June 2015

Stakeholder Proposals to Come Together at ICANN Meeting in Argentina

[Commentary] During the week of June 22, hundreds of members of the Internet stakeholder community will attend the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) 53rd meeting in Argentina. As I head to Buenos Aires, one of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's top priorities continues to be the transition of NTIA’s role related to the Internet Domain Name System. Since we announced the IANA stewardship transition in March 2014, the response of the stakeholder community has been remarkable and inspiring. I thank everyone for their hard work. The meeting in Buenos Aires will be pivotal, as the community finalizes the components of the transition proposal and determines what remains to be done. The three stakeholder groups planning the transition of the individual IANA functions have made great progress. I congratulate the Cross Community Working Group on Naming Related Functions for finishing its draft proposal and look forward to this work stream reaching closure. The other two stakeholder groups – the Internet Engineering Task Force, which is shepherding the protocol parameter proposal, and the five Regional Internet Registries, which collaborated on the numbering proposal – finished their proposals earlier in 2015.

House panel advances rider to block Net Neutrality rules

The House Appropriations Committee approved a funding bill that includes a policy rider to block newly implemented network neutrality rules temporarily. The 30-20 party-line vote on the financial services and general government appropriations bill is the most direct action by Republican Representatives to stall the new rules since they were approved by the Federal Communications Commission in February.

During the markup, Democratic Representatives said policy riders like the net neutrality provision included in the funding bill could lead to a shutdown of numerous agencies in October. "We have received more phone calls on this issue than any other issue in a long, long time," Rep José Serrano (D-NY) said of the Internet regulation. "And I don't understand why some people can't understand that net neutrality is here, it is here to stay and it is what the American people want." Republican Reps have floated a number of other proposals seeking a legislative compromise on net neutrality or to kill the rules outright. But none has made progress in either chamber. An amendment from Democratic Reps to strip the net neutrality provisions out was voted down 31-19, mostly along party lines. Rep Henry Cuellar (D-TX) was the only Democratic Representative who voted to leave it in place.

Sen Nelson Quizzes Google On YouTube Kids

Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL) wants some answers from Google in the wake of reports that its YouTube Kids app contains inappropriate content including profanity and jokes about drugs and child abuse. That came in a letter to Google, and also follows a complaint lodged with the Federal Trade Commission back in April by a coalition of child advocacy groups pointing to the mixing of advertising and programming content supplemented in May with information about the allegedly inappropriate content.

In a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, Ranking Member Nelson says he is concerned about both the content and the alleged lack of separation between ad and program content. "Google introduced its YouTube Kids service as a safe haven for children to access age appropriate video content. I applaud the company’s effort to create appropriate venues for children who increasingly use online services for educational and entertainment purposes," he wrote. "However, in so doing, any such service must take great care to ensure that children are not unnecessarily exposed to inappropriate content, especially since parents may rely on the very notion that such a service is 'for kids' and, thus, safe for their unfettered usage." Ranking Member Nelson suggests that Google, being Google, should have the expertise to filter out "unsuitable" content. Among the questions he wants answered are how Google decides what content can be on YouTube Kids, what its policies are regarding complaints and investigating flagged content, and how it distinguishes between paid and unpaid content.

Even former NSA chief thinks USA Freedom Act was a pointless change

The former director of the National Security Agency isn’t particularly concerned about the loss of the government’s bulk metadata collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. As Gen. Michael Hayden pointed out, the only change that has happened is that data has moved to being held by phone companies, and the government can get it under a court order.

Gen Hayden said, "If somebody would come up to me and say, 'Look, Hayden, here’s the thing: This Snowden thing is going to be a nightmare for you guys for about two years. And when we get all done with it, what you’re going to be required to do is that little 215 program about American telephony metadata -- and by the way, you can still have access to it, but you got to go to the court and get access to it from the companies, rather than keep it to yourself” -- I go: “And this is it after two years? Cool!'" The NSA and the intelligence community as a whole still have many other technical and legal tools at their disposal, including the little-understood Executive Order 12333, among others. That document, known in government circles as "twelve triple three," gives incredible leeway to intelligence agencies sweeping up vast quantities of Americans' data. That data ranges from e-mail content to Facebook messages, from Skype chats to practically anything that passes over the Internet on an incidental basis. In other words, EO 12333 protects the tangential collection of Americans' data even when Americans aren't specifically targeted -- otherwise it would be forbidden under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978.

Emergency Alert System Rules Revised

[Commentary] Nearly four years ago the Federal Communications Commission (along with Federal Emergency Management Agency) conducted the first ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). Now, after analyzing the performance of the EAS during that test, and after twice soliciting input from interested parties, the FCC has decided to tweak the system.

This will be of interest to all EAS participants, since within the next year or so their equipment will have to accommodate the tweaks. The first two changes the FCC has adopted involve EAS “header codes”. The second change: Electronic Test Reporting. After the 2011 nationwide test, EAS Participants were required to submit test results data, either on paper or through a temporary electronic filing system. Most took the electronic option, which not surprisingly provided data much more promptly than did the paper route. Happy with those results, the FCC has opted to implement a permanent, and mandatory, Electronic Test Reporting System (or ERTS).

CTIA: US mobile data traffic increased 26 percent in 2014, but growth rate falls sharply from 2014

Americans continue to guzzle more wireless data, but data traffic is not increasing at the rapid rate it once was, according to a new report from CTIA. The report also found that wireless service revenue fell in the US in 2014; service revenue had increased every year since 2000 before 2014, the trade group's report said.

In its annual report on the state of the industry, the lobbying group for US carriers said that US wireless providers handled more than 4.06 trillion megabytes of mobile data traffic, up around 26 percent from 3.23 trillion megabytes of data traffic in 2013. However, while data traffic is still growing, the growth is slowing, as CTIA has reported 2014 that data traffic increased 120 percent in 2013. In 2012, CTIA reported that participating wireless carriers reported handling 1.47 trillion MB of data, which was up 69.3 percent from 2011. CTIA said that total reported service revenues fell 0.7 percent year-over-year in 2014 to $187.8 billion, down from $189.2 billion in 2013. Service revenues likely fell in 2014 for several reasons.

FCC Commissioner Clyburn at the Progressive Policy Institute

It is safe to say women, regardless of credentials, still face all sorts of barriers and the fact that these are disproportionately higher in the tech sector is troubling, telling, but unfortunately, not shocking. That college-educated African Americans and Latinos have benefited greatly from the recent tech jobs boom, and that tech-driven investment and innovation is a potent force for narrowing wealth and income gaps, is surprising and great news to me, but I highlight this indisputable fact: that gaps remain and that potential cited in the report, to narrow those gaps, will never be fully realized without some good old-fashioned, low-to no-tech, person to person intervention and shifts in policies and practices when it comes to recruitment, retention and the funding of concepts and projects.

The common denominator in all of this, however, is access to the Internet...one way where we can more directly address this effectively, is through the only Universal Service program established to bridge the communications affordability gap. But we must not only must reset and retarget Lifeline's operations, but alter our mindset about this program, our approach to today's tech challenges as well as all other persistent divides that prevent this nation and its citizens from realizing their fullest potential.

FCC Plans To Fine AT&T $100 Million For Misleading Consumers About Unlimited Data Plans, Violating Transparency Obligations

The Federal Communications Commission plans to fine AT&T Mobility $100 million for misleading its customers about unlimited mobile data plans. The FCC's investigation alleges that AT&T severely slowed down the data speeds for customers with unlimited data plans and that the company failed to adequately notify its customers that they could receive speeds slower than the normal network speeds AT&T advertised.

AT&T began offering unlimited data plans in 2007, allowing customers to use unrestricted amounts of data. Although the company no longer offers unlimited plans to new customers, it allows current unlimited customers to renew their plans and has sold millions of existing unlimited customers new term contracts for data plans that continue to be labeled as "unlimited". In 2011, AT&T implemented a "maximum Bit Rate" policy and capped the maximum data speeds for unlimited customers after they used a set amount of data within a billing cycle. The capped speeds were much slower than the normal networks speeds AT&T advertised and significantly impaired the ability of AT&T customers to access the Internet or use data applications for the remainder of the billing cycle.

The FCC charges AT&T with violating the 2010 Open Internet Transparency Rule by falsely labeling these plans as "unlimited" and by failing to sufficiently inform customers of the maximum speed they would received under the Maximum Bit Rate policy.

House Commerce Committee Approves Bipartisan Bill to Protect the Future of the Internet -- DOTCOM Act Poised for House Vote

The House Commerce Committee approved the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act (HR 805), bipartisan legislation to protect the future of the Internet. Authored by Rep John Shimkus (R-IL), the DOTCOM Act ensures that Congress continues its oversight role over the administration’s work to transition its Domain Name System authority from the United States to the global Internet community.

“The DOTCOM Act serves as an essential check within our government. The Internet has come a long way from its days as a government research network and the concrete steps toward privatization have made it stronger. As we look toward taking another step in that process – removing the US government from its oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority – we must look before we leap,” added Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI). Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) added, “The DOTCOM Act continues the long-standing congressional support for the global, open Internet while appropriately conducting oversight of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. I believe our bill provides the necessary safeguards for the timely transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority or IANA.” “The DOTCOM Act is our best way forward to ensure Congress can exercise a meaningful and appropriate oversight role in the IANA stewardship transition,” said Rep Shimkus. “This is an important moment for the Internet but there’s no moving back into mom and dad’s basement if it doesn’t work out. We only have one chance to get this right.”

Senators push warrants for spying in the skies

A bipartisan pair of senators is demanding that the government obtain a warrant before it conducts aerial surveillance in the United States. Sens Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Dean Heller (R-NV) introduced the Protecting Individuals From Mass Aerial Surveillance Act, which they say will restrict government agents from using drones, cellphone tracking gear and other technology in the skies.

“Americans’ privacy rights shouldn’t stop at the treetops,” Sen Wyden said. “Clear rules for when and how the federal government can watch Americans from the sky will provide critical certainty for the government, and help the unmanned aircraft industry reach its potential as an economic powerhouse in Oregon and the United States.” “This legislation protects those inherent rights from being trampled by the government’s intrusion from above and provides much needed clarity on what authority the federal government has related to aerial surveillance,” Sen Heller said. Under the terms of the bill, the government would have to obtain a warrant before any surveillance conducted via drone or manned aircraft. Bystanders whose information was picked up incidentally would not be able to be identified, and any unlawfully collected information would be tossed out in court. The bill includes exemptions to let border patrol officers conduct flights with a 25-mile strip along the border, as well as for testing, surveying public lands and some other uses.

Benton

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