December 8, 2014 (The FCC and the US Phone Transition)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
This week’s events http://benton.org/calendar/2014-12-07--P1W
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Give National Security Agency unlimited access to digital data, says federal judge
House bill would ban feds from weakening digital security [links to web]
December 6, 1923: One Small Step for a President, One Huge Leap for Communications at the White House - press release [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
A Year in Review: The FCC and the US Phone Transition - analysis
Obama’s Network Neutrality Bid Divides Civil Rights Groups
FTC pressed to get involved in network neutrality
Spectrum mania and network neutrality - AEI analysis
The US Leads the World in Broadband - AEI op-ed
No Deadline for the Open Internet - WSJ editorial
FCC Announces Entities Provisionally Selected for Rural Broadband Experiments; Sets Deadlines for Submissions of Additional Information - public notice
Bringing Lifeline into the Broadband World - Blair Levin analysis
Verizon's battle with New Jersey town shows strong thirst for rural wireline broadband
"But We're Not the Broadband Foundation": The critical role of philanthropy in increasing Internet access and use - Blandin Foundation op-ed
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Padden's Auction Fight May Be Yours, Too - Henry Jessell editorial [links to web]
Feds Want Flexible Policy to Regulate the Internet of Things [links to web]
At least 1 in every 10 robberies involves the theft of a phone, FCC Requests Action [links to web]
TELEVISION
CBS, Dish Reach Carriage Deal [links to web]
KTNV Settles FCC Fake News Report Investigation
Padden's Auction Fight May Be Yours, Too - Henry Jessell editorial [links to web]
Google Fiber's broadband dreams aren't making cable TV any better - analysis from The Verge [links to web]
Mobile takes screen time from TV, but consumers pay more for cable [links to web]\
How I Made -- Instead of Spent -- 26 Cents With a Mobile App [links to web]
LABOR
Why women are leaving the tech industry in droves - Sue Gardner op-ed
CONTENT
Hollywood Tracks Social Media Chatter to Target Hit Films [links to web]
JOURNALISM
Journalism Partnerships: A New Era of Interest - Pew research [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
22 people had to approve Romney tweets [links to web]
HEALTH
FCC Commissioner Clyburn: Telehealth has great potential [links to web]
Financial incentives and ability to exchange clinical information found to be top reasons for Electronic Health Records adoption - press release [links to web]
EDUCATION
More than 100 Bold New STEM Commitments as Part of the White House College Opportunity Day of Action - press release [links to web]
LOBBYING
Telecoms bet on congressional rookies
Fixed Fortunes: Biggest corporate political interests spend billions, get trillions - press release [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
GCHQ does not breach human rights, judges rule
Could Europe really break up Google? A look at what's possible -- and likely [links to web]
Inside Facebook's Plan to Wire the World: Mark Zuckerberg's Crusade to Put Every Single Human Being Online [links to web]
G.fast broadband standard approved and on the market - press release [links to web]
Cellphones Can Spark Change in North Korea - Christopher Mims analysis [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
GIVE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY UNLIMITED ACCESS TO DIGITAL DATA, SAYS FEDERAL JUDGE
[SOURCE: ComputerWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
The National Security Agency should have an unlimited ability to collect digital information in the name of protecting the country against terrorism and other threats, according to influential Judge Richard Posnerof the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Congress should limit the NSA's use of the data it collects -- for example, not giving information about minor crimes to law enforcement agencies -- but it shouldn't limit what information the NSA sweeps up and searches, Judge Posner said. "If the NSA wants to vacuum all the trillions of bits of information that are crawling through the electronic worldwide networks, I think that's fine," he said. In the name of national security, US lawmakers should give the NSA "carte blanche," Judge Posner added. "Privacy interests should really have very little weight when you're talking about national security," he said. "The world is in an extremely turbulent state -- very dangerous."
benton.org/headlines/give-national-security-agency-unlimited-access-digital-data-says-federal-judge | ComputerWorld
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
THE FCC AND THE US PHONE TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has been on the job for just over a year. And with 2014 coming to a close, we look back at the accomplishments of the FCC in his first year. One of the great challenges the FCC faces in coming months and years -- and which Wheeler recognized during his confirmation -- is guiding the transformation of the U.S. telephone system. This is no small task. The U.S. system is, perhaps, the best in the world, encompasses 1.5 billion miles of wire and some 120 million phones. And despite its great complexity, it has operated with near-perfect reliability for some 125 years through snow and rain and heat and gloom of night. The challenge now is to ensure the phone system can work just as well as it moves from an analog, circuit-switched network to a digital, packet-switched network. Before his nomination to chair the FCC, Wheeler was the chairman of the FCC's Technological Advisory Council, which has been wrestling with that phone transition (known to wonks as the “IP transition” for Internet protocol). Just days after his confirmation as FCC chair, Wheeler announced boldly The IP Transition: Starting Now and began to redirect the wonky “IP” language to move people to start thinking about the transition as “a series of transitions”; “a multi-faceted revolution that advances as the packets of Internet Protocol (IP)-based communication replace the digital stream of bits and analog frequency waves.”
http://benton.org/blog/wheeler-and-ip-transition
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NET NEUTRALITY AND CIVIL RIGHTS ORGS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wyatt]
When it comes to the details of Internet regulation, groups that otherwise have much common ground simply don’t see eye to eye. The NAACP, the National Urban League and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition sent representatives, including the Rev Jesse Jackson, to tell Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler that they thought President Obama’s call to regulate broadband Internet service as a utility would harm minority communities by stifling investment in underserved areas and entrenching already dominant Internet companies. Meanwhile ColorofChange.org, a black political coalition, and the National Hispanic Media Coalition, for example, support treating Internet access as an essential service like electricity or water — as President Barack Obama proposed — while the League of United Latin American Citizens opposes it. “The civil rights community is like every sector anywhere. While from the outside it seems like a monolith, it is not,” said Cheryl Leanza, a policy adviser for the United Church of Christ Office of Communication. Though she was part of the 11-member group that included Rev Jackson, she asked the chairman to embrace the president’s plan. Some of the groups that oppose Title II designation, like the Urban League and the League of United Latin American Citizens, have received contributions from organizations affiliated with Internet service providers, like the Comcast Foundation, the charitable organization endowed by Comcast. Parts of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition’s annual symposium on civil rights were conducted at Comcast’s offices in Washington. But those organizations say that the donations or sponsorships do not influence their positions. Several of those favoring Title II, meanwhile, have received funding from organizations affiliated with companies that support stronger regulation. The National Hispanic Media Coalition conducts events that are sponsored in part by companies like Google and Facebook. A trade organization sponsored by those and other Internet companies, the Internet Association, supports a shift to stricter regulation.
benton.org/headlines/obamas-network-neutrality-bid-divides-civil-rights-groups | New York Times
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FTC AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Dozens of academics are asking the Federal Trade Commission to raise its voice in the fight over new network neutrality rules. A letter signed by 32 scholars was sent to the FTC urging the regulator to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from writing utility-style rules for Internet service providers, which they say could end up hurting consumers. The scholars, many of whom have advocated for free market positions, say the FCC rules could hamper “potentially pro-competitive conduct.” Reclassifying broadband Internet service so that it could be regulated as a public utility would lead to “a plethora of outdated regulations, price controls, and other burdens,” the academics wrote in their letter, which was organized by the International Center for Law and Economics.
benton.org/headlines/ftc-pressed-get-involved-network-neutrality | Hill, The
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SPECTRUM AUCTION AND NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Richard Bennett]
Now that bidding has concluded on the FCC’s AWS-3 spectrum auction, the spinning commences on the significance of the results; some advocates are, for example, saying the auction results show that the Title II telecom regulations proposed for Internet services won’t deter investment. Overall, the auction will gather $41.5 billion for the treasury; this amount is wildly in excess of the expert estimates of $12-16 billion. We don’t know who the actual winners are yet; only the bidders and the FCC will know that until down payments are due in January. It’s not even certain that the high bidders will win all the licenses because of quirks in the way awards are made. There is a media consensus that Dish Networks pushed prices up, not so they could win licenses, but so they could increase the value of their spectrum holdings in adjacent bands. Dish’s strategy is probably similar to one Google employed in the D-Block auction, where they ensured the reserve price was met for spectrum encumbered by open access provisions and then stopped bidding. Dish has been talking to T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom about a takeover of the fourth-largest US carrier, and action may be imminent. The Dish play is to increase the value of its spectrum holdings so it can borrow more money to spend on T-Mobile. These holdings may have been worth as much as $26 billion before the auction and will be worth even more now. If this is the case, it’s reasonable to claim that the auction proves that acquisitions and consolidation cause the value of scarce resources to increase, irrespective of pending regulations.
benton.org/headlines/spectrum-mania-and-network-neutrality | American Enterprise Institute
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US LEAD THE WORLD IN BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Bret Swanson]
[Commentary] Has the US fallen behind the rest of the world in broadband? Do consumers have trouble accessing websites and find it difficult to shop and surf the Web? The success of Google, Apple, Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Dropbox, Twitch and a thousand other American-born Web firms and apps suggests not. Yet reports of lagging US broadband and the specter of content blocking are the two central contentions of “net neutrality” fans, including President Barack Obama, who want the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the Internet as a public utility. If US broadband were slow, expensive and not widely deployed, one might expect other nations, who supposedly enjoy better broadband, to generate more Internet traffic. But as my new study for the American Enterprise Institute shows, the reverse is true. The US, with 4% of the world’s population, has 10% of its Internet users, 25% of its broadband investment and 32% of its consumer Internet traffic. The U.S. policy of Internet freedom has worked. Why does Washington want to intervene in a thriving market?
[Swanson is president of Entropy Economics]
benton.org/headlines/us-leads-world-broadband | Wall Street Journal | see Swanson’s study
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NO DEADLINE FOR THE OPEN INTERNET
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: L Gordon Crovitz]
[Commentary] In a letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal, Commerce Department official Lawrence Strickling complains about the “many salvos” this column has launched against the plan to give up US protection of the Internet in September 2015. The administration’s own arguments show why the President should withdraw his plan. “No one entity controls the Internet,” he writes. That’s true -- but the reason authoritarian governments don’t control the Internet is that the US has kept them at bay. Strickling’s letter also fails to address a fundamental question: why the executive branch thinks it can act on its own. The Constitution says only Congress can transfer federal property, such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) contract. The Administration has not provided any legal argument to the contrary. Congress has voted unanimously to keep US oversight and should block unilateral action by the White House. The US can renew the ICANN agreement for another four years beyond September 2015. That would give everyone the chance to see if there is any way to protect the open Internet without US stewardship. We know for sure that there will be no protection on the schedule set by the Obama Administration.
benton.org/headlines/no-deadline-open-internet | Wall Street Journal | see Strickling’s letter | see Crovitz’s Dec 1 column
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FCC ANNOUNCES ENTITIES PROVISIONALLY SELECTED FOR RURAL BROADBAND EXPERIMENTS; SETS DEADLINES FOR SUBMISSIONS OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission announces the bidders that have been provisionally selected for funding for rural broadband experiments, subject to the post-selection review process, for the rural broadband experiments. Each identified bidder must complete certain steps in order to be authorized to receive Connect America Fund support for its rural broadband experiment. With the release of this Public Notice, the post-selection review process for these bidders now begins. The deadlines for submissions of additional information by selected entities is Friday, December 19, 2014.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-announces-entities-provisionally-selected-rural-broadband-experiments-sets-deadlines | Federal Communications Commission | meet the bidders | Instructions
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BRINGING LIFELINE INTO THE BROADBAND WORLD
[SOURCE: Brookings Institute, AUTHOR: Blair Levin]
[Commentary] Statistics on Internet adoption are clear: Among the entire US population, low-income households are the least likely to subscribe. With job postings, continuing education, and the best shopping deals all now online, lacking an Internet connection becomes a significant barrier to professional and personal opportunity. To help address this inequity, the Federal Communication Commission has a program -- called Lifeline -- specifically targeting telecommunications service for low-income persons. Unfortunately, the program is stuck in the 1980s and continues to only subsidize voice service, ignoring broadband entirely. Fortunately, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn has taken on the challenge of advocating the transition of the existing program to the broadband era. At a recent speech, Clyburn underscored the many ways broadband is now essential for participating in the economic and civic life of a community. To bring those benefits to those most in need, she outlined a framework for changing the program. Remarkably, in a town driven by divides, immediate respondents had universal support for these reform principles. That kind of response suggests we may be one step closer to the day where everyone can afford broadband service.
[Blair Levin is a nonresident senior fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program]
benton.org/headlines/bringing-lifeline-broadband-world | Brookings Institute
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VERIZON'S BATTLE WITH NEW JERSEY TOWN SHOWS STRONG THIRST FOR RURAL WIRELINE BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Sean Buckley]
Verizon's ongoing war of words with Hopewell Township’s (NJ) officials over telephone service quality and lack of fruitful broadband service shows that consumers' desire for high speed wireline broadband is just as prevalent in rural markets as it is in large cities. The township's grievance with Verizon is part of an agreement New Jersey made with the telecommunications company over 20 years ago that's now apparently gone unfulfilled. Residents want the company to deliver on the “45 Mbps of symmetrical broadband service to every state resident by 2010 in exchange for tax breaks and other incentives” the company promised under the "Opportunity New Jersey" program. Despite the fact that local consumers paid nearly $13 billion in surcharges with the hope of getting high-speed Internet service, they have yet to see anything four years following the original deadline.
benton.org/headlines/verizons-battle-new-jersey-town-shows-strong-thirst-rural-wireline-broadband | Fierce
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"BUT WE'RE NOT THE BROADBAND FOUNDATION": THE CRITICAL ROLE OF PHILANTHROPY IN INCREASING INTERNET ACCESS AND USE
[SOURCE: Council on Foundations, AUTHOR: Bernadine Joselyn]
[Commentary] At Blandin Foundation, we have come to understand that Internet access -- and the skills to use it -- are fundamental to everything we care about as a foundation. If you are persuaded , as we are, that social justice and economic prosperity require redressing our nation’s growing digital divide, know that other foundations are stepping on this path as well. And, while there never will be a single roadmap, we can help point out some of the short-cuts. Top 5 Lessons Learned:
1) It all comes down to community leadership
2) Have patience
3) Broadband is not an end in itself
4) Engage tomorrow's leaders today
5) Peers make great teachers
[Bernadine Joselyn is Director, Public Policy & Engagement, at Blandin Foundation]
benton.org/headlines/were-not-broadband-foundation-critical-role-philanthropy-increasing-internet-access-and | Council on Foundations
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TELEVISION
KTNV SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Journal Broadcast Group's KTNV-TV Las Vegas will pay $115,000 to settle an Federal Communications Commission investigation into the broadcasting of paid commercials masquerading as special reports. The FCC's Enforcement Bureau said that an ad agency had paid KTNV to produce and air so-called special reports about liquidation sales at local Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Nissan and Hyundai car dealerships. "KTNV formatted the commercials in the style of news reports, which featured a KTNV staff person on location at the dealerships posing as a journalist," the bureau said. Under the terms of the settlement, Journal admits to violating the commercial sponsorship identification rule, will pay the $115,000 and will create a three-year compliance plan and report periodically to the FCC.
benton.org/headlines/ktnv-settles-fcc-fake-news-report-investigation | Broadcasting&Cable | FCC
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LABOR
WHY WOMEN ARE LEAVING TECH
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Sue Gardner]
[Commentary] Women make up a tiny fraction, roughly 15%, of people working in technical roles in the tech industry. And amazingly, that percentage is dropping, not rising. Multiple studies have found that the proportion of women in the tech workforce peaked in about 1989 and has been steadily dropping ever since. Surveys and focus groups find that women enter the tech world empowered by their credentials and filled with enthusiasm and ambition. In the early years of their careers, women self-report themselves to be ambitious and happy. But over time they get ground down. Most have very few female role models and colleagues. Surveys find 23% to 66% report experiencing sexual harassment or seeing it happen to others. Half the respondents to my survey said they've been treated in a way they find hostile, demeaning or condescending, and a third said their bosses are friendlier and more supportive with their male colleagues. Women report being encouraged to move out of pure tech into support functions, which offer less pay, are less prestigious and have limited upward mobility. There's a war for talent in Silicon Valley, and engineers are tech's scarcest resource. If you're a tech executive, you want your available workforce to be as big and varied as possible. In that context a rational industry would shut down overt misogyny because in addition to being morally repugnant, it's terrible for business. It would aim to provide the same things for female workers that it does for male ones: an enjoyable culture, competitive pay and challenging work.
[Gardner is the former executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation]
benton.org/headlines/why-women-are-leaving-tech-industry-droves | Los Angeles Times
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LOBBYING
Telecoms bet on congressional rookies
TELECOMS BET ON CONGRESSIONAL ROOKIES
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
AT&T, Comcast and Verizon have donated heavily to incoming members of Congress, cultivating early relationships with the next generation of lawmakers and surpassing the efforts of Internet companies like Google and Facebook, which are just beginning to up their game in Washington. With the help of their well-stocked political action committees, the three wireless and cable giants last election cycle cast a wide net. They targeted many of the 65 newcomers to Capitol Hill along with scores of familiar incumbents as the industry prepares for new legislative battles in 2015 over net neutrality and other communications laws. It’s a sign that the telecoms, which are longtime players in DC with formidable lobbying operations, remain skilled practitioners in how to develop allies and do business in the capital. Tech companies, by contrast, played it safe and generally supported only congressional veterans during the midterms.
benton.org/headlines/telecoms-bet-congressional-rookies | Politico
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
GCHQ DOES NOT BREACH HUMAN RIGHTS, JUDGES RULE
[SOURCE: BBC, AUTHOR: ]
The current system of UK intelligence collection does not currently breach the European Convention of Human Rights, a panel of judges has ruled. A case claiming various systems of interception by GCHQ constituted a breach had been brought by Amnesty, Privacy International and others. It followed revelations by the former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden about UK and US surveillance practices. But the judges said questions remained about GCHQ's previous activities. Some of the organizations who brought the case, including Amnesty UK and Privacy International, say they intend to appeal the decision to the European Court of Human Rights. benton.org/headlines/gchq-does-not-breach-human-rights-judges-rule | BBC | Guardian | GigaOm | Privacy International
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