June 2015

Germany ends inquiry of whether NSA snooped on Chancellor Merkel’s cell phone

The German government has decided to abandon its probe of the claims that the National Security Agency spied on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone. Chief prosecutor Harald Range said that there was insufficient evidence of criminal activity that would hold up in a German court. "The vague remarks from US officials about US intelligence surveillance of the chancellor’s cellphone -- i.e. ‘not any more’ -- are insufficient evidence," he said in the statement. "The underlying foundation for the relationship remains sound."

Net Neutrality Litigation: Round 1 Goes To the FCC.

[Commentary] Good news! The DC Circuit denied the request by the carriers suing the Federal Communications Commission to prevent the FCC’s network neutrality rules and reclassification of broadband as a Title II telecom service. So what does all this mean for the litigation and the ongoing machinations in Congress around net neutrality?

Short version -- the court was not impressed with the arguments of the carriers that the FCC was so whacky crazy power-usurping unlawful that this case is the slam-dunk reversal the carriers and their cheerleaders keep saying it is. Mind you, that doesn’t mean the FCC will win. But it does mean that opponents of net neutrality and Title II might want to ratchet back the TOTAL CONFIDENCE OF VICTORY they have exuded until now just a wee bit. It also provides a psychological lift to the pro-net neutrality side that the FCC can win this even in the DC Circuit. On the political side, Republicans had hoped that a stay would push Democrats to the bargaining table to avoid the litigation risk. Because the FCC’s odds improve with the denial of the stay, this may have the opposite effect, with Democrats more likely to wait for a court decision rather than try to strike a deal. This could either prompt Republicans to sweeten their offer, or double down on efforts for total repeal.

Broadcasters File Retrans Complaint Against DirecTV

A group of broadcasters have filed an emergency petition with the Federal Communications Commission charging DirecTV with failure to negotiate retransmission consent in good faith and wants the FCC to compel DirecTV to back up its price claim. The complaint was filed by Northwest Broadcasting, Broadcasting Licenses, Mountain Licenses, Stainless Broadcasting, Eagle Creek Broadcasting of Laredo, Bristlecone Broadcasting, and Blackhawk Broadcasting, saying they had come to an impasse over "unbridgeable" and apparently unbudgeable, "positions on price."

The station groups say they have market data to support their price claims which it has shown to DirecTV, while DirecTV has refused to show them its "facts" for the price it is asking. The groups point out that the FCC can, if it chooses, compel "reciprocal fact disclosure" if it finds DirecTV was not negotiating in good faith, or "stonewalling," as the groups argue. They say it is an emergency because they have been negotiating new retrans deals since fall 2014, and that their expired contracts are on "life support" through multiple short-term extensions.

White House Wants to Build Digital-Savvy Contracting Corps

The Obama Administration is building a special squad of digital-savvy contracting officers to help agencies procure technology more effectively. The new team will be modeled on the US Digital Service, a similar effort to get more technologists into the ranks of government but will be staffed by existing agency contracting officers who undergo specialized training, Anne Rung, the administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. Agency contracting offices often write exhaustively detailed statements of work that are often hundreds of pages long -- and ask the same of companies when they submit proposals, Rung said. “What we'd like to move to through this new team is thinking about more succinct statement of objectives, thinking about having industry submit short concept papers and really trying to approach these acquisitions in a more modular manner,” she said.

Winter Is Coming to the Cable Industry

[Commentary] With more than 22 million pay TV subscribers nationwide, Comcast is known by most people as a cable TV -- not broadband -- provider. Yet in its last quarterly conference call, Comcast announced the company’s broadband subscribers surpassed its number of cable-TV subscribers for the first time in company history. In the first quarter of 2015, Comcast gained 407,000 Internet-service subscribers while shedding 8,000 video subscribers -- the continuation of a shift long under way, a trend we’ve seen quarter after quarter. The cable industry has had to reinvent itself as viewing habits evolve.

[Shawn DuBravac is Chief Economist at the Consumer Electronics Association]

Apple's Wozniak sees Internet of Things bubble

[Commentary] Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently warned that the Internet of Things, or IoT, market could be reaching a "bubble phase" comparable to the dot-com bust in the late 1990s. Wozniak said, "I feel it's kind of like a bubble, because there is a pace at which human beings can change the way they do things." He pointed out there were "tons of companies starting up," but that some might have overestimated the appeal of connecting everyday objects to the Internet.

Wozniak isn't the only one who thinks the IoT market might be getting ahead of itself. At Gigaom's Structure Connect event last October, IBM (IBM) Vice President of IoT Paul Brody said the market was in "a classic bubble phase," and that most of the data being accumulated on these devices was "useless". Should investors heed Wozniak and Brody's advice before believing bullish forecasts about the IoT industry?

VA Demos Prototype for New Patient Record System

The Department of Veterans Affairs is designing a new platform that can pull patient records from disparate hospital systems into one virtual place, potentially giving physicians a more complete look at a patient's history. The Enterprise Health Management Platform, or eHMP, is still in its early stages. Pilots in a few cities including Portland (OR) and San Antonio (TX) are scheduled to begin in July. But during a briefing with reporters, VA officials were eager to demonstrate progress on the prototype, though it's still buggy -- a pop-up information box lingers after the user moves the cursor away, for instance. The current version of eHMP is read-only, meaning clinicians can use it to view patient records from VA, the Defense Department and community health partners through an electronic health information exchange.

But it's an improvement on VA's current platform -- the Computerized Patient Record System -- because it lets clinicians search beyond files stored at their location, Neil Evans, ‎co-director of connected health at the Veterans Health Administration, said during the demonstration. Currently, a care provider must use a remote-viewing application to access records from other facilities. A more integrated system could help care providers see which drugs a patient has been prescribed and filled and in which location. This approach shows physicians a broader look at possible drug interactions among other risks, said David Waltman, VA's senior adviser to the undersecretary for health.

Net neutrality takes effect today. Here’s how it affects you.

[Commentary] It's official: As of the morning of June 12, the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules became the law of the land when a federal court rebuffed a plea by Internet providers to block the regulation. Here's exactly what they do, and what you can expect:

First things first: Is my Internet experience going to change? No, at least not right away. And that's the point: The government's rules are aimed at ensuring that you can keep getting to the Web sites you want to visit, watching the videos you want to watch and downloading the files you want to keep, all without interference from Internet providers.

What's going to happen in the long term? Well, Internet providers are suing to have the rules overturned. Industry officials predict the court case will go to oral arguments in December or January. If they win, then the FCC is back at square one. If they lose, the rules will stand. But for now, one thing is clear: The government has stronger tools than ever to monitor Internet providers.

The FCC will now take your net neutrality complaints

The Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules took effect June 12, and you can file complaints against your Internet service provider (or mobile data provider) on the FCC's website. The submission form already allowed consumers to file complaints about availability, interference, billing, equipment, privacy, and speed. The form has been updated to include "Open Internet/Net Neutrality" issues:

The complaint process is the same whether you're raising a stink about an equipment or speed problem or net neutrality. You'll get a tracking number and will be able to check the status of the complaint online. An FCC consumer representative will review your complaint and may contact you to gather more information. If the complaint is "actionable or constitute[s] a rule violation," the FCC sends the complaint to your Internet service provider, which must respond in writing within 30 days and copy you on the response.

The core net neutrality rules prohibit blocking or throttling of lawful content, or "paid prioritization," in which online content providers pay for faster access to consumers. Other rules aren't as specific. There is no ban on data caps, but providers are not allowed to use caps to harm consumers or competitors. Technically, the FCC said it would address concerns about data allowances and usage-based pricing plans "under the no-unreasonable interference/disadvantage [standard] on a case-by-case basis."

France Wants Google to Apply ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ Ruling Worldwide or Face Penalties

France’s privacy watchdog called on Google to apply a European data protection ruling to its global domains or face financial penalties. The move relates to a decree from Europe’s top court in 2014 that allowed anyone with connections to the region to request that links about themselves be removed from search engine results. That so-called right to be forgotten ruling has pitted Google, whose search engine holds a roughly 90 percent market share in Europe, against some of the region’s privacy regulators.

The authorities want the ruling to apply to all of Google’s domains, including Google.com, although the company contends that Europe’s privacy legislation should apply only to regional domains like Google.de in Germany. French authorities are now increasing the pressure on the American company, saying that Google must apply the ruling across all of its domains in the next 15 days or face penalties including a one-off fine of up to 300,000 euros, or almost $340,000. In 2014, Google was fined €150,000 for failing to adhere to the country’s rules in a separate privacy case.

Benton

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