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August 2014

Weekly Digest

Can Online Public Files Combat the Flood of Money in Elections?

Time for our own disclosure: Michael Copps and Andrew Schwartzman, mentioned below, are both compensated writers for Benton’s Digital Beat blog. Schwartzman is the Benton Senior Counselor at the Public Interest Communications Law Project at Georgetown University Law Center's Institute for Public Representation (IPR). A past Benton Foundation grant supported the Campaign Legal Center’s efforts to require broadcasters to make their public inspection files available online.

August 1, 2014 (Microsoft Ruling; Net Neutrality; Iliad Bid for T-Mobile)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2014

A look at next week’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2014-08-03--P1W/


GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Why did all these countries start asking for Twitter’s user data? - analysis
   Judge Rules That Microsoft Must Turn Over Data Stored in Ireland
   It’s Not Just About Privacy - New America Foundation analysis
   CIA improperly accessed Senate computers, agency finds [links to web]
   Authors group pushes for NSA reform, while there’s still time [links to web]
   The Public Sector Considers Mobile-First Approaches to Citizen Interactions [links to web]
   Work to Bolster Health Website Is Raising Cost, Officials Say [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Why Is The NAACP Siding With Verizon Over Net Neutrality?
   Not much to fear about sponsored data - AEI op-ed
   A closer look: Netflix, Mozilla, and Title II - AEI op-ed [links to web]
   Comcast's silly propaganda helped kill municipal broadband projects
   Sen Wyden calls for short-term ban on Internet tax [links to web]

WIRELESS
   France's Iliad Makes Bid for T-Mobile US
   Iliad Sets the Pace for Sprint on T-Mobile - analysis [links to web]
    See also: T-Mobile's Legere: We don't need to make a deal to be successful [links to web]

PRIVACY/SECURITY
   Smartphones Become Next Frontier in Cybersecurity [links to web]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Watchdogs Call On FCC to Extend Online Political File Requirements to Cable and Satellite Systems - press release

TELEVISION
   TWC's Dodgers channel dispute a case for a la carte pricing - analysis [links to web]
   NCTA's Powell: TiVo Just Wrong About CableCARD [links to web]

TELECOMMUNICATIONS
   ConnectME Authority announces the release of the Universal Service Fund (USF) Assessment - press release [links to web]

DIVERSITY
   Top tech execs need to speak up on diversity - analysis [links to web]
   EBay Workforce Has Big Tech’s Highest Female Percentages, Company Data Show [links to web]

EDUCATION
   What’s in the E-rate Order? A Streamlined Process - Kevin Taglang analysis

FCC REFORM
   House Commerce Committee Leaders Open Investigation of FCC Process - press release

POLICYMAKERS
   Bart Gibbon, Information Technology Engineer, Office of Policy Coordination and Management [links to web]
   FCC Will Begin Accepting Law Student And Judicial Clerk Applications - public notice [links to web]

COMPANY NEWS
   T-Mobile's Legere: We don't need to make a deal to be successful [links to web]
   Aereo imitator lashes out at judge who fined him $90,000 for continuing to operate [links to web]
   Frontier CEO says she'll beat Google Fiber 'hype' with better prices [links to web]
   Comcast Speed Upgrades Hit Houston, California [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Google Details Problems With Handling Right to Be Forgotten Requests
   China Harasses US Tech Companies - NYTimes editorial [links to web]
   Cord Cutting Hits European Markets, Report Finds [links to web]
   5G in London by 2020, pledges mayor [links to web]
   Nokia Networks first to trial LTE for national TV broadcasting - press release [links to web]

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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

WHY DID ALL THESE COUNTRIES START ASKING FOR TWITTER’S USER DATA?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
[Commentary] Twitter's latest transparency report is out, and the company's new data show a 46-percent jump in the number of government requests for user information since the company issued its last report covering July to December of 2013. Since its last transparency report, Twitter says eight new countries have begun asking for user data, for a total of 54. What explains the spread isn't clear. Maybe governments are learning from each other that online user information is a useful tool. Maybe as adoption of technology (and of specific services like Twitter) grows in other countries, there's more information to be mined from people the government would be investigating anyway. Or maybe the very proliferation of transparency reports is drawing attention to this option for governments around the world.
benton.org/node/198318 | Washington Post
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JUDGE RULES THAT MICROSOFT MUST TURN OVER DATA STORED IN IRELAND
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nick Wingfield]
Judge Loretta Preska of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York upheld a magistrate judge’s earlier ruling that Microsoft must turn over the customer’s e-mails, held in a Microsoft data center in Ireland. Judge Preska agreed to stay her order while the company pursues an appeal. The issue at the heart of the case is whether communications kept in data centers operated by American companies are beyond the reach of domestic search warrants. The Microsoft case is believed to be the first time that a United States company has fought against a domestic search warrant for data stored overseas.
benton.org/node/198316 | New York Times | ars technica | Star Tribune
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IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT PRIVACY
[SOURCE: New America Foundation, AUTHOR: Danielle Kehl]
[Commentary] It’s easy to get caught up in the simplistic debate that often dominates the surveillance conversation: that this is about balancing national security and individual privacy. But the binary argument over security vs. privacy ignores the other negative impacts of National Security Agency surveillance on our national interests. The US cloud computing industry -- a fast-growing and American-dominated market -- could lose anywhere from $22 billion to $180 billion in the next few years as companies lose customers abroad and here at home. US tech companies are facing declines in overseas sales due to the backlash, while foreign governments are blaming the NSA for decisions to drop American companies from huge contracts. Plus, there’s growing evidence that certain NSA surveillance techniques are actually bad for cybersecurity.
benton.org/node/198277 | New America Foundation
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

NAACP AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Gerry Smith]
The NAACP and several other major civil rights groups have emerged as flashpoints in the debate over net neutrality, the idea that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. More than 40 civil rights groups are supporting broadband providers that oppose strict net neutrality rules. The civil rights groups say they're siding with the Internet giants because it's in the best interest of minority communities. Yet critics say many of those groups are against stronger net neutrality rules because they've received substantial funding from Internet providers. Many of the civil rights groups currently siding with the broadband giants also supported the controversial Comcast-NBC Universal merger, came out in favor of AT&T's failed takeover of T-Mobile in 2011, and supported broadband providers the last time the Federal Communications Commission ruled on net neutrality back in 2010. Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, a media watchdog group, claims that many minority groups side with Internet providers on net neutrality because they fear they will lose funding otherwise.
benton.org/node/198335 | Huffington Post
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SPONSORED DATA
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Rick Wadsworth]
[Commentary] In its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Open Internet, the Federal Communications Commission has been paying undue attention to the (so far) commercially-uninteresting and technologically-unfeasible notion of paid prioritization. In the meantime, other commercially reasonable practices get deployed, both in the US and around the world. One such practice is “sponsored data.” Sponsored data is the notion that some third party pays for the cost of the bandwidth to deliver content or applications to the end user. One concern frequently raised by sponsored data skeptics is that smaller edge providers might be made worse off because they are not able to invest as much capital as the big guys. Of course this proposition is true universally, across every aspect of business in all markets, which in no way makes it inherently unfair. [Wadsworth is Director of Corporate Communications at Sandvine which enables sponsored data plans]
benton.org/node/198332 | American Enterprise Institute
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COMCAST'S SILLY PROPAGANDA HELPED KILL MUNICIPAL BROADBAND PROJECTS
[SOURCE: NetworkWorld, AUTHOR: Colin Neagle]
A little more than 10 years ago, Comcast stuffed mailboxes in Batavia, Illinois, in the weeks leading up to a vote on a referendum measure attempting to establish a municipal broadband network, warning of failed projects and other horror stories that would come to life if they voted in favor of it. All of this was done while keeping the source of these fliers -- Comcast and SBC Communications, which later merged with AT&T -- in the finest of fine print. The tactic worked, leading residents of Batavia and nearby Geneva and St. Charles to vote the measure down twice even though more than 72% of area residents who responded to a 2001 survey were in favor of a broadband and cable overhaul.
benton.org/node/198269 | NetworkWorld
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WIRELESS

FRANCE'S ILIAD MAKES BID FOR T-MOBILE US
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ruth Bender, Dana Mattioli, Dana Cimilluca]
French upstart telecommunications company Iliad has made an offer for T-Mobile US in a bold bid to counter by Sprint for the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the US. Iliad announced that it offered $15 billion in cash for 56.6% of T-Mobile US at $33 a share. Iliad said its offer for T-Mobile US, which is majority-owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, "should not raise any antitrust issue in light of the competition rules given that Iliad is not present in the United States."
benton.org/node/198258 | Wall Street Journal | ars technica | GigaOm | The Hill | The Verge
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

WATCHDOGS CALL ON FCC TO EXTEND ONLINE POLITICAL FILE REQUIREMENTS TO CABLE AND SATELLITE SYSTEMS
[SOURCE: Campaign Legal Center, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation called on the Federal Communications Commission to extend to cable and satellite systems the requirement that their political files be posted on the FCC’s online database. In a petition for rulemaking, the watchdog groups noted political spending on cable has increased by one-third in each election cycle since 2008 and is expected to comprise roughly one-fourth of all political television spending in 2014. The petition asks the FCC to bring cable and satellite providers under the same online public disclosure requirements now applicable to broadcast television stations. This is particularly important because political campaigns, large political action committees, or Super PACs, and other outside groups are increasingly advertising on cable and satellite.
benton.org/node/198265 | Campaign Legal Center | Institute for Public Representation | B&C
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EDUCATION

WHAT’S IN THE E-RATE ORDER? A STREAMLINED PROCESS
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
The third major goal adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in the latest E-rate reform proceeding is to make the E-rate application process (and other E-rate processes) fast, simple and efficient. The FCC adopted a number of programmatic changes, including simplifying the application process by providing a process for expediting the filing and review of applications involving multi-year contracts; eliminating technology plans for internal connections; simplifying and clarifying applicants’ discount rate calculations; simplifying the invoicing and disbursement process; and requiring all Universal Service Fund (USF) requests for review to be filed initially with the E-rate administrator, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The FCC also aims to reduce the administrative burden on applicants by processing and managing applications more efficiently, modernizing its E-rate information technology (IT) systems, timely publishing all non-confidential E-rate data in an open and standardized format, and communicating more clearly with E-rate applicants and service providers.
http://benton.org/node/198253
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FCC REFORM

COMMITTEE LEADERS OPEN INVESTIGATION OF FCC PROCESS
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
House Commerce Committee Leaders today opened an investigation into the Federal Communications Commission’s decision-making process ahead of granting a waiver of auction rules to Grain Management. Bloomberg News broke the story that the waiver would permit Grain to circumvent commission rules designed to ensure the independence of small businesses that receive bidding credits in FCC auctions. In a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA), write, “ the House Commerce Committee is committed to conducting vigorous oversight to ensure that Commission processes are fair, open, and transparent, and that they serve the public interest. The granting of the Grain Management waiver raises questions about these processes.”
benton.org/node/198243 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | B&C
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

GOOGLE DETAILS PROBLEMS WITH HANDLING RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN REQUESTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Mark Scott]
Google says complying with Europe’s so-called right to be forgotten ruling is getting complicated. In a lengthy response to questions from the region’s data regulators, the search giant said that it often lacked enough information to decide whether it should remove links to web pages to comply with European law. Google said it had rejected a number of requests made by journalists, who wanted links to articles at publications where they no longer worked to be taken down.
benton.org/node/198256 | New York Times | C-Net | Read letter
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Why Is The NAACP Siding With Verizon Over Net Neutrality?

The NAACP and several other major civil rights groups have emerged as flashpoints in the debate over net neutrality, the idea that all Internet traffic should be treated equally.

More than 40 civil rights groups are supporting broadband providers that oppose strict net neutrality rules. The civil rights groups say they're siding with the Internet giants because it's in the best interest of minority communities. Yet critics say many of those groups are against stronger net neutrality rules because they've received substantial funding from Internet providers. Many of the civil rights groups currently siding with the broadband giants also supported the controversial Comcast-NBC Universal merger, came out in favor of AT&T's failed takeover of T-Mobile in 2011, and supported broadband providers the last time the Federal Communications Commission ruled on net neutrality back in 2010.

Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, a media watchdog group, claims that many minority groups side with Internet providers on net neutrality because they fear they will lose funding otherwise.

Not much to fear about sponsored data

[Commentary] In its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Open Internet, the Federal Communications Commission has been paying undue attention to the (so far) commercially-uninteresting and technologically-unfeasible notion of paid prioritization. In the meantime, other commercially reasonable practices get deployed, both in the US and around the world. One such practice is “sponsored data.”

Sponsored data is the notion that some third party pays for the cost of the bandwidth to deliver content or applications to the end user. One concern frequently raised by sponsored data skeptics is that smaller edge providers might be made worse off because they are not able to invest as much capital as the big guys. Of course this proposition is true universally, across every aspect of business in all markets, which in no way makes it inherently unfair.

[Wadsworth is Director of Corporate Communications at Sandvine which enables sponsored data plans]

Work to Bolster Health Website Is Raising Cost, Officials Say

Obama administration officials said that the cost of the federal health insurance exchange was growing because they were assigning new work to contractors in an effort to prevent a repetition of the problems that crippled HealthCare.gov last fall.

Andrew M. Slavitt, the No. 2 official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told Congress that the agency was changing requirements for its contracts to expand the scope of work that must be done. Slavitt said that the administration was making improvements in the federal exchange, but that the second round of open enrollment, starting in November, would not be perfect. “There will certainly be bumps,” he testified at a House hearing.

Iliad Sets the Pace for Sprint on T-Mobile

Iliad swooped in before Sprint formally placed its long-awaited offer for T-Mobile. The latter's stock shot up. But that likely reflects hope that Sprint would be spurred into action, rather than excitement about Iliad's bid itself.

Sprint is reportedly planning to offer $32 billion for T-Mobile; Iliad’s bid is just $15 billion. Granted, Iliad may have one advantage over Sprint: the ability to appeal to US regulators concerned with preserving four national wireless carriers. The government has been unusually vocal in expressing its skepticism over a prospective Sprint bid for T-Mobile. Then again, regulators might also balk at the prospect of a highly-levered T-Mobile investing adequately in its network. T-Mobile investors should hope Iliad's bonjour pushes Sprint to finally say hello.

EBay Workforce Has Big Tech’s Highest Female Percentages, Company Data Show

With 42 percent of its 33,000 global workforce being female, eBay reported the best gender balance of several big tech companies that have revealed their workforce diversity numbers lately. The company said that a three-year company program has also doubled the number of women in leadership roles. That figure is 28 percent for eBay. Otherwise, eBay’s diversity numbers fit a familiar pattern: Mostly white and Asian. Its tech workforce is 55 percent Asian, 40 percent white. At the leadership level, there is even less diversity — 72 percent of management is white and male.

China Harasses US Tech Companies

[Commentary] China has opened what appear to be politically motivated antitrust investigations into American technology companies like Microsoft and Qualcomm.

Foreign companies operating in the Communist country could be in for more intense harassment than ever before. The moves come on the heels of rising tensions between the United States and China about spying and hacking. The investigations also follow statements by President Xi Jinping that the country needs to reduce its reliance on foreign technology suppliers and bolster its domestic industry.

American businesses should recognize that doing business in China, while potentially lucrative, is bound to be difficult and fraught. The country is ruled by an authoritarian government that has scant concern for the rule of law when it comes to its own people. There is no guarantee that it will treat foreigners any better.

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