September 9, 2014 (Net Neutrality; Ownership)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014
ITIF hosts Resolving Cross-Border Internet Policy Conflicts while tomorrow is Internet Slowdown Day (see below) http://benton.org/calendar/2014-09-09/
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Net neutrality advocates plan slow-lane protest
Network neutrality opponents are taking a page out of their rivals’ grassroots playbook
Nancy Pelosi: The FCC’s network neutrality rules should reclassify broadband
OWNERSHIP
What Are Politicians Saying About Comcast/Time Warner Cable? (Part III) - Kevin Taglang analysis
The Absurd Opposition to Media Mergers - Leo Hindrey op-ed
Amazon Loves Government - WSJ editorial
PRIVACY/SECURITY
Legal memos released on Bush-era justification for warrantless wiretapping
Facebook Generation Rekindles Expectation of Privacy Online [links to web]
TELEVISION
Why TV broadcasters are suddenly sounding a lot like cable companies
LABOR
Fixing Silicon Valley's diversity problem - analysis
Google offers pipeline to top (administration) jobs
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Google Is Target of European Backlash on US Tech Dominance
Netflix Tries Charm in France to Smooth Expansion
LiveJournal Helps Russia Block Prominent Putin Critic [links to web]
Mobile telecoms groups reject UK shared networks proposal [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
SLOW LANE PROTEST
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
Several high-profile websites -- including Kickstarter, Etsy, Reddit, Mozilla, and Meetup -- will display spinning-wheel icons on Sept 10 in an attempt to show visitors the Internet slow lanes they say will appear if the Federal Communications Commission doesn't pass strong network neutrality regulations. The symbolic Internet slowdown will include the dreaded site-loading spinning icon to symbolize what net neutrality advocates believe the Web could look like without strong rules. Participating sites, which won't really slow down their load times, will encourage visitors to call or e-mail US policymakers in support of net neutrality rules. Among the organizations participating in the protest will be BitTorrent, BoingBoing, Vimeo, Foursquare and Wordpress, said organizers Demand Progress and Fight for the Future.
benton.org/headlines/net-neutrality-advocates-plan-slow-lane-protest | IDG News Service
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OPPOSING NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
A libertarian think tank known as TechFreedom is making a play for Americans who object to heavier regulation of Internet service providers. The push began with a Web site, Don't Break the Net, that urges the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission not to subject Internet providers to heavier regulation. Don't Break the Net encourages you to write to the FCC advocating a "hands-off" policy. And doing so will automatically add you to TechFreedom's e-mail list (in the non-profit universe, the size of a group's e-mail list is often taken as a sign of its wealth and influence). Don't Break the Net even acknowledges copying the open-source code that went into the net neutrality advocates' own site, Battle for the Net, which represents some of the Web's most well-known properties -- Mozilla, the maker of the Firefox browser; Etsy; reddit; Kickstarter and others.
benton.org/headlines/network-neutrality-opponents-are-taking-page-out-their-rivals-grassroots-playbook | Washington Post
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PELOSI BACKS RECLASSIFICATION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is urging the Federal Communications Commission to oversee broadband providers more closely in an effort to preserve an open Internet. In a letter sent to the FCC, Rep Pelosi wrote that Internet service providers should be reclassified under Title II of the Communications Act -- a step toward stronger regulations that would allow the FCC to more easily prohibit attempts by ISPs to charge other businesses for smoother, faster access to consumers. "I oppose special Internet fast lanes," wrote Rep Pelosi. "I believe the FCC should follow the court's guidance and reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II."
benton.org/headlines/nancy-pelosi-fccs-network-neutrality-rules-should-reclassify-broadband | Washington Post | The Hill
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OWNERSHIP
POLITICIANS AND COMCAST/TWC
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] With both the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission reviewing Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable, many elected officials are weighing in on the potential benefits and pitfalls of the deal. Comcast has noted that nearly 70 mayors and more than 60 additional state and local officials have gone on record as proponents of the proposed merger. In August, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (D) organized a diverse national group of 51 mayors who support Philadelphia-based Comcast's proposed $45 billion acquisition, saying the deal would lead to significant economic benefits in the communities, including jobs. Absent from the Nutter letter were the mayors of New York City and Los Angeles, two cities that could be most affected by a Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger. Both of those TV markets are served by Time Warner Cable.
http://benton.org/node/201667
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ABSURD OPPOSITION TO MEDIA MERGERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Leo Hindrey]
[Commentary] Comcast-Time Warner Cable and AT&T-DirecTV are a continuation of the industry's logical progression, and both deals should be approved. No one can prove that any such mergers have harmed American consumers. To the contrary, the US now has the most robust television industry in the world thanks to the operating efficiencies these mergers have afforded. Broadband deployment is near-ubiquitous, and though it's hard for some to admit it, the pricing models have never been fairer. Viewers, employees and shareholders have all benefited. Consumers and viewers won't gain a thing from regulators blocking the media-distribution industry's natural evolution.
[Hindery was president and CEO of TCI, Liberty Media and later AT&T Broadband. He is now an investor in independent programmers.]
benton.org/headlines/absurd-opposition-media-mergers | Wall Street Journal
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AMAZON LOVES GOVERNMENT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Amazon can claim a consumer interest in lower prices. But prices aren't the only measure of consumer benefit, especially if lower prices discourage new investment in quality and innovation and consumer choice. Publishers are literary venture capital firms that finance writing and research that may not pay off for years if it ever does. They deserve some influence over how intellectual property is distributed. The larger point is that the executive and judicial branches intervened to aid Amazon, a quasi-monopolist incumbent at a crucial competitive juncture amid the shift to digital from print, preventing a market resolution. Apple is appealing Judge Cote's ruling as a matter of antitrust law, and the outcome is by no means clear. What is clear is that Amazon ought to stop claiming to be a tribune of the market when its chief patron is government.
benton.org/headlines/amazon-loves-government | Wall Street Journal
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PRIVACY/SECURITY
WARRANTLESS WIRETAPPING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
The Justice Department released two decade-old memos on Sept 5, offering the fullest public airing to date of the Bush administration’s legal justification for the warrantless wiretapping of Americans’ phone calls and e-mails -- a program that began in secret after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The broad outlines of the argument -- that the president has inherent constitutional power to monitor Americans’ communications without a warrant in a time of war -- were known, but the sweep of the reasoning becomes even clearer in the memos written by then-Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith, who was head of President George W. Bush’s Office of Legal Counsel. “What these memos show is that nearly three years after President Bush authorized the warrantless wiretapping of Americans’ e-mails and phone calls, government lawyers were still struggling to put the program on sound legal footing,” said Patrick Toomey, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained the memos through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. “Their conclusions are deeply disturbing,” he said. “They suggest that the president’s power to monitor the communications of Americans is virtually unlimited -- by the Constitution, or by Congress -- when it comes to foreign intelligence.”
benton.org/headlines/legal-memos-released-bush-era-justification-warrantless-wiretapping | Washington Post
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TELEVISION
BROADCASTERS AND CONSUMER CHOICE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and John Thune (R-SD) rolled out a plan that, if passed, would dramatically reshape the economics of television. The idea is to unbundle broadcast programming so that individual consumers could pick -- and pay for directly -- only the channels that they want to watch. Broadcasters oppose the idea because it would limit their ability to extract revenue from big, wealthy cable companies. But in challenging the proposal, the broadcasters are actually sounding a lot like their negotiating partners in the pay-TV industry. In opposition to the proposal, broadcasters said the bill "will lead to higher prices and less program diversity," said Gordon Smith, chief executive of the National Association of Broadcasters. TV Freedom, which represents broadcast affiliates, state broadcast associations and the NAB, among others, called the plan -- known as Local Choice -- a "pay-TV giveaway." It so happens that the broadcasters' language is the same, down to the word, as the rhetoric that cable companies use.
benton.org/headlines/why-tv-broadcasters-are-suddenly-sounding-lot-cable-companies | Washington Post
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LABOR
SILICON VALLEY DIVERSITY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Michelle Quinn]
[Commentary] What can Silicon Valley firms do in the short term to achieve their goals of having a more diverse workforce? Here are some suggested steps, based on my reporting about this issue: First, tech firms should commit to disclosing workforce data annually. Second, tech companies need to rethink everything about recruiting and assessing someone's talent. Third, and this is hard, companies should start an internal conversation about the firm's culture, from the posters on the walls to what dressing for success means. Finally, share "best practices." [Sept 5]
benton.org/headlines/fixing-silicon-valleys-diversity-problem | San Jose Mercury News
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GOOGLE AND THE ADMINISTRATION
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
The Obama Administration recently has plundered Google’s ranks as it looks to augment Washington’s lagging digital expertise and wade through tech policy debates over privacy and patent laws. The latest hire is Megan Smith, a top vice president at Google, who became the country’s next chief technology officer. She replaces Todd Park, who relinquished the position last month to take on a new role as the Administration’s leading emissary in Silicon Valley. The revolving door hardly is a new phenomenon, and other companies have jostled just as ferociously for influence with the tech-savvy Obama White House. But there’s no denying the door is swinging favorably toward Google these days -- a major perk for a company that has boosted its Washington presence and often finds itself in the political spotlight.
benton.org/headlines/google-offers-pipeline-top-jobs | Politico
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
EUROPEAN BACKLASH
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Danny Hakim]
A top German official called for Google to be broken up. A French minister pronounced the company a threat to his country’s sovereignty. A European publishing executive likened it to a Wagnerian dragon. Across Europe, Google has been under fire, reflecting the broader challenges facing American technology companies. Google, fairly or not, has become a glaring proxy for criticism of an intrusive American government and concern over America’s unmatched technology dominance. On Sept 8, things grew worse. Regulators pushed the company to give up more in an antitrust settlement — demanding that Google make additional changes to its secret sauce, the search algorithm. When Google initially settled with regulators in February, it emerged largely unscathed, agreeing to make modest adjustments to its search formula and avoiding a fine. Now, the deal is in jeopardy. If Google does not acquiesce, regulators could toss out the settlement and bring formal charges, which could prompt billions of dollars in penalties and major changes to its operations.
benton.org/headlines/google-target-european-backlash-us-tech-dominance | New York Times | NY Times | WSJ | FT
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NETFLIX IN EUROPE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sam Schechner]
When top Netflix executives arrived in Paris to help prepare a European expansion, they were greeted with an open letter from a group of French film producers warning of an "implosion of our cultural model." Netflix's response was a charm offensive. In a series of meetings with French government officials, executives said they planned to inject tens of millions of euros into France by marketing the Netflix service, striking deals for older French movies and TV shows and eventually shooting an original, French-language TV series set in the country, according to people who attended the meetings. Their message, according to one of the people who attended: "Hey, look, we're not the devil." As Netflix prepares for one of the biggest international expansions in its history, starting service in six Western European countries this month, it is running into a backlash against US Web giants.
benton.org/headlines/netflix-tries-charm-france-smooth-expansion | Wall Street Journal
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