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June 2016

What a ban on online … um, er… adult content can teach us about Internet law

When New York City first started replacing its public pay phones with free Internet kiosks, it probably didn't expect homeless people to start watching porn on them. So the company behind the Internet service, LinkNYC, has now installed a software filter to prevent people from accessing adult material from each of the 180 Web-enabled kiosks scattered around Manhattan and the Bronx. LinkNYC's decision effectively creates a curated version of the Internet for the kiosk's millions of potential users.

Why is that interesting? Well, a panel of judges ruled that curated Internet services are exempt from the government's rules on net neutrality — a set of regulations aimed at ensuring that no Internet service provider can block or slow down the websites you want to reach. Those very rules were upheld in a 2-to-1 vote last week at the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. The decision marked a major victory for regulators and a defeat for the ISPs that had sued to have the rules overturned. The broadband companies claimed the regulations were illegal and unconstitutional; the court ultimately disagreed, siding with the government. Although the Federal Communications Commission prevailed over the ISPs, it now falls to the agency to implement its regulations. And, partly because of the judges' comments on curated Internet services, this may be a messy process. It raises tough, murky questions about how the federal government should think about such filtered broadband services as the FCC tries to enforce its rules for an open Internet.

No Matter Who's in White House, Relationship With Press Will Get Tougher

No matter who wins the White House, attempts to control the press will increase, said a panel of the nation’s top political broadcast journalists at PromaxBDA Station Summit. “Every administration has been more anti-press than the previous one and it hasn’t mattered which party,” said Chuck Todd, NBC News political director and moderator of Meet the Press. “The Sunday shows used to be able to book anyone from the Pentagon without permission from the White House. After 9/11, if you want to book someone in the Defense Department, you have to go through the White House press office. Today, if you want to interview someone from the CDC on Zika, you have to go through the White House. This is why it’s important for us to collectively push back – no matter who wins, it will be worse not better.”

“Getting information out of the White House is getting harder and harder for organizations anyway,” said John Dickerson, anchor of CBS News’ Face the Nation and political director of CBS News. “If they shut you off from access to the White House, you aren’t losing what you would have lost if it were 1961.”

Altice may seek more US growth after Cablevision deal

Netherlands-based telecom company Altice may not be done seeking US growth through acquisitions, an Altice executive said, after the European group completed a $17.7 billion deal to buy Cablevision. It was the Dutch company's second multibillion-dollar US cable acquisition in less than a year. Altice now has 4.6 million US customers but is still only the fourth-biggest US cable provider, lagging operators including Comcast and Charter.

The US strategy is the latest push for Altice founder and controlling shareholder Patrick Drahi, a French-Israeli billionaire who built a telecom and cable empire via debt-fueled acquisitions in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal and Israel. Altice said its immediate focus will be on integrating its newly acquired cable systems. Then it may look to expand. "We will continue to grow through acquisitions, either by buying more cable in other geographies in the country or by looking at other revenue streams," said Dexter Goei, chairman and chief executive of Altice USA. "There's a lot of large players and a lot of medium-size players such as ourselves who may look to partner up or do things," he said.

Who owns the news consumer: Social media platforms or publishers?

At the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School, we have conducted the first research aimed at evaluating how newsrooms are adapting to the rising influence of technology companies. We found that some platforms are becoming publishers, either by design or by default. Publishers, meanwhile, are experiencing a more rapid than expected shift in distribution towards platforms.

In the research, newsroom personnel at every level expressed anxiety about loss of control over the destination of stories, the power of their brand, and their outlets’ relationship with the viewer or reader. Many acknowledged that technology companies are, for some newsrooms, a potential lifeline. Individuals within news organizations felt they lacked the resources or expertise to create the level of innovation and access to new audiences that social media and platform companies offer. But there are critical issues of democratic and civic concern that have little visibility or priority, either within news organizations or platforms.

Internet service providers Know All

[Commentary] As you read this post, your Internet service provider is collecting information about you: what you’re reading right now on Slate, what URL you go to next, what time of day it is, and whether you’re on your home computer or your mobile device, among many other data points. Your ISP has similar data about apps you’ve used, how much data you consume at any given time of day, and your other daily Internet habits and rhythms.

Of course, your ISP has other up-to-date personal information as well—things like your name, address, telephone number, credit card number, and likely your Social Security number. In this way, ISPs have access to a uniquely detailed, comprehensive, and accurate view of you and every other subscriber. All of this at a time when consumer concern over privacy is increasing and has actually caused people to refrain from engaging in e-commerce and other activities online. The FCC has proposed a very strong rule that will help protect ISP customers from exploitative uses of their data. This battle for consumer choice will be ongoing for many months, but soon, you may finally be able to choose both having Internet access and protecting your privacy.

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