July 2015

If Facebook’s tech staff were a county, it would be a remote island in Alaska

[Commentary] Being a bit obsessed with demographics at the county level, we were curious which counties in the United States most closely matched the demographics of the companies' technology and executive jobs. So we pulled 2014 data for each county and compared it to the 2015 data for Facebook, Google and Microsoft … and the 2014 data for Apple, the most recent available. If these companies were a county, they'd be in Alaska -- at the western edge of the Aleutian islands.

The county that's most like the companies' gender make-up is Concho County, Texas, where men outnumber women by more than two-to-one. (Concho County is sheep country, near the center of the state.) The counties most like the companies' tech staff are in remote parts of Alaska, where there is a higher ratio of Asian-American to white residents. Compared to the executive staff, though, it's slightly different. The composition of the executive staffs of Facebook, Google and Microsoft overall is like Forest County, Pa. -- just on the edge of the Allegheny National Forest near Erie. Looking only at racial demographics, they're more like Snohomish County, Wash., outside of Seattle. Apple is nearly the same, looking like adjacent King County -- which happens to be the home of Microsoft. In other words, Microsoft's executive staffers look pretty much like the community where they live. Their tech staffers look more like the residents of the Aleutians.

Google’s algorithm shows prestigious job ads to men, but not to women. Here’s why that should worry you.

Fresh off the revelation that Google image searches for “CEO” only turn up pictures of white men, there’s new evidence that algorithmic bias is, alas, at it again. In a paper published in April, a team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University claim Google displays far fewer ads for high-paying executive job, if you’re a woman. “I think our findings suggest that there are parts of the ad ecosystem where kinds of discrimination are beginning to emerge and there is a lack of transparency,” said Carnegie Mellon professor Annupam Datta. “This is concerning from a societal standpoint.”

Senate advances secret plan forcing Internet services to report terror activity

The Senate Intelligence Committee secretly voted on June 24 in favor of legislation requiring e-mail providers and social media sites to report suspected terrorist activities.

The legislation, approved 15-0 in a closed-door hearing, remains "classified." The relevant text is contained in the 2016 intelligence authorization, a committee aide said. Its veil of secrecy would be lifted in the coming days as the package heads to the Senate floor, the aide added. The legislation is modeled after a 2008 law, the Protect Our Children Act. That measure requires Internet companies to report images of child porn, and information identifying who trades it, to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That quasi-government agency then alerts either the FBI or local law enforcement about the identities of online child pornographers.

T-Mobile was asked to turn over more customer info than its larger rivals

T-Mobile received nearly 351,940 government requests for data in 2014, the most out of any of the four national wireless carriers. The nation's fourth-largest carrier by subscriber base disclosed in its transparency report that it had fielded 177,549 criminal and civil subpoenas, 17,316 warrants and more than 3,000 wiretap orders. It marked the first time T-Mobile issued a transparency report, which have become increasingly popular over the past year as civil liberties groups, shareholder and consumer advocates have pressured companies to be more open about when they disclose customer information. T-Mobile was the last of the four national carriers to issue a report.

Free markets and rural universal service

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Ajit Pai eschews free-market principles in his proposal to modernize the rural universal service telephone subsidy program to promote broadband Internet access. Instead, he follows decades of FCC commissioners before him by going along with the tried, true and massive subsidy programs that have no known effect on subscription rates. This anachronistic and out-of-date tax and subsidy scheme is merely an inefficient transfer of billions of dollars from urban areas to rural areas and, given the nature of how funds are raised, also a transfer from the poor to the wealthy. Pai's proposal (and the original modification of the rural subsidy system put forth by the chairman) would simply ensure that ineffective subsidies continue to flow uninterrupted to politically powerful rural telephone companies. Like Commissioner Pai, we, too, believe that markets have yielded unprecedented innovation. We hope he'll realize that his love of markets should extend to universal service and also convince his fellow commissioners to take an economically rational and socially responsible approach to broadband subsidies.

[Rosston is deputy director and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and director of the public policy program at Stanford University. Wallsten is vice president for research and senior fellow at the Technology Policy Institute.]

Artificial Scarcity: How Data Caps Harm Consumers and Innovation

In this paper, we examine the growth and impact of usage-based pricing and data caps on wired and mobile broadband services in the United States. We analyze the financial incentive that Internet service providers (ISPs) have to implement these usage limits and discuss research that demonstrates how these policies affect consumer behavior. In particular, we explain how data caps can make it harder for consumers to make informed choices; decrease the adoption and use of existing and new online services; and undermine online security. It is also increasingly clear that data caps have a disproportionate impact on low-income and minority populations as well as groups like telecommuters and students. In the conclusion, we urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), particularly as the new Open Internet Order goes into effect, to open up a serious inquiry into whether data caps are an acceptable business practice.

Hilary Clinton, John Ellis Bush most Googled in 2016 field

Hillary Clinton and John Ellis Bush have been the most Googled candidates in the 2016 presidential race over the last six months, according to data published by CNN. Former secretary of State Clinton (D) has by far attracted the most interest from users of the search engine, including in most parts of Florida, where Bush served as governor. Bush (R) followed Clinton in terms of Google searches, attracting interest in large pockets of the country, including parts of Montana and other Western states. Other candidates such as Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) were only the most-Googled in parts of their home states.

Televisions Are No Longer the Screen of Choice for Kids

According to a research report from Miner & Co. Studio, televisions are no longer the screen of choice for kids who have ready access to tablets and smartphones.

More than half (57%) of parents surveyed said their children now prefer to watch video on a handheld device rather than on TV. Mobile devices are so popular with kids that nearly half of the 800 parents quizzed by Miner & Co. reported that they confiscate their kids' tablets when they act up and make them watch TV instead, thereby fostering a sort of Pavlovian response that equates TV with punishment. (That these parents simply don't restrict their kids' access to video altogether when they misbehave suggests that they're raising a generation of spoiled content junkies, but that's another story.) Some kids are so obsessed with the small screen that they'll even forego treats for another few minutes with their portable video device. When given the choice between spending quality time with the tablet or having dessert, 41% of the parents surveyed said their kids would pick the screen over the snack.

EOBC: FCC Could Cut TV's Auction Opening Prices By Billions

The Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition says that the Federal Communications Commission's opening prices for TV stations in the incentive auction could plummet by more than $8 billion collectively.

In a filing with the FCC July 2, EOBC, which represents most of a hundred TV stations interested in participating in the incentive auction at the right price, said the FCC needs to make three what it calls "relatively minor" changes to the auction framework, beginning with the "anomaly" that it says, if left unchanged, will cut opening prices to stations in the reverse auction by $8.3 billion. EOBC also wants the FCC to reduce the decrements in each round (the degree to which prices drop as the FCC seeks the lowest bidder) and adjust the auction pricing formula.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage Vetoes State Broadband Fund

After unanimous passage through the House and strong support from the Senate, Maine’s municipal broadband fund bill – LD 1185 – was quietly vetoed by Gov. Paul LePage (R-ME) on June 24.

The bill would have created a $500 placeholder fund as a mechanism for financing the development of open-access municipal fiber networks throughout the state. Gov LePage wrote in a veto letter addressed to the state Legislature that LD 1185 was nothing more than a “feel good” bill that would have done little for his citizenry. “In order for Maine’s economy to move forward, part of what we need is reliable, affordable broadband Internet access across more of our state,” Gov LePage wrote. “A few weeks ago I attended a launch event for a company whose goal is to ultimately deliver this type of service to 90 percent of Maine by the end of the year. That is just one company. It should come as no surprise; the private sector is already way ahead of Augusta politicians in identifying a business opportunity and implementing a strategy to deliver a needed product and service.”

Benton

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