November 2015

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015

See Benton's Weekly Round-up newsletter https://www.benton.org/headlines/weekly-roundup

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   These 3 judges hold the fate of the Internet in their hands
   Income disparities holding back US Internet adoption - analysis
   Towards Digital Constitutionalism? Mapping Attempts to Craft an Internet Bill of Rights - research
   While 6th Circuit Reviews Appeal, Organized Attack Begins In House
   Sens Daines, Capito, King Call on FCC to Increase Transparency, Enforcement for Rural Broadband Funding - press release
   FCC’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee Releases Lifeline Reform Recommendations - public notice
   Connect America Fund Broadband Support for Rural Carriers Could Vary Based on Density
   Comcast, Time Warner Cable get 71 Percent of new Internet subscribers
   Alcatel-Lucent sees 'major breakthrough' in tech for 1,000Tbps speeds [links to ZDNet]
   Book Review: How the Internet Became Commercial by Shane Greenstein [links to Wall Street Journal]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   TV networks unite to fight Trump’s restriction on journalists’ access
   Watchdog asks for criminal probe of conservatives tied to nonprofit
   Conservative media offer a VERY different take on what Trump supporters did to that Black Lives Matter activist [links to Benton summary]
   The media has no idea how to deal with Donald Trump's constant lying - analysis [links to Benton summary]
   Donald Trump is leading an increasingly fact-free 2016 campaign [links to Washington Post]
   Beltway Media Still Buried In Denial About Trump And Today's Fox News GOP - Eric Boehlert editorial [links to Benton summary]
   How Conservative Talk Radio Is Informing the GOP’s Presidential Race [links to Benton summary]
   Trump uses Instagram to attack Clinton [links to Washington Post]
   What the turn from polls to data science means for democracy - analysis [links to Benton summary]
   On encryption, Hillary Clinton tells Silicon Valley to be a team player [links to C-Net|News.com]
   Frontier challenges AT&T, Google Fiber in Durham with fiber, copper-based video bundles [links to Fierce]

OWNERSHIP
   Dish continues to hammer on Charter-TWC-Bright House merger

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   Despite Bluster, Push to Crack Encryption Faces Long Odds in Congress [links to National Journal]
   The secret American origins of Telegram, the encrypted messaging app favored by ISIS [links to Benton summary]
   A New Pentagon Website Can Tell If You Were Hacked By China [links to National Journal]
   The government has protected your security and privacy better than you think - op-ed

DIVERSITY
   Women changing Silicon Valley from the top

EDUCATION
   The Slowest Internet in Mississippi [links to Benton summary]
   'They Rake Us Over the Coals' [links to Benton summary]
   'Washington Gave Us Leverage' [links to Benton summary]
   Op-ed: Are schools really wasting money on computers? [links to eSchool News]

TELEVISION
   Big bang: The coming upheaval in local TV - op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   How the FCC's TV spectrum auction could play out in San Antonio - op-ed [links to Benton summary]

CONTENT
   Google now receives more than 2 million piracy takedown requests a day [links to Benton summary]
   Fox, Time Warner, Comcast Dragged Into Legal Mess Surrounding Daily Fantasy Sports [links to ZDNet]

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
   When 911 Operators Can't Find Their Callers [links to Benton summary]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Google seeks temporary license for 27.9-28 GHz experiments [links to Benton summary]
   Chetan Sharma: Verizon and AT&T making $17/subscriber per month in 2015, while T-Mobile and Sprint are losing $0.39 [links to Fierce]
   Google seeks temporary license for 27.9-28 GHz experiments [links to Benton summary]

TRANSPORTATION
   Feds tell railroads they must meet deadlines for live-saving technology [links to Washington Post]

HEALTH
   Technology is revolutionizing our understanding and treatment of disease [links to McKinsey]

FCC REFORM
   Eroding the Rule of Law: Regulation as Cooperative Bargaining at the FCC - Phoenix analysis [links to Benton summary]
   The FCC, still lawless - Randolph May op-ed [links to Benton summary]

GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
   A body at rest: Congress planning a light schedule for next year [links to Washington Post]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   President Obama warned the media against helping ISIS recruit after Paris. Is that fair? - analysis [links to Benton summary]
   FCC Website to Be Redesigned, Relaunched in December - public notice [links to Benton summary]
   A New Pentagon Website Can Tell If You Were Hacked By China [links to National Journal]

LOBBYING
   Start-Up Leaders Embrace Lobbying as Part of the Job [links to Benton summary]

COMPANY NEWS
   How Samsung uses its tech expertise to help charities [links to Washington Post]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   China Cuts Mobile Service of Xinjiang Residents Evading Internet Filters [links to Benton summary]
   Don’t Regulate Internet Platforms, Embrace Them - ITIF op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   Mobile broadband enabled globally in the 694-790 MHz frequency band [links to ITU press release]

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

NETWORK NEUTRALITY JUDGES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Three judges from the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit have been named to hear the oral argument on Dec. 4. Much like the Supreme Court, the very makeup of this panel could subtly shape the course of events. What do we know about the judges? Are they familiar with the issues? How might they vote?
Judge Sri Srinivasan is a relative newcomer to the court, having been appointed by President Barack Obama in 2013. His views on network neutrality and technology aren't clear, making him a bit of an enigma. But we do know this much: He's said to be a rising star. Judge Srinivasan is reportedly on the Democratic Party's shortlist for Supreme Court nominees.
Judge Stephen Williams is a senior judge on the DC Circuit. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, Judge Williams is described by some court-watchers as skeptical of preemptive regulation when after-the-fact antitrust enforcement may suffice. He's written prolifically about regulation, particularly on environmental issues. That makes Judge Williams an incredibly interesting character.
Judge David Tatel's key credential here is that he authored the legal opinion that led to this current case. That 2014 net neutrality case is known as Verizon v. FCC, and Judge Tatel is the sole returning judge this time, drawing that much more attention to his role in the last round. Because both sides are claiming to have properly interpreted Tatel's 2014 ruling, everyone's watching to see how Judge Tatel himself will now view this case.
A Clinton appointee, Judge Tatel has the unusual distinction of enjoying skiing, marathoning and climbing mountains — while blind. Judge Tatel has a background in civil rights and education law, and once served in the Carter administration.
benton.org/headlines/these-3-judges-hold-fate-internet-their-hands | Washington Post
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INCOME AND BROADBAND ADOPTION
[SOURCE: Brookings, AUTHOR: Joseph Kane, Adie Tomer]
New Census data from the 2014 American Community Survey reveal how uneven broadband adoption remains throughout the country. While several factors can weigh positively or negatively on adoption, including commute patterns and levels of educational attainment, income has perhaps the biggest effect. Nationally, most households (75.1 percent) had a broadband internet subscription in 2014, but the gap between lower-income and higher-income households remains large. For example, 92.1 percent of households earning $75,000 or more annually had a broadband subscription, almost double that of households earning under $10,000 each year (46.3 percent). Adoption rates among households with incomes between $10,000 and $35,000 were also similarly low by comparison. These disparities aren’t going away, either. While many public and civic leaders focus on expanding access to fiber-speed internet—a necessary step in itself—they shouldn’t overlook the need to address adoption gaps. Nationally, a reformed version of the Federal Communication Commission’s Lifeline program could help, but incorporating broadband into its purview remains a work in progress. Since internet regulation is highly variable across the country, state and local leaders must tackle this challenge with programs targeted to their markets. Incentivizing physical roll-out in low-income neighborhoods and creating digital skills curricula are some of the promising options, and markets can follow the lead from innovators like Minnesota, Seattle, and elsewhere. Ultimately, collaborative strategies at all levels of the public and private sector—and across all geographies—are crucial to expand the reach of the country’s digital information networks. If the country wants to repeat the shared economic prosperity of the 20th century as we advance further in the 21st, we don’t really have a choice.
benton.org/headlines/income-disparities-holding-back-us-internet-adoption | Brookings
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INTERNET BILL OF RIGHTS
[SOURCE: Social Science Research Network, AUTHOR: Lex Gill, Dennis Redeker, Urs Gasser]
The idea of an “Internet Bill of Rights” is by no means a new one: in fact, serious efforts to draft such a document can be traced at least as far back as the mid-1990s. Though the form, function and scope of such initiatives has evolved, the concept has had remarkable staying power, and now — two full decades later — principles which were once radically aspirational have begun to crystallize into law. In this paper, we propose a unified term to describe these efforts using the umbrella of “digital constitutionalism” and conduct an analysis of thirty initiatives spanning from 1999 to 2015. These initiatives have great differences, and range from advocacy statements to official positions of intergovernmental organizations to proposed legislation. However, in their own way, they are each engaged in the same conversation, seeking to advance a relatively comprehensive set of rights, principles, and governance norms for the Internet, and are usefully understood as part of a broader proto-constitutional discourse. While this paper does not attempt to capture every facet of this complex political behavior, we hope to offer a preliminary map of the landscape, provide a comparative examination of these diverse efforts toward digital constitutionalism, and — most importantly — provoke new questions for further research and study. The paper proceeds in four parts, beginning with a preliminary definition for the concept of digital constitutionalism and a summary of our research methodology. Second, we present our core observations related to the full range of substantive rights, principles and themes proposed by these initiatives. Third, we build on that analysis to explore their perceived targets, the key actors and deliberative processes which have informed their character, and the changes in their substantive content over time. Finally, we look forward, identifying future directions for research in this rapidly changing policy arena and for the broader Internet governance community.
benton.org/headlines/towards-digital-constitutionalism-mapping-attempts-craft-internet-bill-rights | Social Science Research Network
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MUNICIPAL BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Community Broadband Networks, AUTHOR: ]
As the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals considers the Federal Communications Commission's decision to roll back Tennessee and North Carolina anti-muni laws, elected officials opposed to local authority are mounting an assault to head off possible enabling legislation. Their first target is the House of Representatives. Gov Nikki Haley (R-SC), Attorney General Roy Cooper (D-NC), Gov Bill Haslam (R-TN), and Attorney General Luther Strange (R-AL) all sent letters to of the House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI). Their letters express derision at the thought of allowing local communities the ability to make decisions for themselves when it comes to ensuring local businesses and residents have the Internet access they need.
benton.org/headlines/while-6th-circuit-reviews-appeal-organized-attack-begins-house | Community Broadband Networks
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RURAL BROADBAND FUNDING
[SOURCE: US Senate, AUTHOR: Press release]
Senators Steve Daines (R-MT), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Angus King (I-ME) urged the Federal Communications Commission to consider strict enforcement measures and increase transparency for the recently announced Connect America Fund funding. The FCC recently announced more than $1.5 billion in annual funding as part of the second phase of the Connect America Fund to expand and support broadband service in rural areas. The senators call on the FCC to provide a publically available list of accountability measures for proper use of the funds, and to explain what enforcement mechanisms will be implemented if carriers fail to meet their obligation under the Connect America Fund program.
benton.org/headlines/sens-daines-capito-king-call-fcc-increase-transparency-enforcement-rural-broadband-funding | US Senate
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LIFELINE REFORM RECOMMENDATIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Gary Resnick]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee released recommendations on November 19, 2015, in response to the Lifeline Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The recommendations include: making broadband service eligible for Lifeline support; eliminating the ETC status requirement for Lifeline providers; adopting appropriate customer service requirements to ensure that Lifeline providers adhere to policies and procedures that support Lifeline consumers; and streamlining the enrollment and verification process in concert with other federal programs, among other things.
[Gary Resnick is the chair of the FCC’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee]
benton.org/headlines/fccs-intergovernmental-advisory-committee-releases-lifeline-reform-recommendations | Federal Communications Commission
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CAF FUND BROADBAND SUPPORT FOR RURAL CARRIERS COULD VARY BASED ON DENSITY
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
Small rate-of-return (ROR) communications service providers with less than 10 locations per square mile would have more time to build out high-speed broadband in comparison with service providers serving denser areas, according to Universal Service Fund (USF) recommendations made by telecommunication association The Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance (ITTA), which represents mid-size service providers. ITTA representatives in a meeting with the Federal Communications Commission suggested the build-out requirements, which would apply if the FCC were to adopt a proposed speed target of 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream for the model-based Connect America Fund (CAF) program for ROR carriers. Carriers in denser areas would have to bring 25/3 Mbps service to 75 percent of all fully funded locations in a study area within 10 years, while carriers in less dense areas would only have to build to 50 percent of such locations during that timeframe. ITTA recommendations have played a big role in shaping the FCC’s plans for transitioning today’s high-cost Universal Service Fund program, which traditionally was voice-focused, into a broadband-focused Connect America Fund program. Previously the ITTA recommended that ROR carriers have the option of remaining on today’s program or transitioning to a program similar to the one that already is being implemented for larger price cap carriers – and the FCC is moving ahead based on those recommendations. Today’s program pays part of a carrier’s costs of providing voice and broadband service to high-cost areas based on embedded costs, while the price cap program uses a model to determine a carrier’s support level.
benton.org/headlines/connect-america-fund-broadband-support-rural-carriers-could-vary-based-density | telecompetitor
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COMCAST, TIME WARNER CABLE GET 71 PERCENT OF NEW INTERNET SUBSCRIBERS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Comcast and Time Warner Cable are dominating the market for new wireline Internet subscribers in the US, with AT&T and Verizon lagging far behind. Cable already had a majority of the broadband market, even when you count slow DSL as "broadband," and that majority is growing. "Comcast and Time Warner Cable led the growth in US broadband subscriptions during the third quarter, adding a combined 552,000 new subscribers," Strategy Analytics wrote. "Overall, cable operators in the US added 804,000 subscribers. However, the total number of US broadband subscribers only increased by 679,000 due to losses in DSL and slower growth in Fiber subscriptions at AT&T and Verizon. Over the past twelve months, Comcast and Time Warner Cable have accounted for 71 percent of the 3 million new broadband subscribers." Among the 19 US Internet providers tracked by the research firm, Comcast alone accounted for 42 percent of new subscribers in the past year. AT&T lost 129,000 Internet subscribers in the most recent quarter, bringing its total down to 15.8 million, while Verizon gained 2,000 customers for a total of 9.2 million, reported Leichtman Research Group.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/11/comcast-time-warner-cable-get-71...
benton.org/headlines/comcast-time-warner-cable-get-71-percent-new-internet-subscribers | Ars Technica
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

TRUMP AND ACCESS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
Network TV news representatives are conferring to hash out demands about access to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign after Trump officials threatened to “blacklist” reporters who left a designated media “pen” during rallies for the presidential front-runner. According to people at multiple networks, senior managers from the five leading TV news networks — ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox and NBC News — are discussing their response in an effort to push back against what they deem harsh and restrictive behavior by Trump’s managers, including his top aide, campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Lewandowski threatened to pull the press credentials of a CNN reporter, Noah Gray, after Gray sought to leave the press pen during a Trump campaign appearance. Gray, an “embed” for the network who has covered Trump for months, recorded Lewandowski’s threat to “blacklist” him and posted it online.
benton.org/headlines/tv-networks-unite-fight-trumps-restriction-journalists-access | Washington Post | Politico
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WATCHDOG ASKS FOR CRIMINAL PROBE OF CONSERVATIVES TIED TO NONPROFIT
[SOURCE: Center for Public Integrity, AUTHOR: Cady Zuvich]
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a political watchdog, is calling for a criminal investigation of three prominent conservatives in connection with their involvement with a “dark money” nonprofit that in Oct avoided punishment from the Federal Election Commission. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is also suing the Federal Election Commission for failing to act against the now-defunct nonprofit, even though agency lawyers concluded that the group broke the law in 2010. The so-called dark money group spent most of the $4.8 million it raised on campaign ads -- contrary to what it reported to the Internal Revenue Service. The request for an investigation names the alleged architects of the Commission for Hope, Growth and Opportunity: William Canfield, now general counsel for pro-Carly Fiorina super PAC CARLY for America; Scott Reed, senior political strategist for the US Chamber of Commerce and Wayne Berman, a senior adviser for Blackstone Group, a global investment firm, who also serves as national finance chairman for presidential candidate Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL).
benton.org/headlines/watchdog-asks-criminal-probe-conservatives-tied-nonprofit | Center for Public Integrity
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OWNERSHIP

DISH CONTINUES TO HAMMER ON CHARTER-TWC-BRIGHT HOUSE MERGER
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Daniel Frankel]
The merger of Charter Communications with Time Warner Cable and Bright House networks will put too much Internet service provider marketshare in the hands of just two cable companies (Comcast would be the other one) and the deal should be rejected, according to Dish Network. The company made its claims in another filing to the Federal Communications Commission on the topic. "The FCC should not allow an already concentrated market for high-speed broadband access to become even more so," Dish said. "The threats to competition and the public interest are clear. Dish urges the FCC to deny the transaction as it is currently presented." While Charter has faced only a fraction of the blowback Comcast endured while trying to buy TWC in 2014, Dish has kept up a steady assault on Charter's merger proposals. In its latest letter, Dish noted that the Department of Justice, in rejecting the Comcast-TWC merger, already signaled its aversion to a high-concentration of high-speed Internet service market share. "The Department of Justice has done so for precisely the issue that Dish has raised -- the fact that such market concentration between two firms would allow for coordinated action even without active collusion between the players," Dish said. Dish also issued another condemnation that is eerily similar to the criticisms of the scuttled Comcast-TWC deal -- the satellite operator said "New Charter" would drag down the market for online video distributors.
benton.org/headlines/dish-continues-hammer-charter-twc-bright-house-merger | Fierce
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SECURITY/PRIVACY

SECURITY AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Alan Charles Raul]
[Commentary] After 9/11, U.S. political leaders of all stripes demanded better intelligence and a greater ability to “connect the dots.” Such a terrorist attack had to be prevented from happening again. Well, it has happened again, of course, repeatedly, in Paris, as well as in London, Madrid and, indeed, in Boston and nearly in Times Square. But until the recent brutality of the Islamic State, the pendulum of our response, naturally enough, had swung back toward privacy and away from national security. We must now rethink how far we want — and need — our government to go to keep us safe from people who unequivocally want to kill as many of us as cruelly as they can. In hindsight, our country’s handling of the putative trade-off between national security and privacy after Sept. 11 has actually been reasonably reassuring. There is no need to trade privacy for security. Rather, the post-9/11 record demonstrates that we can monitor aggressively if we also remain equally committed to the compensating system of checks, balances, oversight and other safeguards that can prevent abuses and excesses that would offend the values that make us Americans. Let’s be sure we keep it that way.
[Alan Charles Raul, a partner at the law firm Sidley Austin, was vice chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board from 2006 to 2008]
benton.org/headlines/government-has-protected-your-security-and-privacy-better-you-think | Washington Post
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DIVERSITY

WOMEN AND SILICON VALLEY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Michelle Quinn]
[Commentary] What does it take to move the needle when it comes to women holding the top roles at tech firms? For the first time, Watermark, an organization of Bay Area female executives focused on increasing women in leadership, produced the Watermark Index, as part of UC Davis' annual study on women in business leadership. To qualify, women have to make up more than 30 percent of a public company's directors and its five highest-paid executives. Only 4.9 percent of the Bay Area's 233 biggest public companies by market capitalization made the cut. The index's purpose is to highlight the best firms in the Bay Area when it comes to female leadership and spur other companies, and entire sectors, to do better on gender diversity, said Marlene Williamson, Chief Executive of Watermark. "When you have a female in a leadership role, it tends to permeate the entire industry," she said. "Change is faster when there is a woman at the top."
benton.org/headlines/women-changing-silicon-valley-top | San Jose Mercury News
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