July 2013

July 23, 2013 (Pentagon Offers Compromise on Spectrum)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Incentive auctions (preview below) and community media on today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2013-07-23/


GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Congress needs to enact a shield law for journalists - editorial
   NSA phone collection efforts shouldn't be constrained - op-ed
   Here’s how the government justifies sucking up your phone records - analysis
   The Creepy, Long-Standing Practice of Undersea Cable Tapping [links to web]
   A Terrible Precedent for Press Freedom - editorial
   Risen should not have to testify in CIA case - San Jose Mercury News editorial [links to web]

OWNERSHIP
   Free Press: Diversity Study Useless As Policy Guide

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
   Pentagon Offers Compromise on Spectrum Sought by Wireless Carriers
   FCC Publishes Data on Station Repacking
   Information is Key to Successful Spectrum Auctions - Verizon press release [links to web]
   Public Knowledge to Hill: Oversee Auctions, Don't Micromanage Them
   NAB on Incentive Auctions: No 'Win' for Broadcasters Who Remain
   T-Mobile: FCC Should Put 'Reasonable Limits' on Spectrum Aggregation
   Consumers Still Buying Tons of Older iPhones [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   America's broadband blues - op-ed
   State of the Internet: the internet’s getting faster in lesser-developed countries
   Shaping the Digital Age: A Progressive Broadband Agenda - research
   Google Serves 25 Percent of North American Internet Traffic
   Annual US Cybercrime Costs Estimated at $100 Billion [links to web]
   Money, Brains and Broadband: Tools to Thrive in a 21st Century Economy - op-ed [links to web]
   Verizon Offering Faster FiOS for $309 to Outpace Comcast [links to web]

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
   FirstNet Enters a New Phase

TELECOM
   Lots on line in 'Obama phone' fight
   Residents Forced To Live Without Landlines
   As Consumer Complaints Keep Streaming In, FCC Should Not Automatically Approve Verizon's Voice Link - press release
   FCC: Carriers Must Better Respond to Call Completion Complaints

HEALTH
   How Washington Has Catalyzed Health Investment and Innovation in Silicon Valley - op-ed

TELEVISION
   How the Supreme Court could decide the future of broadcast television - op-ed

ADVERTISING
   The Measurement Mess [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   UK’s Cameron warns search engines on child pornography

MORE ONLINE
   The Race to Manage Government Records Begins [links to web]
   More Computer Failures in New York City’s 911 System [links to web]

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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

SHIELD LAW
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] President Barack Obama seems to be of two minds when it comes to freedom of information and the role of the press. On his first day in office, he committed his Administration to “creating an unprecedented level of openness in government,” and he proclaimed in a recent address that a free press is essential to democracy. At the same time, Obama’s Administration has conducted the most far-reaching campaign against leaks in recent memory, with twice as many prosecutions as in all previous administrations combined. While both of these ideas may be strongly held by the President, they are coming into conflict. There’s a need to write into federal law a shield for the news media. Some 49 states and the District of Columbia have established media shield laws or recognized such privileges in court. A good place to start on the federal level is with legislation recently introduced by Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC). While the proposed law would not offer absolute protection, it would introduce a “balancing test” for a court to use before compelling disclosure from a reporter. The test would take into account the public interest in the disclosure and in maintaining the free flow of information. This should restrain overzealous prosecutors from roping journalists into leak prosecutions and sustain the uneasy but essential balance between secrecy and openness.
benton.org/node/156308 | Washington Post
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DON’T CONSTRAIN NSA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Steven Bradbury]
[Commentary] Debate over the National Security Agency’s collection of telephone metadata is taking a dangerous turn. There’s a risk that Congress or the White House will impose ill-considered constraints on the NSA that would compromise our ability to protect the United States against the next 9/11. The metadata acquired in this program doesn’t reveal the content of anyone’s phone calls — just the records of which numbers have dialed which numbers and when. This is transactional information that phone companies compile for billing purposes, and the Fourth Amendment does not require a warrant supported by probable cause to obtain these records. Many libertarians are quick to condemn the NSA’s collection of telephone metadata as an example of government overreach and encroachment into Americans’ private freedom. But protecting the United States from foreign attack is the core mission of the federal government, and a catastrophic failure in that mission could threaten the liberties we all cherish. Moreover, it’s profoundly unfair to tar the NSA as irresponsible or an agency run amok. In my experience, there is no more self-restrained, professional and patriotic group of federal officers than those staffing the NSA today. We should be proud of the job this agency is doing and of the effectiveness and prudent focus of its metadata program.
[Bradbury was head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel from 2005 to 2009. In 2006, he led the department’s legal effort to obtain initial approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court for the telephone metadata order.]
benton.org/node/156306 | Washington Post
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SURVEILLANCE JUSTIFICATION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
Until recently, the National Security Agency treated the existence of its phone records program, which sweeps up the calling records of tens of millions of innocent Americans, as a closely held secret. But Edward Snowden’s disclosure of a court order authorizing the program forced the government’s hand. The government declassified some basic facts about the program last month, and in a court filing, the government makes the case for the legality of its once-secret spying program. To justify the program, the government needs to surmount two legal hurdles. First, it has to convince courts that the program is authorized by Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows the government to obtain records that are relevant to a terrorism investigation. Second, it must convince the courts that the program is consistent with the Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans against unreasonable searches.
benton.org/node/156281 | Washington Post
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PRECEDENT FOR PRESS FREEDOM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] An egregious appeals court ruling has dealt a major setback to press freedoms by requiring the author of a 2006 book to testify in the criminal trial of a former Central Intelligence Agency official charged with leaking classified information. The ruling and the Justice Department’s misplaced zeal in subpoenaing James Risen, the book’s author and a reporter for the New York Times, carry costs for robust journalism and government accountability that should alarm all Americans. The precedent set here is especially troubling since the Fourth Circuit, where the ruling applies, includes Maryland and Virginia, home to most national security agencies. If left to stand, it could significantly chill investigative reporting, especially about national security issues.
benton.org/node/156322 | New York Times
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OWNERSHIP

FREE PRESS CRITICAL OF MMTC STUDY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Media consolidation foe Free Press is no fan of the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council diversity study. The FCC delayed action on any media ownership rules until MMTC could complete, and the public could comment on, the study of the impact of the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule on media diversity. The conclusion of the BIA/Kelsey study: "The impact of cross-media ownership on minority and women broadcast ownership is probably negligible." Free Press's conclusion, according its public comment: The study is filled with "glaring" problems that make it "utterly useless" as a basis for making policy. Those problems include inadequately describing its sample, not separating out TV and radio station owners or distinguishing between impacts on women from those on minorities and not providing details on the claimed peer reviews, among other alleged failings.
benton.org/node/156304 | Broadcasting&Cable
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

PENTAGON’S SPECTRUM COMPROMISE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ryan Knutson]
The Defense Department has offered to compromise with wireless carriers in a fight over valuable spectrum now used for purposes like training pilots in the Pentagon's drone program. At issue is the government's first substantial auction of airwave rights in half a decade. Carriers have been pressing regulators to include spectrum in the 1755 to 1780 megahertz bands in the coming auction. In a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration filed with the Federal Communications Commission, the military said it can largely relocate out of those bands "while ensuring no loss of critical DOD capabilities." The position is a turnabout for the Defense Department, which previously had expressed concerns about making room for carriers, saying it could impact military operations, particularly for air combat training systems. Drone training programs would also be affected.
benton.org/node/156318 | Wall Street Journal
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STATION REPACKING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission released data meant to help broadcasters get a better handle on how they may be repacked after the incentive auctions, and how the FCC intends to protect their coverage areas and signals in that process. That includes what new channels stations would be able to move to and the latest OET 69 software the FCC is using to figure out interference protections.
benton.org/node/156302 | Broadcasting&Cable | FCC | Technical Appendix | TVNewsCheck
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SPECTRUM TESTIMONY I
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In testimony for a July 23 House Communications Subcommittee hearing, Public Knowledge senior vice president Harold Feld says that everybody needs to lighten up when it comes to spectrum incentive auctions so the Federal Communications Commission staffers can do their jobs, or risk rushing headlong and "heedlessly" into an "ill-designed" process. "Constantly hectoring staff that they are moving too fast or two slow, issuing too many public notices or not enough, being too generous to broadcasters or not generous enough, scheming to undermine licensed spectrum with inflated guard bands or being in the pocket of this or that faction of the industry is worse than not helpful," he says. "It creates an atmosphere of suspicion and pushes staff to retreat into the bowels of the Portals at a time when we need the maximum amount of transparency and trust between staff and stakeholders." Feld says the commission should avoid "forcing" false choices between licensed and unlicensed spectrum or boosting competition vs. paying for FirstNet (the interoperable nationwide broadband first responder network that will be paid for out of auction proceeds).
benton.org/node/156279 | Broadcasting&Cable
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SPECTRUM TESTIMONY II
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Rick Kaplan, executive VP of strategic planning for the National Association of Broadcasters, plans to tell Congress that there are three things that will determine whether the incentive auctions succeed: 1) maximizing revenue; 2) preserving a healthy broadcast business; and 3) "avoiding harmful interference among services." But even if it does all those things, NAB does not see the auctions as a win for broadcasters. That is according to Kaplan's testimony for a July 23 spectrum policy oversight hearing on the incentive auctions in the House Communications Subcommittee. Kaplan said that maximizing revenue in order to "pay for [the auction] itself, provide compensation for the volunteering broadcasters, pay to relocate the non-volunteer broadcasters and invest in a nationwide interoperable public safety network" means pairing spectrum nationwide, not adopting a variable band plan that could have it "gobbling up" more spectrum in some markets "simply because it can." NAB also said it means a "measured repacking" of stations that minimized the impact on translators and low-powers. "Every megahertz reclaimed through repacking, especially in the West, threatens to eliminate television service to thousands of viewers who rely exclusively on translators [and low powers] for news, weather and emergency information." He said that is particularly true in tribal areas.
benton.org/node/156277 | Broadcasting&Cable
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SPECTRUM TESTIMONY III
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
T-Mobile says it is doing its best to fill gaps in coverage by buying or trading spectrum in the secondary market, but that that, by itself, is not a successful game plan for the future. In testimony for a July 23 incentive auction hearing in the House Communications Subcommittee, T-Mobile VP, regulatory affairs, Kathleen O'Brien Ham, will say that the Federal Communications Commission's auction structure should meet three main objectives: 1) encourage widespread broadcasters participation; 2) maximize the paired spectrum freed up for wireless; and 3) put reasonable limits on spectrum aggregation to make sure that AT&T and Verizon don't foreclose competition. Making the auction more attractive to broadcasters means starting with high opening prices, says T-Mobile, combined with bidding options for broadcasters -- giving up spectrum, sharing, moving to a lower band (UHF is wireless beachfront property, just as it now is for broadcasting).
benton.org/node/156275 | Broadcasting&Cable
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

AMERICA’S BROADBAND BLUES
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] Over the last year, America's broadband report card, in my estimation, has gone from a D to a C-. Although the U.S. has definitely shown signs of improvement in high-speed Internet access, the achievements have been mostly in mobile broadband, not the wired broadband we need for children everywhere to reliably access their homework, for towns to keep and attract jobs, and to generally support a 21st century digital economy and a modern education system. A recent series of opinion pieces, jumping off from a fairly positive White House assessment of broadband progress, trumpeted the case for feeling good about Internet availability in America. What they didn't say is that U.S. companies do not generally offer high-speed broadband to customers even though the networks theoretically support them, so our superiority really doesn't do us much good. Nor does leading the world in 4G wireless capability. Smartphones do not appear to generate productivity gains, whereas access to wired broadband does. We don't do broadband report cards so we can pat ourselves on the back. We do them because affordable high-speed access to the Internet has become as critical to success in the 21st century as electricity and telephones were in the 20th century. The few locales in the United States that qualify as "Gigabit cities" — where the Internet can be accessed at 1 gigabit a second — have seen almost immediate economic and social benefits, while communities without broadband struggle to create jobs. Our broadband report card may "show improvement," but let's not kid ourselves. We, and our elected officials, need to push the broadband industry to provide affordable, reliable broadband to everyone.
[Feld is senior vice president of Public Knowledge]
benton.org/node/156326 | Los Angeles Times
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STATE OF THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Lauren Hockenson]
In many parts of the world, countries with sparse or underdeveloped internet infrastructure are getting a technology boost. But the upgrade in network speeds has also created new opportunities for hacker attacks, according to Akamai’s State of the Internet report. Since this time last year, the average internet speed among the 117 countries that qualified for the quarterly study has grown by 17 percent to 3.1 Mbps, with a number of countries — including Ecuador, Guatemala, Iraq and Indonesia — seeing double-digit growth. While connection speeds in many underdeveloped countries places are still well below global averages (at speeds of close to 1Mbps) these developing areas are prioritizing internet growth.
benton.org/node/156324 | GigaOm
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PROGRESSIVE BROADBAND AGENDA
[SOURCE: Progressive Policy Institute, AUTHOR: Ev Ehrlich]
Broadband construction and development requires large quantities of resources, and its existence generates substantial innovation and economic growth. What is the public sector’s best policy approach to this burgeoning phenomenon? Views differ across the political spectrum. The conservative vision of policy regarding the Internet is to leave it alone. Progressives find that view wanting, but what is their corresponding vision? The answer is unclear. To some advocates, it involves an aggressive regulatory stance, whether in the form of “net neutrality,” “common carriage,” limitations on the sale of spectrum, or other policies that limit the latitude and operations of the companies that build and manage broadband networks. What should the progressive agenda be? Are our choices either to embrace this aggressive regulatory agenda or to accede to conservative laissez-faire? This essay argues that there is a third, and far more promising, option for such a progressive broadband policy agenda. It balances respect for the private investment that has built the nation’s broadband infrastructure with the need to realize the Internet’s full promise as a form of social infrastructure and a tool for individual empowerment. It turns away from problems we may reasonably fear but that simply do not exist—most importantly, the idea that the provision of broadband services is dominated by an anti-competitive “duopoly” that stifles the broad dissemination of content. And it forthrightly addresses new ones—such as the need to create mechanisms to develop broadband as a ubiquitous social asset, to create institutions that do not second-guess its unpredictable and burgeoning growth, and to protect consumer privacy and users’ right to control the use of their personal information.
benton.org/node/156265 | Progressive Policy Institute
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GOOGLE’S TRAFFIC SHARE
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Robert McMillan]
Everyone knows Google is big. But the truth is that it’s huge. On an average day, Google accounts for about 25 percent of all consumer internet traffic running through North American ISPs. That’s a far larger slice of than previously thought, and it means that with so many consumer devices connecting to Google each day, it’s bigger than Facebook, Netflix, and Instagram combined. It also explains why Google is building data centers as fast as it possibly can. Three years ago, the company’s services accounted for about 6 percent of the internet’s traffic. “What’s really interesting is, over just the past year, how pervasive Google has become, not just in Google data centers, but throughout the North American internet,” says Craig Labovitz, founder of Deepfield, the internet monitoring company that crunched the data. His probes show that more than 62 percent of the smartphones, laptops, video streamers, and other devices that tap into the internet from throughout North America connect to Google at least once a day. Labovitz calls Google’s traffic “astounding.” The lion’s share of it comes from YouTube. But Google traffic involving search, analytics, web apps, and advertising is far from insignificant.
benton.org/node/156263 | Wired
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

FIRSTNET’S NEW PHASE
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Colin Wood]
The country’s first nationwide wireless broadband network designed for emergency responders, being developed by the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), entered a new phase on July 10 -- it announced 10 requests for information (RFIs) that will begin the process of finding the most efficient and innovative technology available, said Craig Farrill, FirstNet board member and acting CIO. The search for the best technology available, Farrill said, follows a nationwide survey of the nation’s 56 states and territories to determine what would constitute the “best” technology for the network -- technology such as network partnering and Radio Access Network provisioning, antenna systems, microwave backhaul equipment, data centers and network service platforms.
benton.org/node/156298 | Government Technology
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TELECOM

OBAMA PHONE FIGHT
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Jessica Meyers]
TracFone, a prepaid service provider led by one of the world’s richest men, longs to cut the “Obama phone” line of attacks to save a program for the poor — and its bottom line. The company, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, has launched a lobbying ground war to promote the controversial phone subsidy initiative known as Lifeline. And in the wake of congressional blasts, the program’s largest participant has found backhanded support from an unlikely coalition of rights groups and industry advocates pushing for the same goal: to spare it. “We had enough,” said Jose Fuentes, a spokesman for Miami-based TracFone who registered as a federal lobbyist this spring. “A lot of this misinformation was generated by Washington lawmakers themselves. And a few members have picked up on this issue and made it a political one to score points back in their districts.” TracFone funded a full-page ad in The Times-Picayune this spring that depicted flooded New Orleans with the banner: “Lifeline’s wireless benefit was born out of Katrina. Sen. David Vitter must have forgotten.”
benton.org/node/156316 | Politico
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FORCED TO LIVE WITHOUT LANDLINES
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Dan Bobkoff]
Last fall, Hurricane Sandy damaged homes, buckled boardwalks and ruined much of the infrastructure of the small vacation spot of Fire Island, just off the coast of New York. The storm also destroyed many of the island's copper phone lines. But the island's only traditional phone company has no plans to replace them. Instead, Verizon is offering customers a little white box with an antenna it calls Voice Link. "It has all the problems of a cellphone system, but none of the advantages," says Pat Briody, who has had a house on Fire Island for 40 years. Essentially, Voice Link connects home phones to the Verizon Wireless network on the island. It has a traditional-sounding dial tone and 911 service, but that's about it. You can't use Voice Link to access the Internet. Some businesses can't process credit card transactions. Many alarm systems and health monitors won't work with Voice Link. "I don't think there's anyone who will tell you Voice Link is better than the copper wire," says Steve Kunreuther, the treasurer of the Saltaire Yacht Club. But Fire Island and a few other communities hit hard by Sandy have no other choice, even if residents don't like it.
benton.org/node/156295 | National Public Radio
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VERIZON’S VOICE LINK
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Jodie Griffin]
Public Knowledge officially asked the Federal Communications Commission to take Verizon's application to replace its traditional copper-based network with its fixed wireless Voice Link service off of the FCC's streamlined authorization procedures. Right now, Verizon's application is set to be automatically approved if the FCC takes no action by the end of August, but by that point we won't even have all of the relevant feedback from the public or Verizon yet to inform the FCC's decision. Especially considering what a big deal Verizon's post-Sandy Voice Link deployment has turned out to be, for Fire Island and for any community that could be hit by a natural disaster (hint: all of them), this isn't a decision the FCC should rush to make before it even has all of the facts.
benton.org/node/156293 | Public Knowledge
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CALL COMPLETITION COMPLAINTS
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
In an enforcement advisory issued by the Federal Communications Commission on July 19, long-distance carriers who receive informal complaints about calls not going through to rural areas must investigate the problem and report on its resolution – even if the person making the complaint is not a customer of the long-distance carrier. Going forward, the FCC said it may take enforcement action – including monetary fines — against providers that submit deficient responses to informal complaints. “For the past several years consumers have reported problems with long distance calls to rural areas completing successfully,” the FCC wrote in the notice. “Based on our experience in investigating this issue, rural call completion problems often arise from the manner in which originating long distance providers route their calls.” When calls are not completed, people other than the caller may be harmed, the FCC noted. “Businesses lose orders, medical professionals are unable to reach patients, and family members cannot check on loved ones,” the advisory states.
benton.org/node/156267 | telecompetitor
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HEALTH

HEALTH INVESTMENT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Stevens]
[Commentary] The Affordable Healthcare Act has had a dramatic and unintended positive consequence. New investment in digital health has skyrocketed in the last two-year period, and all of these companies are focused on helping to solve the big problem that the ACA seeks to reform: How to deliver more and better health services, at lower costs, with healthy outcomes as the measure of success. In the wake of the ACA, over 100 digital health startups have been founded to take up the charge of delivering market-based solutions that solve for outcomes and efficiency improvements, including TelaDoc, CliniCast, iTriage, Omada, and Simplee. Several of these companies focus on improving outcomes at lower cost as the basis for their value proposition. This is highly disruptive to the existing healthcare business regime that has never been measured on outcomes.
[Stevens is CEO of Keas]
benton.org/node/156289 | Wall Street Journal
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TELEVISION

SUPREME COURT AND AEREO
[SOURCE: Philadelphia Daily News, AUTHOR: Scott Bomboy]
[Commentary] The latest legal defeat for big TV broadcasters against the start-up company Aereo could lead to a Supreme Court showdown over your ability to get free television signals. Aereo’s successful legal strategy, so far, is based on a 2008 ruling in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The case of Cartoon Network, LP v. CSC Holdings found that Cablevision had the right to record Cartoon Network programs using a DVR service that Cablevision hosted for the benefit of its subscribers. In a July 2012 ruling, a U.S. district court denied the broadcasters’ request for an injunction against Aereo, which is only marketed in New York City, citing the Cartoon Network decision. The judge in that case said without the Cartoon Network precedent, the broadcasters would have likely gained the injunction, based on copyright laws. In the long run, networks could be forced to rethink their business strategy about offering free TV signals if they lose the Aereo case. But such a decision would also face Congressional and Federal Communications Commission scrutiny. About 10 percent of people still watch TV using an antenna and not cable, which is enough of an audience to make advertising concerns another critical factor.
[Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center]
benton.org/node/156314 | Philadelphia Daily News
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

CAMERON’S WARNING
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Henry Mance, Elizabeth Rigby]
UK Prime Minister David Cameron warned search engines such as Google and Yahoo that his government would bring in legislation if they fail to hinder access to child pornography voluntarily by October. The threat of new laws was among measures to both crack down on online child pornography, while also making it harder for children to access explicit websites. The prime minister called on search engines to “stop offering up any returns” on searches for terms in an abuse blacklist to be prepared by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, a government agency. However, that approach – which would go further than many other European countries – raised immediate doubts.
benton.org/node/156310 | Financial Times | FT – Google, Microsoft | CSM
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America's broadband blues

[Commentary] Over the last year, America's broadband report card, in my estimation, has gone from a D to a C-.

Although the U.S. has definitely shown signs of improvement in high-speed Internet access, the achievements have been mostly in mobile broadband, not the wired broadband we need for children everywhere to reliably access their homework, for towns to keep and attract jobs, and to generally support a 21st century digital economy and a modern education system.

A recent series of opinion pieces, jumping off from a fairly positive White House assessment of broadband progress, trumpeted the case for feeling good about Internet availability in America. What they didn't say is that U.S. companies do not generally offer high-speed broadband to customers even though the networks theoretically support them, so our superiority really doesn't do us much good. Nor does leading the world in 4G wireless capability. Smartphones do not appear to generate productivity gains, whereas access to wired broadband does. We don't do broadband report cards so we can pat ourselves on the back. We do them because affordable high-speed access to the Internet has become as critical to success in the 21st century as electricity and telephones were in the 20th century. The few locales in the United States that qualify as "Gigabit cities" — where the Internet can be accessed at 1 gigabit a second — have seen almost immediate economic and social benefits, while communities without broadband struggle to create jobs. Our broadband report card may "show improvement," but let's not kid ourselves. We, and our elected officials, need to push the broadband industry to provide affordable, reliable broadband to everyone.

[Feld is senior vice president of Public Knowledge]

State of the Internet: the internet’s getting faster in lesser-developed countries

In many parts of the world, countries with sparse or underdeveloped internet infrastructure are getting a technology boost. But the upgrade in network speeds has also created new opportunities for hacker attacks, according to Akamai’s State of the Internet report.

Since this time last year, the average internet speed among the 117 countries that qualified for the quarterly study has grown by 17 percent to 3.1 Mbps, with a number of countries — including Ecuador, Guatemala, Iraq and Indonesia — seeing double-digit growth. While connection speeds in many underdeveloped countries places are still well below global averages (at speeds of close to 1Mbps) these developing areas are prioritizing internet growth.

A Terrible Precedent for Press Freedom

[Commentary] An egregious appeals court ruling has dealt a major setback to press freedoms by requiring the author of a 2006 book to testify in the criminal trial of a former Central Intelligence Agency official charged with leaking classified information. The ruling and the Justice Department’s misplaced zeal in subpoenaing James Risen, the book’s author and a reporter for the New York Times, carry costs for robust journalism and government accountability that should alarm all Americans. The precedent set here is especially troubling since the Fourth Circuit, where the ruling applies, includes Maryland and Virginia, home to most national security agencies. If left to stand, it could significantly chill investigative reporting, especially about national security issues.

Risen should not have to testify in CIA case

[Commentary] The federal appeals court decision ordering New York Times reporter James Risen to testify in the trial of a CIA operative charged with leaking classified information to him is as shocking as it is chilling. In an impassioned dissent, Judge Roger Gregory said if the ruling stands, it will be a "serious threat" to investigative journalism. More like a death knell, we'd say. Who would talk to reporters in confidence?

Pentagon Offers Compromise on Spectrum Sought by Wireless Carriers

The Defense Department has offered to compromise with wireless carriers in a fight over valuable spectrum now used for purposes like training pilots in the Pentagon's drone program.

At issue is the government's first substantial auction of airwave rights in half a decade. Carriers have been pressing regulators to include spectrum in the 1755 to 1780 megahertz bands in the coming auction. In a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration filed with the Federal Communications Commission, the military said it can largely relocate out of those bands "while ensuring no loss of critical DOD capabilities." The position is a turnabout for the Defense Department, which previously had expressed concerns about making room for carriers, saying it could impact military operations, particularly for air combat training systems. Drone training programs would also be affected.

Lots on line in 'Obama phone' fight

TracFone, a prepaid service provider led by one of the world’s richest men, longs to cut the “Obama phone” line of attacks to save a program for the poor — and its bottom line.

The company, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, has launched a lobbying ground war to promote the controversial phone subsidy initiative known as Lifeline. And in the wake of congressional blasts, the program’s largest participant has found backhanded support from an unlikely coalition of rights groups and industry advocates pushing for the same goal: to spare it. “We had enough,” said Jose Fuentes, a spokesman for Miami-based TracFone who registered as a federal lobbyist this spring. “A lot of this misinformation was generated by Washington lawmakers themselves. And a few members have picked up on this issue and made it a political one to score points back in their districts.” TracFone funded a full-page ad in The Times-Picayune this spring that depicted flooded New Orleans with the banner: “Lifeline’s wireless benefit was born out of Katrina. Sen. David Vitter must have forgotten.”

How the Supreme Court could decide the future of broadcast television

[Commentary] The latest legal defeat for big TV broadcasters against the start-up company Aereo could lead to a Supreme Court showdown over your ability to get free television signals.

Aereo’s successful legal strategy, so far, is based on a 2008 ruling in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The case of Cartoon Network, LP v. CSC Holdings found that Cablevision had the right to record Cartoon Network programs using a DVR service that Cablevision hosted for the benefit of its subscribers. In a July 2012 ruling, a U.S. district court denied the broadcasters’ request for an injunction against Aereo, which is only marketed in New York City, citing the Cartoon Network decision. The judge in that case said without the Cartoon Network precedent, the broadcasters would have likely gained the injunction, based on copyright laws. In the long run, networks could be forced to rethink their business strategy about offering free TV signals if they lose the Aereo case. But such a decision would also face Congressional and Federal Communications Commission scrutiny. About 10 percent of people still watch TV using an antenna and not cable, which is enough of an audience to make advertising concerns another critical factor.

[Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center]

More Computer Failures in New York City’s 911 System

New York City’s aging 911 dispatch system, which has recently faced problems, went offline a number of times on July 22, for a total of 90 minutes, causing delays and forcing operators to use pen and paper to record emergency calls, the authorities said.

The failures, at least six in all, slowed 911 response times somewhat, said Francis X. Gribbon, a Fire Department spokesman. By Monday evening, the system was fully operational again. It was not yet clear what caused the failures, Mr. Gribbon said, though he noted that the problem seemed to have occurred in the system’s data storage equipment. No calls were lost, and two other systems used to dispatch police officers and firefighters remained online, the Fire Department said in a statement.

UK’s Cameron warns search engines on child pornography

UK Prime Minister David Cameron warned search engines such as Google and Yahoo that his government would bring in legislation if they fail to hinder access to child pornography voluntarily by October. The threat of new laws was among measures to both crack down on online child pornography, while also making it harder for children to access explicit websites. The prime minister called on search engines to “stop offering up any returns” on searches for terms in an abuse blacklist to be prepared by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, a government agency. However, that approach – which would go further than many other European countries – raised immediate doubts.