February 2016

TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY…

TWENTY YEARS LATER
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: David McCabe]
Washington’s tech policy wonks are celebrating an anniversary this week: 20 years ago, President Bill Clinton signed the 1996 Telecommunications Act into law at the Library of Congress. Designed to de-regulate aspects of the telecommunications business, it was the first overhaul of the law that created the Federal Communications Commission in more than six decades. Supporters of the law said it would create more competition in the telecommunications industry that, at the time, was only beginning to grapple with the transformative power of the Internet. Among other things, the bill brought deregulation to the cable industry and lifted the national cap on radio station ownership. It also eased the rules that apply to broadcasters. It touched on universal service, the idea that the government should help make sure that all Americans have access to communications services. The act authorized the FCC's E-Rate program, which helps connect schools and libraries. A number of technology groups will commemorate the law’s passage next week, with players from big-name technology companies participating.
benton.org/headlines/bill-clintons-telecom-law-twenty-years-later | Hill, The
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HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY, TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Adrianne Furniss]
[Commentary] Some people deride the 1996 Act for not mentioning “the Internet” by name, but let’s not forget how the legislation laid out a new regulatory landscape for the Digital Age. Most importantly, Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission to preserve and advance the core American value that everyone must have access to “advanced communications services”—what you and I now call broadband—at affordable prices. The bipartisan Act enshrined “universal service,” even while relying more on competition in the telecommunications marketplace. At the heart of the Telecommunications Act is the belief that media and telecommunications can improve the quality of life for all. That’s a core tenant of Benton’s mission, too, which is why we’re celebrating the commitment the nation made 20 years ago today. But if we want every American to be able to take full advantage of the vast opportunities that broadband can deliver, then we need to focus on connecting the critical gaps in our digital infrastructure. There are a number of places where we could bring broadband that could have great public benefit. Think public transportation, public housing, public lands and parks, public school buses, and public buildings. Extending broadband’s reach to many of these places could be like bringing water to a digital desert.
https://www.benton.org/blog/happy-20th-anniversary-telecommunications-act
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AEI OP-ED
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Roslyn Layton]
[Commentary] In honor of its anniversary, let’s take stock of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, how the communications ecosystem has performed in its wake, and whether the Federal Communications Commission has done its job to uphold it. The goal of the act was to “promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services for American telecommunications consumers and encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies” (emphasis added.) With regard to the Internet, it noted that the policy of the United States is “to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation” (emphasis added.) The development of the Internet since the 1996 act has been an unqualified success.
[Layton studies Internet economics at the Center for Communication, Media, and Information Technologies (CMI) at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, Denmark]
benton.org/headlines/20th-anniversary-1996-telecom-act-lets-get-back-track | American Enterprise Institute
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

BATTLE OVER NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Troy Wolverton]
[Commentary] If you thought the fight over net neutrality ended when the Federal Communications Commission issued its strong new "Open Internet" rules, think again. The new rules are under attack. Internet providers are challenging them in the courts and are trying to evade them with new kinds of business plans. Even if they survive the legal challenge -- and I think they will -- they could still be undermined by broadband providers like Comcast and AT&T. Either way, the threat to the open nature of the Internet remains worrisome and real. "The really big move is turning the Internet into the equivalent of a cable system, where it's a managed network," said Susan Crawford, a professor at Harvard Law School and an outspoken critic of the big broadband providers. "If Comcast and these guys get away with this, other carriers around the world will try to do the same thing." Despite being asked to do so, the FCC didn't ban zero-rating programs in its net neutrality rules. However, it tacitly acknowledged that they could violate the spirit of net neutrality and vowed to keep an eye on them. Reportedly, the agency is studying the issue. It's time for the FCC to take a bolder stance and ban them outright. Zero-rating plans may sound good, but they're bad for the Internet and consumers in the long run.
benton.org/headlines/battle-network-neutrality-isnt-over | San Jose Mercury News
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CHAIRMAN UPTON AND WALDEN PRESS FCC ON LACK OF CONSISTENT REPORTING ON BROADBAND COMPETITION
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler concerned with the commission’s reporting on broadband deployment, video competition, and mobile wireless competition. The leaders are concerned that the lack of consistent reporting has “been used to justify commission actions to intervene in seemingly competitive markets.” Regarding the commission’s reports on deployment of advanced telecommunications and mobile wireless services, Chairmen Upton and Walden write, “Since 2011, it appears that the commission has applied inconsistent definitions and analyses in making those determinations. Those reports have then been used to justify commission actions to intervene in seemingly competitive markets. Despite the plain language of the Communications Act, the FCC’s actions seem to benefit specific classes of competitors and do not promote competition. This behavior concerns us.’” The leaders also questioned the commission’s ever-changing definition of advanced telecommunications services. They continued, “Instead of uniformity of definition, the commission has instead made broadband speed a variable in the regulatory equation. This represents the latest in series of troubling actions that distort – or outright ignore – the FCC’s requirements to produce honest, data-driven reports to inform policymakers and the public.” Chairmen Upton and Walden posed a number of questions about the commission’s “decision-making and the impact of the FCC’s shifting definitions of broadband and effective competition” and requested a response by February 19, 2016.
benton.org/headlines/chairmen-upton-and-walden-press-fcc-lack-consistent-reporting-broadband-competition | House of Representatives Commerce Committee
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FCC CHAIRMAN WHEELER RESPONSE TO SENS RE: MUNICIPAL BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler]
In a letter to eight Republican senators, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler tried to ease concerns about the FCC’s support for municipal broadband networks. The senators had asked him four questions:
1) Please provide the total dollar amount that the FCC has committed to municipal broadband providers through the Universal Service Fund's Rural Broadband Experiments program. Do any limitations exist to prevent government-owned networks from using universal service funds to compete with private sector networks?
2) Please clarify whether there is a situation in which the emergence of a new governmentowned network could result in the loss of universal service funding for an existing private sector provider.
3) Please detail any plans the FCC has to adopt additional policies relating to municipal broadband. For example, does the FCC intend to extend its February 2015 decision to additional states?
4) Please highlight the FCC's outreach plans for fiscal year 2016 with respect to government-owned networks. Please identify any state or local officials with whom the FCC plans to meet and why.
Chairman Wheeler replied saying the kinds of scenarios the senators fear aren't happening and the FCC hasn't authorized any municipal networks to receive that cash so far. He also disclosed that the agency has no more petitions pending that would prompt it to preempt state laws that limit muni broadband.\
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-wheeler-response-senators-regarding-municipal-broadband | Federal Communications Commission
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

VERIZON BETRAYED NET NEUTRALITY BY EXCLUDING ITS VIDEO APP FROM DATA CAPS
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: TC Scottek]
The Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules, passed in 2015, explicitly ban Internet providers from a number of discriminatory measures like throttling and blocking, but there's evidently a huge loophole that every major wireless carrier in the US has rushed to exploit. T-Mobile's Binge On program, which throttles video content, is troublesome — but AT&T and Verizon's programs are much worse, especially the one Verizon just announced Feb 5 in the fine print of an update for its Go90 video app. Verizon's Go90 video platform — the company's effort to compete with video providers by offering its own bundle — now won't count against customers' data caps. That's a huge deal, since video eats up a lot of data on mobile devices, and especially since Verizon's data plans are expensive. Verizon and other carriers have argued that zero-rating programs, like the one snuck in Feb 5, are beneficial to consumers and do not violate the FCC's net neutrality rules — but their arguments are based on a market of artificial scarcity they have created, and now intend to exploit. The endgame of zero-rating programs is a two-way tollbooth that Verizon controls: first Verizon receives payment from customers for access to the network, then it receives payment from content providers who want unlimited access to customers, or from whatever other revenue sources it can draw from hosting an exclusive video bundle that won't count against data caps. The upshot of creating punitive data caps, like the ones you can see in the photo above, is that you can then reap juicy tolls from people who provide services that require a lot of data. This scheme is exactly what the principles of net neutrality are designed to prevent, but Verizon and its peers are doing it anyway.
benton.org/headlines/verizon-just-blatantly-betrayed-net-neutrality-excluding-its-video-app-data-caps | Verge, The
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PRIVACY/SECURITY

PCLOB GIVES HIGH MARKS TO SPYING REFORMS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) gave a positive assessment to the Obama Administration’s efforts to reform federal spying powers, saying the government has started to enact reforms addressing each of the nearly two dozen recommendations it made two years ago, on the heels of Edward Snowden’s leaks about American surveillance. “[I]mportant measures have been taken to enhance the protection of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties and to strengthen the transparency of the government’s surveillance efforts, without jeopardizing our counterterrorism efforts,” the bipartisan five-member board said.
benton.org/headlines/privacy-and-civil-liberties-oversight-board-gives-high-marks-spying-reforms | Hill, The
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POLICYMAKERS
Net Neutrality Again Puts FCC General Counsel at Center Stage

JONATHAN SALLET
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
In his two years as the Federal Communications Commission’s general counsel, Jonathan Sallet has taken center stage in some of the most divisive debates in Washington. He helped shape and then defend the network neutrality law. His input helped kill the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger. In recent days, the cable industry has closely tracked his thinking about a merger between Charter and Time Warner Cable, concerned about a similar result. “Typically a general counsel is like an administrator,” said former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. “But in Jon you have an administrator who is also a policy maven and political strategist.” Sallet will draw more of the spotlight in coming months, a period that could shape the tech and cable landscape for years to come. The agency is set to take a position on the Charter and Time Warner Cable deal, as well as vote to open the market of set-top cable boxes to new competitors. And the decision in the net neutrality case, the one he prepared so long and hard for, is also expected.
benton.org/headlines/net-neutrality-again-puts-fcc-general-counsel-center-stage | New York Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

INDIA BLOCKS FREE BASICS
[SOURCE: BBC, AUTHOR: ]
India's telecoms regulator has blocked Facebook's Free Basics internet service as part of a ruling in favour of network neutrality. "No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content," ruled the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The body had been investigating whether any online content should be prioritised over others, or offered for free while others were not. Vikas Pandey, digital producer for the BBC in India, said there had been an intense publicity campaign on both sides of the debate, with Facebook taking out front page advertising in national newspapers to defend the scheme. "The people who live in cities and are aggressive users of the Internet said: 'You can't dictate the terms, give free internet to villagers and then tell them how to use it'," he said.
benton.org/headlines/india-blocks-facebook-free-basics-internet-scheme | BBC
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UK BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Daniel Thomas]
Under a government-led agreement, more than half of all new-build properties in the UK are expected to be connected to fibre broadband free of charge to developers, with the remainder of schemes to be supplied as part of a co-funded initiative. Ed Vaizey, minister for the digital economy, said: “Broadband connectivity is just one thing that homebuyers now expect when buying a new build, so this industry-led push to make superfast, or indeed ultrafast, broadband speeds available by default in new homes represents a very important step in meeting the UK’s digital needs.” The project is part of a wider government push to provide superfast internet services to 95 percent of the UK by 2017 using £1.7 billion of subsidies to extend the network where needed.
benton.org/headlines/uk-housebuilders-and-bt-agree-broadband-ready-new-homes | Christian Science Monitor
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February 2016

Momentum slows for encryption bill

The phone call that saved safe harbor

Monica Lewinsky Says ‘Cyberbullying Is 24-7’ — But Can Emjois Help Stop It? A Q&A

What Everyone’s Got Wrong About Twitter

Here's how millennials could change health care

February 8, 2016 (Happy 20th Anniversary, Telecommunications Act)

Happy 20th Anniversary, Telecommunications Act: A Day to Recommit to Universal Broadband Access

20th Anniversary of the 1996 Telecom Act: Let’s get back on track.