June 26, 2014 (New from SCOTUS)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2014
Digital Diplomacy and Proactive Monitoring: Challenges to Solutions http://benton.org/calendar/2014-06-26/
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Judge: Warrantless Bulk Surveillance Is Legal
Supreme Court: Police Need Warrants to Search Cellphone Data
The Supreme Court Saves Cellphone Privacy - NYTimes editorial [links to web]
Why the high court protects cellphone privacy - Christian Science Monitor editorial [links to web]
The Supreme Court Justices Have Cellphones, Too - NYTimes analysis [links to web]
Cellphone Ruling Could Alter Police Methods, Experts Say [links to web]
Supreme Court cellphone ruling hints at broader curbs on surveillance
Sen Leahy: Cellphone ruling is ‘wake-up call’
With cellphone search ruling, Supreme Court draws a stark line between digital and physical searches
Courts may hear challenges to secret cell tracking devices after new ruling [links to web]
Twiplomacy Study 2014 - research
Making We the People More User-Friendly Than Ever - press release [links to web]
TELEVISION/RADIO
Supreme Court Rules Against Aereo in Broadcasters’ Challenge
Reaction to Aereo Decision - analysis [links to web]
What the Aereo decision means for TV watchers [links to web]
Winners and losers in Aereo decision - analysis [links to web]
Why Aereo’s Loss Hurts the TV Industrial Complex in the Long Run - analysis [links to web]
The Supreme Court's Aereo decision could endanger cloud storage services [links to web]
Aereo's Supreme Court Smackdown Won't Harm Apple iCloud Or Others In The Cloud Computing Industry [links to web]
Aereo's Supreme Court Loss Leaves It in Salvage Mode
Aereo is dead, so what's next for television?
Aereo's Loss Shifts Goal Posts for Networks - analysis
Did the justices really understand Aereo? - editorial
Aereo ruling boosts calls for radio reform [links to web]
Why Aereo Loss Will Discourage Technology Innovation in Hollywood - analysis
The Incentive Auction: Helping Broadcasters Make Informed Decisions - press release
Sen McCaskill eyes measure to combat TV bills
Fox Stations Beef Up Local News In 8 Markets [links to web]
Fox And Cox Swap TV Stations In Memphis, Boston, And San Francisco [links to web]
INTERNET/TELECOMMUNICATIONS
FCC Releases New Data on Internet Access Services And Local Telephone Competition - press release
LPTV Coalition on Noncommercial Spectrum Sharing: Step Right Up [links to web]
FCC’s Wheeler Quietly Visits Silicon Valley to Talk Net Neutrality
Sen Thune sets stage for Senate communications law overhaul
Remarks of FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai On “Reforming Communications Policy In The Digital Age: A View From The FCC” - speech
Study: Downstream Demands To Reach 165 Mbps By 2020 [links to web]
If it ain’t broke… FCC’s ‘Measuring Broadband America’ report shows a healthy Internet sector - AEI analysis [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Why Are We Still Calling the Things in Our Pockets ‘Cell Phones’? - analysis
Sprint CEO: Wireless merger could increase competition in suburbs
10 things to know about the smartphone kill switch [links to web]
DIVERSITY
Status update: Facebook not so diverse
New Initiative Launched to Increase Latino Inclusion in News Coverage - press release
OWNERSHIP
Merger mania in media? Cable companies could be just the start
Fox And Cox Swap TV Stations In Memphis, Boston, And San Francisco [links to web]
Apple buying Disney? A consultant explains why he thinks a deal is ‘frighteningly obvious.’ [links to web]
PRIVACY/SECURITY
Watching Google’s Many Arms - analysis
Google removes search results under ‘right to be forgotten’ rules
Why Americans, like Europeans, should be able to scrub their online search results - op-ed
US may extend some privacy rights to Europeans [links to web]
FTC Approves Final Orders Settling Charges of US-EU Safe Harbor Violations Against 14 Companies - press release [links to web]
CONTENT
Broadcasters defend radio stations’ free music
Public Knowledge, CFA, and EFF Submit Music Licensing Testimony to House Judiciary Committee - press release [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
DirecTV, Dish Proffer New Means to Address GOP Voters [links to web]
EDUCATION
NMC and CoSN Release the NMC Horizon Report > 2014 K-12 Edition - research
E-rate reform: A sustainable path forward for school and library connectivity - op-ed
Advocacy Groups Push Coding as a Core Curriculum for Schools [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Google wants to follow you everywhere, from your car to your living room [links to web]
Google, Samsung Tensions Ease [links to web]
Barnes & Noble to split bookstore, Nook units [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Google removes search results under ‘right to be forgotten’ rules
Telefónica meets regulatory hurdle on €8.6bn E-Plus takeover [links to web]
Amazon responds to German antitrust complaint, says it wants a larger commission on e-books [links to web]
The Diminishing Returns of Tricking China’s Censors - op-ed [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
LA's share of TV pilot production drops to a historic low [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
JUDGE: WARRANTLESS BULK SURVEILLANCE IS LEGAL
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Nigel Duara]
A federal judge has affirmed the legality of the US government's bulk collection of phone and e-mail data from foreign nationals living outside the country -- including their contact with US citizens -- in denying a man's motion to dismiss his terrorism conviction. It was the first legal challenge to the government's bulk data-collection program of non-US citizens living overseas after revelations about massive, warrantless surveillance were made public by former National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden. The program also sweeps up information about US citizens who have contact with overseas suspects. This type of surveillance played a key role in this case. Lawyers for Mohamed Mohamud, a US citizen who lived in Oregon, tried to show the program violated his constitutional rights and was more broadly unconstitutional. US District Judge Garr King denied that effort.
benton.org/node/189376 | Associated Press
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SUPREME COURT: POLICE NEED WARRANTS TO SEARCH CELLPHONE DATA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jess Bravin]
The Supreme Court has ruled police must almost always obtain a warrant before searching mobile devices seized when arresting someone, extending constitutional privacy protections to the increasingly vast amounts of data Americans keep on smartphones, cellphones and other hand-held digital technology. The court, in a unanimous ruling written by Chief Justice John Roberts, said both the quantity and quality of information contained in modern hand-held devices is constitutionally protected from police intrusion without a warrant. "Modern cellphones aren't a technological convenience," Chief Justice Roberts wrote. "With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans 'the privacies of life,'" he wrote. The ruling rejected law-enforcement arguments that cellphones fell under a long-standing exception to the warrant requirement that allows police to search the contents of suspects' pockets to make sure they don't carry weapons or destroy evidence. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the Supreme Court in the case of Riley v California has established an important precedent about the need for law enforcement officers to secure a warrant before searching someone's cell phone. He also established a crucial cultural precedent by ruling, accurately, that iPhones and Androids and such aren't really phones at all. “They could just as easily be called cameras, video players, rolodexes, calendars, tape recorders, libraries, diaries, albums, televisions, maps, or newspapers,” the judge ruled.
benton.org/node/189374 | Wall Street Journal | Vox | NYTimes | The Hill | ars technica
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CELLPHONE PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Craig Timberg]
The words “National Security Agency” appear nowhere in the Supreme Court’s opinion prohibiting cellphone searches without a warrant. But the unanimous ruling makes clear that the nation’s most important jurists are tuned in to the roiling debate about high-tech surveillance and concerned about government officials going too far. In broad, passionate language -- spiked with the occasional joke -- the ruling by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. asserts that the vast troves of information police can find in modern cellphones are no less worthy of constitutional protection than the private papers that Founding Fathers once kept locked in wooden file cabinets inside their homes. Such declarations, experts said, suggest a willingness to reconsider legal rulings long used to justify modern surveillance tools. That includes some spying technologies that were unimaginable when courts first articulated those arguments but that now are routinely used by a range of government agencies, including the NSA, the FBI and many state and local police forces. A footnote in the ruling cautions against assuming too much about the court’s views on data collection “under other circumstances.” But legal experts on both sides of the privacy debate took notice of the unanimity of the ruling and the uncommonly strong language Chief Justice Roberts used when describing the privacy risks in modern technologies.
benton.org/node/189689 | Washington Post | Politico
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SEN LEAHY: CELLPHONE RULING IS ‘WAKE-UP CALL’
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
The Supreme Court’s ruling that police need a warrant to search someone’s cellphone is a “wake-up call” for Congress to act on other kinds of digital privacy, Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said. “The Supreme Court’s decision in US v. Wurie and Riley v. California is a wake-up call that we need to update our laws to keep pace with technological advances,” he said shortly after the high court’s unanimous ruling. “Just as the government must now obtain a warrant to look through the contents of our cell phones, I believe the same standard should apply when the government wants to look through our emails.” Sen Leahy’s bill “updates our digital privacy laws to keep pace with new technologies, protect civil liberties, and provide guidance to law enforcers,” he said. “Congress should act swiftly to pass this bill and bring our privacy laws into the 21st Century.”
benton.org/node/189396 | Hill, The
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WITH CELLPHONE SEARCH RULING, SUPREME COURT DRAWS A STARK LINE BETWEEN DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL SEARCHES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Andrea Peterson]
Privacy advocates scored a huge win as the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that searching the cellphone of an arrested individual requires a warrant in most circumstances. “The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought," the court said. "Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching a cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple -- get a warrant.” While this may have been obvious to the average person, the Supreme Court ruling is an "incredibly important new development in the law," Kevin Bankston, policy director at the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, argues -- one that suggests "the Fourth Amendment of the 21st century may be much more protective than that of the last century." Searching the vast amount of data on your cellphone is different from searching your backpack, just as tracking your car with a GPS device is different from having the police follow you, and the government seizing all of the e-mail you store in the cloud is different from seizing your file cabinet." The court drew a clear distinction between digital and physical searches in the opinion, at one point saying it was the difference between horseback riding and space travel.
benton.org/node/189394 | Washington Post
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TWIPLOMACY STUDY 2014
[SOURCE: Twiplomacy, AUTHOR: Matthias Lüfkens]
World leaders vie for attention, connections and followers on Twitter, that’s the latest finding of Burson-Marsteller’s Twiplomacy study 2014, an annual global study looking at the use of Twitter by heads of state and government and ministers of foreign affairs. While some heads of state and government continue to amass large followings, foreign ministers have established a virtual diplomatic network by following each other on the social media platform. For many diplomats Twitter has becomes a powerful channel for digital diplomacy and 21st century statecraft and not all Twitter exchanges are diplomatic, real world differences are spilling over reflected on Twitter and sometimes end up in hashtag wars. More than half of the world’s foreign ministers and their institutions are active on the social networking site. Twitter has become an indispensable diplomatic networking and communication tool. As of 25 June 2014, the vast majority (83 percent) of the 193 UN member countries have a presence on Twitter. More than two-thirds (68 percent) of all heads of state and heads of government have personal accounts on the social network. As of 24 June 2014, the vast majority (83 percent) of the 193 UN member countries have a presence on Twitter. More than two-thirds (68 percent) of all heads of state and heads of government have personal accounts on the social network. US President @BarackObama and the @WhiteHouse are the most popular among their peers, followed by 222 and 179 peers respectively. The Venezuelan presidency (@PresidencialVen) has sent close to 50,000 tweets, averaging almost 40 tweets each day. The Foreign Ministry of Venezuela (@vencancilleria) places second with more than 42,000 tweets sent, followed by the Mexican Presidency (@PresidenciaMX) with 38,000 tweets sent. The Mexican presidency is also the most prolific, posting on average 78 tweets each day.
benton.org/node/189581 | Twiplomacy
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TELEVISION
SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST AEREO IN BROADCASTERS’ CHALLENGE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Adam Liptak, Emily Steel]
In a decision with far-reaching implications for the television industry, the Supreme Court ruled that Aereo, a start-up streaming service, had violated copyright laws by capturing broadcast signals on miniature antennas and delivering them to subscribers for a fee. The 6-3 decision was a victory for the major television networks, which had argued that Aereo’s business model amounted to a theft of their programming. The judges’ ruling leaves the current broadcast model intact while imperiling Aereo’s viability as a business after just over two years in existence. In arguments before the court in April, the broadcasters contended that Aereo and similar services threatened to cut into a vital revenue stream -- the billions of dollars they receive from cable and satellite companies in retransmission fees, the money paid to networks and local stations for the right to retransmit their programming. The networks said this revenue was so essential that they would have considered removing their signals from the airwaves had the court ruled for Aereo. The start-up contended that the service it provided through warehouses of small antennas was merely helping its subscribers do what they could lawfully do since the era of rabbit-ears: watch free broadcast television delivered over public airwaves. Both Barry Diller, who heads Aereo owner IAC/InterActiveCorp, and Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia have expressed doubt about whether Aereo could remain in business if the Supreme Court ruled against it.
benton.org/node/189372 | New York Times | Wall Street Journal | Washington Post | The Hill | Revere Digital | The Wrap | TVNewsCheck | ars technica | B&C | GigaOm
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AEREO'S SUPREME COURT LOSS LEAVES IT IN SALVAGE MODE
[SOURCE: The Wrap, AUTHOR: Tim Molloy]
With its loss before the Supreme Court, Aereo suddenly finds itself in salvage mode. The court ruled that the company -- which uses tiny antennas to beam broadcast TV signals to subscribers’ devices -- had violated broadcasters’ copyrights. The ruling killed Aereo's business model in the midst of what had been a speedy rollout of the technology across the United States. It was a victory for traditional TV, and a setback for companies that hope to circumvent traditional TV sets by bringing TV to the masses without paying broadcasters to do so. Now Barry Diller and other investors must find some way to recoup their money. Aereo CEO and founder Chet Kanojia raised one way Aereo could recoup some of its expenses: he said the company's technology was “immensely valuable” and he is “sure somebody will want it.”
benton.org/node/189370 | Wrap, The
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AEREO IS DEAD, SO WHAT'S NEXT FOR TELEVISION?
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Adrianne Jeffries]
The broadcast industry can breathe again: Aereo -- the startup that streamed broadcast TV over the Internet for cheap -- is dead. Or at least, the incarnation of Aereo that wasn’t paying copyright fees is dead, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling. So what happens now? A decision in favor of Aereo would have changed things quite a bit for the television industry, but the ruling means back to business as usual. While some have raised fears that the opinion will impact cloud computing services, the court intended for the ruling to apply narrowly to Aereo. "It just means you can expect more of the same," says Michael Greeson, president of The Diffusion Group, a research firm focused on the future of TV. "The broadcasters won the case. There were no caveats, except for that this is a limited case. It would be untenable to extend this decision beyond its limited scope." Reacting to the news, Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia said that "our work is not done," and that it will "continue to fight for our consumers." Realistically, though, the company is unlikely to survive. "Aereo will go out of business immediately," Greeson says. The fees Aereo is now required to pay broadcasters, which can range from a few cents to a few dollars for every channel, for every subscriber, every month, will make it impossible to continue charging only $8 to $12 a month. For consumers, the ruling means no change in the high prices from cable companies and limited options for watching TV online or on mobile devices. Cable companies have started to offer streaming online options and mobile apps like Time Warner’s TWC TV app and Comcast’s Xfinity streaming service, but those offerings are expensive, slow to roll out, and tend to be poorly designed.
benton.org/node/189587 | Verge, The
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WHY AEREO LOSS WILL DISCOURAGE TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN HOLLYWOOD
[SOURCE: The Wrap, AUTHOR: Sharon Waxman]
[Commentary] The decision by the US Supreme Court to back US broadcasters against the upstart service Aereo will send a clear message to innovators: Don't. It makes a nice short-term win for the broadcasters who have legacy businesses and retransmission fees to protect. But it's a long-term loss for the entertainment industry, which can only survive by embracing change, encouraging innovation and being willing to blow up old business models to win in the brave new world of digital media in which we live. Broadcast television already faces a highly challenged business model. With overall broadcast ratings declining every year and the fragmentation of audience across basic cable, premium cable and a dizzying number of streaming services, the advertising money that is its lifeblood inexorably diminishes. As a result this industry desperately needs to understand and work with innovators, not shut them out. Change is coming anyway, Hollywood may as well drive it and maintain some sort of control over the pace and nature of that change.
benton.org/node/189402 | Wrap, The
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SHIFTING GOAL POSTS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Miriam Gottfried]
[Commentary] The digital upstart enemy has been vanquished and TV content remains secure upon its throne. Broadcast content, that is. The US Supreme Court said Aereo was effectively no different from a cable company and thus must pay broadcasters for the right to distribute their signals. For broadcasters, the ruling removes what might have become a major threat to margins. With the ad market still relatively weak, the rapidly growing, high-margin business of charging retransmission fees to pay-TV providers is essential to keep pace with mounting programming costs, particularly for sports. For pay-TV providers, which will be shelling out an estimated $5.95 billion in retransmission fees by 2017 -- up 70% from 2013 -- according to Janney, something may have to give. Given the growing number of online alternatives, they can't very well pass all of that on to subscribers. And barring any further threat from an online rival, companies that own broadcast networks or other networks that hold sports rights will likely be seen as indispensable. Against this backdrop, cable networks that lack major sports content such as Viacom, AMC Networks, Discovery Communications and Scripps Networks Interactive look vulnerable. These companies could have less leverage to negotiate affiliate fees as distributors try to protect their margins, particularly as pay-TV companies consolidate. As broadcasters celebrate Aereo's loss, stand-alone cable networks may have lost an unlikely ally.
benton.org/node/189688 | Wall Street Journal
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DID SCOTUS UNDERSTAND AEREO?
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] In siding with broadcasters against Aereo, the Supreme Court resorted to a simple principle: If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, the law should treat it as a duck, no matter what kind of creature it is. But in doing so, the court threw a legal shadow over a slew of other tech-driven companies. Writing for the court's majority, Justice Stephen G. Breyer pooh-poohed the technological distinctions between Aereo and cable TV. But as dissenting Justice Antonin Scalia observed, the majority glossed over a crucial detail: Aereo may be providing the equipment, but its customers are the ones transmitting the programs. By shifting responsibility for those transmissions to Aereo because it "looks like cable," Justice Scalia wrote, the court threw into doubt a long-settled principle that technology providers don't violate copyrights just by enabling others to do so. There's been plenty of speculation that Aereo could undermine broadcasters by cutting into or even eliminating the substantial fees they collect from cable operators. But then, as Justice Scalia noted, broadcasters said the VCR would be the death of their industry too. By trying to close a legal loophole that technology enabled Aereo to exploit, the court blurred the boundaries around copyrights in a way that will chill investment and innovation. It would have been far better if the court had let Congress respond to a technological change it couldn't have foreseen 38 years ago.
benton.org/node/189685 | Los Angeles Times
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THE INCENTIVE AUCTION: HELPING BROADCASTERS MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler]
The Federal Communications Commission made history by adopting rules for the first-ever Incentive Auction. Robust participation by broadcasters will be critical to the success of the auction. The auction is a risk-free, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for broadcasters, but the decision of whether or not to participate is completely voluntary and confidential. We recognize that spectrum auctions are new for most broadcasters, and that we owe them additional information before the Incentive Auction. As anyone who’s made a major sale or purchase knows, having more information leads to better decisions. First, we’re providing an updated estimated timeline of Commission actions leading up to and after the auction. Importantly, this timeline details steps broadcasters will need to take to participate in the auction. Second, this summer, we will distribute informational material to help inform broadcaster decision-making. This material will provide an estimate of the amount of money broadcasters could receive for voluntarily relinquishing some or all of their spectrum rights in the auction. It will also contain additional information about why broadcasters should consider participating in the reverse auction, and the options that the auction will present to them. Third, we will conduct webinars to explain the rules for the Incentive Auction. Fourth, as we near the Incentive Auction, Commission experts will hold additional webinars and travel across the country to demonstrate to interested broadcasters how to participate, including providing hands-on bidding demonstrations.
benton.org/node/189597 | Federal Communications Commission | FCC | B&C | TVNewsCheck
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SEN MCCASKILL EYES MEASURE TO COMBAT TV BILLS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Sen Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is working on legislation to ban misleading and unfair cable and satellite television bills, and she’s looking to consumers for the worst offenders. Sen McCaskill asked consumers to visit her website and log their complaints if “they have experienced deceptive, or confusing billing practices” from cable and satellite companies. "Consumers in every corner of the country share common experiences about fending for themselves against confusing, deceptive billing practices by cable, satellite and other pay-TV companies-and I want to hear their stories," Sen McCaskill, chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, said.
benton.org/node/189400 | Hill, The
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INTERNET/TELECOMMUNICATIONS
FCC RELEASES NEW DATA ON INTERNET ACCESS SERVICES AND LOCAL TELEPHONE COMPETITION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission has released its latest reports on Internet access service connections and local telephone services in the United States.
Titled Internet Access Services and Local Telephone Competition, respectively, the reports are based on data submitted by service providers every six months. The reports include data collected by the FCC through June 30, 2013.
Highlights from the reports include the following:
The number of connections with downstream speeds of at least 10 Mbps increased by 118% over June 2012, to 103 million connections, including 58 million fixed connections and 45 million mobile connections.
Growth is particularly high in mobile Internet subscriptions. The number of mobile subscriptions with speeds over 200 kbps in at least one direction grew to 181 million -- up 18% from June 2012.
In voice services, there were 90 million end-user switched access lines in service, 45 million interconnected VoIP subscriptions, and 306 million mobile voice subscriptions, or 441 million retail local telephone service connections in total as of June 30, 2013.
Over the three years between June 2010 and June 2013, interconnected VoIP subscriptions increased at a compound growth rate of 16%, mobile voice subscriptions increased at a compound annual growth rate of 3%, and retail switched access lines declined at 10% a year.
benton.org/node/189610 | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC’S WHEELER QUIETLY VISITS SILICON VALLEY TO TALK NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is visiting Silicon Valley to get an earful from the tech community about what they think about his network neutrality proposal. Chairman Wheeler reportedly met with a group of venture capitalists for a roundtable discussion about net neutrality and is meeting with a group of startups today, according to a person with knowledge of the meetings. Among the attendees, representatives from Y Combinator, Mozilla, Andreessen Horowitz’s (and former DC mayor) Adrian Fenty, Homebrew’s Hunter Walk and Engine Advocacy, the public interest group which has been responsible for whipping up support among startups for net neutrality. “An Open Internet is an essential foundation for startups to build upon so very glad that Chairman Wheeler is spending time in Silicon Valley meeting with entrepreneurs, tech execs and investors,” Walk said. Many of the people in the meetings represent companies that signed onto a letter raising concerns about Chairman Wheeler’s recent net neutrality proposal, which opens the door to allowing broadband providers to sell fast-lane service to content companies.
benton.org/node/189403 | Revere Digital
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SEN THUNE SETS STAGE FOR SENATE COMMUNICATIONS LAW OVERHAUL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
The top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee is pushing for Congress to overhaul the law governing the Internet, television and phone service. Sen John Thune (R-SD) said that the Senate would likely begin work to update the law in 2015, and seemed to shine on the notion that Republicans would have taken control of the upper chamber. The Telecommunications Act outlines the authority of the Federal Communications Commission and sets the path for regulating phone, Internet and TV service. But it was written back in 1996, when dialup Internet allowing access to just a few thousand websites was still a luxury. “Back then, you had to pay for Internet by the hour and going online meant tying up your home phone line,” Sen Thune said. Critics have said that the law created inefficient silos for different types of communications services such as television and the Web, which have posed problems for regulators dealing with modern technologies like broadband Internet. Some Democrats have urged the FCC to regulate the Web like phone service, but Republicans have rejected that view, which they warn would impose strict rules for Internet service providers and would limit its growth. To settle the issue, Sen Thune said that Congress should make itself clear in a new law.
benton.org/node/189381 | Hill, The | see press release
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REMARKS OF FCC COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI ON “REFORMING COMMUNICATIONS POLICY IN THE DIGITAL AGE: A VIEW FROM THE FCC”
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai]
The Internet has levelled the playing field so that consumers can access the best products for the cheapest price, and anyone who wants to compete for their business can do so quickly and easily. To borrow from Adam Thierer, broadband has made it easier for entrepreneurs to innovate without first asking the government’s permission. What makes all this digital innovation possible? Broadband infrastructure -- and a lot of it. Since the Telecommunications Act of 1996, telephone companies, cable operators, and wireless providers have invested more than $1.2 trillion to deploy broadband to the American public, with more than $68 billion invested in 2012 alone. For those keeping score, that’s one trillion dollars more than the Universal Service Fund has ever distributed, and about $60 billion more than it distributed in 2013. Aside from the mechanics of implementing Title II, we need to ask a more basic question. Where would Title II regulation lead? One good indication is to compare the results produced by the American regulatory model to those of a more intrusive regulatory model: Europe’s. Rather than taking a light-touch regulatory approach to broadband, the European model treats broadband as a public utility, imposes telephone-style regulation, and purports to focus on promoting service-based (rather than facilities-based) competition. Why would we ever want to abandon our regulatory model for Europe’s? Those of us who support light-touch regulation of the Internet should engage in this debate and take our case to the American people. Should a carrier like T-Mobile be able to respond to consumer demand by offering free music to its customers? We say yes, but those who support Title II regulation say no. Is it good for competition when a carrier like T-Mobile is able to differentiate itself from its competitors and offer innovative service plans? Again, we say yes, but those who support Title II regulation say no.
benton.org/node/189364 | Federal Communications Commission
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
WHY ARE WE STILL CALLING THE THINGS IN OUR POCKETS ‘CELL PHONES’?
[SOURCE: New York Magazine, AUTHOR: Kevin Roose]
[Commentary] When Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took to a Seattle stage to announce a new smartphone called the Amazon Fire, he spent an hour and a half describing feature after feature: unlimited photo storage, 24/7 video support, 13-megapixel camera, a 3-D-like "dynamic perspective" display, a visual-recognition shopping button called Firefly, and dozens more bells and whistles. But there was one question Bezos left unanswered about his new device's feature set. Namely: Could it, you know, make phone calls? “I haven’t made a phone call on my phone in a long time,” Bezos said. “But I know people still make phone calls.” Not so much. In fact, the use of voice calls -- which has been dropping since 2007, the year Apple introduced the original iPhone -- has fallen off a cliff lately. As of 2013, cell providers in the US are now making more money per user from data use than voice calling. (The US is only the seventh nation to reach the data-voice tipping point -- it happened in countries like Japan as early as 2011.) A recent survey of 7,000 US high-school seniors found that only 34 percent made phone calls every day -- far fewer than the number who texted or used apps like Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram. And companies like AT&T and Verizon, which saw the data boom coming years ago, have been spending more and more on new, bigger LTE data networks, while essentially giving away their voice plans for free.
benton.org/node/189362 | New York Magazine
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SPRINT CEO: WIRELESS MERGER COULD INCREASE COMPETITION IN SUBURBS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
Consolidation in the wireless market could finally result in a third major wireless operator with the network footprint to finally rival AT&T and Verizon, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said. Networks that offer loads of capacity and fast speeds are important when it comes to competing in the wireless market. So is something as basic as network coverage. But covering rural and suburban markets is expensive. Today, AT&T and Verizon dominate the US wireless industry with more than 73 percent of all mobile subscribers. One key reason for this dominance is the fact that these providers offer service in more markets than either of the two smaller national carriers, Sprint and T-Mobile. And because Sprint and T-Mobile have far fewer customers than either AT&T or Verizon, neither has the revenue or capital to invest in expansion. "If you have more customers, you can afford to build a larger network," Hesse said. "Only then do you have the revenue to justify building in smaller suburbs and rural areas." In order to truly compete against AT&T and Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile need wider network footprints of their own. "If you live in an urban core, you will have access to AT&T and Verizon and you'll also likely have access to T-Mobile and Sprint," Hesse said. "But when you go to less populated areas, Sprint and T-Mobile might not be there."
benton.org/node/189379 | C-Net|News.com
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DIVERSITY
STATUS UPDATE: FACEBOOK NOT SO DIVERSE
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Jessica Guynn]
Facebook, the world's most popular social network, for the first time released statistics on the makeup of its workforce that do not reflect the demographics of its users around the globe. The lopsided numbers are just the latest from a major Silicon Valley company to paint a stark picture of an industry sector dominated by white men and are sure to escalate an already heated debate over the lack of diversity in the tech industry. Nearly 70% of Facebook employees are men and 57% are white. Asians make up 34% of employees. But Hispanics represent just 4% and African Americans are just 2% of Facebook's workforce. When it comes to technical employees, the numbers are even grimmer. Eighty-five percent are male, 53% white and 41% Asian. Hispanics make up just 3% and African Americans just 1% of the workforce. At the top of the company, the statistics are no better. Seventy-seven percent of senior level employees are men, 74% are white and 19% are Asian. Hispanics account for 4% and African Americans for 1% of employees in high level positions. "We build products to connect the world, and this means we need a team that understands and reflects many different communities, backgrounds and cultures," Maxine Williams, Facebook's global head of diversity, wrote.
benton.org/node/189603 | USAToday | Revere Digital | Facebook
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NEW INITIATIVE LAUNCHED TO INCREASE LATINO INCLUSION IN NEWS COVERAGE
[SOURCE: National Hispanic Media Coalition, AUTHOR: Press release]
The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) has launched the Latino Experts Program, funded by the WK Kellogg Foundation and created to increase the visibility of Latino experts in local news coverage. NHMC president and CEO Alex Nogales training Latino leaders to speak in media. Over a two-year span, NHMC trained more than 100 Latino leaders, representing various fields of expertise and based in 12 television markets, to speak in media. “Latinos are an integral part of the American social fabric, but you wouldn’t know that from watching the news,” said Alex Nogales, President and CEO of NHMC, a multiple Emmy Award-winning producer who led the trainings. “It’s time for the media to reflect reality. There are thousands upon thousands of Latino experts in their field, working to make this country better for all Americans. Latino views and faces are essential for balanced and responsible coverage, and yet they are still largely excluded. We now have the opportunity to transform this by elevating Latino perspectives on the issues shaping our country.” NHMC has provided lists of these experts as resources for local television stations to ensure a wider range of viewpoints on their news and public affairs programs.
benton.org/node/189583 | National Hispanic Media Coalition
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OWNERSHIP
MERGER MANIA IN MEDIA? CABLE COMPANIES COULD BE JUST THE START
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
The massive cable and telecom mergers under review may just be the start of a broader wave of consolidation to hit the entertainment industry. Rumors are rife that Time Warner is negotiating with Vice Media, the magazine-turned-media company now known for producing edgy documentaries that air on HBO. Viacom could rejoin CBS, which it split from nearly a decade ago. Univision may be seeking a buyer and has been in talks with Time Warner and CBS, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some lawmakers and analysts say it's inevitable that television programmers will bulk up to stand up against demands from increasingly powerful cable and telecom distributors like Comcast who want to lower their costs for programming.
benton.org/node/189348 | Washington Post
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PRIVACY/SECURITY
WATCHING GOOGLE’S MANY ARMS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Farhad Manjoo]
[Commentary] Google’s software will soon reach ever further into our lives, sitting on just about every other device you encounter. The software will be available to help you look up any bit of idle curiosity or accomplish any task, anytime you desire. It’s an extremely far-reaching agenda — and that may be the company’s problem. For a company whose future depends on people voluntarily handing over their information in return for handy online services, Google’s very ambitions may now stand as its biggest hurdle. Is Google, in its globe-spanning reach, trying to do so much that it risks becoming creepy instead of helpful — the assistant who got too powerful and knows too much?
benton.org/node/189681 | New York Times
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WHY AMERICANS, LIKE EUROPEANS, SHOULD BE ABLE TO SCRUB THEIR ONLINE SEARCH RESULTS
[SOURCE: Quartz, AUTHOR: Manoush Zomorodi]
[Commentary] Based on the uproar from American Internet and legal experts, I had assumed a privacy ruling by the European Union Court of Justice in May was an assault on free speech and our right to information. I also assumed it would mostly be sex offenders or hucksters who would ask to have a search term delinked from something they don’t like on the web. But without forgetting, there can’t be much forgiving, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, author of “Delete: the virtue of forgetting in the digital age,” the book that inspired Europeans to rethink their online privacy policies, points out. And it’s hard to look forward, not back. And many, many people want slivers, or even whole swaths, of their past to be forgotten. [Zomorodi is the host and managing editor of New Tech City on WNYC, a public radio station in New York City]
benton.org/node/189591 | Quartz
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CONTENT
BROADCASTERS DEFEND RADIO STATIONS’ FREE MUSIC
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Broadcasters are defending radio stations’ ability to play music without paying musicians as Congress looks to update the copyright system. The National Association of Broadcasters released a new study arguing that musicians sell more songs when radio stations play those songs. "This study highlights clearly the enormous value that radio airplay provides in promoting music and generating music sales," NAB Executive Vice President of Communications Dennis Wharton said. “Local radio remains the premiere platform for exposing new music and generating sales for record labels." According to the study -- conducted by Nielsen and commissioned by NAB -- increased radio airplay has “an immediate” impact on a song’s sales and drives on-demand streaming of that song. The study noted to a strong correlation between radio airplay and sales, which is even stronger for country, Latin and Top 40 music. The study also pointed to a previous Nielsen study, which found that 61 percent of people discover new music through AM/FM radio stations. Currently, AM/FM radio stations do not pay musicians to play their songs over the air, a facet of the current copyright system that some lawmakers are determined to change.
benton.org/node/189342 | Hill, The | Nielsen study
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EDUCATION
NMC AND COSN RELEASE THE NMC HORIZON REPORT > 2014 K-12 EDITION
[SOURCE: New Media Consortium, AUTHOR: Michele Cummins]
The New Media Consortium and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), with the support of Hewlett Packard, released the NMC Horizon Report > 2014 K-12 Edition. This sixth K-12 edition describes annual findings from the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing research project designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in education. Six key trends, six significant challenges, and six emerging technologies are identified across three adoption horizons over the next one to five years, giving school leaders and practitioners a valuable guide for strategic technology planning. The format of the report is new, providing these leaders with more in-depth insight into how the trends and challenges are accelerating and impeding the adoption of educational technology, along with their implications for policy, leadership, and practice.
benton.org/node/189344 | New Media Consortium | read full report
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E-RATE REFORM: A SUSTAINABLE PATH FORWARD FOR SCHOOL AND LIBRARY CONNECTIVITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Danielle Kehl, Sarah Morris]
[Commentary] A year ago, President Barack Obama unveiled the ConnectED initiative, declaring that his goal was to connect virtually every school in the United States to high-speed Internet by the end of the decade. A key piece of the Administration's plan is reforming the Federal Communications Commission's E-rate program, which subsidizes communications services for schools and libraries across the country. Earlier in June, a diverse coalition of over 100 organizations from the education sector, technology, and business communities (including the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute and Education Policy Program) sent a letter to the FCC urging the agency to modernize and expand the E-rate program. The letter outlines a series of joint recommendations which include upgrading E-rate to provide schools and libraries not just with Internet connectivity but also sufficient capacity to use new digital learning tools; prioritizing funding to support both high-speed broadband to the premises and ubiquitous Wi-Fi connectivity over other, outdated technologies; incentivizing schools and libraries to purchase connectivity more efficiently; and simplifying the program to streamline the application process. The letter also urges the FCC to set clear targets for connectivity moving forward, to improve data collection practices and program transparency, and to commit to reviewing E-rate's goals every four years. The proposed reforms would address some of these concerns but not all. Focusing on infrastructure investments is the key to E-rate's ability to meet the goal of providing a gigabit of capacity per 1,000 students by the end of the decade. While Wi-Fi upgrades are needed so that students, teachers and library patrons can access the Internet on their individual devices, these improvements must be made in conjunction with significant investments in broadband infrastructure that increase overall capacity at their institutions. [Kehl is a policy analyst; Morris is a senior policy counsel, for the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation]
benton.org/node/189368 | Hill, The
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN RULES
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Robert Cookson]
Google has started removing search results in Europe to comply with new rules on the “right to be forgotten.” Whenever a search for a name on Google is conducted, the results page includes the statement: “Some results may have been removed under data protection law in Europe”. This statement appears for any name apart from those of celebrities. The company plans to start the takedown process slowly, before accelerating once it is confident its systems are working properly. Google has also started to notify individuals whose requests it will not honour and those whose are incomplete, as well as the owners of websites affected by the takedowns.
benton.org/node/189678 | Financial Times | Wall Street Journal
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