November 2014

INTERNET/BROADBAND

PROTESTORS AT WHITE HOUSE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Nancy Scola]
Nearly 100 protesters rallied at Lafayette Park in Washington (DC) against what the Federal Communications Commission (located a mile and a half southeast) might do to could change the way people interact with the Internet. The rally was one of several organized by the umbrella group Battle for the Net in three dozen cities across the United States. The latest protests were triggered by a report suggesting that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler just might be settling on a plan that would give regulators more power over the way the Internet flows between content providers like Netflix and Internet service providers like Comcast by reclassifying those portions under what's known as Title II of telecommunications law. Instead of treating the Internet as a single ecosystem, a so-called hybrid approach could divide regulation between retail consumers and wholesale customers. How serious the FCC is about that approach and how it might work remains unclear, but so far, it hasn't made many people happy.
benton.org/headlines/protestors-descend-white-house-over-future-internet | Washington Post
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OPPOSITION TO HYBRID RULES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Dozens of left-leaning, civil liberties and public interest groups are forcefully opposing what they see as a flawed Federal Communications Commission attempt to write new rules for the Internet. Supporters of strong network neutrality regulations -- which seek to ensure that all Internet traffic is treated equally -- sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler warning against a “hybrid” plan reportedly under consideration. The proposal is a “convoluted proposal for new rules that jeopardizes the agency’s ability to protect all Internet users,” wrote more than 60 groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Demand Progress and MoveOn.org. “This is not what the public wants or what President Obama promised the American public.” The groups warned that the plan is “unlikely to survive litigation.”
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/223293-advocacy-groups-blast-hybrid...
Wheeler Slammed over 'Sender Side' Neutrality (Multichannel News)
benton.org/headlines/advocacy-groups-blast-hybrid-web-rules | Hill, The | Multichannel News
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THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS CONGRESS?
[SOURCE: Daily Caller, AUTHOR: Scott Cleland]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission is considering administratively bypassing Congress and unilaterally reversing longstanding U.S. Internet policy in law with an administrative maneuver that could have sweeping and unintended negative consequences for US trade and foreign policy. To implement the FCC’s most recent redefinition of net neutrality, the FCC is seriously considering its net neutrality “nuclear option.” That would reverse administratively the legal status of the Internet from a lightly regulated “information service” to a utility price-regulated “Title II telecommunications” service. Rather than asking Congress for Internet authority that the FCC knows that it does not have, it apparently is scheming to creatively combine existing legal authorities, in ways in which they were never intended, in order to ban a two-sided free market for the Internet from developing.
benton.org/headlines/federal-communications-congress | Daily Caller
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NETFLIX-COMCAST
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: David Crow]
[Commentary] Netflix agreed to pay Comcast an undisclosed sum, said to be $15-20 million/year, in exchange for faster and more reliable access to the cable group’s broadband customers. Netflix had for the first time agreed to pay for an Internet “fast lane” to reach customers, trampling over the principle of network neutrality, whereby the Internet should be a level playing field with no such fast lanes or tolls. Netflix says it had no choice but to hold its nose and do the deal with Comcast. “The degradation in quality that customers were experiencing in late 2013 led to a rise in complaints and cancellations,” the company said. “We just couldn’t ignore it anymore.” After signing the multiyear agreement, download speeds jumped markedly. Netflix now wants to put the genie back in the bottle. It fears the deal has set a precedent that all content providers will have to transfer some of their revenues to the pipe guys. The company sees a cautionary tale in the fees that cable and satellite companies pay to broadcasters in return for their content.
benton.org/headlines/netflix-wants-put-comcast-genie-back-fast-lane-bottle | Financial Times
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US FAILED WITH BROADBAND
[SOURCE: US News and World Report, AUTHOR: Lindsey Cook]
Back in 2004, the Pew Internet Project asked experts for their predictions of the future of the Internet. The group wanted to know what to expect by 2014. More than half agreed that 90 percent of Americans would have high-speed Internet connections in their homes that were "dramatically faster" than previous speeds. At the time, 34 percent of adults in the United States had a broadband connection either at work or at home, so the prediction was quite ambitious. In the imagined world of 2014, almost all Americans have access to high-speed Internet, allowing people to connect with new social networks, educational opportunities and health resources. While the prediction talked specifically about 90 percent of Americans having high-speed connections, that many Americans don't even have Internet period.
benton.org/headlines/futurology-us-failed-broadband | US News and World Report
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COMMUNITIES FIGHT STATE BROADBAND LAWS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wyatt]
In North Carolina, as in 18 other states, state laws limit municipalities from building or expanding high-speed Internet service networks. The reason behind those laws, supporters say, is to limit taxpayer exposure to projects that at times fail and for which there may be little demand. But Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler says providing access to broadband Internet is in the public interest. And for that reason, he says, the commission can override those state laws -- setting off a heated debate about the federal commission’s authority over states and about whether local governments or private companies should provide the service. Mark Cooper, research director of Consumer Federation of America, said he expected “a long and vicious fight. There is a felt need for a higher quality of service at a more reliable price. There’s a perception of market failure. If consumers were not upset, they wouldn’t be asking for it.” At the center of the debate are Chattanooga (TN) and Wilson (NC). The two cities have petitioned the commission to invalidate their state laws. A ruling from the FCC is expected next year.
benton.org/headlines/communities-fight-state-laws-can-divide-broadband-access | New York Times | GigaOm/ Craig Settles
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NEW AGENDA FOR TECH FREEDOM
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: L Gordon Crovitz]
[Commentary] With the midterm elections’ rearrangement of Washington, technology policy is a good test of whether anything will get done during the rest of the Obama administration. Technology issues are less partisan than most, but in recent years lawmakers and regulators have fallen far behind the pace of innovation. Lawmakers can focus on restoring what had been bipartisan support of the open Internet until recent years. That includes blocking any scheme to impose massive regulation in the name of “net neutrality.” Liberal advocacy groups have pressured Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to consider turning the Internet into a public utility, empowering bureaucrats to set prices and terms and approve or ban new digital products. That would be the end of the Internet as we know it. The government should focus on boosting competition by enabling more providers to enter the market.
benton.org/headlines/new-agenda-tech-freedom | Wall Street Journal
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

YES, ELECTIONS MATTER
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] Although the full impact of the election will not be known for some time, we can take a look at who’s in and who’s out for the 114th Congress. At Headlines, we keep a close eye on two key Congressional committees because of their jurisdiction over many telecommunications issues and oversight of the Federal Communications Commission: the Senate and House Commerce committees.
http://benton.org/blog/yes-elections-matter
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OWNERSHIP

CBO SCORES MERGER REVIEW BILL
[SOURCE: Congressional Budget Office, AUTHOR: Susan Willie]
Under current law, both the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice enforce federal antitrust laws, though in some instances, the manner in which that authority is exercised is different in the two agencies. The Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules Act (H.R. 5402) would amend the Clayton Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act to align certain procedures followed by the FTC to review a proposed merger or acquisition with those followed by DOJ. Specifically, the bill would:
Harmonize the standard each agency must meet before a federal court can issue a preliminary injunction against a proposed transaction;
Direct the FTC to resolve a contested merger or acquisition through a federal court rather than through administrative litigation; and
In cases where the FTC and the parties reach an agreement that allows the merger or acquisition to proceed, require the agency to submit the agreement to the federal court for its approval.
CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 5402 would not significantly affect discretionary spending. Enacting H.R. 5402 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO expects that the FTC’s efforts to prepare for and litigate a contested merger in federal court using the new standard specified in H.R. 5402 would not require a significant increase in staffing levels.
benton.org/headlines/cbo-scores-standard-merger-and-acquisition-reviews-through-equal-rules-act | Congressional Budget Office
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DIVERSITY

SILICON VALLEY DIVERSITY
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Marco della Cava]
Silicon Valley isn't home to unrepentant bigots who want to keep minorities out of tech as much as it is a place with a word of mouth culture where hiring has bred a largely white male workforce. That was one of the many themes at USA TODAY's panel on diversity in tech organized in association with Stanford University's Rock Center for Corporate Governance, featuring representatives from Google and Facebook as well as the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "Most of the problems will be resolved by trying to get hiring managers to see diversity as a positive goal, but in many ways that's a harder problem to solve than one of unrepentant bigots," said Richard Thompson Ford, Stanford law professor and author of The Race Card. Ford said that universities contribute to the problem when computer science classrooms feel like alien places for many minorities.
benton.org/headlines/facebook-google-say-diverse-workforce-key-survival | USAToday
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DIVERSITY GAP
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Jon Swartz, Jessica Guynn, Marco della Cava]
The USA TODAY/Stanford Diversity in Tech summit meeting with Jesse Jackson and executives from Google and Facebook was nothing less than a breakthrough on an issue that has vexed the nation since slavery was abolished: minority access to employment and capital. "Bringing people together to talk about these issues is historic," said Carol Lynn McKibben, a Stanford lecturer who is writing a biography of Rev Jackson. "These things are usually discussed behind closed doors. This was a really important moment to talk about these things in a public forum." Tristan Walker, an African-American entrepreneur, says tech companies are waking up to the growing consumer power of blacks and Hispanics in this country and to the realities of operating in a global marketplace. Studies show that companies with gender and ethnic diversity are more creative and more profitable, he points out.
benton.org/headlines/tech-execs-acknowledge-diversity-gap-so-whats-next | USAToday
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JOURNALISM/GOV & COMMUNICATIONS

BACKGROUND BRIEFINGS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
Every so often, a group of handpicked journalists gets the equivalent of a tap on the shoulder from a White House functionary. They’re invited to a background briefing, one of Washington’s most common, and little examined, rituals for the transmission of official spin, talking points and, occasionally, actual news. For an hour or more, the assembled reporters will listen to and question White House advisers and aides -- “senior administration officials” in the inevitable stories that follow -- on topics of the officials’ choosing. All of it will be hush-hush. No TV cameras will roll. No names will be revealed. There will be no direct quotes (hence, the ubiquitous “senior administration officials”) and sometimes no quotes at all. Readers and viewers will never learn exactly who said what. Take our word, or theirs, for it. Is this any way to report the news?
benton.org/headlines/white-house-background-briefings-good-journalism-or-anonymous-government-spin | Washington Post
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CONTENT

REDDIT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Caitlin Dewey]
Reddit -- one of the most powerful determinants of Web news and trends -- has long billed itself as a wholly crowd-powered enterprise, subject only to the will of its unpredictable masses. But the software engineer Todd Schneider published a surprising discovery: The articles that “chart” on Reddit’s front page don’t do so on merit, alone. Instead, Reddit employs a kind of algorithmic quota system that moderates which content reaches the masses. “I had always thought that Reddit’s front pages operated as some kind of direct democracy,” Schneider wrote. “I was surprised to learn that’s not actually the case.” It’s not, Reddit admin Chad Birch confirmed on the site itself. Far from relying on raw user votes, the site actually uses a multipart normalization algorithm to get a good mix of content on the front page. As a consequence, of course, a great deal of content that’s very popular with the community never makes it to the front page, at all.
benton.org/headlines/vote-all-you-want-internet-isnt-democracy | Washington Post
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POLICYMAKERS

MICHELLE LEE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
With the Senate now belonging to Republicans, the GOP will have more power than ever to block President Obama's political appointees in the next Congress. Conservatives have already shown themselves eager to delay judicial appointments and other nominees to try to force concessions from the White House on legislation. Now that problem is poised to become even worse. But here's one nominee who will probably escape that fate: Michelle Lee, Obama's pick to head up the US Patent and Trademark Office. "Who cares about the patent office?" you ask. Well, a lot of people -- from Google to Tesla to pharma to trial lawyers. And, by the way, Republicans and Democrats, too. It's clear there's bipartisan appetite for changing the country's patent system.
benton.org/headlines/one-obama-nominee-republicans-can-get-behind | Washington Post
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Analysis

November 2014

President Obama's Plan for a Free and Open Internet

Why even Obama’s involvement doesn’t mean net neutrality is getting done soon

The biggest danger to net neutrality is now political not legal, even as Verizon renews FCC lawsuit threat

Benton Foundation Applauds President Obama's Net Neutrality Plan

November 10, 2014 (Net Neutrality; Elections; Diversity)

Communities Fight State Laws That Can Divide Broadband Access

Netflix wants to put Comcast genie back in ‘fast lane’ bottle

Tech execs acknowledge diversity gap. So, what's next?

Fighting for the right to be forgotten on the Web

A New Agenda for Tech Freedom