May 2015

Snapchat is going to be huge in 2016 -- and regulators have no idea how to handle it

As he gears up for a Presidential run, former Gov Martin O’Malley (D-MD) held a conference call with donors and supporters, informing them that he would make some kind of announcement on May 30. He also had a message -- and an exclusive photo -- for his followers on Snapchat. “Stay tuned for May 30th…” he said, referring to the date when he’ll announce whether or not he’ll challenge former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. O’Malley, who is widely expected to run, is one of a handful of politicians experimenting with Snapchat, a messaging app that has exploded in popularity over the past year. O’Malley’s team has found it useful -- along with the streaming app Periscope -- to engage a broad audience. They’ll post candid photos and videos of O’Malley’s impromptu guitar-playing on the stump, for example.

For its part, the Federal Election Commission sounds quite unsure how and if it would attempt to regulate not just Snapchat, but any app. Julia Queen, a spokeswoman for the FEC, said that the commission has “Internet regulations but they don’t specifically cover apps.” The commission has also issued advisory opinions -- which Queen said is “its official response to a question about how federal campaign finance law applies to a specific factual situation” -- on issues arising from text messages and campaigns. The potential challenge here for the FEC, Ryan said, would come in enforcement. If someone wants to break the rules via Snapchat, how would anyone know? “That Snapchats do disappear could present an interesting enforcement challenge for the FEC,” Ryan said. “You can subpoena e-mail. Tweets are public. You can examine archived records. That seemingly would not be the case with Snapchat.”

Introducing @POTUS: President Obama's Twitter Account

With a tweet from the Oval Office, President Barack Obama launched @POTUS, the official Twitter account of the President of the United States. "Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account," he wrote. The @POTUS Twitter account will serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him.

Economic Innovation Group bolsters lobbying power

The Economic Innovation Group, a group funded by big names in the technology industry which formally launched in 2015, brought on lobbying firm Steptoe & Johnson, according to a filed disclosure. Former Rep John Shadegg (R-AZ), who retired in 2011, will be lobbying for the tech-backed group. The group also brought on in-house lobbyist John Letter, a former legislative assistant for former Sen Chuck Hagel (R-NE), who went on to serve as secretary of Defense. Both will be focusing on economic and tax issues, according to disclosures.

The Economic Innovation Group is supported by investors like Sean Parker, who co-founded Napster, and Ron Conway, who founded SV Angel. It aims to focus on the benefits of start-ups and private investment in public policy, billing itself as an advocacy and policy shop. In the past few months, it has released papers about how private capital could help with infrastructure funding and growth in distressed areas. Other early backers of the group are Rebecca Lynn, Joseph Sandberg, Dana Settle, Ted Ullyot -- all technology investors. The group is led by a former economic adviser for President Barack Obama, Steve Glickman and John Lettieri, a former Senate aide. The group officially launched at the end of March, but registered its first lobbyist as far back as January. It paid $50,000 to the Washington Tax and Public Policy Group in the first quarter of 2015, according to lobbying disclosures.

Bait-and-Switch -- Or Why the FCC's 'Virtuous Circle' Theory is Nonsense

[Commentary] For the past ten years, the Federal Communications Commission has struggled to write legally-defensible net neutrality rules. This March, under heavy political pressure from the White House, the FCC voted out another set of rules, this time invoking the proverbial ‘‘nuclear option’’ of reclassifying both wire-line and wireless broadband Internet access as a Title II common carrier telecommunications service. As to be expected, the appeals process (for the third time) is now underway in earnest.

While the various legal infirmities of the FCC’s arguments are well-documented, absent from the discussion has been any analysis of the Commission’s central economic justification for its radical intervention into the market -- namely, the Commission’s theory of a ‘‘virtuous circle’’ or ‘‘virtuous cycle’’ of investment. As I show below, while many take the Commission’s ‘‘virtuous circle’’ theory as accepted Gospel, the truth is that the Commission, in fact, adopted what I would describe as an ‘‘un-vituous circle’’ theory of investment under which profit-maximizing firms will do things willingly and knowingly to reduce the demand for their products, which will somehow lead to increased profits, which in turn will lead to reduced broadband investment. As the Commission’s logical flow cannot be squared with the plain language of the Commission’s depiction of the "virtuous circle’’ (or likely any plausible economic model either), the Commission’s core economic rationale for imposing Title II regulation on the Internet rests on shaky ground.

[Dr. George S. Ford is a co-founder of the Phoenix Center and currently serves as its Chief Economist]

North Carolina sues FCC for right to block municipal broadband

North Carolina has sued the Federal Communications Commission so it can continue enforcing a state law that prevents municipal broadband networks from expanding. Three months ago, the FCC preempted such laws in both North Carolina and Tennessee. Tennessee filed a lawsuit to save its municipal broadband restrictions in March, and North Carolina has now done the same in a petition filed to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. "Despite recognition that the State of North Carolina creates and retains control over municipal governments, the FCC unlawfully inserted itself between the State and the State’s political subdivisions," North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper wrote to the court. Attorney General Cooper claimed the FCC's action violates the US Constitution; exceeds the commission's authority; "is arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act; and is otherwise contrary to law."

AT&T’s ‘GigaPower’ Plays Nashville

AT&T has launched its fiber-based “GigaPower” service in portions of Nashville (TN) where the telecommunications company currently competes with Comcast, and an area that is also being targeted with gigabit speeds by Google Fiber. AT&T said its 1-Gig service is available in parts of Clarksville, Lebanon, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Smyrna and other surrounding communities in the Nashville metro area. In Nashville, AT&T’s stand-alone 1-Gig service starts at $120 per month, while a 100 Mbps offering begins at $90 per month, with a one-year price guarantee, if customers agree to participate in AT&T Internet Preferences, the companies targeted Web advertising program. AT&T has been applying a monthly data consumption policy to GigaPower that caps usage at 1-terabyte before charging $10 for each additional bucket of 50 Gigabytes, with a maximum monthly overage charge of $30.

NAB's Smith: We Want Successful Auction 'In Rearview Mirror'

National Association of Broadcasters president Gordon Smith said that the elephant in the room for broadcasters was their heavy regulatory burden combined with an upcoming incentive auction where "so many things could go wrong." He said those were unrelated to the lawsuit filed, which was targeted to the software model the FCC plans to use to calculate interference and station coverage. In fact, Smith said NAB had tried to expedite the court case because NAB wanted a successful auction "in the rearview mirror." The former senator pointed out that he was on the Senate Commerce Committee during the transition from analog to digital, and remembers how tough that was. He said that transition was like "kindergarten recess" compared to the complexity of the upcoming incentive auction and its potential for disruption.

Another Thing to Never Settle for: Rigged Spectrum Auctions

[Commentary] If ever there was an example to confirm the old adage about taking a mile after gaining an inch, we’re seeing it in the incentive auction. T-Mobile, Sprint and DISH are large, spectrum-rich companies that have already received a spectrum set-aside from the Federal Communications Commission in the incentive auction. Now they are agitating for an even bigger one. Policymakers should see this spectrum grab for what it is: a case of greed masquerading as need.

Here’s the backstory. To avoid having to compete for low-band spectrum in the incentive auction, T-Mobile, Sprint and DISH asked the FCC to set aside as many as three spectrum licenses (30 MHz) in every market. Verizon and AT&T are barred from bidding on those licenses, allowing T-Mobile, Sprint and DISH to win spectrum at below-market prices. This special treatment not only robs taxpayers who won’t get paid what the spectrum is actually worth, but also harms consumers by limiting the amount of spectrum they can access for mobile broadband.

Google touts Spectrum Access System for 3.5 GHz spectrum management

Spectrum sharing was a theme at the International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies in Boulder (CO), and Google shared what it's been doing to enable the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum-sharing vision in the 3.5 GHz band. Google demonstrated the third version of the Spectrum Access System (SAS) it has built, which includes software running on Google infrastructure that is capable of dynamically managing the relationships among three proposed tiers of users at 3.5 GHz: federal and nonfederal incumbents, Priority Access Licensees and General Authorized Access users.

Google consistently has supported the use of interconnected SASs to manage coexistence in the 3.55 GHz bands. It has been running several wireless transmission sites at 3.5 GHz to develop and test the technology, and it has demonstrated its prototype SAS at previous FCC workshops and events.

FirstNet deems 'Industry Day' a success as financial challenges loom

More than 425 representatives from federal, state and local jurisdictions, as well as vendor community participants, showed up either in person or via webcast for the First Responder Network Authority's (FirstNet) first "Industry Day." The purpose of the meeting was to discuss FirstNet's Special Notice and draft Request for Proposals (RFP) documents. It was held at FirstNet's headquarters in Reston (VA) on May 14. FirstNet began accepting requests for one-on-one meetings with vendors on May 15. The event was a key next step in FirstNet's ongoing efforts to consult with interested parties on acquisition matters regarding the development of a nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN), according to the organization. It included interactive conversations and an overview of the Special Notice and draft RFP documents by FirstNet officials, as well as questions and feedback from participants.

Benton

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