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October 2015

Commissioner Clyburn at the FCC-Mayo Clinic Broadband Health Summit

Earlier, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler spoke about the impact of infrastructure networks and the potential of broadband networks to enable integrated, collaborative and comprehensive “smart” health systems. As important as these future systems could be, the Chairman and I do not believe them to be the goal. Said another way, it is not about the systems, but rather, how these systems empower consumers.

Broadband can serve as a bridge between this expanding chasm of diminishing resources and increasing need. Not only can it serve to connect needs to resources, but by interconnecting systems, broadband can be a force-multiplier to achieve positive health outcomes. Bottom line -- “smart” health systems enabled by robust wired and wireless broadband networks could significantly improve consumer health management and care giving experiences and usher in an era of “smart care” which today is simply not possible.

Eutelsat and Facebook to partner on satellite initiative to get more Africans online

Eutelsat Communications and Facebook announce they are partnering on a new initiative that will leverage satellite technologies to get more Africans online. Under a multi-year agreement with Spacecom, the two companies will utilise the entire broadband payload on the future AMOS-6 satellite and will build a dedicated system comprising satellite capacity, gateways and terminals.

In providing reach to large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, Eutelsat and Facebook will each be equipped to pursue their ambition to accelerate data connectivity for the many users deprived of the economic and social benefits of the Internet. Scheduled for start of service in the second half of 2016, the Ka-band payload on the AMOS-6 geostationary satellite is configured with high gain spot beams covering large parts of West, East and Southern Africa. The capacity is optimised for community and Direct-to-User Internet access using affordable, off-the-shelf customer equipment. According to the terms of the agreement, the capacity will be shared between Eutelsat and Facebook.

Cuba’s really terrible Internet, explained

Cuba has some of the worst Internet access in the world, with just 5 percent of Cubans able to access the uncensored web. Since the communist revolution of 1959, the Castro regime has enforced a strict ban on all forms of information flow that challenge official policy and history. Enforcing such censorship has been relatively easy for an island nation that has a monopoly over all media outlets. But when the Internet arrived in the 1990s, it complicated matters for the Castros.

Connecting to the web in Cuba has historically been a matter of money and power. Some government insiders have dial-up internet in their homes. But for the rest of population, getting online has meant paying around $9 for one hour of internet access in state-run internet cafes. This in a place where an average salary is just over $20 per month. Alternative methods include poaching wireless internet from hotels, which can be done if one person gets his hands on the Wi-Fi password and shares it. Many hotels in Havana now have security guards whose responsibility consists of shooing away these Internet parasites from the sidewalks and benches surrounding the hotels.

Speeding FCC Approval of Technological Innovation

[Commentary] A lot of new products use the buzzwords “wireless connectivity.” In old-fashioned English, they have radio transmitters. This means they must go through an Federal Communications Commission approval process before they can be sold to the public. The FCC understandably writes its technical rules around existing technologies. A device made to comply with those rules can get quick authorization, even if intended for a new application. Sometimes, though, the underlying technology is so novel that the existing rules do not reasonably apply, making compliance with those rules impossible. Such a device requires individualized attention from the FCC before it can reach the market. For a new and different radio technology, the approval process usually takes years -- delays that can seriously impede innovation. More than once, a client has approached me with a concept for a new kind of radio device; but when I explained how long FCC approval would take and what it would cost, the client abandoned the idea. Other clients started the process but ran out of time and money along the way. Even when it ultimately succeeds, FCC approval adds hard-to-predict costs and delays to ventures that already carry inherently high risk.

Surely there must be ways by which the proponent of a new technology can secure FCC approval more quickly. These are set out below. Some work better than others in particular situations. The greatest improvements, though, will need a handful of changes in how the FCC goes about implementing its procedures.

October 5, 2015 (The Future of the Internet Is Flow)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2015

Robbie's Round-Up for September 28-October 2, 2015

INTERNET/BROADBAND/TELECOM
   Advocates Call Broadband Recommendations 'A Good Start'
   NTCA, COMPTEL want FCC to improve Lifeline verification process
   For Years, the Pentagon Hooked Everything to the Internet. Now, it's a 'Big, big problem'
   Behind AT&T’s Switched Ethernet Over U-verse Launch
   Government Broadband Monopolies Bad For Consumers - Steve Pociask op-ed
   AT&T testing fixed wireless local loop services with speeds of 15-25 Mbps [links to Benton summary]

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
   Wireless Industry Announces New Effort to Help Consumers Combat Stolen Smartphones and Protect Personal Information - CTIA press release
   FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler On New Effort To Help Consumers Combat Stolen Cell Phones - FCC press release
   AT&T testing fixed wireless local loop services with speeds of 15-25 Mbps [links to Benton summary]

OWNERSHIP
   Charter may need to build “gigabit” networks for New York to approve deal
   FTC Chairwoman Ramirez speech on The Horizontal Merger Guidelines Five Years Later [links to Federal Trade Commission]
   NBC talks with WHDH-TV could bring shake-up to Boston TV [links to Benton summary]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton dominate Facebook in early states [links to Politico]

TELEVISION/RADIO
   FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly at "FCC Experts Talk Radio" - speech
   Sen Schumer to FCC: Hands Off Broadcast Exclusivity Rules [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
   Cord Cutting? Analyst Predicts Slower Pay-TV Losses [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
   Special Section in New York Times: TV Transformed [links to New York Times]

CONTENT
   The Future of the Internet Is Flow - op-ed
   Copyright Royalty Board Sets Rates and Terms of Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings and Ephemeral Recordings for 2016-2020 [links to Copyright Royalty Board]
   California libel protection now covers online publications [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
   New York Times Editorial: Rein In Online Fantasy Sports Gambling [links to New York Times]

CYBERSECURITY
   State Department Cyber Coordinator: We don’t want a cyberarms treaty
   Missouri schools to undergo cybersecurity audit [links to Kansas City Star]

PRIVACY
   Here’s a way the government can easily get your phone records without even asking a judge — and few people know about it
   California Attorney General Kamala Harris is making start-up Houzz hire a 'chief privacy officer' [links to Los Angeles Times]

POLICYMAKERS
   UC San Diego Research Group Named Independent Measurement Expert for AT&T-DIRECTV - FCC public notice
   FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai on FCC's "Wall Street Goodwill Tour" - press release
   Why I’m bringing the US Digital Service to the Department of Homeland Security - Eric Hysen op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   FTC Chairwoman Ramirez Calls for “Targeted” Regulation of Uber, Airbnb [links to National Journal]

COMPANY NEWS
   Sprint Expected to Cut Jobs, Up to $2.5 Billion in Costs [links to Wall Street Journal]
   Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Becomes Alphabet’s ‘Do the Right Thing’ [links to Wall Street Journal]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   EU antitrust chief: We're not biased against US companies [links to Benton summary]
   Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal Within Reach, Officials Say [links to Wall Street Journal]

MORE ONLINE
   Politicians Turn to Start-Ups for Grasp of ‘Gig Economy’ [links to New York Times]
   Silicon Valley job market strongest in US [links to San Jose Mercury News]

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INTERNET/BROADBAND/TELECOM

ADVOCATES CALL BROADBAND RECOMMENDATIONS ‘A GOOD START’
[SOURCE: Daily Yonder, AUTHOR: Tim Marema]
A Cabinet-level council (The Broadband Opportunity Council) released a report on ways the Obama Administration can do a better job to support broadband for low-income and rural communities. The recommendations are good but need to go further to encourage and support small communities, advocates say. The recommendations would make adjustments in programs such as the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service and the Department of Commerce’s New Market Tax Credits. Rural broadband advocates praised the Broadband Opportunity Council’s recommendations, though some expressed disappointment that the administration couldn’t do more to support broadband in rural areas. “These actions and reforms are heading in the right direction,” said Christopher Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. “But we need to go in that direction much faster.” The recommendations show that the president “is more serious about expanding broadband in rural areas than Congress,” Mitchell said. “Unfortunately, the kind and amount of funding that needs to be available – ideally in the form of loans for co-ops and municipal networks – need to come from Congress.” Communications scholar Sharon Strover, a University of Texas at Austin professor, said the report could have placed more emphasis on making broadband affordable. “What a lot of our research suggests is that two factors figure in explaining why people don’t use broadband connections: affordability and lack of interest,” Strover said. “I don’t really see much in the report that grapples with affordability.”
benton.org/headlines/advocates-call-broadband-recommendations-good-start | Daily Yonder
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NTCA, COMPTEL WANT FCC TO IMPROVE LIFELINE VERIFICATION PROCESS
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Sean Buckley]
COMPTEL and NTCA said in separate Federal Communications Commission filings that the regulator should work to alleviate service providers from the burden of having to verify Lifeline service recipients. One of the issues COMPTEL raises on the Lifeline program is foregoing an electronic signature requirement for recipients. The organization agrees with the joint commenters that consumers understand the legal validity of consenting in an electronic format by clicking an "I ACCEPT" button. Joint commenters said by requiring additional safeguards would be "unnecessary, burdensome and ultimately harmful to Lifeline subscribers because such a change would fail to treat them like non-low-income consumers interacting with the digital economy." Taking it a step further, NTCA says the FCC should not require service providers -- particularly smaller rural telecommunications companies that have limited staff -- to have to oversee the Lifeline eligibility approval process.
benton.org/headlines/ntca-comptel-want-fcc-improve-lifeline-verification-process | Fierce
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FOR YEARS, THE PENTAGON HOOKED EVERYTHING TO THE INTERNET. NOW, IT’S A ‘BIG, BIG PROBLEM’
[SOURCE: Defense One, AUTHOR: Patrick Tucker]
Once upon a time, very smart people in the Pentagon believed that connecting sensitive networks, expensive equipment, and powerful weapons to the open Internet was a swell idea. This ubiquitous connectivity among devices and objects -- what we now call the Internet of Things -- would allow them to collect performance data to help design new weapons, monitor equipment remotely, and realize myriad other benefits. The risks were less assiduously catalogued. That strategy has spread huge vulnerabilities across the Defense Department, its networks, and much of what the defense industry has spent the last several decades creating. But in a world where such public interfaces are points of vulnerability, Adm Michael Rogers, the commander of Cyber Command, said adversaries develop strategies based on stealing Pentagon data, and then fashion copycat weapons like China’s J-31 fighter. "That’s where we find ourselves now. So one of the things I try to remind people is: it took us decades to get here. We are not going to fix this set of problems in a few years,” Adm Rogers said. “We have to prioritize it, figure out where is the greatest vulnerability.”
benton.org/headlines/years-pentagon-hooked-everything-internet-now-its-big-big-problem | Defense One
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BEHIND AT&T'S SWITCHED ETHERNET OVER U-VERSE LAUNCH
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
AT&T announced that it was doubling its switched Ethernet service footprint -- a goal the company was able to achieve by making switched Ethernet available over its Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPON)-based U-verse infrastructure. A company spokesperson said that the service will be available at six asymmetrical speeds ranging between 3 Mbps downstream/ 1 Mbps upstream and 45 Mbps/ 6 Mbps, as well as two symmetrical speeds of 2 Mbps or 4 Mbps bi-directionally. The switched Ethernet service will be available everywhere AT&T offers U-verse, the spokesperson said. Although it is quite common for smaller network operators to offer business and residential data services over GPON infrastructure, larger carriers traditionally have kept those networks separate -- within the access network, at least. As AT&T’s announcement illustrates, however, the larger carriers could have a lot to gain by rethinking that approach. At higher speeds in particular, traditional methods of delivering switched Ethernet may require running a dedicated fiber from the customer premises to the central office. But by leveraging GPON infrastructure, a carrier may be able to minimize the amount of fiber it must deploy to connect a business customer -- even for some relatively high-bandwidth services.
benton.org/headlines/behind-atts-switched-ethernet-over-u-verse-launch | telecompetitor
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GOVERNMENT BROADBAND MONOPOLIES
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Steve Pociask]
[Commentary] On September 21st, President Barack Obama’s Broadband Opportunity Council released its first report. The council outlined four main recommendations for promoting broadband, but the council’s report was also notable for what it left out – any specific mention of municipally-run broadband services. The omission was particularly stunning considering the Federal Communications Commission voted to overturn municipal broadband laws in North Carolina and Tennessee, a move that will allow government-owned networks (GONs) in that state to expand. President Obama also promoted municipal broadband networks in advance of his State of the Union in January. Perhaps the members of the Broadband Opportunity Council, understand the risks associated with GONs better than the President’s White House advisers, or certain members of the FCC. For policymakers looking to advance broadband in their city, county or state, the White House’s Broadband Opportunity Council offers some suggestions. Those options include streamlining the permitting process for new broadband projects and expanding federal support for broadband investments. Those options are worthy ones to consider, and ones that will truly result in better competitive options for consumers. The Council’s omission of GONs as one of the options is correct. We should avoid broadband at government speeds.
[Pociask is president and CEO of the American Consumer Institute]
benton.org/headlines/government-broadband-monopolies-bad-consumers | Fortune
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

CTIA AND PARTICIPATING WIRELESS COMPANIES ANNOUNCE NEW EFFORT TO HELP CONSUMERS COMBAT STOLEN SMARTPHONES AND PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION
[SOURCE: CTIA, AUTHOR: Press release]
CTIA-The Wireless Association and participating wireless companies announced a new effort to update the Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment and encourage the widespread adoption of anti-theft tools, which will be made available on all smartphones at no cost to US consumers, as of July 2016. This is in direct response to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler’s request to update the Commitment. The Commitment updates promote the widest possible adoption of anti-theft tools while respecting the importance of consumer choice and privacy. In addition, CTIA developed a list of apps to locate, erase and/or lock, many of which are free, for the various operating systems. CTIA also created step-by-step video instructions on how to set up a PIN/password on various mobile devices.
benton.org/headlines/ctia-and-participating-wireless-companies-announce-new-effort-help-consumers-combat-stolen | CTIA
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FCC CHAIRMAN TOM WHEELER ON NEW EFFORT TO HELP CONSUMERS COMBAT STOLEN CELL PHONES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Tom Wheeler]
CTIA-The Wireless Association and its members understand that smart-device theft remains a serious problem. Their enhanced voluntary commitment to adopt anti-theft features and educate consumers demonstrates their resolve in combatting it. I am encouraged that the industry has taken action in response to the recommendations recently submitted by the Federal Communications Commission Technical Advisory Committee’s stolen phones working group, and I am hopeful that this new voluntary commitment will make a meaningful difference for consumer safety. As the enhanced commitment recognizes, these solutions work only if they are adopted widely. The FCC will remain vigilant in this area by pushing for further improvements to the theft-prevention toolbox, and also by monitoring closely whether the efforts of industry and others are producing meaningful results.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-tom-wheeler-new-effort-help-consumers-combat-stolen-cell-phones | Federal Communications Commission
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OWNERSHIP

CHARTER-TWC IN NEW YORK
[SOURCE: Times Union, AUTHOR: Larry Rulison]
New York state regulators are suggesting Charter Communications should build “gigabit” Internet networks in the state’s largest markets as part of the company’s $55 billion proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable. The suggestion was included in a Sept. 16 report by staff at the state Public Service Commission, which is reviewing the merger as part of its regulation of the utility markets in New York. Charter, which is already planning to sell Internet service that is faster and cheaper than Time Warner Cable’s existing plans, threw cold water on the idea of being forced to build out gigabit networks across the state. In a filing made with the commission, Charter’s lawyers argued that federal law prohibited the government from dictating which technologies or Internet speeds a cable company offers the public. “There is no reason for the commission to take the unprecedented step of conditioning its approval of this transaction on the provision of certain minimum broadband speeds,” Charter wrote. Charter spokesman Justin Venich says the company’s plans for the state already include bringing Internet speeds of 100 Mbps or higher to upstate customers within two and a half years as it converts to an all-digital network, a move in line with the Cuomo administration’s goal to have universal 100 Mbps Internet service in place by the end of 2018.
benton.org/headlines/charter-may-need-build-gigabit-networks-new-york-approve-deal | Times Union
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BROADCASTING

FCC COMMISSIONER MICHAEL O'RIELLY AT "FCC EXPERTS TALK RADIO"
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly]
Broadcasting in general, and radio in particular, are on everyone's mind at the Federal Communications Commission. Topics like pirate radio enforcement, AM revitalization, and other reforms to lighten regulatory burdens on the industry are finally on their way to receiving proper attention. As many of you know my thoughts on the subject of private radio are pretty clear cut. I view the protection of licensed spectrum from harmful interference as one of the fundamental obligations of the FCC. Far from being cute, harmless, or even somehow useful, pirate radio represents an attack on the integrity of our airwaves. Let me turn to the state of AM radio, and the FCC's efforts to revitalize the band. The good news is that the wait is almost over and the FCC is preparing to make some decisions; the band news -- and I am only referencing press reports because I am prohibited from sharing the contents of any circulating item -- is that not all of the previously proposed fixes are in play. If these reports are accurate, certain people at the FCC oppose an AM-only translator window through which AM stations could obtain translators to operate in the FM band.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-commissioner-michael-orielly-fcc-experts-talk-radio | Federal Communications Commission
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CONTENT

FLOW
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: David Gelernter, Eric Freeman]
[Commentary] The conventional website is “space-organized.” Instead it might have been “time-organized,” like a parade. We go to the Internet for many reasons, but most often to discover what’s new. Today, time-based structures, flowing data—in streams, feeds, blogs—increasingly dominate the Web. Flow has become the basic organizing principle of the cybersphere. The trend is widely understood, but its implications aren’t. Your future home page—the screen you go to first on your phone, laptop or TV—is a bouquet of your favorite streams from all over. News streams are blended with shopping streams, blogs, your friends’ streams, each running at its own speed. This home stream includes your personal stream as part of the blend—emails, documents and so on. Your home stream is just one tiny part of the world stream. You can see your home stream in 3-D on your laptop or desktop, in constant motion on your phone or as a crawl on your big TV. By watching one stream, you watch the whole world—all the public and private events you care about. To keep from being overwhelmed, you adjust each stream’s flow rate when you add it to your collection.
[Gelernter is a professor of computer science at Yale. Freeman is a founder of WickedlySmart]
benton.org/headlines/future-internet-flow | Wall Street Journal
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CYBERSECURITY

CYBERARMS TREATY
[SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Anna Mulrine]
State Department Cyber Coordinator Chris Painter said the US is still grappling with basic definitions in the digital realm – such as, what constitutes a cyberweapon – complicating the idea of a formal accord to control their use.
benton.org/headlines/state-department-cyber-coordinator-we-dont-want-cyberarms-treaty | Christian Science Monitor
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PRIVACY

ADMINISTRATIVE SUBPOENA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jerry Markon]
It is a way for the federal government to easily obtain your phone and other records. Few people know about it. And when you get one, there’s not much you can do to fight it. The administrative subpoena is a tool that lawyers and former government officials say federal agencies are increasingly turning to as a way to force people and companies to turn over personal records and other documents. The catch: it doesn’t require the prior approval of a judge. The device has become increasingly common in recent years. “Their use is rampant,” said one D.C. lawyer, a former federal law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he now represents corporations and isn’t allowed to speak to the press. “There are a lot of lawyers in this town, and it’s given us a ton of business.”
benton.org/headlines/heres-way-government-can-easily-get-your-phone-records-without-even-asking-judge-and-few | Washington Post
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POLICYMAKERS

INDEPENDENT MEASUREMENT EXPERT IDENTIFIED FOR AT&T-DIRECTV MERGER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
On July 24, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission approved the applications of AT&T and DIRECTV for consent to the transfer of control of various licenses and other authorizations from DIRECTV to AT&T. In order to address the potential harms posed and to confirm certain benefits offered by the transaction, the merged entity was subject to certain conditions. The FCC decision requires that, within 60 days of the closing date of the transaction, an Independent Measurement Expert be identified who will be responsible for establishing a schedule and the methodology for the merged entity to report certain performance characteristics of traffic exchanged at Internet Interconnection Points located within the United States. The Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), a research group at University of California at San Diego, has been identified as the Independent Measurement Expert. CAIDA is a collaborative undertaking among organizations in the commercial, government, and research sectors that aims to promote greater cooperation in the engineering and maintenance of a robust, scalable global Internet infrastructure. CAIDA was identified as the Independent Measurement Expert by an agreement between AT&T and the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, which has approved the selection.
benton.org/headlines/uc-san-diego-research-group-named-independent-measurement-expert-att-directv | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI ON FCC'S "WALL STREET GOODWILL TOUR"
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai]
It has recently been reported that the Federal Communications Commission is planning to conduct a “goodwill tour” on Wall Street in the coming days. At first, I thought that this must have been a clever bit of satire. But apparently, it isn’t. According to one press account, this tour will be an “attempt to message that the Commission is still ‘open for business’ and not hostile to the industries it regulates.” With broadband providers’ capital expenditures falling, widespread concerns about the design of the incentive auction, and an enforcement scheme unconstrained by the rule of law, the Commission shouldn’t be focused on better marketing. What’s needed are better policies -- policies that make economic sense, that spur greater investment in and deployment of broadband infrastructure, and that give entrepreneurs the certainty they need to innovate and succeed.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-commissioner-ajit-pai-fccs-wall-street-goodwill-tour | Federal Communications Commission
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Here’s a way the government can easily get your phone records without even asking a judge — and few people know about it

It is a way for the federal government to easily obtain your phone and other records. Few people know about it. And when you get one, there’s not much you can do to fight it.

The administrative subpoena is a tool that lawyers and former government officials say federal agencies are increasingly turning to as a way to force people and companies to turn over personal records and other documents. The catch: it doesn’t require the prior approval of a judge. The device has become increasingly common in recent years. “Their use is rampant,” said one D.C. lawyer, a former federal law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he now represents corporations and isn’t allowed to speak to the press. “There are a lot of lawyers in this town, and it’s given us a ton of business.”

State Department Cyber Coordinator: We don’t want a cyberarms treaty

State Department Cyber Coordinator Chris Painter said the US is still grappling with basic definitions in the digital realm – such as, what constitutes a cyberweapon – complicating the idea of a formal accord to control their use.

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