June 2016

SECURITY/PRIVACY

BROADBAND PRIVACY CAN PREVENT DISCRIMINATION
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission has an ongoing proceeding to apply Section 222 (47 USC 222) to broadband. For those unfamiliar with the statute, Section 222 prohibits a provider of a “telecommunications service” from either disclosing information collected from a customer without a customer’s consent, or from using the information for something other than providing the telecom service. While most of us think this generally means advertising, it means a heck of a lot more than that — as illustrated by this tidbit from Cable One. Briefly, according to Cable One CEO Thomas Might, Cable One used predictive analytics to determine that customers with low FICO credit scores are “hollow value” customers (i.e. customers who often pay late or don’t pay, and who don’t buy additional services regularly). These customers either provide little profit to the company, or actually cost the company money (due to the expense of maintaining customers while their bill is disputed, and any costs associated with cancellation and bill collection). While Might explained they did not “turn people away,” they used FICO scores to determine what quality of customer service to provide. Cable One technicians aren’t going to “spend 15 minutes setting up an iPhone app” for someone with a low FICO score, according to Might — regardless of whether the customer in question actually pays her bills on time. Worse, the use of FICO credit scores for this purpose disproportionately impacts communities of color, and vulnerable populations such as those struggling after a prolonged period of unemployment. These same populations are the ones least likely to have a home subscription to broadband. But without strong privacy rules in place, even those who can afford a home broadband subscription may not get the customer service they deserve because their provider considers them a “hollow customer” based on their FICO score. This is exactly the kind of discrimination that civil rights organizations have warned about in their 2014 “Civil Rights Principles For The Era of Big Data,” and on which the FCC has sought comments for in its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
benton.org/headlines/broadband-privacy-can-prevent-discrimination-case-cable-one-and-fico-scores | Public Knowledge
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WHEELER'S RESPONSE TO LAWM
AKERS RE: PRIVACY OF BROADBAND CUSTOMERS' PERSONAL INFORMATION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler]
On July 22, 2015, nine Senators wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to urge their support for privacy protections for broadband consumers, and to consider various measures with a rulemaking procedure. On May 25, 2016, Chairman Wheeler responded by saying the broadband privacy Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted by the Commission in March sets forth a path towards final rules that will provide clear guidance to Internet service providers and their customers about how the privacy requirements of section 222 apply to broadband Internet access service (BIAS) providers.
benton.org/headlines/chairman-wheelers-response-members-congress-regarding-privacy-broadband-customers-personal | Federal Communications Commission | Letter from Members of Congress
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COURT'S LOCATION DATA RULI
NG SPELLS THE END OF PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Sascha Meinrath]
[Commentary] On May 31, the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government does not need warrant to track the location of more than 200 million Americans with smartphones. It's an astonishing decision. Basically, according to the court, because the vast majority of us use cellphones and apps that track our locations, we've opted out of 4th Amendment privacy protections. Even more alarming, the court's ruling opens the door for the government to get access to all of our Internet-connected apps and software that have knowledge of our whereabouts. The court reasoned that since we – the hundreds of millions of cellphone users in the US – have voluntarily disclosed our geolocation to a third party (our cellular providers), the third party can share that information with the government. But that reasoning really only make sense if we disclose our geolocation voluntarily. But as anyone who has ever attempted to opt-out of such tracking knows, there's nothing voluntary about it. In fact, this location tracking is mandatory – extending not just to our smartphones but even to other people's cellphone and devices. Keep in mind, our devices regularly connect to other phones, computers, and cars to collect their location and data. The court's ruling sets a remarkable precedent: Utilizing mobile technology is now a blanket opt-out of fundamental 4th Amendment privacy protections. I'm worried that we are headed along a dark trajectory – a dystopian future whereby everyday devices spy upon us more and more while privacy protections are whittled away to meaninglessness. We have the capacity to correct these egregious wrongs, but protecting our civil liberties in the 21st century requires bold leadership and a deeper understanding of today’s technological realities.
[Sascha Meinrath is Director of X-Lab]
benton.org/headlines/courts-location-data-ruling-spells-end-privacy | Christian Science Monitor
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TELEVISION

WHEELER ACCUSES CABLE COMPANIES OF SHUTTING OUT MINORITY TV CHANNELS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Will minority programmers be hurt or helped by a Federal Communications Commission plan to boost competition in the set-top box market? That's one of the most contentious questions raised since FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed rules that would make TV channels available on more third-party devices and applications. Chairman Wheeler's aim is to give consumers more choices beyond the set-top boxes rented from cable providers. But those third-party systems might not display minority content as prominently as traditional cable TV systems, according to cable lobbyists and minority programmers that oppose the plan. Chairman Wheeler contended the opposite in a letter to members of Congress. Cable TV companies are shutting out minority programmers today, but the proposed set-top box rules will make it easier for viewers to find minority programming, Chairman Wheeler argues. Chairman Wheeler also said he will continue with the rulemaking proceeding despite calls for a delay. "As the video ecosystem evolves it should be creating more opportunities for independent and minority-owned programming," Chairman Wheeler wrote. "By using the set-top box as a way to limit program carriage, however, multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) constrict opportunities. While the most popular MVPD packages contain 200 to 500 channels, there are currently only two Hispanic-owned and four African-American owned networks. Not only is there limited carriage, but there is also limited financial support. While a channel like ESPN is paid over $7.00 per month per subscriber by MVPDs, minority channels receive pennies. What's more, minority networks are often placed on premium tiers requiring an additional payment from the consumer which also limits potential advertising revenues by limiting potential audience reach."
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-wheeler-accuses-cable-companies-shutting-out-minority-tv-channels | Ars Technica
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CONTENT
THE NEW TOO BIG TO FAIL
[SOURCE: US News and World Report, AUTHOR: Robert Schlesinger]
[Commentary] The Pew Research Center reported that 62 percent of US adults get news on social media, including 18 percent who do so often – that's up sharply from just four years ago when the figure was 49 percent. Fully two-thirds of US Facebook users get news from the site (up from 47 percent just three years ago); that's roughly 44 percent of the population, according to Pew – which is more than the cumulative news reach of YouTube (10), Twitter (9), Instagram (4), LinkedIn (4), Reddit (2), Snapchat (2) and Tumblr (1), the next seven biggest social media news sources. And Facebook only in 2015 passed Google as the biggest referrer of Internet traffic to news sites. This is in part, as I've noted previously, that in an age of widespread perceived media bias and mistrust of journalists, search engines and social media platforms are viewed as dispassionate and unbiased sorters of the news – a 2012 Pew study, for example, found that roughly two-thirds of Americans believe search results are unbiased. And a study released by Edelman earlier this year found that 60 percent of those surveyed trust Google for news more than actual news outlets. But while big social media – be it Facebook or Google News – has news-purveying components they're not news organizations as such and don't have news missions. They're part of larger companies with agendas that don't necessarily include fairly informing the citizenry. And they have real power, regardless of whether they're using it or not.
benton.org/headlines/new-too-big-fail | US News and World Report
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

INTERNET BOOM TIMES ARE OVER, SAYS MARY MEEKER'S INFLUENTIAL REPORT
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Lizette Chapman]
Growth of Internet users worldwide is essentially flat, and smartphone growth is slowing, too. Those sobering insights were among the hundreds packed into the much-awaited Internet Trends report, an annual tech industry ritual led by Mary Meeker, a general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The number of global Internet users hovers around 3 billion, with new ones slow to come online. She attributed the slowdown to stagnating gross domestic product. Global GDP growth in six of the last eight years was below the 20-year average. Developing countries have proven harder to capture than expected because Internet access remains inaccessible or unaffordable for many, the report said. Here are some other highlights from the report:
India is the one country where Internet usage is growing, up 40 percent compared with 33 percent a year ago. India passed the US to become the No 2 global market behind China in 2015.
The Asia Pacific region represented 52 percent of smartphone users globally in 2015. The rapid growth in recent years has begun to slow, dropping to 23 percent in 2015 from 35 percent in 2014.
North America, Europe, and Japan represented 63 percent of global GDP in 1985. By 2015, their contribution dropped to 29 percent. China and emerging markets in Asia represented 63 percent of global GDP last year.
Online advertising is still not very effective. Advertisers are spending an outsize amount on legacy media.
Global birth rates are down 39 percent since 1960. So where will technology growth come from? Who knows, but at least there's this: Global life expectancy is up 36 percent since 1960.
benton.org/headlines/internet-boom-times-are-over-says-mary-meekers-influential-report | Bloomberg | Forbes | Business Insider
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SEN CRUZ TOUTS BILL AS 'LAST CHANCE ' TO DELAY INTERNET DOMAIN HANDOFF
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) is circulating a new bill that would prevent the government from handing off oversight of the Internet domain name system without approval from Congress. Sen Cruz began circulating the legislation recently to colleagues with background information that called it "our last chance to save internet freedom." The legislation is titled the Protecting Internet Freedom Act. The bill would also require the Obama Administration to certify that it has secured "sole ownership" of the top-level domain names used by the federal government and the military, which end in dot-gov or dot-mil. Sen Cruz's legislation is the latest move in his long-running criticism of the Obama Administration's plan to hand off its oversight of some of the technical functions that underly the Internet. Those functions help pair up numerical IP addresses with their familiar web addresses so users can more easily navigate online. In 2014, the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced it would begin a long-planned transition to give up its oversight to a global multi-stakeholder community. The department is slated to finish reviewing a transition proposal in June.
benton.org/headlines/sen-cruz-touts-bill-last-chance-delay-internet-domain-handoff | Hill, The
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EU REGULATORS TAKE TOUGH APPROACH TO NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Julia Fioretti]
Europe's telecommunications operators will have to justify giving priority to certain services on their network, according to new European Union regulatory guidelines in a move likely to disappoint an industry hoping for more leeway so they can boost revenues. The European Union in 2015 adopted its first ever network neutrality rules which require telecoms operators such as Orange, Deutsche Telekom and Telecom Italia to treat all Internet traffic equally. BEREC, the body comprising the EU's 28 telecoms regulators, has produced a set of draft guidelines on implementing the net neutrality rules, which will be presented June 6 and adopted in August after feedback from interested parties. The telecoms industry is seeking to increase revenues from specialized services such as connectivity for driverless cars and Internet-connected devices to offset declining turnover from its traditional telephony business. But net neutrality advocates worry about creating a two-speed Internet, benefiting only companies with deep pockets that can pay for faster transmission of their services. The guidelines say operators will only be able to offer such services over dedicated network capacity if it is "objectively required" and only if it does not negatively affect the Internet. National regulatory authorities (NRAs) will have to verify whether an application needs to be delivered separately from the rest of the Internet to guarantee a committed level of quality, or "whether they are instead set up in order to circumvent the provisions regarding traffic management", the guidelines say.
benton.org/headlines/eu-regulators-take-tough-approach-net-neutrality | Reuters
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USAGE-BASED PRICING
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Daniel Lyons]
[Commentary] With little fanfare, two big changes came to the world of fixed broadband pricing. First, the Federal Communications Commission approved Charter Communications’ merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, subject to (inter alia) the company’s agreement to refrain from usage-based pricing for seven years. Second, Comcast raised its monthly data plan from 300 gigabytes to 1 terabyte in those markets where the company offers usage-based pricing plans, and capped its overage fees at $200 per month. These are important developments, not just by themselves but also with regard to what they say about each other and what they reveal about the future of usage-based broadband pricing. The costs and benefits of usage-based pricing are context-dependent and subject to change when underlying drivers change. In this dynamic, competitive landscape, providers should be allowed the agility to adjust their offerings in response to these changes. Regulators should remain vigilant in investigating specific product offerings that they suspect are anticompetitive. But absent proof of actual consumer harm, the commission should continue to allow broadband providers to experiment with new and potentially more efficient ways to meet consumer needs through innovative pricing plans.
[Lyons is an associate professor at Boston College Law School]
benton.org/headlines/comcast-charter-and-future-usage-based-broadband-pricing | American Enterprise Institute
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

FCC SEEKS TO UPDATE AND REFRESH THE RECORD IN THE U-NII DEVICES IN 5GHZ BAND PROCEEDING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public notice]
By this Public Notice, the Federal Communications Commission invites interested parties to update and refresh the record on the status of potential sharing solutions between proposed Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices and Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) operations in the 5.850-5.925 GHz (U-NII-4) band. U-NII devices provide short-range, high-speed unlicensed wireless connections in the 5 GHz band for, among other applications, Wi-Fi-enabled radio local networks, cordless telephones, and fixed outdoor broadband transceivers used by wireless Internet providers. DSRC uses short-range wireless communication links to facilitate information transfer between appropriately-equipped vehicles and appropriately-equipped roadside systems (“vehicle to infrastructure” or “V2I”) and between appropriately-equipped vehicles (“vehicle to vehicle” or “V2V”). In this Public Notice, we are building on efforts to date by the Commission, the Department of Transportation (DoT), and the automotive and communications industries to evaluate potential sharing techniques. In August 2015, the DoT released a DSRC-Unlicensed Device Test Plan that described tests to characterize the existing radio frequency signal environment and identify the impacts to DSRC operations if unlicensed devices operate in the 5.850-5.925 GHz band. As suggested by two Congressional letters received in September 2015, the Commission is now seeking to refresh the record of its pending 5.9 GHz rulemaking proceeding to provide interested stakeholders the opportunity to provide further comment on sharing in the band. We also solicit the submittal of prototype unlicensed, interference-avoiding devices for testing, and seek comment on a proposed FCC test plan to evaluate electromagnetic compatibility of unlicensed devices and DSRC.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-seeks-update-and-refresh-record-unlicensed-national-information-infrastructure-u-nii | Federal Communications Commission | O'Rielly and Rosenworcel Statement | Pai Statement
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June 2016

June 3, 2016 (Broadband Privacy Can Prevent Discrimination)

Comcast, Charter, and the future of usage-based broadband pricing

Tribune Changes Name to Tronc

FCC Chairman Wheeler accuses cable companies of shutting out minority TV channels

The New Too Big to Fail

Sen Cruz touts bill as 'last chance' to delay Internet domain handoff

Competitive Carriers Association: Business Data Reform Is Key to Internet of Things

EU regulators take tough approach to net neutrality

Explaining why Republicans just lost their Hispanic media director