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March 2016

US Broadband Speeds Rise: Akamai

Though the US still trails many other nations with respect to average broadband speeds, those connections are getting faster, according to Akamai’s State of the Internet Report for Q4 2015. Per Akamai, US average connection speeds in Q4 reached 14.2 Mbps, up 29% year-over-year, while average peak connections speeds hit 61.5 Mbps, up 25%. On a global basis, that put the US at number 14 with respect to average connection speeds, and number 20 for average peak connection speeds. Global average connection speeds in Q4 clocked in at 5.6 Mbps, up 8.6% from the previous quarter, and up 23% year-over-year. South Korea (26.7 Mbps) was tops among individual countries, followed by Sweden (19.1 Mbps), Norway (18.8 Mbps), and Japan (17.4 Mbps). Global average peak connections speeds hit 32.5 Mbps in Q4, up 21% year-over-year, Akamai said. In this category, Singapore (135.7 Mbps) led the way, followed by Hong Kong (105.2 Mbps), South Korea (95.3 Mbps), Macao (83.1 Mbps) and Japan (82.9 Mbps).

On a global basis, 7.1% of unique IP addresses connected to Akamai averaged connection speeds of at least 25 Mbps, marking a 74% year-on-year increase. South Korea led all countries with 25 Mbps adoption, at 37%, followed by Sweden (23%), Norway (21%), Latvia (18%) and Japan (17%). The US did not fall into the top 10 in this category, according to Akamai.

Lifelong Learning and Technology

Most Americans feel they are lifelong learners, whether that means gathering knowledge for “do it yourself” projects, reading up on a personal interest or improving their job skills. For the most part, these learning activities occur in traditional places – at home, work, conferences or community institutions such as government agencies or libraries. The Internet is also an important tool for many adults in the process of lifelong learning. A new Pew Research Center survey shows the extent to which America is a nation of ongoing learners:

  • 73% of adults consider themselves lifelong learners.
  • 74% of adults are what we call personal learners – that is, they have participated in at least one of a number of possible activities in the past 12 months to advance their knowledge about something that personally interests them. These activities include reading, taking courses or attending meetings or events tied to learning more about their personal interests.
  • 63% of those who are working (or 36% of all adults) are what we call professional learners – that is, they have taken a course or gotten additional training in the past 12 months to improve their job skills or expertise connected to career advancement.

These learning activities take place in a variety of locations. The Internet is often linked to a variety of learning pursuits. However, it is still the case that more learners pursue knowledge in physical settings than choose to seek it online.

  • By an 81% to 52% margin, personal learners are more likely to cite a locale such as a high school, place of worship or library as the site at which personal learning takes place than they are to cite the Internet.
  • By a similar margin (75% to 55%), professional learners are more likely to say their professional training took place at a work-related venue than on the Internet.

The iPhone Case and the Future of Civil Liberties

[Commentary] It is not often that a legal battle over smartphone firmware captures the national imagination, but such is the case as the FBI tries to access the data contained on suspected San Bernadino (CA) shooter Syed Farook’s iPhone. The feds want Apple to help it break into the phone, under the authority of an obscure 1789 law called the All Writs Act. Thus an ancient statute meets an icon of the digital age.

This odd pairing is strangely appropriate, as the Apple case, and others like it, will help to determine whether our hard-fought gains in civil liberties will survive today’s technology. This case is one of several pending that may guide the law toward a point where every digital interaction is within reach of the government. Or, by contrast, these cases could set limits on the ability of the government to break security technologies, such as passwords and encryption, that guard us from prying eyes of domestic and foreign governments, criminals, and terrorists. What principles will guide the courts facing novel questions about surveillance in an era when our data is held by dozens of companies? Law enforcement wants to analogize to bank and telephone records, which it can access without warrants under what is known as the third-party doctrine. But there is reason to resist this logic today. It has become essentially impossible for most Americans to avoid committing their lives to the digital record. Access to all of this data would mark a vast expansion of the government’s power to tear down the walls of privacy. It is therefore essential that the public support tech firms standing up for privacy, even as we may have good reason to question those companies’ motives.

[Neil M. Richards is Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis (MO)]

Black box: Merrick Garland an unknown quantity on tech issues

President Barack Obama's nominee for the US Supreme Court, if approved, would have the chance to vote on some of the most important issues facing the technology industry in years. Does Silicon Valley, then, have a friend in Judge Merrick Garland? It's hard to know.

Based on an analysis of his public speeches and previous decisions, Judge Garland appears to be a moderate who balances the government's rights with those of the people -- and who has been inclined to rule against businesses when they're challenged by individuals. But that doesn't mean Silicon Valley can count him as an ally. Justices on the Supreme Court have a history of shifting from perceived camps. "Once someone gets on there and they have a lifetime appointment, I just don't know that you can ever really know what they're going to do," said Elizabeth Pipkin, a lawyer in Silicon Valley. On the one hand, Judge Garland has a history of ruling in favor of law enforcement in Fourth Amendment challenges to warrantless searches and arrests. On the other hand, he's made significant rulings in favor of government transparency, siding with the ACLU in its quest to obtain the CIA's drone records in 2013. What's more, the former prosecutor has a lot of experience dealing with terrorism. Judge Garland investigated the convicted terrorist Ted Kaczynski while working for the Justice Department, and he saw the aftermath of the Oklahoma City (OK) bombing first-hand while investigating that attack's perpetrator, Timothy McVeigh. He also ruled twice as an appellate judge to allow lawsuits against foreign terrorists to be heard on US soil.

What's Next for 18F?

Two years after its founding, the federal government’s much-hyped tech consulting team 18F will expand its work for state and local governments, grow its federal business and hire more techies, according to one of its leaders. The 169-member group, sustained by the revenue it collects from customer agencies, also plans to focus on its existing portfolio of projects including: the agile Blanket Purchase Agreement, which pre-vets tech companies to sell incremental software development services to the government; a new online "micropurchasing" marketplace for bits of code; and Cloud.gov, an app platform. Another 18F team is working on a governmentwide “identity management problem."

18F Executive Director Aaron Snow discussed the group's priorities. In the past 12 months, 18F has signed 116 project agreements with other government agencies, and is hiring about 25 employees each quarter. The group plans to at least sustain, if not exceed, its current hiring rate without causing "organizational pain." Because the group is fueled by its own revolving fund, budget isn't a limiting factor, Snow said. "There’s a lot more demand for our services than we can fulfill," he said. Eventually, Snow said he hopes federal agencies will create their own internal versions of 18F's digital consulting team so the flagship group can focus on acquisition-related services, as well as building products and platforms.

Why NPR Changed How It Talks About Podcasts

[Commentary] Tensions between the needs of terrestrial radio, the foundational base of NPR, and digital distribution, its future in some form or other, may not always be apparent to most NPR listeners and readers. But they are never far from the surface these days in the public radio system and do occasionally rise to public notice — such as in the disconnect that some listeners now feel when they hear archived newscasts in the personalized mobile app NPR One that start with the word "Live," though they clearly aren't. March 17, a spirited conversation broke out on Twitter and multiple closed Facebook groups as public radio insiders and others who closely follow the digital evolution of journalism debated an internal NPR memo that was posted online. In it, Christopher Turpin, NPR's vice president of news programming and operations, laid out how news employees should refer on air, in NPR's newsmagazines, to NPR One, as well as podcasts, which are widely seen as a key element of the future of public radio listening.

March 22, 2016 (Andrew Grove)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2016

Andrew Grove, Longtime Chief of Intel


INTERNET/BROADBAND
   First Look: Internet Use in 2015 - NTIA research
   Commissioner Rosenworcel Remarks at CUE16: "Closing the Homework Gap" - speech [links to Benton summary]
   Remarks by Chairman Wheeler at Georgetown University - speech [links to Benton summary]
   Net Neutrality: a path forward - Verizon blog [links to Benton summary]
   Remarks of Assistant Secretary Strickling at Digital Northwest Broadband Summit - speech [links to Benton summary]
   Cable Broadband Infrastructure Spending Dropped in 2015
   Bronwyn Howell: Playing fiber “policy monopoly” is a risky game [links to American Enterprise Institute]
   What it looks like when the Internet suddenly disappears, in 4 charts [links to Washington Post]

LIFELINE
   Lifeline: Striking the Right Balance - FCC blog

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   FCC Releases List of Bidders for Wireless Airwaves Auction
   NAB Urges Market-By-Market TV Band Repack [links to TVNewsCheck]
   US to Provide Temporary Trade Sanction Relief to China’s ZTE Corp [links to Benton summary]
   T-Mobile executive says company is 'pivoting away' from unlimited data [links to Verge, The]
   Court Denies Videohouse Three Stay Request, Clearing Way for Incentive Auction to Move Forward on Schedule [links to CommLawBlog]

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   US Says It May Not Need Apple’s Help to Unlock iPhone
   Tim Cook jumps right into discussing Apple-FBI iPhone encryption fight at product launch
   Beyond surveillance: what could happen if Apple loses to the FBI [links to Benton summary]
   Inside Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Fight With the FBI [links to Time
   Jack Karsten and Darrell West: Apple encryption case marks opportunity for cybersecurity coordination [links to Brookings]
   Paris terrorists used burner phones, not encryption, to evade detection [links to Benton summary]
   Self-Driving Cars and the Looming Privacy Apocalypse [links to Benton summary]
   White House Says Agencies Reported 77,200 Cyber Incidents in 2015 [links to nextgov]
   GOP congressmen say unions threaten cybersecurity [links to Washington Post]

PATENTS
   Samsung-Apple phone patent dispute heads to Supreme Court

OWNERSHIP
   Digital First Media to Acquire Orange County Register
   22 Public Interest Groups Urge the FCC to Block the Charter-Time Warner Cable Merger - press release

ELECTIONS & MEDIA
   Jill Abramson on Hillary Clinton: ‘She does get more scrutiny’ than men [links to Politico]
   Fox News' Muddled, Dysfunctional, And Totally Tortured Relationship With Donald Trump [links to Media Matters]
   Trump saves funds thanks to media attention [links to Benton summary]
   How does Trump get so much air time? Media ethics under fire. [links to Christian Science Monitor]

JOURNALISM
   Legal Experts See Little Effect on News Media From Hulk Hogan Verdict [links to Benton summary]

CONTENT
   Columbia Professor Eli Noam suggests that the Apples and Amazons of the world should expect their cloud-based video distribution systems to be regulated as are traditional video networks now. [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
   Verizon kills FiOS live TV apps for Xbox and smart TVs [links to Ars Technica]
   Live, on Facebook, It’s Something Like TV but Not Exactly TV [links to Revere Digital]

TELEVISION
   Consumer Video Choice Coalition and Others Launch 'Unlock the Box' Site [links to Consumer Video Choice Coalition]

ADVERTISING
   Using kids TV to reach parents with money to spend [links to Variety]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Op-Ed: How to Unleash the Full Potential of Government Digital Services [links to nextgov

HEALTH
   The surprising truth about how Twitter has changed your brain [links to Washington Post]
   Hunting the Genetic Signs of Postpartum Depression With an iPhone App [links to New York Times]

COMPANY NEWS
   Comcast Speeds Up Two Broadband Tiers in California [links to Multichannel News]
   Amazon.com Starts Selling Comcast Xfinity TV, Internet Service [links to Variety]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   How Google plans to improve Internet service in Cuba [links to Benton summary]
   US to Provide Temporary Trade Sanction Relief to China’s ZTE Corp [links to Benton summary]
   Mark Zuckerberg met with China's propaganda chief [links to CNNMoney]
   Unused TV Bandwidth Could Bring Over a Billion in Rural India Online [links to Vice]

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

FIRST LOOK: INTERNET USE IN 2015
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: John Morris]
As the Obama Administration continues to focus on expanding broadband access and adoption, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration released new data that shows that some of the demographic groups that have historically lagged behind in using the Internet—such as senior citizens, minorities, and Americans with lower levels of educational attainment—are making big strides. Particularly promising, Internet use increased significantly among children and older Americans between 2013 and 2015. Children between the ages of 3 and 14 became substantially more likely to go online, as Internet use among this group increased from 56 percent in 2013 to 66 percent in 2015, and Internet use among those aged 65 or older increased from 51 percent to 56 percent during the same period. In contrast, usage remained largely unchanged among those who were previously most likely to go online, with 83 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 44 reporting Internet use in both 2013 and 2015. The latest data comes from the Computer and Internet Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS), which included nearly 53,000 households and was conducted for NTIA by the US.Census Bureau in July 2015. The large sample size provides a detailed picture of where, why and how Americans go online.
benton.org/headlines/first-look-internet-use-2015 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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CABLE BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING DROPPED IN 2015
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Jeff Baumgartner]
Cable broadband infrastructure spending dipped by 3% in 2015, compared to 2014 levels, thanks in part to dropping DOCSIS downstream channel prices and record shipments of super-dense converged cable access platform (CCAP) products, SNL Kagan found. Shipments of total DOCSIS downstream channels rose 41% during 2015, topping 6 million, as cable operators continued to build out capacity amid growing deployments of FTTP networks by Google Fiber, municipal providers and other ISPs, SNL Kagan said. But revenues did not keep pace with shipments as the rise in software licenses helped to push down the average price per downstream channel. Despite that boost in channel shipments, revenues in the category dropped 3%, to $1.74 billion, SNL Kagan found. Among vendors, Arris ended 2015 as the market leader, holding 53% of total revenue among suppliers of cable broadband infrastructure, aided by key customers such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
benton.org/headlines/cable-broadband-infrastructure-spending-dropped-2015 | Multichannel News
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LIFELINE

LIFELINE: STRIKING THE RIGHT BALANCE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Jon Wilkins, Matt DelNero]
From the outset of the Commission’s Lifeline modernization proceeding, one of the primary challenges has been striking the right balance between the Federal Communications Commission’s dual mandates of affordability and access to “advanced communications technologies.” In other words, how can we guarantee that low-income Americans can take advantage of all the opportunities that real broadband Internet access enables – from jobs to education to healthcare – while also ensuring that this access remains within reach financially? So, it’s not surprising that since FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn announced their proposal for including broadband in the Lifeline program, we’ve heard some questions about what the proposed rules – and, in particular the concept of phased in “minimum service standards” – would mean for the affordability of Lifeline-supported services. Understandably, we have also heard concerns about what the proposal means for future availability of mobile voice service in the Lifeline program. To ensure that Lifeline is continuing to meet subscribers’ needs and that our reforms are accomplishing their intended modernization goals, the proposal also specifically requires a mid-2019 program review and report by the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau. There’s another an important proposed change to the Lifeline program that would help considerably with the affordability mandate: shifting all eligibility reviews to the National Verifier and thereby decreasing administrative burdens on providers. By helping Lifeline providers realize significant cost savings in their administrative overhead, the National Verifier would also help promote affordable offers that meet the minimum standards. Finally, modern mobile networks continue to see technological advances that allow services such as voice to be delivered more and more efficiently. For Lifeline, an important trend in the years ahead will be the growing use of so-called Voice-over-LTE capabilities by US wireless providers.
[Jon Wilkins is Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Matt DelNero is Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau]
benton.org/headlines/lifeline-striking-right-balance | Federal Communications Commission
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

FCC RELEASES LIST OF BIDDERS FOR WIRELESS AIRWAVES AUCTION
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Thomas Gryta, Ryan Knutson]
Comcast, a Silicon Valley investor and other potential new wireless players have filed paperwork to bid in an upcoming government auction of airwaves that are expected to fetch tens of billions of dollars. The Federal Communications Commission released a list of dozens of companies that have applied to bid in the auction, which is set to begin later in March. In the mix are the usual participants such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, as well as a handful of rural telecommunication operators from North Dakota to New Mexico. Sprint, which had said it wasn’t going to participate, isn’t on the list. Some outsiders also emerged such as Social Capital Rama Spectrum Holdings LLC, which is connected to Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist and former Facebook executive. Also throwing their hats in the ring are Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., the biggest owner of TV stations in the US, and Puerto Rico Telephone Company Inc., which is owned by telecom billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil SAB. Many entities on the list are unknown because the FCC only includes the legal names of the participants and not the identities of any backers. For instance, Comcast and Dish Network are both participating through entities that don’t use their names.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-releases-list-bidders-wireless-airwaves-auction | Wall Street Journal
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SECURITY/PRIVACY

UNLOCKING THE IPHONE WITHOUT APPLE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katie Benner, Matt Apuzzo]
The Justice Department said that it might no longer need Apple’s assistance in opening an iPhone used by a gunman in the San Bernardino rampage. The disclosure led a judge to postpone a court hearing over the issue and temporarily sidesteps what has become a bitter clash with the world’s most valuable company. In a new court filing, the government said an outside party had demonstrated a way for the FBI to possibly unlock the phone used by the gunman, Syed Rizwan Farook. The hearing in the contentious case — Apple has loudly opposed opening the iPhone, citing privacy concerns and igniting a heated debate — was originally set for March 22. While the Justice Department must test this method, if it works “it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple,” it said in its filing. The Justice Department added that it would file a status report by April 5 on its progress. The emergence of a potential third-party method to open the iPhone was a surprise, as the government said more than a dozen times in court filings that it could open the phone only with Apple’s help.
benton.org/headlines/us-says-it-may-not-need-apples-help-unlock-iphone | New York Times | WSJ
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TIM COOK TALK ENCRYPTION AT PRODUCT LAUNCH
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR:]
As Apple began its product-launch event, there was an elephant in the room: the company’s legal battle with the US government over an encrypted iPhone used by one of the attackers in the San Bernardino (CA) terrorism case. Chief Executive Tim Cook addressed it right away. Cook said Apple has a responsibility to protect information on people's iPhones and other Apple products from intrusion because the devices have become an “extension of ourselves.” “We will not shrink from this responsibility,” Cook said. Although his remarks were being streamed online across the world, Cook directed his comments about privacy primarily to US users. “We need to decide as a nation how much power the government should have over our data and our privacy,” Cook said. “We didn’t expect...to be at odds with our government. But we believe we have a responsibility to protect your data, your privacy. We owe it to our customers.”
benton.org/headlines/tim-cook-jumps-right-discussing-apple-fbi-iphone-encryption-fight-product-launch | Los Angeles Times
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PATENTS

SAMSUNG-APPLE PHONE PATENT DISPUTE HEADS TO SUPREME COURT
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Marcio Jose Sanchez]
The Supreme Court has agreed to referee a pricey patent dispute between Samsung and Apple. The justices said they will review a $399-million judgment against South Korea-based Samsung Electronics for illegally copying patented aspects of the look of Apple's iPhone. The justices will decide whether a court can order Samsung to pay Apple every penny it made from the phones at issue, even though the disputed features are a tiny part of the product. The federal appeals court in Washington that hears patent cases ruled for Apple. None of the earlier-generation Galaxy and other Samsung phones involved in the lawsuit remain on the market, Samsung said. The case involved common smartphone features for which Apple holds patents: the flat screen, the rectangular shape with rounded corners, a rim and a screen of icons. The case, Samsung v. Apple, 15-777, is to be argued in the court's new term that begins in October.
benton.org/headlines/samsung-apple-phone-patent-dispute-heads-supreme-court | Associated Press | Reuters
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OWNERSHIP

DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA TO ACQUIRE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
[SOURCE: The Wrap, AUTHOR: Brian Flood]
Freedom Communications will sell the Orange County Register to Digital First Media after a judge blocked a $56 million bid by Tribune Publishing, a Freedom attorney said March 19. Freedom is the troubled owner of the Orange County Register and Press-Enterprise of Riverside (CA). Freedom will ask a federal bankruptcy judge to confirm and approve the sale to Digital First. Digital First owns the Los Angeles Daily News and eight other daily papers in the greater Los Angeles (CA) area. In total, Digital First Media operates more than 800 multi-platform products include web, mobile, tablet and print. Freedom attorney William Lobel said in an e-mail that he expects the deal will close before the end of March. Digital First was the runner-up bidder for Freedom at $45.5 million.
benton.org/headlines/digital-first-media-acquire-orange-county-register | Wrap, The
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OPPOSITION TO MERGER
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Press release]
Twenty-two public interest organizations sent a letter urging the Federal Communications Commission to deny Charter’s bid to take over Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The Center for Media Justice, CREDO Action, Daily Kos, Demand Progress, Free Press and Presente.org were among the media justice, Internet rights and public interest groups calling on the Federal Communications Commission to reject this deal, which would create a national broadband duopoly. Together, Charter and Comcast would control nearly two-thirds of the nation’s high-speed broadband subscribers and would offer service to nearly 80 percent of U.S. households. The letter notes that this substantial increase in market power, coupled with Charter’s $66 billion in debt, would give the company both the incentive and the heightened ability to raise prices at will. This would broaden the digital divide, hitting low-income communities the hardest. “Too many Washington insiders have given up on challenging this deal despite its serious harms,” said Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood. “Instead of forecasting its chances for approval, the groups signing this letter will keep fighting to block this merger, along with the guaranteed price increases it would foist on people and communities who can least afford it. If Charter gets this merger approved, nothing will stop it from raising its rates for high-speed broadband and video customers who have nowhere else to turn. Temporary promises and weak conditions aren’t going to preserve competition and choice in the long run, and they’re not going to do anything to stop these price hikes. The FCC is charged with promoting the public interest, and there’s no way in which this merger benefits the public. Higher prices and fewer choices won’t help anyone but the companies pitching this bad bargain.”
benton.org/headlines/22-public-interest-groups-urge-fcc-block-charter-time-warner-cable-merger | Free Press
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Andrew Grove, Longtime Chief of Intel

Andrew S. Grove, the longtime chief executive and chairman of Intel Corporation who was one of the most acclaimed and influential personalities of the computer and Internet era, died at his home in Los Altos (CA). He was 79.

Grove helped midwife the semiconductor revolution — the use of increasingly sophisticated chips to power computers — that proved to be as momentous for economic and social development as hydrocarbon fuels, electricity and telephones were in earlier eras. Intel’s microprocessors were also essential for digital cameras, consumer electronic products, household appliances, toys, manufacturing equipment and a wide assortment of devices that depended on computerized functions. Besides presiding over the development of Intel’s memory chips and microprocessors in laboratory research, Grove gained a reputation as a ruthlessly effective manager who spurred associates and cowed rivals in a cutthroat, high-tech business world where companies rose and fell at startling speed. Grove’s famous slogan, “Only the Paranoid Survive,” became the title of his 1996 best seller describing his management philosophy. Adding to Grove’s appeal was his rags-to-riches immigrant story. A survivor of the Nazi Holocaust and the 1956 Soviet invasion of his native Hungary, he arrived in the United States as a penniless youth who spoke little English and suffered from severe hearing loss. Within decades, Grove was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And in 1997, he was chosen “Man of the Year” by Time magazine as “the person most responsible for the amazing growth in the power and the innovative potential of microchips.”

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