January 2015

Netflix CEO: 25 Mbps Should Be New ‘Baseline’

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said he “absolutely” agrees with the proposal to bump the definition of broadband from 4 megabits per second downstream to 25 Mbps down. While any speed bump would be welcome by any over-the-top video service, Hastings said the slow shift toward 4K streaming and other bandwidth-intensive services offer good reasons for the boost. Noting that one 4K stream from Netflix requires about 15 Mbps, he said consumers will also need additional headroom for things like video conferencing and home monitoring apps. “So, 25-megs is kind of baseline for the next five years as opposed to the past five years,” he said.

Google, Viacom win dismissal of children's web privacy lawsuit

Google and Viacom won the dismissal of a nationwide privacy lawsuit accusing them of illegally tracking the Internet activity of boys and girls who visited Nickelodeon's website, in order to send targeted advertising.

US District Judge Stanley Chesler in Newark, New Jersey found no showing that Google and Viacom could identify which children streamed specific videos or played specific video games, as opposed to identifying children generally. He also found no showing that the companies engaged in "highly offensive" behavior for which they could be held liable.

Google Spends Record $16.83 Million On 2014 Lobbying, Topping 15 Tech And Communications Companies

Google spent a record $16.83 million on lobbying in its efforts to influence federal regulators and lawmakers in 2014, just ahead of Comcast’s reported $16.80 million. Facebook, Apple and Amazon also set corporate records for the amount they each spent. The 15 companies spent a total of $116.62 million on lobbying in 2014, a 3 percent decrease from a total of $120.28 million in 2013. Six of the 15 companies increased their 2014 spending, while the rest cut back from 2013 levels. Google spent $16.83 million on lobbying in 2014 compared with $14.06 million in 2013, a 20 percent increase.

From Checking the Weather to Streaming Content, Media Habits Vary by Local Markets

While connectivity has made the world smaller in a lot of ways, US consumers still want to keep up with the happenings in their own neighborhood. While consumers continue to go local when it comes to watching television, they’re also going digital to augment that local experience.

The report found that “local digerati” -- those that used Internet and mobile apps for local news and community events and feel social networking is important for local information -- number nearly 30 million strong in the US. While 11 percent of adults across the US can be pegged as local digerati, Boston (15 percent), Denver, Orlando, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC (all at 14 percent) boast the top markets for these consumers. Overall, the report shows that where a consumer lives continues to correlate with their media consumption tendencies, from the amount and type of content they connect with to the devices in their homes.

Google allegedly close to launching its own wireless service using Sprint and T-Mobile

Apparently, Google is working on its own wireless service for phones that would piggyback on the networks of T-Mobile and Sprint.

By purchasing bandwidth from two of the big four national carriers instead of building its own wireless network, Google would be launching what's known as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator; other big MVNOs include Tracfone and Simple Mobile. The appeal is simple: by controlling the network, companies can better control the experience on the devices they sell and support. And by aggregating multiple carriers -- as Google's so-called Project Nova is rumored to do -- the company would be able to offer a larger coverage footprint.

Overstock Plans Streaming-Video Service

Overstock.com is planning a streaming-video service, joining a crowded field that includes rival Amazon.

The online retailer plans to introduce the service in 2015 with about 30,000 titles and will ultimately feature original content created by Overstock, Chief Executive Patrick Byrne announced. He did not specify any titles that will be available. The service will offer options for renting and purchasing digital films and televisions shows, Byrne said. The new Overstock service would be tied to the company’s $20-per-year Club O membership program, which offers 5 percent back on every order, free shipping and other discounts. Byrne said there would be an additional fee for members to stream videos.

Survey: Governments' Pledge to be 'Open by Default' Still Mostly a Talking Point

According to a newly released World Wide Web Foundation survey of 86 countries, more than 90 percent of the polled nations still keep reams of government data hidden from the public. When data is released, it is often overly simplified and rarely updated, the survey found.

The second-annual Open Data Barometer Global Report examined each government’s ability to not only publicize its data but to do so in a way that allows the average person to access, read and share it. Only 8 percent met these standards when it came to government spending data, 13 percent when it came to government budgets and a startling 3 percent when it came to company ownership. The United Kingdom led with a score of 100, thanks in part to its publishing of land ownership data. The US, given a score of 93 and in second place, does not publish that data.

How Citizens United is — and isn’t — to blame for the dark money President Obama hates so much

[Commentary] There's a lot of rhetoric and confusion about what the Citizens United decision did and didn't do. The rhetoric is overly strong; non-disclosed spending leveled off in 2014. And given how much is spent in total, we're drowning in outside money from disclosed donors far more than from undisclosed ones.

But the shift from money being spent in the open by candidates to disclosed and undisclosed money spent by outside groups is very clear, and very much part of the story of the President Barack Obama years. The President may not like it and may not want to be associated with it, but it's hard to believe he'll be able to stop it.

Statement by President Obama on the Five Year Anniversary of Citizens United

Our democracy works best when everyone’s voice is heard, and no one’s voice is drowned out. But five years ago, a Supreme Court ruling allowed big companies -- including foreign corporations -- to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections.

The Citizens United decision was wrong, and it has caused real harm to our democracy. With each new campaign season, this dark money floods our airwaves with more and more political ads that pull our politics into the gutter. It’s time to reverse this trend. Rather than bolster the power of lobbyists and special interests, Washington should lift up the voices of ordinary Americans and protect their democratic right to determine the direction of the country that we love.

Protecting the Internet and Consumers Through Congressional Action -- the House Version

The House Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee held a hearing on Protecting the Internet and Consumers Through Congressional Action. A fun time was had by all. On January 16, 2015, the chairmen of both the House and Senate Commerce Committees released a discussion draft of legislation that would restore, expand, and bolster the Federal Communications Commission’s 2010 network neutrality rules in statute. The draft legislation:

  • Applies to both fixed and wireless forms of broadband Internet access service;
  • Prohibits blocking lawful content, applications, or services;
  • Prohibits blocking of non-harmful devices;
  • Prohibits throttling Internet traffic by selectively slowing, speeding, degrading, or enhancing traffic based on the source, destination, or content;
  • Bans paid prioritization of traffic, defined as the speeding up or slowing down traffic based on compensation, or lack thereof, from the sender to the ISP; and,
  • Retains and codifies the FCC’s current requirement that providers be transparent in disclosing their network management practices, performance, and the commercial terms of its service, in order to allow consumers to make informed decisions about their choice of providers.
  • The legislation directs the FCC to enforce these obligations by adopting formal complaint procedures and to interpret and apply them by adjudicating alleged violations.

The authors claim the legislation provides certainty for investment and innovation by:

  • Foreclosing future FCC rulemaking to change the bright-line rules for Internet openness;
  • Clarifying that nothing in the bill limits the ability of consumers to make decisions about their plans or service;
  • Permitting providers to offer specialized services, so long as those services are not offered in a way that threatens availability of broadband Internet access services or attempts to evade the purposes of this legislation; and,
  • Restoring congressional intent that Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is not a direct grant of authority, as it was understood before the 2014 Verizon decision.

Finally, the draft proposes to codify broadband Internet access service’s classification as an information service.

The draft legislation appears to have lots of support from GOP Members of Congress. Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and full Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) pointed out that many of the ideas in the draft -- no blocking or discrimination and no paid prioritization -- came from the first FCC Open Internet order proposed by then-Chairman Julius Genachowski, and were things Democrats, including President Barack Obama, had been calling for years. Chairman Walden said it was a solution that would end the legal gymnastics that have tied up the rules in court. He also said he was willing to work with the minority on the language of the draft and that his goal was to provide protections for consumers and certainty for the marketplace.

“The Internet is not a monopoly like the telephone companies were and the utilities were in the 1930s,” said Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX). “It is one of the most vibrant markets in the world. The chairman’s draft is an attempt to keep it that vibrant marketplace.”

Most Democrats on the committee took the opportunity to point out that Republicans appeared to be conceding that there was need for net neutrality rules, but most had major issues with the draft, and none came out in support of it in its current form. The Democrats' problems were primarily with the limits on FCC authority, including restrictions on use of Title II of the Communications Act and Sec. 706 of the Telecommunications Act, and what they saw as loopholes for paid prioritization and discrimination. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), ranking member of the subcommittee, set the Democratic tone early on with an opening statement that ripped the bill for having an enormous bias against enforcement and did real harm to rural broadband. She branded the draft bill "a march to folly."

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the newly-minted ranking member of the full Commerce Commerce, said he would be interested in bipartisan legislation, but indicated that the draft was not the right vehicle in its current state. He said the FCC should proceed with its network neutrality rule vote. The time for the FCC to act is now, he said. He was not the only Democrat to suggest that work on a bill did not have to preempt FCC action. “I don’t want to undermine the FCC authority, I don’t think that will serve to protect consumers. The FCC must continue to serve an important role in the broadband age… It has taken the FCC nearly 13 months to craft rules that respond to the needs of the American public. Congress cannot be expected to work it all out in 13 days.”

The Subcommittee heard testimony from:

Meredith Atwell Baker, the President and CEO of CTIA-The Wireless Association, and a former FCC Commissioner; Chad Dickerson, the CEO of Etsy; Jessica Gonzalez, the Executive Vice President and General Counsel at the National Hispanic Media Coalition; Paul Misener, the Vice President of Global Public Policy at Amazon; National Cable & Telecommunications CEO Michael Powell President, who is also a former FCC Commissioner and Chairman; and Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee, Vice President and Chief Research and Policy Officer at the Minority Media & Telecom Council which seeks to expand minority ownership and equal employment opportunity in the mass media, telecommunications, and broadband industries.

CTIA’s Baker and NCTA’s Powell support the draft legislation, saying congressional action was the only way to provide certainty to Internet service providers so they could continue to expand their networks. Both Powell and Baker warned against the FCC proceeding with efforts to reclassify broadband under Title II. They pledged that their respective associations supported banning paid prioritization. Baker said that if the FCC does apply Title II to mobile broadband, CTIA would sue, and she expected it would win.

"The commission has turned itself in knots for 10 years trying to develop a simple set of open Internet regulations," said Powell. "Congress has the power and the responsibility to end this roller coaster."

There was a great deal of focus on the likelihood of litigation over the FCC’s new rules which it expects to adopt on Feb 26. But there was general agreement at the hearing that, whatever happens, bill or FCC order, it will be challenged in court.

The bill's stripping the FCC of broad Sec. 706 authority was a main sticking point with Democrats on the panel, as well as with some witnesses. They are concerned that the move would prevent the FCC from taking steps to promote rural broadband and other deployment efforts. Amazon’s Misener had plenty of issues with the draft, but praised the principles behind it as "excellent" and suggested the problems were fixable. Turner-Lee supported the draft, but only so long as it included strong enforcement and prevented digital "red-lining." "How can we be sure that this bill anticipates every possible form of discrimination?" said Chad Dickerson, chief executive of Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade and vintage goods.

“The draft forecloses the FCC from exploring the use of Title II authority to address broadband universal service goals, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, interconnection, network reliability, and a number of other important policy goals identified explicitly in the statute,” the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Gonzalez said. The FCC should also be able to prevent misuse of data caps, she said.