BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, OCT 29, 2015
Today's Events:
ITIF Panel, "Crafting a Grand Bargain Out of Title II: Net Neutrality With Net Adoption" (see preview below): https://www.benton.org/node/228749
Economic Policy Institute and New America Foundation event, "Perspectives on the Sharing/Gig Economy": https://www.benton.org/node/229383
COMMISSIONER ROSENWORCEL NOMINATION HEARING
FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel Gets Thorough Re-vetting In Senate
FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel poised to get new term
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Crafting a Grand Bargain Alternative to Title II: Network Neutrality With Net Adoption - research
Decision on Universal Service Fund fees won't come amid Network Neutrality court battle
House Preps Raft of Broadband-Boosting Drafts
The Internet is getting less and less free
How the Internet’s most earnest evangelist became its fiercest critic
Exploring Google Fiber for Oklahoma City, Jacksonville and Tampa - press release [links to Benton summary]
Evan Marwell’s bold vision for broadband access for all US schools - San Francisco Chronicle editorial [links to Benton summary]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Privacy advocates slam passage of CISA [links to San Jose Mercury News]
How activists are forcing the White House to say where it stands on encryption
On the Need for More Effective Location Data Controls [links to International Association of Privacy Professionals]
ITIF’s Castro: To do business in Digital Age, US and EU must compromise on privacy [links to Hill, The]
Where Does Google Store Recordings Of My Commands? [links to National Public Radio]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC's Wheeler Gets Earful on LTE-U
This digital land rush could pit your cellular carrier against some surprising companies
Verizon Says New Network Just For Internet-Connected Devices Will Dramatically Cut Costs
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Local TV Stations Ready to PAC in Cash as Election Season Gears Up
The GOP Has a Tech Talent Problem It Might Not Solve
The most interesting thing about Donald Trump's thoughts on tech is how boring they are - Vox analysis [links to Benton summary]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Moving to “Regulatory Standard Time” for rapidly developing technology [links to Brookings]
COMMUNITY MEDIA
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Launches Online Reading Room Making Historical Public Media Content Available to the Public [links to Corporation for Public Broadcasting]
JOURNALISM
Breitbart brings its conservative take to tech journalism [links to Benton summary]
DIVERSITY
George Lucas Family Foundation Directs $10 Million for Diversity at USC School of Cinematic Arts [links to Variety]
How ‘Empire’ changed prime-time diversity for the better [links to New York Post]
CONTENT
Harvard’s Law School Library is creating a complete, searchable database of American case law that will be offered free on the Internet [links to New York Times]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Alphabet's Project Loon partnering with Indonesia telecoms for air balloon Wi-Fi test [links to Benton summary]
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COMMISSIONER ROSENWORCEL NOMINATION HEARING
ROSENWORCEL HEARING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel was prepared, and needed to be, as she fielded a host of questions at her re-nomination hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee. The senators were generally cordial but pressed her on issue after issue, for which the commissioner had answers at the ready. Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) opened the hearing by talking about the FCC’s Democratic majority's "polarizing" vote along party lines to "burden" the Internet with Title II regulation. Commissioner Rosenworcel faced questions from the Senate panel on FCC reform, broadcast incentive auctions, network neutrality, wireless spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, broadband subsidies, broadband speeds, broadband adoption, schools and library access, call completion, Universal Service Fund contribution reform, community broadband, connected cars, dig-once broadband deployment, and more.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-commissioner-rosenworcel-gets-thorough-re-vetting-senate | Broadcasting&Cable
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COMMISSIONER ROSENWORCEL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo, David McCabe]
Jessica Rosenworcel appears poised to win easy Senate approval for a new term on the Federal Communications Commission. She emerged from a re-nomination hearing with praise from lawmakers. "I don't foresee any reasons why she wouldn't move," Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) said after the hearing. Commission nominees usually move to the floor in pairs. A recent Republican opening at the Federal Trade Commission could be that match, but a new nominee has yet to be named.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-commissioner-rosenworcel-poised-get-new-term | Hill, The
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
NET NEUTRALITY AND NET ADOPTION
[SOURCE: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, AUTHOR: Doug Brake, Robert Atkinson]
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation believes Title II classification is a poor long-term solution to preserving the open Internet, not the unalloyed win some proponents claim. This report argues that both political parties and the various camps involved in the net neutrality and digital divide debates should seize the moment by coming together to support legislation that does several things:
Clarifies that broadband Internet access service is not a “telecommunications service” under Title II of the Communications Act;
Puts widely agreed-upon open Internet protections, including no-blocking, no-throttling, and transparency, on firmer legal ground;
Allows pro-competitive traffic differentiation for applications that require it, while preventing anticompetitive abuses of prioritization;
Gives the Federal Communications Commission reasonable, but bounded, jurisdiction to enforce open Internet rules and accelerate deployment of advanced telecommunications capabilities; and
Significantly expands the scope and funding of digital literacy and broadband adoption programs such as the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Adoption Toolkit, the administration’s ConnectHome initiative, a broadband-focused Lifeline program contemplated by the FCC, and initiatives to build out broadband in rural areas with no wired infrastructure.
benton.org/headlines/crafting-grand-bargain-alternative-title-ii-network-neutrality-net-adoption | Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
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USF AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
A decision on whether to start tacking Universal Service fees onto Internet customers’ bills has been delayed amid ongoing litigation over neworkt neutrality rules, according to a Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. During her re-confirmation hearing, Commissioner Rosenworcel said a decision from the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, on which she sits, will not come until there is more certainty about the classification of broadband Internet service. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) pressed her on whether the delay signaled a lack of confidence that the rules would be upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. "I have no crystal ball," Commissioner Rosenworcel said about the court's decision, adding that she has confidence in how the rules were written. But she said with resources "constrained" at the FCC, it would be prudent to hold off on a decision until there is more "legal certainty."
benton.org/headlines/decision-universal-service-fund-fees-wont-come-amid-network-neutrality-court-battle | Hill, The
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BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The House Communications Subcommittee spent over two hours going over myriad legislative proposals to remove barriers to broadband infrastructure deployment, including streamlining permitting, making it easier to string wires on polls—by extending mandatory access provisions of telecom law to access to poles on federal lands—"dig once" mandates, and much more. They include a pole attachments bill discussion draft, H.R. 3805, the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act of 2015, a "dig once" bill to insure fiber conduit gets deployed whenever roads are built with federal funds, a Historical Review of Broadband Facilities Discussion Draft, an Agencies Locate Broadband Facilities Discussion Draft, a GSA Deadlines Discussion Draft, and an Inventory of Federal Assets Discussion Draft. Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) suggested the bills could still use improvement, but that they were bipartisan proposals that could help boost infrastructure deployment by cutting down on "uncertainty and delay." That includes by requiring a government database of federal infrastructure assets, and requiring access to poles on federal lands at a statutorily regulated rate. Together, the bills are "intended to improve and streamlining government processes," said Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA). She called them all "really terrific ideas," and pushed for packaging them together and passing them as one bill. She said collectively, the bills "would put a dent in the problem that we have."
benton.org/headlines/house-preps-raft-broadband-boosting-drafts | Broadcasting&Cable | The Hill
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THE INTERNET IS GETTING LESS AND LESS FREE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brain Fung]
Surveillance, attacks on digital speech, outright censorship and imprisonment are making the Internet less and less free, an annual Freedom House study has concluded. The organization's latest Internet freedom report marks the fifth year in a row that digital civil liberties around the world have been curtailed. Of the 65 countries Freedom House looked at, 29 percent are considered "not free," while even fewer -- 27 percent -- are said to have a "free" Internet. In other words, there are now more countries with an un-free Internet than there are countries with a free Internet. In the United States and Europe, political battles over encrypted Internet traffic cast a shadow over the free and open Web, according to Freedom House. Tech companies have accused law enforcement of trying to undermine user privacy and security by demanding that they install "back doors" into their software; authorities argue that the concessions are necessary to fight crime and terrorism. Freedom House calculates its index as a composite of several factors, such as the amount of access to Internet a country enjoys, the extent to which authorities restrict content on the Web, and whether the government punishes Internet users.
benton.org/headlines/internet-getting-less-and-less-free | Washington Post
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HOW THE INTERNET'S MOST EARNEST EVANGELIST BECAME ITS FIERCEST CRITIC
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Caitlin Dewey]
Jonathan Harris has spent much of his time lately doing two things: writing computer code and meditating. Code is old hat to Harris, an acclaimed digital artist and in-demand TED-talker, who learned to program at Princeton in the late-’90s. The marathon Zen meditations are, however, a more recent addition: Harris’ latest, ever more desperate attempt to reclaim his mind from his Macbook screen. To hear Harris tell it, it’s a battle that he’s waged, on and off, for the past seven years, ever since his early, unbridled optimism about the Internet’s potential began scoring him commissions and high-paid speaking gigs. The Internet is still his medium today. In early October, he released Network Effect, his first major project in two years. But where his earlier work celebrated big data and social networking, Network Effect pans both as dystopian. “I don’t want to suggest that some moments are more valuable than others,” Harris said on the phone from New York, where he and his meditation-guru girlfriend are about to catch a plane to Australia. “However, I would say the mindset we inhabit on the Internet is a mindset that stops us from seeing moments as sacred.” “Staring at a glowing rectangle,” he’ll say several times, “is no way to live.”
benton.org/headlines/how-internets-most-earnest-evangelist-became-its-fiercest-critic | Washington Post
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
HOW ACTIVISTS ARE FORCING THE WHITE HOUSE TO SAY WHERE IT STANDS ON ENCRYPTION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Andrea Peterson]
A petition calling for President Barack Obama to support strong encryption and "reject any law, policy or mandate" that would undermine digital security reached 100,000 signatures on Oct 27, the level at which the White House has said it will respond. The petition was organized by privacy activists at Access Now and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and endorsed by more than 50 groups and companies, including tech heavy hitters, such as Google and Microsoft. The action relied on the "We the People" platform, a public engagement tool from the White House that promises to respond to petitions that reach a certain number of signatures -- right now that's 100,000.
benton.org/headlines/how-activists-are-forcing-white-house-say-where-it-stands-encryption | Washington Post
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC'S WHEELER GETS EARFUL ON LTE-U
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Cable chief technology officers, joined by executives from Google and Microsoft, met with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to argue that before LTE-U technologies are employed in unlicensed spectrum bands, also used by cable Wi-Fi hot spots, there must be rigorous standards to insure the technology does not impair Wi-Fi. LTE-U is a way for telecommunication companies to offer their own offload of wireless broadband similar to Cable's Wi-Fi play for wired broadband. Cable operators have argued that standards first need to be in place to prevent the new technology from interfering with existing Wi-Fi, currently their major mobile broadband play, while wireless companies insist it has been tested already, that the two can co-exist, and LTE-U and license assisted access (LAA), which is a licensed-spectrum assisted version, should roll out ASAP. The cable CTO's, including from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter, and Cablevision, and the computer company executives told Chairman Wheeler and his aides that they don't oppose LTE-U, but that it has so far "avoided the long-proven standards-setting process and would substantially degrade consumer Wi-Fi service across the country." Backers of LTE-U, who have formed a coalition to push for the technology and include wireless companies and Qualcomm, say they have tested the technology and that it won't interfere with Wi-Fi.
benton.org/headlines/fccs-wheeler-gets-earful-lte-u | Broadcasting&Cable
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THIS DIGITAL LAND RUSH COULD PIT YOUR CELLULAR CARRIER AGAINST SOME SURPRISING COMPANIES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Some of the biggest technology companies in America will soon need to make a choice: How deeply invested do they want to be in wireless technology? As policymakers in Washington inch closer to launching a historic auction of wireless airwaves, these companies face a new opportunity to expand their role in America's mobile ecosystem. Washington policymakers have pitched the auction primarily to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile as a way they can upgrade their LTE data networks, which consumers are flocking to at a prodigious pace. But companies outside the industry could easily disrupt those plans by competing for the valuable frequencies themselves. Business executives and analysts are now openly speculating about who could become a spoiler in the auction. Whether it's Amazon, Comcast or Google, surprise players from a range of industries could frustrate the cellular carriers' ambitious expansion plans -- and gain a foothold in one of the most valuable parts of the radio spectrum that's ever been put up for sale. In short, you can expect that what was already going to be an intense bidding war for scarce frequencies is only going to get hotter.
benton.org/headlines/digital-land-rush-could-pit-your-cellular-carrier-against-some-surprising-companies | Washington Post
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VERIZON’S NEW 4G NETWORK
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Ina Fried]
Verizon announced it is building an entirely new 4G LTE network core specifically designed for small devices that need occasional bits of data, but not enough to justify the cost of a traditional cellular connection. The problem with just connecting them to today’s cellular core networks is that they aren’t cost effective for very infrequent connections. That’s why today, almost all cellular-connected devices cost at least several dollars per month, regardless of carrier. Essentially, each device connected to the cell network is treated like another phone or tablet, even given the equivalent of a phone number (or, in some cases, an actual phone number). The high minimum monthly cost is one big barrier to adding more devices to the cell network, with the other being the cost of the module needed in each device. Verizon said it is making progress there, showing off a module that it says halves the cost of adding LTE to an Internet-connected device. Verizon Senior VP Michael Lanman promised that Verizon and its partners would be able to halve the cost again in 2016.
benton.org/headlines/verizon-says-new-network-just-internet-connected-devices-will-dramatically-cut-costs | Revere Digital
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
LOCAL TV STATIONS READY TO PAC IN CASH AS ELECTION SEASON GEARS UP
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Cynthia Littleton]
On Oct 15, executives from Tribune Broadcasting’s 42 TV stations around the country gathered at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington (DC), for a day of workshops, seminars and insights from guest speakers on the biggest money-making opportunity for many local TV stations over the next 12 months: political advertising. Television’s quadrennial gold rush is on, and promises to be fiercer and richer than ever. A perfect storm of conditions is driving a leap in TV spending that is projected to hit $4.4 billion for the 2016 election cycle, encompassing federal and state races, up from $3.8 billion in 2012, according to Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group. This political spending surge has helped drive the burst of mergers and acquisitions activity among TV station owners during the past three years. With billions of dollars up for grabs over a short period of time, broadcasters like Tribune and others are intensifying their sales efforts, and in some cases centralizing the process, in order to make the most effective pitches possible to the political class.
benton.org/headlines/local-tv-stations-ready-pac-cash-election-season-gears | Variety
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THE GOP HAS A TECH TALENT PROBLEM IT MIGHT NOT SOLVE
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Issie Lapowsky]
Scott Walker's withdrawal from the 2016 presidential race in Sept was tough on staffers like Matt Oczkowski -- as it turns out, tougher than he thought. Back in July, Walker looked like a GOP frontrunner. Knowing how critical tech was to President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election, the Walker campaign invested early in tech and digital talent. So when Walker’s funding dried up, and he announced that he was pulling out of the race, Oczkowski fully expected the whole tech and digital staff would be scooped up by another campaign. But that never happened. For Oczkowski, that was sign -- a sign that the rest of the GOP field isn’t building and prioritizing tech as vigorously as the Democrats are. “It’s what everyone should be doing,” he says. “It’s certainly what Hillary’s doing.” For the GOP, on the other hand, the tech talent appears to be spread thin.
benton.org/headlines/gop-has-tech-talent-problem-it-might-not-solve | Wired
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