June 2015

Court sets schedule for net neutrality case

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has set a schedule for the legal case over the Federal Communications Commission's controversial network neutrality rules. The telecommunication companies, trade groups and individuals suing the FCC must submit briefs to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by July 30. Their supporters have until August 6 to submit their own filings. The FCC will then have until September 16 to respond, with its supporters chiming in by September 21. Another round of briefs from the petitioners in the case will come on October 5 -- and all final briefs will be due by October 13. Oral arguments will follow. Observers expect the court to decide the case by early 2016.

Remarks of FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai at the Nebraska Public Service Commission's Public Workshop on Accessing 911 Service From Multi-Line Telephone System

It bears observing that our nation's 911 system has been a tremendous success story. But our system isn't perfect. In particular, when your life or the life of a loved one is on the line, you shouldn't have to think about whether you need to dial a "9", "8", "7," or some other access code to get an outside line....I launched an inquiry to determine the scope of the problem and to encourage hotels, motels, and other buildings that use multi-line telephone systems (MLTS) to ensure that direct 911 calling works. The responses showed that virtually every MLTS system in use today can be configured or re-configured to allow direct 911 dialing. They revealed that modifying existing systems costs little to no money. And they made clear that many telephone systems can be configured to permit both 911 and 9-911 calling. The biggest obstacle to solving the problem was a lack of awareness -- something you are helping combat today.

False Alert: Can You Really Trust that Tweet for Emergency Communications?

[Commentary] Over the past few years, there has been skyrocketing growth in the use of social media to get the word out during emergency situations. From fires to disease outbreaks to police shootings, more and more people turn to Twitter, Facebook or other social media sites to get the latest updates on incidents from reliable sources and "friends." I applaud these social media efforts, and this emergency management communications trend has been a very good thing up to this point. But dark clouds are on the horizon. And soon, maybe you'll need to hold-off on that retweet. Why?

A game-changing story from The New York Times shows how highly coordinated disinformation campaigns can spell big problems for emergency communications in the future. The article says, "On Dec. 13, two months after a handful of Ebola cases in the United States touched off a minor media panic, many of the same Twitter accounts used to spread the Columbian Chemicals hoax began to post about an outbreak of Ebola in Atlanta (GA). The campaign followed the same pattern of fake news reports and videos, this time under the hashtag #EbolaInAtlanta, which briefly trended in Atlanta. Again, the attention to detail was remarkable, suggesting a tremendous amount of effort. ...On the same day as the Ebola hoax, a totally different group of accounts began spreading a rumor that an unarmed black woman had been shot to death by police. They all used the hashtag #shockingmurderinatlanta." In my opinion, this is probably just the beginning of a growing trend, and there is likely much worse to come.

Vermont Public Service Board Commissioner Hofmann Appointed to Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations

The Federal Communications Commission appoints the Honorable Sarah D. Hofmann, Commissioner, Vermont Public Service Board, to serve on the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations. This appointment fills the position recently vacated by the Honorable John Burke, Commissioner, Vermont Public Service Board. The FCC gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Commissioner Burke to the work of the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations.

Washington Post starts to automatically encrypt part of Web site for visitors

The Washington Post will begin encrypting parts of its Web site June 30, making it more difficult for hackers, government agencies and others to track the reading habits of people who visit the site.

The added security will immediately apply to The Post's homepage as well as stories on the site's national security page and the technology policy blog The Switch. The encryption will roll out to the rest of the site over the coming months. "The biggest gain is letting users feel secure," said Shailesh Prakash, the company's chief information officer. Most browsers will note the added security with a display icon, a small lock, in the Web address bar. Secure sites also start with the letters "https" rather than "http." (The S is for secure.)

Warrantless phone tapping, e-mail spying inching to Supreme Court review

In 2013, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a once-clandestine warrantless surveillance program that gobbles up Americans' electronic communications -- a project secretly adopted in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks on the United States. Congress legalized the surveillance in 2008 and again in 2012 after it was exposed by The New York Times. Human-rights activists and journalists brought the Supreme Court challenge amid claims that the FISA Amendments Act was chilling their speech. But the Supreme Court tossed the case, telling the challengers' lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union to bring proof by real targets of the warrantless e-mail and phone surveillance. In a 5-4 ruling by Justice Samuel Alito at the time, the Court said the case was based on "assumptions" and that the plaintiffs "merely speculate" that they were being spied upon.

Fast forward to the present day: a US resident of Brooklyn (NY) accused of sending $1,000 to a Pakistani terror group has won the right to become the nation's second defendant to challenge the surveillance at the appellate level. This could mean a Supreme Court bid is likely several months or more away. Agron Hasbajrami, 31, is one of five US citizens or residents identified by the Justice Department as having prosecutions built upon the warrantless surveillance of their electronic communications. Hasbajrami, also an Albanian citizen, pleaded guilty June 26 to the terror charges. He faces 15 years or more in prison. The plea deal allows him to challenge the warrantless surveillance of his e-mails to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, and his attorneys have vowed such an appeal.

DirecTV: AT&T Merger Completed 'Shortly'

DirecTV and AT&T have agreed to a brief extension of the termination date of their merger, adding in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects the $48.5 billion deal to be consummated shortly.

In a brief statement filed June 30, the satellite company said the parties had agreed to an unspecified extension to the deal. The merger was expected to receive approval on June 30, but sources have said that it could bleed into early July. The deal, which will create a satellite TV and wireline communications powerhouse with more than 26 million video customers, was not expected to receive much pushback from the Federal Communications Commission.

DOJ Seeks More Data From Arris-Pace Deal

Arris and Pace said they have each received requests for additional info from the US Department of Justice in connection to Arris’s proposed $2.1 billion acquisition of the United Kingdom-based maker of set-tops, broadband gear and software products.

Arris and Pace said the “Second Request” from the DoJ is part of the regulatory process under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, and that they “intend to respond to the requests as quickly as practicable and to continue to work cooperatively with the DOJ in connection with its review.” They said the effect of the Second Request is to extend the waiting period imposed by the HSR Act until 30 days after each company has substantially complied with its Second Request, unless that period is extended voluntarily by the companies or terminated sooner by the DOJ. Arris said it “continues to anticipate that the transaction will close in late 2015.”

Did the Supreme Court just drive a stick into the spokes of the FCC’s Virtuous Cycle?

[Commentary] One of the most potent pending challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet Order will be based on the Supreme Court’s opinion in 2014 in Utility Air Regulatory Group. That case, which the court has affirmatively cited several times this past term, rejected Environmental Protection Agency efforts to “tailor” provisions of the Clean Air Act, effectively rewriting the Act to facilitate its policy goals. There is a strong -- if not perfect -- analogy to be drawn between the EPA’s approach to the Clean Air Act in that case and the FCC’s need to use forbearance in the Open Internet Order to make the rules viable.

The court’s latest rejection of the EPA’s efforts to stretch the limits of the Clean Air Act to reach its own policy goals presents yet another potent challenge to the FCC’s Open Internet Order. On June 29, the Court once again rejected the EPA’s efforts to shape the Clean Air Act to implement its own -- as opposed to Congress’s -- policy goals. In Michigan v. EPA the court found that the EPA’s implementation of regulations without consideration of the costs of those regulations violated the Clean Air Act. The statute allows the EPA to impose regulations if it “finds such regulation is appropriate and necessary.” The Court explains that “the phrase ‘appropriate and necessary’ requires at least some attention to cost,” going on to say that “One would not say that it is even rational, never mind ‘appropriate,’ to impose billions of dollars in economic costs in return for a few dollars in health or environmental benefits.” The same analysis -- and critique -- likely applies to cost of the FCC’s Open Internet Order.

[Gus Hurwitz is an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law]

Sir Martin Sorrell: traditional media too 'stuffy' for young digital readers

Sir Martin Sorrell has cited the BBC, the New York Times and the Guardian as examples of traditional media with a “stuffy” attitude to content that is not resonating with younger digital news fans gravitating to sites such as Vice News.

Sorrell made the “stuffy” reference at several different sessions at the Cannes Lions festival -- each time claiming he then perhaps used the wrong word -- to encapsulate why he believed Vice was more attractive to a youth audience. “What I was getting at, maybe ‘stuffy’ is the wrong word, is that younger people trust different sources,” he said. “Or, they look at different sources, or look at sources differently to the way we trust them. We naturally trust the BBC, the New York Times or the Guardian. But younger people, centennials or millennials, don’t naturally feel that way. If they see something on Buzzfeed or Vice, or watching Periscope, the way they react to it is very different.”

Benton

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