1. Monthly archive
  2. December 2014

December 2014

Shawn Chang Joins Wiley Rein

Shawn Chang, former chief communications and technology adviser to the House Commerce Committee Democrats has joined Wiley Rein as of counsel in its Public Policy advocacy group ("of counsel" is applied to an attorney who does work for a firm but is neither a partner nor an associate). Before becoming chief counsel, he was senior counsel to the Communications Subcommittee where he worked on broadband stimulus and digital TV legislation.

Renewing ITU's Mandate to Promote ICT Accessibility

[Commentary] On December 3rd, we celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities under the theme Sustainable Development: The Promise of Technology. On this special occasion, and in my capacity as chair of the International Telecommunication Union Accessibility Task Force, I want to share with all of you the important agreements reached by the 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference, specifically Resolution 175 (Busan, 2014) “Telecommunication/information and communication technology accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs”. This important resolution mandates ITU to promote ICT (Information Communication Technology) accessibility and access to ICTs for persons with disabilities and calls for ITU to become a more accessible organization for persons with disabilities.

Russia reportedly blocks blogs of terrorism analysts

Russia is reportedly blocking blogs that provide independent analysis of jihadi activities. Belgian historian, researcher and writer Pieter Van Ostaeyen said his blog, which tracks Islamic State among other extremist groups, had been blocked in Russia. He told (US-funded) Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that this followed his embedding of an Islamic State video.

UK carrier EE uses small cells to deploy rural LTE network

The British mobile carrier EE has hooked up a rural village in a deep north England valley using a new kind of network that doesn’t require fixed-line broadband connections to its base stations, and that can therefore be deployed within a few hours. The deployment uses a “micro network” system from equipment provider Parallel Wireless. The system’s cells connect to one another in a mesh network, which in turn connects wirelessly back to a normal macro base station some 6km (3.7 miles) away.

December 2, 2014 (Faster Internet, or More Competitive Internet)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

TODAY: Phoenix Center's 14th Annual U.S. Telecoms Symposium and @War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex http://benton.org/calendar/2014-12-02

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   We can have faster Internet, or more competitive Internet, but getting both is hard - analysis
   Obama’s Internet plan plays favorites, and Netflix is one of the darlings - AEI op-ed [links to web]
   Outdated Regulations Will Make Consumers Pay More for Broadband - Progressive Policy Institute analysis
   TDM-to-IP Transition: Does Copper Deterioration Equal Copper Retirement?
   BITAG report on Interconnection and Traffic Exchange on the Internet - research
   Google is starting to sign up Fiber customers in Austin [links to web]
   The Public Computer Center at the College of Menominee Nations, Wisconsin [links to web]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   GOP's tech hurdle: They don't always get it

JOURNALISM
   Majority Of 'Fox News Sunday' Guests Discussing Ferguson Are White - Media Matters for America research [links to web]
   Bill Carter, Veteran New York Times TV Reporter, Taking Buyout [links to web]
   The Torch is Being Passed to A New Generation of Right-Wing Media [links to web]

EDUCATION
   Not So Fast - Broadcasting&Cable editorial
   Online education run amok? [links to web]
   Big Districts Pressure Publishers on Digital-Content Delivery [links to web]

CONTENT
   A quick, jargon-free explainer to the Supreme Court case that will decide the limits of free speech online - WashPost analysis [links to web]
   Supreme Court split on free speech protections for Facebook threats [links to web]
   What Is a True Threat on Facebook? - NYTimes editorial [links to web]
   Making social media research more reliable and reproducible [links to web]
   Welcome to the web’s dark side [links to web]

ADVERTISING
   Study Uncovers In-Depth Insights Into Global Internet Users For Marketers [links to web]

TELEVISION
   Sen Markey Pushes Cox/Verizon For Retransmission Resolution [links to web]
   FCC Urging Resolution to WFXT/FiOS Retransmission Impasse [links to web]
   Reminder: You’re Not Watching Sports Without Cable TV [links to web]

WIRELESS
   IDC: 1.3B smartphones will ship in 2014 but growth will slow [links to web]
   T-Mobile aims to scoop up more 700 MHz spectrum for LTE deployments [links to web]

PRIVACY/SECURITY
   Google needs to debunk European charges and improve privacy policies - editorial
   Three Steps to Help Protect Your Personal Information on Cyber Monday - White House press release [links to web]

FCC REFORM
   FCC Takes Steps to Modernize and Improve Efficiency of Filing - public notice
   Cable Operators To FCC: DBS Needs Per-Sub Regulatory Fee [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Gregarious and Direct: China’s Web Doorkeeper [links to web]

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

WE CAN HAVE FASTER INTERNET, OR MORE COMPETITIVE INTERNET, BUT GETTING BOTH IS HARD
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
[Commentary] People want today's broadband market to be competitive and reasonably priced. They also want tomorrow's networks to be faster than today's. The big challenge for regulators is that these goals are in conflict. Some countries try to deal with the first problem -- lack of competition -- by forcing incumbents to share a portion of their networks with competitors at regulated rates. This approach is known as local loop unbundling, and a number of people have argued that the United States should take a similar approach.
benton.org/headlines/we-can-have-faster-internet-or-more-competitive-internet-getting-both-hard | Vox
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OUTDATED REGULATIONS WILL MAKE CONSUMERS PAY MORE FOR BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Progressive Policy Institute, AUTHOR: Robert Litan, Hal Singer]
[Commentary] Self-styled consumer advocates are pressuring federal regulators to “reclassify” access to the Internet as a public utility. If they get their way, US consumers will have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for both residential fixed and wireless broadband services. How deep? We have calculated that the average annual increase in state and local fees levied on US wireline and wireless broadband subscribers will be $67 and $72, respectively. And the annual increase in federal fees per household will be roughly $17. When you add it all up, reclassification could add a whopping $17 billion in new user fees on top of the planned $1.5 billion extra to fund the E-Rate program. The higher fees would come on top of the adverse impact on consumers of less investment and slower innovation that would result from reclassification.
benton.org/headlines/outdated-regulations-will-make-consumers-pay-more-broadband | Progressive Policy Institute
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TDM-TO-IP TRANSITION: DOES COPPER DETERIORATION EQUAL COPPER RETIREMENT?
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking input on whether it should require telecommunications service providers retiring traditional copper phone wiring to provide and monitor batteries providing backup power to customer premises equipment. Additionally the commission is considering whether a service provider that lets its copper infrastructure deteriorate should be considered to have retired that equipment. These are just a few of the ideas discussed in a notice of proposed rulemaking about the TDM-to-IP transition adopted by the FCC on November 21. As usual, the NPRM includes some requirements that the FCC indicates it anticipates imposing, while other ideas are simply put forth for discussion.
benton.org/headlines/tdm-ip-transition-does-copper-deterioration-equal-copper-retirement | telecompetitor
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INTERCONNECTION AND TRAFFIC EXCHANGE
[SOURCE: Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group, AUTHOR: ]
The Internet is a complex “network of networks” where individual networks are linked together to form a global network. In order for end users connected to one network to access data and services connected to another network, these networks must “interconnect” with each other, either by directly connecting with each other or by indirectly connecting through intermediate networks. Internet network interconnection, often referred to as “peering” or “transit,” is an increasingly important topic as the Internet ecosystem continues to evolve. The term “interconnection” refers to the various means by which network providers attach to and move traffic between one another, and is a collection of business practices and technical mechanisms that allow individually managed networks to connect together for this purpose. There is no central authority that manages Internet interconnection – the overall system arises because of the many bilateral and multilateral decisions that various actors make to interconnect. Interconnection in the United States has evolved significantly since the early days of the Internet. Peering connections, where two networks interconnect without the use of intermediate networks, are increasingly the primary interconnection paths between networks, supplanting the model of hierarchical interconnection via a small group of long-distance network providers. In most cases, two parties seeking to interconnect are able to come to terms. In some cases after an agreement is reached, however, traffic volumes or other factors may change, which in rare cases have led to “de-peering” events. More commonly, such changes lead to a renegotiation of the manner or type of interconnection agreement between the two parties. Although peering disputes over traffic imbalances, and other reasons, are not new, peering disputes in the U.S. have been increasingly publicized in recent years. With this report, BITAG’s Technical Working Group (TWG) aims to provide a technical reference on the subject of Internet interconnection, and presents a detailed review on how networks connect, the development and changes in connection models, motivations for connection, how networks manage traffic between each other and some of the challenges that arise as networks evolve.
benton.org/headlines/bitag-report-interconnection-and-traffic-exchange-internet | Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group | Multichannel News
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

GOP’S TECH HURDLE
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Republican presidential prospects like Sens Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) have tapped the tech industry’s fat wallets and mined its big-data expertise -- but these 2016 hopefuls couldn’t be further from Silicon Valley when it comes to policy. A series of major divides -- from the fate of net neutrality to the future of surveillance reform -- still splits this trio of prominent pols from Internet giants in the country’s tech heartland, which helped catapult President Barack Obama to well-funded victories in 2008 and 2012.
benton.org/headlines/gops-tech-hurdle-they-dont-always-get-it | Politico
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EDUCATION

NOT SO FAST
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler plans to add as much as $1.5 billion to their phone bills. That’s OK, says the FCC, since it’s for a good cause: speed and education. The money would go toward increasing the funds in the E-rate subsidy and it’s undeniably a laudatory end-result -- getting faster broadband to low-income schools and libraries. But it illustrates the somewhat less preferable point that to get value, one must pay for it. How much value boosting the budget will create is a matter of dispute, but the point is the Chairman recognizes that offering more and better broadband is worth paying a little extra for. Let’s just put this on the schedule as a reminder when the “high cable bill” mantra surfaces. As Chairman Wheeler knows, having headed the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and CTIA: The Wireless Association, building out a network is not cheap, and recovering that investment takes years, particularly if you are rate-regulated.
benton.org/headlines/not-so-fast | Broadcasting&Cable
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PRIVACY

GOOGLE IN EUROPE
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] There is a war going on in Europe that could have a significant impact on the US and its economy: Europe's war against American tech companies -- especially Google. The most serious claim is that Google's search intentionally downgrades competitors, making it impossible for others to reach scale. This places a burden on Google to show that it does not engage in anti-competitive practices. However, you have to wonder whether the inability of European entrepreneurs to swiftly innovate and compete has something to do with Europe's heavily regulated business environment -- the anti-Silicon Valley, you might say. There is one European concern we definitely share, however: user privacy. So we cheer on the EU as it attacks on the privacy front, and hope Google can neutralize the anti-competitive claim, whether by debunking it or changing some policies. As to the rest of the complaints, instead of attacking the Silicon Valley quartet, Europe might try giving its entrepreneurs the space to innovate that Silicon Valley offers. Stimulate European competition instead of stifling U.S. companies. Better privacy and more, not less, innovation. Now that's real consumer protection.
benton.org/headlines/google-needs-debunk-european-charges-and-improve-privacy-policies | San Jose Mercury News
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FCC REFORM

FCC FILING ORDER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Marlene Dortch]
In this Order, the Federal Communications Commission takes steps to modernize and improve the efficiency for three common types of proceedings by implementing improved filing procedures. Specifically, this Order requires electronic filing for: (a) applications for authorization of domestic transfers of control under section 214(a) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act); (b) applications for authorization to discontinue, reduce, or impair a service under section 214(a) of the Act; and (c) notices of network changes under section 251(c)(5) of the Act. The FCC expects these new filing procedures to be more convenient and efficient for applicants, provide better transparency and information to the public, and save FCC staff resources.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-takes-steps-modernize-and-improve-efficiency-filing | Federal Communications Commission
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What Is a True Threat on Facebook?

[Commentary] The First Amendment protects all kinds of outrageous and upsetting speech. As the Supreme Court has stated in a long line of cases, the government cannot punish violent words -- even “vehement, caustic” or “unpleasantly sharp attacks” -- unless they are “true threats.” The problem is identifying what, exactly, counts as a true threat.

The Justices took up this issue in the context of the Internet, where every day millions of words -- of varying degrees of seriousness and violence -- rocket around the world. Threats can terrify people and disrupt lives, but in a country devoted to broad speech protections, it is not too much to require the government to prove that a speaker intended to make a threat before it can put him behind bars.

Welcome to the web’s dark side

How much should you know about the dark side of the Internet? Beneath the surface -- the eBay auctions, Wikipedia entries, news pages -- there is a hidden part that cannot be found in a Google search. This is the deep web, and experts say it is larger than the Internet. Some estimates reckon the ratio could be about 95 percent deep web to 5 percent surface Internet.

For the most part, the deep web is unsearchable for mundane reasons. The data may be in formats that are not easy to access. They may not be linked to anything else, forgotten. A small percentage of the deep web, however, is intentionally hidden, accessible only to those who know what they are looking for and those who have been invited in. This is the dark net, a place that titillates the imagination, where drugs are bought and sold, terrorists plot, paedophiles share images and trolls plan campaigns of harassment.

Google needs to debunk European charges and improve privacy policies

[Commentary] There is a war going on in Europe that could have a significant impact on the US and its economy: Europe's war against American tech companies -- especially Google.

The most serious claim is that Google's search intentionally downgrades competitors, making it impossible for others to reach scale. This places a burden on Google to show that it does not engage in anti-competitive practices. However, you have to wonder whether the inability of European entrepreneurs to swiftly innovate and compete has something to do with Europe's heavily regulated business environment -- the anti-Silicon Valley, you might say. There is one European concern we definitely share, however: user privacy. So we cheer on the EU as it attacks on the privacy front, and hope Google can neutralize the anti-competitive claim, whether by debunking it or changing some policies. As to the rest of the complaints, instead of attacking the Silicon Valley quartet, Europe might try giving its entrepreneurs the space to innovate that Silicon Valley offers. Stimulate European competition instead of stifling US companies.

Better privacy and more, not less, innovation. Now that's real consumer protection.

Gregarious and Direct: China’s Web Doorkeeper

Lu Wei is a middle-aged Communist Party propaganda chief and China’s new Internet czar. He is the doorkeeper for American Internet companies to the lucrative China market, as well as the ambassador of an assertive new policy in which China claims the right to block websites, censor content and track users within its borders.

We can have faster internet, or more competitive Internet, but getting both is hard

[Commentary] People want today's broadband market to be competitive and reasonably priced. They also want tomorrow's networks to be faster than today's. The big challenge for regulators is that these goals are in conflict. Some countries try to deal with the first problem -- lack of competition -- by forcing incumbents to share a portion of their networks with competitors at regulated rates. This approach is known as local loop unbundling, and a number of people have argued that the United States should take a similar approach.

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