January 30, 2015 (News from the January FCC Meeting)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015
Don’t forget your Headlines complement, our Weekly Round-up, see http://www.benton.org/headlines/weekly-roundup
NEWS FROM THE FCC
FCC Finds US Broadband Deployment Not Keeping Pace, Increases Broadband Benchmark Speeds - press release
FCC chairman mocks industry claims that customers don’t need faster Internet
Public Knowledge Commends the FCC for Recognizing Users’ Changing Needs for Broadband - press release [links to web]
Benton Welcomes FCC's New Definition of Broadband - press release [links to web]
NHMC Applauds FCC’s Updated Definition of Broadband - press release [links to web]
FCC Adopts Rules to Help Emergency Responders Better Locate Wireless 911 Callers - press release
FCC Issues Rules on Indoor Location Accuracy for E911 to Ensure Help Will Come - Public Knowledge press release [links to web]
Putting Auction 97 in the History Books - FCC press release
FCC Commissioners’ Statements on Auction 997 [links to web]
AWS-3 Auction Highlights New Approach to Spectrum Policy - White House press release
Washington Hails Success of AWS-3 Auction [links to web]
FCC Plans $640,000 Fine Against AT&T For Unauthorized Wireless Operations - press release
FCC Chairman warns: The GOP’s net neutrality bill could jeopardize broadband’s ‘vast future’
FCC Sets May 29 Deadline for Auction Signal Protection
FCC Chairman Wheeler: Incentive Auction Is on Course and Speed [links to web]
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
Before Net Neutrality: The Surprising 1940s Battle for Radio Freedom - op-ed
Canada cracks down on zero-rating in two net neutrality rulings
The Net Neutrality Bait and Switch - Susan Crawford op-ed
From the “Vast Wasteland” to “Net Neutrality” - Stuart Brotman op-ed [links to web]
Testing the FCC's Net Neutrality Political Calculus - Scott Cleland op-ed [links to web]
A Lot Better Solution Than Net Neutrality - op-ed [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Canada cracks down on zero-rating in two net neutrality rulings
Mobile Broadband Demand May Lead to Small Cell Central Offices [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Comcast-TWC $45 billion deal faces new hurdle
California PUC should tell FCC to nix Comcast-Time Warner merger - San Jose Mercury News editorial
Comcast/Time Warner Cable Extend Merger End Date to August [links to web]
PRIVACY/SECURITY
Metadata Can Expose Person’s Identity Even Without Name
Democrats press Verizon on tracking 'supercookies' [links to web]
‘Parks and Recreation’ takes on online privacy. And it hits close to home. [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Online Political Ads Have Been Slow to Catch On [links to web]
Hillary Clinton looks to President Obama digital alums [links to web]
TELEVISION
Is TV Making Up for Lost Viewership by Stuffing More Ads Onscreen? [links to web]
‘Parks and Recreation’ takes on online privacy. And it hits close to home. [links to web]
NBC scores a record haul from Super Bowl ad sales [links to web]
EDUCATION
Can Students Have Too Much Tech? - op-ed
JOURNALISM
Associated Press looks to expand its automated stories program following successful launch [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Gov Mike Pence will reject 'Just IN' if it's state-run news [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel announces staff changes and new appointments - press release [links to web]
Hillary Clinton looks to President Obama digital alums [links to web]
Sign-Language Interpreter for Mayor de Blasio Is a Web Hit [links to web]
RESEARCH
Public and Scientists’ Views on Science and Society - Pew Internet and American Life Project research [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Canada cracks down on zero-rating in two net neutrality rulings
China Further Tightens Grip on the Internet
New Rules in China Upset Western Tech Companies
NEWS FROM THE FCC
FCC FIND US BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT NOT KEEPING PACE, INCREASES BROADBAND BENCHMARK SPEEDS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Broadband deployment in the United States -- especially in rural areas -- is failing to keep pace with today’s advanced, high-quality voice, data, graphics and video offerings, according to the 2015 Broadband Progress Report adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. Reflecting advances in technology, market offerings by broadband providers and consumer demand, the FCC updated its broadband benchmark speeds to 25 megabits per second for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads. The 4 Mbps/1 Mbps standard set in 2010 is dated and inadequate for evaluating whether advanced broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a timely way, the FCC found. Using this updated service benchmark, the 2015 report finds that 55 million Americans -- 17 percent of the population -- lack access to advanced broadband. Moreover, a significant digital divide remains between urban and rural America: Over half of all rural Americans lack access to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps service.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-finds-us-broadband-deployment-not-keeping-pace-increases-broadband-benchmark-speeds | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC CHAIRMAN MOCKS INDUSTRY CLAIMS THAT CUSTOMERS DON'T NEED FASTER INTERNET
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Federal Communications Commission Tom Wheeler put on a show by contrasting Internet service providers’ marketing claims with their statements to the government. “Let’s parse out what they say in their lobbying with us and what they say when they’re talking to consumers,” said Chairman Wheeler. While Verizon told the FCC that consumers are satisfied with 4Mbps/1Mbps and that "a higher benchmark would serve no purpose,” they push customers to buy much faster speeds, which cost more, Chairman Wheeler pointed out. “Somebody is telling us one thing and telling consumers another." “Consider what AT&T told us in this proceeding,” Chairman Wheeler said. “Quote: ‘the notice presents no basis for a conclusion at this time that a service less than 10Mbps is no longer advanced.' But what they say to their customers is, ‘with downstream speeds up to 45Mbps, AT&T’s U-verse high-speed Internet lets you enjoy life in the fast lane, download music, movies and more in record time.’” Next up in Chairman Wheeler's list was Comcast, which told the commission that a “4Mbps connection has been found to be sufficient to handle streaming HD video,” he said. But the Comcast website tells customers that with 150Mbps, they can “game in real time, and stream HD movies,” Chairman Wheeler noted. “The facts speak for themselves,” he concluded, adding that subscriptions to 25Mbps/3Mbps service have quadrupled in the past three years.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-mocks-industry-claims-customers-dont-need-faster-internet | Ars Technica
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FCC ADOPTS RULES TO HELP EMERGENCY RESPONDERS BETTER LOCATE WIRELESS 911 CALLERS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to help emergency responders better locate wireless callers to 911. These updates to the FCC’s Enhanced 911 (E911) rules respond to Americans’ increasing use of wireless phones to call 911, especially from indoors, where traditional 911 location technologies often do not work effectively or at all. The new rules take advantage of technological developments that will allow for more accurate location information to be transmitted with indoor 911 calls. The new rules establish clear and measureable timelines for wireless providers to meet indoor location accuracy benchmarks, both for horizontal and vertical location information.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-adopts-rules-help-emergency-responders-better-locate-wireless-911-callers | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Wheeler | Commissioner Clyburn
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SPECTRUM AUCTION CLOSES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Roger Sherman]
The bidding in Auction 97 -- the AWS-3 auction -- has concluded. There will be a lot of discussion about the results over the days, weeks and months ahead, and rightly so – this was an historic auction. Although winning bidders must still make payments and submit applications prior to the grant of licenses, by any measure it’s safe to say that the auction was an overwhelming success. Based on the information available at this time, here are the highlights:
65 megahertz of spectrum made available to meet the Nation’s demand for wireless broadband;
$7 billion to fund the Nation’s first nationwide broadband public safety network;
$300 million for public safety communications research;
$115 million in grants for 911, E911, and NextGen 911 implementation;
More than $20 billion for deficit reduction; and
Funding for relocating Federal systems.
benton.org/headlines/putting-auction-97-history-books | Federal Communications Commission
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AWS-3 AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS NEW APPROACH TO SPECTRUM POLICY
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Lawrence Strickling, Alexander Macgillivray]
[Commentary] The most successful auction of radio spectrum so far came to a close, drawing nearly $45 billion in bids for 65 megahertz of spectrum. While clearly a ringing financial success, the AWS-3 auction also is an important milestone in the Obama Administration’s efforts to meet the President’s goal of making available 500 megahertz of spectrum for wireless broadband by 2020. The success of the auction, conducted by the Federal Communications Commission, was made possible in part by an unprecedented level of collaboration between National Telecommunications and Information Administration, affected federal agencies, wireless industry representatives, the FCC, and Congress. The AWS-3 auction represents an important pivot point as we embrace spectrum sharing as part of a new approach to increased spectrum access. With a sustained level of cooperation between federal agencies and industry, this approach will produce benefits for both.
[Lawrence Strickling is Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator of the NTIA. Alexander Macgillivray is US Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy]
benton.org/headlines/aws-3-auction-highlights-new-approach-spectrum-policy | White House, The
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FCC PLANS $640,000 FINE AGAINST AT&T FOR UNAUTHORIZED WIRELESS OPERATIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission intends to fine AT&T $640,000 for allegedly operating numerous wireless stations throughout the United States without authorization over a multiyear period and failing to provide required license modification notices to the FCC. According to the FCC, AT&T apparently operated numerous common carrier fixed point-to-point microwave stations at variance from the stations’ authorizations for periods as long as five years. The FCC takes this enforcement action as part of its duty to prevent unauthorized radio operations from interfering with authorized radio communications and to facilitate the efficient administration of the radio spectrum for the benefit of all Americans. During its investigation, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau examined the licensing history of approximately 250 AT&T stations and determined that AT&T engaged in unauthorized operations at 26 of its stations and failed to notify the FCC regarding minor modifications of an additional eight stations within the past year.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-plans-640000-fine-against-att-unauthorized-wireless-operations | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC CHAIRMAN WARNS: THE GOP'S NET NEUTRALITY BILL COULD JEOPARDIZE BROADBAND'S 'VAST FUTURE'
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said, "You know I'm a huge Lincoln buff, and he had a great expression: 'The struggle of today is not altogether for today; it's for the vast future also,'" implying that if the GOP restricts the FCC's legal powers, the future of the Internet could be harmed. "Obviously the Congress is the Congress," he said. "They can write whatever rules they want to write, and we respect that ability of theirs. But I think we're at a fork in the road. The question is: Whose Internet is it? It is important to deal with the long-term future of what the relationship of the American people will be with their broadband network that is so essential," Chairman Wheeler added. "We're not dealing with the kinds of issues [Lincoln] was dealing with, or the magnitude of issues he was dealing with at that point in time -- but we are dealing with the vast future represented by broadband networks." Chairman Wheeler punctuated his next remarks for dramatic effect. "The. Most. Powerful. Network. In the history of mankind. Offering transformational opportunities we can't even imagine at this point in time. So the responsible question for an agency like us becomes: How are we going to make sure that in the broadband future, there are yardsticks in place to determine what is in the best interests of consumers, as opposed to what is in the best interest of gatekeepers?"
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-warns-gops-net-neutrality-bill-could-jeopardize-broadbands-vast-future | Washington Post
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FCC SETS MAY 29 DEADLINE FOR AUCTION SIGNAL PROTECTION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission has set May 29, 2015 as the deadline by which full power and Class A low power television stations must be licensed in order to be eligible for protection of their signals in the repacking of stations after the incentive auction. That means anyone with a construction permit (CP) has to have their digital facilities licensed by then or their signal contours will not be protected in the repacking. Stations still without licenses include full powers substituting channels and CPs for stations voluntarily relocating from ch. 51. They also include full powers and class A's that got CP's before the April 2013 freeze or in the interim. It will also be the last opportunity for TV stations to modify their licenses to "fix" errors they have made and have those fixes factored into the repacking process
benton.org/headlines/fcc-sets-may-29-deadline-auction-signal-protection | Broadcasting&Cable
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY AND HISTORY
BEFORE NET NEUTRALITY: THE SURPRISING 1940S BATTLE FOR RADIO FREEDOM
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Victor Pickard]
[Commentary] Like in the 1940s, again there is concern over whether a revolutionary medium will fulfill its democratic promise or instead be dominated by commercial interests. Again we are facing the insurmountable market power of enormous monopolies over our media infrastructure. And again we are looking to the Federal Communications Commission to defend the “public interest.” Can this quaint-sounding principle survive into the digital age? Former FCC commissioner Michael Copps has called the net neutrality decision expected in February “The Biggest FCC Vote Ever.” How this debate plays out may determine whether we follow the path of broadcasting or begin to create a media system worthy of its democratic promise.
[Victor Pickard is an assistant professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.]
benton.org/headlines/net-neutrality-surprising-1940s-battle-radio-freedom | Atlantic, The | Michael Copps
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THE NET NEUTRALITY BAT AND SWITCH
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: Susan Crawford]
[Commentary] The network neutrality issue is being thrown under the bus by the carriers and the GOP in favor of a much more important goal: getting rid of the existing Telecommunications Act entirely. As long as there’s a sensible statute in place -- which there is -- Comcast and Verizon and AT&T run the risk of having their high speed Internet access services classified as “telecommunications services” under what President Barack Obama knowledgeably calls “Title II” of the Telecommunications Act. That’s a risk those companies are unwilling to run, because they would have to tell their investors that some of their future activities might be constrained. We have a perfectly good communications act. The President and the Federal Communications Commission are poised to use it. The carriers just don’t like it. And now they’re going to use the occasion of a President Obama veto and a hymn to bipartisanship to press as hard as they can to get an act they do like passed -- before there’s a risk of losing GOP control of Congress again. My prediction: Such an act will not require carriers to serve everyone in every community with world-class, reasonably priced Internet access. It will allow a flawed system to get even worse, all to make the rich carriers even richer.
[Susan Crawford is a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law]
benton.org/headlines/net-neutrality-bait-and-switch | Medium
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OWNERSHIP
NEW HURDLE FOR COMCAST-TWC
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: David Crow, Barney Jopson]
The Federal Communications Commission has thrown a new roadblock in the path of Comcast’s $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable, rewriting their definition of broadband to paint the largest US cable company as a more dominant force in high-speed internet access. The FCC’s decision has big implications for Comcast’s bid for TWC because it dramatically changes the competitive landscape for broadband -- a central consideration for regulators deciding whether to approve the deal. The change means the number of American families reliant on a single provider for true broadband services will climb from 19 percent to more than half. In most cases, that provider will be one of the big cable companies, which have fiercely resisted the change. “This redefinition shines a bright light on the reality for most Americans, which is that the only choice of broadband provider is the cable monopoly,” said Susan Crawford, a co-director of the Berkman Internet centre at Harvard University “Comcast might claim it is in fierce competition with other providers, but that is a bit like saying the New York Yankees compete with high school baseball teams. Both roughly do the same thing, but the speed and capacity is completely different,” added Crawford, a persistent critic of the Comcast deal. TechFreedom, a pro-cable lobby group, accused FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler of pushing through “a reckless, ideologically driven regulatory agenda that would, in fact, slow the investment needed to drive speed upgrades.”
benton.org/headlines/comcast-twc-45-billion-deal-faces-new-hurdle | Financial Times
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CALIFORNIA AND COMCAST-TWC
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The new president of the California Public Utilities Commission, Michael Picker, has to restore consumers' trust in the regulatory agency. The proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable mega-merger presents a golden opportunity. The PUC should recommend that the Federal Communications Commission nix the $45 billion deal. The merger doesn't come close to passing the smell test. Comcast and Time Warner Cable are the two worst cable providers in the business, according to customer-service ratings. How can eliminating competition make them better? The PUC can't block the merger, but a strong recommendation would carry considerable weight with the FCC. The PUC does have the power to prevent the transfer of Time Warner Cable licenses to Comcast within the state borders. Other states could follow suit. The PUC should recognize that the merger would decrease the competition in the state and provide little incentive for Comcast to lower prices or improve services that are considered the worst in the business.
benton.org/headlines/california-puc-should-tell-fcc-nix-comcast-time-warner-merger | San Jose Mercury News
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
METADATA AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Robert Lee Hotz]
Your shopping habits can expose who you are even when you are just one of a million nameless customers in a database of anonymous credit-card records, according to a new study that shows how so-called metadata can be used to circumvent privacy protections in commercial and government databases. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, writing in the journal Science, analyzed anonymous credit-card transactions by 1.1 million people. Using a new analytic formula, they needed only four bits of secondary information -- metadata such as location or timing—to identify the unique individual purchasing patterns of 90% of the people involved, even when the data were scrubbed of any names, account numbers or other obvious identifiers.
benton.org/headlines/metadata-can-expose-persons-identity-even-without-name | Wall Street Journal
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EDUCATION
STUDENTS AND TECH
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Susan Pinker]
[Commentary] More technology in the classroom has long been a policy-making panacea. But mounting evidence shows that showering students, especially those from struggling families, with networked devices will not shrink the class divide in education. If anything, it will widen it. “Students who gain access to a home computer between the 5th and 8th grades tend to witness a persistent decline in reading and math scores,” Duke University economists Jacob Vigdor and Helen Ladd wrote, adding that license to surf the Internet was also linked to lower grades in younger children. In fact, the students’ academic scores dropped and remained depressed for as long as the researchers kept tabs on them. What’s worse, the weaker students (boys, African-Americans) were more adversely affected than the rest. When their computers arrived, their reading scores fell off a cliff. If children who spend more time with electronic devices are also more likely to be out of sync with their peers’ behavior and learning by the fourth grade, why would adding more viewing and clicking to their school days be considered a good idea?
[Pinker is a developmental psychologist]
benton.org/headlines/can-students-have-too-much-tech | New York Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
CANADA CRACKS DOWN ON ZERO-RATING IN TWO NET NEUTRALITY RULINGS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: David Meyer]
The list of countries that find zero-rating to be a violation of network neutrality just keeps on growing, with Canada the latest to crack down on the practice. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission issued a decision against carriers Bell Mobility and Vidéotron, which were exempting their own mobile TV services from their regular data plans (for a small monthly fee of around $5) while counting traffic for rival services against those data caps. Video content is, of course, about as data-heavy as it gets. Vidéotron has until the end of March to confirm that it has withdrawn its mobile TV app as it promised it would, and Bell has until April 29 to stop its violations. According to the CRTC, the result will be “an open and fair marketplace for mobile TV services, enabling innovation and choice for Canadians.”
benton.org/headlines/canada-cracks-down-zero-rating-two-net-neutrality-rulings | GigaOm
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CHINA’S GRIP ON THE NET
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Jacobs]
China has long had some of the world’s most onerous Internet restrictions. But until now, the authorities had effectively tolerated the proliferation of virtual private networks as a lifeline for millions of people, from archaeologists to foreign investors, who rely heavily on less-fettered access to the Internet. But recently, after a number of VPN companies, including StrongVPN and Golden Frog, complained that the Chinese government had disrupted their services with unprecedented sophistication, a senior official for the first time acknowledged its hand in the attacks and implicitly promised more of the same. The move to disable some of the most widely used VPNs has provoked a torrent of outrage among video artists, entrepreneurs and professors who complain that in its quest for so-called cybersovereignty -- Beijing’s euphemism for online filtering -- the Communist Party is stifling the innovation and productivity needed to revive the Chinese economy at a time of slowing growth.
benton.org/headlines/china-further-tightens-grip-internet | New York Times | Vox
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NEW RULES IN CHINA UPSET WESTERN TECH COMPANIES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Paul Mozur]
The Chinese government has adopted new regulations requiring companies that sell computer equipment to Chinese banks to turn over secret source code, submit to invasive audits and build so-called back doors into hardware and software, according to a copy of the rules obtained by foreign technology companies that do billions of dollars’ worth of business in China. The new rules, laid out in a 22-page document approved at the end of 2014, are the first in a series of policies expected to be unveiled in the coming months that Beijing says are intended to strengthen cybersecurity in critical Chinese industries.
benton.org/headlines/new-rules-china-upset-western-tech-companies | New York Times
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