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June 2015

Cardinals Face FBI Inquiry in Hacking of Astros’ Network

The FBI and Justice Department prosecutors are investigating whether front-office officials for the St. Louis Cardinals, one of the most successful teams in baseball over the past two decades, hacked into internal networks of a rival team to steal closely guarded information about player personnel. Investigators have uncovered evidence that Cardinals officials broke into a network of the Houston Astros that housed special databases the team had built, according to law enforcement officials. Internal discussions about trades, proprietary statistics and scouting reports were compromised, the officials said.

The officials did not say which employees were the focus of the investigation or whether the team’s highest-ranking officials were aware of the hacking or authorized it. The investigation is being led by the FBI’s Houston field office and has progressed to the point that subpoenas have been served on the Cardinals and Major League Baseball for electronic correspondence. The attack represents the first known case of corporate espionage in which a professional sports team has hacked the network of another team.

Inside President Obama's Stealth Startup

The new hub of Washington’s tech insurgency is something known as the US Digital Service, which is headquartered in a stately brick townhouse half a block from the White House. USDS ­employees tend to congregate with their laptops at a long table at the back half of the parlor floor. If there’s no room, they retreat downstairs to a low-ceilinged basement, sprawling on cushioned chairs. Apart from an air-hockey table, there aren’t many physical reminders of West Coast startup culture -- a lot of the new techies are issued BlackBerrys, which seems to cause them near-physical pain.

The point for President Barack Obama is not to sell these candidates on a career in government, but rather to enlist them in a stint of a year or two at USDS, or even a few months. For decades, accomplished lawyers and economists have worked in the capital between private-sector jobs, so why not technologists? "What I think this does," says Megan Smith, the current US chief technology officer, who spent much of her career at Google, "is really provide a third option. In addition to joining a friend’s startup or a big company, there’s now Washington."

Frontier Communications Accepts Over $283 Million Connect America Fund Offer to Expand and Support Broadband for 1.3 Million Rural Americans

Frontier Communications has accepted $283.4 million from the Connect America Fund to expand and support broadband to over 1.3 million of its rural customers in 28 states. The Connect America Fund will provide ongoing support for rural broadband networks in Frontier's service area capable of delivering broadband at speeds of at least 10 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps uploads in over 650,000 homes and businesses nationwide.

ACA: Time For Broadcasters To Join Retransmission Revamp Effort

The American Cable Association took aim at Northwest Broadcasting's good faith bargaining complaint at the Federal Communications Commission, saying that was evidence that the retransmission consent regime was not working as well as the National Association of Broadcasters argues. Northwest filed the complaint against DirecTV and asked the FCC to compel the satellite operators to produce evidence that its asking price was market-based. “It is without doubt that the TV stations that filed the FCC complaint against DirecTV discarded the National Association of Broadcasters’ talking points about how retransmission consent is working perfectly and change is out of the question," said ACA president Matt Polka in a statement.

ACA, along with DirecTV, is a member of the American Television Alliance, which has been the cable industry's lead voice calling for reforming the retransmission consent regime, an effort NAB and TVFreedom, its point group on the issue, have been resisting, arguing that the regime works fine and results mostly in deals rather than impasses like the one between DirecTV and Northwest over prices.

TWC ‘Well-Positioned’ to Bring 1-Gig Across LA

Time Warner Cable said it is “well-positioned” to bring speeds of 1 Gbps across its Los Angeles (CA) footprint in the wake of a request for participants (RFP) issued by the city. TWC said it will be able to hit those speeds across the city, rather than just in individual neighborhoods, as DOCSIS 3.1 technology begins to mature. D3.1, which the cable industry is promoting under the “Gigasphere” consumer brand, will enable cable operators to deliver multi-gigabit speeds on their hybrid fiber/coax networks.

“As Gigasphere technology is introduced, we are well-positioned to deliver residential Internet speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second throughout our entire LA footprint -- not just in a few neighborhoods -- just as we said we would when we participated in the City’s RFI process.” In addition to providing 1 Gig wireline speeds, CityLinkLA’s requirements also call for Wi-Fi that delivers 5 Mbps or second to every connected device (and to provide sufficient backhaul for 200 simultaneous users at 5 Mbps down by 1 Mbps upstream), and a free wireline service that delivers at least 5 Mbps/1 Mbps.

AT&T: Nearly 22 Million IoT Connected Devices on Our Network

AT&T hasn’t been wasting time when it comes to finding and taking advantage of opportunities in the vast, fast emerging Internet of Things (IoT) market space. AT&T announced signed IoT agreements with more than 136 companies spanning a variety of industries. Nearly 22 million IoT connected devices are on AT&T’s network as of end-March.

Illustrating the wide vista of IoT applications, IoT devices are being used in agriculture, automotive, aviation, energy, healthcare, transportation, security and supply chain logistics, said AT&T. Among the numerous IoT business use cases, IoT devices connected to AT&T’s network are installed in connected cars, homes and smart city infrastructure and public services. They’re also integral to connected consumer products, such as smart watches and connected health and fitness devices.

Dropbox opening an office in Washington

Dropbox, the cloud storage and file sharing service, is opening a Washington (DC) office. The company has tapped Amber Cottle, a top lobbyist with Apple, to be its new head of global public policy and government affairs. She will set up the DC office for the firm -- which has been politically active in the past. “I'm excited to join Dropbox and help the team continue to grow and scale globally,” Cottle said. “Dropbox has become such an important part of how people around the world share and protect everything from work files to memories.” The company is already active in Washington as a member of coalitions interested in patent reform and government surveillance. But the move to open its own shop is reflective of Dropbox’s growth in the last few years.

Digital news consumers increasingly control how they view content

[Commentary] The takeaway from Reuters’ vast new study of the world’s digital news consumers is that the disruptive trends publishers have been grappling with the last few years have crystallized into something more lasting, not just in the United States but around the world. Readers deplore online ads, particularly the personalized ones that follow them from site to site. They still don’t want to pay for news. They don’t find tablets all that exciting for reading news. And the homepage is diminishing fast, usurped by Facebook (not so much Twitter). The biggest surprise: Using apps to block ads has gone mainstream.

In some respects, the reader hasn’t changed. Most have never really liked ads but have put up with them, by flipping past them in the old days of newspapers. But paper didn’t offer a button to erase ads. The ads didn’t blink annoyingly. The car ads didn’t follow them from the local news section to the baseball box scores. Now readers, not publishers, control what they want to see. Consumers are in charge of news -- how they see it, when they’ll consume it, what they’ll pay for it -- and if publishers want to survive, they better figure out a way to get more economically in sync with them.

[Michael Rosenwald is a staff writer at the Washington Post]

June 16, 2015

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2015

See today’s packed agenda https://www.benton.org/calendar/2015-06-16

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Maps Show Which Americans Have Broadband Access and Which Don't
   Sen Klobuchar Highlights Ways to Improve Broadband in Comments to Newly Formed Broadband Opportunity Council - press release [links to web]
   Sen Gardner Presses For Expanded Rural Broadband -Press release [links to web]
   Blandin Foundation recommendations to the Broadband Opportunity Council - press release [links to web]
   AT&T Launches ‘GigaPower’ in Charlotte [links to web]
   FCC Consumer Bureau Chief Appoints Ombudsperson for Open Intern Questions and Complaints
   Cogent Holding Off On Net Neutrality Complaints -- for Now
   Will FCC Lock-in Net Neutrality Gains in Legislation or Risk All in Court & Ballot Box? - Scott Cleland analysis [links to web]
   Is the Internet a failed utopia? - analysis [links to web]

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
   EOBC: Broadcasters Could Get $35 Billion for Spectrum [links to web]
   FCC Still Not Reserving Noncommercial Channel in Each Market
   TVStudy Passes the DC Circuit Test - analysis [links to web]
   T-Mobile's Magenta Herring - AT&T press release [links to web]

PRIVACY/SECURITY
   White House Tells Agencies to Tighten Up Cyber Defenses 'Immediately' [links to web]
   Group asks FCC to make web services honor 'Do Not Track' requests
   Data exposed in breaches can follow people forever. The protections offered in their wake don’t.

TELECOM
   Sorry, Wrong Number, Now Pay Up - Adonis Hoffman op-ed [links to web]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Comcast’s Cohen to Hold Fundraiser for Clinton [links to web]
   Bush 3.0: Jeb’s Impending Battle With the Media -- And His Last Name [links to web]

CONTENT
   Here’s What Happens to Your $10 After You Pay for a Month of Apple Music [links to web]
   Why the First Amendment didn’t save a Mississippi blogger - analysis [links to web]
   The Game’s On Cable - analysis [links to web]

JOURNALISM
   Report for America: a community service-based model for saving local journalism - Steven Waldman op-ed
   Young people switch off television news in increasing numbers [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   FCC Consumer Bureau Chief Appoints Ombudsperson for Open Intern Questions and Complaints
   Welcome Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council V Members - FCC press release [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   European countries back Obama Administration's domain transition
   Belgian Privacy Watchdog Takes Facebook to Court [links to web]
   EU’s Margrethe Vestager hits out against telecoms consolidation [links to web]

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

MAPS SHOW WHICH AMERICANS HAVE BROADBAND ACCESS AND WHICH DON'T
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Corinne Jurney]
In keeping with the changing demands of the economy, the Federal Communications Commission is considering revamping the existing Lifeline program to help the poor log into the majority of society -- which is online. The plan goes to a vote on June 18 and if approved, the process to restructure the program to include a broadband subsidy will get underway. The agency releases data about broadband access annually and recently began representing it visually. A new map from the FCC highlights one of the major disparities in broadband access is between urban and rural areas. Arizona and Alaska have the largest geographical gap in broadband access, with more than a 7 percent difference between urban and rural users with access to high speed Internet. Trailing Arizona and Alaska, with a difference between 4 percent and 7 percent is Montana, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and the sole Northeast state with such a disparity -- Vermont. The entire West Coast has a gap between 2 percent and 4 percent. Of America’s rural population, 53 percent (22 million people) lack access to high speed Internet, compared to only 8 percent of urban Americans. Rural populations continue to be underserved at all speeds, the FCC reported in March, and tribal lands are even further behind, with 63 percent of residents (2.5 million people) unable to get online.
benton.org/headlines/maps-show-which-americans-have-broadband-access-and-which-dont | Forbes
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COGENT HOLDING OFF ON NET NEUTRALIYT COMPLAINTS -- FOR NOW
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Transit provider Cogent said it has not yet filed any interconnection-related network neutrality complaints and is still trying to negotiate with the remaining, "offending," Internet service providers, though its CEO signaled those negotiations have improved since the Federal Communications Commission signaled its new rules would include interconnection. Cogent is one of the companies -- Netflix is another -- that cable operators are expecting could file complaints under the new network neutrality rules, which went into effect June 12 and, for the first time, included interconnections issues as potential net neutrality violations. Initially, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had signaled that middle-mile interconnection issues were separate from those involving the customer-facing, last-mile ISP connections, but that changed last fall along with the original plan not to reclassify ISPs under Title II common-carrier regulations. Cogent had signaled it could be filing complaints once the new rules went into effect, and still could. But Cogent CEO Dave Schaefer said that the FCC's order, adopted back in February, had accelerated interconnection agreement talks -- Verizon Communications and AT&T have both struck deals Cogent was happy with, and that negotiations with Comcast, Time Warner Cable and CenturyLink were ongoing.
benton.org/headlines/cogent-holding-net-neutrality-complaints-now | Multichannel News
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

FCC STILL NOT RESERVING NONCOMMERCIAL CHANNEL IN EACH MARKET
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Apparently, despite pushback from noncommercial broadcasters and some phone calls from the Hill, the Federal Communications Commission is still proposing not to guarantee at least one noncommercial channel reservation in each market after the incentive auction. That is part of a number of rejections of petitions to reconsider the incentive auction framework that the FCC plans to vote on at its public meeting June 18. Multiple sources inside and outside the FCC said, that as far as they knew, the item still denies the request by the Association of Public Television Stations, PBS and CPB for at least one noncommercial channel in each market after the auction -- in case, as expected, some noncoms give up their spectrum for auction. Without that set-aside, they warned, it could adversely impact minority communities and others reliant on over-the-air TV. FCC staffers have been arguing the channel set-asides would complicate the auction, said one source familiar with conversations with those staffers, though it would be hard to make it any more complicated than it already is.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-still-not-reserving-noncommercial-channel-each-market | Broadcasting&Cable
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PRIVACY/SECURITY

GROUP ASKS FCC TO MAKE WEB SERVICES HONOR 'DO NOT TRACK' REQUESTS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: David McCabe]
A consumer group, Consumer Watchdog, asked the Federal Communications Commission to force web service providers like Google to honor users’ requests that their information not be collected and sold. The group said in its petition that “edge providers,” or companies that provide services over the Internet, should follow “Do Not Track” requests from users. Currently, a user can tell their browser to send websites they access a Do Not Track request. They are largely symbolic because most websites don’t honor the requests. The Consumer Watchdog filing comes days after the FCC’s network neutrality order went into effect. Under the new rules, the FCC is allowed to punish Internet providers for privacy violations under Section 222 of the Communications Act -- which the consumer group cited in the filing. Edge providers differ from the broadband providers subject to the net neutrality order. “Consumers’ privacy concerns about the Internet extend far beyond the broadband providers who are impacted by Section 222,” they wrote. “Many consumers are as concerned -- or perhaps even more worried -- about the online tracking and data collection practices of edge providers....A rule requiring that Do Not Track signals be honored would undoubtedly put to rest many consumers’ privacy concerns about the Internet. It would certainly bolster broadband deployment and use,” the group wrote.
benton.org/headlines/group-asks-fcc-make-web-services-honor-do-not-track-requests | Hill, The
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DATA EXPOSED IN BREACHES CAN FOLLOW PEOPLE FOREVER. THE PROTECTIONS OFFERED IN THEIR WAKE DON'T.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Andrea Peterson]
In the wake of the Office of Personnel Management data breach, the agency is offering 18 months of free credit monitoring and identity theft insurance -- in line with offers that typically follow a company in the private sector. But increasingly, privacy experts say, that monitoring is not enough. The OPM breach, which was disclosed earlier in June, may have exposed the Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and addresses of workers along with information typically found in personnel files, according to the government. On June 12, OPM said it had determined, with "a high degree of confidence,” that systems containing information related to the background investigations of “current, former and prospective” federal employees were breached. That's the kind of information that could be used for identity theft and to set up fraudulent lines of credit. But monitoring services typically focus on detecting those types of problems once they've already occurred rather than preventing them, according to Ed Mierzwinski, federal consumer program director and senior fellow for US PIRG.
benton.org/headlines/data-exposed-breaches-can-follow-people-forever-protections-offered-their-wake-dont | Washington Post
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JOURNALISM

A COMMUNITY SERVICE-BASED MODEL FOR SAVING LOCAL JOURNALISM
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Steven Waldman]
[Commentary] It’s time for a dramatic new approach grounded in community service. In a new report underwritten by the Ford Foundation that will be released June 16 at Montclair State’s Engage Local conference, I attempt to draw lessons from a world not usually thought relevant to journalism: the three-decades-old movement of national and community service programs such as AmeriCorps, City Year, and Teach for America. A new national service program focused on local reporting would more efficiently deploy philanthropic resources to the media enterprises that need it most, while instilling a new sense of idealism into community-based coverage. It is time to Report for America.
[Steven Waldman is a journalist and digital entrepreneur]
benton.org/headlines/report-america-community-service-based-model-saving-local-journalism | Columbia Journalism Review
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POLICYMAKERS

CONSUMER BUREAU CHIEF APPOINTS OMBUDSPERSON FOR OPEN INTERNET QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Chief Alison Kutler appointed Parul P. Desai to serve as the Open Internet ombudsperson, the public's primary point of contact within the Federal Communications Commission for formal and informal questions and complaints related to the Open Internet rules. Desai serves as Assistant Bureau Chief and Director of Consumer Engagement in the consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB). Prior to that, she was Policy counsel for media, telecommunications and technology policy at Consumers Union and Vice President at Media Access Project.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-consumer-bureau-chief-appoints-ombudsperson-open-intern-questions-and-complaints | Federal Communications Commission
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

EUROPEAN COUNTRIES BACK OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S DOMAIN TRANSITION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: David McCabe]
The European Council has backed an Obama Administration plan to loosen America’s grip on the system that governs Internet domain names. The Council, which helps articulate the policy agenda of the European Union and represents 28 governments, said that it supported the transfer being done “in a way that does not expose this function to capture by narrow commercial or government interests.” Under the proposal, the Department of Commerce would no longer oversee the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Instead, ICANN would be linked to a group of multinational stakeholders. Republican Representatives on Capitol Hill have said they are worried the organization isn’t ready for the transfer. On June 17, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will vote on a bill to give them more oversight over the transfer. Though ICANN’s current contract with the Department of Commerce is set to expire in September, even supporters of the transfer acknowledge it is possible that it will take longer to complete.
benton.org/headlines/european-countries-back-obama-administrations-domain-transition | Hill, The
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EOBC: Broadcasters Could Get $35 Billion for Spectrum

Armed with 180 reverse auction simulations, the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition (EOBC) argued for changes to the pricing and rules for the broadcast spectrum auction, changes it argues would make the auction more robust, efficient, transparent, simpler and fairer.

The EOBC argues that given the success of the AWS-3 spectrum auction, the FCC should boost its opening prices and scrap its Dynamic Reserve Pricing approach that the coalition said artificially reduces bid prices. According to a new paper from auction expert Peter Cramton and based on those simulations, the FCC would need to pay broadcasters about $35 billion for 126 Megahertz of spectrum [among the FCC’s proposed clearing targets], and could turn around and get about $84 billion from wireless operators in the forward auction, so long as the auction remained in early 2016. The report anticipates AT&T and Verizon Communications will push for a delay in the auction.

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