June 2014

Why the SCOTUS Cellphone Decision is a Win for Press Freedom

[Commentary] According to the Supreme Court, police need a warrant to search the cellphones of people they arrest. The unanimous decision, which was handed down, is being heralded as a major victory for privacy rights and a landmark case with implications far beyond cellphones.

Many of the most important debates surrounding press freedom and privacy right now focus on how our fundamental freedoms, so long expressed and protected in the physical world, will translate to the digital age.

In response to the ruling Geoffrey King of the Committee to Protect Journalists said, "Today's decision closes a dangerous loophole faced by journalists who use mobile devices for news-gathering and reporting." The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, National Press Photographers Association and other news organizations filed a brief in the cases at the Supreme Court arguing that cellphone searches can interfere with news-gathering.

"A typical journalist's phone contains a wealth of private data," the news organizations wrote in the brief. "At any time a journalist's phone may include drafts of stories, interviews, corresponding photos or video, information about sources, and other confidential information necessary for reporting."

The decision is an important recognition that advances in our technology shouldn't result in erosions of our liberty. The case comes at a moment of renewed interest and concern for how government and law enforcement are using cellphones to track people. While the case is not likely to have an immediate impact on the practices of the NSA, it may create a new opening in that debate down the road.

[Stearns is Director, Journalism and Sustainability at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation]

SCOTUS Gets It: Encryption Is a Basic Security Feature, Not a Sign You Have Something to Hide

[Commentary] If you kept all your private physical information in a locked trunk, the government would need a warrant to search it. “Most people cannot lug around every piece of mail they have received for the past several months, every picture they have taken, or every book or article they have read,” the Chief Justice John Roberts said in Riley v. California. If people did, “they would have to drag a trunk behind them.”

Searching a trunk should, and does, require a warrant. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Riley v. California says that modern “trunks” like phones, computers and cloud services should be no different. In straightforward language, the Chief Justice demolishes the notions that have obscured the basic fact that the constitution entitles us to “the right to be secure” in our “persons, houses, papers and effects.”

Importantly for digital privacy and security companies, the Supreme Court had no time for the government’s complaints that common security features -- like encryption -- justified dispensing with Constitutional protections. It is clear that the justices saw encryption correctly, as an ordinary and prudent privacy protection, not as some exotic feature designed to thwart the needs of law enforcement.

[Edgar is Visiting Fellow, Brown University]

Privacy groups oppose new Senate cyber bill

A coalition of privacy advocates have come out against a new Senate cybersecurity bill that critics say ignores the revelations about US surveillance. In a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee, 22 privacy groups warned against taking up the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act.

That recently introduced bill from Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) would make it easier for companies to share information about cyber threats with each other and the government.

In their letter, the groups -- including the ACLU, the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation -- said the bill would allow for more information sharing with US intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA) despite public backlash over NSA surveillance. “Instead of reining in NSA surveillance, the bill would facilitate a vast flow of private communications data to the NSA.”

FCC Issues Snapshot of US Internet Service

The number of homes in the United States that subscribe to Internet service has grown at a 15 percent annual rate over the last decade, to 85 million. But as much as 30 percent of households do not have a connection faster than dial-up speed, according to government figures just released.

In its semiannual report on Internet Access Services, the Federal Communications Commission found that as of June 30, 2013, roughly 70 percent of households had fixed Internet connections of at least 0.2 megabits per second, a rather slow speed but generally faster than dial-up. Most people with Internet connections have even faster speeds, however. About 54 percent of all households can download data or video at a rate of three megabits per second or better.

The FCC defines broadband, or high-speed Internet service, as having a minimum download speed of four megabits per second. The figures show a stubbornly persistent digital divide in this country between households that subscribe to Internet service and those that do not. Other figures in the report show that Internet adoption rates grow along with income and education. In addition, city dwellers are more likely to subscribe to Internet service than are residents of less-populated areas.

Twentieth Quarterly Status Report to Congress Regarding BTOP

From September through December 2013, BTOP Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) recipients:

Deployed or upgraded more than 760 miles of fiber. Since the program began, recipients have deployed more than 112,000 miles of fiber.
Connected more than 900 community anchor institutions. Thus far, recipients have connected approximately 21,000 total community anchor institutions.
Generated approximately 1,600 new broadband adoption subscribers, bringing the total number of new subscribers to approximately 631,000.

As of December 30, 2013, NTIA helped 192 recipients (86 percent of the total) complete project activities. NTIA will continue to work with the remaining 32 recipients (14 percent) to verify that they have met their grant requirements and formally close out these grants in the coming months. The majority of State Broadband Initiative (SBI) awards remain active until January 31, 2015.

As of December 31, 2013, grant recipients drew down $3.51 billion, or 85 percent, of federal grant funds. Recipients will use up to the remaining $613.3 million, or 15 percent, of federal grant funds to complete their projects.

We don’t need net neutrality; we need competition

[Commentary] The network neutrality debate is a muddy one at best, with different people using the term in different ways. Regulatory enforcement of the idea would at best prove inadequate to achieve what people want.

At worst, it might even prove harmful to innovation and progress, potentially outlawing existing widespread and harmless practices. In addition, the current fixation on network neutrality happens to work to the advantage of the large incumbent Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

While they may oppose network neutrality regulations (or, indeed, any legislative or regulatory limitations on their business at all), so long as the debate centers around network neutrality, the largest ISPs can be confident that nothing will challenge their dominant market positions.

There is another way. Proven "unbundled access" schemes can provide the same perceived advantages as the "network neutrality" idea while avoiding the difficulties that network neutrality regulations could impose. The approach has been used around the world to establish competitive markets that ultimately rely on market forces rather than regulation to ensure that ISPs provide a quality service.

White, Stephenson Pitch Merger To FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel

AT&T Chairman Randall Stephenson and DirecTV Chairman Michael White stopped by the Federal Communications Commission on June 25 to pitch the merger of the two companies.

According to FCC documents, they met with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and her legal advisor to stress the public interest benefits of the deal and the pledges they made, which include extending broadband to 15 million more customers through fixed wireless and fiber buildouts; offering video/broadband bundles in a wider area, offering standalone broadband and video; and committing to abide by the FCC's vacated network neutrality rules for three years (it would automatically be subject to new rules if the FCC passes them).

AT&T Open To RFD If DirecTV Deal Okayed

AT&T signaled RFD-TV could get U-Verse carriage if its proposed combination with satellite operator DirecTV deal is approved by regulators.

The rural channel has gotten some high-profile attention in Hill hearings on the AT&T/DirecTV and Comcast/Time Warner Cable deals from legislators concerned about large media companies' carriage of rural-themed programming (Comcast has dropped the channel on some of its mostly urban and suburban systems).

FCC Releases Spectrum Repacking Scenarios

The Federal Communications Commission has released key technical data that the agency used to predict that TV stations may face little new interference after they are repacked into new channel assignments in the wake of the agency’s incentive auction in 2015.

The FCC has said that agency repacking simulations had shown that only about 1% of stations are expected to receive more than 1 percent additional interference, with none receiving more than 2%, after TV stations are repacked into new channel assignments after the incentive auctions.

The National Association of Broadcasters asked that the FCC release the 100 repacking scenarios that the FCC had based its findings on, hoping to test the agency’s results. Said NAB EVP Rick Kaplan, in response to the FCC’s data dump: “We are thankful the FCC responded positively to our request. This information should prove to be very useful and will allow NAB and others assist the FCC in the very complex repacking process.”

Review of the Emergency Alert System

The Federal Communications Commission has taken steps to strengthen the Emergency Alert System (EAS) by proposing revisions to EAS rules to address problems encountered during the first nationwide test of the EAS.

Specifically, in light of the lessons learned from the nationwide EAS test, which occurred on November 9, 2011, this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposes to: 1) establish a national location code for EAS alerts issued by the President; 2) amend FCC rules governing a national EAS test code for future nationwide tests; 3) require broadcasters, cable service providers, and other entities required to comply with the Commission’s EAS rules (EAS Participants) to file test result data electronically; and 4) require EAS Participants to meet minimal standards to ensure that EAS alerts are accessible to all members of the public, including those with disabilities.

Benton

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