BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2015
Robbie's Round-Up for September 21-25, 2015
CYBERSECURITY
The US and China agree not to conduct economic espionage in cyberspace
Wall Street Journal editorial -- The Obama-Xi Cyber Mirage: A digital arms deal that is full of promises but no enforcement [links to Wall Street Journal]
Columbia University’s Jason Healey: Even if flawed, cybertheft deal with China a win for Obama [links to Christian Science Monitor]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FTC Looking at Complaints Over Google’s Android Control
Is Android a monopoly? - analysis from The Verge
Sprint Plans to Sit Out Next US Auction of Airwaves [links to Benton summary]
FCC: Open source router software is still legal -- under certain conditions
Hey FCC, Don’t Lock Down Our Wi-Fi Routers - analysis
Turns Out Our Mobile Broadband Is As Mediocre As Our Wireline Broadband - Harold Feld analysis
Lightsquared, LTE-U and the revenge of the 'anti-commons' - Scott Wallsten op-ed [links to Benton summary]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Network neutrality could become the biggest face-off on corporate speech since Citizens United
Consumer Protection in the Broadband Era: The Role of the FCC - Gigi Sohn speech
North America is out of IPv4 addresses [links to Benton summary]
Municipalities: Broadband Is Not a ‘Core Utility’ - Scott Cleland analysis [links to Benton summary]
Could the Internet eradicate poverty? Facebook’s Free Basics Aims To
L Gordon Crovitz: Lawmakers told the Administration it will need Congress’s OK to surrender Web control [links to Wall Street Journal]
OWNERSHIP
The Federal Communications Commission and Lessons of Recent Mergers and Acquisitions Reviews - Jon Sallet speech
Recap of House Communications Subcommittee Hearing "Broadcasting Ownership in the 21st Century" [links to Benton summary]
FCC Considers Breaking Cable's Grip Over Set-Top TV Control Box [links to Benton summary]
ELECTION 2016
Presidential candidates: Local economies in the digital age deserve attention - Alan Inouye op-ed
Broadcasters push political campaigns to buy more ads [links to Benton summary]
CONTENT
RIAA chief says DMCA is “largely useless” to combat music piracy [links to ars technica]
Facebook Ads Are All-Knowing, Unblockable, and in Everyone’s Phone [links to Benton summary]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
ACLU Argues for Right to Sue NSA for “Upstream” Surveillance [links to National Journal]
LOBBYING
Reflections on 50 years of representing local TV broadcasting - Jonathan Blake op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Silicon Valley Lawyer, Gary Reback, Takes Antitrust Fight to Europe [links to New York Times]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
From Radio to Porn, British Spies Track Web Users’ Online Identities
“Snowden Treaty” proposed to curtail mass surveillance and protect whistleblowers
Search and censor - Washington Post editorial
Silicon Valley a must-see destination for world leaders [links to Washington Post]
India Replaces China as Next Big Frontier for US Tech Companies [links to New York Times]
Could the Internet eradicate poverty? Facebook’s Free Basics Aims To
Merkel Confronts Facebook's Zuckerberg Over Policing Hate Posts [links to Bloomberg]
Google bringing high-speed Wi-Fi to 100 Indian rail stations by the end of 2016 [links to Verge, The]
MORE ONLINE
Should the Postal Service be sold to save it? [links to Washington Post]
Teacher says smartphones are degrading discourse, hurting students [links to Washington Post]
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CYBERSECURITY
THE US AND CHINA AGREE NOT TO CONDUCT ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE IN CYBERSPACE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima, Steven Mufson]
The United States and China have agreed that neither country will conduct economic espionage in cyberspace in a deal that addresses a major source of tension in the bilateral relationship. The pact also calls for a process aimed at helping to ensure compliance. The agreement, reached in talks Sept 24 and 25 between President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, has the potential -- if it is upheld -- to alleviate one of the most significant threats to US economic and national security. But, President Obama said, “the question now is, are words followed by actions?” The two sides also said they would set up a high-level joint dialogue on cybercrime in which senior officials from both countries would be able to review allegations of cyber-intrusions. They agreed to establish a hotline to discuss issues that might arise in that process.
benton.org/headlines/us-and-china-agree-not-conduct-economic-espionage-cyberspace | | White House Fact Sheet | brief guide from Vox
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FTC LOOKING AT COMPLAINTS OVER GOOGLE'S ANDROID CONTROL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brent Kendall, Alistair Barr]
Apparently, the Federal Trade Commission is looking at complaints that Google uses its Android operating system for smartphones to favor its search and services at the expense of rivals. The FTC’s examination of Android-related issues is in its early stages, and it isn’t clear the FTC will allocate significant resources to mount a detailed probe. The FTC hasn't contacted Google to ask questions related to a probe of Android, apparently. FTC officials have held meetings recently with app developers and other providers of online services who have complained about Google’s control over Android. Among the questions the FTC is exploring is whether Google uses Android to enhance its lead in online search.
benton.org/headlines/ftc-looking-complaints-over-googles-android-control | Wall Street Journal
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IS ANDROID A MONOPOLY
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Vlad Savov]
[Commentary] Does Android constitute an actual monopoly? Google doesn’t make any phones, and it doesn’t force Android on anyone — phone makers choose to ship devices with that software on board. Google also isn’t fully in control of Android, as evidenced by the hundreds of millions of Android smartphones being sold in China without Google’s apps or blessing. Android is famed as the open-source alternative to Apple’s closed iOS, and the two are locked in a healthy and balanced competition in the United States, with Google’s software claiming 59 percent of the market and Apple taking 38 percent. From a consumer perspective, it’s a fair fight with no monopoly in sight. The main thing that Google has any say over is which devices get to carry its Google apps and services. And if that’s a monopoly, then it seems like a just one: if you invest the time and money to develop sophisticated apps like Gmail, Chrome, Maps, and YouTube, then you should have the right to decide who gets to use them. Things grow more interesting, however, when you consider Google’s most important app of all: the Play Store. It is the portal through which the vast majority of Android apps are obtained, and it’s the only viable competitor to Apple’s App Store.
benton.org/headlines/android-monopoly | Verge, The
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FCC: OPEN SOURCE ROUTER SOFTWARE IS STILL LEGAL -- UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
With the Federal Communications Commission being criticized for rules that may limit a user’s right to install open source firmware on wireless routers, we’ve been trying to get more specifics from the FCC about its intentions. Despite an FCC guidance to router manufacturers that seems to ban open source firmware such as DD-WRT and OpenWRT, FCC spokesperson Charles Meisch said that there is in fact no such ban. But there are restrictions that in some cases could cause a manufacturer to decide to prevent the installation of third-party firmware. In fact, disabling the installation of third-party firmware by the user may be the easiest and most straightforward way for hardware makers to comply with the FCC's guidance. That guidance specifically requires manufacturers to prevent user modifications that cause radios to operate outside their licensed radio frequency parameters. The goal is to prevent interference with other systems by making sure devices only work within their allowed frequencies, types of modulation, and power levels. The FCC said its actions are meant to address “interference with FAA Doppler weather radar systems caused by modified devices” and other potential interference problems.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-open-source-router-software-still-legal-under-certain-conditions | Ars Technica
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HEY FCC, DON'T LOCK DOWN OUR WI-FI ROUTERS
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Kyle Wiens]
[Commentary] The future of countless open source wireless programs and projects might be in jeopardy. Proposed rules by the Federal Communications Commission have digital watchdogs and open source advocates worried that manufacturers will lock down routers, blocking the installation of third-party firmware -- including open source software like OpenWRT and DD-WRT. In March of 2014, the FCC updated its requirements for U-NII devices operating on the 5 Ghz bandwidth -- a designation that covers a wide range of Wi-Fi devices and routers. “In this particular case, this is about safety,” said William Lumpkins, Sr. Member IEEE, IEEE Sensors Council/SMC Standards Chair. It isn’t unusual, Lumpkins said, for the FCC to take steps to keep devices operating within their intended parameters. What is unusual, Lumpkins added, is for the FCC to call out -- by name -- specific software. This March, the FCC published a guideline to help manufacturers meet the new requirements for the hundreds of new routers and access points that hit the American market every single year. So, is the FCC mandating that manufacturers lock down the whole router—including its operating system? Not really. Yes, regulating the airwaves is important -- especially as more and more Wi-Fi-enabled devices explode onto the market. But encouraging manufacturers (even unintentionally) to lock down entire devices -- making every part of them, as opposed to just the radio, unmodifiable -- is the regulatory equivalent of using a rocket launcher to eliminate with a rat infestation. You might get the rats, but at what cost? In this case, I’m hoping that open source communities don’t wind up as collateral damage.
benton.org/headlines/hey-fcc-dont-lock-down-our-wi-fi-routers | Wired
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TURNS OUT OUR MOBILE BROADBAND IS AS MEDIOCRE AS OUR WIRELINE BROADBAND.
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] It is time once again for folks to file comments in the Federal Communications Commission annual Notice of Inquiry on the Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Services, aka the Section 706 Report (after Section 706 of the 1996 Act) aka the data (which along with FCC Form 477) which forms the basis for the FCC’s annual “State of the Broadband” report. 2015’s notice is particularly good, as (befitting a more mature broadband industry than we had when we started running this in 1998), so of course all those who would prefer we set the bar low enough to give ourselves a gold star for showing up hate it. Which makes these two reports on the state of broadband particularly timely. According to Akami, we rank 20th in global broadband speeds. Before the broadband industry and their cheerleaders counter that we have the best mobile broadband/most extensive LTE deployment in the world, I point to this new report from OpenSignal that finds we rank 54th in global mobile network speed. 20th and 54th. I’m so proud. USA! USA!
benton.org/headlines/turns-out-our-mobile-broadband-mediocre-our-wireline-broadband | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
NET NEUTRALITY AND CORPORATE SPEECH
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Do Washington's network neutrality rules run roughshod over the First Amendment? In a flurry of responses to that charge, defenders of the rules appear eager for the biggest showdown over the meaning of corporate speech since the Citizens United case. If the Citizens United case was about whether corporations could "speak" with money, this latest fight questions whether broadband providers can be said to "speak" with Internet data. The Federal Communications Commission's rules "deprive broadband providers of their editorial discretion by compelling them to transmit all lawful content, including Nazi hate speech, Islamic State videos, pornography, and political speech with which they disagree," according to a brief -- filed by network engineer Daniel Berninger and Alamo Broadband, a small, Texas-based Internet provider -- which also compares Internet providers to old-school newspapers and TV stations. But legal scholars who defend the FCC say that is the whole point of net neutrality. Internet providers shouldn't be the ones to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable content; their role is simply to transfer information without bias, wrote Zephyr Teachout, the New York-based law professor who ran for state governor in 2014. Joining her was Sascha Meinrath, founder of the Washington-based Open Technology Institute.
benton.org/headlines/network-neutrality-could-become-biggest-face-corporate-speech-citizens-united | Washington Post
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CONSUMER PROTECTION IN BROADBAND ERA: THE ROLE OF THE FCC
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Gigi Sohn]
The first goal of this talk is to demonstrate the breadth, importance and impact of the Federal Communications Commission's consumer protection activities. The FCC's role is akin to that of the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB, that new agency Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) stood up after the financial crisis. Like those agencies, the actions the FCC takes affect the everyday lives of ordinary Americans. The second goal of this talk is to discuss how our role and responsibilities complement other agencies, and debunk some common arguments that the FCC should be less active in the consumer protection game.
benton.org/headlines/consumer-protection-broadband-era-role-fcc | Federal Communications Commission
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OWNERSHIP
FCC MERGER REVIEWS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Jon Sallet]
At the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC), Federal Communications Commission General Counsel Jon Sallet spoke about the FCC’s merger review process: Our actions on big mergers and acquisitions have attracted a lot of comment and I’m proud of what we’ve achieved. But why did we come to the views that we’ve held? What were our theories and our core concerns? What forms of analysis did we employ? Some of that is in the public record, some is not. Let me take a few minutes to help you look within the mind of the FCC staff. The work of the FCC in connection with three recent transactions has demonstrated five important principles:
Facts and the core methodologies of antitrust are the starting place of the Commission’s analysis.
The broader legal standard entrusted to the Commission – namely the requirement that applicants demonstrate that their proposed transactions will further the public interest – is an appropriate means to look beyond the traditional strictures of the antitrust laws (most notably the Clayton Act).
The Commission closely examines public-interest commitments that applicants offer.
The Commission is putting in place strong mechanisms to ensure compliance with conditions.
The Commission brings particular expertise, especially in the economics and engineering of networks, that complements the expertise of antitrust agencies.
benton.org/headlines/federal-communications-commission-and-lessons-recent-mergers-and-acquisitions-reviews | Federal Communications Commission
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ELECTION 2016
LOCAL ECONOMIES IN THE DIGITAL AGE
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Alan Inouye]
[Commentary] The United States is a large and complex nation with many interests—from the Internet and innovation to immigration and Iran. But at the core, the nation’s strategic advantage is built on strong local communities and economies. That’s not a great revelation, but it’s not apparent thus far in the presidential campaign. Strength at the local level depends on strong community anchor institutions. These include libraries, boys and girls clubs, hospitals, schools, colleges and universities, religious organizations, and civic groups, all of which are even more important now as the nation undergoes foundational change resulting from the digital revolution. [Alan S. Inouye leads technology policy for the American Library Association.]
benton.org/headlines/presidential-candidates-local-economies-digital-age-deserve-attention | Benton Foundation
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
FROM RADIO TO PORN, BRITISH SPIES TRACK WEB USERS' ONLINE IDENTITIES
[SOURCE: The Intercept, AUTHOR: Ryan Gallagher]
A mass surveillance operation -- code-named KARMA POLICE -- was launched by British spies around 2008 without any public debate or scrutiny. It was just one part of a giant global Internet spying apparatus built by the United Kingdom’s electronic eavesdropping agency, Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. There was a simple aim at the heart of the top-secret program: Record the website browsing habits of “every visible user on the Internet.” Before long, billions of digital records about ordinary people’s online activities were being stored every day. Among them were details cataloging visits to porn, social media and news websites, search engines, chat forums, and blogs. The revelations about the scope of the British agency’s surveillance are contained in documents obtained by The Intercept from National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. Previous reports based on the leaked files have exposed how GCHQ taps into Internet cables to monitor communications on a vast scale, but many details about what happens to the data after it has been vacuumed up have remained unclear.
benton.org/headlines/radio-porn-british-spies-track-web-users-online-identities | Intercept, The
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"SNOWDEN TREATY" PROPOSED TO CURTAIL MASS SURVEILLANCE AND PROTECT WHISTLEBLOWERS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Glyn Moody]
A "Snowden Treaty" designed to counter mass surveillance and protect whistleblowers around the world has been proposed by Edward Snowden, and three of the people most closely associated with his leaks: the documentary film-maker Laura Poitras; David Miranda, who was detained at Heathrow airport, and is the Brazilian coordinator of the campaign to give asylum to Snowden in Brazil; and his partner, the journalist Glenn Greenwald. The "International Treaty on the Right to Privacy, Protection Against Improper Surveillance and Protection of Whistleblowers," to give it its full title, was launched Sept 24 in New York by Miranda, with Snowden and Greenwald speaking via video. According to a summary of the proposed treaty, nations that sign up to it will be "required to make changes to legislation and practices to end mass surveillance." Signatory states "must consider data protection and the right to privacy in all future programs and policies," while also strengthening the oversight of state surveillance, which is often very weak. They will need to "establish independent national supervision to ensure public transparency and accountability in their surveillance-related activities. They will also commit to undertaking comprehensive reviews of existing surveillance practices every 5 years, with their results made public."
benton.org/headlines/snowden-treaty-proposed-curtail-mass-surveillance-and-protect-whistleblowers | Ars Technica | Snowden Treaty
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SEARCH AND CENSOR
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Since European Union judges commanded Google to respect EU citizens’ “right to be forgotten,” the company has had to field tens of thousands of privacy requests from people who want their Google results cleaned up. The danger is obvious: Google, not to mention other companies, has little business incentive to do the right thing and err on the side of upholding public access to information when possible. It would be simpler and cheaper for Google and others in its business to acquiesce more often, regardless of how this would affect the public record. So far, the company seems to be conscientiously sorting through requests. But that could change. European requirements, moreover, are more of a barrier to accessing information than a guarantee of privacy, which would require more extensive regulation that would deeply undercut freedom of speech. News and other Web sites do not have to take down their content. Google just has to make it somewhat harder to find. In return for the deeply concerning precedent of Google adjusting its search results according to government dictates, and in return for the damage to the comprehensive nature of search results, Europeans aren’t even gaining all that much.
benton.org/headlines/search-and-censor | Washington Post
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FREE BASICS
[SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Annika Fredrikson]
In a speech at the United Nations on September 26, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described what he believes to be the solution to poverty: the Internet. He called for increased global internet access, announcing a partnership between Facebook and the UN to bring Internet access to refugee camps. “A ‘like’ or a post won’t stop a tank or a bullet, but when people are connected, we have a chance to build a common global community with a shared understanding,” Zuckerberg told the UN private sector forum. “That’s a powerful force.” Zuckerberg’s goal is ambitious. Within the next five years, Zuckerberg along with Microsoft’s Bill Gates and other tech leaders plan to bring the Internet to everyone in the world. Facebook announced that it was changing the name of its Internet.org app and mobile site to Free Basics.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2015/0927/Could-the-Internet-eradica...
Under fire, Facebook unveils “Free Basics,” the new name of Internet.org’s app (San Jose Mercury News)
benton.org/headlines/could-internet-eradicate-poverty-facebooks-free-basics-aims | Christian Science Monitor | San Jose Mercury News
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