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  2. August 2013

August 2013

Facebook updates data use policy

Facebook announced that it is making changes to its data use policy — formerly known as its privacy policy — and its statement of rights and responsibilities, the two main documents that govern the relationship between the network and its 1.15 billion users.

Users can review these changes on the Facebook Web site, and the company has posted a section by section breakdown of the proposed changes to the policies. While users are no longer able to vote on changes to Facebook’s policies, chief privacy officer Erin Egan said in a company blog post that the network is happy to field feedback from its users over the next seven days. The proposed changes include an explicit explanation that users’ name, profile picture and information such as brands they like can be used for “commercial, sponsored or related content. Those under 18 have to show that at least one parent or guardian has also agreed to those terms on behalf of any younger users. The changes come shortly after the firm settled with Facebook users who complained that the company had abused their right to privacy by including some information in ads without notifying or compensating them.

Troubles Ahead for Internet Advertising

[Commentary] When it comes to advertising, the Internet is at war with itself.

Much of the Web relies on advertising income, but anti-ad technology could put a dent in that revenue. A recent report from the Web service PageFair said that on average 22.7 percent of visitors to 220 Web sites were using ad-blocking software, which automatically removes most ads from a Web page. The figures were highest in gaming and technology Web sites, which tend to have a large concentration of savvy users. PageFair said the practice was growing at a rate that suggests almost all sites will appear without ads by 2018.

Earlier this year, Google kicked Adblock for Android mobile devices off its store, making it harder to get the mobile version (it’s still available at an Adblock site). This “had a significant impact on user growth,” said Till Faida, a co-founder of Eyeo, which produces the Adblock software for numerous browsers. Google is keen to make income from mobile ads, partly because the price advertisers pay Google for largely nonmobile Web advertising has fallen for the past seven quarters. Advertising, in effect, will have a less distinct role in overall marketing. And when a product or function is subsumed, it typically loses some of its profit margin.

Samsung, Apple rivalry set to heat up in September

Samsung is laying ground for big, competitive moves this fall with two new devices that could amp up its rivalry with Apple.

Samsung executives have said the company plans to release a smartwatch and a new version of its big-screen Galaxy Note smartphone ahead of a major mobile conference next month in Germany. The launch comes ahead of Apple’s expected Sept. 10 event to unveil its next version of the iPhone and possibly a cheaper Apple phone to compete with other smartphones with a lower price tag.

Sinking profitability is a problem facing many companies that make top-tier smartphones. As the markets for high-end smartphones hit close to a saturation point, it’s become harder for firms to pick up easy growth. To compensate, companies have had to start lowering their price points, particularly in emerging smartphone markets such as China. Analysts have linked that price competition to the growing popularity of the devices.

Time Warner Cable customers fuming as CBS blackout drags on

The upcoming football season is likely to provide the tipping point, analysts say, with both CBS and Time warner Cable under increased pressure to resolve their contract dispute, which has blacked out the CBS-owned KCBS Channel 2 and KCAL Channel 9 in more than 1 million Los Angeles homes served by the cable company. Both companies are under increased pressure — from viewers, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission — to resolve their differences.

"This is so frustrating," Justin Bass, a Los Angeles Dodgers fan said. "The whole system is broken. There's no recourse. I just have to sit here and take it." Time Warner Cable customers like Bass, unless they have installed an over-the-air antenna to capture the broadcast signal, have missed nine Dodgers games that have aired on KCAL.

"The problem is, Congress is out, the FCC is waiting to confirm a new chair, and pretty much everyone is resigned to blackouts as the 'new normal,'" said Harold Feld, senior vice president of the public interest group Public Knowledge. The National Football League season starts Sept. 5, and CBS is expected to broadcast its first regular season game Sept. 8. Consumer outrage is expected to ignite if the blackout isn't over by then.

Linear TV Viewing Still Matters As Cord-Cutting Trend Expands: Study

Although cord-cutting is on the rise, the amount of viewing of regularly-scheduled broadcast TV has remained fairly stable, Ericsson found in its fourth-annual ConsumerLab survey, which tabulated results from a mix of online and in-home interviews conducted in more than a dozen countries.

According to the study, 83% said they watch scheduled broadcast TV on a more than a weekly basis, up from 79% in 2012, and the same percentage in 2011. "Linear TV still has an important role for consumers, and we don't see any decline in frequency of usage. For example, as many as 36% of respondents feel that watching live sports is a very important part of their TV habits," said Anders Erlandsson, senior researcher at Ericsson ConsumerLab.

Administration Previews Optional Industry Cyber Standards

The Obama Administration released a draft of computer security protocols for companies that operate key systems, such as chemical plants and the electric grid. Final guidelines to protect the networks that run critical infrastructure are due, by executive order, in February 2014. A final draft is expected to be published in October, according to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the agency ordered to produce the standards. Although the guidelines will be optional, federal officials are weighing whether to make them mandatory for government contractors.

Library TV White Spaces Broadband Trial to Include Rural, Non-Rural Areas

Participants have been chosen for a trial of TV white spaces equipment for public libraries announced by the Gigabit Libraries Network. The trial, scheduled to get underway soon, is designed to test the practicality of Wi-Fi hotspots that use vacant TV spectrum known as TV white spaces for connectivity to the Internet.

TV white spaces technology is normally viewed as a good solution for rural areas because it has excellent propagation characteristics, thereby supporting connectivity over several miles — even without line of sight. And several of the communities chosen for the trial are in rural areas – including Humboldt County, CA; Delta County, CO; and a statewide collaboration involving the University of New Hampshire’s Broadband Center of Excellence and NH FastRoads.

Perhaps surprisingly, though, one of the communities chosen was Skokie, IL – a Chicago suburb that’s anything but rural. When asked about the selection of this diverse, entrepreneurial and urban community, GLN Coordinator Don Means noted that “Skokie’s primary means of public broadband access is a fiber line split between the library, the park district, and the high school. Demand for bandwidth means this capacity is frequently strained, and network managers have to work to ensure no one organization overuses the resource.” Gaining access to the Super WiFi spectrum, he said, would give the Skokie library “an even greater resource with which [to] serve the community, from the technologically advanced to the underserved, and everyone in between.”

US spy network’s successes, failures and objectives detailed in ‘black budget’ summary

US spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the President on a range of national security threats, according to the government’s top secret budget. The $52.6 billion “black budget” for fiscal 2013, obtained by The Washington Post from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, maps a bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny. Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending since 2007, it has not divulged how it uses those funds or how it performs against the goals set by the President and Congress. The 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Program details the successes, failures and objectives of the 16 spy agencies that make up the US intelligence community, which has 107,035 employees. The summary describes cutting-edge technologies, agent recruiting and ongoing operations.

The National Security Agency and the CIA launched aggressive new programs to hack into foreign computer networks and sabotage systems described as "offensive cyber operations." The US spends $4.3 billion annually on cyber operations, according to the report. The figure includes efforts to prevent hackers from accessing U.S. systems.

Mobility Fund Phase I Support Authorized for 20 Winning Bids

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Wireline Competition Bureau authorized Mobility Fund Phase I support for 20 winning bids.

August 29, 2013 (Australian spies in global deal to tap undersea cables)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2013

Let’s talk privacy http://benton.org/calendar/2013-08-29/


GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Australian spies in global deal to tap undersea cables
   Statement by the Press Secretary on the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology - press release
   Obama’s surveillance board packed with insiders
   Why aren’t there any technologists on the NSA review panel? - analysis
   Sen Grassley demands more information about NSA abuse [links to web]
   How aluminum foil could stop warrantless cell phone searches [links to web]
   Did you know Montana was a leader on privacy laws? Neither did Montana. [links to web]
   French prosecutor investigates US Prism spying scheme [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   If You Are Streaming Video, You Can't Cap Your Rivals - analysis
   Amazon Asks Supreme Court to Decide Sales Tax Fight [links to web]
   Comcast to Light Up 250-Meg Broadband Service in Provo, Utah [links to web]

WIRLESS/SPECTRUM
   Verizon and Vodafone Rekindle Talks on $100 Billion-Plus Deal
   Extra cost to make Google phone in US: $4
   Connected devices are coming to your closet and 911 call [links to web]
   Can Google Glass Help First Responders? [links to web]
   NTIA Applauds CSMAC’s Work to Make More Spectrum Available for Commercial Use - press release [links to web]

TELEVISION
   The changing economics of retransmission consent and what's at stake - analysis
   CBS-Time Warner Cable fight invites football fans’ wrath
   LPTVs Threaten To Sue FCC Over Spectrum Auction
   Broadcasters Donate $6.9 Million in Airtime to End the Stigma Around Mental Health - press release [links to web]

CYBERSECURITY
   Attacks like the one against the New York Times should put consumers on alert [links to web]
   NYT hack exposes Web Achilles' heel [links to web]
   Government Issues Warning About Security on Android Phones [links to web]
   Here’s how one hacker is waging war on the Syrian government [links to web]
   Expect more Web hacking if US strikes Syria: cybersecurity expert [links to web]

CONTENT
   MPAA Claims Victory in Hotfile Piracy Case [links to web]
   Inside the Bitcoin advocates’ closed-door meeting with federal regulators

PRIVACY
   New Report Exposes Flaws in Obama Administration’s “Multistakeholder” Effort to Establish Privacy Safeguards: White House Must Act Now to Fulfill its Vision for a “Privacy Bill of Rights” - press release
   DMA: Industry Should Draft Any Future Voluntary Privacy Codes
   Peter Swire Quits Group Tasked With Creating Out Do Not Track Standard

TELECOM
   FCC Must Provide Guidance On Natural Disasters - analysis
   Fox Continues Falsely Claiming Low-Income Phone Program Is Taxpayer Funded

EDUCATION
   Museums, Researchers Shifting to Online Science Education Outreach
   Pass rates up for online classes at San Jose State
   LAUSD launches its drive to equip every student with iPads
   For Rural Teachers, Support Is a Click Away

HEALTH
   IT needs to target health disparities, consumer groups say [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   Verizon’s Link Hoewing Signing Off - analysis [links to web]
   Former intellectual property chief to lead software lobby [links to web]

COMPANY NEWS
   Facebook’s share of digital advertising growing fast, thanks to mobile [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   EU telecoms chief drops plan to slash wholesale roaming prices
   French prosecutor investigates US Prism spying scheme [links to web]
   In historic vote, New Zealand bans software patents [links to web]
   UK competition watchdog to probe Google Waze acquisition [links to web]
   China's Online Shopping Boom May Surpass US Internet Sales [links to web]

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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

AUSTRALIA’S UNDERSEA CABLES
[SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, AUTHOR: Philip Dorling]
The nation's electronic espionage agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, is in a partnership with British, American and Singaporean intelligence agencies to tap undersea fiber optic telecommunications cables that link Asia, the Middle East and Europe and carry much of Australia's international phone and Internet traffic. Secret information disclosed by United States intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden has revealed that the British Government Communications Headquarters is collecting all data transmitted to and from the United Kingdom and Northern Europe via the SEA-ME-WE-3 cable that runs from Japan, via Singapore, Djibouti, Suez and the Straits of Gibraltar to Northern Germany. Australia is connected to SEA-ME-WE-3 by a link from Singapore to Perth, and GCHQ's bulk interception includes much of Australia's telecommunications and Internet traffic with Europe. Singaporean intelligence co-operates with Australia in accessing and sharing communications carried by the SEA-ME-WE-3 cable which lands at Tuas on the western side of Singapore Island.
benton.org/node/158043 | Sydney Morning Herald
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REVIW GROUP ON INTELLIGENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney]
On August 9, President Barack Obama called for a high-level group of experts to review our intelligence and communications technologies. [On August 27] the President met with the members of this group: Richard Clarke, Michael Morell, Geoffrey Stone, Cass Sunstein and Peter Swire. These individuals bring to the task immense experience in national security, intelligence, oversight, privacy and civil liberties. The Review Group will bring a range of experience and perspectives to bear to advise the President on how, in light of advancements in technology, the United States can employ its technical collection capabilities in a way that optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy while respecting our commitment to privacy and civil liberties, recognizing our need to maintain the public trust, and reducing the risk of unauthorized disclosure. The President thanked the Members of the Group for taking on this important task and looks forward to hearing from them as their work proceeds. Within 60 days of beginning their work, the Review Group will brief their interim findings to the President through the Director of National Intelligence, and the Review Group will provide a final report and recommendations to the President.
benton.org/node/157997 | White House, The
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OBAMA’S SURVEILLANCE BOARD PACKED WITH INSIDERS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
President Barack Obama pledged he’d appoint “outside experts” to review the country’s surveillance practices, but he’s since tapped largely insiders for the key posts. The group, formed to examine the policies and procedures at the National Security Agency as it tracks terrorism suspects’ digital communications, is composed mostly of Washington types, many with connections to the very intelligence establishment they’re now tasked with scrutinizing in the wake of Edward Snowden’s leaks. There’s Michael Morell, a CIA veteran who once led the agency on an interim basis; Richard Clarke, a top counter-terrorism official in the Clinton and Bush administrations; and Cass Sunstein, a well-known academic who did regulatory work for the Obama White House and is married to United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power. In the absence of technologists on the board, Chris Soghoian, principal technologist and senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, said there’s “no way” for the new surveillance review group to address the burgeoning debate over surveillance when it’s composed primarily of lawyers and career Washington types. The board does not include technology executives either, some of whom — like Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google engineer Vint Cerf — huddled with Administration officials and the President himself days before President Obama announced the review. “I think it’s fair to say that by stressing the idea of an independent review board, the appointees don’t live up to what most people view as independent,” said Leslie Harris, president of the Center for Democracy and Technology. What President Obama was actually seeking, Harris said, was a group to look at the internal management and effectiveness of surveillance programs. She added the board has a “very broad mission, and I’m going to withhold judgment until I see what they do.”
benton.org/node/158042 | Politico
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WHY AREN’T THERE ANY TECHNOLOGISTS ON THE NSA REVIEW PANEL?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Andrea Peterson]
[Commentary] The White House panel to review government surveillance policies includes Michael Morell, Richard Clarke, Cass Sunstein, Peter Swire, and Geoffrey Stone. Some in the tech and privacy communities expressed dismay at the lack of tech expertise on the panel. Chris Soghoian, principal technologist and a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, for example, asked on Twitter, “Is it too much to ask that the NSA surveillance review panel include at least one person who knows how to actually run a packet sniffer?” Joseph Lorenzo Hall, the senior staff technologist at the Center for Democracy & Technology where Swire is a Fellow, argued on Twitter than Swire’s publication history showed he was technically literate, but wrote he would have liked to see someone like Princeton computer science professor Ed Felten on the panel. Having a technologist like Felten on the panel could provide much-needed insight into the broader technical implications of government surveillance practices.
benton.org/node/158026 | Washington Post
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

IF YOU ARE STREAMING VIDEO, YOU CAN'T CAP YOUR RIVALS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Michael Weinberg]
[Commentary] Time Warner Cable (TWC) recently announced that its cable TV subscribers can download an app onto their Xbox360 consoles. The app gives them access to a wide range of cable content through their Xbox360. But for the fact that Time Warner Cable also imposes data caps on its subscribers, this would be fantastic news. It is great to see companies like Time Warner Cable (TWC) trying out new things. And we have pushed the FCC for years to update its rules to make it easier for all cable subscribers (and, for that matter, all other pay TV subscribers) to access the content they pay for on the devices of their choosing. So why can't we celebrate TWC's announcement? Because as the internet offers more ways for competitors to reach consumers, the way that cable companies treat the internet begins to matter more. One way to see this will be on the Xbox dashboards of TWC customers who download the TWC app. Remember, those Xboxes don't have cable inputs in the back – customers attach them to their home routers. Next to the TWC app may be a number of other apps – Netflix, Amazon, Crackle, and more. One one level, all of those apps are the same. They offer the customer a way to watch video through their Xboxes on their TV. But on another level, they are very different. All of those apps, with the exception of TWC's, will count against the customer's data cap. That's a significant advantage for TWC.
benton.org/node/158039 | Public Knowledge
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WIRLESS/SPECTRUM

VERIZON-VODAFONE RESUME TALKS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ryan Knutson, Spencer Ante, Dana Cimilluca]
Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group have rekindled talks about a buyout of the UK company's stake in their US wireless joint venture in a deal that would likely cost Verizon well over $100 billion. Vodafone said there is no certainty an agreement will be reached. Apparently, Verizon is in discussions with banks about the tens of billions of dollars in loans it would need to complete the deal. Verizon has sought for years to buy out Vodafone's 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. cellphone carrier, but the companies have never been able to agree on price. They remained far apart earlier this year, with Verizon looking to pay around $100 billion and Vodafone hoping for more like $130 billion.
benton.org/node/158053 | Wall Street Journal | FT
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EXTRA COST TO MAKE GOOGLE PHONE IN US: $4
[SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: David Goldman]
Google made a big splash when it announced the Moto X, the new flagship phone of the company's Motorola division, will be manufactured in Texas. An analysis of the smartphone's internal components by IHS iSuppli revealed that the Moto X costs between $3.50 and $4 more per phone to make than the Apple iPhone 5 or the Samsung Galaxy S4 -- both of which are assembled in China. "In spite of its 'Made in the USA' label, overall costs are still competitive with similar smartphones," said Andrew Rassweiler, IHS' senior director of cost benchmarking services. It's a remarkable feat at a time when making gadgets and gizmos in the Far East has become the norm. Don't expect a "Made in the USA" revolution. Not only could $4 per phone be an underestimate in extra cost to manufacture them in the USA, American labor is still too expensive and China has far more skilled engineers than the United States does.
benton.org/node/158018 | CNNMoney
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TELEVISION

ECONOMICS OF RETRANSMISSION CONSENT
[SOURCE: SNL Kagan, AUTHOR: Robin Flynn]
A high-profile battle over fast-growing retrans fees, the new spotlight on digital rights and a more vocal FCC (particularly in the ownership caps arena) have the industry nervously looking ahead to see if expectations regarding retrans revenue growth may have to be adjusted. In this analysis, SNL Kagan looks at what's at stake and how the dollars may move. Industry wide, a $2/sub/month retrans fee would dramatically alter the economics of the discussion. CBS is thought to be currently receiving in the range of $0.65-$0.75/sub/month but would like to move that to $2 over the life of the new agreement. Kagan’s latest projections show the industry generating more than $3 billion in retrans fees this year and up to $6.1 billion by 2018. But that's based on average fees of $0.56/sub/month across the whole industry in 2013, all market ranges and large to small owners, rising to $1.00/sub/month in 2018. Doubling that increases the potential revenue base to more than $12 billion in 2018. Kagan doesn't think that will happen, given that not all broadcasters have the same leverage as CBS, but it bears consideration. Even as large owners are discussing moving from $1/sub/month to higher levels, in the first quarter of 2013, Kagan calculates that the average station owner was still in deals producing sub fees averaging $0.59/sub/month, excluding Entravision Communications which splits its take with Univision Communications Inc. The next big battle could be around DISH Network Corp. and Walt Disney Co.'s contract renewal, coming up in September.
benton.org/node/157996 | SNL Kagan
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FOOTBALL AND RETRANSMISSION
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Brooks Boliek]
Peyton and Eli Manning may play a starring role in bringing the long-running CBS-Time Warner Cable fight to an end while at the same time putting pressure on Washington to change the law at the heart of the dispute. The contract battle, which has dragged on for nearly a month, has resulted in CBS blackouts for Time Warner Cable customers in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. But if it plays out like other major “retransmission” spats in recent years, a major sports event like the Sept. 15 Manning brothers matchup in the Giants-Broncos game may act as a catalyst to bring the companies together for an agreement. Disputes like this one — with a broadcaster demanding more compensation from a pay-TV operator to run its programming — often precede a big NFL game, the World Series or the Oscars, high-profile events that raise the negotiating stakes. But by turning consumers into pawns, the strategy also carries risks.
benton.org/node/158051 | Politico
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LPTVS THREATEN TO SUE FCC OVER SPECTRUM AUCTION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
A coalition of low-power TV licensees concerned about their fate in the Federal Communications Commission's repacking of stations after incentive auctions has threatened to sue the FCC if it does not conduct an LPTV impact study before any final auction rulemaking is voted. In a filing with the FCC, the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition said that it could not leave its collective fate "to the whims of legal bureaucrats who do not in any way know our businesses...Without such a study being done prior to any final rule making and order, the Coalition will be forced to initiate legal action."
benton.org/node/158023 | Broadcasting&Cable
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CONTENT

INSIDE THE BITCOIN ADVOCATES’ CLOSED-DOOR MEETING WITH FEDERAL REGULATORS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
The US government took the latest step toward regulating virtual currencies as representatives from the Bitcoin Foundation met behind closed doors with federal officials in Washington. Attendees say the meeting was cordial, with regulators listening carefully as Bitcoin advocates warned that excessive regulation could drive innovation in virtual currencies overseas. Nearly a dozen high-level agencies were in attendance, including the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service, the Secret Service and the Financial Crimes and Enforcement Division (FinCEN) of the Treasury Department, which convened the discussion. The meeting was the first opportunity for advocates of Bitcoin — the online currency that can be used to buy real-world goods and services — to explain the system to a wide array of federal officials. Assuaging doubts concerning payment methods and vulnerability to financial crimes, Jim Harper, a member of the panel and the director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute, feels that allowing Bitcoin to operate freely might result in a more competitive payments sector. He said, “Right now, it’s $3 to get money out of an ATM,” Harper said. “Technology like Bitcoin could change that equilibrium . . . doing it in a market-based way rather than a regulatory way.”
benton.org/node/158027 | Washington Post
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PRIVACY

HEAD IN THE DIGITAL SAND
[SOURCE: Center for Digital Democracy, AUTHOR: Press release]
A report released by the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) criticizes the Obama Administration’s recent effort to establish new privacy safeguards for the Digital Era. The more than yearlong proceeding led by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to further the Administration’s proposed “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” failed to ensure that the public can be protected from the array of sophisticated mobile “app” data-gathering practices. The detailed, 34-page report, “Head in the Digital Sand,” argues that the lobbyist-dominated process failed to examine the actual operations of the mobile app industry and its impact on the ability of consumers to protect their privacy effectively. Among the most disturbing revelations is the growing use of real-time tracking and surveillance of individual mobile app users. Industry practices requiring investigation by the Federal Trade Commission are identified, including apps that stealthily eavesdrop on consumers to ensure they spend more on virtual goods and other services—moving them up, in industry parlance, from “minnows” to “dolphins” and then to big cash-generating “whales.” The report examines other mobile and app-related data collection practices, including the ways users are being tracked from device to device; how app developers “acquire” and target users; the role of so-called “ad exchanges” that auction off mobile consumers to advertisers in milliseconds, through the use of data-rich profiles; so-called “monetization” practices relied on by developers; and industry research on the unique personal relationship users have with mobile devices and content.
benton.org/node/158052 | Center for Digital Democracy | Read the report | Broadcasting&Cable
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DMA: INDUSTRY SHOULD DRAFT ANY FUTURE VOLUNTARY PRIVACY CODES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Digital Marketing Association already has plenty of suggestions to improve the National Telecommunications & Information Administration's (NTIA) multistakeholder process for enforcing the Obama Administration's consumer privacy "bill of rights." Those include letting industry create guidelines and give individual companies the opportunity to participate or not without any pressure from NTIA. Jerry Cerasale, senior VP, government affairs, for DMA, provided a number of suggestions in a letter to the NTIA chief Lawrence Strickling. Those suggestions include that industry stakeholders should draft any code they will have to consider adopting, with the multistakeholder meetings providing the opportunity for others, which would include public advocacy groups, to comment on the draft and decide whether or not they will support them. The Consumer Federation of America has recommended a selection process for code drafters from the broader multistakeholder community, which would include public advocacy groups like CFA. In addition to nixing that idea, DMA also doesn't like CFA's suggestion of hiring an outside party to facilitate or draft the code, and DMA says the industry should handle implementation testing.
benton.org/node/158030 | Broadcasting&Cable
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PETER SWIRE QUITS GROUP TASKED WITH CREATING OUT DO NOT TRACK STANDARD
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
The World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C’s) tracking protection working group, which is tasked with coming up with a Do Not Track browser standard, is facing another setback since its July meeting as its co-chairman Peter Swire officially bails from the group after less than a year. The group's most active members hold out little hope that all the disparate interests could be satisfied. Swire, a law professor and privacy expert is leaving to join President Obama's new surveillance review panel, saying he felt a "sense of responsibility" to serve.
benton.org/node/158022 | AdWeek
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TELECOM

GUIDANCE ON NATURAL DISASTERS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Chris Lewis]
[Commentary] August 29 will be the 8th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a storm that left a level of devastation and death in the Gulf Coast that horrified our nation. Soon after the storm in 2005 there was an open debate about whether it was smart to rebuild in cities such as New Orleans, where the cost to build back the city’s defenses against future storms was great due to the natural terrain and the level of technology needed to do the job. Residents had to choose if they would return to their homes and invest in making their communities whole again, or simply start over in a new town where the prospects were better. This decision is not unlike what communities faced following the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy along the New York and New Jersey coast in 2012. In both instances, residents decided that their community was “stronger than the storm” and that they would restore their communities back to a place that worked for all its people and businesses. Now the Federal Communications Commission faces a similar decision. After all previous natural disasters, such as Katrina, telecom and communications companies worked with the FCC to establish an understanding that they would, given adequate time by the agency, build back the parts of their network that had been destroyed in the disaster. Building out communications networks is expensive, time-consuming work and so the FCC set up a system under section 214(a) of the Communications Act for phone companies to ask for that needed time and flexibility.
benton.org/node/158050 | Public Knowledge
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FOX LIFELINE COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Media Matters for America, AUTHOR: Zachary Pleat]
Fox News falsely claimed that the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program to provide low-income Americans with telephone access is funded by taxpayers. In fact, it's funded entirely by fees charged to phone providers and other telecommunications companies, some of which pass on the costs to customers' phone bills. On Fox & Friends August 27, Gretchen Carlson interviewed Detroit News editorial page editor Nolan Finley about the Lifeline program. During the segment, both Carlson and Finley falsely asserted that the Lifeline program is taxpayer-funded, referring to it as an "entitlement program." On-screen text also pushed this false claim. Carlson's disregard for the facts was in direct contrast to her insistence, less than an hour before on Fox & Friends, that it was her Fox colleagues' "responsibility as journalists to try and keep the bar up high on intelligence to try and inform people of what's going on in the world."
benton.org/node/157995 | Media Matters for America
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EDUCATION

MUSEUMS, RESEARCHERS SHIFTING TO ONLINE SCIENCE EDUCATION OUTREACH
[SOURCE: Education Week, AUTHOR: Benjamin Herold]
From the Smithsonian Institution to a small, do-it-yourself aerodrome in Brooklyn, the nation's cultural institutions, researchers, and "makers" are using technology to overhaul the way they partner with K-12 teachers and students to deliver science education. Waning are face-to-face outreach and prepackaged curricular content meant to supplement existing classroom lessons. In their place are massive open online trainings, accessible to thousands of educators at the time and place of their choosing; interactive experiences meant to push students from being passive consumers of information to active producers of content and conductors of experiments; and tech-enhanced projects that seek to blur the boundaries between the classroom, the real world, and virtual environments. Lynn-Steven Engelke has overseen teacher programs and services for the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, since 2002. Engelke's office, formerly known as the Center for Education and Museum Studies, previously worked with about 2,000 K-12 educators each year, mostly through face-to-face presentations and courses. This year, the office was rechristened the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access. The new name reflects the center's new approach. A recent online conference called "Problem Solving With Smithsonian Experts" has reached almost 30,000 participants and counting, according to information the institution provided.
benton.org/node/158020 | Education Week
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ONLINE CLASSES AT SAN JOSE STATE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Carla Rivera]
Students who took online classes in a summer program at San Jose State University performed better than those who took the same online classes in the spring, a result that is likely to provide a boost to a highly touted but problem-plagued collaboration between the campus and an online provider. 83% of summer students in elementary statistics earned a C or better compared with 50.5% of those in the spring; and 72.6% of summer college algebra students made the grade compared with 25.4% of those in the spring. The pass rates for remedial math improved somewhat, reaching nearly 30% for summer students compared with 24% for those in the spring. Students in two new summer classes also fared well, with 67% earning a C or better in general psychology and 70% achieving that level in computer programming. Officials said they were encouraged by the developments, especially after the disappointing spring results raised a host of critical questions about the highly watched project with Udacity, a Mountain View-based online course provider. Each of the for-credit classes cost $150 with no state or federal support.
benton.org/node/158047 | Los Angeles Times
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IPADS FOR LA STUDENTS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Howard Blume]
Two local elementary schools became the first to roll out tablet computers in a $1-billion effort to put iPads in the hands of every student in the Los Angeles Unified School District. For Broadacres, in Carson, the tablets were an exhilarating upgrade for a campus that had no wireless Internet and few working computers. Technology was only marginally better at Cimarron, in Hawthorne, where the computer lab couldn't accommodate an entire class. LA schools Supt. John Deasy has pushed for the technology, which will cost about $1 billion — half of that for the Apple tablets and about half for other expenses, such as installing a wireless network on every campus. The vast majority of the cost will be covered by school construction bonds, a payment method that has sparked some concerns and legal and logistical hurdles. Not everyone is sold on whether the tablets will improve learning.
benton.org/node/158046 | Los Angeles Times
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SUPPORT FOR RURAL TEACHERS
[SOURCE: Education Week, AUTHOR: Stephen Sawchuk]
Though located hundreds of miles apart, only one thing separated Kansas teacher Linda Dixon from the six novice special educators she advised last year: bandwidth. Day and night, the veteran teacher offered personalized advice and support to her junior colleagues in all corners of the Sunflower State, as well as stimulate discussions among them and point the group toward resources through the online platform that kept them all connected. Online mentoring—or E-Mentoring for Student Success, as it’s called by the Santa Cruz (CA)-based New Teacher Center, which facilitates the Kansas initiative—is beginning to catch on as states seek ways to support new teachers that aren’t limited by geography or time. Those two factors have been particularly challenging for teachers in rural locales, where the nearest physics, calculus, or special education teacher might be in a school or district hours away.
benton.org/node/158044 | Education Week
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

EU TELECOMS CHIEF DROPS PLAN TO SLASH WHOLESALE ROAMING PRICES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Foo Yun Chee]
Apparently, European Union telecoms chief Neelie Kroes has scrapped a draft proposal to cut wholesale roaming fees by as much as 90 percent following criticism from major telecom companies. The plan, which would have affected the wholesale prices that telecoms operators pay to access their rivals' networks, was a key element of her efforts to create a single market for telecom services in the 28-country European Union.
benton.org/node/158034 | Reuters
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