recap)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013
Yes, it is Friday, but there’s still lots of fun to be had in wonkland -- Bandwidth for the Buck: The State of Broadband Access and Competition in the United States, and the FCC's Consumer Advisory Committee http://benton.org/calendar/2013-04-26/
TELECOM
Recap: The Lifeline Fund: Money Well Spent?
FCC Announces Results of the 2012 Annual Lifeline Recertification Process - public notice
Robocalls: Businesses dial up pressure on the FCC
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Senate advances online sales tax measure
Level the sales tax playing field for online and local retailers - editorial [links to web]
Sen Baucus: Bringing online sales tax bill to the floor is 'a travesty' [links to web]
Governors group: Sales tax bill doesn't violate tax pledge [links to web]
ACLU: CISPA Is Dead (For Now)
Connect America Costs to be Based on Fiber-to-the-Premise
In the Coming Gigabit Era, Not All ISPs Can Win
How many people have a gigabit connection? Fewer than you think. [links to web]
Challenged by Google Fiber, ISPs opt to hasten their downfall - analysis
Provo doesn’t know where its fiber is, Google makes city spend $500,000 to find it
Time Warner Cable sees the Google Fiber threat and offers Austin free Wi-Fi [links to web]
Britt: Google Fiber an ‘Overbuilder’ [links to web]
Web oils the wheels of progress - analysis [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
AT&T fires back at DOJ over airwave auction
Verizon Price Gap: $30 Billion
T-Mobile USA agrees to come clean about 'uncarrier' service plans
Debt Dish May Give Sprint Indigestion [links to web]
Court Denies Motorola the Billions it Wanted From Microsoft for Standard-Essential Patents
Cellphone Customers Have at Least a Couple Reasons to Smile [links to web]
Wi-Fi, Voice Calling Come to More New York City Subway Stations [links to web]
Tablets Convert Consumers More Often Than Smartphones [links to web]
CONTENT
Will broadcasters beat Aereo at its own game? [links to web]
Google, Bing, Yahoo Still Anchor For Finding Information [links to web]
The future of TV, according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings [links to web]
Businesses Take a Cautious Approach to Disclosures Using Social Media [links to web]
Google search proves to be new word in stock market prediction [links to web]
PRIVACY
Why lost , stolen data has touched one billion of us - op-ed [links to web]
FTC Issues Updated FAQs on Amended Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule - press release [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Proposals to end warrantless e-mail searches gain momentum in Congress [links to web]
Senate Judiciary panel votes to require warrants for police e-mail searches
For Congress, a Question of Cellphone Tracking
Google Transparency Report: More government removal requests than ever before - press release [links to web]
JOURNALISM
Why Big Cities Make Media Liberal—and Why the Koch Brothers Can't Do Anything About It - analysis
Who's afraid of the big, bad Koch Brothers? - op-ed
Gun Control and the Media - research [links to web]
Why one newspaper printer is planning for growth [links to web]
The changing face of news after Boston - editorial [links to web]
HEALTH
Audits find organizations unaware of new data, privacy rules [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Britt: Google Fiber an ‘Overbuilder’ [links to web]
Time Warner Cable sees the Google Fiber threat and offers Austin free Wi-Fi [links to web]
Time Warner CEO: 'Nobody' Will Pay for Aereo Service [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
European Commission seeks feedback on commitments offered by Google to address competition concerns - public notice
EU data protection bill threatens citizens' rights, warns civil rights coalition
European antitrust regulator douses telco industry hopes of merger leniency
Deutsche Telekom’s ‘anti-net-neutrality’ plans alarm German government
Samsung to block access to app store in Iran [links to web]
TELECOM
LIFELINE: MONEY WELL SPENT?
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
On April 24, 2013, the House Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology held a hearing to examine the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program. The program provides a subsidy to telecommunications providers to offset the cost of basic monthly service at the primary residence for eligible, low-income subscribers. These discounts can be as high as $10.00 per month, and vary depending on the subscribers’ location. Additionally, tribal communities may qualify for enhanced Lifeline assistance (up to an additional $25.00). Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) said the FCC had spent $2.2 billion of "other people's money" on the program in 2012. He pointed out that the fund has increased by more than 250% since 2008, "all while the cost of phone service has gone down." He also pointed to reports that, although the subsidy is supposed to be limited to one subsidized phone, some people have eight or more. Chairman Walden also pushed for a Lifeline budget, which the FCC said it planned to have in early 2013. Julie Veech, chief of the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, said the FCC was still evaluating its reforms and could not give a time frame for when the budget would be in place.
Ranking subcommittee member Anna Eshoo (D-CA) said the FCC must continue to fix problems. But she also pointed out the program was started under iconic Republican President Ronald Reagan and that continues to advance the important public policy goal of making sure low-income homes have access to phone service. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), ranking member of the Commerce Committee, called it an important program and national commitment. He said he had heard from homeless vets, the disabled and others who said the program had a big impact in keeping them connected. Rep Waxman joined with Rep Eshoo and others to make the point that the Lifeline program was created under President Reagan, and expanded to wireless under President George W. Bush. He said he was not opposed to Lifeline oversight, but was opposed to it becoming a political issue. He pointed out that the universal service High Cost Fund pays hundreds per line to phone companies, compared to the $9.25 per month Lifeline subsidy, and that multiple lines to a single household can be subsidized, versus only one that is supposed to be subsidized per household under the Lifeline program.
benton.org/node/150647 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | Broadcasting&Cable | The Hill- Blackburn | FTC – FTC Inquiry
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FCC ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF THE 2012 ANNUAL LIFELINE RECERTIFICATION PROCESS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau hereby announces the results of the 2012 Lifeline annual recertification process. In the Lifeline Reform Order, the FCC required that each eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) and, where applicable, state Lifeline administrators, a state agency or an agent of the state (collectively, “state agency”) recertify the eligibility of each ETC’s subscriber base as of June 1, 2012 by the end of 2012, and report the results to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) on FCC Form 555 by January 31, 2013.2 Subscribers that are no longer eligible or who do not respond to attempts to recertify their eligibility must be de-enrolled from the program. Based on results from the FCC Forms 555 submitted by ETCs, and analysis from USAC, the Bureau reports that 29 percent of all subscribers that were enrolled in the program in June 2012 have been de-enrolled from the program.
benton.org/node/150392 | Federal Communications Commission
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ROBOCALLS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Brooks Boliek]
Business groups representing industries from health care to banking are pressuring the Federal Communications Commission to ease its rules on robocalls — saying they should get a carve-out for technology that automatically dials customers. In meetings with top FCC aides, executives with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association and American Association of Health Care Administrative Management say they’re being victimized by unfair class action lawsuits brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and that the “predictive dialers” they use should be exempt from robocall rules. Such predictive-dialing technology allows “businesses with a legitimate need to contact large numbers of specific customers for nontelemarketing purposes,” the groups told top FCC staff during a spate of recent meetings. The meeting is part of an escalating fight at the commission over the TCPA, a 1991 law designed to crack down on telemarketer robocalls peddling goods and services. Congress modified the law in 2003, ordering the Federal Trade Commission to establish a Do Not Call Registry for consumers.
benton.org/node/150634 | Politico
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
ONLINE SALES TAX BILL READY FOR FINAL SENATE VOTE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Ramsey Cox]
The Senate agreed to advance a bill that would allow states to collect online sales tax. In a 63-30 vote, the Senate ended debate on The Marketplace Fairness Act, S. 743, which would empower states to collect taxes on purchases made online by consumers in their states. The Senate will vote on final passage of the bill when senators return May 6 from a weeklong recess. The strong vote suggest supporters of the bill are likely to see it win approval since final passage requires only a majority. Its path through the House, despite the support of many GOP governors, is less clear.
benton.org/node/150642 | Hill, The
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CISPA DEAD IN SENATE
[SOURCE: US News and World Report, AUTHOR: Jason Koebler]
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is all but dead, again. The controversial cybersecurity bill, which passed the House of Representatives last week, will almost certainly be shelved by the Senate, according to a representative of the Senate Commerce Committee. "We're not taking [CISPA] up," the committee representative said. "Staff and senators are divvying up the issues and the key provisions everyone agrees would need to be handled if we're going to strengthen cybersecurity. They'll be drafting separate bills." Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), chairman of the committee, said the passage of cybersecurity legislation is "important," but said the bill's "privacy protections are insufficient." That, coupled with the fact that President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill, has even CISPA's staunchest opponents, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, ready to bury CISPA and focus on future legislation. "I think it's dead for now," says Michelle Richardson, legislative council with the ACLU. "CISPA is too controversial, it's too expansive, it's just not the same sort of program contemplated by the Senate last year. We're pleased to hear the Senate will probably pick up where it left off last year."
benton.org/node/150465 | US News and World Report
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CONNECT AMERICA AND FIBER
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
When the Federal Communications Commission determines how much support to offer price cap carriers to bring broadband to areas that do not have broadband today in Phase 2 of the Connect America Fund program, the funding offered will be calculated based on the assumption that the carrier will use a fiber-to-the-premises approach. The FCC made the decision to use this approach in a report and order issued yesterday, in which the commission also said it would use a greenfield approach in calculating support levels. The FCC’s decision to calculate funding using FTTP may come as a surprise to readers, many of whom are acutely aware of how adamantly the crafters of Universal Service reform plans have defended a target speed of 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream for the broadband Connect America Fund program. In many cases carriers could achieve the 4/1 Mbps speed target using digital subscriber line (DSL), which typically is a less costly upgrade than doing an overbuild using FTTP — and it was that logic that appeared to drive the relatively unambitious speed target. In justifying its decision, the FCC noted that DSL networks have higher expected operating expenses than FTTP networks and are more likely to require significant additional investment to make faster broadband offerings available in the future. Carriers accepting CAF Phase 2 funding will not be required to deploy FTTP however.
benton.org/node/150373 | telecompetitor
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NAOT ALL ISPs CAN WIN
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Gary Kim]
Now that Google Fiber is to be built in three U.S. cities, and given AT&T’s announced intention to counter with a 1-Gbps network of its own in Austin, Texas, new attention will be paid to precisely what has to be tweaked in an ISP’s business plan to make such networks possible on a wider scale. Other ISPs are taking a look at the economics as well. Wicked Broadband in Lawrence, Kansas, for example, is among the latest to announce it will build a 1-Gbps network. Work will have to be done on both the revenue and cost fronts, since the retail pricing set by Google Fiber ($70 a month for 1 Gbps, free 5 Mbps service) disrupts current pricing levels. Where available, 1-Gbps connections have sold for about $300 a month (Utopia in Utah) (EPB Fiber in Tennessee) (Sonic.net in northern California). With a $70 retail price for 1 Gbps, all lower speed services likewise will have to be reevaluated. That is going to compress profit margins for any ISP that actually does boost speeds, even if speeds are not increased all the way to 1 Gbps immediately, since the “1 Gbps for $70” pricing umbrella almost inevitably will require a revision of all lower-speed prices as well, as that price point is lower than what ISPs now set for 50 Mbps services.
benton.org/node/150375 | telecompetitor
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ISPs VS GOOGLE FIBER
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: By Paul Venezia]
[Commentary] Last summer I posited that Google's fiber play in Kansas City would create a ripple through other regions of the country. The first surprise was the continued ostrich maneuver that some big cable and DSL providers are pulling, namely the "customers don't want gigabit Internet" front. This could be likened to a lead paint salesman pooh-poohing latex paint because "customers don't want their health." It's just blather -- a smokescreen to obscure the fact that the entrenched monopolies/oligopolies do not want to upgrade their networks. It's easy to justify delivering subpar performance for premium prices if you delude yourself into thinking that your customers don't want anything more. The second was the speed with which Google Fiber has been requested and deployed. There are already plans to expand the initial Kansas City footprint, and Google recently announced plans to deploy a new network in Austin, Texas, as well as purchase a failed community fiber network in Provo, Utah, and turn it into a Google Fiber plant. Suddenly, we're looking at gigabit fiber Internet in three locations in the United States, not just a "test" in Kansas City. Third was the reaction from other segments of the incumbent ISP cabal. AT&T announced it will be deploying a gigabit fiber network in Austin as well. Forgive me if I don't hold my breath on this one. I figure this is a press release designed to bluff Google and other involved parties in the Austin area and to gain some mindshare that AT&T is stepping up to the challenge.
benton.org/node/150372 | InfoWorld
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GOOGLE AND PROVO
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Cyrus Farivar]
The Provo (UT) city council formally approved the transfer of its iProvo fiber network to Google, making the city the third metro area to gain that sweet, sweet gigabit service. Google is only paying $1 for the network, but in return it will have to provide a “basic five-megabit” connection to all residents for seven years and provide free gigabit service to 25 public institutions. As it turns out, though, it’s as good of a deal as it might seem. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Provo Mayor John Curtis revealed Tuesday that the city now owes an additional $1.7 million to keep those fiber-optic lights on. The city must also pay “about $500,000 to a civil engineering firm to determine exactly where the fiber optic cables are buried, a requirement by Google," the Tribune reported. "Curtis admitted that the construction company that installed the fiber cables underground did not keep records of where they buried all of them.”
benton.org/node/150389 | Ars Technica
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
AT&T RESPONDS TO JUSTICE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso, Jennifer Martinez]
AT&T argued that it would be illegal for the Federal Communications Commission to follow the Justice Department's advice on the upcoming auction of airwave licenses. In a filing with the FCC, AT&T argued that the Justice Department is asking the agency to rig the auctions in favor of Sprint and T-Mobile, the smaller of the four national carriers. "It is surprising that the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice would even propose measures that are so nakedly designed to help specific companies," AT&T wrote. The company argued that it would be illegal for the FCC to violate the public's interest to boost particular competitors. "Picking winners and losers in this fashion would be patently unlawful," AT&T wrote. AT&T said the claim that it is warehousing spectrum is "completely divorced from reality."
benton.org/node/150641 | Hill, The
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VERIZON-VODAFONE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dana Cimilluca, Spencer Ante]
Verizon Communications is eager to buy Vodafone Group out of their massive mobile-phone joint venture—but it will have to get over a $30 billion hurdle. That amount is roughly the difference between what people on either side of the potential deal say Vodafone's 45% stake in the biggest U.S. mobile operator, Verizon Wireless, is worth. The Verizon camp starts at a valuation around $100 billion; for Vodafone, the stake is worth about $130 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The disagreement over price is in the spotlight now that Verizon has launched a public push to acquire the U.K. company's stake.
benton.org/node/150645 | Wall Street Journal
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T-MOBILE SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Stephen Lawson]
T-Mobile USA's "radical" service plans promising no annual contracts aren't quite as radical as consumers might think, and the mobile operator will change its advertising and offer refunds in a settlement with the state of Washington. On March 26, the fourth-largest U.S. carrier introduced a series of new service offerings, including no-contract monthly plans and a program that let customers pay for a new phone over the course of 24 months. In unveiling the plans, T-Mobile thumbed its nose at rival mobile operators, calling the new offerings "uncarrier" plans that would free the company and its customers from the constraints of conventional service agreements. Now the company has agreed to clarify a few things in that pitch after an investigation by the Washington Attorney General's Office. Specifically, T-Mobile didn't tell potential customers who bought phones on time that they would have to keep T-Mobile service for 24 months or pay off the rest of the phone's full price when they canceled the service, said Paula Sellis, an attorney who handled the case in the Attorney General's Office. The fine-print disclosures that T-Mobile did offer were hard to understand, she said.
benton.org/node/150639 | IDG News Service | WSJ
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PATENT DECISION
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ina Fried, John Paczkowski]
A federal court in Seattle issued a ruling that could help settle the question of just how much a company can expect to reap from standard-essential patent. In the highly-anticipated court ruling, U.S. District Judge James Robart determined that Google’s Motorola Mobility unit is entitled to about $1.8 million a year from Microsoft for its use of certain patents. Motorola had been seeking in excess of $4 billion in the case, which centered around patents related to the H.264 video standard and the 802.11 wireless standard. In making its determination, the court noted that there are some 92 different entities with patents essential to 802.11 networking. If each of them got the 1.15 percent to 1.73 percent royalty that Motorola wanted, the cost of just wireless networking alone would exceed the price of the Xbox Microsoft was using it in.
benton.org/node/150644 | Wall Street Journal
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE APPROVES EPCA UPDATE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would require police to obtain a warrant before accessing e-mails, Facebook messages and other private online content. The bill, which is sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), was approved on a voice vote and now heads to the Senate floor. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee's ranking member, noted that the House is considering expanding Electronic Communications Privacy Act to require a warrant to access GPS data in addition to email content. He said that if the Senate decides to adopt GPS protections, the Judiciary Committee should first hold a hearing to study the issue more closely. He also argued that the Senate should carefully consider the concerns of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White, who has warned that the legislation could impede civil investigations where agents do not have warrant authority. The committee adopted an amendment from Sen Grassley on that would require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a review of how police are using the law. Leahy also added a technical amendment to clarify that the bill does not affect wiretap or foreign surveillance laws.
benton.org/node/150401 | Hill, The | AdWeek | B&C
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CELLPHONE TRACKING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Somini Sengupta]
While the Senate considered an overhaul of a sweeping quarter-century-old law governing e-mail privacy, a House Judiciary Committee panel received dueling arguments over when and how police can track the location of Americans carrying a cellphone. For investigators, knowing where a suspect is and at what time can be crucial to an investigation. Cellphones have become a powerful tool for establishing those facts — one detective scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill described them in prepared remarks as a “witness” to a crime. Less clear is the law on how authorities can extract that information from cellphones. Law enforcement officials say procuring a search warrant, based on probable cause, is too time-consuming and slows down an investigation. The law is vague on what information cellphone carriers must turn over to law enforcement and whether the officials require judicial review. Under what circumstances can police obtain a “tower dump,” meaning identify cellphone users whose devices pinged off a particular cellphone tower? Should a warrant be required to monitor the location of an individual with whom a known suspect is communicating? Should a warrant be required for specific location information of a known suspect? There is no consensus in the law on these questions.
benton.org/node/150395 | New York Times
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JOURNALISM
CITY NEWSPAPERS
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Garance Franke-Ruta]
[Commentary] Apparently, the Koch brothers are considering buying the Tribune network of newspapers in a bid to establish a pro-business conservative media chain. I say, good luck with that. There are several reasons regional newspapers are an awkward fit for anyone looking to counter-program what they see as liberal bias in the news media. The main reason is that all major U.S. newspapers are based in cities. Cities in America are in the main run by Democrats, because they are populated, by and large, with Democrats, and very often also surrounded by Democratic suburbs. And because cities are run by Democrats, and populated by not only by Democrats but, very often, by liberal, minority, and immigrant Democrats, they tend to have laws on the books that at least formally signal a desire to serve the interests of these voting groups -- their residents, let's call them. The Koch brothers could try to make the Los Angeles Times or the Baltimore Sun more appealing to a different intellectual community. But if they were to buy the papers and push their newsrooms in a more conservative direction, I suspect they would see an increase in the pace at which the geographic communities that once sustained the publications abandon them.
benton.org/node/150381 | Atlantic, The
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WHO’S AFRAID OF THE KOCH BROTHERS?
[SOURCE: Crain’s Chicago Business, AUTHOR: Marcel Pacatte]
[Commentary] Why is the City of Big Shoulders so afraid of the Koch Brothers? Our snootiness this time seems much more wan and hollow than it did in 1984, when the Fields of department store fame sold the Sun-Times to Rupert Murdoch. So why, then, are we so afraid of a couple of reactionary rich guys from Kansas? So why do we care that these funders of conservative Republican causes want to buy a few newspapers in some of the nation's most liberal cities? Do we really think they'll be able to not only control the content in Tribune Co. properties but also brainwash us with it? Come on, Shoulderans. Have some faith in yourselves. Let's take their money. [Pacatte teaches at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism]
benton.org/node/150379 | Crain’s Chicago Business
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
EC SEEKS FEEDBACK ON GOOGLE CONDITIONS
[SOURCE: European Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The European Commission invites comments from interested parties on commitments offered by Google in relation to online search and search advertising. The Commission has concerns that Google may be abusing its dominant position in the markets for web search, online search advertising and online search advertising intermediation in the European Economic Area (EEA). Google has made proposals to try to address the Commission's four competition concerns. Interested parties can now submit their comments within one month. The Commission will take them into account in its analysis of Google's commitment proposals. If the Commission concludes that they address its four competition concerns, it may decide to make them legally binding on Google. Google offers for a period of 5 years to:
(i) - label promoted links to its own specialized search services so that users can distinguish them from natural web search results,
- clearly separate these promoted links from other web search results by clear graphical features (such as a frame), and
- display links to three rival specialized search services close to its own services, in a place that is clearly visible to users,
(ii) - offer all websites the option to opt-out from the use of all their content in Google's specialized search services, while ensuring that any opt-out does not unduly affect the ranking of those web sites in Google's general web search results,
- offer all specialized search web sites that focus on product search or local search the option to mark certain categories of information in such a way that such information is not indexed or used by Google,
- provide newspaper publishers with a mechanism allowing them to control on a web page per web page basis the display of their content in Google News,
(iii) no longer include in its agreements with publishers any written or unwritten obligations that would require them to source online search advertisements exclusively from Google, and
(iv) no longer impose obligations that would prevent advertisers from managing search advertising campaigns across competing advertising platforms.
benton.org/node/150408 | European Commission | GigaOm | IDG News Service | Wall Street Journal
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EU DATA PROTECTION BILL
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Jennifer Baker]
Some of the proposed changes to Europe's data protection laws would strip citizens of their privacy rights, a coalition of international civil liberties organizations said. The European Parliament is currently considering proposals from the European Commission for a complete overhaul of the E.U.'s data protection laws. The original laws date from 1995, the pre-Internet age, and are arguably in great need of an update. However, the debate about how to update them has been intense. Creating one regulation to replace national data protection and privacy laws in the 27 E.U. countries obviously requires compromise, but many parliamentarians report never seeing lobbying on such a scale before. In an effort to reach some sort of consensus, more than 4,000 changes to the draft text have been proposed. The civil liberties coalition, which includes Access, Bits of Freedom, EDRI, La Quadrature du Net and Privacy International, has set up a website, nakedcitizens.eu, to help concerned citizens contact their representatives in the Parliament. The groups have also presented a report based on their analysis of the proposed amendments.
benton.org/node/150461 | IDG News Service
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EUROPEAN TELCO MERGERS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Foo Yun Chee]
A senior European Commission official suggested regulators would not be swayed by requests from telecoms companies for more leniency in assessing mergers, saying there was no guarantee that bigger companies would result in more investment. Cecilio Madero, deputy director-general for antitrust at the European Commission, said: "Frankly speaking, we do not have evidence that operators will invest more if they reach a bigger size as long as markets will remain fragmented and along national borders." Lobbying group the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO) said the gloomy outlook in the sector in Europe, compared with upbeat prospects in Asia and North America, called for a change in EU competition policy. "In reality, competition has shifted from the national level, and indeed from European level, to the global arena," said ETNO head Luigi Gambardella. But the EC's Madero said: "What we cannot do in any event is to give some companies a sort of blank check to consolidate within their national borders and increase prices for consumers on the basis of mere promises of further investments."
benton.org/node/150464 | Reuters
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DT VS NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: David Meyer]
Users of Deutsche Telekom’s mobile services are used to the concept of data caps, but its fixed-line customers? Not so much. This is part of the reason why the German government is reportedly upset about the telco’s plans to drop flat-rate pricing for its DSL services – the most alarming part, however, is that Telekom apparently wants to exempt its own services from the cap. We’re into classic network neutrality territory here. As the company announced a few days ago, Telekom’s customers will be able to stream films from the carrier’s own T-Entertain service without any problem, but streaming a film from a rival would count towards the cap – effectively meaning Telekom’s caps will discriminate in favor of its own products. And all services, activists argue, should be treated equally on the open Internet. Concerned citizens have already set up a Change.org petition that has garnered around 30,000 signatures at the time of writing, but now the German government itself has weighed in. This isn’t just a regulatory thing – the government is Telekom’s biggest shareholder, too.
benton.org/node/150364 | GigaOm
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