September 2013

A shield law is necessary to protect US journalists

[Commentary] One crucial job of a journalist is to look where she is not supposed to, serve as an advocate for the public’s right to know and disseminate information that people should see. Revelations about government misconduct, bureaucratic incompetence and undisclosed programs worthy of public debate are the result.

On Sept. 12, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved just such a bill by a 13 to 5 vote. The Free Flow of Information Act would shield anyone associated or once associated with a news-gathering operation — including freelancers, student reporters and bloggers — who is working with the intent to convey information on important matters to the public. In cases involving criminal activity, federal judges would have to balance the government’s interest in getting information from journalists against the public’s interest in maintaining a free and aggressive press capable of obtaining and disseminating information. There would be exceptions for cases in which non-disclosure would directly endanger people’s lives or national security. Post executives have been lobbying for a journalist “shield law” for years. We hope that after this year, they will not have to.

How California’s imminent Do Not Track law falls short – and why it matters anyway

[Commentary] A do not track transparency bill has landed on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk and indications suggest he will sign it before the looming deadline in mid-October.

AB 370 passed unanimously in the California Assembly and was sponsored by the governor’s political ally, Attorney General Kamala Harris. If Gov. Brown signs the bill, introduced by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), it’s likely to be portrayed as a bigger victory for privacy than it actually is — the latest indication of California boldly leading the way on online privacy. It’s not that. But it is a small and solid step forward. The law amends an existing statute requiring online companies that collect personally identifiable information to “conspicuously post” their privacy policies. Going forward, those policies would have to include how the sites respond to do not track requests or similar mechanisms. In another update — that is only a decade or so overdue — the site would also have to state whether or not third parties can collect identifiable information about users. Those parties would include the dozens or even hundreds of ad networks like TribalFusion, Facebook’s FBX and Google’s AdSense that inconspicuously track activity across a vast array of sites.

Cyber war: Different look, same aim

[Commentary] Because large portions of life now take place on the Internet, the introduction of war into cyberspace was perhaps inevitable. As with most Defense Department projects, spending on cyberwar is ballooning under the “better safe than sorry” rubric. No one wants to be caught by surprise. And as with nuclear missiles, aircraft carriers, and drone fleets, the more impressive the cyberwarfare capabilities, the more they serve as a deterrent and persuader, even if never activated. What’s not clear is whether the threat of cyberwarfare is still largely science fiction. War is something that humans still have to learn – at the least, for self-defense and to halt injustice. But war, even in cyberspace, still has one age-old purpose: to hurt people and break things.

Hollywood switches tactics in online piracy fight with Silicon Valley

Hollywood studios and the recording industry are pressuring Silicon Valley to take up the banner against online piracy. With their preferred legislative solution dead in Congress, entertainment companies are enlisting lawmakers in a public campaign designed to push Google and other search engines into taking action.

That effort began in earnest on Sept 18, when the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) released a study that said search engines share blame for the rampant copyright infringement on the Internet. The day after the study was released, the MPAA announced it was sending a full-time representative to Silicon Valley to try and build bridges in the tech community. Combining public criticism with private outreach is “risky in some ways,” one tech lobbyist said. “But I think it’s the hand that they have to play.”

Close Ties Between White House, NSA Spying Review

Stung by public unease about new details of spying by the National Security Agency, President Barack Obama selected a panel of advisers he described as independent experts to scrutinize the NSA's surveillance programs to be sure they weren't violating civil liberties and to restore Americans' trust. But with just weeks remaining before its first deadline to report back to the White House, the review panel has effectively been operating as an arm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the NSA and all other U.S. spy efforts.

The panel's advisers work in offices on loan from the DNI. Interview requests and press statements from the review panel are carefully coordinated through the DNI's press office. James Clapper, the intelligence director, exempted the panel from U.S. rules that require federal committees to conduct their business and their meetings in ways the public can observe. Its final report, when it's issued, will be submitted for White House approval before the public can read it. Even the panel's official name suggests it's run by Clapper's office: "Director of National Intelligence Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies."

Four of the five review panel members previously worked for Democratic administrations: Peter Swire, former Office of Management and Budget privacy director under President Bill Clinton; Michael Morell, Obama's former deputy CIA director; Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism coordinator under Clinton and later for President George W. Bush; and Cass Sunstein, Obama's former regulatory czar. A fifth panel member, Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago, leads a university committee looking to build Obama's presidential library in Chicago and was an informal adviser to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Stone wrote in a July op-ed that the NSA surveillance program that collects the phone records of every American every day is constitutional.

Mapping out the world’s LTE coverage

LTE deployments have grown at a steady pace around the world, but after three years there are still relatively few places you can actually get an LTE signal.

Google and Facebook face tougher EU tax and privacy rules

Google and Facebook face being regulated and taxed where customers use their websites under proposals France is pushing Europe to adopt. The plans also aim to tackle internet surveillance with stricter laws on privacy in the wake of recent revelations of the US National Security Agency’s data program. The proposals could put Europe at loggerheads with the US, which has previously reacted angrily at attempts to impose greater regulation on the internet or the companies that use the global network.

Wang Jianlin Aims to Create Hollywood, China

Executives of Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment joined Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Nicole Kidman and John Travolta in a Chinese seaside city to meet a man who will likely play a bigger role in their future. Wang Jianlin, China's richest man and the chairman of property-and-entertainment conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Corp., said he is breaking ground on a 30-billion-yuan to 50-billion-yuan ($4.9 billion to $8.2 billion), mega-entertainment center that will include a theme park, a film museum, a wax museum and a massive film studio, which the tycoon promises will be the world's largest.

Closely held Wanda has signed agreements with four top global talent agencies to attract stars such as Kidman and DiCaprio to produce 30 films each year and attend an annual festival, the statement said. The company will also enlist 50 domestic film- and television-production companies to work with Wanda, ensuring that 100 homegrown films and shows are made each year. Wang not only wants a stronger foothold in Hollywood, he wants to re-create it in China, he said. A Chinese adaptation of the Hollywood sign draped above Beverly Hills is planned for the mountain overlooking the theme park-studio "Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis."

FCC grants approval of AT&T's Alltel acquisition despite concerns over local competition

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved AT&T's $780 million acquisition of rural network Alltel (owned by parent company Atlantic Tele-Network) after earlier delaying the move over competition concerns.

The FCC still has some reservations about the deal, noting that "the proposed transaction will likely cause some competitive and other public interest harms in several local markets." AT&T is addressing these concerns by committing to:

deploy its own 4G HSPA+ service in Alltel cell areas within 15 months,
deploy 4G LTE service at all current Allied cell sites that will be integrated into the AT&T network, and at which AT&T holds AWS-1 or Lower 700 MHz Band B or C Block spectrum and where high speed backhaul service is currently available280 to AT&T within 18 months,
offer CDMA voice and data roaming services, consistent with applicable Commission rules, over Allied’s 3G EV-DO network until at least June 15, 2015,
honor the prices, terms, and conditions of the roaming agreements that it is assuming from Allied,
offer postpaid Allied customers handsets comparable to their existing handsets, at no cost to the customer and without requiring a contract extension, and
filing quarterly reports with the Commission for a period of three years following the date on which the transaction closes for purposes of reporting on the status of its implementation of these commitments

E-rate and the Lands the Information Age Forgot

As the Federal Communications Commission considers proposals and recommendations to update its E-rate program, the Benton Foundation is paying close attention to the role of the E-rate in bringing high-capacity broadband to underserved populations, especially those who either have no access to broadband at home, or cannot afford to pay for it. The lack of fundamental telecommunications infrastructure throughout Tribal Lands and Native Communities in the US, and particularly on reservations, is an acute and nagging problem that a reformed E-rate program could do much to address. Members of federally-recognized American Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages, “[b]y virtually any measure, … have historically had less access to telecommunications services than any other segment of the population.” In starkest terms, these communities are the lands that the Information Age has forgot.

Benton

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