1. Monthly archive
  2. January 2016

January 2016

ISPs Ask FCC to Stick to Original (Backup) Power Play

Internet service providers asked the Federal Communications Commission to stay the course and not mandate that fixed VoIP providers install and maintain battery backup for all their customers in case of emergency. The FCC had decided to require those providers to offer up to eight hours of backup power for their VoIP phone service and inform consumers of their backup power options at the point of purchase but not to make those ISPs "solely responsible for continuity of a customer’s service [primarily 911 capability] during a power outage," as the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, American Cable Association and USTelecom phrased it in a filing supporting the initial FCC decision. Various consumer advocates (including the Benton Foundation) challenged the FCC decision, petitioning it to reconsider the decision, saying those ISPs should have to provide backup to all customers.

Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion? Understanding the Issues

A new report from the Federal Trade Commission outlines a number of questions for businesses to consider to help ensure that their use of big data analytics, while producing many benefits for consumers, avoids outcomes that may be exclusionary or discriminatory.

The report looks specifically at big data at the end of its lifecycle – how it is used after being collected and analyzed. The report highlights a number of innovative uses of big data that are providing benefits to underserved populations, including increased educational attainment, access to credit through non-traditional methods, specialized health care for underserved communities, and better access to employment. In addition, the report looks at possible risks that could result from biases or inaccuracies about certain groups, including more individuals mistakenly denied opportunities based on the actions of others, exposing sensitive information, creating or reinforcing existing disparities, assisting in the targeting of vulnerable consumers for fraud, creating higher prices for goods and services in lower-income communities and weakening the effectiveness of consumer choice.

The report outlines some of the various laws that apply to the use of big data, especially in regards to possible issues of discrimination or exclusion, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, FTC Act and equal opportunity laws. It also provides a range of questions for businesses to consider when they examine whether their big data programs comply with these laws. The report also proposes four key policy questions that are drawn from research into the ways big data can both present and prevent harms. The policy questions are designed to help companies determine how best to maximize the benefit of their use of big data while limiting possible harms, by examining both practical questions of accuracy and built-in bias as well as whether the company’s use of big data raises ethical or fairness concerns.

Pew Research Center will call 75% cellphones for surveys in 2016

Pew Research Center will increase the percentage of respondents interviewed on cellphones from 65% to 75% in most of its 2016 telephone surveys. We’re making this change to ensure our survey samples properly represent the now roughly half (47%) of U.S. adults whose only phone is a cellphone. Nine-in-ten Americans have a cellphone, and the share of adults who are cellphone-only has steadily increased since 2004, the year the government began tracking the size of this group. To keep pace with the public’s changing habits and lifestyle, we have increased the percentage of respondents interviewed by cellphone nearly every year since 2009. Despite the prominence of cellphones in public opinion polling, many outside the field are still unclear what role these devices play in surveys.

DISH Questions Time Warner Upgrades

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, DISH argues that already-planned upgrades to the Time Warner Cable network mean current customers will get a boost regardless of whether the deal with Charter is approved. DISH is trying to show that faster networks for TWC customers isn't a merger-specific benefit and therefore shouldn't be counted as a reason to approve it.

In response, Charter said its plan to boost the TWC network outdoes what TWC would do itself. That's partly because TWC's planned upgrades only cover about 75 percent of its customers. Charter also said it will make TWC and Bright House Networks all-digital operations. "We believe all TWC and BHN customers would similarly appreciate these benefits and look forward to delivering them within 30 months of our transactions closing," Charter said in a statement.

Groups press Facebook to stop ‘disingenuous’ advocacy in India

Dozens of Internet rights groups are pressing Facebook to clean up its “unfounded and divisive” advocacy in India around Free Basics, the social media company’s program to offer limited Internet access for free. The groups believe the program is at odds with net neutrality. And in an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, they accuse Facebook of making “disingenuous” claims that the opposition is coming from a small group of critics.

“It is concerning that Facebook — which says it supports Net Neutrality — would attack those who have sought to enshrine this fundamental principle in law,” the groups wrote in the open letter. “Such a move is an insult to millions in the fast-growing global community that cares about safeguarding the open internet.” The letter was spearheaded by the US-based advocacy group Access Now. In addition to dozens of groups around the world, the letter was also signed by advocacy groups Fight for the Future and Free Press, which helped bombard the Federal Communications Commission with form letters during the US fight over net neutrality. The groups said Facebook’s advocacy is playing into the hands of large Internet service providers by “creating a false impression that there is a grassroots movement opposed to net neutrality.” Those telecom companies, which are adamantly against strict net neutrality rules, are challenging the US regulations in court.

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