November 2014

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BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Riding Wave of Discontent, GOP Takes Senate
   Election Brings Change To Congressional Panels
   With Udall’s defeat, NSA reformers lose an ally on the inside [links to web]
   House Commerce Committee Chairman Upton survives outside money blitz [links to web]
   How a GOP Senate Takeover Could Impact Net Neutrality, Piracy Fights [links to web]
   Election Day PSA: It’s illegal to share photos of your ballot online in many states. Here’s why. [links to web]
   The Republican Party's Tech Countdown To 2016 [links to web]
   Net neutrality was the biggest tech issue of the year. But nobody campaigned on it. - analysis
   Targeting Political Speech for the Next Election - op-ed

GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
   Judges Skeptical NSA Spying Violates Privacy Rights
   Facebook’s Global Government Requests Report - press release [links to web]

MORE PRIVACY/SECURITY
   Verizon Wireless Under Fire for Ad-Targeting Program
   Suspect must use finger to unlock phone, as debate shifts over device privacy
   The Truth About Teenagers, The Internet, and Privacy [links to web]
   Privacy Tools: The Best Encrypted Messaging Programs - analysis [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   FCC should junk its latest net neutrality plan - San Jose Mercury News editorial
   A Brooklyn rally makes net neutrality about communities, not just companies
   Diminishing the Prospects of Further Net Neutrality Litigation - Verizon press release
   Etsy CEO: Congress still doesn’t get the Internet [links to web]
   FCC’s Wheeler Remarks to Mid-Atlantic Venture Association - speech
   What to Do with Gigabit Internet [links to web]
   G7 broadband dynamics: How policy affects broadband quality in powerhouse nations - Richard Bennett analysis [links to web]

OWNERSHIP
   FCC Denies Challenges to Program Contract Access [links to web]
   Dish’s Ergen to Control LightSquared in Newly Announced Deal [links to web]

TELEVISION
   Fox warns that the traditional US cable bundle is ‘fraying’ [links to web]
   Who Are the Winners and Losers in Pay TV’s Unbundled Future? [links to web]
   OTT is Dead; Long Live OTT - Multichannel News analysis [links to web]
   Rep Pompeo warns about ‘hidden tax’ on TVs [links to web]
   Tune out cable news and turn away fear - Rick Steves op-ed [links to web]

ADVERTISING
   Should journalism worry about content marketing? - analysis [links to web]
   Digital to Overtake TV Ad Spending in Two Years, Says Forrester [links to web]

CONTENT
   Here’s Why Taylor Swift Pulled Her Music From Spotify [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   HHS Secretary names members for federal Health Information Technology Policy and Standards Committees - press release [links to web]

COMPANY NEWS
   Google's diversity chief started her crusade young [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   The web is a terrorist’s command-and-control network of choice - GCHQ op-ed
   US tech firms help terrorists, says new UK spy chief. Maybe, but they also help the rest of us. - GigaOm analysis [links to web]

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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

GOP WIN US SENATE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jonathan Weisman, Ashley Parker]
Resurgent Republicans took control of the Senate, expanded their hold on the House, and defended some of the most closely contested governors’ races, in a repudiation of President Barack Obama that will reorder the political map in his final years in office. Propelled by economic dissatisfaction and anger toward the president, Republicans grabbed Democratic Senate seats in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, West Virginia, Arkansas, Montana and South Dakota to gain their first Senate majority since 2006. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a shrewd Republican tactician, cruised to re-election and stood poised to achieve a goal he has pursued for years -- Senate majority leader. An election that started as trench warfare, state by state and district by district, crested into a sweeping Republican victory. Contests that were expected to be close were not, and races expected to go Democratic broke narrowly for the Republicans. The uneven character of the economic recovery added to a sense of anxiety, leaving voters in a punishing mood, particularly for Democrats in Southern states and the Mountain West, where political polarization deepened.
benton.org/headlines/riding-wave-discontent-gop-takes-senate | New York Times | WSJ
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CHANGE IN COMMERCE COMMITTEES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
No matter who wins the Senate in the midterm elections, some familiar faces in key communications committees will be gone.
Three of the most veteran legislators on the communications front, all Democrats, are retiring after, collectively, almost 130 years in Congress, give or take a recess or two: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV); Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the ranking member on the House Commerce Committee; and Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), the longest-serving member of Congress in history. If the Democrats pull off an upset and manage to hold the Senate, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) is expected to succeed Chairman Rockefeller. That could put more power in the hands of the chairman of the Communications Subcommittee since Sen Nelson has not been very involved in communications issues on the committee. A Republican victory may mean Sen. John Thune (R-SD) replaces Chairman Rockefeller. In the House, Republicans will remain in control, but Waxman’s exit as the ranking member of the Commerce Committee opens up a slot for, likely, either Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) or Rep Frank Pallone (D-NJ).
benton.org/headlines/election-brings-change-congressional-panels | Broadcasting&Cable
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THE ELECTION AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
[Commentary] I argued that the expanding role of technology in people's daily lives has made tech policy a more relevant and viable campaign issue in the 21st century election cycle. Looking back now on this midterm cycle, however, it's clear that I was completely, totally off-base. Flat-out wrong, even. Take net neutrality -- arguably the biggest, baddest tech issue of the year. More than the Comcast merger, more than National Security Agency surveillance, more than pretty much any other item on the tech policy agenda, net neutrality drove people to the barricades. In absolute terms, net neutrality produced a staggering response from the public. The Federal Communications Commission got a record-setting 3.9 million comments from Americans who felt, at some level, that the future of the Internet was at stake. But compared to other election issues, net neutrality barely registered on the candidates' scales. Why?
Net neutrality is primarily an issue for the executive branch, not Congress.
The public response to net neutrality has mostly been the result of Internet organizing -- which, by definition, involves people who are spread out and not a cohesive political actor.
And because Internet users skew younger, and younger people aren't very politically engaged, it's not crazy to think that net neutrality activists might wield less power at the ballot box more generally compared to their older peers from the outset.
benton.org/headlines/net-neutrality-was-biggest-tech-issue-year-nobody-campaigned-it | Washington Post
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ONLINE POLITICAL SPEECH
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ronald Rotunda]
[Commentary] Federal Election Commission Vice Chairwoman Ann Ravel appears to be dreaming of imposing on the nation what she was unable to impose on California -- the regulation of political speech on the Internet. As chairwoman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, she announced that the commission would issue regulations governing political speech on the Internet. The rules, she said, would even govern bloggers outside the state. Californians raised a fuss and her efforts got nowhere. Now she’s back, and in a more powerful position in Washington. The FEC already regulates paid Internet advertising, but free Internet posts are exempt from campaign-finance regulations. The Federal Election Commission exists solely to protect the public against potential corruption of public officials. It has no authority to regulate pure political speech, which is what the Web does: It disseminates pure political speech.
[Rotunda is a law professor at Fowler Law School, Chapman University]
benton.org/headlines/targeting-political-speech-next-election | Wall Street Journal
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GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

JUDGES SKEPTICAL NSA SPYING VIOLATES PRIVACY RIGHTS
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Dustin Volz]
A federal appeals court appears largely unconvinced that the government's once-secret practice of collecting virtually all Americans' phone records violates the Constitution. A panel of three Republican-nominated judges on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals challenged arguments made by a conservative activist and civil-liberties groups that the National Security Agency's mass-surveillance program represents a breach of the Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches. Judge Stephen Williams indicated that violations to privacy were more likely to occur when intelligence officials actually analyze metadata, which he said was "two steps" removed from the collection stage. Larry Klayman, a conservative lawyer arguing on his own behalf, countered that "just collecting the data is enough to implicate the Fourth Amendment." Judge Williams pressed Klayman to articulate specifically how the mere collection of troves of unanalyzed data could violate an American's privacy. But Judge Williams remained unsatisfied with Klayman's response.
benton.org/headlines/judges-skeptical-nsa-spying-violates-privacy-rights | National Journal
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MORE PRIVACY/SECURITY

AD-TARGETING PROGRAM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Chen]
Verizon Wireless has recently come under fire from privacy advocates for tracking the activities of subscribers on its cellular network. Verizon quietly started its ad-targeting program two years ago and this year teamed up with other data management and advertising companies. Jacob Hoffman-Andrews of the Electronic Frontier Foundation noticed the program and sounded the alarm. The program involves injecting a header containing a unique, anonymous identifier into a Verizon Wireless user’s request for a web page. “[W]hile we’re concerned about Verizon’s own use of the header, we’re even more worried about what it allows others to find out about Verizon users,” Hoffman-Andrews said. Verizon’s ad-targeting method groups these identifiers into different buckets of demographics and interests, so if a website is looking to serve certain ads to a specific type of customer, it will look for those buckets and serve up those ads. Here’s the kicker: Even though Verizon allows users to opt out of the program by calling a phone number or changing their privacy settings, Verizon keeps tacking an identifier onto the customer’s web browsing for “other authentication purposes,” such as logging in to Verizon’s apps, according to the company.
benton.org/headlines/verizon-wireless-under-fire-ad-targeting-program | New York Times
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DEVICE PRIVACY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jeff John Roberts]
For police the warrant rule is now one of two obstacles standing in the way of a cell phone search. The other is the new prevalence of passcodes, which most people use to lock their phones, and which are harder to get around than ever before thanks to expanded encryption. The result is a new controversy over when cell phone users must assist the police. Recent legal battles over cell phone searches have focused (correctly) on the Fourth Amendment, which is how the US Constitution protects people against unreasonable search and seizure -- specifically, by requiring cops to get a warrant for performing most type of searches. In light of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, however, that question has been largely put to rest. Now the debate is turning instead to the Fifth Amendment, which protects suspects from having to testify against themselves. While the historical right to “plead the Fifth” is well understood (it prevented soldiers from getting a confession by beating someone up), its role when it comes to cell phones is less obvious.
benton.org/headlines/suspect-must-use-finger-unlock-phone-debate-shifts-over-device-privacy | GigaOm
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

JUNK LATEST NET NEUTRALITY PLAN
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission needs to junk the idea of a compromise on net neutrality and return to the basic tenet that made the Internet a force that changed the world. Namely: All Internet traffic should be treated equally. The best way to accomplish that is to classify the Internet as a common carrier, much like other public utilities, giving all parties equal, open access to online materials. That is what needs to happen. President Barack Obama needs to weigh in and remind his FCC chair that he's supposed to be working on behalf of the public interest.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-should-junk-its-latest-net-neutrality-plan | San Jose Mercury News
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NET NEUTRALITY FOR PARK SLOPE
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Adi Robertson]
Park Slope, Brooklyn, in late October… parents with strollers are eyeing a small crowd on the steps of the Brooklyn Public Library. Their painted signs are too small to read from a distance, but it’s easier to see what’s written on the cordons they’ve used to form two lines: FAST LANE and SLOW LANE. To anyone familiar with internet discourse, it’s clear what’s going on: a protest in favor of network neutrality, a contentious issue that’s supposed to be voted on by the Federal Communications Commission. The "fast lane" refers to companies that could pay Internet service providers for faster service in a world without meaningful rules; the "slow lane" is everyone else. But the signs aren’t just telling people to save the Internet. In the fast lane, they’re a mix of celebrity gossip ("Extra nonsense: Jay-Z, Beyonce, Solange") and sensationalized headlines. In the slow lane, there’s news about Israeli bombings and the shooting of black teenagers Michael Brown and Vonderrick Myers by St. Louis police. A fast lane sign says "riots grip city," its slow-lane equivalent says "community rises up against police brutality." This rally is the prelude to "New York Speaks," an unofficial hearing organized by reform group Common Cause and several other activist organizations. The hearing is meant to let New Yorkers voice their concerns about how the FCC is regulating the internet in general, but there are two major issues on the table: a proposed merger between cable giants Comcast and Time Warner Cable, and an impending net neutrality vote.
benton.org/headlines/brooklyn-rally-makes-net-neutrality-about-communities-not-just-companies | Verge, The
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NET NEUTRALITY LITIGATION
[SOURCE: Verizon, AUTHOR: Randal Milch]
There has been a lot of speculation lately that, whatever the Federal Communications Commission decides about new Net Neutrality rules, the whole thing is headed for another round in court. That doesn’t have to be the case. The FCC has the opportunity to create Net Neutrality rules that prevent any harmful “paid prioritization” practices that some fear, and to do so in a way that both ensures the rules are not overturned and makes further litigation a diminishing prospect. The key to whether there is further litigation is the statutory basis the FCC chooses as the foundation for its new rules. If, as the FCC proposed back in May and as the D.C. Circuit suggested in its decision nearly a year ago, the new rules are based on Section 706 of the Communications Act, then the possibility that a rule prohibiting paid prioritization will be overturned is essentially eliminated, and the chances that there will even be appeals of the rules are reduced considerably. Here’s why.
benton.org/headlines/diminishing-prospects-further-net-neutrality-litigation | Verizon
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WHEELER SPEECH
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler]
One of the things that has struck me about being Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is how similar it is to the job of a [venture capitalist], or the job of a growth company CEO. Like being a VC, the most challenging and exciting part about my job is confronting the impact of new technologies that create entirely changed circumstances for American consumers and businesses. And, like a CEO, the buck stops here. I am grateful that I have four other commissioners with whom to work, but by statute I am the CEO of an agency charged with the responsibility of overseeing industries that make up approximately one-sixth of the US economy. As you know, the job of a CEO is to decide. In your case, it is decisions to optimize return for your stakeholders. In my case it is to maximize for the ill-defined and often vague multi-faceted concept of the “public interest.”
benton.org/headlines/fccs-wheeler-remarks-mid-atlantic-venture-association | Federal Communications Commission
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

COMMAND-AND-CONTROL NETWORK
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Robert Hannigan]
[Commentary] The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) is the first terrorist group whose members have grown up on the internet. They are exploiting the power of the web to create a jihadi threat with near-global reach. The challenge to governments and their intelligence agencies is huge – and it can only be met with greater co-operation from technology companies. These companies have become the command-and-control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals, who find their services as transformational as the rest of us. If they are to meet this challenge, it means coming up with better arrangements for facilitating lawful investigation by security and law enforcement agencies than we have now. As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the spectacular creation that is the world wide web, we need a new deal between democratic governments and the technology companies in the area of protecting our citizens. It should be a deal rooted in the democratic values we share. That means addressing some uncomfortable truths. Better to do it now than in the aftermath of greater violence.
[Hannigan is the director of GCHQ, a UK government intelligence and security organization]
benton.org/headlines/web-terrorists-command-and-control-network-choice | Financial Times
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