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November 2015

Details of UK website visits 'to be stored for year'

The Internet activity of everyone in Britain will have to be stored for a year by service providers, under new surveillance law plans. Police and intelligence officers will be able to see the names of sites people have visited without a warrant, Home Secretary Theresa May said. But there would be new safeguards over MI5, MI6 and the police spying on the full content of people's web use. May told members of Parliament the proposed powers were needed to fight crime and terror.

The wide-ranging draft Investigatory Powers Bill also contains proposals covering how the state can hack devices and run operations to sweep up large amounts of data as it flows through the Internet, enshrining in law the previously covert activities of GCHQ, as uncovered by whistleblower Edward Snowden. May told members of Parliament the draft bill was a "significant departure" from previous plans, dubbed the "snooper's charter" by critics, which were blocked by the Liberal Democrats, and will "provide some of the strongest protections and safeguards anywhere in the democratic world and an approach that sets new standards for openness, transparency and oversight".

Remarks of FCC Chief of Staff Ruth Milkman at the Evercore Tech Change Conference

This week marks my two-year anniversary as Chief of Staff at the Federal Communications Commission. In his very first speech as Chairman, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that the FCC’s two primary responsibilities were, and I quote, “facilitating dynamic technological change to ensure the US has world-class communications networks [and] ensuring that our networks reflect our civic values.” He went on to spend the bulk of his remarks discussing how he viewed competition as the best way to achieve those goals.

I said earlier that where competition cannot be expected to exist, we will not hesitate to act to protect consumers and advance the public interest. Perhaps the best example of this principle in practice would be our universal service programs. The truth is that in many sparsely populated parts of the country, there is no business case to build private broadband networks. As a result, millions of Americans can’t get broadband at any speed.

Why Aren't Presidential Candidates Talking About Cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity isn't the sexiest topic on the campaign trail right now. But controversial legislation, massive security breaches, and thorny relations with China could eventually push the issue into the media spotlight. For now, most of the presidential hopefuls are staying mum on the issue, even as hackers keep making headlines.

"It's a complex topic," said Steve Morgan, founder and CEO of Cybersecurity Ventures. "It's like quicksand: Once they step into it, they're going to sink. They just aren't equipped to talk about it." None of the websites for the four potential candidates leading the polls -- Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the Democrats, Donald Trump and Ben Carson for the Republicans -- lists their positions on cybersecurity issues. For voters who care about cybersecurity, it can be tough to figure out where the candidates stand. Some of them, however, have left clues in comments to the media and their voting records.

Verizon Giving $6 Million to a Dozen Startups Using Mobile Technology to Save Lives

A drone that acts as a lifeguard, a Wi-Fi network that can be airdropped into a disaster and ten other potentially life-saving startup ideas are set to share in $6 million in prizes thanks to a contest from Verizon. The startups are all winners in the company’s Powerful Answers contest, with the specific prizes to be announced at a Dec. 9 event in San Francisco (CA).

Another winner in the emergency response category is a softball-size unit from Boston (MA)-based Bounce Imaging that can map out unseen spaces and send back data to a smartphone so first responders can enter hazardous settings with a preview of what to expect. Meanwhile, EmergenSee turns smartphones into portable security systems that can stream live audio, video and location information to friends or first responders in an emergency. It’s the third year of the contest, and this year Verizon said it got 1,400 entires with nearly a quarter coming from female-led startups. Three of the 12 finalists are women-led ventures.

How smartphones are solving one of China’s biggest mysteries

For decades, China has been engaged in a building boom of a scale that is hard to wrap your mind around. In the last three decades, 260 million people have moved from the countryside to Chinese cities -- equivalent to around 80 percent of the population of the US. To make room for all of those people, the size of China's built-up urban areas nearly quintupled between 1984 and 2010. Much of that development has benefited people's lives, but some has not. In a breathless rush to boost growth and development, some urban areas have built vast, unused real estate projects -- China's infamous "ghost cities." These eerie, shining developments are complete except for one thing: people to live in them.

New research from Baidu, one of China's biggest technology companies, provides one of the first systematic looks at Chinese ghost cities. Researchers from Baidu’s Big Data Lab and Peking University in Beijing used the kind of location data gathered by mobile phones and GPS receivers to track how people moved in and out suspected ghost cities, in real time and on a national scale, over a period of six months.

It's time for Google to make its own hardware

[Commentary] Nexus phones are meant to present the latest versions of Android, in pure form, unadulterated by the software overlays and bloatware apps added by the hundreds of Android phone makers. They also give Google a chance to showcase its own latest apps and services, which are sometimes missing entirely from Android phones, especially in emerging markets. But they aren't made by Google itself. Instead, Google picks one of its Android hardware partners to make each year's Nexus models.

While the software firm works closely on the resulting product, it doesn't have the kind of full control -- even over this hero product -- that Apple has over the iPhone or Microsoft has over the Surface. I think it's time for Google to start making its own hardware, at least for smartphones, and at least for the Nexus line and for a class of low-priced phones aimed at developing markets. Yes, I know that Google briefly owned, and then sold, an entire phone manufacturer, Motorola. Yes, I know that Google has dabbled in hardware with products like the Chromecast and the Chromebook Pixel, and had to kill another internal hardware venture, a home media player called the Q. But it's perfectly possible for a company with Google's clout and resources to hire more hardware engineers and designers, create unique devices, and outsource its manufacturing.

Netflix wants to get into original Bollywood and anime shows

When Netflix launched "House of Cards" in 2013, the company's move into original content seemed a risky gamble. Netflix's job was to serve other people's video, not its own. But now, after releasing multiple hit shows like "Orange is the New Black" and "Narcos," Netflix is confidently rolling out fresh serials at a breakneck pace. And chief executive Reed Hastings isn't afraid to drop hints as to where he might go next. "We're hopeful that we'll, over time, make a great Bollywood show, make a great anime show," Hastings said.

These are more than artistic ambitions. They're part of a sophisticated strategy to map Netflix to the Internet and its various little inlets, bays and lagoons, tailoring the streaming video service so that every conceivable audience, sub-audience and micro-audience can find a unique show that speaks to them (while also hopefully appealing to everyone else). Netflix wants to reach every corner of the Internet with original content, especially internationally, where most of its growth potential now lies. But thinking about this in terms of geography is actually more limiting than enlightening; the whole point of the Web is that it allowed previously distant people from around the world with shared traits to find one another.

November 4, 2015 (Data-privacy rights grades)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2015

For upcoming events see https://www.benton.org/calendar

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   World's biggest tech companies get failing grade on data-privacy rights
   House Commerce Committee Members Call for Swift Resolution to Safe Harbor Negotiations - press release

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Use Technology to Disrupt Poverty - Medium op-ed
   FCC's Wheeler and the 'Common Good' Standard
   The War on Infrastructure Investment? - AT&T blog [links to Benton summary]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Public Knowledge Urges Congress to Continue Critical Spectrum Reforms - press release
   T-Mobile wants to turn your house into a cell tower. Here’s why you should think twice. - WaPo analysis

CONTENT
   How Google’s AMP project speeds up the Web -- by sandblasting HTML
   Redskins argue trademark decision violates First Amendment [links to Hill, The]

TELEVISION
   Time Warner Cable takes baby step toward more affordable pay-TV service - LA Times analysis [links to Benton summary]
   Moonves: CBS Retransmission Revenue to Pass $1 billion in 2016 [links to TVNewsCheck]
   Netflix boss blasts the evening news [links to New York Post]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Knight Prototype Fund invests in 20 new projects focused on increasing civic engagement and making data more accessible - press release
   Key Information Technology Decisions for Census Must Be Made Soon [links to Government Accountability Office]
   Census Delays Key Decisions About Using Tech in 2020 Count [links to nextgov]

ELECTIONS & MEDIA
   Latino Groups Call on ‘SNL’ to Drop Donald Trump
  &nbspSee also: Will Rick Santorum Be The Next Host Of Saturday Night Live? [links to Benton Foundation]
   The GOP's Debate Debacle: Will Republicans Get Away With Bullying The Media? - Media Matters analysis [links to Benton summary]
   Editorial: The GOP’s ridiculous debate demands should be rejected [links to Washington Post]

HEATLH
   FCC Commissioner Clyburn’s Remarks at Mobile Health and Wellness Expo [links to Federal Communications Commission]

DIVERSITY
   Twitter's diversity commitment questioned by former engineer [links to USAToday]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   A new type of cyber relations? [links to Brookings]
   Britain Will Present Legislation to Increase Oversight of Surveillance [links to New York Times]

MORE ONLINE
   At Work: Is Telecommuting The Way to Go? [links to Wall Street Journal]

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SECURITY/PRIVACY

WORLD'S BIGGEST TECH COMPANIES GET FAILING GRADE ON DATA-PRIVACY RIGHTS
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: Sam Thielman]
The world’s top tech companies are failing when it comes to privacy and freedom of expression, according to the most comprehensive assessment to date of their user agreement policies. Tech firms including US giants Facebook, Google and Microsoft, Europe’s top mobile companies Vodafone and Orange, China’s Tencent, and South Korea’s Daum Kakao (which makes the 140 million-user-strong KakaoTalk) were among the public companies surveyed in an ongoing project called Ranking Digital Rights. All of the firms failed to offer their users basic disclosures about privacy and censorship, according to the survey, which was conducted by the New America Foundation thinktank. One didn’t even provide user agreements in the proper language. “There are no ‘winners’,” said the group in its executive summary. “Even companies in the lead are falling short.”
benton.org/headlines/worlds-biggest-tech-companies-get-failing-grade-data-privacy-rights | Guardian, The
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HOUSE COMMERCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS CALL FOR SWIFT RESOLUTION TO SAFE HARBOR NEGOTIATIONS
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade and the Communications Subcommittee held a joint hearing to review the status of United States and European Union safe harbor negotiations. The safe harbor agreement that allowed for data to be transferred between the US and EU was recently nullified by the European Court of Justice. With over 4,000 American businesses, including those in technology, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, and retail, relying on the agreement, members reviewed the uncertainty generated by the court’s decision and discussed the administration’s work to finalize a new framework with their European counterparts. “The borderless nature of the Internet is an important force driving economic success and innovation. For Internet-based companies, the value of the free flow of digital data between the EU and the US is obvious,” said Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). “Without the shelter of a Safe Harbor, these businesses have the choice of operating at increased risk, paying expensive costs to lower that risk, or simply stopping the flow of information altogether -- that is, stopping business altogether.”
benton.org/headlines/house-commerce-committee-members-call-swift-resolution-safe-harbor-negotiations | House of Representatives Commerce Committee
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

USE TECHNOLOGY TO DISRUPT POVERTY
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: Larry Irving]
[Commentary] “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” That catchphrase came to mind recently when the United Nations announced ¬¬that world leaders have committed to 17 global goals to achieve three important objectives: ending extreme poverty, fighting inequality and injustice and fixing climate change. Since the announcement of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, leaders from the public and private sectors (including government officials, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, academicians and business CEOs) have set out an ambitious course of action to solve the world’s toughest problems, ranging from health care to hunger to clean water. Regrettably, Silicon Valley and America’s leading technology companies are not yet full participants in this effort. So much more can be accomplished once American technology companies truly engage. Yes, a few tech companies such as Facebook and Google, are active and engaged, but far too few. Technology will not provide silver bullets for the world’s problems. But technology can shorten timelines, reduce costs and improve outcomes for almost all of the Global Goals.
[Larry Irving is a co-founder of the Mobile Alliance for Global Good, a non-profit focused on the use of mobile technologies for societal gain. He served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce during the Clinton-Gore Administration and was a principal architect of its Internet and technology policies]
benton.org/headlines/use-technology-disrupt-poverty | Medium
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COMMON GOOD STANDARD
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Appearing on the Charlie Rose show, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler defended the FCC's new network neutrality rules and appeared to come up with his own variation of the public interest standard -- "the common good" standard -- to back it up. He also gave a hint of how the FCC would treat its new broadband privacy oversight under those new Open Internet rules, which redefine Internet access as a common carrier. As a former lobbyist, Chairman Wheeler spoke to being lobbied by the Google's and AT&T's of the world and recognizing that each side is going to say that without their asks, it will be the end of Western civilization. The regulator's job, he said, is to recognize that and try to find a solution that has the "common good" in it, suggesting that was the public interest, but that that term was vague. Rose said the common good was also about stimulating innovation, which ISPs have said the rules would not do. Wheeler said the new rules were all about stimulating "permissionless innovation."
benton.org/headlines/fccs-wheeler-and-common-good-standard | Broadcasting&Cable
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE URGES CONGRESS TO CONTINUE CRITICAL SPECTRUM REFORMS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Meredith Whipple]
Public Knowledge sent a letter to the leadership of the Senate and House Commerce Committees, urging them to continue work on opening more spectrum for commercial use. In particular, Public Knowledge urges Congress to address the critical need to expand “unlicensed” spectrum for faster, more powerful next generation Wi-Fi and to accommodate the growing “Internet of Things” (IoT) -- devices such as Fitbit and Nest that use unlicensed spectrum to connect to other devices and the Internet. The letter notes that unlicensed spectrum already contributes $220 billion a year to the economy, and “according to Cisco, by 2020, the IoT will connect 50 billion devices, with an economic impact estimated at $19 trillion.” The letter proposes two ways to make more unlicensed spectrum available, while leaving abundant spectrum for the federal government to use or auction to wireless companies.
1) Create new underlays. Open up all spectrum currently assigned to the federal government to unlicensed use on a non-interfering basis, a traditional mode of unlicensed access called an “underlay.” This would free up enormous amounts of spectrum for the American people at no cost to the federal government.
2) The Wi-Fi dividend. Take a portion of the revenue from future spectrum license auctions and use that to clear additional federal spectrum for unlicensed use. This would ensure that when we privatize the “public airwaves,” we also create a “spectrum commons” for innovation and affordable wireless access.
benton.org/headlines/public-knowledge-urges-congress-continue-critical-spectrum-reforms | Public Knowledge
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T-MOBILE WANTS TO TURN YOUR HOUSE INTO A CELL TOWER. HERE'S WHY YOU SHOULD THINK TWICE.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
[Commentary] T-Mobile has begun giving out miniature cell towers to customers in an attempt to create little hotspots of LTE where the carrier's network is weak or nonexistent. So should you get one? In some individual circumstances, maybe, but for the vast majority of consumers, you might be better off using plain, old, boring Wi-Fi. Here's why. T-Mobile's CellSpot doesn't provide an Internet connection all by itself. It has to be plugged into an existing wired broadband connection, the kind of service you might buy from Comcast or Verizon. That requirement ultimately makes the CellSpot impractical for many consumers. Think about your current home Internet provider. Chances are, the company included a Wi-Fi router with your installation, and if it didn't, you likely went out and bought your own. Not only does the CellSpot effectively duplicate an Internet access technology already present in many people's homes -- it comes with other drawbacks. The CellSpot's data speeds are only as fast as your fixed broadband connection, so it's not as though you can plug the device into a 10 Mbps service and suddenly be surfing at 60 Mbps. What's more, using the CellSpot drains your T-Mobile data plan, whereas surfing on Wi-Fi is completely free (except in places where wired Internet providers have implemented data caps themselves).
benton.org/headlines/t-mobile-wants-turn-your-house-cell-tower-heres-why-you-should-think-twice | Washington Post
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CONTENT

HOW GOOGLE'S AMP PROJECT SPEEDS UP THE WEB -- BY SANDBLASTING HTML
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Scott Gilbertson]
There's a story going around today that the Web is too slow, especially over mobile networks. It's a pretty good story -- and it's a perpetual story. The Web, while certainly improved from the days of 14.4k modems, has never been as fast as we want it to be, which is to say that the Web has never been instantaneous. Curiously, rather than a focus on possible cures, like increasing network speeds, finding ways to decrease network latency, or even speeding up Web browsers, the latest version of the "Web is too slow" story pins the blame on the Web itself. And, perhaps more pointedly, this blame falls directly on the people who make it. Native mobile applications, on the other hand, are getting faster. Mobile devices get more powerful with every release cycle, and native apps take better advantage of that power. So as the story goes, apps get faster, the Web gets slower. This is allegedly why Facebook must invent Facebook Instant Articles, why Apple News must be built, and why Google must now create Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). Google is late to the game, but AMP has the same goal as Facebook's and Apple's efforts -- making the Web feel like a native application on mobile devices. (It's worth noting that all three solutions focus exclusively on mobile content.)
benton.org/headlines/how-googles-amp-project-speeds-web-sandblasting-html | Ars Technica
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

KNIGHT PROTOTYPE FUND INVESTS IN 20 NEW PROJECTS FOCUSED ON INCREASING CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND MAKING DATA MORE ACCESSIBLE
[SOURCE: Knight Foundation, AUTHOR: Press release]
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced funding for 20 new projects through the Knight Prototype Fund, which helps people explore early-stage media and information ideas with $35,000 in funding. The awards total $700,000. How can we better protect consumer data and privacy? How can we make our politicians more accountable? How can we make it easier for people to shape their community and our world? How can we make complex data clear, interesting and relevant to people’s lives? These are some of the questions that Knight Prototype Fund teams will explore over the next six months, testing and tweaking a range of ideas: from an interactive tool that provides people with information on where their city is spending money, to a role-playing game that engages people in creative problem-solving around civic issues, from an app that helps people cut through the information fog with curated recommendations on what to read and watch, to an interactive world map that matches and compares information on search topics across the globe. The next deadline for prototype applications is Nov. 16, 2015.
benton.org/headlines/knight-prototype-fund-invests-20-new-projects-focused-increasing-civic-engagement-and | Knight Foundation
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

DUMP TRUMP
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ashley Parker]
The decision by “Saturday Night Live” to invite Donald Trump as its host is no laughing matter — at least for the Hispanic and pro-immigration groups that have intensified their calls for Lorne Michaels, the show’s producer, to rescind the invitation. More than a dozen of the nation’s leading Hispanic groups are planning to hold a “Dump Trump” rally outside 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where “Saturday Night Live” is taped. Latino and immigration groups also plan to deliver a petition, with 460,000 signatures, calling on NBC Studios and Michaels to drop Trump. The groups have cited comments by Trump dismissing some Mexican immigrants as criminals and “rapists.” The Congressional Hispanic Caucus issued a statement also calling on NBC Universal and Michaels “to disinvite Mr. Trump.” The caucus called Trump’s comments “divisive and hateful rhetoric toward Mexicans and Latinos alike” and said they could lead to violence and raised fears within immigrant and Hispanic communities throughout the country.
benton.org/headlines/latino-groups-call-snl-drop-donald-trump | New York Times
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