December 19, 2014 (New from the FCC)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014
NEWS FROM THE FCC
FCC’s 17th Annual Report and Analysis of Competitive Market Conditions With Respect to Mobile Wireless - public notice
FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Issues Declaratory Ruling on Data Roaming - public notice
Expansion of Online Public File Obligations To Cable and Satellite TV Operators and Broadcast and Satellite Radio Licensees - public notice
FCC Announces Deadline for Bidders Interested in Remaining Under Consideration for Rural Broadband Experiments Support to File Additional Information - public notice [links to web]
Joint Statement of Commissioner Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly on the Abandonment of Consensus-Based Decision-Making at the FCC
Closing the 911 Location Accuracy Gap - FCC press release [links to web]
FCC Proposes OTT Reclassification
Media Analyst: FCC OTT Reclassification Not 'Huge' Deal [links to web]
FCC Rejects Argument That "Redskins" Is a Dirty Word
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
Dems to FCC: 'Time for action' on Web reclassification
Sen Wyden: Title II Net Neutrality won’t lead to new taxes [links to web]
A Tax on Goods, Not on the Internet - op-ed [links to web]
Making the Internet a utility -- what's the worst that could happen? - analysis
Verizon: Interconnection is Not Net Neutrality Issue
White House Promotes Title II Via Social Media [links to web]
Clearing up the confusion about Sunlight’s analysis of network neutrality comments to the FCC - press release
Why it doesn't matter if network neutrality opponents "won" the FCC comment war - Timothy Lee analysis [links to web]
Cat's Out Of The Bag: Network Neutrality Won't Harm Investment - NHMC analysis [links to web]
Urban League parrots telecom donors' network neutrality stance
Competition is the only way to preserve an open Internet - AEI op-ed [links to web]
MORE INTERNET/BROADBAND
Protecting the Internet From Government Control - op-ed
Half of Connecticut says it wants fiber-optic Internet -- and soon
WIRELESS
Airwaves Auction’s Risky Signal for AT&T - analysis [links to web]
Cell phones bring new leverage for farm workers [links to web]
Google goes to court for antitrust claims over Android apps [links to web]
Behind Time Warner Cable/Boingo Seamless Wi-Fi Roaming [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
President Obama signs cyber bills
White House Calls Sony Cyber Attack "Serious National Security Matter" [links to web]
Politicians respond to Sony hack, call for cybersecurity bill [links to web]
The hackers are winning the media war - analysis [links to web]
The Lesson of the Sony Hack: We Should All Jump to the 'Erasable Internet' - analysis [links to web]
The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists - analysis [links to web]
North Korea’s intimidation of Hollywood cannot go unanswered - Washington Post editorial [links to web]
Why Sony was wrong to pull The Interview - analysis [links to web]
How North Korea, one of the world's poorest countries, got so good at hacking - analysis [links to web]
PRIVACY
The Future of Privacy - research
German researchers discover a flaw that could let anyone listen to your cell calls [links to web]
Activist group sues San Diego Police Department over “stingray” records [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Why campaigns won't stop using our data: Because the data says we like it [links to web]
TELEVISION/RADIO
FCC Must First Define 'Indecent' for Spanish Broadcasters - Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth op-ed [links to web]
Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition: FCC Low-Balls Station Auction Values [links to web]
Operators See Sports, Broadcast Surcharges Rise in 2015 [links to web]
Time Warner Cable doesn't want to face TV competition in Lincoln, Nebraska [links to web]
5 Ways Television Changed Dramatically in 2014 - analysis [links to web]
How Coca-Cola's 'American Idol' Deal Transformed TV Advertising - analysis [links to web]
2015: The year of video, or of video regulation? - op-ed [links to web]
ADVERTISING
Hold the beacon: McDonald’s tests wireless offers near stores [links to web]
CONTENT
Macmillan, Amazon Reach New Deal [links to web]
Why Bitcoin advocates might like New York's new proposed rules for virtual currency [links to web]
Google accuses Hollywood of secret censorship campaign [links to web]
JOURNALISM
Doubling down on state government coverage - Associated Press press release [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
Rep Patrick Meehan, rising congressional star on cybersecurity - Xerox op-ed [links to web]
Incoming House Oversight Committee Chairman creates new Information Technology Subpanel [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Canada unveils major wireless spectrum plan [links to web]
Mobile phone deal will give UK 90 percent geographical coverage [links to web]
1 in 5 Europeans Has Never Used the Internet [links to web]
Italian priest installs cellphone-jamming device in church [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Progress report on modernizing Communications Act [links to web]
NEWS FROM THE FCC
WIRELESS COMPETITION REPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission released its Seventeenth Mobile Wireless Competition Report, an analysis of commercial mobile radio services (CMRS) integrated into an analysis of all mobile wireless services, including not only voice, but also messaging and broadband. Consistent with the FCC’s first seven Reports, and the Fourteenth and subsequent Reports, this Seventeenth Report does not reach an overall conclusion or formal finding regarding whether or not the CMRS marketplace is effectively competitive, but provides an analysis and description of the CMRS industry’s competitive metrics and trends. Given the complexity of the various inter-related segments and services within the mobile wireless ecosystem, the FCC refrains from providing any single conclusion because such an assessment would be incomplete and possibly misleading in light of the variations and complexities the commission observed. Rather, the report focuses on presenting the best data available on competition throughout this sector of the economy, both at the regional and national level, and highlighting several key trends in the mobile wireless industry.
benton.org/headlines/fccs-17th-annual-report-and-analysis-competitive-market-conditions-respect-mobile-wireless | Federal Communications Commission
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RULING ON DATA ROAMING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has granted a T-Mobile US petition for an expedited declaratory ruling in order to provide additional guidance on how to evaluate data roaming agreements under the standard set forth in Section 20.12(e) of the FCC’s rules. This rule obligates facilities-based providers to offer data roaming arrangements to other such providers on “commercially reasonable terms and conditions.” Specifically, the petition requests guidance that, in evaluating data roaming disputes, the FCC will consider as potentially relevant whether proffered data roaming rates are substantially in excess of retail rates, international rates, and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO)/resale rates, as well as how proffered data roaming rates compare to domestic data roaming rates charged by other providers. Additionally, the petition argues that: (i) the presumption in the Data Roaming Order that the terms of an existing roaming agreement are commercially reasonable should be interpreted to apply only with respect to challenges to the terms of that agreement, and not to future agreements; and (ii) the inclusion of the extent and nature of providers’ build-out as a relevant factor should not be interpreted to allow a host provider to deny roaming or charge commercially unreasonable rates for roaming in a particular area where the otherwise built-out requesting provider has not built out in that area.
benton.org/headlines/fccs-wireless-telecommunications-bureau-issues-declaratory-ruling-data-roaming | Federal Communications Commission | Public Knowledge
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EXPANDING REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”), the Federal Communications Commission proposes to expand to cable operators, satellite TV (also referred to as “Direct Broadcast Satellite” or “DBS”) providers, broadcast radio licensees, and satellite radio (also referred to as “Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services” or “SDARS”) licensees the requirement that public inspection files be posted to the FCC’s online database. In 2012, the FCC adopted online public file rules for broadcast television stations that required them to post public file documents to a central, FCC-hosted online database rather than maintaining the files locally at their main studios. The FCC’s goal was to modernize the procedures television broadcasters use to inform the public about how they are serving their communities, to make information concerning broadcast service more accessible to the public and, over time, to reduce the cost of broadcasters’ compliance. The FCC initiates this proceeding to extend its modernization effort to include the public file documents that cable operators, DBS providers, and broadcast and satellite radio licensees are required to maintain. While the FCC first included only television broadcasters in its public file database to “ease the initial implementation of the online public file,” television broadcasters have successfully transitioned to the online file over the past two years. Accordingly, the FCC now believes it is appropriate to commence the process of expanding the online file to other media entities in order to extend the benefits of improved public access to public inspection files and, ultimately, reduce the burden on these other entities of maintaining these files.
benton.org/headlines/expansion-online-public-file-obligations-cable-and-satellite-tv-operators-and-broadcast | Federal Communications Commission | FCC Commissioner Pai
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JOINT STATEMENT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly]
Commissioner Pai: “The Chairman’s Office directed the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to release today two major items. The first abdicates the annual responsibility Congress gave the Commission -- not the Bureau -- to make an assessment of the state of competition in the wireless industry. The second grants a T-Mobile petition that asked the Commission -- not the Bureau -- to regulate cellular data roaming rates by providing guidance on what the Commission meant in its 2011 data roaming order. FCC decisions issued on the Bureau level cut the Commissioners out of the decision-making process entirely. This is not how democracy works. And it’s not how the FCC in particular has ever worked.”
Commissioner O’Rielly: “In my time at the Commission so far, I have shown myself to be willing to vote quickly on items before me (although not everyone may always like how I cast my vote, especially if rushed). But on these and a number of other items, the full Commission has not been given any opportunity to consider and vote on -- quickly or otherwise -- the merits. I strongly object to the continued effort to delegate decision-making authority to the bureaus. I didn’t just go through the confirmation process in order to have bureaus and advisory committees make decisions that should be made by Commissioners. Both of these items should be brought before and debated by the Commission. These are not trivial items and, like all Commission decisions, would benefit from my colleagues’ input. I am especially concerned that today’s action will set precedent that will be used again and again.”
benton.org/headlines/joint-statement-commissioner-ajit-pai-and-michael-orielly-abandonment-consensus-based | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC PROPOSES OTT RECLASSIFICATION
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission has voted unanimously -- three Democratic "yes" votes, two Republican "concurrences" -- to propose reclassifying linear over-the-top (online) video providers as MVPDs (traditional pay-TV), at least for the purposes of access to vertically integrated programming. The item will likely not be released until December 19, 2014, along with the commissioner statements. In essence the vote launches the process of figuring out how to treat online video services that emulate traditional ones -- linear day and date channel lineups.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-proposes-ott-reclassification | Multichannel News
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FCC REJECTS ARGUMENT THAT "REDSKINS" IS A DIRTY WORD
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz]
The Federal Communications Commission isn't going to fine broadcasters for using the term "Redskins". The FCC has rejected a petition by George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf III to deny a Washington-area radio station’s broadcast license renewal because announcers there routinely use the word “Redskins” when talking about the team. The petition argued that the word is akin to an obscenity or hate speech and shouldn’t be used on the air. “Because the law defines profanity as sexual or excretory in nature, we cannot find the word profane,” the FCC’s Media Bureau said in a notice denying the petition.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-rejects-argument-redskins-dirty-word | Revere Digital | Broadcasting & Cable | Politico
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY
DEMS TO FCC: 'TIME FOR ACTION' ON WEB RECLASSIFICATION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
A group of 36 Democrats are increasing their calls for the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify broadband Internet as a public utility. The lawmakers, including 12 senators and 24 House members, sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler urging the commission to adopt rules recently endorsed by President Barack Obama to enforce network neutrality, the view that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. They called for broadband Internet to be reclassified as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. But the lawmakers asked the commission to use "forbearance" to prevent some of the regulations from applying. Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) spearheaded the letter.
benton.org/headlines/dems-fcc-time-action-web-reclassification | Hill, The
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MAKING THE INTERNET A UTILITY -- WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
[Commentary] There seems to be nothing the broadband industry fears more than Title II of the Communications Act. One big requirement Title II could bring is regulation of rates charged by Internet providers, either imposing a uniform limit on what all providers can charge or forcing each one to get permission for price increases and justify them based upon the amount they invest in their networks. The Federal Communications Commission could also enforce “local loop unbundling”, but the National Cable and Telecommunications Association is confident the FCC won’t enforce that. "I think the thing that worries people the most is probably rate regulation,” said Steve Morris, NCTA's associate general counsel. More likely than rate regulation, though, is regulation of the interconnection deals Internet service providers strike with other large network operators such as Level 3 and Cogent and online content providers such as Netflix. “There’s no one who provides Internet access who said, ‘you know, I would invest more under Title II, this would help me introduce new services,’” Morris said. “It’s clear we’re talking about levels of bad and there’s no upside…For what consumers are getting today, they’re not going to get anything better under Title II, but it will get worse because their prices are going to go up, our cost of providing it is going to go up, our incentive to invest in it is going to go down. Let’s leave with that thought.”
benton.org/headlines/making-internet-utility-whats-worst-could-happen | Ars Technica
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VERIZON: INTERCONNECTION IS NOT NET NEUTRALITY ISSUE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Verizon told the Federal Communications Commission that it needs to keep the issue of interconnection and traffic exchange among networks separate from the open Internet proceedings and that, in any event, it cannot apply Title II regulations to interconnection, as some have proposed. Verizon points out, as have others, that the FCC itself has historically deemed those interconnection agreements distinct from network neutrality. It also says those agreements are "quintessentially private carriage agreements and cannot be regulated as common carriage." Verizon says that net neutrality remains a last-mile issue, and that interconnection agreements are individualized responses to the business models of some content providers, like Netflix, which "have consumed an increasingly large share of Internet traffic." Verizon told the FCC that regulating interconnection agreements, "would only cripple this flexible, market-based dynamic that has played a key role in the explosive growth of the Internet."
benton.org/headlines/verizon-interconnection-not-net-neutrality-issue | Multichannel News | ars technica
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CLEARING UP THE CONFUSION ABOUT SUNLIGHT'S ANALYSIS OF NETWORK NEUTRALITY COMMENTS TO THE FCC
[SOURCE: Sunlight Foundation, AUTHOR: Bob Lannon, Andrew Pendleton]
[Commentary] Our commitment to transparency, to open data and to the informed use of that data prompted us to do this follow up to address some of the concerns and reaction to Sunlight's latest analysis of public comments on the Federal Communications Commission's proposal to regulate Internet traffic:
1) A number of groups on the pro-network neutrality side of the debate are telling us that they submitted far more comments than we found in the download from the FCC. As we pointed out in our initial post, there’s a big discrepancy between the number of comments the FCC says it received and the number we were able to find in the files the agency released to the public
2) The conservative group that appears to have generated the vast majority of comments in the second set of comments we analyzed said we confirmed it “won” the comment period. In fact, as we were careful to point out in both our first and second post, these numbers cannot be read the same way as a baseball score. That’s partly because of data noise and partly because of the way those numbers were generated, both factors which we went to some pains to elucidate in our post.
If nothing else, this exercise points out both the value and the shortcomings of government data and suggests that for the sake of decision makers, and the taxpayers who pay them, it might be worth investing in a more modern, reliable way of compiling and reporting this information.
benton.org/headlines/clearing-confusion-about-sunlights-analysis-network-neutrality-comments-fcc | Sunlight Foundation
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URBAN LEAGUE PARROTS TELECOM DONORS' NETWORK NEUTRALITY STANCE
[SOURCE: Center for Public Integrity , AUTHOR: Allan Holmes]
[Commentary] Critics say National Urban League President Marc Moria's decision to support Comcast on the issue of network neutrality had more to do with money and relationships than with Internet policy. It turns out that Comcast’s David Cohen has sat on the Urban League’s board of trustees since 2008. In addition, the Comcast Foundation, headed by Cohen, gave the National Urban League and some of its more than 100 affiliates almost $2 million from 2012 to 2013. The Urban League says Cohen’s position and the donations from the foundation have had no bearing on its position on the network neutrality issue.
benton.org/headlines/urban-league-parrots-telecom-donors-network-neutrality-stance | Center for Public Integrity
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MORE INTERNET/BROADBAND
INTERNET GOVERNANCE
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Rep Fred Upton (R-MI), Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA), Rep Ed Royce (R-CA), Rep Elliot Engel (D-NY)]
[Commentary] Handing over the reins of Internet governance to a body like the International Telecommunication Union would imperil the Internet at a time when its dynamism and innovation are benefitting more people around the globe than ever before. With the future of the Internet on the line, the US and the many countries around the world supporting the principles of freedom, openness and innovation must continue to stand firm. The US Congress remains unified in support of the US delegation’s efforts to keep Internet governance out of the ITU’s jurisdiction. The multi-stakeholder model for Internet governance must prevail for more countries around the world to realize the transformative benefits of Internet connectivity.
benton.org/headlines/protecting-internet-government-control | Revere Digital
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HALF OF CONNECTICUT SAYS IT WANTS FIBER-OPTIC INTERNET -- AND SOON
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Forty-six Connecticut towns said that they'd like to work with broadband companies so that residents can access gigabit speeds -- that's roughly 100 times what the average American household gets today. The list includes some of Connecticut's biggest towns, such as Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford. But it also includes smaller municipalities where getting next-gen services might prove more difficult, such as Simsbury and Waterford. Although the state has fiber-optic cables connecting all 169 towns, that infrastructure typically ends in nodes serving the local town hall or police and fire stations. The next step will be to connect individual homes to that network. As many as 1.8 million Connecticut residents would get access to fiber if public-private partnership plans move forward.
benton.org/headlines/half-connecticut-says-it-wants-fiber-optic-internet-and-soon | Washington Post
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CYBERSECURITY
CYBERSECURITY BILLS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem, Mario Trujillo]
President Barack Obama signed five cybersecurity bills into law. Most of the bills are aimed at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The National Cybersecurity Protection Act establishes in law the department’s national cybersecurity center, while the Federal Information Security Modernization Act updates 12-year-old federal information security laws. The Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act directs the DHS to build out a new strategy to recruit and hang onto the best and brightest workers in the field, and the Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act allows the department to exempt some cyber staffers from normal government hiring rules.
benton.org/headlines/president-obama-signs-cyber-bills | Hill, The
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PRIVACY
THE FUTURE OF PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project, AUTHOR: Lee Rainie, Janna Anderson]
This report is a look into the future of privacy in light of the technological change, ever-growing monetization of digital encounters, and shifting relationship of citizens and their governments that is likely to extend through the next decade. To explore the future of privacy, we canvassed thousands of experts and Internet builders to share their predictions. Some 55 percent of these respondents said “no” they do not believe that an accepted privacy-rights regime and infrastructure would be created in the coming decade, while 45 percent said “yes” that such an infrastructure would be created by 2025. Common thoughts included: Privacy and security are foundational issues of the digital world, people are living in an unprecedented condition of ubiquitous surveillance, people require little more inducement than personal convenience to disclose their personal information, norms are always evolving, privacy will certainly change in coming years, an arms race dynamic is unfolding, and that renegotiation and compromise will be a constant in privacy-security policy space.
benton.org/headlines/future-privacy | Pew Internet and American Life Project
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