July 2013

The right to phone service

[Commentary] After holding public hearings around the state, the California Public Utilities Commission is expected to propose improvements to California Lifeline — a program that offers discounted phone service to the poor — by year's end. But state lawmakers, backed by phone and cable companies, are trying to rush through their own update for the program before the commission acts.

Their bill has the right goal: giving low-income consumers more choices, including wireless and Internet-based phone service. But the measure is premature and its consumer protections too thin. The bill relies on competition, not regulation, to preserve low-income Californians' access to basic communications services. And though it makes sense to move in that direction — there are far more providers of phone service today than there were 30 years ago — it seems reckless to go as far as the bill would while also dropping the commission's mandate to monitor how many Californians lack phone service of any kind. The right way to proceed is to let the commission do its work. If lawmakers don't like the result, they can override it. Unlike the Legislature, the commission has developed an extensive record of views not just from industry executives but from Lifeline users and other consumers. That process shouldn't be short-circuited when it's so close to completion.

Apple’s Move Into TV Relies on Cooperation With Industry Leaders

When Apple wanted to revolutionize cellphones, it held hands with AT&T. The partners fought endlessly, but the public loved the finished product: the iPhone. Now, as Apple tries to reimagine television, it is taking the partnership route again, collaborating with distributors like Time Warner Cable and programmers like the Walt Disney Company on apps that might eliminate the unpleasant parts of TV watching, like bothersome set-top boxes or clunky remote controls.

Apple’s broader strategy — what its chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, recently called its “grand vision” for television — remains shrouded in secrecy, as everything Apple-related tends to be. Some analysts continue to predict, as they have for years, that the company will someday come out with a full-blown television set. Whether or not an iTV ever materializes, the company’s more modest steps, like improving the $100 Apple TV box that 13 million households now have and adding access to cable channels through the box, suggest that its strategy stands in stark contrast to Google’s, which is contemplating an Internet cable service that would compete directly with distributors like Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

Google reclaims No. 1 spot in tech world but its hold may be tenuous

Google Inc. is back on top of the tech world. Can it stay there?

For years, the technology giant grumbled while playing second fiddle to Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. But with both rivals now on the outs with investors, Google is ascending once again. Fueling that heady rise: Google continues to make money hand over fist from search and online advertising. At the same time, it's branching out into promising new areas. Its Android software powers more than 900 million smartphones around the world, guaranteeing that Google’s products such as maps and email are as popular on mobile as they are on the desktop. And although ads on tiny screens are not as lucrative as they are on the desktop, causing Google's average ad price to slip on a year-over-year basis for six straight quarters, Google is making strides there too by changing the way it sells ads to get marketers to buy more of them on mobile devices. Another bright spot for Google: advertising on video-sharing website YouTube. The search giant is also making news and waves by experimenting with new technologies such as Internet-connected glasses and self-driving cars.

Families who Facebook together stay together, study says

Here's something parents can "Like": Teens who interact with their parents on Facebook are also more likely to feel closer to them in real life.

A study released this week by Brigham Young University says parents who connect with their kids on Facebook and other social networks are likely to build a stronger connection with them in real life. These teens also have higher rates of "pro social behavior," meaning they are more generous, kind and helpful to others, according to the study. "Social networks give an intimate look at your teenager’s life," Sarah Coyne, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "It lets parents know what their kids are going through, what their friends think is cool or fun, and helps them feel more connected to their child. It gives a nice little window into what is going on." Coyne said parents can build these connections by liking and leaving nice comments on their teens' Facebook posts. She said this gives parents opportunities to show their support for their kids.

Benton Foundation Names New Executive Director

Adrianne Benton Furniss, a veteran media marketing, distribution and management exec at Sesame Workshop and Home Vision Entertainment, has been named executive director of the Benton Foundation. Furniss is the daughter of foundation chairman Charles Benton and granddaughter of founder William Benton.

Benton billed it as the beginning of a "transition to a new generation of Benton stewardship." Cecilia Garcia, who has been the executive director since 2007, continues as senior advisor and will focus on collaboration on projects involving accessibility of low-income seniors to 21st century telecom. Amina Fazlullah, who has led the foundation's federal telecom and media policy efforts in Washington, has been named director of policy. The foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to media in the public interest. It is currently focused on universal, affordable broadband, a mission it shares with the current FCC and White House.

In European Antitrust Fight, Google Needs to Appease Competitors

Google has so far emerged from its tangles with antitrust authorities virtually unscathed. But in Europe, regulators said, Google will not have it as easy.

The European Commission formally said for the first time that Google’s proposal for addressing antitrust concerns did not go far enough, and demanded that it come up with more far-reaching remedies or potentially face a fine of up to $5 billion. It was a significant setback for Google, which in April struck a deal with the commission to settle its three-year antitrust investigation by making certain changes in the way it displays answers to search inquiries. But the deal was contingent on feedback from Google’s rivals. The commission determined that the proposal was inadequate, and said the company needed to do more to address rivals’ concerns. The about-face followed an outcry from Google competitors during the market testing phase of the inquiry, in which the commission asked for feedback on the proposal.

MPs criticize handover of rural broadband contracts to BT

A UK government committee scrutinizing public finances has criticized the state-backed rollout of rural broadband that led to all contracts being awarded to a “monopoly supplier” in BT. The public accounts committee, chaired by Margaret Hodge, also questioned BT’s transparency following criticism of the process in evidence from rival bidders for £530 million of state funds.

The parliamentary criticism follows a report from the National Audit Office which found that the plans to push superfast broadband to more than 90 percent of the UK were being delivered nearly two years behind schedule and without competition. BT has won all the contracts to provide local broadband under BDUK, the rural broadband strategy, and is set to win the remainder after all rivals withdrew citing problems with the process. BT is matching some of the state funds on the rollout of broadband to areas that would not otherwise be economically viable. Providing evidence to the committee on Wednesday, rivals to BT criticized the model created to distribute the funds through local authorities, which they claim favored BT.

The NSA Admits It Analyzes More People's Data Than Previously Revealed

As an aside during testimony on Capitol Hill, a National Security Agency representative rather casually indicated that the government looks at data from a universe of far, far more people than previously indicated.

Chris Inglis, the agency's deputy director, was one of several government representatives—including from the FBI and the office of the Director of National Intelligence—testifying before the House Judiciary Committee this morning. Most of the testimony largely echoed previous testimony by the agencies on the topic of the government's surveillance, including a retread of the same offered examples for how the Patriot Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had stopped terror events. But Inglis' statement was new. Analysts look "two or three hops" from terror suspects when evaluating terror activity, Inglis revealed. Previously, the limit of how surveillance was extended had been described as two hops. This meant that if the NSA were following a phone metadata or web trail from a terror suspect, it could also look at the calls from the people that suspect has spoken with—one hop. And then, the calls that second person had also spoken with—two hops. Terror suspect to person two to person three. Two hops. And now: A third hop.

Department of Justice official admits collecting data unrelated to terrorism

The second-ranking Justice Department official acknowledged that the government has been collecting phone records that are not relevant to any terrorism investigation.

Under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the government has the authority to seize records only if they are "relevant" to a terrorism investigation. Following leaks of classified information by former contractor Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency acknowledged that it has been using Section 215 to obtain records on virtually all phone calls within the United States. The records include the time and duration of calls, as well as the phone numbers involved but not the contents of the conversations. “How is having every phone call that I make to my wife, to my daughter relevant to any terror investigation,” Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) asked Deputy Attorney General James Cole during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “I don’t think that they would be relevant, and we would probably not seek to query them because we wouldn’t have the information that we need to make that query,” Cole said. He explained that, although the NSA acquires millions of phone records, it only accesses that massive database if it has a "reasonable, articulable suspicion that the phone number being searched is associated with certain terrorist organizations."

FCC Tweaks Connect America Order

The Federal Communications Commission says it has taken steps to better insure that the broadband subsidies in the first phase of its Connect America Fund (CAF) transition from phone to broadband support is not used to overbuild existing service, something cable operators have been, and continue to be, concerned about.

The FCC in May released a second tranche of money in Phase I of its Connect America Funding of rural fixed broadband buildouts in areas unserved by its definition of high-speed broadband, which it expanded to from those without dial-up speeds (768 downstream/200 Kbps upstream) to some areas lacking up to the FCC's definition of high-speed access (at least 3 Mbps downstream and 768 Mbps upstream). Carriers who plan to deliver service to census blocks not identified in its initial proposal, or who plan not to serve blocks that were identified, must inform the FCC and relevant state and local governments beforehand, 90 days before hand in the case of adding blocks.

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