June 2016

Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

For years, Facebook has courted publishers of all sizes, asking them to depend more and more on the social media giant to expand their audiences. Now, Facebook has a new message for publishers: Tamp down your expectations. Facebook said that it planned to make a series of changes to its news feed algorithm so that it will more favorably promote content posted by the friends and family of users. The side effect of those changes, the company said, is that content posted by publishers will show up less prominently in news feeds, resulting in significantly less traffic to the hundreds of news media sites that have come to rely on Facebook.

The move underscores the never-ending algorithm-tweaking Facebook undertakes to maintain interest in its news feed, the company’s marquee feature that is seen by more than 1.65 billion users every month. It is also a reminder that while Facebook is vastly important to the long-term growth of news media companies, from older outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post to upstarts like BuzzFeed, Vice and Vox Media, publishers rank lower on Facebook’s list of priorities.

Wi-Fi Alliance promises faster Wi-Fi in new products in 2016

The tech world is ready for better Wi-Fi, and in 2016 we may start to get it. The Wi-Fi Alliance is announcing an update to its certification program for modern Wi-Fi devices, which will require all new products to support faster speeds and for routers to do a better job of handling multiple devices at the same time. Going forward, routers and devices that want to comply with its latest certification program will have to support three key new features: wider channel bandwidth, an additional spacial stream, and perhaps most importantly, MU-MIMO.

That latest one has a horribly convoluted name, but it essentially just means that a router can send data to multiple devices at the same time. That's right: right now, routers are generally sending data to one device at a time. They switch back and forth between our devices fast enough that we don't necessarily notice — only sending a bit to each at one time — but MU-MIMO should deliver a more consistent result for everyone. Newly certified Wi-Fi routers should be capable of sending data to four devices at a time, potentially delivering a faster result when combined with other Wi-Fi improvements. "A given device that supports all these features will be capable of delivering three times the speed of [802.11ac] devices even a year ago," says Kevin Robinson, the Wi-Fi Alliance's marketing VP.

Spectrum Auction: Broadcaster Exit Price Is $86,422,558,704

If wireless companies and other forward auction bidders cooperate, the government will pay TV broadcasters $86,422,558,704 to reclaim their spectrum in key markets. The Federal Communications Commission will have to collect at least that much in the forward auction to cover what it will have to pay broadcasters at the 126 MHz clearing target it set for the first stage of the reverse portion of the spectrum auction, which closed June 29 after 52 rounds. The FCC announced that much-anticipated and speculated about "clearing cost" figure on the auction website.

“Today, bidding concluded in the reverse auction, establishing the cost for clearing 126 MHz in the TV band for wireless use," said Gary Epstein, chair of the FCC's Incentive Auction Task Force. "Strong participation from broadcast stations made this initial clearing target possible. Now the action shifts to the forward auction, which will give wireless bidders the opportunity to compete for this beachfront spectrum to meet America’s growing mobile data needs.” The FCC was able to clear that much spectrum thanks to the robust participation by TV broadcasters looking for a big payday. Actually, the FCC will need to make a couple billion dollars more than that figure in the forward auction to cover the $200 million-plus in projected auction expenses and another $1.75 billion to cover the cost of repacking broadcasters in their tighter spectrum quarters after both parts of the two-sided auction are completed.

Commissioner Pai Statement on Media Ownership Proposal

The Federal Communications Commission’s rules should reflect the media marketplace of today. Unfortunately, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s media ownership proposal reflects the world that existed in the 1970s. In May, the FCC had no problem approving not one, but two multibillion dollar cable mergers. In 2015, it signed off on AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV. Yet, it now gets the vapors at the prospect of a newspaper in Scranton (PA) owning a single radio station. Whatever the motivation for the Chairman’s proposal, it has nothing to do with the evidence in the record, principled decision-making, or the law. Indeed, given current trends, it is likely that the Commission’s newspaper broadcast cross-ownership restrictions will outlive the print newspaper industry itself.

CBO Scores the Federal Information Systems Safeguards Act

The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA, S 2975) provides a comprehensive framework to protect the security of federal information systems. S 2975 would clarify that, under FISMA, federal agencies have the sole and exclusive authority to take appropriate and timely actions to secure their information technology and information systems.

CBO estimates that while implementing S 2975 would clarify Congressional intent, it would have no significant effect on the federal budget because it would not expand the duties of executive agencies. Because enacting the bill could affect direct spending by agencies not funded through annual appropriations, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that any net change in spending by those agencies would be negligible.

Google is testing an Internet speed tool built right into search results

Searching Google using the phrase "speed test" has become a common practice for Internet users looking to double check their Mbps rate, typically by surfacing a link for the free web product provided by analytics firm Ookla. To take advantage of the common behavior, Google appears to be building its own Internet speed test function right into search. That way, when someone types "check Internet speed" into the search box, Google can do it for them.

The feature may be in response to Netflix's new Fast.com website, which lets you check your Internet speed by just typing in the URL and waiting a moment. Google relies on Measurement Lab to perform the tests. The organization, which was founded in 2009 and studies global Internet performance, is composed of academic researchers, industry professionals, and Google employees Vint Cerf and Stephen Stuart.

Protecting privacy and promoting inclusion with the 'Internet of Things'

[Commentary] In comments we filed recently for input into a new Department of Commerce green paper on shaping the future of the Internet of Things, we discussed ways IoT technologies are improving the day-to-day quality of life for people with low income, people with disabilities and traditionally underserved populations, among others. For example:

The OrCam is a wearable video camera that is designed for the visually impaired, translating text to audio in real time
The Dot, the world's first braille smartwatch, features a series of dull pins that rise and fall at customizable speeds and allows users to read text messages and e-books
The Ring, a connected doorbell and home security solution, alerts users to motion as soon as it is detected, so they can remotely monitor their door
Some airports, like the Miami International Airport, have rolled out programs that use beacons to help users find the correct gate and send push notifications for restaurant and store deals when travelers are walking around
M2M technology, integrated with new payment platforms, is expanding access to credit by enabling two new payment methods: pay-as-you-go (PAYG) asset financing, which allows consumers to pay for products over time, and prepaid, where consumers pay for services on an as-needed basis.

It is important that we do not lose sight of the broad hope that IoT technology will not simply be more gadgets for the affluent, but also a platform for improving quality of life for the traditionally underserved. As government policymakers and regulators examine, understand and embrace emerging IoT technologies, they must encourage strategies that benefit everyone, while at the same time apply commonsense privacy protections that build trust in IoT technologies to help ensure that consumers enjoy the full benefits of IoT sensors and devices.

[Polonetsky is CEO of the Future of Privacy Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that seeks to advance responsible data practices.]

How To Break Open The Web

[Commentary] We rarely think about how the Internet works, how our data moves around the Internet. We need to, because this government-created, radically decentralized network of networks, which has spawned so much innovation at the edges, is rapidly being re-centralized. Control is being captured by and corporations and taken away from—or being ceded by—the rest of us.

What’s at stake here? In a word, permission. People should not need permission to speak, to assemble, to innovate, to be private, and more. But when governments and corporations control choke points, they also control whether average people can participate fully in society, politics, commerce, and more. Fast forward, through the emergence of giant web-centric companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Salesforce. We find ourselves in the silo era. Data and service silos hold what we do—our work, our play, our very thoughts— hostage, even as they provide genuine convenience and value in other ways. Mobile devices exacerbate the problem. Many mobile apps are essentially browsers that work on a single website. Add government and telecom control-freakery to the mix, and it’s all too easy to worry that we may already have lost.

[Dan Gillmor is an author, teacher, and longtime observer of the technology world. Kevin Marks is a software engineer who realized that human problems are the most interesting to solve. ]

It’s time for a new set of news values. Here’s where we should start.

[Commentary] If you had the opportunity to build a news organization from the ground up, what would you include? What would you do differently? Given the opportunity to start afresh, I’d build a new foundation by reconfiguring an old one: our news values. Timeliness. Impact. Proximity. Conflict. Unusualness. Prominence. Magnitude. Emotional Impact. These are a a bit different than the ones I learned over a decade ago, but they’re the ones being taught at my alma mater.

The 24-hour news cycle has has forever transformed our sense of timeliness; the Internet collapses our sense of proximity with its ability to connect the four corners of the globe. Prominence has, unfortunately, given way to celebrity. Impact is far more than a simple matter of following the dollar or asking how many or how much. It demands examination of how a change in any system affects those involved in its web, and what lasting effects those changes may have. Surely, our basic news values endure. There is no substitute for truth, accuracy and the timely delivery of relevant news. But for companies that serve hyperlocal, niche, specialty and digitally based audiences, there are unspoken, and perhaps unquestioned values that should be discussed. Any outlet that seeks to evolve and remain viable should examine its values.

[Dr Meredith Clark is an assistant professor at the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas]

Five questions Congress should ask the FCC commissioners on July 12

[Commentary] The five commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission are once again being hauled before Congress to explain themselves. This time it will be to answer questions from the House Commerce Committee on July 12. If we are to revitalize the FCC, here are five questions that Congress should ask at the hearing:

1) Why do members of Congress value a politicized FCC more than an independent FCC?
2) Does the Chairman propose to keep himself from being treated as a clerk?
3) What has your leadership meant to your professional staff?
4) What is your greatest disappointment in your work at the FCC?
5) In what ways have members of Congress contributed to the partisan divide at the FCC?

Benton

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