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June 2015

T-Mobile’s New Jump Program Lets Customers Replace Phones Up to Three Times a Year

T-Mobile has introduced a new payment plan that gives subscribers the flexibility to replace their mobile phones whenever they want -- up to three times a year. For a monthly payment of as low as $15, consumers can get new phone and gain the flexibility to exchange their old phones for new ones at no additional upfront cost. There are certain caveats to the new Jump On Demand program, which starts June 28: The phone you’re trading must be in good working order.

This 18-month lease agreement is available initially on the most popular phones: Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 edge and Note 4 and the LG G4. Monthly payments range from a $15 limited time promotion on iPhone 6 to $32.49 on a a Galaxy S6 edge. Consumers who want to keep the device at the end of the term will need to pay off the remaining balance of the retail price for the phone. This latest incentive is designed to help T-Mobile gain subscribers in the hyper-competitive domestic mobile phone market.

Copyright Office modernization efforts deserve broad support

[Commentary] Remarkably, in the year before a presidential election, the long-simmering issue of Copyright Office modernization seems to have reached its boiling point. The Government Accountability Office recently released two reports on the “serious [IT] management challenges” facing the Library of Congress and the Copyright Office. The Register of Copyrights also addressed similar issues in a recent report on technology issues. All those reports make a simple point: the outdated and ineffective IT procurement processes at the Library of Congress have forced the US Copyright Office to try to run a 21st century copyright system with 19th and 20th century technologies. That anachronism disserves the legitimate interests of everyone affected by copyrights -- creators, creative industries, content distributors, and users of expressive works.

The Copyright Office needs independent IT funding and procurement authority, and internal IT personnel, in order to use the latest technologies to make copyright registration, recordation, and search far more effective, efficient and accessible than they are today. Using the best technology available to reduce transaction costs should be a central goal of any IP system. The US has both the data and the domestic IT expertise needed to lead the world towards more efficient copyright systems. Congress and the President should make a bipartisan effort to take full advantage of this potential.

[Tom Sydnor is the previous Director of the Center for the Study of Digital Property at the Progress & Freedom Foundation]

President Obama criticizes Russian state-run media

The state-run media in Russia is allowing President Vladimir Putin to get away with actions that aren’t in his country’s best interests, President Barack Obama said. “The Russian economy is taking a hammer blow because of their incursions into Ukraine. It’s terrible for the future of Russia. But because ordinary Russians aren’t getting good information, there’s no check on what Putin may do,” President Obama said. “We’re raising the costs of what he’s doing in Ukraine to incredibly high levels, where rationally they would do something different," the President continued. "But he’s not necessarily operating based on those cost-benefit analyses because right now, he’s still popular.”

The “multiplicity of voices” in US media prevents American presidents from getting away with overstepping their bounds, he added. “Obviously, if there was state-run media in the United States, whoever the President was would have the ability to make whatever screwy policies they had look good as well,” President Obama said.

Fox News To Launch Breaking News SiriusXM Radio Channel

Fox News is launching a new radio channel that will bring breaking news and other reports to SiriusXM subscribers. Fox News and SiriusXM announced that the channel, called Fox News Headlines 24/7, will launch Fall 2015. Fox says the round-the-clock radio channel will offer headline news and on-the-scene reporting along with entertainment, sports and other stories. Its content will be produced by Fox News journalists and contributors, with Fox News executive Jay Wallace adding the channel's oversight to his current duties. The new channel, 115, is separate from the Fox News Channel simulcast that's already available on SiriusXM.

Roger Ailes Signs New Contract to Head Fox News and Stations

Roger Ailes, the creator of the Fox News Channel, has signed a new multiyear contract as chairman and chief executive of Fox News and Fox Business Network and chairman of Fox Television Stations. Ailes’s previous contract with 21st Century Fox, the media giant led by Rupert Murdoch that includes the Fox properties, ran through 2016. A public back and forth over Ailes’s position at 21st Century Fox has played out during the last two weeks since news emerged that Murdoch’s two sons, Lachlan and James, would take on top leadership roles at the company. Ailes reportedly clashed with Lachlan Murdoch about a decade ago as part of broader power struggle that led to Lachlan’s unexpected resignation from his father’s empire in 2005.

Push for big data escalates as viewers tune out of traditional TV

How many people watch TV shows? Is that number going up or down? For broadcasters, those are almost existential questions -- but ones to which, in the age of tablets and YouTube, they no longer have an accurate answer. European countries, such as the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden, are leading the way in finding new ways to count TV viewers. Broadcasters hope that doing a better job of tracking people’s habits will help to protect billions of pounds in ad revenues. According to traditional gauges, audiences are falling in some key markets: viewing fell by 3 percent in the US and 5 percent in the UK in 2014.

But those ratings -- which are used by broadcasters when they commission programmes, and advertisers when they allocate spending -- do not include the boom in viewing of TV programmes on desktops, laptops, tablets and mobiles. “We have clicks on the Internet and viewers on the television -- how do you connect these different things?” asks an ad sales executive at one major broadcaster. Many European TV companies and advertisers want a “single currency” that measures how many people have watched a certain advert, whether on broadcast TV or online.

June 25, 2015 (House Passes DOTCOM Act)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2015

Today's Agenda:
House Commerce Committee Hearing: Vehicle to Vehicle Communications and Connected Roadways of the Future

Follow Us On Twitter: @benton_fdn

CYBERSECURITY
   Hack of US Data May Have Hit 18 Million Social Security Numbers
   GAO: Recent Data Breaches Illustrate Need for Strong Controls across Federal Agencies [links to web]
   Blackshades + hacking = prison [links to web]
   Government passwords scattered across the Web, study finds [links to web]
   House Homeland Security Chair: Senate Cyber-Info-Sharing Bill Has No Chance in House

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   More Democratic Senators Push FCC on Low Band
   Democratic Reps Advise FCC on New Designated Entities Rules
   Here's why T-Mobile wants you to get mad at the FCC - The Verge analysis [links to web]
   Senators Urge GAO to Study Internet of Things [links to web]
   6 reasons why we’re underhyping the Internet of Things - WaPo op-ed [links to web]
   Analysts: Sprint unlikely to change unlimited plans until network improves [links to web]
   Fastest Mobile Networks 2015 - PC Mag research [links to web]
   Google Startup Aims to Bring Fast, Free Wi-Fi to Cities [links to web]

BROADCASTING
   Noncoms Ask FCC to Axe U-to-V Auction Discount
   NAB Seeks Hill Help on Relocation Costs [links to web]
   Remarks of Commissioner Pai Chief of Staff Matthew Berry at the Florida Association of Broadcasters - speech [links to web]
   NAB President: NAB Still Sitting On ATSC 3.0 Fence [links to web]
   APTS Praises Level Funding for Noncoms [links to web]

CONTENT
   Millennials love media on smartphones, shun live TV [links to web]
   High Dynamic Range Streams to Amazon [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   House passes bill giving Congress more say in Internet transition
   Minnesota’s Paul Bunyan wins Most Innovative Gigabit Broadband Service for its GigaZone [links to web]
   Overhyped study shows no net neutrality violation - AEI op-ed [links to web]

LIBRARIES
   ALA’s Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services and ProLiteracy receive IMLS grant to expand adult literacy services through libraries - press release

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Lawmakers Seek Live Audio of Landmark Supreme Court Rulings [links to web]
   Creators frustrated with Copyright Office's outdated technology, procedures [links to web]
   FCC Now Receiving Acknowledgements of Confidentiality Pursuant to Special Access Data Collection Protective Order - public notice [links to web]

ELECTIONS & MEDIA
   Univision, Washington Post to host Republican candidates forum [links to web]

JOURNALISM
   Farewell to Circa News - op-ed
   NJ News Voices: Marshaling community to advocate for local journalism - Knight Digital Media Center press release [links to web]

DIVERSITY
   Remarks of Commissioner Rosenworcel Before Women in Consumer Electronics - speech [links to web]
   Silicon Valley's Gender Balance Woes Start Before People Are Even Hired [links to web]

HEALTH
   What Emotion-Reading Computers Are Learning About Us [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Meet The Children Who Live In Ghana's Hellish Digital Dump [links to web]

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CYBERSECURITY

HACK OF US DATA MAY HAVE IT 18 MILLION SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Devlin Barrett, Damian Paletta]
Apparently, Obama Administration officials avoided immediately disclosing the severity of the government employee data hack by defining it as two distinct breaches, in an incident that underscores the tensions within the government over what officials have described as one of the worst breaches of US data. Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation suspect China was behind the hack of Office of Personnel Management databases, and those hackers accessed not only personnel files but security clearance forms, which contain information that foreign intelligence agencies could use to target espionage operations, according to officials. Chinese officials have said they weren’t involved. The administration disclosed the breach of personnel files on June 4 but not the security clearance theft. The security theft was disclosed a week later, but investigators probing the theft already knew about it. OPM Director Katherine Archuleta on June 24 said her agency is investigating whether up to 18 million unique Social Security numbers were stolen as part of the cyberattack, though she cautioned that the numbers were unverified and preliminary. Her statement was made during testimony to the House Oversight Committee. Lawmakers have accused OPM of not providing enough information about a breach -- or perhaps series of breaches -- hitting OPM in recent months and stealing troves of personnel records. Director Archuleta said she believes 4.2 million personnel records of current and former government employees were stolen as part of one breach, but she said the estimates were much less precise on the hack of background check investigations that took place over a number of years.
benton.org/headlines/hack-us-data-may-have-hit-18-million-social-security-numbers | Wall Street Journal | Washington Post | nextgov | Washington Post | Washington Post | Washington Post
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HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIR: SENATE CYBER-INFO-SHARING BILL HAS NO CHANCE IN HOUSE
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Kaveh Waddell]
The Senate's version of a cyber-information-sharing bill is doomed should it be sent over to the House in current form, said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX). Chairman McCaul, who authored a cyber-information-sharing bill that overwhelmingly passed the House in April, said the current version in the Senate would trigger fears of more spying by the National Security Agency -- and that makes it a nonstarter in the House. "My concern is that they have an NSA information-sharing component in there that I think would be problematic in many ways in the House," Chairman McCaul said. "I've warned them that if that kind of bill comes back, it's not going to pass, and that's the political reality." Chairman McCaul's information-sharing bill passed the House a day after similar legislation from the House Intelligence Committee. Both bills are aimed at improving the private sector's and the government's cyber defenses by making it easier for companies to share information about cyberthreats with each other and with the government. But the Senate has been slow to pick up information-sharing legislation, even after a series of high-profile data breaches at the Office of Personnel Management was made public in June. "Quite frankly, I'm getting frustrated that they cannot get this work done in the Senate," Chairman McCaul said. "This bill, if sent to the President, would probably be signed into law tomorrow."
benton.org/headlines/house-homeland-security-chair-senate-cyber-info-sharing-bill-has-no-chance-house | nextgov
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

MORE DEMOCRATIC SENATORS PUSH FCC ON LOW BAND
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Add Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA), Al Franken (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) to the list of legislators asking the Federal Communications Commission to use the broadcast incentive auction to reduce the concentration of low-band spectrum. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has already proposed setting aside 30 MHz in the forward wireless auction for competitive a carriers to dominant low-band spectrum holders AT&T and Verizon, though T-Mobile and some advocacy groups had pushed for 40 MHZ to make room for even more potential competition. The FCC is also proposing to set aside some of the best low-band spectrum for the reserve, which means spectrum without potential impairments from broadcasters and wireless operators sharing the same or adjacent channels in nearby markets. In a letter, the Senators did not mention any particular size reserve, but said as the FCC "moves toward a final vote [planned for July 16], it should "continue to evaluate its auction rules to ensure they prevent excessive concentration of spectrum among the nation's largest wireless providers," which they pointed out meant AT&T and Verizon. They said that the auction legislation they helped produce was meant to ensure competition in the wireless market and avoid excessive concentration.
benton.org/headlines/more-democratic-senators-push-fcc-low-band | Broadcasting&Cable
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DEMOCRATIC REPS ADVICE FCC ON NEW DESIGNATED ENTITIES RULES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ), and the five supporters of his bill, The Small Business Access to Spectrum Act, are sending a letter to the Federal Communications Commission telling it how they would like the commission to modify its Designated Entity rules for auction rules for spectrum auctions to insure access by small businesses. Those cosponsors are Reps Bobby Rush (D-IL), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM). In the letter, the legislators are pushing a two-pronged approach. First, they said, the FCC should curb "gaming" of the DE program by multibillion dollar corporations. The FCC can do so, they say, by limiting the size of the small business credit that any one DE can receive and take "additional measures" to limit large corporations' use of the program. They say that will give small businesses a fair shot at spectrum without incentivizing large corporations to gain a bidding advantage "under the guise of being a small business." The second prong is to get rid of what they say are outdated requirements, including the attributable material relationship (AMR) rule, and liberalize policies on small businesses leasing opportunities. They also want the FCC to give DEs the ability to forego DE benefits on one license and still be eligible for them on others. "It is time to recognize that there may be other ways to enter and compete in the wireless marketplace," they said.
benton.org/headlines/democratic-reps-advise-fcc-new-designated-entities-rules | Broadcasting&Cable
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BROADCASTING

NONCOMS ASK FCC TO AXE U-TO-V AUCTION DISCOUNT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a meeting with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler and key members of his incentive auction team, representatives of CPB, PBS and the Association of Public Television Stations said the FCC should pay stations who are moving from a UHF to a VHF just as much to get off that spectrum as if they were giving it up entirely to get out of the business or share channels, according to a filing at the FCC. The FCC is proposing to pay U-to-V movers only about two-thirds of what it pays for stations vacating and exiting or vacating and sharing. But the noncommercial broadcasters told Chairman Wheeler a discount for moving to the VHF band -- most noncoms are UHF -- was "inconsistent with the purpose of the auction, which is to use market mechanisms to determine the value that a broadcaster is willing to accept to relinquish its current channel." They said the FCC should get rid of the discount and let competition for spectrum set the price for relinquishment. The discount is because movers, rather than sharers, will still take up 6 MHz of spectrum, albeit in the VHF band. But since that is where stations are being repacked, the more free spectrum there is in the VHF band, the more stations that can be moved from the UHF band and repacked there, and the more spectrum freed up. But if the FCC decides not to ditch the discount -- and it is expected to stick with the pricing differential -- the noncoms said it should give them a bidding credit, similar to the credit being offered small businesses in the forward auction of reclaimed spectrum for wireless.
benton.org/headlines/noncoms-ask-fcc-axe-u-v-auction-discount | Broadcasting&Cable
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

HOUSE PASSES BILL GIVING CONGRESS MORE SAY IN INTERNET TRANSITION (DOTCOM ACT)
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: David McCabe]
The House overwhelmingly passed the DOTCOM Act, 378-25, giving Congress the right to review the move away from an American-controlled Internet domain name system to one overseen by the international community. "By advancing the DOTCOM Act, we are ensuring that the Internet‚ the world’s greatest platform of ideas, commerce, and social connection‚ continues to thrive to the benefit of folks in Michigan and every corner of the country,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI). The White House-backed transition plan would see the Department of Commerce end its longstanding contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for managing the domain name system through the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. Authority over the system would be taken up by a group of international stakeholders. The bill gives lawmakers 30 days to review the proposed plan for the transition to determine whether it aligns with a variety of principles and requirements. The legislation moves to the Senate -- where the Commerce Committee is scheduled to mark up its version of the bill on June 25. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) called the House bill the “right approach” and said lawmakers in the upper chamber would “try to get floor action on it as soon as we can."
benton.org/headlines/house-passes-bill-giving-congress-more-say-internet-transition | Hill, The | Broadcasting & Cable | Broadcasting & Cable
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LIBRARIES

ALA RECEIVES IMLS GRANT TO EXPAND ADULT LITERACY SERVICES THROUGH LIBRARIES
[SOURCE: American Library Association, AUTHOR: Press release]
American LIbrary Association's Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services, in partnership with ProLiteracy, has received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to develop online training and supporting resources to better equip librarians and library staff to serve adult learners. The grant award is $106,669. ALA President Courtney Young recognized IMLS’s investment: “We are thrilled that IMLS is helping us to build libraries’ capacity to expand services for adult learners through this important project. We look forward to partnering with ProLiteracy on the development of new free training resources for library staff and volunteers interested in implementing the Adult Literacy Action Agenda.” The grant will put into practice priorities outlined in Adult Literacy through Libraries: an Action Agenda, a previous project of ProLiteracy, ALA, and Onondaga County Public Library. The new project’s goal is to increase and expand adult literacy services in public libraries across the nation. Entitled “Adult Literacy: Libraries in Action (ALL In Action),” the project will operate through March 31, 2017.
benton.org/headlines/alas-office-diversity-literacy-and-outreach-services-and-proliteracy-receive-imls-grant | American Library Association
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JOURNALISM

FAREWELL TO CIRCA NEWS
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: Matt Galligan]
[Commentary] It’s with great disappointment that we let you know that Circa News has been put on indefinite hiatus. Producing high-quality news can be a costly endeavor and without the capital necessary to support further production we are unable to continue. Our mission was always to create a news company where factual, unbiased, and succinct information could be found. In doing so we recognized that building a revenue stream for such a mission would take some time and chose to rely on venture capital to sustain. We have now reached a point where we’re no longer able to continue news production as-is. Our ongoing plan was to monetize Circa News through the building of a strategy we had spent a long time developing but unfortunately we were unable to close a significant investment prior to becoming resource constrained. We could have compromised and included off-the-shelf advertisements or charged a subscription for the product but we never felt like any of the simplest solutions would pair well with the high-quality experience we wished to achieve, or even bring in enough to make a difference.
[Matt Galligan is CEO & Co-founder of Circa]
benton.org/headlines/farewell-circa-news | Medium | Revere Digital
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More Democratic Senators Push FCC on Low Band

Add Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA), Al Franken (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) to the list of legislators asking the Federal Communications Commission to use the broadcast incentive auction to reduce the concentration of low-band spectrum. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has already proposed setting aside 30 MHz in the forward wireless auction for competitive a carriers to dominant low-band spectrum holders AT&T and Verizon, though T-Mobile and some advocacy groups had pushed for 40 MHZ to make room for even more potential competition.

The FCC is also proposing to set aside some of the best low-band spectrum for the reserve, which means spectrum without potential impairments from broadcasters and wireless operators sharing the same or adjacent channels in nearby markets. In a letter, the Senators did not mention any particular size reserve, but said as the FCC "moves toward a final vote [planned for July 16], it should "continue to evaluate its auction rules to ensure they prevent excessive concentration of spectrum among the nation's largest wireless providers," which they pointed out meant AT&T and Verizon. They said that the auction legislation they helped produce was meant to ensure competition in the wireless market and avoid excessive concentration.

GAO: Recent Data Breaches Illustrate Need for Strong Controls across Federal Agencies

The US Government Accountability Office has identified a number of challenges federal agencies face in addressing threats to their cybersecurity, including the following:

  • Designing and implementing a risk-based cybersecurity program.
  • Enhancing oversight of contractors providing IT services.
  • Improving security incident response activities.
  • Responding to breaches of personal information.
  • Implementing cybersecurity programs at small agencies.

Until federal agencies take actions to address these challenges -- including implementing the hundreds of recommendations GAO and agency inspectors general have made -- federal systems and information, including sensitive personal information, will be at an increased risk of compromise from cyber-based attacks and other threats.

House Homeland Security Chair: Senate Cyber-Info-Sharing Bill Has No Chance in House

The Senate's version of a cyber-information-sharing bill is doomed should it be sent over to the House in current form, said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX). Chairman McCaul, who authored a cyber-information-sharing bill that overwhelmingly passed the House in April, said the current version in the Senate would trigger fears of more spying by the National Security Agency -- and that makes it a nonstarter in the House.

"My concern is that they have an NSA information-sharing component in there that I think would be problematic in many ways in the House," Chairman McCaul said. "I've warned them that if that kind of bill comes back, it's not going to pass, and that's the political reality." Chairman McCaul's information-sharing bill passed the House a day after similar legislation from the House Intelligence Committee. Both bills are aimed at improving the private sector's and the government's cyber defenses by making it easier for companies to share information about cyberthreats with each other and with the government. But the Senate has been slow to pick up information-sharing legislation, even after a series of high-profile data breaches at the Office of Personnel Management was made public in June. "Quite frankly, I'm getting frustrated that they cannot get this work done in the Senate," Chairman McCaul said. "This bill, if sent to the President, would probably be signed into law tomorrow."

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