BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2013
Today – FCC Workshop on Bill Shock and Cramming and a vote on HR 1580 http://benton.org/calendar/2013-04-17/
CYBERSECURITY
House votes to boost government cyber protection, cyber research
Rules panel blocks privacy amendments to CISPA
White House threatens veto against CISPA, citing privacy concerns
Rep Schiff Tweaks Personal Info-Sharing Amendment to CISPA [links to web]
It’s Cyber Reform All Over Again - op-ed
Companies Partner with NIST to Share Cyber Staff
National security officials to brief House members on cybersecurity [links to web]
Appropriations chief: Pentagon should do more to stop China’s cyberattacks [links to web]
Cyberattacks can't break the Internet [links to web]
ACLU files complaint with FTC over older Android software [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
IP Transition Requires Smart, Fact-Based Strategy to Boost Broadband Opportunity - editorial
America Doesn’t Need Google Fiber Everywhere — But We Do Need Its Buzz - op-ed
Google’s Vint Cerf explains how to make SDN as successful as the internet [links to web]
Sony ISP launches world's fastest home Internet, 2Gbps [links to web]
Here's where Chicago's digital divide lies [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Justice Department Backs Limits on Wireless Companies
Sprint, T-Mobile Risk Being Stuck in Second Tier [links to web]
Taxpayers failing to get their fair share of wireless gold rush - analysis
The Oligopoly Problem - op-ed
Big Sprint Investor Favors Dish Network's Bid [links to web]
SoftBank Stands to Make $4 Billion if Sprint Deal Unravels [links to web]
Sen. McCaskill presses FAA to allow electronics on flights [links to web]
Ban on texting while driving speeds through Florida legislature [links to web]
Getting Teens to Help — And Helping Them — Via Text [links to web]
ACLU files complaint with FTC over older Android software [links to web]
TELECOM
ACA: Special Access Request Could Be Unlawful [links to web]
Study finds newspaper readers are engaged, but local papers need to do more on mobile [links to web]
IP Transition Requires Smart, Fact-Based Strategy to Boost Broadband Opportunity - editorial
OWNERSHIP
Feds vow to pounce if Google strays from antitrust deal
DOJ Will Monitor Impact of Cable Prices, Bundles on Consumers
Google-EU Deal Wouldn’t Target Global Solution, Almunia Says
Arbitron Shareholders Approve Nielsen Takeover Deal, FTC Reviewing [links to web]
New Publisher Authors Trust: Themselves [links to web]
CONTENT
Google search manipulation starves some websites of traffic
Sen Rockefeller Files Media Violence Bill As Amendment To Gun Control
Over-the-Top Services Trending With Multicultural Viewers [links to web]
Americans Register Dip In Social Media Activity [links to web]
Study finds newspaper readers are engaged, but local papers need to do more on mobile [links to web]
Internet Ad Revenues Reach Nearly $37 Billion - press release [links to web]
New Publisher Authors Trust: Themselves [links to web]
HEALTH
GOP Senators Release White Paper on Health IT, Cite Concerns - press release
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Boston rumors aside, cell service can be halted
Boston blasts show two sides of social media
The Modern Tool in Terror Investigations: Your Phone [links to web]
JOURNALISM
New York Times Leads Pulitzers as InsideClimate Wins First [links to web]
Texas Tribune wins $1.5 million in funding from Knight Foundation - press release [links to web]
A Pulitzer Prize, but Without a Newsroom to Put It In [links to web]
GOVERNEMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Boston rumors aside, cell service can be halted
IRS denies searching emails without warrant [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Appoints Director Of Digital Learning To Lead FCC Education Technology Initiatives - press release
MMTC Celebrates Past and Present Women Leaders of FCC at First-of-Its-Kind Luncheon [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Google-EU Deal Wouldn’t Target Global Solution, Almunia Says
The Internet’s Ongoing Gender Gap [links to web]
Italy blocks 27 sites suspected of aiding file-sharing [links to web]
Sesame Workshop Shows Off Mobile Experiments in Rural India, Augmented Reality [links to web]
Austerity behind award-winning website [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
CYBERSECURITY BILLS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Pete Kasperowicz]
The House passed three bills aimed at updating the federal government's cybersecurity controls, and boosting research and education in information technology fields. None of the three bills were controversial, and all were easily approved under a suspension of House rules, which requires a two-thirds majority vote for passage.
In a 416-0 vote, members passed the Federal Information Security Amendments Act, H.R. 1163. That bill updates the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) to require the government to more actively assess federal safeguards against cyberattacks.
The House also approved the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, H.R. 756. That bill requires federal agencies to plan for cybersecurity R&D, boosts basic cyber research at the National Science Foundation, provides scholarships to help improve the federal workforce on cyber issues, and increases research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. That bill passed 402-16.
The House approved a third bill aimed at coordinating cyber R&D in the federal government. The Advancing America's Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act, H.R. 967, directs agencies to periodically assess funding levels for various programs and shift those funds around when needed. It was easily approved in a 406-11 vote.
benton.org/node/149897 | Hill, The
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NO PRIVACY AMENDMENTS TO CISPA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez, Brendan Sasso]
The House will begin consideration of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) on April 17. The House Rules Committee approved a dozen proposed amendments to the bill that will go to a vote on the House floor. Privacy-focused amendments offered by Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) were not adopted into the final rule. The Democratic members' amendments would have required companies to take "reasonable steps" to strip personal information from cyber threat data before sharing it with the government, and ensured that military agencies would not be able to receive this data directly from companies. House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) said he had talked with the bill's sponsors, Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), and that they "did not believe that this was in the spirit of what would best support protecting this country nor the sharing of information between agencies."
benton.org/node/149923 | Hill, The
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PRESIDENT PROMISES CISPA VETO
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
The White House threatened to veto a cybersecurity bill the House will vote on this week, citing concerns it lacks vital privacy protections. In a statement of Administration policy, the White House said it seeks additional improvements to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). And it adds, "if the bill, as currently crafted, were presented to the president, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill." The White House listed a set of outstanding privacy concerns it has with the bill, many which have been voiced by privacy advocates in recent weeks. Among them, the White House noted that the bill does not include a measure that would require companies to take "reasonable steps to remove irrelevant personal information" from cyber threat data prior to sharing it with the government and other peers in the private sector. The White House also argued that "newly authorized information sharing for cybersecurity purposes from the private sector to the government should enter the government through a civilian agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)."
benton.org/node/149894 | Hill, The | Politico | The Hill - Ruppersberger | B&C
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IT’S CYBER REFORM ALL OVER AGAIN
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Jessica Herrera-Flanigan]
[Commentary] Will this year be any different than last, with separate, smaller cybersecurity bills dealing with only some of the issues making it through the House only to get stuck in the Senate over issues relating to regulation and who should be in charge? Some factors are different this year and could change cyber reform’s fate. Here are a few:
Senate Leadership Changes. Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) took over this year as chair and ranking member, respectively, on the Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee. They have not shown their hands yet but are working on a cybersecurity bill. They would like a bipartisan product that has wide support. This changing dynamic could make them more likely to move away from the issues that tanked the bill last Congress. Or not.
The President’s Executive Order. The EO, issued in January, covers potential best practices, standards and the like for critical infrastructure, among other things. It may be just enough to give Senate leaders flexibility to not legislate on the issue that had the most opposition in the last Congress. Or it may cause opponents to want to push forward with something to counter it.
Additional House Bills. In addition to the bills on the floor this week, media reports have indicated that the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees will have bills ready to go in the next month. These bills are seen as complements to those going this week and possibly will include cybercrime provisions, information sharing and Department of Homeland Securities authorities.
The China threat. The debate is no longer about cyber 9-11s or Pearl Harbors lurking around the corner. This time around it is about the threat from China. Private sector security companies such as Mandiant have reportedly confirmed that the Chinese government is hacking into American systems and stealing information. The vulnerability of those systems -- including the possibility that systems hacked for information can also be hacked to be destroyed or damaged -- is a threat that many want to see addressed.
Privacy. While privacy played a role in the debate last year, privacy groups and lawmakers concerned about the issue were not as vocal or as organized as they seem to be this year. All of the bills will be scrutinized to assure that the government is not overreaching in its efforts to protect networks and share information.
benton.org/node/149893 | nextgov
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COMPANIES PARTNER WITH NIST TO SHARE CYBER STAFF
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Brittany Ballenstedt]
Eleven private organizations agreed to partner with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to share cybersecurity staff and best practices to help better combat cyber threats. In a signing ceremony at NIST’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, the 11 organizations agreed to collaborate with federal agencies as part of the new National Cybersecurity Excellence Partnerships program. Companies participating in the signing ceremony were: Intel, Hytrust, McAffee, Cisco, Splunk, RSA, Symantec, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Vanguard and Venafi. As part of the agreement, the companies will provide physical infrastructure such as hardware and software components, intellectual knowledge including best practices and lessons learned, and/or physically or logically co-located personnel who will work side-by-side with federal staff. The partnerships will be established for a three-year period, with renewal subject to the requirements and interests of the company and NIST, according to a Federal Register notice published in October. The partnership program is part of the NCCoE program, which was established last year in an effort to develop and test security applications for workplace and personal computers.
benton.org/node/149890 | nextgov
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
IP TRANSITION REQUIRES SMART STRATEGY
[SOURCE: Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, AUTHOR: David Honig]
[Commentary] Just as the light bulb replaced the kerosene lamp and steam engines replaced sails, IP-based networks that carry video, voice phone calls, and data are taking over for the voice-only phone lines of the past century. Copper phones lines, organized into the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) met the challenges of the 20th century; and fiber technology and IP-based networks are needed for the 21st century. The only question is whether this change, which is complex and will affect every American in some way, will be haphazard or carefully managed — in a fact-based and data-driven process to ensure that consumers are better off and that nobody is left behind. A smart, managed transition means best-in-the-world broadband services for all consumers. It means continued private investment of tens of billions annually for the next three years by AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile alone) and the jobs that come with it. For people of color and other minority communities, a well-managed transition promises expanded opportunity for high-quality and affordable Internet service so they can fully experience the benefits – in health care, education, jobs, and civic empowerment – that are possible in the digital age. While African Americans and Latinos have been early and enthusiastic adopters of mobile technologies, they run far behind whites in home-based broadband. African Americans trail whites by about 16 percentage points and Latinos trail whites by about 19 points, in large part because many African Americans and Latinos can’t afford broadband at home. Managed properly, in a process that includes affordability, pricing, and adoption rates in its analysis, a move to all-IP networks should provide additional competitive choices and affordable options for advanced home-based and mobile broadband.
benton.org/node/149834 | Minority Media and Telecommunications Council
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AMERICA NEEDS GOOGLE FIBER BUZZ
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Susan Crawford]
[Commentary] It is time to fix the pitifully slow, expensive Internet access in the United States: It is ridiculous that 19 million Americans can’t subscribe to high-speed Internet access because they live in areas that private companies believe are too expensive to serve. It’s even more ridiculous that one of the most technologically savvy countries in the world can’t offer reasonable prices compared to other places. We used to say that the Internet allows everyone to be a publisher; now, with equal upload to download capacity over gigabit connections reaching homes through Google Fiber, that will actually be true in Austin. But I don’t want Google serving the whole country, because we still need policies that lower the barriers to entry for competitors. Without competition the incumbents won’t invest in offering better service. Yet … there is something very valuable about the news that Google Fiber is coming to Austin. It makes clear that America’s current backward status when it comes to high-speed internet access isn’t inevitable. It makes companies like AT&T want to act (sort of). And most importantly, it makes people get why high-speed access matters. This is a different phase, not an incremental improvement. The difference between the standard Internet access that shapes our imagination and a fiber-to-the-home connection is as great as the difference between no electricity and an electrified life. But only if we see this difference, only if we understand what’s possible, can we change our expectations. And that’s the most important thing about the Google Fiber efforts. [Crawford is a professor at the Cardozo School of Law and an adjunct professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.]
benton.org/node/149837 | Wired
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
LIMITS ON WIRELESS COMPETITION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wyatt]
William J. Baer, the Justice Department’s top antitrust enforcer said that he supported limits on how much of the nation’s airwaves a single wireless company could hold, a condition that could keep AT&T and Verizon from bidding on certain blocks of airwaves during auctions. Baer, the assistant attorney general who oversees the antitrust division, told a Senate subcommittee that limits were needed to promote competition in the market for wireless broadband service. The remarks echoed comments filed by the Justice Department last week in response to a Federal Communications Commission request for recommendations on how public airwaves, or spectrum, should be allocated. The FCC sought the comments in preparation for the auction, in 2014, of spectrum that it is hoping to reclaim from television broadcasters. Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CTT) asked Baer during the hearing if he thought the FCC should put a spectrum screen into effect for the auction. “The answer is yes, Senator,” Baer said. “We believe that well-defined, competition-focused rules for putting newly available spectrum to use quickly and efficiently is the best way of promoting consumer welfare.” Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) said he believed that an FCC screen could result in the government subsidizing smaller wireless companies. But Baer replied that the playing field might already be tilted by larger companies buying spectrum simply to keep it out of the hands of competitors.
benton.org/node/149922 | New York Times
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CONSUMERS AND WIRELESS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Lazarus]
[Commentary] Dish now controls billions of dollars’ worth of unused wireless spectrum that it obtained from the federal government as well as through a series of acquisitions, such as its $2.9-billion spectrum purchases last year from failed satellite operators DBSD North America and TerreStar Networks. Under the terms of a deal cut in December with the Federal Communications Commission, Dish now has seven years in which to start operating a wireless network covering at least 70% of the population. If it fails to do so, its wireless license from the FCC will expire. Dish's attempt to purchase Sprint isn't about serving customers. It's about positioning the company for a wireless future that, regardless of what role the company plays, will be worth a bundle. Consumer advocates remain wary of the ongoing trend of consolidation among telecom companies. "These Frankenstein-style mergers among weaker players are no substitute for real competition in the mobile, broadband and video markets," said S. Derek Turner, research director of Free Press in Washington. "Until something is done about the market power that companies like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T abuse daily, consumers will be stuck paying higher bills for mediocre services," he said. The reality, however, is that sky-high bills and mediocre service have become hallmarks of the U.S. wireless industry, and there's little anyone can do to change that.
benton.org/node/149854 | Los Angeles Times
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THE OLIGOPOLY PROBLEM
[SOURCE: The New Yorker, AUTHOR: Tim Wu]
[Commentary] T-Mobile recently broke with longstanding industry norms and abandoned termination fees, sneaky overage charges, and other unfriendly practices. Although T-Mobile’s decision is welcome news for consumers, it doesn’t change the fact that the old extortions remained in place for about fifteen years, and that they remain in place for the vast majority of Americans still trapped in contracts with Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. And it sheds light on a long-standing problem with how we think about and treat anticompetitive practices in the United States. Our current approach, focused near-exclusively on monopoly, fails to address the serious problems posed by highly concentrated industries. If a monopolist did what the wireless carriers did as a group, neither the public nor government would stand for it. For our scrutiny and regulation of monopolists is well established—just ask Microsoft or the old AT&T. But when three or four firms pursue identical practices, we say that the market is “competitive” and everything is fine. To state the obvious, when companies act in parallel, the consumer is in the same position as if he were dealing with just one big firm. There is, in short, a major blind spot in our nation’s oversight of private power, one that affects both consumers and competition. This blind spot is of particular significance during an age when oligopolies, not monopolies, rule.
benton.org/node/149826 | New Yorker, The
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OWNERSHIP
FEDS VOW ENFORCEMENT
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Diane Bartz]
The Federal Trade Commission said they would pounce on Google if they learned that the company, which dominates Internet search, violated the law after reaching an antitrust settlement in January. FTC Chairman Edith Ramirez defended the agreement with Google at a congressional hearing. She told the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee she fully expected Google to live up to its agreement, even in the absence of a court filing. "The agency will take appropriate action if Google does not," she said. "I share your concern ... that the voluntary commitments would create confusion over settlement practices at the commission. What I can tell you is that that matter should not be considered a precedent," she added. Bill Baer, the Justice Department's assistant attorney general for antitrust, whose agency shares with the FTC the work of enforcing antitrust law, was asked how the Justice Department would react if Google were found to break antitrust law. The FTC and Justice Department "would have a prompt conversation about who is best equipped to" investigate, said Baer.
benton.org/node/149916 | Reuters
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CABLE PRICES AND BUNDLES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Department of Justice's new antitrust enforcer pledged to the Senate that monitoring merger deal conditions, cable pricing and bundles and allowing consumers to drop pay-TV service in favor of free online fare would all be major focuses for his division. That came in an antitrust oversight hearing in the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee featuring William Baer, assistant attorney general in the DOJ antitrust division, and new Federal Trade Commission chairwoman Edith Ramirez. DOJ and FTC share antitrust oversight of mergers, along with the FCC for communications mergers that involve transfers of licenses. Sens. Al Franken (D-MN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) focused in on communications issues. Sen Franken began his questioning of the witnesses by saying that consumers were having a hard time stretching the family budget to pay for $200 cable bills and $200 mobile phone bills. "These markets are very consolidated," he said.
benton.org/node/149914 | Broadcasting&Cable
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GOOGLE-EU WON’T BE GLOBAL SOLUTION
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Stephanie Bodoni]
Google’s competitors, clamoring for the European Union to press the search company to make global changes, face disappointment after the bloc’s antitrust chief said any settlement would focus on Europe. While confined to Google’s competition issues there, any accord to end the European Union’s antitrust probe that started in 2010 must stand the test of time and be impossible to circumvent, Joaquin Almunia said. Google this month submitted an offer to the Brussels-based European Commission that would create more distinction in Internet searches between its own services and those of its competitors, according to a person familiar with the talks.
“The U.S. and the EU have different systems and, on top of that, Google has a very different market position in the U.S., where its competitors have a market share of around 30 percent,” Almunia said in response to written questions. “In Europe, Google’s market share is more than 90 percent.” Rivals, such as Microsoft, want the EU to extract changes after the U.S. closed a 20-month investigation into whether Google unfairly promoted its own services in search results. The Federal Trade Commission in January concluded that Google was motivated more by wanting to improve its search results than by a desire to stifle competition.
benton.org/node/149913 | Bloomberg
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CONTENT
GOOGLE SEARCH MANIPULATION
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Jeremy Kirk]
Google's placement of its own flight-finding service in search results is resulting in lower click-through rates for companies that have not bought advertising, according to a study by Harvard University academics. The study provides data for how Google's placement of its own services amid "organic" search results may hurt competitors, which is the focus of an ongoing antitrust case between Google and the European Union. How paid and non-paid search results are displayed has a powerful sway over consumers, the study found. Ben Edelman, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, and Zhenyu Lai, a Harvard doctoral candidate, looked at when Google began inserting its own Flight Search feature, launched in December 2011, into search results. They found that Google chose to display Flight Search depending on a user's search terms. When Flight Search was displayed, it takes a top position in the search results, pushing lower down non-paid search results. The result was an 85 percent increase in click-through rates -- a key measure for advertisers -- for paid advertisements. Non-paid, algorithmically generated search results for competing travel agencies dropped 65 percent.
benton.org/node/149842 | IDG News Service
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MEDIA VIOLENCE BILL
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sen Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has offered his media violence research bill as an amendment to gun-control legislation currently before the Senate, according to a committee spokesperson. The amendment mirrors the standalone bill Sen Rockefeller introduced in January in the wake of the Sandy Hook School shootings. If Republicans allow debate on the gun-control bill, there could be an up or down vote on the Rockefeller amendment which directs the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a comprehensive study of whether violent video games and video programming have a harmful effect on kids, including causing them to be aggressive and causing already aggressive kids to be even more so, as well as whether that harm is distinguishable from the "negative effects" of any other type of media. That suggests the study would have to extend to movies, books and other entertainment. Sen Rockefeller also wants to know whether the negative impact, if there is one, is long-lasting and whether video games have a unique impact due to their interactivity and "the extraordinarily personal and vivid way violence might be portrayed in such video games."
benton.org/node/149909 | Multichannel News
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HEALTH
HEALTH IT REPORT
[SOURCE: US Senate, AUTHOR: Press release]
Sens John Thune (R-SD), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Richard Burr (R-NC), Tom Coburn (R-OK), and Mike Enzi (R-WY) released a white paper, “REBOOT: Re-examining the Strategies Needed to Successfully Adopt Health IT,” outlining concerns with current federal health information technology (health IT) policy, including increased health care costs, lack of momentum toward interoperability, potential waste and abuse, patient privacy, and long-term sustainability. The 2009 Obama stimulus bill included the Health Information Technology and Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act which aimed to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health IT. Now, nearly four years after the enactment of the HITECH Act, and after hundreds of pages of regulations implementing the program, we see evidence that the program is at risk of not achieving its goals and that $35 billion in taxpayer money is being spent ineffectively in the process. Findings from the senators’ white paper include:
Increased Costs. Despite previous estimates that the HITECH Act would save money due to the efficiencies in storing and sharing records and ordering and coordinating patient care, early reports raise concerns that health IT may have actually accelerated the ordering of unnecessary care as well as increased billing.
Lack of Clear Path Toward Interoperability. The HITECH Act federal incentive payments are being made to hospitals and physicians without clear evidence that providers can achieve “meaningful use,” or the ability to use the health IT program internally, and without an adequate plan to ensure unaffiliated providers can share information with each other through an interoperable network.
Lack of Oversight. Reports from the HHS Inspector General (IG), the Government Accountability Office, and stakeholders have revealed that the administration does not have adequate mechanisms in place to prevent waste and fraud in its health IT programs. Taxpayer dollars are being paid to providers who cannot or do not have to demonstrate that the health IT technology is actually used as prescribed, because the administration relies on provider “self-attestation” in many cases to determine eligibility for payments.
Patient Privacy at Risk. The HHS IG found that the security policies and procedures at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology – two federal entities which oversee the administration of the health IT program – are lax and may jeopardize sensitive patient data.
Program Sustainability. It is unclear for providers that have accepted grants and incentive payments how much it will cost to maintain their health IT systems after the initial grant money and incentive payments run out. In 2015, incentive payments in most scenarios cease, and providers face reduced Medicare or Medicaid reimbursements if they do not comply with federal requirements, which may impact small providers that may not have economies of scale to make health IT cost-effective.
benton.org/node/149831 | US Senate | read the report | Center for Public Integrity
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
CELL PHONE SERVICE
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Brooks Boliek]
The government’s process for shutting down a wireless network is shrouded in both secrecy and controversy. Amid the chaos in Boston on April 15, The Associated Press erroneously reported that all cell service had been shut down throughout the city out of fear that other bombs might be detonated via mobile phone. In truth, cell outages had more predictable causes — massive use that overwhelmed the available bandwidth and interfered with calls, texts and Internet access. Still, the incident pointed to a little-known fact: The government does have a means of shutting down wireless communications and it has been done at least twice. But of course, the idea is controversial. Objection is twofold — it may be unconstitutional and, also, it can easily disrupt rescue efforts and increase public anxiety. Even with overloaded circuits, cellphones were crucial to summoning emergency workers and allowing people near the blasts to tell relatives and friends they were OK.
benton.org/node/149910 | Politico
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BOSTON AND SOCIAL MEDIA
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Zach Miners]
Twitter users reacted fast to the explosions that ripped through the Boston Marathon Monday, but the incident also revealed how social media can only be so reliable in such situations. Twitter spread news of the blasts quickly and was a useful communications tool for public authorities such as the Boston police and the marathon organizers. But information on social media sites can also be questionable or just plain inaccurate, noted Greg Sterling, senior analyst with Opus Research. "It cuts both ways," Sterling said. "It allows you to get the information out more quickly, but it can also fan hysteria." The Boston Police Department's Twitter log showed a positive side of social media. It was updated minute by minute in the aftermath of the bombings, often with instructions about which areas to avoid, or information about where the most police officers might be stationed. There was also misinformation, however. A report was circulated quickly on Twitter that police had shut down cellphone service in Boston to prevent detonation of further blasts, though it ultimately turned out to be inaccurate, according to network operators.
benton.org/node/149844 | IDG News Service | Government Technology | nextgov
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POLICYMAKERS
FCC CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI APPOINTS DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL LEARNING TO LEAD FCC EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the appointment of Michael Steffen as Director of Digital Learning to lead the FCC’s work within the agency and across government, public, and private partners to modernize broadband infrastructure in U.S. schools and libraries and expand access to the opportunities of digital technologies for America’s teachers, students, and parents. The FCC is the largest funder of Internet connectivity in K-12 schools in the United States. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/149881 | Federal Communications Commission
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