September 4, 2013 (Ronald H. Coase)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
For updates all day long, follow us on Twitter @benton_fdn
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove, Eclipsing NSA’s
Who Do Members of Congress Follow on Twitter?
INTERNET/BROADBAND
What is Net Neutrality Again? - analysis
NTIA’s BroadbandMatch Web Site Tool
Opera sees an alternative role in Facebook's Internet initiative
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Massive Verizon-Vodafone deal 'should sail through,' experts say
Verizon’s Vodafone buyout isn’t about wireless control, it’s about connecting everything - analysis
Vodafone Decade of Patience Was a $125 Billion Virtue
Verizon Wireless Deal Comes With Biggest Breakup Fee Too [links to web]
Vodafone’s Surfer CEO Colao Dismantles Global Empire [links to web]
Why the $7.2 billion Microsoft-Nokia deal is a terrible idea - analysis
Microsoft Is Getting Nokia’s Phone Business for a Song - analysis [links to web]
In Nokia, Microsoft Bets on Apple-Like Revival - analysis
Deal Is Easy Part for Microsoft and Nokia
History Isn't on Side of Microsoft-Nokia Tie Up [links to web]
Microsoft-Nokia: Hardware Is Dead. Software Is Dead, Too - analysis
Microsoft and Nokia Send a Weak Signal
They Once Were Giants - editorial [links to web]
Verizon Will Stay Out of Canada [links to web]
TELEVISION
Sinclair Broadcasting snatches up local TV stations as part of plan to build a national powerhouse
CBS fight with Time Warner Cable shows dinosaurs are still scary - analysis
DC Reacts to TWC-CBS Retransmission Resolution [links to web]
Pay-TV Subscriber Losses in 2Q [links to web]
CONTENT
Amazon unveils MatchBook to pair print, digital books [links to web]
Google takes second browser spot on the back of mobile [links to web]
PRIVACY
California Poised to Get Do Not Track Disclosure Law
Why the internet of things gives us a second chance to define digital trust and privacy [links to web]
A 21st century right to privacy - editorial [links to web]
There Is No More Privacy [links to web]
JOURNALISM
News Corp Sells Local Newspapers to Fortress Investment
Jeffrey Bezos, Washington Post’s next owner, aims for a new ‘golden era’ at the newspaper [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Silicon Valley takes aim at veteran Democrat
RESEARCH
Ronald H. Coase, a Law Professor and Leading Economist, Dies at 102
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Verizon Will Stay Out of Canada [links to web]
US likely to wage cyber attacks against Syria [links to web]
Opera sees an alternative role in Facebook's Internet initiative
MORE ONLINE
Toddlers using, breaking parents’ mobile devices more [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
DRUG AGENTS USE VAST PHONE TROVE, ECLIPSING NSA’S
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Scott Shane, Colin Moynihan]
For at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans’ phone calls — parallel to but covering a far longer time than the National Security Agency’s hotly disputed collection of phone call logs. Under the Hemisphere Project, a partnership between federal and local drug officials and AT&T, the government pays AT&T to place its employees in drug-fighting units around the country. Those employees sit alongside Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents and local detectives and supply them with the phone data from as far back as 1987. The scale and longevity of the data storage appears to be unmatched by other government programs, including the NSA’s gathering of phone call logs under the Patriot Act. Hemisphere covers every call that passes through an AT&T switch — not just those made by AT&T customers — and includes calls dating back 26 years, according to Hemisphere training slides bearing the logo of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
benton.org/node/158182 | New York Times
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WHO DO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FOLLOW ON TWITTER?
[SOURCE: New York, AUTHOR: Dan Amira]
Twitter has become such an integral medium for political communication that, according to our count, 97 percent of members of Congress now have an official Twitter presence. But Twitter is a two-way street — you spread your message, and you listen to what others have to say. So who are members of the House and Senate (or, doubtless more often, their staffs) listening to on Twitter? Daily Intelligencer decided to find out: With help from the wizards at Twiangulate, we identified every congressional Twitter account, then analyzed which other accounts they follow most often. Topping the overall list of most followed accounts are four DC-based political news outlets, which, thanks to their bipartisan appeal, are followed by around 60 percent of members of Congress. But taking a look at the top twenty accounts divided by party shows zero overlap beyond The Hill, Politico, Roll Call, and CSPAN. Although they like a few of the same publications, Democrats and Republicans tend to lack interest in ... each other. President Barack Obama is only the eighth most-followed account among Democrats in Congress, which seems odd. On the Republican side, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), apparently the world's most interesting tweeter, is hogging two spots in the top ten. Mike Allen, the Politico Playbook scribe is not only the most followed journalist among members of Congress as a whole, but he also tops both the Democratic and Republican charts. Chuck Todd, Chad Pergram, Jake Tapper, Chris Cillizza, and David Gregory also enjoy relatively robust followings from both sides of the House. Republicans are following @RedState and @Drudge_report more than they’re following @AP or @nytimes. Democrats, meanwhile, are keeping close tabs on multiple NPR accounts.
benton.org/node/158173 | New York
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
WHAT IS NET NEUTRALITY AGAIN?
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Michael Weinberg]
[Commentary] Network neutrality is going to be back in the news. That’s because an oral argument about the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Open Internet rules will soon take place before the DC Circuit Court. Simply put, network neutrality is the principle that the company that connects you to the Internet does not get to control what you do on the Internet. The entire idea flows from the recognition that the company that is connecting you to the Internet (your Internet Service Provider or ISP), controls your connection to the Internet. As a result, your ISP is in a position to influence what you do with your internet connection. They could decide to prevent you from visiting some sites, or make some services work poorly, or even redirect you from one site to a competing site. Network neutrality rules prevent this from happening. The rules make it clear that the company that connects you to the Internet has an obligation to connect you to whatever part of the Internet you desire. It is not the company’s role to nudge you in one direction, or to give preferential treatment to some services and sites over others.
benton.org/node/158183 | Public Knowledge
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NTIA’s BROADBANDMATCH WEB SITE TOOL
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Gwellnar Banks]
The Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) invites the general public and other federal agencies to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections. The NTIA proposes to continue BroadbandMatch as an online resource for communities pursuing broadband projects and programs to advance the Obama Administration’s goal of increased broadband deployment and use in the United States. The BroadbandMatch Web site began during the final funding round of NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the US Department of Agriculture’s Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) as a tool for potential applicants to identify possible partners whose resources and expertise could strengthen the project proposals. The NTIA believes BroadbandMatch has ongoing utility and ability to cost effectively advance the Administration’s goals by facilitating sharing among BTOP grantees and others of best practices for completing successful broadband projects and facilitating partnerships to undertake new broadband projects. BroadbandMatch helps inexpensively to leverage Recovery Act investments to achieve the Administration’s ongoing goal of ensuring that all Americans can access affordable, ubiquitous broadband service and develop the skills to use this empowering technology effectively. BroadbandMatch users access the Web site through an Internet browser and voluntarily complete a brief profile requesting. Registered users may then search the database for potential project partners by organization type, state, or keyword. Individuals, business or other for-profit organizations, not-for- profit institutions, and federal, state, local, or tribal governments can access the service, at no cost to the public.
benton.org/node/158176 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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OPERA
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Joachim Dagenborg]
Norwegian Internet browser maker Opera Software expects its data-light mobile phone browser will play a central role in a Facebook-led project aimed at bringing Internet access to third-world consumers. Opera CEO Lars Boilesen said that in emerging markets, some 40 percent of Facebook traffic is already going through Opera. Boilesen said that even though Opera does not expect short-term gain from the project, he hopes it will help boost Opera's user numbers. "Since we started this company, our goal has been to get as many people as possible to use our software. We just have to figure out a way to make money out of it later," he said. Opera generates money from searches and advertising in their browsers, and through partnerships with mobile phone operators. Boilesen said Opera has met several times with Facebook executives, and that "the wheels are already in motion". He declined to give details about the cooperation but said he expected Facebook to elaborate on the project shortly.
benton.org/node/158197 | Reuters
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
VERIZON-VODAFONE REGULATORY REVIEW
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Verizon's $130 billion bid to buyout Vodafone's stake in Verizon Wireless is unlikely to face opposition from regulators despite being one of the biggest transactions in history, experts say. The deal, which would be more than three times larger than AT&T's failed 2011 bid for T-Mobile, would give Verizon 100 percent ownership of the wireless venture. Verizon already owns a controlling share of Verizon Wireless, so gaining 100 percent ownership of the venture won't fundamentally alter the competitive landscape of the wireless industry, experts say. Harold Feld, senior vice president for Public Knowledge and a vocal critic of telecommunications industry consolidation, agreed that the deal is likely to receive swift regulatory approval. In a blog post, he explained that the companies will need to receive approval from the Federal Communications Commission, but he said to think of the process "more like a change of address notification than as a full on application."
benton.org/node/158177 | Hill, The | Harold Feld blog
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VERIZON’S VODAFONE BUYOUT ISN’T ABOUT WIRELESS CONTROL, IT’S ABOUT CONNECTING EVERYTHING
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
[Commentary] Verizon Communications’ $130 billion buyout of Vodafone’s 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless means Verizon would no longer to have run its wireline and wireless businesses as separate companies, allowing Verizon to break down the increasingly artificial distinction between a mobile service and a home or business broadband service. The wireless industry’s future growth is going to come from the Internet of things: tablets, cars, wearables, appliances and ordinary household objects. Some of them will link to home networks, some of them will connect to the mobile network, but many of them will need to link to both. “In an increasingly saturated world, the value of bundling can’t be understated,” said mobile telecom analyst Chetan Sharma. If that artificial barrier between wireline and wireless disappears, Verizon could just sell connectivity — a single plan that links you to multiple networks. A unified Verizon could deeply combine fiber connectivity, cloud computing and mobile networking into the same package it sells a Fortune 500 company. Of course, to build this kind of universal connectivity service, consumers and businesses will have to place a lot more trust (and money) into Verizon’s hands than they’re accustomed to today. They’ll also have to gain the cooperation of numerous device makers and Internet of things players. Verizon may choose to build its own hotspot network like AT&T or it could follow Comcast’s lead and open up its residential Wi-Fi network to all mobile customers.
benton.org/node/158188 | GigaOm
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PATIENCE PAYS OFF
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Amy Thomson, Brooke Sutherland]
Vodafone’s payout from a decade-long dance with Verizon Communications over the fate of their US wireless joint venture was worth the wait. By holding off until now to sell its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, Vodafone secured $130 billion, adding to more than $15 billion in dividend payouts since the venture was formed in 1999. With Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. estimating Vodafone’s initial investment at $20 billion, the company is getting as much as $125 billion more than that for a sixfold return, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. By holding onto its stake in Verizon Wireless, the most profitable U.S. mobile-phone operator, Vodafone benefited from an almost quadrupling of revenue in the last decade. A deal was reached at an ideal time because growth may be challenged as the wireless unit faces tougher competition for subscribers in a saturated market, said Guy Peddy, a London-based analyst at Macquarie.
benton.org/node/158201 | Bloomberg
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WHY THE $7.2 BILLION MICROSOFT-NOKIA DEAL IS A TERRIBLE IDEA
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Om Malik]
[Commentary] Nokia announced that Microsoft will buy its devices business for shade over $7.15 billion in an attempt to mimic the Apple/Google strategy of owning the hardware, software and services. But Vic Gundotra, Google’s sharp-elbowed senior executive who, like Android co-creator Andy Rubin, wanted to win over Nokia and bring it into the Android camp about two years ago, put it best when he tweeted: “Two turkeys don’t make an Eagle.” And while he might have ruffled some feathers in Microsoft and Nokia offices, his observation wasn’t that off the mark. Microsoft makes a mobile OS that the market doesn’t seem to want. Nokia smartphones sales make drying paint seem like a John Woo thriller. It doesn’t matter from which angle you look, the combination of these two companies into a single entity doesn’t add up. The money Microsoft saved in the deal is one thing, but the question that needs to be asked is: what has fundamentally changed with this deal? If you ask me, nothing really has changed.
benton.org/node/158175 | GigaOm
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APPLE-LIKE REVIVAL?
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nick Wingfield]
With its purchase of Nokia’s phone business, Microsoft is taking inspiration from Apple’s way of making products, bringing hardware and software under a single roof where they can be more elegantly woven together. But Microsoft already bears a striking resemblance to Apple — the Apple of two decades ago, not the trailblazer of the mobile era. The $7.2 billion Nokia deal is unlikely to change that and catapult Microsoft up the ranks in the smartphone market. That is because Microsoft, with its Windows phone operating system, is stuck in third place in that market, where all the oxygen has been drained by more established players. Apple and Google have won the hearts and minds of developers, who design the apps that lure consumers to their devices, while Samsung is the dominant maker of mobile phones, most of which run Google’s Android operating system. Even though Microsoft’s and Nokia’s products have won praise for their quality, they have arrived late. Microsoft’s predicament is a flashback to the situation Apple found itself in during the early 1990s. At that time, Apple arguably had a superior computer product, the Macintosh, but it languished as PCs running Microsoft’s Windows operating system engulfed most of the market. One of the biggest problems for Apple then was that Microsoft had succeeded in gaining the allegiance of software developers, who produced a bounty of applications.
benton.org/node/158207 | New York Times
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DEAL IS EASY PART
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Shira Ovide]
The odds are long that the Microsoft-Nokia deal can reverse the fortunes of two laggards in a cutthroat market. Microsoft is wagering a purchase of Nokia's phone business will help the companies crack a problem they couldn't as partners: attain the dominant smartphone positions of Apple and Google. After nearly three years of working with Nokia, Microsoft is a distant No. 3 in smartphones world-wide, with its mobile software accounting for about 4% of the market compared with a combined 90% share for Apple and Google software. Nokia's smartphones make up a negligible share after commanding nearly half of the market before Apple's iPhone arrived. For Microsoft to make any headway, it must now create mobile devices that attract both consumers and business buyers, find its footing in hardware manufacturing and win over skeptical shareholders and app developers, all the while successfully integrating 32,000 Nokia employees with Microsoft's 100,000.
benton.org/node/158206 | Wall Street Journal
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HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ARE DEAD
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dennis Berman]
Where does software begin and hardware end? The answer is it doesn't matter. We are now inside a truly converged world, where distinctions between form and function have evaporated. Software is hardware. Hardware is software. Everything is everything. What happens next? Here are five things to consider:
Scale matters more than ever before.
The coming Google-Samsung showdown
Competition is from the Eastern periphery. Not the Western core.
Developers lose leverage.
The winner is the network.
In a world where everything is everything, the distinctions between good hardware and good software won't matter much to the middleman. Whatever happens to Microsoft, there will be more bits floating up and down these networks than we could possibly have dreamed of.
benton.org/node/158204 | Wall Street Journal
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SENDING A WEAK SIGNAL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Rolfe Winkler]
Steve Ballmer couldn't leave his successor without a smartphone strategy. That is the real reason he had to buy a chunk of Nokia. Meanwhile, Microsoft's retiring chief executive also brings in a logical candidate to replace himself. But the deal is also essentially an admission of Microsoft's weakness. The main reason for the deal is that, without more financial firepower, Nokia could never hope to compete. And with their strategic partnership deal set to expire in 2014, and Nokia struggling to justify continued investment in handsets, Microsoft was facing a dilemma. Were Nokia to dial back its mobile ambitions, Microsoft would lose the toehold it has in the smartphone market: More than 80% of Windows smartphones sold are designed by Nokia. Microsoft says it will grab 15% of the smartphone market by 2018, claiming this means the assets it is buying are worth double what it is paying. But that would represent a huge increase in market share. It is hard to see Microsoft’s market share rising fivefold given how badly Microsoft lags behind Google and Apple in attracting developers to make the apps that are critical to attracting buyers of smartphones. In the personal-computing world, a huge amount of Windows-compatible software helped Microsoft establish its dominance. But in the smartphone world, software developers are struggling already to make apps for both Android and iOS. In trying to solve this chicken/egg problem—needing market share to attract developers but needing developers to build market share—Microsoft can deploy its gigantic financial resources. But it will take more than marketing muscle to get real traction.
benton.org/node/158203 | Wall Street Journal
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TELEVISION
SINCLAIR SNATCHES UP LOCAL TV STATIONS AS PART OF PLAN TO BUILD A NATIONAL POWERHOUSE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Thomas Heath, Cecilia Kang]
In a world of fast-rising new-media companies, Sinclair Broadcasting has old-fashioned big-media ambitions: Control enough local news markets across the land to build a powerhouse to rival CNN and the Big Four networks. To that end, it bought eight television properties this summer from Allbritton Communications, marking the end of an era for the Washington media family that will pivot its attention toward Politico and other Web ventures. The real prizes in the billion-dollar deal: NewsChannel 8, Washington’s only 24-hour, local news channel, which could be repositioned as a national franchise, and WJLA, the ABC affiliate with one of the biggest television newsrooms in the country. In the past year, Sinclair has paid almost $2.5 billion to snap up 79 local television stations. If all the acquisitions are approved, Sinclair will control local broadcast television for a third of US households. “We are headed for a world in which fewer than 10 companies will control most of the local TV stations in the entire country,” said Craig Aaron, the president of Free Press. “There will be less competition for local scoops, fewer voices on the air and the same cookie-cutter content everywhere you look. As a result, people will be less informed.” Federal communications rules are designed to preserve healthy competition among local newspaper and television outlets. But Sinclair and other conglomerates have deployed a complicated business tactic that allows them to maintain multiple business arrangements in one local market. By merging business and newsroom operations among multiple stations, they can cut costs and boost profits. Sinclair has used the strategy of sidecar agreements, whereby they own one TV station and lease a second or third, across the country.
benton.org/node/158179 | Washington Post
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TV’S DINOSAURS ARE STILL SCARY
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Joe Flint]
[Commentary] Broadcast networks are sometimes viewed as dinosaurs trying to dodge a shower of meteors that take the form of sleek cable channels like HBO and AMC and digital platforms such as Netflix and Amazon. But CBS proved that a Tyrannosaurus rex is still pretty scary, especially to a big cable operator. The network's new distribution agreement with Time Warner Cable, reached after a 32-day blackout, will see it receive a substantial increase in fees from the pay-TV distributor. While terms were not disclosed, a person familiar with the contract said CBS hit its target of north of $2 per-subscriber, per-month over the life of the deal, which runs just under five years. The previous contract CBS had with Time Warner Cable to carry its local TV stations, including KCBS-TV Channel 2 Los Angeles, had a subscriber fee of less than $1 per-month.
benton.org/node/158198 | Los Angeles Times
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PRIVACY
CALIFORNIA POISED TO GET DO NOT TRACK DISCLOSURE LAW
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
The chances of a consumer privacy bill coming out of Congress any time soon are slim, but that hasn't stopped California, which continues to forge new ground when it comes to consumer privacy legislation. At the end of August, the California Senate and Assembly passed an amendment (AB370) to the California Online Privacy Protection Act that will require commercial websites and services that collect personal data to disclose how they respond to "Do Not Track" signals from web browsers.
benton.org/node/158190 | AdWeek
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JOURNALISM
NEWS CORP SELLS LOCAL NEWSPAPERS TO FORTRESS INVESTMENT
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Edmund Lee]
News Corp, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, sold a collection of local newspapers such as Oregon’s Ashland Daily Tidings and Massachusetts’ Cape Cod Times to private-equity manager Fortress Investment Group. Financial terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. The Dow Jones Local Media Group operates 33 publications, including eight daily newspapers and 15 weeklies. News Corp, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, is narrowing its focus to larger publications such as the Journal, the New York Post and the UK’s Times. The sale reduces the Dow Jones unit to the Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Barron’s, SmartMoney.com and the conferences business and news site AllThingsD, whose contract with the company ends this year.
benton.org/node/158191 | Bloomberg
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
SILICON VALLEY TAKES AIM AT VETERAN DEMOCRAT
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Michelle Quinn, Elizabeth Titus]
When it comes to seven-term incumbent Mike Honda (D-CA), Silicon Valley’s tech titans want a lawmaker update. His challenger, Ro Khanna (D), has collected checks and endorsements from some of the technology industry’s biggest names, including Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer and investor Marc Andreessen. Many in the industry view Khanna, a lawyer with Valley ties who is half Honda’s age, as more in tune with their views. Rep. Honda, though, has the support of virtually the entire Democratic establishment, including President Barack Obama and top members of California’s congressional contingent. Some tech leaders complain that Rep Honda, 72, doesn’t understand their industry as well as he should. They don’t have a beef with any one decision he’s made, but fault him for not being a more influential tech advocate in the House. Instead, they see Khanna as a vehicle for what they call a pro-innovation agenda more in line with their interests. They also favor the 36-year-old challenger’s relative youth, saying Silicon Valley could amass more political clout if the Facebook mantra – “move fast and break things” – extended to more of their representatives in DC. The Honda-vs.-Khanna 17th district race may be the most direct example of the industry wielding its increasing political clout as it seeks to advance its agenda in Washington. Khanna, an intellectual property lawyer and former Obama administration official, wrote a book titled “Entrepreneurial Nation” and is teaching a class this fall at Stanford on American competitiveness. He says he’s not basing his campaign on the tech industry’s narrow interests but instead advocating a broader, Silicon Valley ethos.
benton.org/node/158187 | Politico
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RESEARCH
ROBERT COASE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Patrick Lyons]
Ronald H. Coase, whose insights about why companies work and when government regulation is unnecessary earned him a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 1991, died on September 2 in Chicago. He was 102. Out of a study by Professor Coase on how the Federal Communications Commission licensed broadcasters, he wrote “The Problem of Social Cost,” a paper published in 1960, which challenged the idea that the only way to restrain people and companies from behaving in ways that harmed others was through government intervention. He argued that if there were no transaction costs, the affected parties could negotiate and settle conflicts privately to their mutual benefit, and that fostering such settlements might make more economic sense than pre-empting them with regulations. The practice of issuing the licenses more or less permanently for small fees to whoever applied first and met legal requirements made little economic sense, he argued; better to treat them as property, auction them off and allow them to be freely transferred. Decades later, his ideas were used to raise billions of dollars for the Treasury when radio frequencies were assigned for cellular phone services.
benton.org/node/158208 | New York Times | WSJ – editorial | Holman Jenkins Jr
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