September 2013

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

NSA SPIES ON INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS
[SOURCE: Spiegel, AUTHOR: ]
The National Security Agency (NSA) widely monitors international payments, banking and credit card transaction. The information from the American foreign intelligence agency, acquired by former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden, show that the spying is conducted by a branch called "Follow the Money" (FTM). The collected information then flows into the NSA's own financial databank, called "Tracfin," which in 2011 contained 180 million records. Some 84 percent of the data is from credit card transactions. Further NSA documents from 2010 show that the NSA also targets the transactions of customers of large credit card companies like VISA for surveillance. NSA analysts at an internal conference that year described in detail how they had apparently successfully searched through the US company's complex transaction network for tapping possibilities. Their aim was to gain access to transactions by VISA customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
benton.org/node/159570 | Spiegel
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THE FISA COURT WILL RELEASE MORE OPINIONS BECAUSE OF SNOWDEN
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Call it the Edward Snowden effect: Citing the former National Security Agency contractor, a federal judge has ordered the government to declassify more reports from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. In an opinion from the FISC itself, Judge F. Dennis Saylor told the White House to declassify all the legal opinions relating to Section 215 of the Patriot Act written after May 2011 that aren't already the subject of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation. The court ruled that the White House must identify the opinions in question by Oct 4. "The unauthorized disclosure of in June 2013 of a Section 215 order, and government statements in response to that disclosure, have engendered considerable public interest and debate about Section 215," wrote Judge Saylor. "Publication of FISC opinions relating to this opinion would contribute to an informed debate."
benton.org/node/159569 | Washington Post | The Hill
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TECH FIRMS PRESS LEGAL CASE OVER SURVEILLANCE, FEDS PROMISE REPLY BY SEPT 30
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jeff John Roberts]
Silicon Valley firms at the center of an ongoing surveillance scandal are renewing their legal push to reveal details about how often the US government obtains information about their users. In a new filing, Microsoft again asked America’s secret spy court to declare that it has a First Amendment right to disclose how many so-called Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) letters (a surveillance demand aimed at foreigners that can also ensnare Americans) it receives. The break-down of talks in August has led Microsoft to file a renewed complaint, asking to reveal the specific number of surveillance requests it receives. The tech companies acknowledge that the government may be justified in concealing information about specific surveillance targets; but they claim that blanket gag orders that forbid them from disclosing the number of requests they receive violate the Constitution’s free speech guarantees. In related new filings, the federal government agreed to file its long-awaited response to the First Amendment complaints by September 30.
benton.org/node/159567 | GigaOm
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

CAN THE FCC PROMOTE BROADBAND COMPETITION, INNOVATION, AND INVESTMENT? THE COURTS AND CONGRESS TO DECIDE
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] On Monday, September 9, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit heard oral arguments in Verizon v. Federal Communications (11-1355). Judges Judith W. Rogers, David S. Tatel, Laurence H. Silberman will now decide the fate of the FCC’s Open Internet rules. The case will determine, according to former White House Aide, Susan Crawford, “does the U.S. government have any role to play when it comes to ensuring ubiquitous, open, world-class, interconnected, reasonably priced Internet access? Does the government have good reason to ensure that facility in America?” The case is also a test of Verizon's novel argument that its decisions about traffic on its network are subject to the same First Amendment rights a publisher has in deciding what to put in a newspaper. By the end of the hearing, the question appeared to be whether the FCC's Open Internet Rules would be invalidated in their entirety, or whether only some of them would be thrown out.
http://benton.org/node/159414
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NET NEUTRALITY DELAYED, NET NEUTRALITY DENIED
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Michael Copps]
[Commentary] The Internet, grown beyond adolescence now, is still filled with the energy of youth and the power to continually reshape our lives. But wait! The home the adolescent grew up in is not the house into which the young adult is moving. Its new domicile is populated with gatekeepers and powerful interests intent on exchanging the open environment that nurtured so much innovation and so many consumer benefits for a constricted environment of walled gardens and monopoly toll booths. The Internet, raised for the most part in an atmosphere of openness and creativity, becomes each day more vulnerable to the control of rent-seeking landlords and hugely powerful sentinels. In 2009, following the election of Barack Obama, a new FCC came to town. Its majority embraced the concept of Internet freedom but was divided on how to guarantee it. This was the setting for the hearing in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals over Verizon’s suit contesting the Commission’s rules. Never shy, Verizon’s lawyers added a claim that not only does the FCC lack the power to enforce any Internet freedom rules, but that the company has a First Amendment right to block content on its system because it should enjoy freedom of speech—a ridiculous claim made more so because in other venues the company has argued it is merely a conduit and not a speaker. Lost in all the legal briefs is any concern for the speech rights of consumers. The Internet is an increasingly important resource for voters to inform themselves, activists to organize themselves, and everyday citizens to make themselves heard. Allowing Verizon or AT&T or Comcast to censor citizen speech is a direct threat to our democracy. As Senator Al Franken sagely forecast in 2010, “net neutrality is the First Amendment issue of our time.”
[Michael Copps served as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from May 2001 to December 2011 and was the FCC's Acting Chairman from January to June 2009.]
http://benton.org/node/159415
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VERIZON'S DIABOLICAL PLAN TO TURN THE WEB INTO PAY-PER-VIEW
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Bill Snyder]
[Commentary] Think of all the things that tick you off about cable TV. You can't pay just for the couple of dozen channels you actually watch. Instead, you have to pay for a couple of hundred channels, because the good stuff is scattered among a number of overstuffed packages. Now, imagine that the Internet worked that way. You'd hate it, of course. But that's the direction that Verizon, with the support of many wired and wireless carriers, would like to push the Web. As it stands now, you pay your Internet service provider (ISP) and go wherever you want on the Web. Packets of bits are just packets and have to be treated equally. That's the essence of network neutrality. But Verizon's plan, which the company has outlined during hearings in federal court and before Congress, would change that. Verizon and its allies would like to charge websites that carry popular content for the privilege of moving their packets to your connected device. Indeed, if that system had been in place 10 years ago, fledglings like Google or YouTube or Facebook might never have gotten out of the nest. Susan Crawford, a tech policy expert and professor at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, says Verizon wants to "cable-ize the Internet." The term common carrier means that the company doing the shipping can't mess with the contents and the FCC has never ruled that ISPs are common carriers, partly because it's afraid of the power of the lobbyists to influence Congress and partly because its directors lack spine. And now that lack of spine is about to bite the butt of everyone who uses the Web.
benton.org/node/159542 | InfoWorld
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: L Gordon Crovitz]
[Commentary] Innovation is alive and well on the Internet, even though courts keep invalidating "net neutrality" regulations. Make that because courts keep invalidating those regulations. It's time to drive a stake through the idea of net neutrality. The Internet should be left free to be run by engineers, not set upon by government bureaucrats. The best hope for the open Internet is that judges keep invalidating net neutrality regulations. The engineers who run the Web have proven that they need no interference from Washington.
benton.org/node/159577 | Wall Street Journal
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INTERNET SALES TAXES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Bernie Becker, Brendan Sasso]
Republicans in the House are taking a step forward on Internet sales tax legislation despite potential opposition from the GOP base. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is expected to release his own set of principles on the issue in the next week or two, according to sources who are closely watching the legislation. The principles are a sign of fresh momentum for online sales tax legislation after Chairman Goodlatte and other top Republicans in the House — including Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) — voiced deep skepticism about the Senate-passed Marketplace Fairness Act. Chairman Goodlatte could have chosen to bury the bill, but his decision to craft the principles shows he is serious about moving some version of the legislation forward.
benton.org/node/159579 | Hill, The
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

SPECTRUM AUCTION SCHEDULED
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ina Fried]
The Federal Communications Commission announced that in January 2014 it will hold its first significant spectrum auction in more than five years. The FCC said that it will auction off a 10MHz portion of nationwide spectrum known as the PCS H block on January 14, setting a minimum price of $1.56 billion. Some of the proceeds will go toward creating a mobile network for police, fire and other first responders.
http://allthingsd.com/20130913/fcc-schedules-first-major-spectrum-auctio...
Auction 96 (FCC)
benton.org/node/159561 | Wall Street Journal | FCC
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LIFELINE

CELEBRATING NATIONAL LIFELINE AWARENESS WEEK
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Amina Fazlullah, Cecilia Garcia]
[Commentary] This week, civil rights groups joined with public interest and media reform organizations to highlight the importance of Lifeline – the Universal Service Fund program that supports telephone service for low-income consumers. To celebrate National Lifeline Awareness Week (September 9-15, 2013), Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn, California Public Utility Commissioner Catherine Sandoval and low-income consumer advocates made the case for strengthening and modernizing Lifeline. The week is designed to both raise awareness of and participation in Lifeline a federal/State program that helps make telephone service more affordable for qualified customers. The program became the focus of partisan gamesmanship during the 2012 election cycle and detractors often refer to as “Obama Phones.” At a New America Foundation event, Chairman Clyburn said she aimed to “set the record straight.”
http://benton.org/node/159416
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LIFELINE IS A HAND UP, NOT A HANDOUT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Wade Henderson, Craig Aaron]
[Commentary] At a time when many working families have been left behind in the economic recovery, the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program has never been more vital – or misunderstood. Lifeline provides a modest subsidy to low-income consumers to pay for basic telephone service, crucial access that would otherwise be unaffordable. Lifeline is a hand up, not a hand out. People need affordable services to connect and contribute to the outside world. According to statistics from the telephone carriers, nearly 80 percent of subscribers to Lifeline have a household income of less than $15,000 per year. Subscribers include struggling families, people with disabilities, veterans, rural residents, Native Americans, seniors and individuals from communities of color. People from every part of the country use Lifeline to stay in touch with their children, call 911, take care of their medical needs, and apply for jobs. Instead of foregoing essentials like food and health care in order to participate in our society and economy, deserving Lifeline subscribers can engage fully as citizens. [Henderson is president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Aaron is president and CEO of Free Press and the Free Press Action Fund.]
benton.org/node/159564 | Hill, The
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CELLPHONES ESSENTIAL
[SOURCE: NBC News, AUTHOR: Radhika Marya]
Once considered a luxury, the cellphone has become one of the most popular communication technologies in the world. As a result, many people — regardless of income level — view the cellphone as more of a necessity. Before landlines became essential, they, too, were once used by the privileged few. "Today every family must have a telephone if it is to contact emergency services," Linda Gibbs, New York City’s deputy mayor for health and human services, wrote in a 2007 poverty report. "If it is to have access to news, information and culture a TV, radio, and newspapers are essential. This was not always true, but it is true now. And soon (if not now) we will need to add cellphones and access to the Internet to that list." Six years later, 91 percent of American adults own a cellphone, according to a 2013 survey by the Pew Research Center; more than half of those are smartphones. Over a third of American homes have even become cell only, according to a 2012 National Health Interview Survey. Phone companies are scrambling to meet the diverse demand. While cheap pre-paid cellphone plans are increasingly available commercially, there are also low-income programs, operated with subsidies from the FCC’s Lifeline Assistance program, that people can qualify for to get a low monthly rate.
benton.org/node/159563 | NBC News
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KEEP VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES CONNECTED
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Joseph Torres]
More than 80 groups representing a coalition of public interest, civil rights, faith-based, media justice and community organizations sent a letter urging the House and Senate Commerce Committees to continue their support of the government’s Lifeline program, which subsidizes basic phone service for low-income individuals. The coalition sent the letter on Sept 12 as part of Lifeline Awareness Week. The letter notes that Lifeline enables vulnerable populations — veterans, seniors, the disabled, rural residents, people of color and struggling families — to more meaningfully participate in our society by gaining access to economic opportunities and critical emergency services. “People need affordable communications services to connect to the outside world for job opportunities, medical services, educational advancement, and civic participation,” the coalition’s letter states.
benton.org/node/159562 | Free Press
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OWNERSHIP

GOP LEADERS PROTEST FCC PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Republican leaders in the House Commerce Committee are opposing the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) attempt to change the way it calculates the viewership of some television stations. Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Greg Walden (R-OR), the chairs of the panel and its subcommittee on Communications and Technology, wrote to acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn asking her not to change rules that determine when a group of television stations hit the limit for total national audience. “While we are not convinced that the existing limitations on broadcast ownership as a whole are appropriate or necessary in today’s competitive media marketplace, we have particular apprehension about this proposed change and its effect on the business decisions of broadcast station group owners,” they wrote in the letter.
benton.org/node/159556 | Hill, The | read the letter | Broadcasting&Cable
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OPPOSITION TO SINCLAIR-ALLBRITON
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Free Press, the American Cable Association, and Rainbow PUSH filed petitions to deny all or part of Sinclair/Allbritton station deal. ACA is targeting all the stations, Free Press the four involved in sharing agreements, and Rainbow Push a single station, but is seeking a decision that would have impact on all the others. In filings with the Federal Communications Commission, the groups took aim at the spin-offs required by FCC local ownership rules. They argue the spin-offs are in name only and allow Sinclair to continue to control the stations.
benton.org/node/159559 | Broadcasting&Cable
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TELECOM

OUR BOGUS ‘DEBATE’ ABOUT PSTN TRIALS.
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
One of the more common and frustrating problems in Policyland is when a debate over something vital and important gets hijacked for broader agendas. Case in point, AT&T’s much debated proposal to do some form of trial or pilot program (or series of same) to move forward as part of AT&T’s plan to upgrade its networks from traditional copper to voice-over Internet protocol (VOIP) in some spots and to retire copper in favor of wireless only in other places. While I have lambasted Verizon for making the people of Fire Island “guinea pigs” and “involuntary beta testers,” it would be idiotic not to learn from the data we collected in 3 months. And lesson one is: no, despite the fact that lots of Internet protocol-based and wireless technologies are out there in the market doing fine, we still don’t know what happens when you shut off the traditional copper safety net. So we need to conduct the following tests: Trial #1: Voice Quality and Reliability Trial #2: Device and Service Survey.
I have several reasons why I want this done through the Federal Communications Commission (and the state Public Service Commissions, which everyone seems to forget). 1. These tests will require waiver of certain rules. 2. Immunization against liability. 3. Access to data for everyone. 4. Someone has to decide when to pull the plug. But I also want to point out we do not need to wait for AT&T or the CLECs to get over themselves and start taking this seriously.
benton.org/node/159546 | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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PRIVACY

PRIVACY ADVOCATES LOOK TO CALIFORNIA
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Michelle Quinn]
Frustrated by a lack of action at the federal level, privacy advocates pushing for an online Do Not Track law are hoping a California measure will kindle a national debate. Called the Online Tracking Transparency Act, the bill requires websites to inform users whether and how they honor “do not track” signals that users transmit via their browsers. It also requires that sites tell users when advertisers and data brokers are tracking their online movements. The legislation, which cleared the State Assembly earlier this month, awaits Gov Jerry Brown’s (D-CA) signature. It comes as efforts to create standards for online tracking have stalled in Congress and at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an Internet-standards organization.
benton.org/node/159580 | Politico
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ADVERTISING

SPONSORED CONTENT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
[Commentary] When the guy who ruined the Internet with banner ads tells you that a new kind of advertising might destroy journalism, it tends to get your attention. The new rage is “native advertising,” which is to say advertising wearing the uniform of journalism, mimicking the storytelling aesthetic of the host site. Buzzfeed, Forbes, The Atlantic and, more recently, The New Yorker, have all developed a version of native advertising, also known as sponsored content; if you are on Buzzfeed, World of Warcraft might have a sponsored post on, say, 10 reasons your virtual friends are better than your real ones. It is usually labeled advertising (sometimes clearly, sometimes not), but if the content is appealing, marketers can gain attention and engagement beyond what they might get for say, oh, a banner ad.
benton.org/node/159576 | New York Times
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EDUCATION

EXPANDING E-RATE PROGRAM FOR SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES WOULD INCREASE DIGITAL LITERACY
[SOURCE: Knight Foundation, AUTHOR: Eric Newton]
[Commentary] There’s a quote, often attributed to Ben Franklin, that sums up why America should expand broadband in schools and libraries: “Tell me, and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Without access to the World Wide Web, without being involved in it, digital media literacy simply can’t be taught – and without that, our nation will never fully enter the digital age. We can’t just tell Americans why broadband matters. We have to show each other how it works by teaching it in our schools and libraries and offering it in the neighborhoods they serve. That’s why the E-rate program is a good idea. Connecting classrooms and libraries to the Internet could not be smarter. Well-funded and well-run, the E-rate program can make the digital world real for at least half the population of the United States.
benton.org/node/159552 | Knight Foundation
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Analysis

September 2013

September 16, 2013 (Can the FCC promote broadband competition, innovation, and investment?)

Privacy advocates look to California

House GOP takes step forward on Internet sales tax legislation

Cybersecurity: The new arms race for a new front line

Trying Again to Freeze the Internet

Storytelling Ads May Be Journalism’s New Peril

Retailers Fight Exile From Gmail In-Boxes

Minecraft, an Obsession and an Educational Tool

Behind Microsoft Deal, the Specter of a Nokia Android Phone

Vodafone Snatches German Cable Operator