BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2015
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DIGITAL DIVIDE
The Digital Disparities Facing Lower-Income Teenagers
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC Plans $718,000 Fine for Wi-Fi Blocking at Baltimore Conventions
FCC to Fine Hilton Hotels for Obstructing Wi-Fi Blocking Investigation
T-Mobile: FCC Should Bar Dish, Designated Entities From Re-Auction
Comcast, Charter may participate in 600 MHz auction, while Time Warner Cable plans to stay home [links to Fierce]
T-Mobile Will Let Subscribers Bring Tiny 4G LTE Towers Into Their Homes
Sprint signs agreement with Cuban officials in Havana [links to Benton summary]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC looks to 'nutritional labels' for Internet service shopping
FCC Extends Comment and Reply Comment Deadlines in Special Access Rulemaking - press release
Americans are paying more for broadband speed but getting less - David Lazarus, LA Times analysis
The Strategic Imperative of Gigabit Broadband for 21st-century Communities - PSPC research
Boulder Valley School District among 40 Colorado jurisdictions putting broadband on the ballot [links to Benton summary]
Your phone company already limits your data. Your cable company could be next. [links to Benton summary]
Suddenlink Gigabit Available in Two Dozen Markets [links to telecompetitor]
OWNERSHIP
FCC, Justice Department investigate covert Chinese radio network
How Mergers Damage the Economy - editorial
NHMC President: NHMC Negotiating MOU With Charter [links to Benton summary]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Bill introduced to criminalize warrantless cell phone surveillance
After guilty plea, judge confused as to why prosecutors still want iPhone unlocked [links to Ars Technica]
Snapchat responds to complaints about updated privacy policy [links to Los Angeles Times]
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Lessig drops out of presidential race
Trump campaign to negotiate directly with TV networks on debate formats
Why Republicans will get nowhere mandating terms of future TV debates [links to Poynter]
Why presidential debates should be all ‘lightning-round’ questions [links to Washington Post]
RNC Seeks Online Denunciation of CNBC [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
Univision/Washington Post Democratic debate to be held March 9 [links to Politico]
Overall Network And Cable Coverage Of Money In Politics Lags - Media Matters research [links to Benton summary]
Commentary: Thank You, CNBC, for giving millions of Americans front-row seats to the press bias against Republicans [links to Wall Street Journal]
COURT CASES
Public Interest Groups Ask Appeals Court to Consider Public Interest in Apple v. Samsung Case - press release [links to Benton summary]
A jury decides to punish Cox Communications for tying premium cable services with the rental of expensive boxes [links to Hollywood Reporter]
Supreme Court may limit class-action lawsuits against tech industry [links to Los Angeles Times]
CONTENT
Instagram is jumping into the curation business, too [links to Washington Post]
Wikipedia and Deepak Chopra: Open-Source Character Assassination [links to Huffington Post]
Removing barriers to competition in mobile payments platforms [links to Brookings]
Can pro sports players legally demand payment from online fantasy sites? [links to Ars Technica]
The next information revolution will be 100 times bigger than the Internet - GigaOm op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Facebook Prods Users to Share a Bit More [links to Wall Street Journal]
Can the TV Guys Put the Netflix Genie Back in the Bottle? [links to Revere Digital]
COMMUNITY MEDIA
How the New York Public Library Is Reinventing Itself - Slate op-ed [links to Benton summary]
JOURNALISM
The newspaper business' travails [links to USAToday]
COMPANY NEWS
Sprint still aims to slash as much as $2.5 Billion in expenses as cost-cutting measures come into view [links to Fierce]
Facebook Prods Users to Share a Bit More [links to Wall Street Journal]
Activision Blizzard to Buy King Digital, Maker of Candy Crush [links to New York Times]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Sprint signs agreement with Cuban officials in Havana [links to Benton summary]
Google Owner (Alphabet) Accuses EU of Antitrust About-Face [links to Benton summary]
With Google and Twitter still blocked in China, executives woo Beijing [links to Benton summary]
Joel Simon: Open government is meaningless without a free press [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
Firms Weigh Moving Data From US to Europe [links to Benton summary]
Why the US Is Held to a Higher Data Protection Standard Than France [links to International Association of Privacy Professionals]
Commentary: In India, as mobile phone network becomes more unreliable people are turning to the landline [links to Financial Times]
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DIGITAL DIVIDE
DIGITAL INEQUITY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Natasha Singer]
Teenagers in lower-income households have fewer desktop, laptop and tablet computers to use at home than their higher-income peers, according to a new study by Common Cause Media. And those disparities may influence more than how teenagers socialize, entertain themselves and apply for college or jobs. At a time when school districts across the United States are introducing digital learning tools for the classroom and many teachers give online homework assignments, new research suggests that the digital divide among teenagers may be taking a disproportionate toll on their homework as well. Only one-fourth of teenagers in households with less than $35,000 in annual income said they had their own laptops compared with 62 percent in households with annual incomes of $100,000 or more. One-fifth of teenagers in lower-income households reported that they never used computers for their homework — or used them less than once a month. And one-tenth of lower-income teenagers said they had only dial-up web access, an often slow and erratic Internet connection, at home. None of the higher-income youths said they had only dial-up access. Vicky Rideout, an independent researcher and consultant who wrote the Common Sense Media report, said the disparities in teenagers’ technology access amounted to “digital inequality.”
benton.org/headlines/digital-disparities-facing-lower-income-teenagers | New York Times | Washington Post
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC PLANS $718,000 FINE FOR WI-FI BLOCKING AT BALTIMORE CONVENTIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission plans a $718,000 fine against MC Dean for blocking consumers’ Wi-Fi connections at the Baltimore (MD) Convention Center. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau investigation found that MC Dean, Inc., one of the nation’s largest electrical contracting companies, blocked personal mobile “hotspots” of convention visitors and exhibitors who tried to use their own data plans to connect to the Internet rather than paying MC Dean substantial fees to use the company’s Wi-Fi service. As the exclusive provider of Wi-Fi access at the Baltimore Convention Center, MC Dean charges exhibitors and visitors as much as $1,095 per event for Wi-Fi access. In 2014, the FCC received a complaint from a company that provides equipment that enables users to establish hotspots at conventions and trade shows. The complainant alleged that MC Dean blocked hotspots its customers had tried to establish at the Baltimore Convention Center. After receiving the complaint, Enforcement Bureau field agents visited the venue on multiple occasions and confirmed that Wi-Fi blocking activity was taking place.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-plans-718000-fine-wi-fi-blocking-baltimore-conventions | Federal Communications Commission | Pai Statement | O'Rielly Statement
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FCC TO FINE HILTON HOTELS FOR OBSTRUCTING WI-FI BLOCKING INVESTIGATION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
In November 2014, the Enforcement Bureau began a Wi-Fi blocking investigation of Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc. after receiving a complaint that the Hilton hotel in Anaheim (CA) blocked visitors’ personal Wi-Fi hotspots unless they paid the hotel a $500 fee for Hilton’s Wi-Fi. The Commission has also received complaints about other Hilton properties. To this day, however, Hilton has refused to comply with the Bureau’s Letter of Inquiry (LOI) ordering the Company to provide documents and information about its Wi-Fi management practices for all relevant Hilton properties. Instead, a Hilton subsidiary initially responded only for a single property, arguing that the scope of the Bureau’s investigation should be limited to Hilton’s activities at its Anaheim hotel. Those answers were incomplete and inadequate even for that one property. After repeated warnings that the Company’s response was inadequate, the Hilton subsidiary recently produced limited information regarding the Wi-Fi blocking systems utilized at a small number of additional Hilton properties and again failed to answer many of the questions in the LOI. We cannot and will not countenance such flouting of the FCC’s responsibility and authority. Accordingly, we propose a penalty of $25,000 against Hilton for apparently willfully and repeatedly violating a Commission order by failing to respond to the Bureau’s LOI and obstructing the Bureau’s investigation into whether Hilton willfully interferes with consumer Wi-Fi devices in Hilton-brand hotel and resort properties across the United States. If this is not sufficient to secure Hilton’s compliance with the Bureau’s Wi-Fi blocking investigation, we are prepared to take further action in the future.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-fine-hilton-hotels-obstructing-wi-fi-blocking-investigation | Federal Communications Commission
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T-MOBILE: FCC SHOULD BAR DISH, DESIGNATED ENTITIES FROM RE-AUCTION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
T-Mobile has asked the Federal Communications Commission to prevent Dish and the Dish-backed designated entities (DEs) SNR and Northstar from bidding on the wireless licenses the FCC will have to re-auction and to get more upfront money. The FCC concluded that Dish's funding of those entities constituted control and denied them $3.3 billion in bidding credits they sought for the licenses they won in the AWS-3 auction. They decided to selectively default on licenses equal to the amount of credits they didn't get, but the FCC said they could still re-bid on those licenses in a new auction necessitated by the default -- the FCC has had to re-auction defaulted licenses before.
Disallowing them from the re-auction is necessary, says T-Mobile, "to prevent Dish and the Dish DEs from further gaming the system, and to send a clear message that the behavior of Dish and the Dish DEs will not be tolerated in others." T-Mobile says if the FCC does allow Dish and the DEs to re-bid, they should be held to the same build-out schedule as those who have already won spectrum in the first auction, suggesting that the FCC needs to impose stronger penalties on selective defaults.
benton.org/headlines/t-mobile-fcc-should-bar-dish-designated-entities-re-auction | Broadcasting&Cable
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T-MOBILE WILL LET SUBSCRIBERS BRING TINY 4G LTE TOWERS INTO THEIR HOMES
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Dawn Chmielewski]
Wireless carriers have been experimenting with small cell technology to boost a network’s performance in crowded neighborhoods or smaller places, like coffee shops or doctors’ offices. T-Mobile said it would allow subscribers to bring this technology into their homes, with the 4G LTE CellSpot -- essentially a mini-tower that will deliver a 4G LTE wireless signal inside a residence or small business. “It helps T-mobile in areas where coverage might not be optimal -- say, [if] you are an organization that would like to consider T-Mobile as your provider but coverage in the office is poor,” said Kantar Worldpanel research chief Carolina Milanesi. “It’s no coincidence that the release mentioned, specifically, small businesses. Second, it gives customers another reason not to leave.” Other carriers offer signal boosters that amplify an existing network strength in the home. AT&T markets a MicroCell Wireless Network Extender. Verizon offers something called a Network Extender to enhance indoor calling and data.
benton.org/headlines/t-mobile-will-let-subscribers-bring-tiny-4g-lte-towers-their-homes | Revere Digital
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC LOOKS TO 'NUTRITIONAL LABELS' FOR INTERNET SERVICE SHOPPING
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
Customers shopping for Internet service are a step closer to having access to nutritional label-like disclosures that will help them easily compare prices and speed offerings from different providers. A government-sanctioned committee unveiled a set of sample disclosure forms that Internet service providers like Comcast or Verizon will be encouraged to offer potential customers, which will outline prices for stand-alone Internet service, average speed measures, and any network management rules that apply. The Federal Communications Commission Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) developed two sample forms -- one for fixed broadband and one for mobile. The committee also encouraged the FCC to have a graphic designer make sure the disclosure forms -- to be featured on companies' main marketing web pages -- are easy to read for consumers. "We find that the Committee’s experience with consumer disclosure issues makes it an ideal body to recommend a disclosure format that should be clear and easy to read -- similar to a nutrition label -- to allow consumers to easily compare the services of different providers," the FCC wrote in its net neutrality rules, which set off the process.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-looks-nutritional-labels-internet-service-shopping | Hill, The
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FCC EXTENDS COMMENT AND REPLY COMMENT DEADLINES IN SPECIAL ACCESS RULEMAKING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
In this Order, the Wireline Competition Bureau grants in part a request jointly filed by the United States Telecom Association (USTelecom) and the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance (ITTA) seeking an extension of time to submit comments and reply comments in the special access (also referred to as business data services) rulemaking proceeding. We extend the deadline to submit comments to January 6, 2016 and reply comments to February 5, 2016. This limited extension will give parties valuable, additional time to review the sizeable amount of data collected in the proceeding for comments to help inform the Commission’s special access reform efforts in the underlying rulemaking proceeding.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-extends-comment-and-reply-comment-deadlines-special-access-rulemaking | Federal Communications Commission
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AMERICANS ARE PAYING MORE FOR BROADBAND SPEED BUT GETTING LESS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Lazarus]
[Commentary] It's one of the biggest rackets of the telecommunication world -- broadband Internet access touted as being "up to" a certain speed but that's really a whole lot slower. You think you're buying cyber-lightning. What you're likely getting instead is a gentle digital breeze. The New York attorney general's office said enough's enough. It sent letters to Time Warner Cable, Verizon Communications and Cablevision asking why some customers experience reduced download speeds. "Many of us may be paying for one thing and getting another," said New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. He said many families in his state pay "a huge cost" for broadband service. "I will not tolerate a situation in which they aren't getting what they have been promised," NY Attorney General Schneiderman said. The problem is by no means limited to New York. Californians and denizens of most other states pay some of the highest broadband prices in the world for speeds that frequently eat the dust of faster services abroad. What's needed is a requirement that broadband be marketed by each provider's average monthly speed in a particular region, with companies submitting test data to the Federal Communications Commission at regular intervals. This would provide consumers with a far better sense of what they're buying and would offer a much more accurate yardstick of each broadband service's performance. It also would boost competition and network investment by encouraging service providers with faster average speeds to promote their edge over rivals. Or we could just keep paying through the nose to stay in the slow lane. Take your choice.
benton.org/headlines/americans-are-paying-more-broadband-speed-getting-less | Los Angeles Times
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THE STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE OF GIGABIT BROADBAND FOR 21ST-CENTURY COMMUNITIES
[SOURCE: Public Sector Partnership Company, AUTHOR: Michael Hernon]
Access to a high-speed broadband network infrastructure is as important to today’s communities as the electrical, telephone and interstate highway networks were in the last century. Absent commercial build-out of the infrastructure, many states, cities and counties are taking it upon themselves to address this need. By leveraging best practices and a structured, comprehensive planning process communities can optimize their chances for developing an approach that delivers the necessary capabilities in a sustainable manner.
benton.org/headlines/strategic-imperative-gigabit-broadband-21st-century-communities | Public Sector Partnership Company
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OWNERSHIP
FCC, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATE COVERT CHINESE RADIO NETWORK
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: John Shiffman, Koh Gui Qing]
The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department are investigating a California firm whose US radio broadcasts are backed by a subsidiary of the Chinese government, officials said. Both investigations come in response to a Reuters report that revealed the existence of the covert radio network, which broadcasts in more than a dozen American cities, including Washington (DC), Philadelphia (PA), Boston (MA), Houston (TX) and San Francisco (CA). "Based on reports, the FCC will initiate an inquiry into the facts surrounding the foreign ownership issues raised in the stories, including whether the Commission’s statutory foreign ownership rules have been violated," FCC spokesman Neil Grace said. The California firm is owned by James Su, a naturalized US citizen born in Shanghai. Su’s company, G&E Studio Inc, is 60 percent owned by a subsidiary of Chinese state-run radio broadcaster China Radio International (CRI). The FCC doesn't restrict content on US radio stations, except for rules covering indecency, political advertising and children’s programming. But under US law, the FCC prohibits foreign governments or their representatives from holding a radio license for a US broadcast station. Foreign individuals, governments and corporations are permitted to hold up to 20 percent ownership directly in a station and up to 25 percent in the US parent corporation of a station.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-justice-department-investigate-covert-chinese-radio-network | Reuters | FCC Statement
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HOW MERGERS DAMAGE THE ECONOMY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] In many industries, like airlines, telecommunications, health care and beer, mergers and acquisitions have increased the market power of big corporations in the last several decades. That has hurt consumers and is probably exacerbating income inequality, new research shows. Under the George W Bush administration, the wireless phone industry consolidated from six national companies to four. The two largest, Verizon and AT&T, now command about 70 percent of all subscribers. The Justice Department’s antitrust division has in recent years won nearly every merger challenge it has brought. The division and the Federal Communications Commission prevented Comcast from buying Time Warner Cable and AT&T from acquiring T-Mobile. But the division’s record suggests that it could be taking a tougher line. Congress should also study whether there are ways to strengthen the antitrust laws. It could, for instance, require regulators to consider whether mergers in concentrated industries are in the broader public interest, not just whether they would harm consumers through higher prices. The Federal Communications Commission can already use such a test to evaluate media and telecommunication deals to determine, for example, whether a merger will limit the diversity of opinions in media. Unfortunately, Congress is unlikely to adopt new antitrust legislation while Republicans are in control of both houses.
benton.org/headlines/how-mergers-damage-economy | New York Times
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
BILL INTRODUCED TO CRIMINALIZE WARRANTLESS CELL PHONE SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Joe Mullin]
The use of "stingrays" that capture data about cell phone calls has become increasingly controversial, but law enforcement agencies continue to embrace the devices. On Nov 2, Rep Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has said he'll introduce a bill that will criminalize any use of a stingray without a warrant. Violations would be punishable by a fine and up to 10 years in prison. The text of the draft isn't public yet, but apparently it includes wide exemptions, including for situations involving "emergencies that include an 'immediate danger of death,' national security or ... the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act." Rep Chaffetz's bill would apply to state and local agencies as well as federal ones. The American Civil Liberties Union has identified 57 agencies that own stingrays or similar devices in 22 states and the District of Columbia.
benton.org/headlines/bill-introduced-criminalize-warrantless-cell-phone-surveillance | Ars Technica
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
LESSIG DROPS OUT OF PRESIDENTIAL RACE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
Presidential candidate Lawrence Lessig dropped out of the race Nov 2, accusing the Democratic Party of shutting him out of its debates. The Harvard law professor and former tech advocate, who ran an unorthodox campaign focused almost solely on campaign finance, said his only chance of success was to get a slot in the primary debates. "I must today end my campaign for the Democratic nomination and turn to the question of how best to continue to press for this reform now," he said in a YouTube video. He blamed the Democratic Party for changing its debate rules midstream, adding that he wanted to run as a Democrat, but "the party won't let me." When asked about an independent run, he said, "nothing (legal) has been ruled out."
benton.org/headlines/lessig-drops-out-presidential-race | Hill, The
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TRUMP CAMPAIGN TO NEGOTIATE DIRECTLY WITH TV NETWORKS ON DEBATE FORMATS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Robert Costa, David Weigel]
Donald Trump and his advisers have decided to work directly with television executives and take a lead role in negotiating the format and content of primary debates, which have become highly watched and crucial events in the 2016 race, according to Republicans familiar with their plans. Trump will reject a joint letter to television network hosts regarding upcoming primary debates drafted Nov 1 at a private gathering of operatives from at least 11 presidential campaigns, the Republicans said. The move by Trump, coming just hours after a group of Republican strategists huddled in the Washington suburbs to craft a list of possible demands, thwarts an effort by the campaigns and the letter’s drafter, longtime GOP attorney Ben Ginsberg, to find consensus and work collectively to negotiate terms.
benton.org/headlines/trump-campaign-negotiate-directly-tv-networks-debate-formats | Washington Post | Politico
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