April 2014

The FCC Changed Course on Network Neutrality. Here is Why You Should Care

[Commentary] In an ex parte letter to the Federal Communications Commission, I called on the FCC to seriously explore all available jurisdictional options for adopting network neutrality rules and to include real questions on reclassification in the upcoming Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

The filing makes four points:

Allowing access fees is a significant reversal from the FCC's earlier policies as set forth in the Open Internet Order.
Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act requires the FCC to allow access fees.
Allowing access fees is bad policy.
If the FCC is serious about protecting the Open Internet, it needs to start asking real questions about reclassification in its upcoming Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

Does Anyone Like the FCC’s Proposed Net Neutrality Rules?

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler’s newly proposed rules to police Internet lines won’t even be released until May, and they’re already looking like a political orphan.

Internet activists and key Democratic lawmakers have panned Wheeler’s proposal, which would let Internet service providers sell “express lanes” to Internet content providers willing to pay a premium, even as his aides struggled to explain it. A New York Times editorial blasted Wheeler’s proposal, while a petition asking the White House to stop the FCC attracted more than 14,000 signatures in less than 24 hours. The problem facing Wheeler is simple. Republicans have never liked net neutrality regulation; they feel it’s unnecessary because there have been very few complaints. Democrats, who have consistently supported net neutrality, don’t like this proposal because they object to letting content providers pay for priority delivery.

Forget fast lanes. The real threat for network neutrality is zero-rated content

[Commentary] The network neutrality provisions adopted by the European Parliament ruled that specialized services like “fast lanes” can’t be used by telcos to the detriment of the availability or quality of Internet access services. On the other side of the Atlantic, Americans are less fortunate. The Federal Communications Commission said that it would propose new rules that allow companies like Disney, Google or Netflix to pay Internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon for special, faster lanes to send video and other content to their customers. This is the price the US pays for delegating such crucial policy decisions to an unelected ex-lobbyist rather than delegating to Congress.

Meanwhile, the open internet isn’t safe yet in Europe: The Council hasn’t spoken and the devil is in the details. According to Digital Fuel Monitor data, eight incumbent telcos are sabotaging net neutrality with an orchestrated launch of “zero-rated” apps over their mobile networks in nine European Union markets. This means they’re favoring their own or their over-the-top partners’ apps by “zero-rating” the data volume -- not counting it against the end user’s data volume allowance. Zero-rated mobile traffic doesn’t need to be delivered at higher speeds and with a higher quality of service, nor does it need to be prioritized. The European Parliament must, on its second reading, adopt provisions that explicitly prohibit the practice. The U.S. should not go down the slippery road and allow the creation of a two-tier internet. Like the EU, it should ensure that fast lanes are not used to the detriment of open internet access, and should ban zero-rating.

[Drossos is a managing partner at Rewheel]

The Media Has a Woman Problem

[Commentary] A new report by the Women’s Media Center found that male reporters still accounted for 63 percent of bylines in the nation’s top 10 papers and about the same proportion of newsroom staff. All but one of the individual winners of Pulitzer Prizes in journalism this year were male.

Men’s dominance in the field tends to be highest in prestige or “hard” topics like politics, crime, business, technology and world affairs; women put up better numbers in “soft” subjects like education, lifestyle, culture and health. Male opinion columnists outnumber women by more than two to one at The Wall Street Journal, more than three to one at The Washington Post, and five to one at The New York Times. As for sports -- do you need to ask? Men also represent authority and expertise in more subtle ways. On the front page of The New York Times, the study noted, men were quoted three times more often than women. When women were writing the stories, the number of women quoted went up.

What the report doesn’t answer is why this disparity persists, and why women are more equal in some sectors of journalism than in others. As journalism expands beyond institutional newsrooms, deals are more easily made out of sight. The same is true in science, where women are far less likely than men to be invited to join lucrative corporate scientific advisory boards. Doors can open. But new kinds of doors can be closed.

[Mundy is a program director at the New America Foundation]

Russia, Cuba oppose Internet control, surveillance agreement

While most countries are signing on to a new agreement on Internet governance, Russia and Cuba have pushed back, according to US officials.

The nonbinding agreement was drafted at NETmundial, a meeting in Brazil that brought together representatives from governments, the tech industry and civil society to discuss Internet governance issues. White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel called the agreement drafted at NETmundial “a critical step forward in the global discussions around the Internet." He said the meeting was “a huge success” for reaffirming global support for bottom-up governance of the Internet. The nonbinding agreement developed at the meeting lays down basic Internet governance principles -- such as free speech, privacy rights, security and protections for the Internet companies that connect people online -- and calls for a global approach to Internet governance and oversight.

Specifically, the transition of oversight over the Internet’s Web address system, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), away from the U.S. government “should be conducted thoughtfully with a focus on maintaining the security and stability of the Internet, empowering the principle of equal participation among all stakeholder groups and striving towards a completed transition by September 2015,” the document said. The agreement also addresses government mass surveillance, saying it “should not be arbitrary or unlawful,” a standard that the U.S. government “is very comfortable” with, according to Scott Busby, deputy assistant secretary of State. That principle is “consistent with standards that have already been articulated in international law,” he said. “There is nothing groundbreaking new here in terms of mass surveillance or surveillance generally.”

New York Times strikes a blow to China’s efforts at censorship

[Commentary] The New York Times recently offered a revealing look at how family members of a senior Chinese political figure had amassed a nine-figure fortune. It also struck a welcome blow against an aggressive effort by Chinese authorities to censor such information not just from domestic media but also from the US press. The information is deeply revealing about the Chinese political system, and the country’s citizens deserve to know it.

Subcommittee on Health
House Commerce Committee
Thursday, May 1, 2014
10 am
http://energycommerce.house.gov/hearing/telehealth-digital-medicine-how-...

The subcommittee will discuss what opportunities advances in technology and telemedicine present for improving access to and quality of health care for patients. Members have worked on a bipartisan basis on a number of bills including H.R. 3077, the Tele-MED Act introduced by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ); H.R. 3306, the Telehealth Enhancement Act introduced by subcommittee member Rep. Gregg Harper (R-MS) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT); and H.R. 3750, the Telehealth Modernization Act introduced by Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) and subcommittee member Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH).

Read more about Telehealth to Digital Medicine: How 21st Century Technology Can Benefit Patients

CodeBabes: the latest thing to make women in tech cringe

Women in tech have yet another Web site to roll their eyes at: "CodeBabes" -- one that's dedicated to using women's bodies to teach basic coding skills.

The site, which appears to have launched earlier in April, features videos of how to do some basic coding.

The first course -- termed the "virgin" class -- features women who are mostly clothed, but the site says they will become more scantily clad as lessons become more difficult.

"Watch the lesson, absorb the info, pass the quiz, and your instructor removes one piece of clothing." Just enough to "motivate" users, it promises.

CodeBabes has not responded to a Washington Post inquiry asking whether it's a joke or a high production value parody that is uneasily close to real life (similar ventures that have leveraged women's bodies to attract interest in the tech world, like "Hot Tech Today," have turned out to be serious).

CTIA: NTIA Should Get Out Of Spectrum Management Business

Wireless companies told the House Commerce Committee that the National Telecommunications & Information Administration should get out of the spectrum management business.

Currently, the Federal Communications Commission and NTIA divvy up those duties, with the FCC overseeing commercial spectrum and NTIA government spectrum.

In comments to the committee in response to a white paper on spectrum management, CTIA: The Wireless Association said that FCC and NTIA have to coordinate with each other, their spectrum management has been "inconsistent."

"In order to overcome these duplications and inefficiencies, a single entity should be responsible for spectrum policy (establishing national spectrum goals and strategies) and implementation authority (licensing spectrum use)," CTIA says. NTIA would not be cut out entirely. It is the President's chief communications policy advisor, and could continue in that role and advocate for spectrum on behalf of federal agencies.

CTIA put in a plug for licensed spectrum. Cable, by contrast, is pushing for as much unlicensed as can be freed up. That is because cable ops are boosting their mobile broadband play in competition to wireless via unlicensed spectrum that allows them to wire broadband subs on the go through hundreds of thousands of Wi-Fi hot spots.

E-Labeling Deserves Serious Consideration

To keep pace with technological advancements, I believe it is time for the Federal Communications Commission to consider modernizing our labeling requirements.

Electronic labeling, or e-labeling, could replace the current system of etched labels containing FCC certification information on the outside body of each electronic device. Instead, this information could be provided through software on device screens.

There are numerous potential benefits to e-labeling. Specifically, e-labels can provide more information to consumers than is conveyed today. Beyond the required FCC certification information, details can be added by manufacturers regarding device warranties, recycling, and trade-in opportunities. In addition, e-labels can be updated remotely to address any inaccuracies, such as typographical errors. Another advantage of e-labeling is cost savings. As devices have become smaller and more aesthetically appealing, etching the labels requires more design time and expensive equipment. E-labeling could dramatically reduce or eliminate these costs without sacrificing consumer information.

Along with the proposed benefits, there may be some perceived drawbacks to e-labeling that can be addressed. E-labeling should never be allowed in any way to short-circuit or undermine the FCC's certification process. The FCC should take every opportunity to ensure that its rules and procedures take advantage of modern technology and are as user-friendly as possible.

That is why I hope that the Commission will, in the near future, turn its attention to the possibility of permitting e-labeling through a means that will expedite its use. Doing so would not only be good government, it would stand to benefit equipment manufacturers, and more importantly, consumers.

Benton

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