September 2013

NCTA, ACA Rate FCC E-Rate Proposal

The Federal Communications Commission has gotten plenty of input from the cable industry on its proposed reform/modernization of the E-rate program, which provides subsidies to schools and libraries for advanced telecommunications.

The FCC has proposed some high-speed targets, but the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) says that a "one-size-fits-all" approach may not be the best, and could lead to insufficient funds for other important elements like teacher training and devices. NCTA points out that schools are already able to purchase service at the target speeds. "There is nothing in the current E-rate rules that prohibits schools from soliciting bids for connectivity at 100 Mbps, 1Gbps, or more," said the association. "Rather than encouraging or mandating that schools purchase particular levels of bandwidth, the Commission should focus its efforts on creating an environment where schools are more likely to solicit bids for those high-capacity services and more likely to have the resources to deliver faster speeds to students in the classroom." NCTA says the FCC should remove the current distinction between connections to the schools and libraries (priority one) and internal connections (priority two), which it says often go unfunded. That is where more Wi-Fi could help, it says.

In its comments, the American Cable Association said that before the FCC does anything, it needs to gather more data, including on "existing infrastructure, broadband dependent applications and services (and their performance requirements) used today by teachers and students and those that are likely to be used, and the number and types of access devices and technologies used today and those expected to be used in the near future." ACA's key policy proposals are that the FCC should 1) use existing facilities as much as possible, requiring certification that a school or library had made "all reasonable efforts" to receive high-speed connectivity using existing facilities; 2) capping the fund at $2.25 billion; and 3) simplify and standardize the process.

Nielsen: Most Video Streamers Are Binge Viewers

Nielsen says that a large share of subscribers to over-the-top video streaming services are binging on the programming they want to see.

According to a recent study by the research company, 88% of Netflix users and 70% of Hulu Plus users said they streamed three or more episodes of the same TV show in one day. At the same time, Nielsen says 58% of users prefer to view shows when they do not have to abide by schedules other than their own and can watch several episodes consecutively.

NIST Awards Grants to Improve Online Security and Privacy

The US Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced more than $7 million in grants to support the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). The funding will enable five US organizations to develop pilot identity protection and verification systems that offer consumers more privacy, security and convenience online. These new pilots build on the successful launch of five NSTIC pilots awarded in 2012.

The grantees include the following:

Exponent (CA): $1,589,400 -- The Exponent pilot will issue secure, easy-to-use and privacy-enhancing credentials to users to help secure applications and networks at a leading social media company, a health care organization and the U.S. Department of Defense. Exponent and partners Gemalto and HID Global will deploy two types of identity verification: the use of mobile devices that leverage so-called "derived credentials" stored in the device's SIM card and secure wearable devices, such as rings and bracelets. Solutions will be built upon standards, ensuring an interoperable system that can be easily adopted by a wide variety of organizations and companies.
Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC) (GA): $1,720,723 -- The GTRC pilot will develop and demonstrate a "Trustmark Framework" that seeks to improve trust, interoperability and privacy within the Identity Ecosystem. Trustmarks are a badge, image or logo displayed on a website to indicate that the website business has been shown to be trustworthy by the issuing organization. Defining trustmarks for specific sets of policies will allow website owners, trust framework providers and individual Internet users to more easily understand the technical, business, security and privacy requirements and policies of the websites with which they interact or do business.
Privacy Vaults Online, Inc. (PRIVO) (VA): $1,611,349 -- Children represent a unique challenge when it comes to online identity. Parents need better tools to ensure safe family use of the Internet, while online service providers need to comply with the requirements of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) when they deal with minors under the age of 13. PRIVO will pilot a solution that provides families with COPPA-compliant, secure, privacy-enhancing credentials that will enable parents and guardians to authorize their children to interact with online services in a more privacy-enhancing and usable way. Project partners, including one of the country's largest online content providers and one of the world's largest toy companies, will benefit from a streamlined consent process while simplifying their legal obligations regarding the collection and storage of children's data.
ID.me, Inc. (VA): $1,204,957 -- ID.me, Inc.'s Troop ID will develop and pilot trusted identity solutions that will allow military families to access sensitive information online from government agencies, financial institutions and health care organizations in a more privacy-enhancing, secure and efficient manner. Troop ID lets America's service members, veterans, and their families verify their military affiliation online across a network of organizations that provides discounts and benefits in recognition of their service. Today, more than 200,000 veterans and service members use Troop ID to access benefits online. As part of its pilot, Troop ID will enhance its current identity solution to obtain certification at Level of Assurance 3 from the U.S. General Services Administration's Trust Framework Providers program, enabling Troop ID credential holders to use their solution not only at private-sector sites, but also when interacting online with U.S. government agencies through the recently announced Federal Cloud Credential Exchange (FCCX). Key project partners include federal government agencies and a leading financial institution serving the nation's military community and its families.
Transglobal Secure Collaboration Participation, Inc. (TSCP) (VA): $1,264,074 -- The TSCP pilot will deploy trusted credentials to conduct secure business-to-business, government-to-business and retail transactions for small and medium-sized businesses and financial services companies, including Fidelity Investments and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. As part of this pilot, employees of participating businesses will be able to use their existing credentials to securely log into retirement accounts at brokerages, rather than having to obtain a new credential. Key to enabling these cross-sector transactions will be TSCP's development of an open source, technology-neutral Trust Framework Development Guidance document that can provide a foundation for future cross-sector interoperability of online credentials.

MPAA: Google Gets a Failing Grade for Anti-Piracy Efforts

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) delivered Google a failing grade on the company’s year-old effort to lower the prominence of search results featuring pirated content of movies and TV.

Unveiling a new study of Internet searches conducted before and after Google acted a year ago to fine-tune its search-engine algorithm, MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd said that there is no evidence that the tuning had any effect. Dodd said search engines — including Google’s — still prominently feature sites with pirated movies and TV shows, even in instances when searchers haven’t asked for infringing sites. He called on Google and other search engines to do far more to eliminate — or at least lower — the rankings for sites with infringing content. The study found that 74% of consumers said they used a search engine as a "discovery or navigation tool" in initially viewing sites with infringing content. The study found that a majority of the queries (58%) that lead to infringing TV or film content do not contain search terms specifically related to finding illegal content. Between 2010 and 2012, search engines influenced 20 percent of the sessions in which consumers accessed infringing TV or film content online. For infringing TV and film content, the largest share of search queries, 82 percent, came from Google, the largest search engine. Reacting to the numbers, a number of lawmakers singled out search engines as a sector that needs to do more to protect copyrighted material online.

How ‘Cord Never’ Generation Poses Sales Drag for Pay TV

Miranda Henely spends four hours in front of the television every day -- yet she doesn’t spend a dime on cable or satellite programming. Henely, 23, instead watches shows and movies streamed from Netflix, Amazon or directly from broadcasters’ websites, using a computer hooked up to the TV in her home. She’s known in industry parlance as a cord never, meaning she hasn’t ever subscribed to pay TV: channels from a cable company, such as Comcast, or a satellite provider like DirecTV, or phone companies -- and she doesn’t ever intend to. Henely is part of a generation of technology-savvy, budget-conscious consumers who are taking advantage of the availability of high-speed Internet connections and the proliferation of smartphones, tablets, lower-cost TVs and other gadgets that make it easy to consume downloadable shows in a snap. T

he shift in viewing habits is putting pressure on cable, satellite and phone companies by pinching subscriber numbers, which may have a knock-on effect on revenue growth. The impact on the $80 billion pay-TV industry is already being felt, with 2013 on pace to be the first year ever that total U.S. Pay-TV subscriptions will decline, falling to 100.8 million from 100.9 million last year, according to researcher IHS.

Pandora Wins Licensing Ruling Against Songwriters

Pandora Media, the biggest Internet radio service, won a court order to stop a group representing songwriters and music publishers from limiting the number of songs that it licenses to Pandora.

US District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan said in a ruling that Pandora’s five-year license beginning Jan 1, 2011, won’t be affected by withdrawals of new-media licensing rights from the repertory of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Judge Cote granted Pandora’s request for summary judgment, citing an earlier consent decree between Ascap and the US. “The language of the consent decree unambiguously requires Ascap to provide Pandora with a license to perform all of the works in its repertory,” Judge Cote said in the ruling.

How the core of the Internet has changed from data to content

A fundamental shift from data to content has actually changed the infrastructure of the Internet -- and the change isn’t over yet.

That’s the view of Craig Labovitz, cofounder of DeepField. And if anyone should know about the “plumbing” of the Internet’s core, it’s Labovitz; he’s studied it for more than 15 years. Through 2008, Labovitz says, the “core” of the Internet meant 10 to 15 companies handling the long haul backbones. They incurred most of the cost for the core at that time, but provided most of the value and delivered the majority of Internet data. That started to change in 2006, however, thanks to an explosion of content. “By 2010 Google went from 1 percent of traffic to 6 percent due to the YouTube purchase,” he noted, requiring changes to the core: Content shifted to data centers, which required massive investments. In 2009, about 150 companies accounted for 50 percent or more of Internet traffic. By 2013, just 50 companies deliver more than half of all Internet traffic, and they do so using a smaller number of data centers and Content Delivery Networks.

Verizon's Plan to Break the Internet

[Commentary] Verizon has big plans for the Internet. And if that doesn't worry you, it should.

The company is trying to overturn the Federal Communications Commission's Open Internet Order, which prevents Internet service providers from blocking, throttling or otherwise discriminating against online content. And in court, Verizon lawyer Helgi Walker made the company's intentions all too clear, saying the company wants to prioritize those websites and services that are willing to shell out for better access. She also admitted that the company would like to block online content from those companies or individuals that don't pay Verizon's tolls. This approach would undermine network neutrality, the principle that allows us to connect and communicate online without interference. World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s open protocol approach has given us a truly free marketplace of ideas where even the smallest entrepreneur can compete with giant corporations. Without the inherent protections an open Internet offers political voices who lack a big-money megaphone will get drowned out.

[Timothy Karr is Campaign Director, Free Press and SavetheInternet.com]

How Google Will Track You Without Cookies

As users have become both more aware and wary of cookies — the technology that tracks browsing activity for advertising purposes — Google has started experimenting with new tracking methods that don't use cookies. But how might that work?

Google did not clarify the exact technology it was working on. "We and others have a number of concepts in this area, but they're all at very early stages," a spokesperson said. One of those "concepts" includes fingerprinting, a technique that "allows a web site to look at the characteristics of a computer such as what plugins and software you have installed, the size of the screen, the time zone, fonts and other features of any particular machine.”

Open Internet 3.0?

[Commentary] The DC Circuit heard oral argument challenging the validity of the Federal Communication Commission’s second iteration of its Open Internet rules. Most observers agree that Open Internet Order 2.0 will go the way of the first version seen in Comcast: judicial invalidation for lack of regulatory jurisdiction. But if the expected defeat comes to pass, will the FCC fade away or, like the Terminator, rise up and attempt

Maybe the best way to understand an Open Internet 3.0 would be as an FCC power grab with its jurisdiction shored up by: (1) reclassifying all ISP services as “common carrier” or Title II services; or (2) exploiting the flexible jurisdiction the FCC enjoys under its merger approval and spectrum licensing authority. The solution to the continuing attempts to impose Open Internet rules is to limit the FCC’s discretion to classify new services as common carrier services. This can be done by instituting a legislative presumption that new services are to be lightly regulated unless rebutted by legislatively determined evidentiary criteria. It is unnecessary to remove the FCC’s merger and licensing powers entirely; rather, Congress should extend the Comcast standard to limit FCC merger and licensing demands to only those necessary for the agency to fulfill its statutory mandate. Without such jurisdictional discipline, the FCC may circumvent congressional intent by opportunistic use of its legitimate authority.

Benton

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